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Cited by 19Policing Practices and PerceptionsCriminal Justice and Corrections AnalysisCriminal Law and Evidence

The Influence of Defendant Race/Ethnicity and Police Body-Worn Cameras on Traffic Case Processing

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Huff, Jessica, White, Michael D., Padilla, Kathleen E.·2023·Race and Justice
DOI 10.1177/21533687211004696
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Abstract

The current study evaluates the impact of defendant race/ethnicity and police body-worn cameras (BWCs) on dismissals and guilty pleas in traffic violations. Despite the frequency of traffic violations and the potential for racial/ethnic bias in these incidents, researchers have yet to examine the outcomes of these violations in court. Research is also needed to assess the potential for BWCs to provide evidence and reduce charging disparities and differential pleas for minority defendants. Traffic violations processed in the Tempe, Arizona Municipal Court before and after BWC deployment were examined using logistic regression. Black and Hispanic defendants were less likely to have their violations dismissed than White defendants, regardless of the presence of a BWC. Hispanic defendants were significantly more likely to plead guilty to traffic violations than White defendants, and BWCs did not eliminate this disparity. BWCs did significantly reduce the likelihood of a guilty plea for Black and White defendants, but the finding was not robust to the inclusion of an interaction term between race and BWCs. BWCs did not significantly moderate the impact of defendant race/ethnicity on either dismissals or guilty pleas. Overall, the results suggest that BWCs have little impact on reducing racial/ethnic disparities in traffic violation processing.

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  • Body-worn cameras, by themselves, are not a sufficient tool for eliminating racially and ethnically disparate treatment by police.

    “Even so, body-worn cameras, by themselves, are not a suf fi cient tool for eliminating racially and ethnically disparate treatment by police (Huff et al., 2021), one reason being that implicit bias and deliberate pro fi ling can affect of fi cers ' decisions concerning when to activate cameras (Murphy, 2019).”

    From A call to dismantle systemic racism in criminal legal systems. (2022) · cites this paper as Huff et al., 2021

    The Abstract reports that body-worn cameras did not eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in traffic-case dismissals and guilty pleas. But the Discussion says their effect on officers’ decisions to initiate stops was beyond the study’s scope. The finding supports the broader concern that cameras alone may not eliminate disparities, but not the specific claim about disparate treatment by police. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Huff, J., White, M. D., & Padilla, K. E.
Affiliations
Arizona State University (US)
Corresponding author
Huff, Jessica
ORCID
Venue
Race and Justice
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2021-03-30
Volume
13
Issue
3
Pages
346-369
ISSN
2153-3687 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1177/21533687211004696
OpenAlex
W3146436087
Cited by
19
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 5
FWCI
5.33
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Race and Justice (publishedVersion)
  • DigitalCommons@UNO (submittedVersion)
Funders
Laura and John Arnold Foundation
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Policing Practices and Perceptions
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis
  • Social Sciences › Law › Criminal Law and Evidence
Keywords
police body cameras, traffic offenses, racial disparities in criminal justice, guilty plea, police discretion, Black defendants, Hispanic defendants, police accountability

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