ASRXXX10.1177/0003122416663494American Sociological ReviewDesmond et al. 6634942016

American Sociological Review 2016, Vol. 81(5) 857–876­ Police Violence and Citizen © American Sociological Association 2016 DOI: 10.1177/0003122416663494 Crime Reporting in the Black http://asr.sagepub.com Community

Matthew Desmond,a Andrew V. Papachristos,b and David S. Kirkc

Abstract High-profile cases of police violence—disproportionately experienced by black men—may present a serious threat to public safety if they lower citizen crime reporting. Using an interrupted time series design, this study analyzes how one of Milwaukee’s most publicized cases of police violence against an unarmed black man, the beating of Frank Jude, affected police-related 911 calls. Controlling for crime, prior call patterns, and several neighborhood characteristics, we find that residents of Milwaukee’s neighborhoods, especially residents of black neighborhoods, were far less likely to report crime after Jude’s beating was broadcast. The effect lasted for over a year and resulted in a total net loss of approximately 22,200 calls for service. Other local and national cases of police violence against unarmed black men also had a significant impact on citizen crime reporting in Milwaukee. Police misconduct can powerfully suppress one of the most basic forms of civic engagement: calling 911 for matters of personal and public safety.

Keywords crime reporting, police, police violence, race, crime, inner city

High-profile cases of police violence against world; and the rise of Internet-based news unarmed citizens can undermine the legiti- sources and 24-hour news networks provide a macy of legal authority. Numerous studies powerful medium for broadcasting police mis- document stark racial disparities in police conduct. In recent years, the American public maltreatment, finding that black boys and has been captivated and outraged by such men are disproportionately subject to exces- events. The fatal 2012 shooting of 17-year-old sive and sometimes deadly police force, even Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watch after accounting for situational factors of the coordinator, for example, was the most encounter (e.g., resisting arrest) and officer characteristics (e.g., age, training) (Terrill and aHarvard University Reisig 2003). Studies show that police dispro- bYale University portionately use improper and deadly force cUniversity of Oxford on black men (Matulia 1982; Worden 1996). With the proliferation of portable video Corresponding Author: Matthew Desmond, Department of Sociology, recording technology, police misconduct that Harvard University, William James Hall, 33 was once witnessed only by immediate Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 bystanders can now be viewed around the E-mail: [email protected]

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 858 American Sociological Review 81(5) followed news story in the United States for Legal Cynicism and several straight weeks (Pew Research Center Citizen Crime Reporting 2012). Other instances of law-enforcement officers killing unarmed black men—such as A spirit of legal cynicism—the deep-seated Eric Garner in New York City (July 2014); belief in the incompetence, illegitimacy, and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri (August unresponsiveness of the criminal justice sys- 2014); and Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Mary- tem (Kirk and Papachristos 2011)—is thought land (April 2015)—became national news sto- to pervade many poor, minority communities. ries and sparked widespread protest. Legal cynicism is widely believed to result in Previous research shows that negative citizens withdrawing from the police, particu- encounters with law enforcement, as well as larly by refusing to report crime to the authori- high-profile cases of police misconduct, contrib- ties (Baumer 2002). What emerges, in ute to the spread of legal cynicism within black Anderson’s (1999:66) classic formulation, is communities (Kirk and Papachristos 2011; the code of the street, “a kind of people’s law” Sampson 2012; Weitzer 2002). Less well under- based on respect and payback. Residents who stood, however, is the extent to which legal cyni- refuse to seek help from the police are thought cism affects citizens’ reliance on police. In the to rely on the code to dole out sanctions aftermath of publicized police violence against through violence or other informal means unarmed black men, do residents of black neigh- (Kirk and Papachristos 2011; Sampson 2012). borhoods disengage with the police, especially The vast majority of research on citizens’ when it comes to reporting crime via 911? Police views toward the police and law breaking is work of every kind relies on citizen participa- based on interviews (e.g., Brunson and Miller tion, especially reports of law breaking (Banton 2006; Carr, Napolitano, and Keating 2007) or 1964; Black 1970). If police misconduct lowers surveys (e.g., Avakame, Fyfe, and McCoy crime reporting throughout black communities, 1999; Baumer 2002). Interviews and surveys it directly threatens public safety within those can serve as effective methods to capture communities, many of which already face high individuals’ attitudes and cultural scripts, but levels of crime. studies show surveys are less reliable when it This study examines how incidents of comes to measuring interactions with the excessive police violence influence citizen police (Rosenfeld, Jacobs, and Wright 2003). crime reporting. As our main case study, we Moreover, a close reading of ethnographic examine one of Milwaukee’s most publicized reports reveals that the code’s manifestations moments of police brutality: the 2004 beating may not be as uniform as is often believed. At of an unarmed black man, Frank Jude, by some points, Anderson (1999:72–73, 112) white police officers. Using an interrupted refers to the code as a belief system or cul- time series design, we analyze patterns of tural frame, but at others he presents it as a police-related 911 calls before and after the dissemblance designed to prevent, not encour- Jude beating was made public in the Milwau- age, violence. Cold looks and bold boasts kee press. Controlling for several neighbor- aside, the people Anderson observed often hood characteristics, along with fixed effects relied on the police, a pattern observed by for neighborhoods and months, we find that other urban ethnographers as well (e.g., residents of Milwaukee’s neighborhoods Sánchez Jankowski 1991; Venkatesh 2000). were far less likely to report crime after When it comes to relying on and cooperat- Jude’s beating was broadcast. Over half of the ing with the police, what one does might not total loss in 911 calls occurred in black neigh- resemble what one says one will do. The legal borhoods. Supplemental analyses show that cynic may report crime just as regularly as the other local and national cases of police vio- citizen who views the criminal justice system lence against unarmed black men also had an with reverence. Studies that measure attitudes impact on crime reporting in Milwaukee. toward the police and hypothesized citizen

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 Desmond et al. 859 crime reporting find racial differences in the document a drop in public approval of the former but not the latter. Bobo and Thompson police after publicized cases of police brutal- (2006) asked respondents (1) if they would ity, especially among African Americans (Jef- call the police and file a report if their house feris et al. 1997; Weitzer 2002). These studies was burglarized and (2) if they believed their are primarily descriptive, and they do not complaint would be taken seriously. The vast control for crime rates. But they do suggest majority of both white and black respondents that police violence may have reverberations (90 and 93 percent, respectively) said they that extend well beyond the trauma and trag- would call the police; however, only 35 per- edy of an individual act—or even the neigh- cent of blacks expected to be taken seriously, borhood and city in which it took place. compared with 60 percent of whites. Although To examine the relationship between pub- sizeable racial differences were observed in licized reports of police violence and citizen peoples’ attitudes toward the police, respond- crime reporting, we examine 911 calls with ents were virtually identical in their surmised an interrupted time series design, testing for actions with law enforcement. People’s atti- changes in the volume of 911 calls before and tudes toward the criminal justice system after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel broke might be poor, even misleading, indicators of the story of the 2004 beating of an unarmed their real-life dealings with the police. black man, Frank Jude, by white police offic- ers. We are interested in four aspects of call- ing patterns. First, we examine the direction Study Design and of 911 calls reporting crime, observing if they Research Questions increased, decreased, or experienced no This study moves beyond the limitations of change. Second, we examine patterns in dif- previous research by analyzing the effects of ferent types of calls: namely through analyses publicized police violence cases on crime of all calls reporting crime and then sepa- reporting via 911 calls. The evidence for this rately for calls reporting violence. Third, we study does not rely on accounts of past behav- focus on the location of calls, observing if ior or projections of future action but on the calling patterns in white and black neighbor- complete universe of every crime reported in hoods differed after the Sentinel reported Milwaukee over the course of seven years. Jude’s assault. Fourth, should there be a “Jude Calling 911 to report a crime is the most basic effect” on police-related 911 calls, we inves- act of reliance on (and engagement with) the tigate its duration. Additionally, we examine legal system in contemporary society (Man- if citizen crime reporting in Milwaukee was ning 1988; Reiss 1992). It is also foundational affected by three other cases of police vio- to public safety, being the first and among the lence against unarmed black men: the 2007 most important acts of cooperation with the assault of Danyall Simpson in Milwaukee; police, who in many cases can respond to the 2006 killing of Sean Bell in Queens, New criminal activity only if it is reported. York; and the 2009 killing of Oscar Grant in In studying the effects of highly publicized Oakland, California. The Simpson case was cases of police misconduct on citizen crime covered in the local press; the other two cases reporting, our study also investigates a possi- were major stories in the national press. ble new mechanism for a reluctance to coop- In each case we analyze, we assume that erate with formal law enforcement agencies. breaking the story in mainstream media out- Recent studies find that one’s attitude toward lets was what brought the incidents to public the police can be influenced by vicarious light, even if community members did not experiences of one’s social ties (Brunson themselves learn of the incidents through 2007; Rosenbaum et al. 2005) and by repeated such outlets. Milwaukee residents could have exposure to news reports of misconduct learned of these incidents through public pro- (Weitzer and Tuch 2005). Some studies test, word of mouth, and alternative media,

