How Baltimore Achieved Historically Low Homicides—With Less Police – Emerald Book

When police pull back: Neighborhood‐level effects of de‐policing on violent and property crime, a research note

Abstract Many U.S. cities witnessed both de‐policing and increased crime in 2020, yet whether the former contributed to the latter remains unclear. Indeed, much of what is known about the effects of proactive policing on crime comes from studies that evaluated highly focused interventions atypical of day‐to‐day policing, used cities as the unit of analysis, or could not rule out endogeneity. This study addresses each of these issues, thereby advancing the evidence base concerning the effects of policing on crime. Leveraging two exogenous shocks presented by the onset of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic and social unrest after the murder of George Floyd, we evaluated the effects of sudden and sustained reductions in high‐discretion policing on crime at the neighborhood level in Denver, Colorado. Multilevel models accounting for trends in prior police activity, neighborhood structure, seasonality, and population mobility revealed mixed results. On the one hand, large‐scale reductions in stops and drug‐related arrests were associated with significant increases in violent and property crimes, respectively. On the other hand, fewer disorder arrests did not affect crime. These results were not universal across neighborhoods. We discuss the implications of these findings in light of debates concerning the appropriate role of policing in the 21st century.

Police Abolition | The Paper Pilot

The Paper Pilot's digital garden of thoughts on philosophy, politics, and sociology

Violence in Blue

‘One-third of all Americans killed by strangers are killed by police.’

How Much Do We Need The Police?

For many Americans, it goes without saying that the police help maintain public safety. But many others — especially black Americans — see the police as more of a threat than a protective force.

Criminal Justice Fact Sheet

A compilation of facts and figures surrounding policing, the criminal justice system, incarceration, and more.

When Riot Cops Are Not Enough

In When Riot Cops Are Not Enough, sociologist Mike King examines the policing, and broader political repression, of the Occupy Oakland movement. King’s active and daily participation in that movement provides a unique insider perspective to illustrate how the Oakland police and city administrators lost the ability to effectively control the movement.    

What the latest research tells us about racial bias in policing

What we know, and importantly don't know, about the latest research on racial bias in policing.

The Most Violent Police Force in Europe: Police Brutality in France — The World Mind

Contributing Editor Aaron Shires explores the rise in excessive use of force by French police forces and the disparate impact this has on racial minorities in France.

City Snapshots — For The People

Did you know that Las Cruces, New Mexico spends 870 times more on policing than libraries? Our new publication, Budgets Are Values, gives an overview of how 15 public library systems are funded, governed, and used by communities, and highlights the stark and indefensible contrast between funding for

Artificial Intelligence, Predictive Policing, and Risk Assessment for Law Enforcement

There are widespread concerns about the use of artificial intelligence in law enforcement. Predictive policing and risk assessment are salient examples. Worries include the accuracy of forecasts that guide both activities, the prospect of bias, and an apparent lack of operational transparency. Nearly breathless media coverage of artificial intelligence helps shape the narrative. In this review, we address these issues by first unpacking depictions of artificial intelligence. Its use in predictive policing to forecast crimes in time and space is largely an exercise in spatial statistics that in principle can make policing more effective and more surgical. Its use in criminal justice risk assessment to forecast who will commit crimes is largely an exercise in adaptive, nonparametric regression. It can in principle allow law enforcement agencies to better provide for public safety with the least restrictive means necessary, which can mean far less use of incarceration. None of this is mysterious. Nevertheless, concerns about accuracy, fairness, and transparency are real, and there are tradeoffs between them for which there can be no technical fix. You can't have it all. Solutions will be found through political and legislative processes achieving an acceptable balance between competing priorities.

Artificial Intelligence, Predictive Policing, and Risk Assessment for Law Enforcement

There are widespread concerns about the use of artificial intelligence in law enforcement. Predictive policing and risk assessment are salient examples. Worries include the accuracy of forecasts that guide both activities, the prospect of bias, and an apparent lack of operational transparency. Nearly breathless media coverage of artificial intelligence helps shape the narrative. In this review, we address these issues by first unpacking depictions of artificial intelligence. Its use in predictive policing to forecast crimes in time and space is largely an exercise in spatial statistics that in principle can make policing more effective and more surgical. Its use in criminal justice risk assessment to forecast who will commit crimes is largely an exercise in adaptive, nonparametric regression. It can in principle allow law enforcement agencies to better provide for public safety with the least restrictive means necessary, which can mean far less use of incarceration. None of this is mysterious. Nevertheless, concerns about accuracy, fairness, and transparency are real, and there are tradeoffs between them for which there can be no technical fix. You can't have it all. Solutions will be found through political and legislative processes achieving an acceptable balance between competing priorities.

How Police Unions Became Such Powerful Opponents to Reform Efforts (Published 2020)

Half a decade after a spate of officer-involved deaths inspired widespread protest, many police unions are digging in to defend members.

Predictive Policing Explained

Attempts to forecast crime with algorithmic techniques could reinforce existing racial biases in the criminal justice system.

How You Start is How You Finish? The Slave Patrol and Jim Crow Origins of Policing

Though history books may say otherwise, policing in the United States has its roots in the slave patrols in the South. The institution of policing, and the larger justice system, must reconcile its past to evolve away from its racist roots.

Why Elite White-Collar Criminals Are Rarely Punished

White-collar criminals benefit from institutionalized non-enforcement practices, regulatory policies, and legal representation not available to street criminals.