Numbers in the System
Race and Ethnicity (Mis)measurement in the U.S. Criminal Justice System
Keith Finlay, Elizabeth Luh & Michael Mueller-Smith
NBER Working Paper, July 2024
Abstract:
The United States criminal justice system is characterized by substantial disparities in outcomes across racial and ethnic groups. Understanding these disparities requires accurate measures of race and ethnicity of people involved in the justice system. We document how race and ethnicity are recorded by administrative agents and how operational concerns limit corrections to misreported race and ethnicity. To understand the impacts of these administrative processes, this paper uses novel linkages between person-level microdata from the Criminal Justice Administrative Records System (CJARS) and race and ethnicity composites from U.S. Census Bureau census and administrative records, mostly composed of self-reported or family-reported race/ethnicity, to quantify mismeasurement of race and ethnicity in the justice system. We find that 17 percent of misdemeanor and felony defendants and 10 percent of prison inmates have an agency-recorded label that does not concord with the composite measure, largely driven by justice agencies poorly measuring people identified in Census Bureau data as Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander, or American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN). Using estimated correspondences between agency-recorded and the composite race and ethnicity, we reweight federal series on imprisonment rates and show that those series, which currently rely on small survey samples to impute racial and ethnic population shares, have substantially underestimated the incarceration rates of Whites, Blacks, and AIANs.
The Heat is On: Does Civil Litigation Affect Policing Practices?
Christine Bird & Brooke Shannon
Political Research Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
We investigate the relationship between civil litigation and policing activity at a systems level and take a step toward a more rigorous understanding of the effect of civil litigation as an accountability mechanism for law enforcement misconduct. To investigate, we assemble original data on every civil lawsuit filed against a police department in North Carolina between 2003 and 2011, which we pair with existing traffic stops data from 2002 to 2016. We hypothesize that as an agency faces an accumulation of lawsuits, the agency will scale back its discretionary enforcement activities. Empirical tests reveal a 16 percent drop in the number of monthly stops made by officers in the aftermath of new civil litigation against their department. However, reductions in discretionary police behavior appear to benefit white motorists while rates of stops of Black motorists remain relatively unchanged. Our findings highlight the role of litigation in police accountability as well as the seeming intractability of racial disparities in discretionary police behavior.
From Hotspots to Safe Spots: The Impacts of WiFi-Connected Community Centers on Youth Crime
George Zuo & Taylor Landon
University of Maryland Working Paper, June 2024
Abstract:
Many juvenile crime reduction strategies rely on policing or high-touch programs and services for youth. We analyze the crime impacts of a program which created modern, digital spaces with high-speed Wi-Fi and devices to connect online in over 1,250 community and recreation centers across the country. We find that the program significantly decreased juvenile offending by at least 14% and victimization by at least 8% in high-exposure cities. We do not find evidence that crime was spatially displaced. We conclude that this model is highly cost-effective, requiring a small startup cost to attract youth to supervised community spaces which deliver potentially large social benefits.
The Biased Enforcement of Rarely Followed Rules
Jordan Wylie et al.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
We examined whether the enforcement of phantom rules -- frequently broken and rarely enforced codified rules -- varies by the race of the rule breaker. First, we analyzed whether race affects when 311 calls, a nonemergency service, end in arrest in New York City. Across 10 years, we found that calls from census blocks of neighborhoods consisting of mostly White individuals were 65% less likely to escalate to arrest than those where White people were the numerical minority. Next, we experimentally manipulated transgressor race and found that participants (N = 393) who were high in social dominance orientation were more likely to route 311 calls to 911 when the transgressor was Black (vs. White). We also explored the subjective experience of phantom rule enforcement; People of color report they are more likely to be punished for violating phantom rules compared to White people. Overall, we find evidence of racism in the enforcement of phantom rules.
Police reform in public housing contexts: Body-worn cameras, surveillance, and harm reduction in New York City Housing Authority Developments
Anthony Braga, John MacDonald & James McCabe
Criminology & Public Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
The concern of crime in New York City public housing complexes motivated heightened police patrol of buildings and the enforcement of trespass laws. The 2013 federal court settlement of Davis et al. v. City of New York et al. mandated that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) implement a series of reforms, including the deployment of body-worn cameras (BWCs) on officers, to address unconstitutional use of criminal trespass enforcement and stop and frisk practices in public housing developments. This study employed a stepped wedge quasi-experimental design that involved the sequential crossover of public housing service area clusters from control to BWC implementation until all NYPD housing bureau officers were equipped with BWCs. Panel regression models at the individual officer and service area levels were used to estimate BWC program impacts on outcomes between 2015 and 2019. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the impact of the BWCs on the lawfulness of officer stop reports that were randomly selected for audit between 2017 and 2019. Results show that BWC deployment in public housing reduced excessive enforcement, citizen complaints, and use of force by NYPD housing officers. Findings further suggest that BWCs can help reduce constitutionally problematic stops and frisks of citizens.
Changes in Probation Officer Behavior and Caseload Recidivism Following Training in Cognitive-Behavioral Techniques
Damon Mitchell et al.
Criminal Justice and Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Implementation of risk-need-responsivity principles in probation has fostered the development of programs that train probation officers (POs) to directly address clients' criminogenic needs during office visits. This study examined changes in PO office visit behavior and changes in caseload recidivism rates, following participation in the Forensic Cognitive-Behavioral Techniques (CBt) training program. Training was delivered to 39 POs over 10 sessions. PO behavior and skills were assessed using pre- and posttraining audio-recorded office visits. Coders blind to the pre/post nature of the recordings rated them on multiple variables across three domains: (1) Use of CBt, (2) Office Visit Content, and (3) Communication/Relationship Building skills. At posttraining, POs demonstrated increased use of CBt, greater focus on criminogenic needs, and improved communication skills. Overall, caseload recidivism rates declined posttraining. Despite challenges, training programs like Forensic CBt are associated with more skilled interactions during office visits and reductions in recidivism.