De-Policing

Using a panel of American law enforcement agencies and a difference-in-differences estimation strategy, this article shows that external regulation of police agencies is associated with an uptick in crime rates. This uptick is concentrated in the years immediately after external intervention and diminishes over time. This suggests that external regulation of police behavior may come with growing pains.

Citation: De-Policing, 102 Cornell Law Review __ (forthcoming 2017) (with Griffin Edwards)