Rap sheets
Employer aversion to criminal records: An experimental study of mechanisms
Naomi Sugie, Noah Zatz & Dallas Augustine
Criminology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The mark of a criminal record is clearly harmful for employment. The reasons for employer aversion, however, are not well established even though legal, policy, and scholarly responses rely on particular explanations. We propose that explanations for aversion often fit under a repetition risk framework in which employers use records as neutral sources of information about prior illegal activity and make decisions to minimize risk of similar future conduct. A second explanation is stigma, in which the records themselves, independent of conduct, trigger stereotypes, status loss, and discrimination. Using an experimental employer survey, we find that employers evaluate applicants with records more negatively than they do applicants with similar behavior signaled through non‐criminal‐justice sources (e.g., social media); this effect remains after accounting for predictions about future conduct. It is also most apparent among higher status jobs rather than among manual labor jobs, and it persists after adjusting for firm‐level and legal constraints. We conclude that aversion reflects not only repetition risk but also the stigma of criminal justice contact. Insofar as criminal record screening is not exclusively a form of rational risk management, this finding may lead to altered assessments of the benefits of screening relative to the costs of perpetuating inequality produced by the criminal justice system.
The Power of Observation: An Empirical Analysis of the Effects of Body Worn Cameras on Police Use of Force and Productivity
Taeho Kim
University of Chicago Working Paper, October 2019
Abstract:
Using the staggered adoption of body worn cameras (BWCs) by police departments in the 2010s, this paper examines the effects of introducing BWCs on police use of force and performance. Previous studies on BWCs in single-agency settings have been hampered by empirical challenges of spillover effects and common agency-wide effects, which likely explain why some studies found null effects. As the first cross-agency study on BWCs, this paper is able to overcome these empirical challenges. I find that BWCs are associated with a drop of 43% in use of force, a reduction of 81% in subject injury, yet not with officer injury, or other productivity measures such as crime and clearance rates. These findings imply that BWCs can be a powerful tool in the recent efforts to reduce use of force and improve public trust in police.
How Do NYPD Officers Respond to Terror Threats?
Steven Lehrer & Louis Pierre Lepage
NBER Working Paper, November 2019
Abstract:
Using data from the New York City Police Department's Stop-and-Frisk program, we evaluate the impact of a specific terrorist attack threat from Al Qaeda on policing behavior in New York City. We find that after the Department of Homeland Security raised the alert level in response to this threat, people categorized as "Other" by the NYPD, including Arabs, were significantly more likely to be frisked and have force used against them yet no more likely to be arrested. These individuals were in turn less likely to be frisked or have force used against them immediately after the alert level returned to its baseline level. Further, evidence suggests that these impacts were larger in magnitude in police precincts that have a higher concentration of mosques. Our results are consistent with profiling by police officers leading to low-productivity stops, but we cannot rule out that it constitutes efficient policing given important differences between deterrence of terrorism versus other crimes.
Sometimes (but Not This Time), a Gun Is Just a Gun: Masculinity Threat and Guns in the United States, 1999–2018
Dan Cassino & Yasemin Besen‐Cassino
Sociological Forum, forthcoming
Abstract:
Today, despite national campaigns and mass shootings, gun sales continue to rise. The majority of gun owners in the United States are men, and prior research has documented the complex relationship between masculinity and gun ownership. However, a majority of the research has remained on the micro level. In this article, we look at the effects of men’s unemployment on gun ownership. Using both national‐ and state‐level Federal Bureau of Investigation background‐check data as well as economic indicators, we find that worsening economic conditions for men (relative to women) lead to increases in gun sales. Moreover, this effect is exacerbated by the prevalence of guns in an area. We supplement these analyses with nationally representative survey data showing a strong relationship between perceptions of threat to men’s gender identities and opposition to laws limiting access to guns.
Do exonerees face employment discrimination similar to actual offenders?
Jeff Kukucka, Heather Applegarth & Abby Mello
Legal and Criminological Psychology, forthcoming
Methods: Experienced hiring professionals (N = 82) evaluated a job application that was identical apart from the applicant's criminal history (i.e., offender, exoneree, or none).
Results: As predicted, professionals formed more negative impressions of both the exoneree and offender – but unexpectedly, they stereotyped exonerees and offenders somewhat differently. Compared to the control applicant, professionals desired to contact more of the exoneree's references, and they offered the exoneree a lower wage.
