CRJ 102 – 0502 | Criminology | Professor Satenik Margaryan| Fall 2022

The Banning of Minor Vehicular Stops

Many states and cities in the US, including Pennsylvania, Los Angeles, and Seattle, are reimagining better ways of enforcing traffic regulations in such settings. For a long time, it has been debated whether increased policing is the appropriate solution to societal wrongdoings. This matter is particularly problematic in societies that face diversity challenges—the United States is a perfect example. For instance, some US cities and states have noted that traffic stops are sometimes used as ‘fishing expeditions’ to disproportionately target people of color. I believe the US government needs to change methods of promoting traffic safety to prevent routine humiliation and needless deaths of many Black and Hispanic drivers at the hands of police. Banning traffic stops across states and cities in the United States will bring positive changes to the justice system and the affected communities.

Traffic stops result in more harm than good, especially since police in states like North Carolina, Washington & California seem to target drivers from minority communities. According to Horn (2020), Black drivers were 63 percent more likely to be pulled over in North Carolina than their white counterparts. Although contraband was more likely to be found in white drivers, Black drivers were 115 percent more likely to be searched during a traffic stop than whites . The highly racialized nature of traffic stops and searchers erodes community trust in the police, even though most of these interactions lead to an arrest. Research indicates that nearly half of Black Americans have very little confidence that police comply with professional, statutory, and constitutional norms (Horowitz, 2007). As a result, this lack of trust and confidence implies that the police do not control crime effectively. 

At the same time, traffic often stops exact a psychological toll, particularly for Black and Latin Americans who continuously experience collective trauma from police violence. Various studies have documented a correlation between police traffic stops and mental health across various groups . Jackson et al. (2019) mentioned that emotionally-charged and stressful interactions with police officers lead to feelings of trauma and stigma. According to Del Toro et al. (2019), police stops may unintentionally influence youths to continuously engage in criminal behavior due to an increased rate of contact with law enforcement. Since traffic stops are often characterized by aggressiveness from the police, they affect the mental health and general well-being of young people. 

In addition, proactive policing techniques like traffic stops reduce the public’s willingness to cooperate during criminal investigations. When there are significant opinion differences concerning the public’s role in crime prevention, achieving effective public participation in crime control programs would take much work. The opinion differences often occur when police disproportionately implement traffic stops, making some members of the public appear to be naturally criminals. According to Schwartz & Brownstein (2015), some people may sometimes deviate from desirable social values. Using illustrations from the left realist theory, the researchers mentioned that policing decisions are often designed to justify massive repressive actions targeting members of specific working classes and racial or ethnic groups. 

According to proponents of traffic stops, such policies help reduce crime and accidents while minimizing the impact of crashes. However, evidence suggests that the rate of traffic accidents is not associated with state patrol traffic stops . In most US cities, police have an essentially unmonitored ability to initiate traffic stops due to laws prohibiting innocuous activities, like having objects hanging from a rearview mirror. Police initially used marijuana as a reason to initiate traffic stops—it was believed that the legalization of the drug would reduce racial disparities in traffic stops. Although the searches for Black, Latino, and White drivers all decreased when marijuana was removed as a reason for vehicular inspections, the racial disparities in traffic stops have persisted. 

To conclude, the harms of traffic stops far outweigh any potential public safety benefits regardless of intentions, as illustrated by the deeply entrenched racial disparities in traffic enforcement and the continued killing of Black drivers. This essay has shown that traffic stops do not result in increased perceptions of safety among community members or trust in law enforcement agencies. Although traffic stops prevent misbehaviors like over-speeding, thereby contributing to decreased accidents and fatalities, this factor does not justify using such policies if they lead to life-threatening interactions. Also, it has been evident that emotionally-charged and stressful interactions affect the mental health of individuals experiencing such traumatic encounters. Lastly, traffic stops reduce public participation in crime prevention programs since the racial implementation of regulations creates a divide between various groups. Banning traffic stops across US cities and states is necessary to influence positive changes in the nation’s justice system and to promote the welfare of affected communities. 

I believe that banning traffic stops like in these particular cities will bring changes to the affected communities because they will no longer have to deal with or feel targeted when they are driving. Impacted communities will feel more at ease because of them having less misselaineous interaction with police officers. On the other hand, the justice system may contend that banning traffic stops can be dangerous due to the reason that they feel like people could be getting away with trafficking either of drugs or weapons or other related crimes but overall banning traffic stops is a positive for both parties because traffic stops are most dangerous for the driver that’s being stopped especially for a driver of color and for police officers traffic stops are always a source of contention due to their record and notoriety that they have built. 

Yes, I do think we should rethink how we enforce traffic laws in certain cities because the outcomes of these laws always lead to something unnecessary and uncalled for. However I don’t think banning them will bring a positive change, I just believe we should improve upon them in a way that makes them more probable to be used. In the new york times article the young black man was shot in the head over a license plate which is absurd. I personally don’t know if there are any changes that could be made because searches are apart of protocol, but the fact it always ends in death is concerning. For example the new york times article states that a 20 year old black man was pulled over for expired tags and dangling air freshner and the police found out that he had a warrant and proceeded to pull a gun on him rather than the taser which led to his death. One way to prevent this is to focus on pulling people over for more serious reasons rather than petty one’s, the likelihood of traffic stops slowing down are really slim, but making a effort towards this is a start. The justice system would see more positive outcomes like arrests rather than deaths if we improve upon our traffic stops and reasonings.

Fareeza Mohamed

Do you think we must rethink how we enforce traffic laws in cities and suburbs? Do traffic stops accomplish their task of deterring unsafe driving?

 Read the article in New York Times that highlights how police chiefs, prosecutors, and lawmakers are rethinking the value, and the harm, of minor traffic stops. I don’t think it accomplishes their tasks of determining unsafe driving.

The New York Times highlights how police chiefs, prosecutors, and lawmakers are rethinking the values and the harm of minor traffic stops. The article states that minor stops will not only disproportionately Black drivers but also do little to combat serious crime or improve public safety, and some escalate into avoidable violence, even killing officers or drivers. I would suggest that we rethink who enforces traffic laws in cities and suburbs. 

 I think that if we have traffic laws it will be unsafe “the police union is running an online advertisement warning that discouraging stops could allow guns and killers to remain on the roads”. The article also gives us a great example of how harmful this new law would be, the death in Grand Rapids, Mich., of PatrickLoya, an unarmed 26 – year old black man who was pulled over for a mismatched license plate and, after a brief struggle was shot in the head the videos were released on Wednesday.  There are many other examples that the article provides that show us how the traffic stop doesn’t accomplish its task. Dante Wright a 20 – year – an old black man was pulled over for an expired tag, instead of the police officer drawing a taser she pulled out a gun and shot him. 

In conclusion, the article provides enough evidence to conclude that traffic stops accomplish their task of determining unsafe driving.