The Fallout from Black Lives Matter Protests

The demonstrations may reduce police violence — while leading to an even greater increase in murders overall.

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A demonstrator holds up a “Black Lives Matter” sign in Rochester, N.Y., September 6, 2020.

Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Last week, Vox spotlighted some results from an important new study by Travis Campbell.

The study looks at the effects of Black Lives Matter protests, using data that end in 2019 (and thus do not include the George Floyd protests last year). The good news is that the protests did seem to reduce police-involved homicides in the places where they occurred — by maybe 15 to 20 percent, relative to trends elsewhere — and also led departments to adopt body cameras and community policing. The bad news is that the protests also coincided with an increase in murder, by somewhere around 10 percent, and reduced the employment of black officers.

Robert VerBruggen

About the Author

Robert VerBruggen

Robert VerBruggen is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

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