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Totals, hometowns key to computations
By Bill Dedman, Globe Correspondent and Francie Latour, Globe Staff, 1/6/2003
For its state-sponsored study of traffic tickets in Massachusetts, Northeastern University's Institute on Race and Justice plans to deal with this problem by including people from surrounding towns in determining each town's racial mix. The proximity to other towns, and major roads running through a town, would increase the weight given to the race of other towns. The institute's study is expected this spring. The Globe took two approaches: First, the newspaper focused on the number of people searched, as a percentage of the people ticketed. Both are known quantities. Second, in looking for disparities in ticketing, it focused on drivers ticketed in their hometowns, so the race of the ticketed can be compared with the race of the driving-age population in that town. To protect the privacy of drivers, the Registry of Motor Vehicles withheld the names and home addresses of drivers. The year of birth was given, so an age could be roughly calculated. And the home ZIP code was given, so the driver's residence could be determined. The records also show the police officer's ID number; traffic offenses charged; drug offenses charged; the vehicle year, make, and model in some cases; and the date, time, and town where the ticket was written. The records do not show the address where the ticket was written; what the officer was searching for; whether consent for the search was sought or given; whether anything was found in the search; or the officer's race, sex, and age.
This story ran on page A7 of the Boston Globe on 1/6/2003.
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rivers already know one of the difficulties in calculating which races are disproportionately ticketed: You can get a ticket when you're out of town. As a result, the race of people ticketed can't be compared directly with a town's racial mix.