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 860 American Sociological Review 81(5) including the black press and underground which they had arrived. But before they could rap songs, which circulated after the deaths of pull away, at least 10 men surrounded the Oscar Grant and Sean Bell. Nevertheless, truck and accused Jude and Harris of stealing news of such incidents spread through vari- Spengler’s police badge. Jude, Harris, and ous channels only after major media outlets their hosts were pulled from the truck. After broke the story. This was especially apparent having his face slit with a knife, Harris would in Frank Jude’s case. More than three months escape. Jude would not (Diedrich 2005a). elapsed between Jude’s beating and it being Spengler and several other off-duty police reported in the local press. During that time, officers began beating Jude about the face and there were no public protests; unrest did fol- torso while another pinned his arms behind low the news story. Additionally, supplemen- his back. When Jude collapsed to the ground, tal analyses find that in black neighborhoods, the officers kicked his head. A pair of on-duty police-related 911 calls were unaffected in the officers arrived around 3:00 a.m. (Jude’s weeks immediately following Jude’s beating. female companions had called 911 before This suggests that although knowledge of an partygoers seized their phones.) One uni- incident of police violence may spread formed officer, Joseph Schabel, stomped on through personal networks close to the vic- Jude’s face until he heard bones breaking. tim, those networks are not expansive enough The other on-duty officer watched. An off- to affect the crime-reporting behavior of an duty officer picked Jude up and kicked him in entire community in a compressed timespan the crotch with such force his feet left the (see Andrews and Biggs 2006). Even if they ground. Another took one of Schabel’s pens were, media reporting on such episodes draws and pressed it deep into Jude’s ear canals. on medical and police reports, interviews Another bent Jude’s fingers back until they with eyewitnesses, and other sources, provid- snapped. Spengler put a gun to Jude’s head. ing resonance and legitimacy to events that Jude was left naked from the waist down otherwise could be dismissed as hearsay or lying on the street in a pool of his own blood. overlaid with multiple interpretations rooted At 3:09 a.m. other on-duty officers arrived at in assumptions (Koopmans 2004). the scene. Jude was taken by police wagon to the emergency room, where the admitting physician took photographs of him because The Beating of his injuries were too extensive to document in Frank Jude writing. Spengler’s badge was never recov- What follows is an account of the events sur- ered (Diedrich 2005a; USA v. Bartlett, Spen- rounding the beating of Frank Jude based on gler, and Masarik 2009). news reports and court documents (listed at The police officers returned to work, and the end of the article). To understand how Jude began a slow recovery. But on February these events could have affected citizen crime 6, 2005, Sunday readers of the Milwaukee reporting in Milwaukee, it is necessary to Journal Sentinel were met with the following provide a somewhat detailed account of the front-page headline: “Police Suspected in severity of Jude’s beating and its aftermath. Man’s Beating” (Diedrich 2005a). Next to the On October 23, 2004, Milwaukee police headline was one of the photographs the officer Andrew Spengler hosted a house attending physician had taken of Jude’s swol- warming party in a middle-class white neigh- len face. The story told of the beating and the borhood. Several police officers attended. subsequent obstructionism and noncoopera- After 2:30 a.m., Frank Jude and Lovell Har- tion by the police: “Authorities knew right ris, both black men, arrived at the party as away who was involved, but more than three guests of two female college students. The months later no one has been charged or even group of four began to feel uncomfortable arrested.” It also listed Jude’s injuries: a con- and left the party, returning to the truck in cussion; broken noise and fractured sinus

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 Desmond et al. 861 cavity; cuts in both ears; cuts and swelling to bringing the total number of calls reporting the head, eyes, neck, face, legs, and back; a crime to 883,146. We use “neighborhood” left eye swollen shut that bled for 10 days; and “block group” interchangeably and desig- possible permanent disability in one hand; nate a neighborhood as black or white if these compromised vision; night terrors; and panic respective groups account for at least two- attacks. thirds of neighborhood residents. Last, all Citizens, many of them black, took to the crimes recorded by the MPD between 2004 streets in protest. Four days after the story and 2010 were geocoded, aggregated to the broke, more than 100 people marched in front block group, and merged with our dataset. of the District Attorney’s office (Nunnally 2005). A month later, nine officers were fired Measures and four others disciplined. All but one appealed and drew their salaries. A year later, Dependent variables. We examine the Spengler and two fellow officers were tried weekly number of 911 calls at the block- and acquitted of all charges by an all-white group level. Calls are divided into two cate- jury (Stingl 2006). More protests followed, gories: total and violent calls. Total calls prompting a federal investigation. Later that include all police-related 911 crime reports, year, eight officers were federally charged. not only those for violent and property crime Seven were convicted (Borowski 2007; Die- but also reports of public disturbances and drich 2007a). nuisances. Calls for violence include those for battery, robbery, weapons/shootings, sexual assault, kidnapping, and threats to person. Data and Methods When attempting to isolate the effect of the Calls for Service Data beating of Frank Jude on citizen crime report- ing, the dependent variable is the number of We obtained every 911 call placed in Milwau- weekly calls per block group during the kee between March 1, 2004 and December observation period: March 2004 to December 31, 2010 (N = 1,104,369). These data, pro- 2005.2 This observation period centers on the vided by the Milwaukee Police Department date the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first (MPD), include the date and address of each reported Jude’s beating (February 6, 2005), call, a city code and description of each call, allowing us to analyze roughly the same num- and a disposition code reporting how the call ber of weeks before and after the story broke. was resolved. This information allowed us to limit our analysis to police-related calls by Pre-intervention time trend. Two dropping those having to do with traffic and parameters define the pattern of 911 calls vehicular accidents; injuries, fires, and medi- prior to the Sentinel’s report of Jude’s beating: cal emergencies; internal police calls (recov- the initial level of calls and the slope indicat- ered property, assisting an officer); and calls ing the time trend. The intercept value in our triggered by security alarms.1 Our analyses models indicates the estimated number of 911 focus on 911 calls placed the year before and calls per block group at the beginning of the after a given event: for example, we examine observation period. The weekly pre-Jude time police-related calls in 2004 and 2005 when measure indicates the pre-intervention change estimating the impact of the Frank Jude beat- in the volume of 911 calls over time (Singer ing on citizen crime reporting. and Willett 2003). Modeling the time trend Our analyses draw on all 596 city block allows us to establish a counterfactual for groups, the average population of which is what the calling pattern would have been like roughly 1,000 people. We exclude from our in the absence of Frank Jude’s story. We esti- analyses any 911 calls made from block mated the pre-intervention time trend with a groups beyond Milwaukee city limits, linear specification as well as a quadratic

