Abstract:Inferring racial discrimination in police use of force -- the average causal effect of civilian race on use of force -- requires two assumptions about policing prior to potential use of force: that officers do not discriminate in whom they would stop (no discrimination in stops) and that, conditional on patrol context, the probability that an encounter is with a minority rather than a white civilian does not vary across encounters (no bias in encounters). As Knox et al. (2020) show, violations of the first can mask racial disparity in force. Whether it reflects discrimination in force also depends on the second. Existing sensitivity analyses address one assumption at a time. We develop a framework that varies both sequentially and apply it to NYPD Stop, Question, and Frisk data (2003--2013). Under plausible levels of discrimination in stops, we find substantial racial disparity in force. However, the conclusion that this disparity reflects discrimination is fragile to modest departures from no bias in encounters that census-based calibration suggests are demographically feasible. By jointly addressing both confounding channels, the framework reveals how they interact in ways that separate analyses cannot, contributing to understanding what generates racial disparities and how they might be addressed.
From: Jake Bowers [view email]
[v1]
Thu, 21 May 2026 02:04:38 UTC (1,436 KB)
[v2]
Fri, 22 May 2026 14:22:02 UTC (1,148 KB)
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