#333 Racial Disparities in Illinois Traffic Stops

Since 2004, the Illinois Traffic and Pedestrian Stop Statistical Study Act has required Illinois law enforcement to document and report traffic stops to the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Mollie Pettit and Chris Kucharczyk have worked in conjunction with the ACLU-IL to investigate whether systemic racial bias may appear - and to what extent - in the Illinois traffic stops data. Since then, they’ve created (with the help of Alex Alleavitch) a website - IllinoisTrafficStops.com - to showcase the results of the analysis in a visual and explorable way. The hope is that the site will serve as a resource for the public to learn about law enforcement practices, as well as for law enforcement agencies to make informed improvements around racial disparities for the good of their officers and the people they serve.

During this presentation, Rachel Murphy (ACLU) will walk you through the history of the law that requires the traffic stops data collection. Mollie and Chris will then dive into the evolution of the project, touching on data analysis, data visualization design, and decisions made along the way on how to best communicate the results.

Rachel Murphy is a Staff Attorney with the ACLU-IL and was heavily involved in creating the latest ACLU-IL report on this traffic stops data - Racism in the Rear View Mirror. Chris Kucharczyk is a data scientist at IDEO. Mollie Pettit (@MollzMP) is a data visualization / data science freelancer and organizer of the Chicago Data Viz Community group.

RSVP required Braintree now requires all attendees to RSVP beforehand by 12:00 PM (noon). Walk-ins will not be allowed!

ASL This event will have an American Sign Language interpreter.

Food Food and drinks will be provided. We encourage attendees to bring their own water bottles to reduce waste.