Vehicle Stops and Group Position: How Missouri Agencies Use Place and Race to Explain Disparities

• Author: Miltonette O. Craig,Jonathan C. Reid,Kelsey L. Kramer
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10439862221110996
• Published date: 01 November 2022
• Date: 01 November 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/10439862221110996

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2022, Vol. 38(4) 411 –431

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/10439862221110996

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Article

Vehicle Stops and Group

Position: How Missouri

Agencies Use Place and

Race to Explain Disparities

Miltonette O. Craig1, Jonathan C. Reid1,

and Kelsey L. Kramer1

Abstract

Missouri has been a part of the national discussion on racial profiling for several

years—most recently with the NAACP’s issuance of a statewide travel advisory

warning Black motorists of high disproportionality in vehicle stops. In their annual

reports of stop data, agencies can submit a response to explain their numerical

data. This study inductively analyzes the content of these written responses (N =

806), which were submitted between 2001 and 2019. Findings indicate that agency

responses contain rationales in accordance with a sense of group position, with

explanations for stops, searches, and arrests of motorists of color framed in terms of

outsiders as a problematic influx upon insider spaces. The responses also show that

the explanations are more about policing place than a legitimate effort at maintaining

safety of the jurisdiction. The results of this study have several important implications

for research, theory, and policy.

Keywords

policing, race/ethnicity, racial profiling, group position, out of place

Introduction

In August 2017, news outlets began covering a travel advisory issued by the National

Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) (Cornish, 2017;

1Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX, USA

Corresponding Author:

Miltonette O. Craig, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Sam Houston State University,

P.O. Box 2296, Huntsville, TX 77341-2296, USA.

Email: moc006@shsu.edu

1110996CCJXXX10.1177/10439862221110996Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticeCraig et al.

research-article2022

412 Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 38(4)

Moore, 2017; V. Williams, 2017). Unlike the typical advisory that the American public

is accustomed to seeing, this one did not warn of potential hazards for travelers going

abroad. Rather, this one warned of impending harms for travelers within the home-

land—specifically, in the state of Missouri. The NAACP’s advisory read in part: “each

individual should pay special attention while in the state of Missouri and certainly if

contemplating spending time in Missouri . . . the NAACP wants to make Missourians

and our visitors aware of looming danger” (Missouri NAACP, 2017, p. 1). These con-

cerns were grounded in an apparent pattern of state-sanctioned racial- and ethnic-

based discrimination against motorists (Blake, 2017). Encompassed within the

NAACP’s advisory is an impassioned warning to motorists to be cautious of “[over-

zealous] enforcement of routine traffic violations in Missouri against African-

Americans, [which] has resulted in an increasing trend that shows African-Americans

are 75% more likely to be stopped than Caucasians.” (NAACP, 2017).

Some motorists attribute these disparities to racial profiling by law enforcement

officials. As mentioned by a member of a local NAACP chapter,

Racism here in Missouri is hidden, and that can be the most devastating racism . . . We’re

not talking Mississippi Burning racism. We’re talking about the sort of racism of being

pulled over and asked additional questions that you might not be asked [elsewhere].

(Sanchez, 2017, p. 2)

Scholars have noted that racial and ethnic discrimination of this nature is neverthe-

less pervasive, violative of individuals’ constitutional rights, and can have a detrimen-

tal and lasting impact on the psyches and future outcomes of those who are subjected

to and subjugated by it (Brunson, 2007; Gaston et al., 2021; Rosenthal, 2003; Russell-

Brown, 1999; Warren et al., 2006; Weatherspoon, 2004; Wiley et al., 2013).

The state of Missouri and its law enforcement agencies have been a consistent part

of the national discussion on racial and ethnic profiling. Several years before the fatal

shooting of Michael Brown in 2014, community members repeatedly expressed con-

cerns that police agencies in the state employed discriminatory procedures and poli-

cies against minority residents and within minority neighborhoods (Chaney, 2015;

Patel, 2016). Due to these frequent contentions from Missouri citizens, the state legis-

lature passed Section 590.650 in 2000 (R.S. Mo. 2000). This statute requires all law

enforcement officers to report specific information for each vehicle stop made in the

state (e.g., driver’s race, reason for the stop, stop outcome, etc.). Notably, in addition

to the stop data, agencies can submit written responses to explain any racial and ethnic

disproportionality.

The current study seeks to add to the racial profiling literature by examining written

responses to determine the extent to which they align with aspects of the conflict per-

spective— namely, Blumer’s (1958) group position theory. This theory posits that

Whites, which represent the ingroup, will be threatened by and have negative attitudes

toward outgroup members, such as Black Americans, when they “encroach” upon

seemingly White social spaces, including neighborhoods. Race relations scholarship

argues that social institutions, such as the police, are racialized in critical ways