Driving While Black or Brown: The California DWB Report

Publication Date: January 2002

Publisher: American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California

Author(s): Michelle Alexander

Research Area: Justice; Social conditions

Keywords: DWB; race; discrimination; police

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

Racial profiling by law enforcement has long plagued communities of color, yet until recently was virtually ignored by the media, courts and public officials. In the past few years, the issue seized the attention of the public as never before, due in no small part to the data first released in New Jersey and Maryland proving what communities of color have always known to be true: Police routinely target people of color at grossly disproportionate rates for humiliating and often frightening detentions, interrogations and searches based not on any evidence of criminal activity, but rather on the color of one's skin.