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Violent Crime and the Overmilitarization of US Policing

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  • Federico Masera

Abstract

Using new data at the police department level, I propose an identification strategy for estimating the causal effect that police militarization has on reducing violent crime. I show that previous estimates are likely to be contaminated by unobserved factors that simultaneously determine militarization and violent crime. Upon addressing this issue, I find a point estimate that is 20 times larger than those estimated previously. I then find that one-fourth of the effect of militarization is due to the displacement of violent crime to neighboring areas. Police departments overmilitarize because they do not consider this externality. These new findings have significant implications for the policy debate concerning the costs and benefits of police militarization (JEL H56, H76, K42).

Suggested Citation

  • Federico Masera, 2021. "Violent Crime and the Overmilitarization of US Policing," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 37(3), pages 479-511.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jleorg:v:37:y:2021:i:3:p:479-511.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jleo/ewaa021
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    Cited by:

    1. Christos Mavridis & Orestis Troumpounis & Maurizio Zanardi, 2021. "Police Militarization and Local Elections," School of Economics Discussion Papers 0221, School of Economics, University of Surrey.
    2. Masera, Federico, 2021. "Police safety, killings by the police, and the militarization of US law enforcement," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War
    • H76 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Other Expenditure Categories
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

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