Researchers found that having at least one Black person in local government could reduce the correlation between race and increased fines by 50 percent. (Photo by Blend Images/Getty Images).
While the use of fines as revenue is common in most cities, a recent study found that the practice is strongly correlated with the share of Black people living in a given locale.
The study, conducted by political science researchers Michael W. Sances of the University of Memphis and Hye Young Mou of Vanderbilt University, discovered two major findings about disproportionate ticketing in predominately Black communities.
Using data from more than 9,000 cities, researchers found that cities with bigger African-American populations tend to rely more on fines and court fees to bring in revenue. The average collection was around $8 per person in cities that receive at least some revenue from citations. However, the price jumped to nearly $20 per person in cities with higher Black populations.
The disparate findings held true even when researchers controlled for other factors, such as city size and differences in crime rate, Vox reported.
Sances and Mou took their research a step further by exploring how much the disparity could be mitigated if just one Black person sat on the city council. They utilized a smaller sample of 3,700 cities and found that having at least one Black person on the city council scaled back the correlation between race and fines by nearly 50 percent.
“What a lot of cities do is rely on a source of revenue that falls disproportionately on their black residents,” Sances told Vox. “And when blacks gain representation on the city council, this relationship gets a lot better. The situation does not become perfect — but it becomes alleviated to a great extent.”
Researchers discussed the possibility that Black politicians might be more sensitive to Black voters’ grievances and step in to alleviate the unfair fines by instructing authorities to stop their exploitative revenue practices.
Their study doesn’t prove causation, however, and Sances and Mou warned against drawing concrete conclusions from a single study. They told the news site they hope to further explore the matter and address some of the report’s limitations in future analyses.
The duo’s study adds to existing evidence displaying how African-Americans are unfairly targeted when it comes to ticketing. Last year, more than a dozen plaintiffs filed a lawsuit accusing 13 St. Louis County, Mo., towns with “extorting money” through traffic fines from low-income Black residents in “a deliberate and coordinated scheme … to fill [their] coffers.” As previously reported, the suit was filed two years to the day a white policeman fatally shot Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson, Mo.
While researchers suggested electing more Black representation to local governments as a potential solution to the disparity, they acknowledged that even an all-Black representation might not completely fix the problem.
“There’s a degree of influence there for sure,” Sances told the news site. “[But] we don’t assume city councils have perfect control over the police.”
