Police Use of Force as an Extension of Arrests: Examining Disparities across Civilian and Officer Race
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 109,
May 2019
(pp. 152-56)
Abstract
The United States is embroiled in an important debate about police use of force tactics. I find that black civilians are disproportionately likely to be involved in a use of force incident during an arrest, examining data from Dallas, Texas. However, this race disparity stems from differences in the initial likelihood of arrest. Further, I fail to find evidence of taste-based racial bias in use of force conditional on arrest, leveraging variation across officer and civilian race. The results suggest that reforms that narrowly focus on force-related protocols may be unlikely to reduce racial disparities in use of force.Citation
Weisburst, Emily K. 2019. "Police Use of Force as an Extension of Arrests: Examining Disparities across Civilian and Officer Race." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 109: 152-56. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20191028Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D63 Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- J45 Public Sector Labor Markets
- K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law