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POLITICAL SCIENCE

Re-evaluating police militarization

Nature Human Behaviour volume 5, pages 181–182 (2021)Cite this article

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Politicians and law enforcement officials have advocated the militarization of local law enforcement on the grounds that it promotes public and officer safety, and some early research seemingly supported those claims. Two new studies reveal limitations in the data used in this prior work. When these issues are addressed, evidence for the benefits of militarization largely vanishes.

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  1. Dept. of Politics, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Jonathan Mummolo

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  1. Jonathan Mummolo
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Correspondence to Jonathan Mummolo.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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Mummolo, J. Re-evaluating police militarization. Nat Hum Behav 5, 181–182 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01010-7

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