Project Title: Shaping Data to Shape Policy: How Transparency & Data Design Informs Policy

Traffic stops are the most common form of involuntary police contact in the United States. However, information about how police carry out and use traffics stops is sporadic and scattered. This means we have limited information about any specific police department, limiting what problems and possible reforms can be identified, as information tells us where problems lie, how bad they are, and what solutions exist. To investigate this puzzle, I ask three questions: (1) When and which pushes for transparency will be successful; (2) How are transparency efforts designed and implemented; and (3) How does the public view such efforts?

Selected Publication:

• Morris, Kevin & Kelsey Shoub. Forthcoming. "Contested Killings: The Mobilizing Effects of Community Contact with Police Violence." American Political Science Review.
• Shoub, Kelsey. 2022. "Comparing Systemic & Individual Sources of Racially Disparate Traffic Stop Outcomes." Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory, 32(2): 236-251.
• Baumgartner, Frank R., Derek A. Epp, & Kelsey Shoub. 2018. Suspect Citizens: What 20 Million Traffic Stops Tell Us About Policing & Race. Cambridge University Press. 

UMass Faculty Website: https://www.umass.edu/spp/people/faculty/kelsey-shoub