According to city data collected during 2023, jaywalking summonses are distributed disproportionately in New York City, with Black and Latino pedestrians being by far the most common demographics to receive these notices from traffic authorities. Over 90% of jaywalking tickets issued last year were given to people of those two ethnicities.
NYPD officers wrote 467 summons for violating a section of the state’s Vehicle and Traffic Law, as reported by Streetsblog NYC. Among the 426 summonses actually issued, 92 percent were written to Black or Latino residents.
Black residents were issued 59 percent of the tickets while Latinos were issued 33 percent, as cited from the blog.
In Washington Heights, 97.3 percent of the 38 jaywalking summonses police handed out were to a person of color. In central Brooklyn, 100 percent of the 36 tickets were written to a Black or Hispanic person, and in Upper Manhattan, 100 percent of the 29 tickets were given to a Black or Hispanic person.
In the past, the NYPD has faced scrutiny for unevenly targeting Black and Brown minorities in relation to petty crimes such as jaywalking.
According to Streetsblog, 2019 data shows that 90 percent of all traffic tickets were issued Black and Latino pedestrians.
In relation to the wider scope of the city’s population, Black people make up 21 percent of all New York City residents, whereas Latino residents comprise 29 percent. In comparison, white people make up 32 percent of the population while receiving 5 percent of tickets, the data shows.
