AN EVALUATION OF DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE REFORM AGREEMENTS IN LARGE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENTS: THREE ESSAYS
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Date
2021-01-01
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School of Public Policy
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Public Policy
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Distribution Rights granted to UMBC by the author.
Access limited to the UMBC community. Item may possibly be obtained via Interlibrary Loan thorugh a local library, pending author/copyright holder's permission.
Abstract
This is a three-paper dissertations that evaluates the impact of Department of Justice (DOJ) reform agreements in local police departments. An important change in the relationship between the federal government and local police departments occurred in 1994 when Congress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. Section 14141 of this landmark legislation provided the DOJ the authority to investigate and compel reforms within police departments that demonstrate a pattern or practice of police misconduct. Since the enactment of this legislation, a wide range of police agencies throughout the United States have been investigated by the DOJ for systemic misconduct that is often related to unconstitutional enforcement practices. The implementation of DOJ's efforts in police reform has varied significantly during different administrations and the impact of this federal intervention is widely debated. Despite the magnitude of this change in federal policy, the effect of DOJ intervention on police agencies has been historically understudied. The need for comprehensive research is especially critical in police departments serving large metropolitan areas, where the complexity of issues related to crime presents unique challenges for police reform. This research adds to the existing literature by examining the impact of DOJ intervention in large city police departments that received federal oversight. The first paper (The Impact of DOJ Reform Agreements on Crime and Clearance Rates) is an analysis of the impact of DOJ reform agreements on crime and a police department's ability to solve crime. This paper evaluates this relationship through a difference-in-difference and synthetic controls analysis that compares changes in crime and clearance rates across large city police agencies. The second paper (The Impact of DOJ Reform Agreements on Arrest Rates and Patterns of Racial Disparity Within Arrests) replicates the statistical techniques of the first paper and evaluates changes within arrest patterns during DOJ reform agreements. The third paper (The Impact of a DOJ Reform Agreement on Police Use of Force) provides a case study examination of how the implementation of a DOJ reform agreement impacted the use of force within the Albuquerque Police Department. Collectively, this research is provided to help inform policymakers on the effectiveness of DOJ reform agreements on local policing and establish a framework for the future application of the oversight process. Keywords: policing, police reform, police consent decrees, police reform agreements, crime, clearance rates, arrest rates, use of force