Walking while Black:Racial Gaps in Hit-and-Run Cases

Madina Kurmangaliyeva and Matteo Sostero

No 2022-08, Working Papers ECARES from ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles

Abstract: We provide a causal test for racial gaps in victimization and clearance rates, using unintentional vehicle-pedestrian crashes. The victim’s raceshould not depend on the driver’s characteristics, conditional on location and time. We find that American drivers flee 13% more often if they hitBlack pedestrians, and their clearance rates are 11% lower. This provides rare evidence of racial discrimination by the public in a high-stakes environment.These gaps correlate, suggesting statistical discrimination as a mechanism and underlining the importance of closing the racial gapin clearance rates, especially in poorer non-Black neighborhoods. Tastebased discrimination is arguably also at play.

Keywords: racial gap; victimization; hit-and-run crimes; statistical discrimination; out-group bias; law enforcement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 65 p.
Date: 2022-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
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