Does Temporary Affirmative Action Produce Persistent Effects? A Study of Black and Female Employment in Law Enforcement

Abstract

This paper exploits the rich variation in timing and outcomes of 140 employment discrimination lawsuits brought against US law enforcement agencies to estimate the cumulative employment effects of temporary, externally-imposed affirmative action (AA). Using confidential administrative data on 479 of the largest state and local agencies spanning a period of 33 years, we show that AA plans increase black employment for all ranks of police, averaging between 4.5 and 6.2 percentage points over and above any prevailing trends in the country. We find no erosion of black employment gains from AA in the decade and a half following AA termination. Nevertheless, in departments whose plans are terminated, we find a significant decrease in black employment growth relative to departments whose plans continue. In contrast to our findings for blacks, we find only marginal employment gains for women and none at higher ranks.

The incentive effects of affirmative action in a real-effort tournament

“…With respect to affirmative action in tournaments, Niederle et al (2008) study the effects of quotas on tournament participation of women. Miller and Segal (2008) analyze the long-term effects of affirmative action on the pool of hired law enforcement officers in the US.…”

Antecedent Attitudinal Predictors of Likelihood of Voluntary Support for Affirmative Action in a Statewide Law Enforcement Organization

“…Given the continuing need for police departments to be more inclusive and reflect the racial characteristics of the communities they police, and given that AA continues to be strongly opposed despite its usefulness as the major tool for racially and ethnically diversifying police departments (Miller & Segal, 2012), the question arises regarding what types of police attitudes would promote the voluntary practice of AA for the recruitment and promotion of minorities in US police organizations. To this end, the objective of this study was to answer the question: what attitudinal pattern(s) would serve as antecedent factors for the voluntary practice of AA for the hiring of racial-ethnic minorities into US police organizations, in the face of oppositions and legal proscriptions of the policy?…”

“…Without AA pressures, the future of equity in hiring and promoting minorities may be jeopardized in law enforcement jobs. Evidence of this potential jeopardy was affirmed in Miller and Segal (2012) who indicated that almost immediately after the termination of AA in some states, Black police employment dropped significantly compared to departments with continuing AA practice.…”

“…This recommendation for increase in Black officers was intended to promote police demographics that would mirror the demographic characteristics of the communities they policed, so as to reduce police abuse of power, and at the same time, increase community trust in the police. When a police force does not demographically represent the community it polices, the potential and actual abuse of police power in the community can produce public distrust and violence (Miller & Segal, 2012).…”

Ban the Box, Convictions, and Public Employment

“…Prior studies that find evidence to support statistical discrimination (e.g., Agan and Starr ; Autor and Scarborough ; Doleac and Hansen ; Holzer et al ; Wozniak ) largely characterize the private sector, where there is considerable discretion in recruitment and hiring decisions. In the public sector however, it is unclear whether statistical discrimination can co‐exist with persistent anti‐discrimination practices (Cooper et al ; Dale and Division ; Miller ; Miller and Segal ). As such, my study provides an exclusive test of statistical discrimination in the public sector.…”