[JURIST] Lawrence Greenfeld, former director of the US Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) [official website], has been demoted, several months after he complained that the Bush administration was interfering with the release of a report detailing racial profiling in traffic stops. In April, as BJS prepared to release Contacts between Police and the Public: Findings from the 2002 National Survey [abstract; PDF full text], political supervisors within the Justice Department are said to have ordered that Greenfeld remove from an accompanying press release certain details on disparities in how racial groups were treated once stopped. Greenfeld refused to do so, saying that the changes would make the press release misleading. As a result, the report was posted online without the issuance of a press release or a briefing to members of Congress on the results of the study. White House officials have said that no political pressure was ever exerted over BJS and refused to comment on the circumstances of Greenfeld's job change. Wednesday's New York Times has more.