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Does a Helping Hand Put Others at Risk?: Affirmative Action, Police Departments, and Crime

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  • Lott, John R, Jr

Abstract

Will increasing the number of minority and women police officers make law enforcement more effective by drawing on abilities that have gone untapped and creating better contact with communities and victims? Or will standards have to be lowered too far before large numbers of minorities and women can be hired? Using cross-sectional time-series data for U.S. cities for 1987, 1990, and 1993, I find that hiring more black and minority police officers increases crime rates, but this apparently arises because lower hiring standards involved in recruiting more minority officers reduces the quality of both new minority and new nonminority officers. The most adverse effects of these hiring policies have occurred in the areas most heavily populated by blacks. There is no consistent evidence that crime rates rise when more women are hired, and this raises questions about whether norming tests or altering their content to create equal pass rates is preferable. The article examines how the changing composition of police departments affects such measures as the murder of and assaults against police officers. Copyright 2000 by Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Lott, John R, Jr, 2000. "Does a Helping Hand Put Others at Risk?: Affirmative Action, Police Departments, and Crime," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 38(2), pages 239-277, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:ecinqu:v:38:y:2000:i:2:p:239-77
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    Cited by:

    1. Garner, Maryah & Harvey, Anna & Johnson, Hunter, 2020. "Estimating Effects of Affirmative Action in Policing: A Replication and Extension," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Fridell, Lorie & Faggiani, Don & Taylor, Bruce & Brito, Corina Sole & Kubu, Bruce, 2009. "The impact of agency context, policies, and practices on violence against police," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 542-552, November.
    3. Wilson, Steve & Zhao, Jihong, 2008. "Determining the correlates of police victimization: An analysis of organizational level factors on injurious assaults," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 461-468, September.

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