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 862 American Sociological Review 81(5) specification, comparing model fit between Our models also include weekly crime specifications using the Bayesian Information counts to rule out the possibility that the Criterion. A linear pre-Jude specification pro- observed levels of 911 calls are nothing more vided a better fit to the data (see Table A1 in than an indicator of neighborhood crime lev- the Appendix). els (Kirk and Matsuda 2011; Klinger 1997). In our models, the control variable reported Explanatory variables. To assess the crime corresponds to the total number of impact of the Jude beating on 911 calling weekly crimes in each block group during the behavior, we test for possible shifts in the level observation period. Derived from aggregate of 911 calls in a block group as well as changes data generated by the Milwaukee Police in the slope of the time trend. We do so by Department for the FBI’s Uniform Crime including a binary measure equal to 0 for obser- Report, this variable is organized into two vations prior to the news story of Jude’s beating categories: total and violent crimes. When our and equal to 1 for the period after the story outcome is all 911 calls, we control for all broke. To measure an interruption in the slope reported crime during the same week; when it of the time series, we include linear and quad- is calls for violence, we control for violent ratic time variables, measured as the number of crime. If legal cynicism increased after the weeks since the story broke. For observations media broke the story of Frank Jude’s beating, prior to the story, these time variables are set to then it is likely that crime also increased dur- 0. As with the pre-intervention time trend, we ing this time period. For the same reason, it is use model fit statistics to assess whether the also likely that some crime went unreported to post-intervention trend is more appropriately the police (Kirk et al. 2012). If neighborhoods modeled with linear or quadratic time specifi- experienced a concomitant increase in crime cations (see Table A1). The quadratic post-Jude and decrease in citizen crime reporting, then specification fits best. By including a quadratic any negative estimate of the effect of Jude’s term for the post-Jude time period, we are beating on citizen crime reporting is conserva- effectively testing for a discontinuous effect of tive. In other words, we model a counterfac- the Jude beating on 911 calls as well as mode- tual 911 calling trend based on pre-Jude ling the possibility that 911 calls eventually calling and crime patterns, but the gap between drift back to the pre-Jude trend. estimated and counterfactual calling trends is probably larger than we observed because, Fixed effects. We include block-group post-Jude, unreported crime likely increased. and month fixed effects in our models. Block- Descriptive statistics are presented in group fixed effects control for all time-invariant Table 1, which reveals a picture of the city’s block-group-specific factors potentially cor- social, demographic, and crime patterns. In related with 911 calls. Month fixed effects the average Milwaukee neighborhood, there control for seasonal variation in crime and are approximately three 911 calls a week. crime reporting, as calls peak in the summer However, there is wide variation in call lev- and slump in the winter. els, ranging from 0 to 41 weekly calls per neighborhood. Control variables. To account for the structural characteristics commonly associ- Methods ated with neighborhood-level crime (Land, McCall, and Cohen 1990), we draw on U.S. To assess the effect of the Frank Jude beating Census data and calculate the following on citizen crime reporting, we use an inter- measures at the block-group level: percent of rupted time series design with block-group the population that is non-Hispanic black; and month fixed effects. With this design, we percent of the population that is Latino; per- assess whether the extensive media coverage cent of households below the poverty line; of Jude’s beating that followed the Sentinel’s and percent of households that rent. breaking story induced an interruption in the

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 Desmond et al. 863

Table 1. Summary Statistics for Population, Call, and Crime Variables

Mean SD Min. Max.

Neighborhood Structural Variables Percent Black .392 .370 0 .990 Percent Latino .113 .183 0 .828 Percent Poverty .203 .154 0 .817 Percent Renter .533 .225 0 1 Weekly Calls for Service Total 3.367 3.565 0 41 Violence .898 1.437 0 17 Weekly Reported Crimes Total Crimes 1.823 1.950 0 35 Violent Crimes .403 .753 0 9

Note: Summary data for 596 Milwaukee block groups. Here, crime and 911 call statistics pertain to the observation period before and after the newspaper broke the story of Frank Jude’s beating: March 1, 2004 to December 31, 2005. level and slope of the time series of 911 calls. cases of police violence against unarmed We use a negative binomial specification to black men affected citizen crime reporting in account for the skewness of the 911 calling Milwaukee. The news reports and court docu- pattern, with many block groups reporting ments on which this section draws are listed few or no 911 calls in a given week. We mea- at the end of the article. sure exposure as the number of residents in a block group, which we determine from Geo- Danyall Simpson, Milwaukee, Wis- lytics annual population estimates. consin; story broke in the local press on Previous research suggests that African February 18, 2007. On May 21, 2006, Dan- American communities would be more yall Simpson, a 19-year-old black man, was affected than white communities by the Jude confronted in the driveway of his mother’s beating (Kirk and Papachristos 2011; Samp- home by police officer James Langer, a son 2012). Hence, in addition to analyzing all 32-year-old white man. Simpson was sus- block groups, we also estimate models sepa- pected of throwing a brick through a neigh- rately for black and white neighborhoods. We bor’s window. The interaction between hypothesize that the effect will be more pro- Simpson, Langer, and Langer’s partner grew nounced in black block groups. confrontational and resulted in Simpson being Additionally, we replicate our analyses on taken to the ground. While Simpson was the number of weekly calls for automobile lying on his back with his arms pinned, accidents, a “nonequivalent dependent varia- Langer hit him in the face with his flashlight. ble” that should have been unaffected by the The blow broke Simpson’s eye socket and Jude beating (Shadish, Cook, and Campbell cheekbone. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 2002:184). Because calls related to car acci- reported the story on February 18, 2007 (Die- dents are typically made to report injuries or drich 2007b). Readers learned that Langer for insurance purposes, having little to do had a history of using excessive force but was with trust in law enforcement, we expect not reprimanded; that it took the MPD three them to be unaffected by the incident. months to deliver the case to the District Attorney’s office; and that according to a wit- ness, Langer’s hit “sounded as if someone Additional Cases threw a melon in the air and smashed it with To examine if the Frank Jude case was a baseball bat.” The Sentinel printed a photo- unique, we also investigate if three other graph of Simpson’s bloodied face.

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 864 American Sociological Review 81(5)

Sean Bell, Queens, New York; story most nationally publicized cases of police broke in the national press on Novem- violence that took place during our study ber 27, 2006. In the morning hours of period. These two cases allow us to investi- November 25, 2006, Sean Bell, a 23-year-old gate if national reports of deadly force used black man due to be married later that day, against unarmed black men in other locales was shot and killed by New York City police had any observable impact on citizen crime officers. Five plainclothes officers conducting reporting in Milwaukee. For each case, we an undercover investigation of a prostitution estimate an interrupted time series model ring fired over 50 rounds at the car that held with block-group and month fixed effects, as Bell and two friends. Bell had been celebrat- with the Frank Jude case. In contrast to the ing his last night of bachelorhood at a Queens Frank Jude analyses, model fit statistics strip club and was unarmed when killed. The revealed that a specification with quadratic story made national headlines the following time trends for both pre- and post-intervention day, with coverage in the New York Times, periods resulted in better model fit. CNN, and other major outlets, eliciting large protests in New York City and beyond (Buck- ley and Rashbaum 2006; Francisco, Frieden, Results and Rose 2006). We begin by mapping 911 calls against the racial composition of Milwaukee neighbor- Oscar Grant, Oakland, California; hoods. Figure 1 shows two maps of the city: story broke in the national press on Jan- panel A displays the percent of neighborhood uary 8, 2009. In the first hours of 2009, Oscar residents who are black; panel B depicts the Grant III, a 22-year-old black man, was total number of police-related 911 calls detained on the platform of the Fruitvale Sta- between March 2004 and December 2005. tion by Bay Area Rapid Transit police officers, Side-by-side, the maps reveal that predomi- who had received word of a possible fight nantly black neighborhoods have higher call underway in a crowded train returning from volumes. In an average week, residents in San Francisco. Two officers were attending to black neighborhoods made 5.64 calls to 911 Grant, who was lying face down with his (min. = 0, max. = 41), more than triple the call- hands behind his back, “restrained and ing rate of residents in white neighborhoods unarmed” according to court documents. One (1.7 calls per week; min. = 0, max. = 17). of the officers, Johannes Mehserle, a 26-year- old white man, then pulled out his .40 caliber Did the Beating of Frank Jude Affect sidearm and shot Grant in the back, puncturing Citizen Crime Reporting? his lung. Grant died the following morning. The incident was recorded by multiple bystand- Table 2 displays the results of negative bino- ers using portable cameras and disseminated to mial regression models estimating the rela- Internet and media outlets. Protests immedi- tionship between neighborhood characteristics ately followed in Oakland, but it took a week and citizen crime reporting, first for all block for the story to receive widespread coverage in groups in the city, then for subsamples of pre- the national press. Mehserle was later found dominately black and white block groups. guilty of involuntary manslaughter (Chideya Model 1 takes as its outcome all 911 calls 2009; McKinley 2009). reporting crime recorded in Milwaukee We selected the Simpson case because it between March 1, 2004 and December 31, enables us to observe if a local incident of 2005. Model 2 focuses on a subset of calls police violence less extreme than Jude’s beat- reporting violent crime. All three models ing also affected citizen crime reporting in include block-group and month fixed effects, Milwaukee. We selected the killings of Sean sociodemographic controls, and the number of Bell and Oscar Grant because they were the reported crimes during each observation week.

