Justice in Black and Brown: The impact of political control and representative bureaucracy on street level outcomes

Abstract

AbstractThis study tests the explanatory power of two prominent public administration theories—political control and representative bureaucracy—in understanding disparities in public service provision. While prior research focused on street‐level bureaucracy, we study here how political and group identities of top elected law enforcement officials affect the distribution of youth arrests, alternatives, and prosecutions among minority groups. Data from Florida's 67 counties between 2015 and 2020 demonstrate that sheriff's and state attorney's party affiliation, race, and ethnicity do affect street‐level outcomes. However, the effects are more pronounced for race than ideology. Also, representative bureaucracy appears more relevant for race than ethnicity and explains the behavior of Black sheriffs but not Black state attorneys.