Neighborhood Withdrawal in the Aftermath of Police Killings

• In Event: Neighborhoods, Cohesion, and Disadvantage

Abstract

The salience and awareness of police killings has increased significantly in recent years. Social media, the 24/7 news cycle, and close-knit communities ensure that knowledge of a police killing spreads quickly and efficiently amongst both local and national communities. We investigate the impact of local police killings on perceptions of residential neighborhood social interaction and community withdrawal in the weeks following a police killing in Columbus, Ohio. Drawing on data from the 2014-16 Adolescent Health and Development in Context study on a sample of roughly 600 Black caregivers of Black youth, we find that perceptions of time spent outside, interaction with neighbors, and public exchange decrease in the period after a police killing up to about 3 months (after considering a range of controls). This finding indicates that police killings can cause individuals to retreat from the public space likely leading to decreased community cohesion and resource sharing. We will consider additional tests of heterogeneity in the neighborhood social climate impact of police killings by examining interactions between the timing of police killings and community characteristics. We also consider the implications of these findings for understanding the role of the criminal legal system in shaping neighborhood social organization and social ecology.

Authors

• Rebecca Shankman, The Ohio State University

• Christopher R. Browning, Ohio State University