Meet the victim: Police corruption, violence, and political mobilization

Abstract

Recent literature has analyzed the relationship between governmental corruption and political behavior, focusing on voting turnout (Stockemer, LaMontagne, & Scruggs, 2013). Fewer studies have examined the impact of corruption on nonelectoral political participation. This article fills this gap by examining how nonelectoral political participation is influenced by corruption within one of the most important institutions dealing with citizens' welfare and safety: the police. We focus our research on Mexico because the effects of police corruption have been increasingly felt in the country in recent decades. We find that experiences of police corruption raise the likelihood of taking the streets to protest. Interestingly, we also find that corruption experiences specifically with police bureaucracies lead to greater likelihood of nonelectoral participation through institutional channels. We also report that the combination of police corruption and violent crime alienates citizens from the political sphere. | INTRODUCTIONIn recent decades, the literature on corruption has grown substantially. Several studies have shown that corruption is inimical to democracy: it diminishes citizens' trust in institutions and support for political parties, reduces confidence in government, causes social inequalities, All authors contributed equally to this study.

Parsing the impact of E‐government on bureaucratic corruption

“…Yet, no matter how extensive e‐government platforms are, petty corruption can still thrive when public services require direct contact between citizens and bureaucrats. This is especially the case with police officers who are granted ample administrative discretion and with whom citizens have the most direct contact (Ponce et al., 2021).…”

Police corruption and crime: Evidence from Africa

“…Using data from Peru, Hunt (2007) finds that victims of crime and other adverse shocks are more likely to pay bribes to public officials, with the strongest effects found in relation to the police. Evidence from Mexico points to such double victimisation as a driver of political alienation (Ponce et al., 2022). Dincer and Johnston (2021) find that the overall level of corruption in US states predicts police killings of black Americans and argue that this is capturing the effect of an accountability deficit on police behavior.…”

Cuando el castigo no es piadoso: el miedo al delito y la demanda de penas severas. Evidencia del caso mexicano

“…Entonces estas demandas no solamente podrían facilitar la implementación de una estrategia de militarización que debilite el rol de las policías nacionales, sino también incremente el poder relativo de los militares frente al de las fuerzas de seguridad civiles y el de otras instituciones civiles (Bateson, 2010;Ponce 2022). Con un efecto potencialmente dañino, estas demandas podrían distorsionar las evaluaciones que los ciudadanos hacen sobre la función que instituciones claves cumplen para garantizar la seguridad y la impartición de justicia tales como las cortes de justicia, la policía y autoridades del ejecutivo, como el presidente (Carreras, 2013;Ponce, 2019;Ponce et al 2022).…”