1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910717383103321

Autore

Devi Tanaya

Titolo

Policing the Police : The Impact of "Pattern-or-Practice" Investigations on Crime / / Tanaya Devi, Roland G. Fryer Jr

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge, Massachusetts : , : National Bureau of Economic Research, , 2020

[Washington, D.C.] : , : Congressional Research Service, , 2020-

Edizione

[[Library of Congress public edition].]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource : illustrations (black and white);

Collana

NBER working paper series ; ; no. w27324

Altri autori (Persone)

FryerRoland G

Soggetti

Economics

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

June 2020.

Sommario/riassunto

This paper provides the first empirical examination of the impact of federal and state "Pattern-or-Practice" investigations on crime and policing. For investigations that were not preceded by "viral" incidents of deadly force, investigations, on average, led to a statistically significant reduction in homicides and total crime. In stark contrast, all investigations that were preceded by "viral" incidents of deadly force have led to a large and statistically significant increase in homicides and total crime. We estimate that these investigations caused almost 900 excess homicides and almost 34,000 excess felonies. The leading hypothesis for why these investigations increase homicides and total crime is an abrupt change in the quantity of policing activity. In Chicago, the number of police-civilian interactions decreased by almost 90% in the month after the investigation was announced. In Riverside CA, interactions decreased 54%. In St. Louis, self-initiated police activities declined by 46%. Other theories we test such as changes in community trust or the aggressiveness of consent decrees associated with investigations -- all contradict the data in important ways.