Dr. Scott Wolfe, PhD students publish research on traffic stops in Criminology journal

June 24, 2024 - Emily Jodway

A trio of researchers from the School of Criminal Justice recently published an article in Criminology, the premier journal for scholars devoted to the study of crime and deviant behavior. 

Dr. Scott Wolfe, Professor and Associate Director of the program, along with PhD candidate Travis Carter and PhD student Jed Knode, analyzed the veil of darkness (VOD) method, a process used to examine racial disparities in police traffic stop behavior, in their article titled “Pulling back the veil of darkness: A proposed road map to disentangle racial disparities in traffic stops, a research note.” 

The researchers used a sample set of over 50,000 traffic stops conducted by Michigan State Police in 2021 to assess the functionality of this method, suggesting taking into account factors like what exactly defines ‘daytime’ and when is it officially considered ‘nighttime,’ as well as seasonal changes in driving and police work. Their aim is to aid in future studies and improve current policing practices by using this more in-depth methodology, ultimately leading to more equitable decision-making during traffic stops.

Criminology is devoted to the study of crime and deviant behavior. Interdisciplinary in scope, the journal publishes articles that advance the theoretical and research agenda of criminology and criminal justice.

The full article can be read here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1745-9125.12366.