scholarly journals Violent Crime and the Overmilitarization of US Policing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Masera
Keyword(s):  
Violent Crime ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Point Estimate ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Level I ◽  
Identification Strategy

Abstract Using new data at the police department level, I propose an identification strategy for estimating the causal effect that police militarization has on reducing violent crime. I show that previous estimates are likely to be contaminated by unobserved factors that simultaneously determine militarization and violent crime. Upon addressing this issue, I find a point estimate that is 20 times larger than those estimated previously. I then find that one-fourth of the effect of militarization is due to the displacement of violent crime to neighboring areas. Police departments overmilitarize because they do not consider this externality. These new findings have significant implications for the policy debate concerning the costs and benefits of police militarization (JEL H56, H76, K42).

Is a Decentralized Police Organization a Better Option in a Modern Democratic Society? A Case Study From South Korea

2021 ◽  
pp. 109861112110420
Author(s):  
Sungil Han ◽  
Jennifer LaPrade ◽  
EuiGab Hwang
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Violent Crime ◽  
Fear Of Crime ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Property Crime ◽  
Interrupted Time Series ◽  
Crime Rates ◽  
Interrupted Time Series Analysis ◽  
Clearance Rates ◽  
Crime Clearance

While western countries have had a decentralized policing model for many years, some countries, such as South Korea, still employ a centralized, national police department. Responding to calls for reform, South Korea launched a pilot program and implemented a more decentralized policing structure in Jeju Island in 2006. This study adds to the policing literature by offering the empirical comparison of a region before and after decentralization of a police department. This study will examine the intervention effects of police decentralization in Jeju, specifically related to crime rates, crime clearance rates, victimization, trust in police, and fear of crime. Using propensity score matching and interrupted time series analysis, this study found that the decentralized policing intervention significantly reduced total crime, violent crime rates, and property crime rates that lasted throughout the intervention period, while improving crime clearance rates for violent crime, as well as reduced fear of crime among residents.

scholarly journals The Economics of Policing and Public Safety

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-28
Author(s):  
Emily Owens ◽  
Bocar Ba
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Relative Magnitude ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Indirect Benefits ◽  
Monitoring Strategies ◽  
Police Action ◽  
The City

The efficiency of any police action depends on the relative magnitude of its crime-reducing benefits and legitimacy costs. Policing strategies that are socially efficient at the city level may be harmful at the local level, because the distribution of direct costs and benefits of police actions that reduce victimization is not the same as the distribution of indirect benefits of feeling safe. In the United States, the local misallocation of police resources is disproportionately borne by Black and Hispanic individuals. Despite the complexity of this particular problem, the incentives facing both police departments and police officers tend to be structured as if the goals of policing were simple—to reduce crime by as much as possible. Formal data collection on the crime reducing-benefits of policing, and not the legitimacy costs, produce s further incentives to provide more engagement than may be efficient in any specific encounter, at both the officer and departmental level. There is currently little evidence as to what screening, training, or monitoring strategies are most effective at encouraging individual officers to balance the crime reducing benefits and legitimacy costs of their actions.

scholarly journals Causal-Effect Analysis using Bayesian LiNGAM Comparing with Correlation Analysis in Function Point Metrics and Effort

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masanari Kondo ◽  
Osamu Mizuno ◽  
Eun-Hye Choi
Keyword(s):  
Causal Effect ◽  
Task Assignment ◽  
Effort Estimation ◽  
Software Effort Estimation ◽  
Estimation Model ◽  
Effect Analysis ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Function Point ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Non Gaussian

Software effort estimation is a critical task for successful software development, which is necessary for appropriately managing software task assignment and schedule and consequently producing high quality software. Function Point (FP) metrics are commonly used for software effort estimation. To build a good effort estimation model, independent explanatory variables corresponding to FP metrics are required to avoid a multicollinearity problem. For this reason, previous studies have tackled analyzing correlation relationships between FP metrics. However, previous results on the relationships have some inconsistencies. To obtain evidences for such inconsistent results and achieve more effective effort estimation, we propose a novel analysis, which investigates causal-effect relationships between FP metrics and effort. We use an advanced linear non-Gaussian acyclic model called BayesLiNGAM for our causal-effect analysis, and compare the correlation relationships with the causal-effect relationships between FP metrics. In this paper, we report several new findings including the most effective FP metric for effort estimation investigated by our analysis using two datasets.

