Full Citation

Title: Estimating Effects of Police Force Diversity: A Replication and Extension of Previous Research

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2019

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI:

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: Many police departments in the United States have experienced affirmative action litigation designed to increase the shares of nonwhite and female police officers. This paper examines whether court-imposed affirmative action plans have impacted the rates of reported offenses and/or offenses cleared by arrest, seeking to replicate and extend Lott [2000] and McCrary [2007]. Using a series of econometric strategies, including difference-indifferences decomposition and generalized synthetic controls, we do not find a significant effect of court-imposed affirmative action plans on the rates of reported offenses or reported offenses cleared by arrest, a finding consistent with McCrary [2007]. We also consider whether unlitigated agencies change their practices due to the threat of litigation, but, like McCrary [2007], are unable to identify causal evidence of such threat effects. We suggest that future research should seek to identify the specific causal mechanisms linking agency racial composition and public safety outcomes.

Url: https://s18798.pcdn.co/annaharvey/wp-content/uploads/sites/6417/2019/04/AA_Crime.pdf

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Garner, Maryah; Harvey, Anna; Johnson, Hunter

Publisher: Claremont Graduate University

Data Collections: IPUMS CPS

Topics: Crime and Deviance, Other

Countries: