Political Rhetoric and Racial Discrimination in Arrests for Drugs
研究1981-1992年间美国反毒品政治修辞如何影响执法，发现修辞强度增加导致黑人毒品持有逮捕率上升，而白人无变化，加剧了种族差异。
Abstract This paper examines how political rhetoric shapes law enforcement behaviour. We analyse monthly arrest data from 1,420 police agencies across thirty-eight US states between January 1981 and December 1992, a period when US presidents intensified anti-drug messaging, particularly targeting crack cocaine, which the media disproportionately linked to Black communities. We construct a novel measure of national rhetoric intensity and show that it received greater coverage in local newspapers in counties where Republicans and Democrats had comparable support, using this differential media exposure as a proxy for local susceptibility to the rhetoric. Our findings reveal that greater exposure to this rhetoric led to a significant rise in drug possession arrests among Black individuals, with no corresponding increase for White individuals, thereby widening racial disparities in arrests.