Right-to-Carry Laws and Firearm Workplace Homicides: A Longitudinal Analysis (1992–2017)
Mitchell Doucette, Cassandra Crifasi & Shannon Frattaroli
American Journal of Public Health, December 2019, Pages 1747-1753
Methods: We employed 2 longitudinal methods to examine the average effect (pooled, cross-sectional, time-series analysis) and the state-specific effect (random effects meta-analysis) of RTC laws on WPHs committed by firearms from 1992 to 2017 in a 50-state panel. Both methods utilized a generalized linear mixed model with a negative binomial distribution.
Results: From 1992 to 2017, the average effect of having an RTC law was significantly associated with 29% higher rates of firearm WPHs (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.14, 1.45). No other state-level policies were associated with firearm WPHs. Sensitivity analyses suggest robust findings. State-specific estimates suggest that passing an RTC law during our study period was significantly associated with 24% increase in firearm WPH rates (95% CI = 1.09, 1.40).
The Effect of Large-Capacity Magazine Bans on High-Fatality Mass Shootings, 1990–2017
Louis Klarevas, Andrew Conner & David Hemenway
American Journal of Public Health, December 2019, Pages 1754-1761
Methods: We analyzed state panel data of high-fatality mass shootings from 1990 to 2017. We first assessed the relationship between LCM bans overall, and then federal and state bans separately, on (1) the occurrence of high-fatality mass shootings (logit regression) and (2) the deaths resulting from such incidents (negative binomial analysis). We controlled for 10 independent variables, used state fixed effects with a continuous variable for year, and accounted for clustering.
Results: Between 1990 and 2017, there were 69 high-fatality mass shootings. Attacks involving LCMs resulted in a 62% higher mean average death toll. The incidence of high-fatality mass shootings in non–LCM ban states was more than double the rate in LCM ban states; the annual number of deaths was more than 3 times higher. In multivariate analyses, states without an LCM ban experienced significantly more high-fatality mass shootings and a higher death rate from such incidents.
State gun laws and the movement of crime guns between states
Leo Kahane
International Review of Law and Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous research by Kahane (2013) and Knight (2013) studied the relationship between differential state gun laws and the movement of crime guns between states using ATF gun tracing data for 2009. The basic result from these earlier studies is that crime guns tended to flow out of weak-law states and into strict-law states. This paper builds on these earlier studies by employing previously unavailable ATF data on crime gun recoveries for multiple years and with information on the ‘time to crime’ aspects of gun recovery. Furthermore, a larger scope of state gun laws is considered. Using the gravity model of trade to model crime gun flows, the empirical results find robust results for five state gun laws that are negatively related to interstate crime gun exports: state laws requiring inspections of federally licensed dealers, required permits or licenses for gun purchases, prohibiting individuals with domestic violence-related restraining orders from possessing guns, required reporting of lost or stolen firearms by gun owners, and laws granting local authorities with discretion in deciding whether to grant a concealed carry permit. Furthermore, estimated coefficients for various state gun laws are significantly larger (in absolute terms) when short time to crime gun data are used in comparison to data for all crime gun flows (regardless of time to crime). Given a short time to crime aspect is considerable by law enforcement as a key indicator of illegal gun trafficking, previous research by Kahane (2013) and Knight (2013) likely underestimated the relationship between state gun laws and the movement of crime guns between states.
Structural vulnerability to narcotics-driven firearm violence: An ethnographic and epidemiological study of Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican inner-city
Joseph Friedman et al.
PLoS ONE, November 2019
Methods: Using an exploratory sequential study design, we formulated hypotheses about ethnic/racial vulnerability to violence, based on half a dozen years of intensive participant-observation ethnographic fieldwork. We subsequently tested them statistically, by combining geo-referenced incidents of narcotics- and firearm-related crime from the Philadelphia police department with census information representing race and poverty levels. We explored the racialized relationships between poverty, narcotics, and violence, melding ethnography, graphing, and Poisson regression.
Findings: Even controlling for poverty levels, impoverished majority-Puerto Rican areas in Philadelphia are exposed to significantly higher levels of gun violence than majority-white or black neighborhoods. Our mixed methods data suggest that this reflects the unique social position of these neighborhoods as a racial meeting ground in deeply segregated Philadelphia, which has converted them into a retail endpoint for the sale of astronomical levels of narcotics.
