Work

A Few Bad Apples? Racial Bias in Policing

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: We estimate the degree to which individual police officers practice racial discrimination. Using a bunching estimation design and data from the Florida Highway Patrol, we show that minorities are less likely to receive a discount on their speeding tickets than White drivers. Disaggregating this difference to the individual police officer, we estimate that 42 percent of officers practice discrimination. We then apply our officer- level discrimination measures to various policy-relevant questions in the literature. In particular, reassigning officers across locations based on their lenience can effectively reduce the aggregate disparity in treatment (JEL H76, J15, K42)

Source: American Economic Review

DOI: 10.1257/aer.20181607

Authors: Felipe Goncalves, Steven Mello

Institutions: University of California, Los Angeles, Dartmouth College, National Bureau of Economic Research

Language: English

Topic: Policing Practices and Perceptions

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W3123396597

FWCI: 98.42

Cites: 48

Cited by: 206

Related to: 10