Suspect Citizens
What 20 Million Traffic Stops Tell Us About Policing and Race
Frank R. Baumgartner, Derek A. Epp, and Kelsey Shoub
Cambridge University Press, 2018
Winner, C. Herman Pritchett Best Book Award from the APSA Organized Section on Law and Courts, 2019
Media Discussion
Discussion of our book in the media.
More than a year after George Floyd’s murder, would more women police officers improve policing? Washington Post Monkey Cage. June 15, 2021. Katelyn E. Stauffer, Kelsey Shoub, and Miyeon Song
Why traffic stops can be deadly for people of color. Los Angeles Times. April 15, 2021. Frank R. Baumgartner, Derek Epp and Kelsey Shoub
Taking cops out of traffic stops. Burlington Times-News. 22 March, 2021, by Ahmed Jallow.
Driving while Black: ABC News analysis of traffic stops reveals racial disparities in several US cities. ABC News, Good Morning America, September 9, 2020, by Pierre Thomas, Yun Choi, Jasmine Brown & Pete Madden.
Suspect Citizens In A Democracy [Revisited], Democracy Works podcast, July 6, 2020. (See also a similar podcast below from October 1, 2018. This is a follow-up interview to that earlier one.) (Also available on the Penn State NPR station here: https://radio.wpsu.org/post/democracy-works-suspect-citizens-democracy-rebroadcast
Ten Years of Study and the Protesters are Right. What traffic stops tell us about racial bias in policing. Medium.com/3streams, June 25, 2020 (Frank R. Baumgartner, Leah Christiani, Derek A. Epp, Kelsey Shoub, and Kevin Roach)
'It's become a part of life': Black North Carolinians arrested more often than white counterparts, I-Team investigation shows. ABC11.com (Durham / Raleigh), by Jonah Kaplan, Samantha Kummerer and Maggie Green, June 12, 2020.
Explaining Racial Inequity and Policing Disparities with 20M NC Traffic Stops. Chapelboro.com, by Elle Kehres, June 9, 2020.
CMPD continues to stop, search and arrest black men disproportionately. WCNC.com (ABC news, Charlotte, NC), by Nate Morabito, June 8, 2020.
Examining the racial disparities of traffic stops. CBS This Morning, by Michelle Miller, June 6, 2020.
Zakaria: There are deep inequities in this country. CNN.com, by Fareed Zakaria, May 31, 2020.
North Carolina traffic stops, including those in Piedmont Triad, show racial disparities, data says. WXII-TV, chanel 12, Greensboro, NC, by DaVonté McKenith, Feb 24, 2020.
Oregon officers can no longer ask random questions during traffic stops. An attorney hopes more states will follow. CNN, by Christina Maxouris, December 14, 2019.
The Policy Agenda podcast, Suspect Citizens, Septmber 30, 2019 (35 minutes of audio)
Data backs up "driving while black" concept, UNC professor says. WNCN TV (CBS 17, Raleigh NC), by Marius Payton, May 4, 2019.
This city's police limited traffic stops. Crime went down. Could Louisville do the same? Louisville Courier Journal, by Andrew Wolfson, April 25, 2019
LMPD handcuffed a black teen for a wide turn, then told him to 'quit with the attitude', Louisville Courier Journal, by Andrew Wolfson, April 4, 2019
What decades of traffic stop data tells us about racial bias, CBS News Saturday Morning, interview with Michelle Miller, March 2, 2019
Rethinking Traffic Stops, NPR Weekend Edition Saturday, interview with Scott Simon, February 9, 2019
WMBF INVESTIGATES: Statistics show stereotyping, targeting in traffic stops, by Samantha Kummerer, WMBF-TV (Myrtle Beach, SC) January 23, 2019
Criminal Injustice, with David A. Harris: Read This: Suspect Citizens (podcast), November 2, 2018 (7 minute audio)
A story about democracy, told through 20 million traffic stops, Democracy Works podcast, October 1, 2018 (30 minute audio)
Focus Carolina: Frank Baumgartner, WCHL-FM, September 24, 2018. (includes a 5 minute audio segment about the book.)
UNC professor Frank Baumgartner on race, traffic stops, and why you should care, by Claire Willmschen, Daily Tar Heel, September 4, 2018.
Do You Know Why You Pulled Me Over? by Charles Epp, Washington Monthly, September/October 2018.
Race And Policing, by Aaron Keck, Chapelboro.com, August 10, 2018
Driving While Black, What’s In The Data?, by Dana Terry & Frank Stasio, WUNC-FM, The State of Things, August 9, 2018
New data proves black drivers more likely to be pulled over, searched by police in NC, by Nathan Morabito, WCNC-TV, Charlotte, August 7, 2018
Driving While Black: New Book Chronicles 20 Million Traffic Stops, by Michael Scott, Medium.com, August 7, 2018
New numbers show racial inequality for drivers pulled over in NC, by Savannah Levins, WCNC-TV, Charlotte, August 6, 2018
Police profiling of NC mortorists must stop. NC data base on traffic stops confirms racial profiling, editorial, Raleigh News & Observer, July 31, 2018
The fears of Driving While Black in NC are true. The data prove it, by Frank R. Baumgartner, Derek A. Epp, and Kelsey Shoub, Raleigh News & Observer, July 27, 2018
Why Traffic Stops Cause More Harm than Good. InnocenceProject.org, July 19, 2018
What data on 20 million traffic stops can tell us about ‘driving while black,' by John Sides. Washington Post Monkey Cage, July 17, 2018
Why Traffic Stops Don’t Stop Crime, By Isidoro Rodriguez, The Crime Report, July 17, 2018
NewBooksNetwork interview with Frank Baumgartner and Stephen Pimpare about Suspect Citizens, July 4, 2018 (30 minute audio interview)
Scholars Strategy Network policy brief, June 1, 2018 (This is a two-page summary of the book.)
Is It Time to Reconsider Traffic Stops? By Tanvi Misra. CityLab.com. Jun 6, 2018
-- Also published as Uncovering Disparities in Policing by Analyzing Traffic Stop Data. By Tanvi Misra. Pacific Standard. June 7, 2018
-- Also published as Traffic Stops: Pretexts for Racial Repression. By Tanvi Misra. BlackAgendaReport.com. Jun 12, 2018
Is North Carolina Ready to Take Marijuana Reform Seriously? By Rhiannon Fionn. Creative Loafing, Charlotte. Jun 6, 2018
Straight Talk, a panel discussion featuring Frank Baumgartner and Charlotte Police Chief Kerr Putney, March 12, 2018. This video (44 minutes) was originally broadcast on the CMPD facebook page.
Study Spotlights CMPD Traffic Stops and Searches, by Will Kennedy, WCCB-TV, Charlotte, November 14, 2017
9 investigates 10 years of traffic stops, finds racial disparities, WSOC-TV, Charlotte, November 10, 2017
For discussion of our research before publication of the book, see Baumgartner's Traffic Stops Web Page.
(This page was last updated June 15, 2021 .)