May 4, 2004 Executive Director

CENSUS COMPARISONS

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the state’s population, 18 years of age or older, is comprised of 93.3% whites and 6.7% non-white. During the 27 months of the study, on average, a total of 3,018 citations were issued per community. Of these, 89.5% were issued to white drivers, while 10.5% went to non-whites. When the percentage of non-whites in the state’s population (6.7%) is compared with the percentage of citations given to non-white drivers (10.5%), this produces what the researchers refer to as the “Non-White Disparity” of 3.8% (10.5% - 6.7%).

The researchers broke down the Non-White Disparity by police departments in various population groups, the same size categories as those used by the FBI in compiling its Uniform Crime Reports (UCR’s). The average Non-White Disparities by population group, based on the 2000 U.S. Census, were:

POPULATION NON-WHITE DISPARITY

100,000+ 3.2%

50,000 – 99,999 3.8%

25,000 – 49,999 6.6%

10,000 – 24,999 4.3%

under 10,000 2.7%

SEX COMPARISONS

In Massachusetts, 52% of the residents 18 years and older are female and 48% are male. Of the 1,054,913 citations issued statewide for which the sex of the driver was determined, 28.7% were issued to females and 71.3% to males. This produces what the researchers call a “Sex Disparity” of 23.3%. This is derived by subtracting the percentage of females cited from their percentage in the census population. The same results are reached by subtracting the male percentage of the population from the percentage of citations issued to males. (71.3% - 48.0% = 23.3%)

When the researchers broke down the same information by UCR population group, the following resulted:

POPULATION AVERAGE SEX DISPARITY
100,000+ 23.0%

50,000 – 99,999 22.6%

25,000 – 49,999 23.1%

10,000 – 24,999 24.3%

under 10,000 23.0%

Clearly, there is very little difference among various sized communities in the percentage breakdown between male and females that are cited.

While the researchers’ tables do not show a “Racial Disparity” for each of the five race (or “nationality”) categories, the statewide average figures break down as follows:

RACE/NATIONALITY STATEWIDE RACIAL DISPARITY

White 3.8%

Black -2.7%

Hispanic -2.7%

Asian 0.2%

Native American 0.2%

This means that, on average, across Massachusetts, the percentage of white drivers cited is 3.8% less than the percentage 18 and older whites comprise in the state’s population. Blacks and Hispanics are each cited 2.7% more than their percentage of the state’s 18 and older population. Asians and Native Americans are cited 0.2% less than their percentage of the 18 and older state population.

When reviewing the “racial disparity” numbers for the various UCR population groups, several trends appear.

First, the percentage of white drivers cited increases steadily as the community’s population size increases, from 61.4% for the largest cities to 93.3% for the smallest towns. (Note: 93.3% is the exact statewide white population.) It is often in the smallest towns, especially in the more rural areas of the state, where the Census population and the driving population are most alike. The exact opposite is seen when each of the four “non-white” categories are studied. The largest cities cite the greatest percentages of all non-white categories, and the figures decrease as the size of the population group decreases. Blacks receive 17.3% of the citations issued in cities over 100,000 population, yet only 2.7% of those in the smallest towns. Similarly, the figures for Hispanics decrease steadily from 15.1% for the biggest cities to 3.0% for the smallest towns. Asians receive 6.1% of the largest cities’ citations, yet only 0.9% of the smallest towns. And, finally, Native Americans receive 0.3% of the citations written by cities of over 100,000 population, yet only 0.1% from towns with less than 10,000 residents. Again, in every category, there is a steady, and often uniform drop as the population category decreases.

The researchers compared the breakdown of cited drivers, by both sex and either white or not-white, to the census population. On average, across the state, of those cited,

26.3% were white females;

2.4% were non-white females;

63.2% were white males; and

8.1% were non-white males.

SEX DISPARITY

While the tables do not show one, a “Sex Disparity”, derived by comparing the percentage breakdown of persons receiving citations with their percentage breakdown in the census population, the results are as follows:

22.4% for white females;

1.0% for non-white females;

-18.6% for white males; and

-4.7% for non-white males.

This means that on average, across the state, females are cited less often than their proportion of the population, with white females being cited 22.4% less than their proportionate share and non-white females being cited 1% less than their proportionate share of the population. Conversely, white males are cited 18.6% more than their share of the population and non-white males are cited 4.7% more often than the percentage of the population they comprise.

When the “Sex Disparity” percentages are looked at for each of the five UCR population groupings, several trends appear. The disparity figures increase from 20.0% to 26.7% for white females from the largest to the smallest communities. They conversely decrease from 10.3% in the biggest cities for non-white females, to 1.4% in the smallest towns. As for males, the disparity increases steadily from 41.4% in the largest cities to 66.4% in the smallest communities, as do figures for non-white males, from 28.3% to 5.5%.

ESTIMATED DRIVING POPULATION

In the next series of charts, the researchers compare the percentage of persons cited with what they estimated to be the driving population of each community. When estimating the state’s driving population, one might expect that the overall breakdowns should be identical to the census population. With one exception, this was the case. For some reason, the percentage breakdown by race was reportedly 92.3% white in the state’s driving population in Table B2a and 93.3% in Table A1a. This results in a “Non-White Disparity” of 2.8% for the state’s “Estimated Driving Population” yet 3.8% for the state’s Census Population. Presumably the researchers determined that not all persons 18 or over are drivers.

When comparing the average percentage breakdowns of citations by the race or nationality of what the researchers estimate to be the state’s driving population, the race disparity breaks down as follows:

2.8% fewer whites were cited than their percentage of estimated drivers;

2.3% more of both the Black and Hispanic drivers were cited; and

0.3% fewer of the Asians and

0.2% fewer of the Native Americans were cited.