AEA Papers and Proceedings
ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)
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