Police

When police pull back: Neighborhood-level effects of de-policing on violent and property crime

Many U.S. cities witnessed both de-policing and increased crime in 2020, yet it remains unclear whether the former contributed to the latter. Indeed, much of what is known about the effects of proactive policing on crime comes from studies that …

Officer Diversity May Reduce Black Americans' Fear of the Police

Would police racial and gender diversification reduce Black Americans' fear of the police? The theory of representative bureaucracy indicates that it might. We tested the effects of officer diversity in two experiments embedded in a national survey …

How Generalizable are Findings from Police Surveys? A Review of Multi-Agency Studies

Policing scholars frequently use surveys to understand officer attitudes and behavioral intentions. Yet, it is difficult to gain access to one - let alone multiple - agencies. Thus, officer surveys often reflect views in a single department, making …

An experimental look at reasonable suspicion and police discretion

**Purpose:** Demonstrate the need for further examination of legal judgments and the exercise of discretion in policing. **Design:** A factorial vignette survey with traffic stop scenarios based on US Court of Appeals decisions was administered to …

Are fatal police shootings increasing?

Much is being made about an apparent increase in the use of deadly force by U.S. police officers. In January, The Guardian ran a story titled “It never stops: killings by US police reach record high in 2022”.1 And last week, The Washington Post (WAPO) ran a story titled “Fatal police shootings are still going up, and nobody knows why”. In this story, one of us (Justin) was quoted as saying “It’s hard to know if the increase is meaningful or random.

The Criminology Academy Podcast - Episode 68

We discuss police killings, legitimacy, and the "war on cops."

The ‘‘War on Cops,’’ Retaliatory Violence, and the Murder of George Floyd

The police murder of George Floyd sparked nationwide protests in the summer of 2020 and revived claims that public outcry over such high-profile police killings perpetuated a violent *war on cops*. Using data collected by the Gun Violence Archive …

American Society of Criminology - 2022 Meeting

A list of the panels I'm involved in at the November 2022 meeting.

A Multi-Site Study of Firearms Displays by Police at Use of Force Incidents

We model the factors associated with officers displaying their firearms in 4 agencies.

Does Procedural Justice Reduce the Harmful Effects of Perceived Ineffectiveness on Police Legitimacy?

**Objectives**: Judgments about police procedural fairness consistently have a stronger influence on how the public ascribes legitimacy to the police than evaluations of police effectiveness. What remains largely underexplored, however, is the …