The Impact of Military Spending on Economic Development

2018 ◽  
pp. 182-191
Author(s):  
Saptarshi Chakraborty
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Military Spending ◽  
Military Expenditure ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
External Threats ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Impact

Some countries spend a relatively large percentage of GDP on their militaries in order to preserve or secure their status as global powers. Others do so because they are ruled by military governments or aggressive regimes that pose a military threat to their neighbors or their own populations. It is debatable whether there is a causal relationship between military spending and economic growth in the economy. It is again a policy debate how much to allocate funds for civilian and how much for military expenditure. Under these puzzling results of the impact of military expenditure on economic growth which is frequently found to be non-significant or negative, yet most countries spend a large fraction of their GDP on defense and the military. The chapter tries to investigate the relationship between military spending and economic growth in India. It also sees whether external threats, corruption, and other relevant controls have any causal effect. This chapter obtains that additional expenditure on Indian military in the presence of additional threat is significantly detrimental to growth implying that India cannot afford to fight or demonstrate power at the cost of its development.

Where Women Make a Difference: Gender Quotas and Firms’ Performance in Three European Countries

ILR Review ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 768-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Comi ◽  
Mara Grasseni ◽  
Federica Origo ◽  
Laura Pagani
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Corporate Board ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Accounting Data ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Identification Strategy

The authors study the effect of corporate board gender quotas on firm performance in France, Italy, and Spain. The identification strategy exploits the exogenous variation in mandated gender quotas within country and over time and uses a counterfactual methodology. Using firm-level accounting data and a difference-in-difference estimator, the authors find that gender quotas had either a negative or an insignificant effect on firm performance in the countries considered with the exception of Italy, where they find a positive impact on productivity. The authors then focus on Italy. Using a novel data set containing detailed information on board members’ characteristics, they offer possible explanations for the positive effect of gender quotas. The results provide an important contribution to the policy debate about the optimal design of legislation on corporate gender quotas.

Examining the Validity of Traffic Stop Data: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Police Officer Compliance

2020 ◽  
pp. 109861112093364
Author(s):  
Joshua Chanin ◽  
Megan Welsh
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Police Officer ◽  
Error Rate ◽  
San Diego ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Percent Error ◽  
External Stakeholders

Police departments rely on administrative rules to set organizational priorities and establish systems of accountability. To that end, several departments require officers to submit data describing every traffic stop they conduct as a way of tracking officer activity and identifying any race-based disparities. This paper draws on an analysis of San Diego Police Department traffic stop records, as well as officer survey and interview data, to examine the validity of the traffic stop data gathered and the compliance-related motivations of officers. Findings indicate a 19 percent error rate in stop data submitted between 2014 and 2015, amidst evidence of substantial underreporting. Qualitative data suggest that officers see the policy as redundant and an infringement on more pressing aspects of their job. They doubt the ability of external stakeholders to interpret the data objectively and report a loss of morale, largely attributed to the perception that their actions are inaccurately racialized.

Measuring the impact of police representativeness on communities

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 773-790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maren B. Trochmann ◽  
Angela Gover
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Us ◽  
Community Conflict ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the representativeness of police departments, i.e. the extent to which the demographics of sworn police officers mirror their local constituency’s demographic makeup, has an effect on communities. The study seeks to explain whether community complaints about police use of force are related to the representativeness of the police department. Design/methodology/approach The study examines the relationships between use of force complaints lodged against a police department and the representativeness of the police vis-à-vis their community using ordinary least squares regression and city fixed-effects models. The stratified sample of 100 large US cities uses data from the US Census Equal Employment Opportunity Survey and the Bureau of Justice Statistics Law Enforcement Management and Administration Statistics Survey from several points-in-time. Findings The analysis suggests that racial makeup and, to a lesser extent, local residency of police departments might matter in reducing community conflict with police, as represented by use of force complaints. However, the fixed-effects model suggests that unobserved community-level characteristics and context matter more than police departments’ representativeness. Originality/value This study seeks to provide a unique perspective and empirical evidence on community conflict with police by integrating the public administration theory of representative bureaucracy with criminal justice theories of policing legitimacy. The findings have implications for urban policing as well as law enforcement human capital and public management practices, which is essential to understand current crises in police-citizen relations in the US, especially in minority communities.