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 Desmond et al. 865

Figure 1. Milwaukee Maps Showing (A) the Percent of Neighborhood Residents Who Are Black and (B) the Total Number of Police-Related 911 Calls: March 2004 to December 2005 Note: Darker shading indicates a larger percentage of black residents or a higher 911 calling rate.

Looking first at all neighborhoods, the with 911 calls eventually returning to expected overall trend for total calls (as seen in the levels. Calls for violent crime declined sig- weeks pre-Jude story coefficient) is positive nificantly following Jude’s story before even- and significant, indicating that police-related tually returning to pre-intervention levels. 911 calls trended slightly upward during the Figure 2 displays the estimated pattern of observation period.3 The non-significant 911 calls before and after the press reported coefficient for Jude story indicates that the Frank Jude’s story. We estimated counts using weekly number of 911 calls did not shift Stata’s margins command following the exe- abruptly in either direction immediately fol- cution of our negative binomial regressions. lowing the publication of Jude’s beating. The dotted line represents a counterfactual However, the negative linear post-interven- calling pattern that extends the pre-Jude time tion slope trend (weeks post-Jude story) finds trend into the post-intervention period. It esti- that 911 calls for service declined signifi- mates the expected number of 911 calls in the cantly in the period after the story broke. This absence of Jude’s story. As Figure 2 shows, observed decline is net of controls for reported the number of calls reporting crime declined crime, neighborhood sociodemographic char- substantially in the wake of Jude’s beating, acteristics, and fixed effects for time-invariant relative to the counterfactual, and did not block-group characteristics and month fixed return to expected levels for more than a year. effects for the seasonality of 911 calls. The Table 2 also contrasts the estimated effect small, positive quadratic time term reveals of the Jude beating in black and white neigh- that the “Jude effect” diminished over time, borhoods. In tabular form, the results appear

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 866 American Sociological Review 81(5)

Table 2. Negative Binomial Regressions with Neighborhood and Month Fixed Effects Estimating the Effect of Frank Jude’s Beating on Citizen Crime Reporting: All, Black, and White Neighborhoods

All Black White Neighborhoods Neighborhoods Neighborhoods

Total Violent Total Violent Total Violent Calls Calls Calls Calls Calls Calls

Intercept −6.378*** −7.876*** −6.436*** −7.594*** −6.679*** −8.574*** (.087) (.140) (.418) (.538) (.173) (.348) Weeks Pre-Jude Story .036*** .019 .031** −.007 .044* .037 (.008) (.015) (.011) (.020) (.022) (.051) Jude Story −.009 −.021 −.005 .036 .114 .005 (.034) (.065) (.048) (.089) (.095) (.224) Weeks Post-Jude Story −.088*** −.117** −.069* −.019 −.192** −.281* (.021) (.040) (.030) (.053) (.061) (.137) Weeks Post-Jude Story .002*** .003*** .001 .000 .004*** .008** (squared) (.000) (.001) (.001) (.001) (.001) (.003) Reported Crime .039*** .202*** .037*** .171*** .036*** .465*** (.002) (.005) (.002) (.006) (.004) (.023) Percent Poverty .999*** 1.338*** 1.087** 2.000*** 1.733 2.736 (.224) (.299) (.330) (.422) (1.113) (1.706) Percent Renter .314* .547** −.166 −.304 .550 1.107** (.150) (.209) (.294) (.367) (.295) (.424) Percent Black 1.030*** 1.353*** 1.330** 1.511** 2.369** 1.797 (.092) (.130) (.437) (.549) (.857) (1.122) Percent Latino .634*** .919*** 2.775 1.159 .907 .685 (.158) (.219) (1.502) (1.694) (1.050) (1.520)

Note: These models focus on the observation period of March 1, 2004 to December 31, 2005. The reported crime variable represents all reported weekly crimes when the outcome is total police-related 911 calls and violent crimes when the outcome is calls reporting violence. Black/white neighborhoods are defined as those in which at least 65 percent of residents are black/white. Coefficients and standard errors (in parentheses) for the week measures of time were multiplied by 10 for ease of interpretation. N = 596 neighborhoods. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001 (two-tailed test). similar across neighborhoods. In both sub- the decline in 911 calls is large and durable, samples, the change in the intercept (denoted with citizen crime reporting dropping and stay- by the coefficient Jude story) is not signifi- ing lower than expected for over a year after cant, but the linear post-story trend is signifi- the story broke. In white neighborhoods, by cant and negative, with the effect appearing contrast, a small decline in 911 calls followed larger in white neighborhoods. The quadratic Jude’s story, but the effect dissipated rapidly as term is positive but non-significant in the 911 calls eventually surpassed the counterfac- black-neighborhoods subsample but positive tual line within a year’s time. The beating of and significant in the white-neighborhoods Frank Jude had a much more substantial effect subsample, indicating that the initial decline on citizen crime reporting in black neighbor- in calls diminished with time in white but not hoods than in white neighborhoods. black neighborhoods. Drawing on the results presented in Fig- Figure 3 reveals the benefit of visually dis- ures 2 and 3, we calculate a “bottom line” playing these results. In black neighborhoods, estimate of the total number of police-related

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 Desmond et al. 867

Figure 2. Estimated Number of Weekly 911 Calls Reporting Crime Before and After the Frank Jude Story

Figure 3. Estimated Number of Weekly 911 Calls Reporting Crime Before and After the Frank Jude Story in White and Black Neighborhoods

911 calls that were not made in the wake of post-Jude trend across different call types. We Milwaukeeans learning of Jude’s beating. We estimate that the police beating of Frank Jude do so by summing the difference between the resulted in a net loss of approximately 22,200 counterfactual time trend and the estimated 911 calls reporting crime the year after Jude’s

