Several recent studies have shown evidence that police officials in NYC seem to be affected by racial bias when stopping people for random controls. However, the differences in the stopping rate could also be explained by spatial heterogeneity among different precincts or by the presence of disproportionate crime rates for different racial groups. In this study we try to assess the presence of racial disparities and to consider their evolution in time. Our study shows that even with these controls there is strong evidence for a significant bias against the African-Americans, and, to a less extent, against the Hispanics. However, we find some evidence that these discriminatory phenomena have been reducing over the course of the last years.

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