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Authors : 1. Lee Ann Slocum,
University of Missouri
2. Claire Greene,
entered the UMSL Criminology and Criminal Justice Ph.D. program in 2017
University of Missouri
3. Beth M. Huebner,
Ph.D. from Michigan State University in Criminal Justice
University of Missouri
4. Richard Rosenfeld,
President of the American Society of Criminology
University of Missouri
Changes in Enforcement of Low-Level and Felony Offenses Post-Ferguson: An Analysis of Arrests in St. Louis, Missouri
Objective: to study changes inenforcement of low-level offenses and felonies in the City of St. Louis, Missouri after the high-profile events in Ferguson.
Methods: dialectical approach to the cognition of social phenomena which uses the following research methods based on it: general scientific (analysis, synthesis, induction) and specific scientific methods (formal-legal, systemic, comparative-legal, sociological).
Results: as a result of several highly publicized incidents of police killing unarmed Black suspects, many contend that American police are in the midst of a crisis. Police have faced high levels of public scrutiny that some argue has stifled police activities and led to spikes in violent crime. This phenomenon – coined in the aftermath of the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri – has become widely known as the Ferguson Effect. This study uses seven years of data and time series analysis to assess whether the events in Ferguson were associated with a reduction in arrests for felonies and low-level offenses in the nearby City of St. Louis, Missouri.
Scientific novelty: it is shown that there was an initial reduction in low-level arrests of Whites and Blacks in the wake of Ferguson. Enforcement of misdemeanors and ordinance violations then increased and returned to expected levels, but only for Blacks. Post-Ferguson, felony arrests initially dropped for Blacks, but not Whites, and then climbed for both groups. This work adds to the burgeoning literature on police responses in the wake of a high-profile shooting.
Practical significance: the main provisions and conclusions of the article can be used in scientific, educational and law enforcement activities when considering issues related to prevention and elimination crime.
Keywords :
Crime; Offense; Arrest trends; Misdemeanor; Ferguson Effect; de-policing; interrupted time series
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Citation :
Slocum L. A., Greene C., Huebner B. M., Rosenfeld R. Changes in Enforcement of Low-Level and Felony Offenses Post-Ferguson: An Analysis of Arrests in St. Louis, Missouri, Actual Problems of Economics and Law, 2020, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 326–351. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21202/1993-047X.14.2020.2.326-351
Type of article : The scientific article
Date of receipt of the article :
02.03.2020
Date of adoption of the print :
30.04.2020
Date of online accommodation :
25.06.2020
