Abstract

Objectives

This study examines whether former police officers are stigmatized in the labor market, particularly following social unrest from lethal police violence.

Methods

We conduct an experimental audit study, both before and after heightened unrest from police violence. For service-related job openings, we compare the likelihood of getting an affirmative response from a prospective employer to a job application from a fictitious former police officer (the treatment condition) to the response to one of two control conditions: a former firefighter or a former code enforcement officer.

Results

We do not find evidence that former police officers are discriminated against in the labor market. This finding holds in periods characterized by relatively little social unrest due to police violence as well as periods of heightened protest activity.

Conclusions

At least with respect to the labor market for certain service-related professions, former police officers do not appear tainted by any stigma associated with their prior profession.

Details

Title
An audit experiment to investigate the “war on cops”: a research note
Author
Kirk, David S. 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Rovira, Marti 1 

1  University of Oxford, Department of Sociology & Nuffield College, Oxford, UK (GRID:grid.4991.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8948) 
Pages
569-580
Publication year
2022
Publication date
Sep 2022
Publisher
Springer Nature B.V.
ISSN
15733750
e-ISSN
15728315
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-021-09458-x
ProQuest document ID
2705910767
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. corrected publication 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.