IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/juecon/v141y2024ics0094119023000578.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Black Lives Matter’s effect on police lethal use of force

Author

Listed:
  • Campbell, Travis

Abstract

How has Black Lives Matter (BLM) influenced police lethal force? An event study design finds census places with early BLM protests experienced a 10% to 15% decrease in police homicides from 2014 through 2019, around 200 fewer deaths. This decrease was prominent when protests were large and frequent. Potential mechanisms behind the reduction include police agencies obtaining body-worn cameras to curtail force and a so-called ‘Ferguson effect.’ Fewer property crime arrests, but more reported murders, were associated with local protests, yet the property crime clearance rate fell.

Suggested Citation

  • Campbell, Travis, 2024. "Black Lives Matter’s effect on police lethal use of force," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:141:y:2024:i:c:s0094119023000578
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2023.103587
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119023000578
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jue.2023.103587?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Yokum & Anita Ravishankar & Alexander Coppock, 2019. "A randomized control trial evaluating the effects of police body-worn cameras," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 116(21), pages 10329-10332, May.
    2. Zackary Okun Dunivin & Harry Yaojun Yan & Jelani Ince & Fabio Rojas, 2022. "Black Lives Matter protests shift public discourse," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 119(10), pages 2117320119-, March.
    3. Mark Hoekstra & CarlyWill Sloan, 2022. "Does Race Matter for Police Use of Force? Evidence from 911 Calls," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(3), pages 827-860, March.
    4. Dmitry Arkhangelsky & Susan Athey & David A. Hirshberg & Guido W. Imbens & Stefan Wager, 2021. "Synthetic Difference-in-Differences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(12), pages 4088-4118, December.
    5. Fabian Peisker & Maurice Halder & James Nagai & Susanne Ziegler & Nadine Kaesler & Konrad Hoeft & Ronghui Li & Eric M. J. Bindels & Christoph Kuppe & Julia Moellmann & Michael Lehrke & Christian Stopp, 2022. "Mapping the cardiac vascular niche in heart failure," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-20, December.
    6. Pyrooz, David C. & Decker, Scott H. & Wolfe, Scott E. & Shjarback, John A., 2016. "Was there a Ferguson Effect on crime rates in large U.S. cities?," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 1-8.
    7. Evelyn Skoy, 2021. "Black Lives Matter Protests, Fatal Police Interactions, And Crime," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 39(2), pages 280-291, April.
    8. Shjarback, John A. & Pyrooz, David C. & Wolfe, Scott E. & Decker, Scott H., 2017. "De-policing and crime in the wake of Ferguson: Racialized changes in the quantity and quality of policing among Missouri police departments," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 42-52.
    9. Roland G. Fryer Jr., 2019. "An Empirical Analysis of Racial Differences in Police Use of Force," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(3), pages 1210-1261.
    10. repec:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2016.303575_2 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Reny, Tyler T. & Newman, Benjamin J., 2021. "The Opinion-Mobilizing Effect of Social Protest against Police Violence: Evidence from the 2020 George Floyd Protests," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 115(4), pages 1499-1507, November.
    12. Buehler, J.W., 2017. "Racial/ethnic disparities in the use of lethal force by US police, 2010-2014," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 107(2), pages 295-297.
    13. Long, Wei, 2019. "How does oversight affect police? Evidence from the police misconduct reform," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 94-118.
    14. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    15. Sun, Liyang & Abraham, Sarah, 2021. "Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 175-199.
    16. Desmond Ang & Panka Bencsik & Jesse Bruhn & Ellora Derenoncourt, 2021. "Police violence reduces civilian cooperation and engagement with law enforcement," Working Papers 2021-16, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    17. Jamein P. Cunningham & Rob Gillezeau, 2018. "Racial Differences in Police Use of Force: Evidence from the 1960s Civil Disturbances," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 108, pages 217-221, May.
    18. 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.
    19. Baker, Andrew C. & Larcker, David F. & Wang, Charles C.Y., 2022. "How much should we trust staggered difference-in-differences estimates?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 370-395.
