Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

6-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Program

Political Science

Advisor

Till Weber

Subject Categories

Political Science

Keywords

Police, reform, civilian review board

Abstract

In the wake of countless high-profile instances of police violence and repression against civilians in the United States, waves of reformation have washed over American police departments. Some have questioned the efficacy of these reforms, as civilians continue to suffer acts of violence at the hands of the police. One such reform measure, adopted broadly in recent years, is the creation of civilian police review boards. To analyze how this reform has affected citizens’ ability to hold their police departments accountable for their actions, I analyzed a sample of 89 municipal police departments in New York state in the year 2020 to ascertain how the presence of a police review board affects the number of complaints a department receives, and the number of those complaints which are sustained. I find a clear tendency showing that the presence of a civilian review board leads to a decrease in the number of civilian complaints submitted. This finding may be attributable to the administrative burden imposed upon complaining civilians in this system. I was unable to find evidence that supports the efficacy of the civilian police review board in substantiating a greater number of civilian complaints against the police, adding to the literature that suggests policymakers should abandon “reformist” reforms in favor of “non-reformist” reforms to adequately address the problem of police violence against civilians. I situate this evidence among Andre Gorz’s discussion of reformist and non-reformist reforms to understand the structural flaws in contemporary implementations of civilian review boards.

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