The case that policing in Baltimore is racially biased, in seven charts

The case that policing in Baltimore is racially biased, in seven charts
By Max Ehrenfreund

The Justice Department's report alleging unconstitutional and racially biased law enforcement in Baltimore is 163 pages long, but some of the agency's strongest evidence is summarized in seven charts.

Together these charts not only show that police in Baltimore are more likely to arrest and charge black residents than white residents; the Justice Department also uses the data to rebut several possible explanations for this disparity other than racial discrimination.

1. Police stop more black residents

Between 2010 and 2015, the Justice Department found, Baltimore police stopped black pedestrians on the street 52 times for every 100 black residents living in the city. Many people were stopped more than once. Baltimore police stopped one black man, described as in his mid-50s, 30 times in four years despite never once being cited or charged, according to the report.

By contrast, police stopped white pedestrians only 18 times for every 100 whiteresidents in the city during the same period.

Like black pedestrians, black drivers were also more likely to be stopped in Baltimore. Although just 60 percent of the city's driving-age population is black, according to the report, 82 percent of those the police stopped for traffic violations were black drivers.

2. Black residents are arrested more often for drugs

It could be that Baltimore's black residents commit more crimes than its white residents, which would account for the disparity in the rates of arrest — -- but the data on drug charges suggests otherwise.

Research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that similar numbers of African Americans and white Americans use drugs. In 2014, about 12.4 percent of the black population over 12 years old reported using drugs nationwide. The figure for the white population was 10.4 percent.

[White people are more likely to deal drugs, but black people are more likely to be arrested for it]

Nationally, both groups break drug-use laws at similar rates. It is possible that the national figures are not exactly accurate for Baltimore in particular, but the city's black residents were about five times more likely than residents of other races to be arrested on a charge of possessing illegal drugs.

3. Police search black civilians, but don't find contraband

Further, when police conduct searches, they are more likely to find contraband — -- such as drugs or illegal guns — -- on pedestrians and drivers who are not black.

This fact is further reason to doubt that the disparity in arrests is due to some difference in how frequently black and white residents of Baltimore break the law.

4. The neighborhood doesn't make a difference

Police in Baltimore are disproportionately stopping and searching black civilians, and this disparity cannot be explained by any racial difference in behavior. It could be, however, that the discrepancy results from policies and strategies implemented by the department as a whole, rather than bias on the part of individual officers.

For example, it is possible that those racial disparities exist because police spend more time in Baltimore's black neighborhoods, given 93 percent of the city's homicide victims last year were black. Where police are on patrol, they are more likely to see crimes committed in those areas.

Yet Baltimore's black residents are more likely to be stopped wherever they go in the city. In fact, the disparities are greatest in neighborhoods that are predominantly populated by people of other races.

5. There are fewer drug arrests for black residents of other cities

In many big cities, police target street drug sales in urban neighborhoods, whichcould also explain the disparities in drug charges specifically.

While this strategy is common in predominantly predominately black neighborhoods across the country, Baltimore still stands out for its high rate of charging black civilians with drug possession. As an example, black residents of Baltimore are about  roughly three times more likely to be arrested for possessing drugs than black residents of Cleveland.

To be sure, there could be other reasons that rates of arrest on drug charges differ between cities. As the report notes, however, these cities are demographically similar and also have similar rates of drug use and violent crime.

These similarities suggest that substantial differences in enforcement patterns in Baltimore and the other cities probably  likely reflect the priorities of Baltimore police, rather than other factors.

6. Black residents get more vague charges

Police are nearly four times morelikely to arrest black civilians than civilians of other races on charges such as making a false statement, disobeying an officer or resisting arrest. These charges are subjective by their nature, and police have substantial discretion in deciding whether or not to enforce these rules.

7. These vague charges are often dropped

When booking officers and prosecutors receive these charges, they are more likely to decline them if the suspect is black, indicating these reviewers saw the charges as undeserved. For instance, more than 1 in 4  one in four charges of disturbing the peace against black defendants were dismissed on initial review. Among defendants of other races, this figure was 1  one in almost 20.

At least as prosecutors in Baltimore see it, police officers are more likely to arrest black residents on a vague charge without a compelling reason.

More from Wonkblog:

The black/white marijuana arrest gap, in nine charts

White people are more likely to deal drugs, but black people are more likely to get arrested for it

Pot legalization hasn't done anything to shrink the racial gap in drug arrests

August 11, 2016 at 01:14PM
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