Do Police Maximize Arrests or Minimize Crime? Evidence from Racial Profiling in US Cities

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Stashko, Allison
• 署名单位: Utah System of Higher Education; University of Utah
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1542-4766
• DOI: 10.1093/jeea/jvac039
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 167-214
• 关键词: motor-vehicle searches; mayoral partisanship; public-goods; BIAS; RACE; DISCRIMINATION; deterrence; redistribution; incentives; PREJUDICE

摘要

It is difficult to identify sources of discrimination in police stop and search data. In part, this is due to uncertainty over the objective of discretionary police stops: Do officers aim to maximize arrests or to minimize crime? In this paper, I compare theoretical predictions implied by these two objectives to data from U.S. cities. Empirical evidence is consistent with a model of arrest maximization and inconsistent with a model of crime minimization. The findings support the validity of existing tests for discrimination that rely on the assumption that police officers maximize arrests.