Police Use of Force as an Extension of Arrests: Examining Disparities across Civilian and Officer Race

Emily K. Weisburst

AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2019, vol. 109, 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.

JEL-codes: D63 J15 J45 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
Note: DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20191028
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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