Brief The Science of Policing Equity
Subtitle
Measuring Fairness in the Austin Police Department
Phillip A. Goff, Dean Obermark, Nancy G. La Vigne, Jennifer Yahner, Amanda Geller
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This brief is a partnership between Urban and the Center for Policing Equity’s National Justice Database, in collaboration with the White House’s Police Data Initiative. The brief analyzes publicly available data in 2015 vehicle stops and 2014 use of force incidents on the part of the Austin Police Department. Findings indicate that even when controlling for neighborhood levels of crime, education, homeownership, income, youth, and unemployment, racial disparities still exist in both use and severity of force. We also document that APD has a high level of transparency, and the analysis demonstrates the value of that democratization of police department data in examining whether community-level explanations are sufficient to explain observed racial disparities.

This brief was updated in May 2017 to clarify the titles of figures 13 and 14 on page 13, make language on pages 5 and 14 more consistent, and correct a typographical error on page 15.

Research Areas Crime, justice, and safety Neighborhoods, cities, and metros Race and equity
Tags Racial and ethnic disparities Crime and justice analytics Policing and community safety Inequality and mobility Racial and ethnic disparities in criminal justice
Policy Centers Justice Policy Center