An Exploratory Multilevel Analysis of Pedestrian Frisks in Philadelphia

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-113
Author(s):  
Lance Hannon
Keyword(s):  
Violent Crime ◽  
Crime Rate ◽  
Ethnic Disparities ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Stop And Frisk ◽  
Violent Crime Rate ◽  
Public Data ◽  
The Individual

The City of Philadelphia has faced significant litigation related to racial and ethnic disparities in stop-and-frisk practices. The Philadelphia Police Department has made much of its stop-and-frisk data publicly available in the name of transparency and to facilitate independent investigation (the data describe over 350,000 pedestrian stops with over 45,000 pedestrian frisks for 2014–2015). The current analysis made use of this public data set to explore whether the individual-level relationship between Black racial classification and being subjected to a frisk can be explained by associated neighborhood-level factors such as the violent crime rate. Additionally, the present analysis examined whether variation in the violent crime rate is similarly related to the likelihood of being frisked in predominantly Black versus non-Black areas and whether area racial composition affects the likelihood that an officer’s decision to frisk will be supported with uncovered contraband. The results were consistent with theories of neighborhood racial stigma. In particular, the violent crime rate was a significantly weaker predictor of being frisked in Black areas, and, net of a variety of factors at the individual and neighborhood levels, Black citizens and Black places experienced a disproportionate amount of frisks where no contraband was found or arrest made.

Race, Place, and Context: The Persistence of Race Effects in Traffic Stop Outcomes in the Face of Situational, Demographic, and Political Controls

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-508
Author(s):  
Kelsey Shoub ◽  
Derek A. Epp ◽  
Frank R. Baumgartner ◽  
Leah Christiani ◽  
Kevin Roach
Keyword(s):  
Police Department ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Police Chief ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Traffic Stops ◽  
Race Effects ◽  
The Face ◽  
Municipal Police ◽  
Municipal Police Departments ◽  
Unique Dataset

AbstractEvidence that racial minorities are targeted for searches during police traffic stops is widespread, but observed differences in outcomes following a traffic stop between white drivers and people of color could potentially be due to factors correlated with driver race. Using a unique dataset recording over 5 million traffic stops from 90 municipal police departments, we control for and evaluate alternative explanations for why a driver may be searched. These include: (1) the context of the stop itself, (2) the characteristics of the police department including the race of the police chief, and (3) demographic and racial composition of the municipality within which the stop occurs. We find that the driver's race remains a robust predictor: black male drivers are consistently subjected to more intensive police scrutiny than white drivers. Additionally, we find that all drivers are less likely to be subject to highly discretionary searches if the police chief is black. Together, these findings indicate that race matters in multiple and varied ways for policing outcomes.

“Does daylight matter”? An examination of racial bias in traffic stops by police

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 675-688
Author(s):  
Anthony G. Vito ◽  
Vanessa Woodward Griffin ◽  
Gennaro F. Vito ◽  
George E. Higgins
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Racial Profiling ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Traffic Stops ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
The Veil ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to draw a better understanding of the potential impact of daylight in officer decision making. In order to this, the authors test the veil of darkness hypothesis, which theorizes that racial bias in traffic stops can be tested by controlling for the impact of daylight, while operating under the assumption that driver patterns remain constant across race.Design/methodology/approachPublicly available traffic-stop records from the Louisville Metro Police Department for January 2010–2019. The analysis includes both propensity score matching to examine the impact of daylight in similarly situated stops and coefficients testing to analyze how VOD may vary in citation-specific models.FindingsThe results show that using PSM following the VOD hypothesis does show evidence of racial bias, with Black drivers more likely to be stopped. Moreover, the effects of daylight significantly varied across citation-specific models.Research limitations/implicationsThe data are self-reported from the officer and do not contain information on the vehicle make or model.Practical implicationsThis paper shows that utilizing PSM and coefficients testing provides for a better analysis following the VOD hypothesis and does a better job of understanding the impact of daylight and the officer decision-making on traffic stops.Social implicationsBased on the quality of the data, the findings show that the use of VOD allows for the performance of more rigorous analyses of traffic stop data – giving police departments a better way to examine if racial profiling is evident.Originality/valueThis is the first study (to the researchers' knowledge) that applies the statistical analyses of PSM to the confines of the veil of darkness hypothesis.

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