Researchers increasingly explore the consequences of policing for the educational outcomes of minority youth. This study contributes to this literature by asking: First, what are racial/ethnic disparities in long-term exposure to neighborhood policing? Second, how does this exposure affect high school graduation? Third, how much of the ethnoracial gap in high school graduation would remain if neighborhood policing was equalized? To address these questions, we use data from the New York City Department of Education and follow five cohorts of NYC public school students from middle to high school. Our findings reveal starkly different experiences with neighborhood policing across racial/ethnic groups. Using novel methods for time-varying treatment effects, we find that long-term exposure to neighborhood policing has negative effects on high school graduation with important differences across racial/ethnic groups. Using gap- closing estimands, we show that assigning a sample of Black and Latino students to the same level of neighborhood policing as white students would close the Black-white gap in high school graduation by more than one quarter and the Latino-white gap by almost one fifth. Alternatively, we explore interventions where policing is solely a function of violent crime, which close the Black-white gap by as much as one-tenth. Our study advances previous research by focusing on cumulative, long-term exposure to neighborhood policing and by assessing various counterfactual scenarios that inform research and policy.
Keywords: Policing, Education, Inequality, Neighborhoods, Racial Disparities
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Changes in public–police cooperation following the murder of George Floyd
The murder of George Floyd triggered a broad social response and noticeable shift in public opinion of policing. Since policing is dependent upon public cooperation, a question is whether the shift in opinion had an effect on police calls-for-service. Data from Los Angeles and New York City are evaluated using a regression discontinuity design. Violent crime, property crime, and quality-of-life disorder calls are analyzed to address differences in reporting norms. The role of racial–ethnic composition of local areas is assessed by examining census tracts where the majority of the residential population is Asian, Black, Hispanic, or White. Following the murder of George Floyd, in New York City violent crime, property crime, and quality-of-life calls all increased significantly. In Los Angeles, quality-of-life calls for service decreased significantly. The increase in violent crime calls observed in New York was greatest in areas where the majority of residents are Black, whereas the increase in property crime calls was the greatest in areas where a majority of residents are White. The decrease in quality-of-life calls observed in Los Angeles was in areas where the majority of residents are White. In both cases, the effect was relatively short-lived.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 2027277
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10378346
- Publisher / Repository:
- Oxford University Press
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- PNAS Nexus
- Volume:
- 1
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 2752-6542
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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