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 868 American Sociological Review 81(5) story broke. Over half (56 percent) of the total Table 3. Nonequivalent Dependent Variable loss in calls occurred in black neighborhoods. Models Estimating the Effect of Frank Jude’s For comparison purposes, there were approx- Beating on Calls for Automobile Accidents imately 110,000 police-related 911 calls from Accident Calls all Milwaukee neighborhoods during this *** time period. Intercept −8.371 (.287) Weeks Pre-Jude Story −.004 Calls for Automobile Accidents (.003) Jude Story −.128 To test whether calls for incidents that should (.165) not have been affected by Frank Jude’s beating Weeks Post-Jude Story .016*** also declined during the observation period, we (.003) analyze calls reporting automobile accidents. If Percent Poverty .315 we find that calls for accidents declined follow- (.597) ing Jude’s story, we would have reason to be Percent Renter 1.116** concerned that some other concurrent event (.387) besides the beating—for example, reductions Percent Black −.303 in staff capacity at 911 call centers or a local (.229) Percent Latino −.663 sports team winning the championship—had (.358) influenced crime reporting. Weekly Rainfall .031 As with our previous analyses, we com- (.023) pared model fit to different specifications of Weekly Snowfall .051*** the pre- and post-Jude time period, finding (.012) that a model with a linear specification for both time periods provided the best fit. As Note: N = 596 neighborhoods. Standard errors are in parentheses. Table 3 shows, 911 calls related to traffic acci- *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001 (two-tailed test). dents increased during the weeks following Jude’s story, net of sociodemographic controls and weather conditions (weekly rainfall and neighborhoods and a subsample of black snowfall).4 These findings show that the neighborhoods. We focus on the weekly num- observed decline in police-related 911 calls ber of 911 calls at the neighborhood level, that followed Jude’s story was not a product of following the reporting of each incident (for a general decline in all 911 calls; rather, the Simpson: February 18, 2007; for Bell: Novem- decline was specific to crime reporting. ber 27, 2006; for Grant: January 8, 2009).5 Consistent with our findings from the Frank Jude case, 911 calls reporting crime Danyall Simpson, Sean Bell, and declined significantly following the breaking Oscar Grant of Danyall Simpson’s beating. Both the level Having found evidence indicating that the and slope of crime reporting declined. This story of Frank Jude’s beating depressed citi- finding holds when examining calls reporting zen crime reporting, particularly in Milwau- violent crime. Likewise, citizen crime report- kee’s black neighborhoods, we now investigate ing fell significantly in black neighborhoods whether 911 calls were affected by other cases after publication of the Simpson beating. of police violence against unarmed black men Local incidents of police violence, when documented in the local and national press. publicized in the press, dampen crime report- We replicate our fixed-effects regression anal- ing in Milwaukee. But could non-local inci- yses for Danyall Simpson’s beating and the dents reported in the national press also affect fatal shootings of Sean Bell and Oscar Grant. citizen crime reporting? Our findings suggest Table 4 displays the results for all they do, although not to the extent of local

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 Desmond et al. 869

Table 4. Negative Binomial Regressions Estimating the Effect of the Danyall Simpson, Sean Bell, and Oscar Grant Stories on Citizen Crime Reporting

Danyall Simpson Sean Bell Oscar Grant

Total Violent Total Violent Total Violent Calls Calls Calls Calls Calls Calls

All Neighborhoods Intercept −4.116*** −5.333*** −6.386*** −7.737*** −12.532*** −11.451*** (.311) (.579) (.070) (.115) (1.141) (2.106) Weeks Pre-Story −.221*** −.293** .093*** .061*** .629*** .344 (.047) (.089) (.008) (.015) (.098) (.181) Weeks Pre-Story (squared) .001*** .001** −.000*** −.000 −.001*** −.001 (.000) (.000) (.000) (.000) (.000) (.000) Story −.032* −.041 −.090*** −.152*** .167*** .022 (.015) (.028) (.016) (.030) (.015) (.028) Weeks Post-Story −.014 −.062** .014 .009 .061*** .047* (.011) (.020) (.011) (.021) (.012) (.022) Weeks Post-Story (squared) −.001*** −.001*** .000 −.001 .002*** .001 (.000) (.000) (.000) (.000) (.000) (.000) Reported Crime .053*** .231*** .049*** .229*** .056*** .244*** (.001) (.003) (.001) (.003) (.001) (.003) Percent Poverty .294 .208 .596** .443 −.003 .041 (.176) (.214) (.179) (.239) (.161) (.197) Percent Renter .348** .835*** .348** .745*** .150 .853*** (.116) (.154) (.118) (.172) (.103) (.135) Percent Black .892*** 1.192*** .965*** 1.236*** .939*** 1.328*** (.075) (.095) (.076) (.106) (.069) (.087) Percent Latino .402** .690*** .478*** .718*** .391** .796*** (.127) (.163) (.128) (.180) (.113) (.148)

Black Neighborhoods Intercept −5.980*** −5.685*** −7.012*** −7.587*** −12.874*** −17.424*** (.535) (.867) (.327) (.440) (1.700) (2.932) Weeks Pre-Story −.098 −.247* .080*** .070*** .634* .863** (.068) (.121) (.011) (.020) (.144) (.025) Weeks Pre-Story (squared) .000 .001 −.000*** −.000 −.001*** −.002*** (.000) (.000) (.000) (.000) (.000) (.001) Story −.029 −.034 −.056* −.108** .201 .074 (.022) (.039) (.023) (.041) (.023) (.039) Weeks Post-Story .031* −.032 −.029 −.022 .070** .108*** (.016) (.028) (.017) (.029) (.018) (.031) Weeks Post-Story (squared) −.001** −.001* .001** .000 .002*** .002*** (.000) (.000) (.000) (.000) (.000) (.001) Reported Crime .049*** .185*** .045*** .186*** .055*** .196*** (.001) (.004) (.001) (.004) (.002) (.004) Percent Poverty .346 .111 .798** .687* .122 .417 (.266) (.315) (.273) (.346) (.242) (.287) Percent Renter −.176 .467 −.036 .351 .023 .309 (.229) (.293) (.239) (.323) (.214) (.260) Percent Black 2.477*** 1.717*** 1.895*** 1.276** 1.374*** 1.511*** (.335) (.421) (.353) (.468) (.320) (.379) Percent Latino 2.323* .049 2.840* .390 1.411 1.729 (1.045) (1.220) (1.220) (1.425) (.945) (1.148)

Note: The reported crime variable represents all reported weekly crimes when the outcome is total police-related 911 calls and violent crimes when the outcome is calls reporting violence. Black neighborhoods are defined as those in which at least 65 percent of residents are black. Coefficients and standard errors (in parentheses) for the week measures of time were multiplied by 10 for ease of interpretation. N = 596 neighborhoods. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001 (two-tailed test).