    20. Tanaya Devi & Roland G. Fryer Jr, 2020. "Policing the Police: The Impact of "Pattern-or-Practice" Investigations on Crime," NBER Working Papers 27324, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Cheng, Cheng & Long, Wei, 2022. "The effect of highly publicized police killings on policing: Evidence from large U.S. cities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    22. John Gardner, 2022. "Two-stage differences in differences," Papers 2207.05943, arXiv.org.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mikdash, Maya & Zaiour, Reem, 2024. "The impact of police shootings on gun violence and civilian cooperation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    2. Makofske, Matthew, 2020. "Pretextual Traffic Stops and Racial Disparities in their Use," MPRA Paper 100792, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Lieberman, Carl, 2024. "Variation in racial disparities in police use of force," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    4. Noray, Kadeem, 2024. "Police brutality, law enforcement, and crime: Evidence from Chicago," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    5. Mark Kattenberg & Bas Scheer & Jurre Thiel, 2023. "Causal forests with fixed effects for treatment effect heterogeneity in difference-in-differences," CPB Discussion Paper 452, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    6. Romain Baeriswyl & Alex Oktay & Marc-Antoine Ramelet, 2023. "Exchange rate shocks and equity prices: the role of currency denomination," Working Papers 2023-05, Swiss National Bank.
    7. Roth, Jonathan & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C. & Bilinski, Alyssa & Poe, John, 2023. "What’s trending in difference-in-differences? A synthesis of the recent econometrics literature," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 235(2), pages 2218-2244.
    8. Wang, Zhen & Chu, Erming, 2024. "The path toward urban carbon neutrality: How does the low-carbon city pilot policy stimulate low-carbon technology?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 954-975.
    9. Xu, Mengmeng & Wang, Zihao, 2024. "Political spillover effects of environmental policy: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    10. Antti Kauhanen, 2024. "The effects of the decentralization of collective bargaining on wages and wage dispersion: Evidence from the Finnish forest and IT industries," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 62(2), pages 319-334, June.
    11. Justin C. Wiltshire, 2023. "Walmart Supercenters and Monopsony Power: How A Large, Low-Wage Employer Impacts Local Labor Markets," Department Discussion Papers 2304, Department of Economics, University of Victoria.
    12. repec:ags:aaea22:335971 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Liu, Guannan & Wang, Anqi & Wang, Kedi & Zhao, Qiuyun, 2024. "Shareholder bargaining power and labor income share: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    14. Lennon, Conor & Maclean, Johanna Catherine & Teltser, Keith, 2025. "Ridesharing and substance use disorder treatment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    15. Hufschmidt, Patrick, 2023. "Green parties and building permissions: Evidence from Bavarian municipalities," Ruhr Economic Papers 1052, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    16. Desmond Ang & Panka Bencsik & Jesse Bruhn & Ellora Derenoncourt, 2023. "Shots Fired: Crime and Community Engagement with Law Enforcement after High-profile Acts of Police Violence," Working Papers 315, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    17. Nemschoff, Danielle, 2022. "An evaluation of Crisis-Intervention Team (CIT) training," MPRA Paper 114948, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Zhang, Renjie & Zhu, Guiyi, 2024. "Green public procurement and firms' pollution emissions: Does demand-side environmental policy matter?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 1958-1978.
    19. Li, Rui & Fang, Debin & Xu, Jiajun, 2024. "Does China's carbon inclusion policy promote household carbon emissions reduction? Theoretical mechanisms and empirical evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    20. Yadav, Anil & McHale, John & Harold, Jason & O'Neill, Stephen, 2024. "Estimating effects of staggered intervention with count and binary outcomes: a simulation study," Research Technical Papers 4/RT/24, Central Bank of Ireland.
    21. Youngho Kim, 2024. "Payments for Ecosystem Services Programs and Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture," Economics Series Working Papers 1054, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:141:y:2024:i:c:s0094119023000578. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622905 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.