Does black and blue matter? An experimental investigation of race, perceptions of police, and legal compliance
中文摘要
本文利用一项在线实验，考察种族在警务认知和违法意愿中的作用。我们要求黑人和白人受试者设想自己正在美国一座真实但未具名的城市中驾车，该城市以白人为多数或以非白人为多数，其警察局也以白人为多数或以非白人为多数。我们通过激励促使受试者快速驾驶，但同时警告他们，是否会收到罚单可能取决于其车速、个人特征以及该城市现实中的罚单开具做法。黑人受试者对因超速而收到罚单的可能性预期高于白人受试者。黑人受试者也表现出更高的意愿为获取警察局种族构成信息付费。然而，在所有测试条件下，黑人受试者的驾驶速度相近，不受城市种族人口结构、警察局种族构成以及二者之间差异或一致程度的影响。相比之下，当警察局的种族构成不具代表性时，白人受试者驾驶得更快。• 黑人驾驶者预测自己收到超速罚单的概率更高。• 在所有情境下，黑人驾驶者的驾驶速度均低于白人驾驶者。• 当所在城市拥有具代表性的警察队伍时，白人驾驶者的驾驶速度较低。• 黑人驾驶者的车速不取决于警察队伍是否具代表性。
Abstract
Using an online experiment, we examine the role of race in perceptions of policing and willingness to violate the law. Black and White subjects were asked to imagine themselves driving in a real (but unnamed) majority White or majority non-White US city in which the police department was either majority White or majority non-White. Subjects were incentivized to drive quickly but also warned that they might receive a ticket based on their speed, their personal characteristics, and the real-life ticketing practices in that city. Expectations about the likelihood of being ticketed for speeding were higher among Black subjects than among White subjects. Black subjects also showed a higher willingness to pay for information on the racial makeup of the police department. However, Black subjects drove at similar speeds under all conditions tested, regardless of the racial demographics of the city, the racial composition of the police department, or the disparity or congruence of the two. By contrast, White subjects drove faster when police departments were not racially representative. • Black drivers predicted a higher chance of receiving a speeding ticket. • Black drivers drover slower than White drivers in all contexts. • White drivers drove slower when in a city with a representative police force. • Black drivers’ speed did not depend on representativeness.