Papachristos on Police Violence and Citizen Crime Reporting

October 1, 2016

Andy Papachristos, Associate Professor of Sociology, Public Health, and Law and ISPS Resident Faculty, published a new study in the American Sociological Review, “Police Violence and Citizen Crime Reporting in the Black Community,” with co-authors Matthew Desmond and David Kirk.

The 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. 

…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.

This timely study explains how police misconduct can rip the social contract between the justice system and citizenry, and powerfully suppress one of the most basic forms of civic engagement such as calling 911 for matters of personal and public safety. 

Andy Papchristos and Matthew Desmond also wrote an op-ed in the New York Times about the study.

Media coverage:

Area of study 
Criminal Justice