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 870 American Sociological Review 81(5) events. After Sean Bell’s killing made national only people living in black neighborhoods headlines, the level of 911 calls declined sig- altered their crime-reporting behavior for a nificantly—in all Milwaukee neighborhoods significant period of time after the publication and in black neighborhoods, particularly— of such events. The dampening effect of the however, we do not observe a significant Jude beating on citizen crime reporting per- change in the slope of the post-story time sisted for months, resulting in a net loss of trend. By contrast, the killing of Oscar Grant more than 20,000 911 calls. It is one thing to in Oakland, California, did not result in a disparage law enforcement in your thoughts decline in police-related 911 calls in Milwau- and speech after an instance of police vio- kee. In fact, 911 calls increased in the weeks lence or corruption makes the news. It is quite following Grant’s death, a trend that may another to witness a crime, or even to be vic- reflect changes within Milwaukee neighbor- timized, and refuse to report it. hoods in the wake of the Great Recession. The events of that October morning In two of our three additional cases, we affected not only Frank Jude and his family observed an association between police offic- but Black Milwaukee as a whole. To date, ers’ use of excessive or deadly force against an research has mainly focused on how individu- unarmed black man and fewer crimes reported als’ personal interactions with law-enforce- to the police. The effect of Frank Jude’s beat- ment officers (Skogan 2006; Tyler and Waslak ing on citizen crime reporting matched the 2004) or the vicarious experiences of one’s severity of the incident, but instances of police social ties (Brunson 2007; Rosenbaum et al. violence less extreme by comparison, as well 2005) influence attitudes toward the police. as events that took place thousands of miles This study, however, shows that in predomi- away, still appear to have had an impact on nantly black neighborhoods, publicized cases crime reporting in Milwaukee. of police violence can have a community- wide impact on crime reporting that tran- scends individual encounters. An important Discussion implication of this finding is that publicized Cities across the United States have experienced cases of police violence not only threaten the high-profile cases of excessive use of police legitimacy and reputation of law enforce- force (Holmes and Smith 2008; Ross 2000). Yet ment; they also—by driving down 911 calls— little work has been dedicated to understanding thwart the suppression of law breaking, their effects on police-community relations. obstruct the application of justice, and ulti- Applying stringent statistical analyses to hun- mately make cities as a whole, and the black dreds of thousands of 911 calls, we sought to community in particular, less safe. identify a relationship between publicized cases To gather empirical support for this line of of police violence against unarmed black men thought, we examined homicides following and citizen crime reporting. the publication of Jude’s beating. Unlike with This study shows that publicized cases of other crime, murder records should not be police violence against unarmed black men affected by fluctuations in citizen crime have a clear and significant impact on citizen reporting, owing to the gravity and nature of crime reporting. Once the story of Frank the crime. During the six months that fol- Jude’s beating appeared in the press, Milwau- lowed Jude’s story (March to August 2005), kee residents, especially people in black 87 homicides occurred in Milwaukee, repre- neighborhoods, were less likely to call the senting a 32 percent increase in murders rela- police, including to report violent crime. Both tive to the same six-month period in previous white and black citizens’ opinions of the and subsequent years. In fact, as Figure 4 police may drop after a high-profile brutality shows, the spring and summer that followed case against unarmed black men (Lasley Jude’s story were the deadliest in the seven 1994; Weitzer 2002), but our study found that years observed in our study. This uptick in

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 Desmond et al. 871

Figure 4. Homicides in Milwaukee, March through August, 2004 to 2010 homicides occurred during months in which escalation and an equally sharp de-escalation citizen crime reporting, especially in the black (King and Sutton 2013; Legewie 2013). The community, fell by significant margins. effect of police violence on citizen crime We also found that it does not take a major reporting documented in this study is consider- or local event to reduce crime reporting. Mil- ably lengthy by comparison. This indicates waukee residents issued fewer calls for ser- that high-profile cases of excessive police vice after the local press reported the assault force constitute a severe breach in the social of Danyall Simpson by a white police officer, contract that exists between citizens and the an assault less severe than Jude’s, and they criminal justice system. That breach is so sud- were less likely to call the police after the kill- den and violent when unarmed black men are ing of Sean Bell (in Queens, New York) made beaten or killed that virtually no institutional national headlines. We found no evidence, response, from public apologies to sanctioning however, that the killing of Oscar Grant (in offending officers, can swiftly repair it. Crime Oakland, California) lowered crime-reporting reporting remained significantly lower in black behavior in Milwaukee. We found some evi- neighborhoods weeks after officers involved in dence, then, that high-profile cases of Jude’s beating were charged and fired. unarmed black men being assaulted or killed With time, however, citizen crime report- by law-enforcement officers may affect citi- ing returned to normal levels. Police have a zen crime reporting in cities far removed virtual monopoly on crime control, and alter- from the site of the incident. native forms of law enforcement emerge only Our analyses of the Frank Jude beating under extreme circumstances (see Venkatesh found that crime reporting eventually returned 2000). Accordingly, residents who witness or to typical levels, but it took roughly one year are victimized by crime have little recourse before they did—and even longer in black other than to call 911, which is perhaps why neighborhoods. Other studies that examine the people negatively disposed toward the police impact of major, divisive events on attitudes or often favor increased law enforcement to pro- behavior have observed profound but short- mote public safety (Carr et al. 2007; Sampson lived effects, characterized by a sharp and Bartusch 1998).

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 872 American Sociological Review 81(5)

Taken together, our findings present a survey conducted after a white police officer dynamic, eventful theoretical model that illu- shot and killed Michael Brown, an 18-year- minates the relationship between economic old black man, in Ferguson, Missouri, found and racial inequality, legal cynicism, and citi- that 80 percent of African Americans believed zen cooperation with the police. Major epi- the case “raises important issues about race,” sodes of police violence against unarmed compared to 37 percent of whites (Pew black men covered by the press can interface Research Center 2014). Owing to the legacy with a general sentiment of legal cynicism of racism in the United States, many members within the black community to drive behav- of the black community perceive an assault of ior, drawing out action from attitudes. a black man by white police officers as an Our findings demonstrate that the media assault on the black community writ large, plays a crucial role in this process, not only activating a collective response. Within black by raising awareness of episodes of police neighborhoods, the impact of police violence violence but also by addressing basic ques- on citizen crime reporting results not only tions about such episodes. What exactly hap- from African Americans identifying with the pened? What was the race of the victim and victim but also interpreting the moment of police officer? Was the victim armed? When victimization in terms that articulate the these questions are addressed, either by pro- nation’s racial heritage. By extension, we fessional reporters (as in Frank Jude’s case) would not expect an equivalent response in or “citizen journalists” who video record and predominantly white or Latino neighborhoods broadcast incidents, that narrows the number after publicized episodes of police violence of reasonable interpretations (Koopmans against unarmed white or Latino citizens. 2004; Scheufele 1999), allowing certain acts Future research can assess this hypothesis. of police force to be seen as unreasonable and Because this study relied on administrative disturbing. This can produce widespread records, its findings can be replicated in other effects on citizen crime reporting when large locales. In racial composition, population numbers of people learn of an episode around size, and unemployment rate, Milwaukee is the same time (see Andrews and Biggs 2006). similar to many midsize U.S. cities (Des- In the short run, publicized episodes of mond, Gershenson, and Kiviat 2015). Like excessive police violence against unarmed many other urban areas—including cities in black men can activate legal cynicism within which recent well-known cases of police vio- the black community to diminish residents’ lence have occurred, such as Baltimore, cooperation with law enforcement. In the long Cleveland, and New York City—Milwaukee run, such episodes likely contribute to that has high levels of racial segregation. We very cynicism by being incorporated into the might not expect the effect of police violence community’s collective memory.6 We believe on citizen crime reporting to be as acute or collective memory explains why we found durable in more integrated cities, a testable “the Jude effect” to be particularly strong in expectation. Our findings can also be extended black neighborhoods. Such incidents belong by investigations of how police maltreatment to a centuries-old tradition of state-sanctioned of Hispanic victims may affect citizen crime assaults on the black body—from slavery and reporting in Hispanic communities, where lynching campaigns to urban riots and mass legal cynicism is less pronounced than in incarceration (Muller 2012; Patterson 1998)— black neighborhoods (Kirk et al. 2012). an ugly fact that African Americans are more Police departments and city politicians often likely to recognize and dread. Against this frame a publicized case of police violence backdrop, a violent episode carried out by the against an unarmed black man as an “isolated police is registered as proof and product of a incident.” If it is determined that the officer violent heritage, rendering victim and perpe- abused his authority, the officer is typically pre- trator actors in a larger historical drama. A sented as a “bad apple” and may be suspended,

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 Desmond et al. 873 fired, or arraigned (Kish-Gephart, Harrison, and that vitiate police-community relations and Treviño 2010; Lersch and Mieczkowski 2005). thwart crime-reduction efforts. If acts of These steps may be an appropriate way of excessive police force result in community- responding to individual actors, but they may level consequences—including the non-report- not be sufficient to repair the damage done to ing of crime, which by undermining public the black community as a whole. The findings safety efforts likely contributes to pessimism of this study promote a more sociological view about law enforcement’s effectiveness—then of the issue by suggesting that no act of police police departments may consider implement- violence is an isolated incident, in both cause ing community-level interventions in the and consequence. Episodes of police wrongdo- aftermath of such acts. ing are one ramification of a broader trend In recent years, city politicians and law within the criminal justice system that in recent enforcement agencies have devoted signifi- decades has promoted aggressive law enforce- cant attention and resources to what has come ment and severe sentencing. The effect of this to be known as the “stop snitching” culture. trend on crime reduction has been underwhelm- In disadvantaged neighborhoods, noncooper- ing (Travis, Western, and Redburn 2014), and ation with the police is often attributed to some policies and practices have brought about street culture or fear of retaliation (Brown opposite-than-intended effects by making crime 2007; Natapoff 2009). In some cases that fear worse. In undermining public safety efforts by is justified, but one implication of this study dampening citizen crime reporting and inviting is that should we wish to understand why legal cynicism, police violence is a clear exam- some crime goes unreported in the black ple of this. community, we should try to understand resi- Individual instances of institutional failure dents’ collective memory regarding police can have aggregate and lasting consequences violence in their city and others.

