Racial profiling by the LAPD. Racial profiling is a term used to describe any police action that relies on ethnicity rather than behavior to target suspects engaged in criminal activities. Does the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) invoke racial profiling in stops and searches of Los Angeles drivers? This question was addressed in Chance (Spring 2006).
a. Data on stops and searches of both African-Americans and white drivers from January through June 2005 are summarized in the accompanying table. Conduct a test (at α = .05 ) to determine whether there is a disparity in the proportions of African-American and white drivers who are searched by the LAPD after being stopped.
Race
Number
Stopped
Number
Searched
Number
of “Hits”
African-American
61,688
12,016
5,134
White
106,892
5,312
3,006
Based on Khadjavi, L. S. “Driving while black in the City of Angels.” Chance , Vol. 19, No. 2, Spring 2006, pp. 43–46.
b. The LAPD defines a “hit rate” as the proportion of searches that result in a discovery of criminal activity. Use the data in the table to estimate the disparity in the hit rates for African-American and white drivers under a 95% confidence interval. Interpret the results.
Results of Poll
Northeast | Southeast |
n1 = 1,000 | n2 = 1,000 |
x1 = 546 | x2 = 475 |
Results of Smoking Survey
2000 | 2010 |
n1 = 1,500 | n2 = 1,750 |
x1 = 555 | x2 = 578 |
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