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Title: The Impact of Justice Department Consent Decrees from the 1970s and 1980s on Minority and Female Representation in Police and Fire Departments

Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis

Publication Year: 2020

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Abstract: The Justice Department began a number of suits in the 1970s and 1980s resulting in consent decrees that mandated increased hiring of minorities and women in police and fire departments. The author used Census data to compare representation in the departments of cities that were subject to consent decrees with those of cities that were not. Through a difference in difference regression model, the consent decrees were found to have a statistically significant impact on minority representation in police departments, minority representation in fire departments, and female representation in police departments (no significant impact was found on females in fire departments). Controlling for variables including location, age, poverty rate, and minority rates of sample cities confirm these results. The presence of a consent decree causes an additional 3.53% increase in minority police, 9.77% increase in minority firefighters, and 6.19% increase in female police according to the controlled model. This analysis suggests that using the judicial system may be an effective policy for federal agencies attempting to alter municipal policies.

Url: https://files.emailmeform.com/742180/tqc0H9IK/Honors Thesis Final - Womble.pdf

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Authors: Womble, Emerson

Institution: Syracuse University

Department: Economics

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Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Gender, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Race and Ethnicity

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