Appendix

Table A1. Model Fit Statistics for Frank Jude Analyses: All Neighborhoods

Bayesian Information Criterion

Model Total Calls Violent Calls

Linear Pre- and Post-Jude 208,328.2 117,140.4 Linear Pre-Jude and Linear + Quadratic Post-Jude 208,325.2 117,138.9 Linear + Quadratic Pre-Jude and Linear Post-Jude 208,337.9 117,144.8 Linear + Quadratic Pre-Jude and Linear + Quadratic Post-Jude 208,331.3 117,137.0

Acknowledgments Funding We thank Javier Auyero, Monica Bell, Lawrence Bobo, This research was supported by Harvard University. John Diedrich, Felix Elwert, Peter Hart-Brinson, Nikki Jones, Ryan King, Christopher Muller, Devah Pager, and Christopher Wildeman for helpful comments; Jeffrey Blos- Notes som for geocoding expertise; Deborah De Laurell and 1. The MPD redacted addresses from 2.7 percent of Elizabeth Roberto for research assistance; and the Milwau- 911 calls having to do with crimes against children kee Police Department for supplying data. Earlier drafts of and suicides. We dropped these calls, along with this paper were presented at the Workshop on Violence at calls having to do with commerce-related crime the Urban Margins, University of Texas at Austin, April 4, (e.g., shoplifting, forgery). 2013, and the American Sociological Association Annual 2. The City of Milwaukee implemented a new 911 Meeting, New York City, August 12, 2013. reporting system in early 2004. Because recorded

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 874 American Sociological Review 81(5)

calls during the implementation period are poten- Francisco, Stacey, Terry Frieden, and Ellen Rose. 2006. tially undercounted, we excluded calls placed dur- “N.Y. Mayor Meets with Dead Groom’s Family.” ing the first two months of 2004. CNN, November 29. 3. Supplemental models (available upon request) McKinley, Jesse. 2009. “Oakland Turns Violent Over examined 911 calling patterns in Jude’s neighbor- Shooting.” New York Times, January 7. hood and adjacent neighborhoods directly after the McLaughlin, Eliott, Augie Martin, Dan Simon, and Mal- beating, finding no significant effects on call pat- lory Simon. 2009. “Hundreds Demand Answers, terns. At the time of his beating, Jude lived in a Action in Subway Shooting.” CNN, January 8. majority-white neighborhood on the far south side Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 2007. “Timeline of Events of the city. in Frank Jude Beating Case.” July 27. 4. We obtained weekly rainfall and snowfall data from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 2012. “Timeline: Deaths the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- in Milwaukee Police Custody, Proposed Reforms.” tion. October 27. 5. Following the procedure used to estimate the effect Nunnally, Derrick. 2005. “100 Protest Progress of of Frank Jude’s beating on citizen crime reporting, Police Beating Case.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the observation periods for our analyses of these February 11. additional cases were centered on the date the news Stingl, Jim. 2006. “Jude Case Plays out Like a Tragedy.” reported on them. Thus the observation period in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 16. which we observe crime and 911 calls runs from USA v. Bartlett, Spengler, and Masarik. 2009. Appeals January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2008 for the from the United States District Court for the Eastern Simpson case; from January 1, 2005 to December District of Wisconsin. No. 06-CR-273, June 8. 31, 2007 for the Bell case; and from January 1, 2008 Wilson, Michael. 2006. “50 Shots Fired, and the Experts to December 31, 2010 for the Grant case. Offer a Theory.” New York Times, November 27. 6. For an extended discussion about the interaction between major events and entrenched beliefs and prejudices, see Legewie (forthcoming). References Anderson, Elijah. 1999. Code of the Street: Decency, Vio- lence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City. New York Newspaper and Court Documents City: Norton. Associated Press. 2009. “Police Crack Down after Train Andrews, Kenneth, and Michael Biggs. 2006. “The Shooting Protests, Businesses Smashed, Cars Set Dynamics of Protest Diffusion: Movement Organiza- Blaze in Oakland after Transit Cop Killed Man.” tions, Social Networks, and News Media in the 1960 January 8. Sit-Ins.” American Sociological Review 71(5):752–77. Barton, Gina. 2006. “2 Plead Guilty in Federal Jude Avakame, Edem, James Fyfe, and Candace McCoy. 1999. Case.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, November 4. “‘Did You Call the Police? What Did They Do?’ An Board of Fire and Police Commissioners of the City of Empirical Assessment of Black’s Theory of Mobiliza- Milwaukee. 2008. In the Matter of the Appeal of tion of Law.” Justice Quarterly 16(4):765–92. Police Officer Zoe Jackson from MPD Personnel Banton, Michael. 1964. The Policeman in the Commu- Order Number 2007-184, March 5. nity. New York: Basic Books. Borowski, Greg. 2007. “2nd Jude Trail Stands as a Rar- Baumer, Eric. 2002. “Neighborhood Disadvantage and ity.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 28. Police Notification by Victims of Violence.” Crimi- Buckley, Cara, and William Rashbaum. 2006. “A Day nology 40(3):579–616. after a Fatal Shooting, Questions, Mourning, and Pro- Black, Donald. 1970. “The Production of Crime Rates.” test.” New York Times, November 27. American Sociological Review 35(4):733–48. Chideya, Farai. 2009. “Hundreds Protest in Oakland over Bobo, Lawrence, and Victor Thompson. 2006. “Unfair by BART Shooting.” National Public Radio, January 8. Design: The War on Drugs, Race, and the Legitimacy CNN. 2007. “Police Fire 50 Rounds, Kill Groom on Day of the Criminal Justice System.” Social Research of Wedding.” November 26. 73(2):445–72. Diedrich, John. 2005a. “Police Suspected in Man’s Beat- Brown, Ethan. 2007. Snitch: Informants, Cooperators, and ing.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 6. the Corruption of Justice. New York: PublicAffairs. Diedrich, John. 2005b. “8 More Fired in Jude Case.” Mil- Brunson, Rod. 2007. “‘Police Don’t Like Black Peo- waukee Journal Sentinel, May 24. ple’: African-American Young Men’s Accumulated Diedrich, John. 2007a. “Force Blurs the Line.” Milwau- Police Experiences.” Criminology and Public Policy kee Journal Sentinel, February 18. 6(1):71–102 Diedrich, John. 2007b. “3 Ex-Officers Guilty.” Milwau- Brunson, Rod, and Jody Miller. 2006. “Young Black Men kee Journal Sentinel, July 27. and Urban Policing in the United States.” British Diedrich, John. 2012. “City Reaches Tentative Settle- Journal of Criminology 46(4):613–40. ment in Jude Lawsuit.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Carr, Patrick, Laura Napolitano, and Jessica Keating. January 20. 2007. “We Never Call the Cops and Here Is Why:

