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The Effects of Police Violence on Inner-City Students

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  • Desmond Ang

Abstract

Nearly 1,000 officer-involved killings occur each year in the United States. This article documents the large, racially disparate effects of these events on the educational and psychological well-being of Los Angeles public high school students. Exploiting hyperlocal variation in how close students live to a killing, I find that exposure to police violence leads to persistent decreases in GPA, increased incidence of emotional disturbance, and lower rates of high school completion and college enrollment. These effects are driven entirely by black and Hispanic students in response to police killings of other minorities and are largest for incidents involving unarmed individuals.

Suggested Citation

  • Desmond Ang, 2021. "The Effects of Police Violence on Inner-City Students," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(1), pages 115-168.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:qjecon:v:136:y:2021:i:1:p:115-168.
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    8. Alex Armand & Paul Atwell & Joseph F. Gomes & Yannik Schenk, 2023. "It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman! Using mass media to fight intolerance," NOVAFRICA Working Paper Series wp2302, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics, NOVAFRICA.
    9. Brendon McConnell, 2023. "What's Logs Got to do With it: On the Perils of log Dependent Variables and Difference-in-Differences," Papers 2308.00167, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2023.
    10. Beatton, Tony & Kidd, Michael P. & Sandi, Matteo, 2020. "School indiscipline and crime," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108475, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Benedikt Janzen, 2022. "Temperature and Mental Health: Evidence from Helpline Calls," Papers 2207.04992, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2022.
    12. 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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    14. Rajeev Darolia & Sam Owens & John Tyler, 2022. "The Opioid Crisis and Educational Performance," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 703(1), pages 188-233, September.
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    21. Carolyn Greene & Marta-Marika Urbanik & Kanika Samuels-Wortley, 2022. "“It Stays with You for Life”: The Everyday Nature and Impact of Police Violence in Toronto’s Inner-City," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-11, August.

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