There have been academic studies and media reports on the issues related to how often law enforcement officers pull over African American drivers and cite them for moving violations. Some of those stops have led to tragic results.
New research by an ASU public finance professor and two colleagues indicate those stops may be used as ways to collect money from a certain sector of drivers — most notably, African Americans. Following what happened in Ferguson, Missouri, the researchers decided to look into to what extent the traffic fines were being used as a revenue source.
Akheil Singla is an assistant professor in ASU’s School of Public Affairs. He sat down with The Show to talk about the research.