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 Desmond et al. 875

A Qualitative Examination of Legal Cynicism in Research Directions.” Aggression and Violent Behav- Three Philadelphia Neighborhoods.” Criminology ior 10(5):552–68. 45(2):445–80. Manning, Peter. 1988. Symbolic Communication: Sig- Desmond, Matthew, Carl Gershenson, and Barbara Kiv- nifying Calls and the Police Response. Cambridge, iat. 2015. “Forced Relocation and Residential Insta- MA: MIT Press. bility among Urban Renters.” Social Service Review Matulia, Kenneth. 1982. A Balance of Forces: National 89(2):227–62. Survey of Police Deadly Force. Gaithersburg, MD: Holmes, Malcolm D., and Brad W. Smith. 2008. Race International Association of Chiefs of Police. and Police Brutality: Roots of an Urban Dilemma. Muller, Christopher. 2012. “Northward Migration and Albany: SUNY Press. the Rise of Racial Disparity in American Incarcera- Jefferis, Eric, Robert Kaminski, Stephen Holmes, and tion, 1880–1950.” American Journal of Sociology Dena Hanley. 1997. “The Effect of a Videotaped 118(2):281–326. Arrest on Public Perceptions of Police Use of Force.” Natapoff, Alexandra. 2009. Snitching: Criminal Infor- Journal of Criminal Justice 25(5):381–95. mants and the Erosion of American Justice. New King, Ryan D., and Gretchen M. Sutton. 2013. “High York: New York University Press. Times for Hate Crimes: Explaining the Temporal Patterson, Orlando. 1998. Rituals of Blood: Conse- Clustering of Hate-Motivated Offending.” Criminol- quences of Slavery in Two American Centuries. New ogy 51(4):871–94. York: Basic Civitas Books. Kirk, David, and Mauri Matsuda. 2011. “Legal Cyni- Pew Research Center. 2012. “News about Trayvon Mar- cism, Collective Efficacy, and the Ecology of Arrest.” tin Case Still Top Story.” Washington, DC: Pew Criminology 49(2):443–72. Research Center for People and the Press. Kirk, David, and Andrew Papachristos. 2011. “Cul- Pew Research Center. 2014. “Stark Racial Divisions in tural Mechanisms and the Persistence of Neighbor- Reactions to Ferguson Police Shooting.” Washington, hood Violence.” American Journal of Sociology DC: Pew Research Center for People and the Press. 116(4):1190–1233. Reiss, Albert, Jr. 1992. “Police Organization in the Twen- Kirk, David, Andrew Papachristos, Jeffrey Fagan, and tieth Century.” Crime and Justice 15:51–97. Tom R. Tyler. 2012. “The Paradox of Law Enforce- Rosenbaum, Dennis, Amie Schuck, Sandra Costello, Dar- ment in Immigrant Communities: Does Tough Immi- nell Hawkins, and Marianne Ring. 2005. “Attitudes gration Enforcement Undermine Public Safety?” toward the Police: The Effects of Direct and Vicari- Annals of the American Academy of Political and ous Experience.” Police Quarterly 8(3):343–65. Social Science 641(1):79–98. Rosenfeld, Richard, Bruce Jacobs, and Richard Wright. Kish-Gephart, Jennifer, David Harrison, and Linda Klebe 2003. “Snitching and the Code of the Street.” British Treviño. 2010. “Bad Apples, Bad Cases, and Bad Journal of Criminology 43(2):291–309. Barrels: Meta-Analytic Evidence about Sources of Ross, Jeffrey Ian. 2000. Making News of Police Violence: Unethical Decisions at Work.” Journal of Applied A Comparative Study of Toronto and New York. West- Psychology 95(1):1–31. port, CT: Praeger. Klinger, David. 1997. “Negotiating Order in Patrol Work: Sampson, Robert. 2012. Great American City: Chicago An Ecological Theory of Police Response to Devi- and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect. Chicago: ance.” Criminology 35(2):277–306. University of Chicago Press. Koopmans, Ruud. 2004. “Movements and Media: Selec- Sampson, Robert, and Dawn Jeglum Bartusch. 1998. tion Processes and Evolutionary Dynamics in the “Legal Cynicism and (Subcultural?) Tolerance of Public Sphere.” Theory and Society 33(3):367–91. Deviance: The Neighborhood Context of Racial Dif- Land, Kenneth C., Patricia L. McCall, and Lawrence ferences.” Law and Society Review 32(4):777–804. E. Cohen. 1990. “Structural Covariates of Homi- Sánchez Jankowski, Martín. 1991. Islands in the Street: cide Rates: Are There Any Invariances across Time Gangs and American Urban Society. Berkeley and and Social Space?” American Journal of Sociology Los Angeles: University of California Press. 95(4):922–63. Scheufele, Dietram. 1999. “Framing as a Theory Lasley, James. 1994. “The Impact of the Rodney King of Media Effects.” Journal of Communication Incident on Citizen Attitudes toward Police.” Polic- 49(1):103–122. ing and Society 3(4):245–55. Shadish, William, Thomas Cook, and Donald Campbell. Legewie, Joscha. 2013. “Terrorist Events and Attitudes 2002. Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs toward Immigrants: A Natural Experiment.” Ameri- for Generalized Causal Inference. Independence, KY: can Journal of Sociology 118(5):1199–1245. Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Legewie, Joscha. Forthcoming. “Racial Profiling and Singer, Judith, and John Willett. 2003. Applied Longi- Use of Force in Police Stops: How Local Events Trig- tudinal Data Analysis: Modeling Change and Event ger Periods of Increased Discrimination.” American Occurrence. New York: Oxford University Press. Journal of Sociology. Skogan, Wesley. 2006. “Asymmetry in the Impact of Lersch, Kim Michelle, and Tom Mieczkowski. 2005. Encounters with the Police.” Policing and Society “Violent Police Behavior: Past, Present, and Future 16(2):99–126.

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016 876 American Sociological Review 81(5)

Terrill, William, and Michael Reisig. 2003. “Neighbor- Police Abuse of Force, edited by W. Geller and H. hood Context and Police Use of Force.” Journal of Toch. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Research on Crime and Delinquency 40(3):291–321. Travis, Jeremy, Bruce Western, and Steve Redburn, eds. Matthew Desmond is the John L. Loeb Associate Pro- 2014. The Growth of Incarceration in the United fessor of the Social Sciences and the Co-Director of the States: Exploring Causes and Consequences. Wash- Justice and Poverty Project at Harvard University. A ington, DC: National Academies Press. sociologist of urban poverty, racial inequality, housing Tyler, Tom R., and Cheryl Waslak. 2004. “Profiling and insecurity, and public policy, his latest book is Evicted: Police Legitimacy: Procedural Justice, Attributions of Poverty and Profit in the American City. Motive, and Acceptance of Police Authority.” Crimi- Andrew V. Papachristos is an Associate Professor in the nology 42(2):253–81. Department of Sociology at Yale University. His research Venkatesh, Sudhir. 2000. American Project: The Rise and examines neighborhood social organization, street gangs, Fall of a Modern Ghetto. Cambridge, MA: Harvard interpersonal violence, illegal gun markets, and social net- University Press. works. He is currently completing a multicity study on the Weitzer, Ronald. 2002. “Incidents of Police Misconduct diffusion of gun violence within high-risk social networks. and Public Opinion.” Journal of Criminal Justice 30(5):397–408. David S. Kirk is Associate Professor in the Department of Weitzer, Ronald, and Steven Tuch. 2005. “Racially Sociology and a Professorial Fellow of Nuffield College at Biased Policing: Determinants of Citizen Percep- the University of Oxford. For more than a decade he has tions.” Social Forces 83(3):1009–30. been examining the consequences of the forced migration Worden, Robert. 1996. “The Causes of Police Brutality: from Hurricane Katrina on the lives of former Louisiana Theory and Evidence on Police Use of Force.” Pp. 23– prisoners. One extension to this work involves an experi- 51 in Police Violence: Understanding and Controlling mental housing mobility program for ex-prisoners.

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on September 30, 2016