A meta-analysis of suspect demographic characteristics and American police officer search decisions

The last summary of the research on police search decisions was completed by the National Research Council in 2004, and the present study uses the meta-analytic method to update the previous summaries of research on police search behavior. In doing so, two objectives are attempted: 1) identify which suspect characteristics impact decisions to search citizens and 2) assess the impact of methodological characteristics on research results. Of the suspect characteristics that have been analyzed, suspect race and gender appear to have the greatest impact on search decisions. However, it also appears that the methodological characteristics of research studies have a strong influence on findings. The findings of this analysis point to a primary concern for future research on search decision-making. Analyses of search behavior must standardize operationalization of the dependent variable before research in this area can be adequately synthesized.