An interesting resource. Very data heavy, but worth checking.
The Stanford Open Policing Project studied almost 100 million traffic stops. Among other things, they found black drivers were more likely to be stopped, and more likely to be searched when stopped. Now some of our friends here would say that's because those black people are more likely to commit crimes. Ermmm, no. Criminal activity was found in about equal measure in searches of white and black drivers.
I find the stats on searches in states where marijuana is legal interesting too. Search rates plunged. There's long been an argument that marijuana charges are used in the US to criminalise otherwise law abiding people. For instance, pretty much of all my (white) Australian friends had a puff at one stage of their life or another. If their cars had been searched under US state laws at the same rate as black drivers in the US, many would have been charged and even jailed for years. We would be talking now about how everyone knows white Australians are statistically more likely to commit crimes.
