Research

Working papers

The Effects of Restricting Police Chases on Public Safety (Draft)
Revise & resubmit at Journal of Human Resources

Abstract: This paper examines the effects of police departments implementing restrictive vehicular pursuit policies that limit chases to suspects of violent felonies. Using stacked difference-in-differences models and synthetic control methods, I analyze the impact of these policy changes on fatal police chase accidents and motor vehicle theft. I compile an original dataset of restrictive pursuit policy enactments, linked to data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and Uniform Crime Reporting program. I estimate a 41.3% reduction in fatal police chase accidents following the policy adoption. Motor vehicle theft increases by an imprecise 3.5%, while its clearance rate declines by 10.5% 

The Effects of Criminal Citations in Lieu of Arrest: Evidence from Maryland (Draft)

Abstract: This paper examines the effect of replacing arrests with criminal citations on defendant outcomes and subsequent criminal charges. Using web-scraped Maryland court records, I implement a difference-in-discontinuities design that exploits a January 1, 2013 policy shock encouraging citations for low-level offenses. The policy increased the issuance of citations by 47.7% among citation-eligible defendants and 39.3% among citation-eligible first-time defendants. Reduced-form estimates show sizable decreases in pretrial detention for these groups, falling by 29.2% and 40.4%, respectively. Citation-eligible defendants are also 4.8% more likely to have their cases dismissed. However, reduced pretrial detention among eligible defendants is offset by increased pretrial detention among defendants charged with more serious offenses that are ineligible for citation, leaving aggregate pretrial pretrial detention unchanged. Finally, I find little evidence that the policy increased failure-to-appears or re-offending. 

Works in Progress