Policing and Turnout in St. Louis

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Dr. Traci Burch
Northwestern University

In 2014, the police shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in a suburb of St. Louis resulted in street protests by members of that community. That incident, and other such incidents around the U.S., helped spawn the Black Lives Matter movement. Dr. Traci Burch’s ongoing research focusses on a question that she feels has not been fully answered: How, when, and under what circumstances are policing practices associated with political participation? She is looking not only at political participation in the form of street protests, but also at voting patterns. For example, Dr. Burch obtained precinct-level voter turnout numbers for the city of St. Louis and related it to the frequency of police stops. So far, it appears the more frequent the police stops, the lower the voter turnouts. Other studies suggest that voter turnout is increased by certain types of policing. Dr. Burch will continue her research on the correlation between policing and political participation.

Recorded: September 14, 2017

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Policing and Turnout in St. Louis

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