Enforcement trends in the city of St. Louis from 2007 to 2017: Exploring variability in arrests and criminal summonses over time and across communities
Lee Slocum et al.
Journal of Community Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The goal of this study is twofold: (a) to describe trends in enforcement activity in the city of St. Louis from 2007 through 2017 and (b) to document community variation in these trends. Five types of enforcement actions are examined: felony, misdemeanor, municipal, and bench warrant arrests and criminal summonses‐in‐lieu of arrest. Results indicate that enforcement activity decreased over the study period, particularly for nonfelony arrests among Blacks. City‐wide trends obscure some variability in neighborhood enforcement. Neighborhood trends in enforcement varied by type of action, but in all cases, trends were conditioned by racial composition. For example, misdemeanor and bench warrant arrests exhibited steeper declines in neighborhoods with a higher percentage of Black residents, resulting in a narrowing of the race gap. In contrast, differences in criminal summonses across neighborhoods of varying racial compositions increased. The effects persisted net of measures of economic disadvantage, community location, residential mobility, household composition, calls for service, and population size. The findings highlight the importance of disaggregating enforcement trends by race and place and documenting changes in less serious, but more prevalent, types of law enforcement activity.
Global Positioning System Monitoring of High-Risk Sex Offenders: Implementation Challenges and Lessons Learned
Alyssa Chamberlain et al.
Criminal Justice Policy Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Agencies incorporating new technology inevitably face challenges in the implementation process. In response to the passage of Proposition 83, which mandated lifelong supervision of people convicted of sex offenses in California, San Diego County initiated a pilot program assessing Global Positioning System (GPS) monitoring of such offenders considered high risk for reoffending. Using interviews of parole agents and administrators, parole agent records of supervision, and GPS monitoring data, we assess the challenges and lessons learned from the program which help inform the current policy context of electronic monitoring. Results show that rigorous GPS supervision involves substantial workload and resource increases for parole agencies, and may not be appropriate for all individuals convicted of sex offenses. The ethical and legal challenges of electronic monitoring, more generally, require further attention. The future of GPS monitoring will depend on how programs are implemented and resources are managed, as well as how ethical issues are addressed.
Criminal Records, Positive Employment Credentials, and Race
Samuel DeWitt & Megan Denver
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, forthcoming
Methods: We present fictional job applicant details to a nationwide survey of American adults (n = 5,822) using a factorial design. We manipulate whether the job applicant is Black or White and has a criminal record or not. Among those randomly assigned to have a criminal record, we also vary the type of felony (violent or drug), whether they report a positive credential, and the type of credential (if applicable).
Results: Among those with criminal records, respondents viewed applicants with positive credentials more favorably than those without credentials. In fact, a supportive reference letter from a former employer mitigates most of the stigma from a criminal record. The results are consistent by applicant race as well as criminal record type, and our employer respondents react similarly to experimental conditions as compared to the overall sample.
National Instant Criminal Background Check and Youth Gun Carrying
Lava Timsina et al.
Pediatrics, forthcoming
Methods: We performed a repeated cross-sectional study using National Youth Risk Behavior Survey data from years 1993 to 2017. We used a survey-weighted multivariable logistic regression model to determine if the NICS had an effect on adolescent gun carrying, controlling for state respondent characteristics, state laws, state characteristics, the interaction between the NICS and state gun laws, and time.
Results: On average, 5.8% of the cohort reported carrying a gun. Approximately 17% of respondents who carried guns were from states with a universal background check (U/BC) provision at the point of sale, whereas 83% were from states that did not have such laws (P < .001). The model indicated that the NICS together with U/BCs significantly reduced gun carrying by 25% (adjusted relative risk = 0.75 [95% confidence interval: 0.566–0.995]; P = .046), whereas the NICS independently did not (P = .516).
Conclusions: Adolescents in states that require U/BCs on all prospective gun buyers are less likely to carry guns compared with those in states that only require background checks on sales through federally licensed firearms dealers. The NICS was only effective in reducing adolescent gun carrying in the presence of state laws requiring U/BCs on all prospective gun buyers. However, state U/BC laws had no effect on adolescent gun carrying until after the NICS was implemented.