Wednesday, January 19, 2022

New Evidence for the Ferguson Effect: Police protests reduce police proactivity leading to a surge in crime in cities

Recommendable!

"In 2015 and 2016, the coincidence of a major surge in homicides following mass protests over the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, prompted a heated debate about whether the demonstrations, and the anti-police hostility they engendered, helped cause the murder spike. Law enforcement leaders and some public commentators ... identified a “Ferguson Effect,” whereby public scrutiny reduced police proactivity and led to an increase in violent crime. ...
Two new studies, however, rely on better data sets and methods to provide strong evidence that highly scrutinized officer-involved fatalities reduce discretionary police activity and lead to an increase in violent crime. ...
In the immediate aftermath of Brown’s death, self-initiated arrests fell 62 percent. Similar declines are seen across nine out of 11 categories of self-initiated activities, including foot patrol (down 82 percent) and pedestrian checks (76 percent). Notably, the decline in arrests is concentrated among misdemeanor arrests (more discretionary than felonies) and among arrests of blacks (rather than whites). This reduction in police activity persisted for at least the next two years. In the same period, the city experienced a significant rise in homicide and aggravated assault."

New Evidence for the Ferguson Effect Recent studies support a long-standing theory connecting police protests and rising violent crime.

No comments: