policy reports

Injury and death from use of excessive force by police officers remain a common concern in countries across the globe. Despite local, national, and international attempts to legislate and provide guidance for police use of force, there continue to be global accounts of excessive force by law enforcement. This report addresses what policies and practices for police use of force are effective in promoting the rule of law and protecting the population, and identifies promising actions to be taken by international donors.

Training police in the knowledge and skills necessary to support the rule of law and protect the public is a substantial component of international organizations' foreign assistance activities. This report examines scientific evidence and assesses research needs for effective policing, responding to questions about the core knowledge and skills needed for police to promote the rule of law and protect the population.

The report focuses on risk factors that increase vulnerability to human trafficking, such as economic shocks measured by large changes to export commodity prices and GDP. It explores the role of institutions in enforcing the rule of law and implementing anti-trafficking policies as protective factors. The analysis finds that a typical decrease in export commodity prices is associated with a 12% increase in detected trafficking victims, and that good governance and stricter anti-trafficking policies can limit this effect.

This report explores organizational policies, structures, and practices that enable a police service to promote the rule of law and protect the population. It presents an overview of the state of research and highlights promising areas to guide policing reform and interventions, produced at the request of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.

Democracy is said to give citizens agency, as elections make it possible for them to remove poorly performing politicians. However, this only works if voters know how politicians are performing. This brief presents evidence on whether providing voters with better information on candidate performance affects their behaviour and strengthens electoral channels. Surprisingly, the evidence on the effects of information campaigns is very mixed.

Israeli policymakers have identified greater economic integration of the Israeli-Arab population as a pressing priority. Using a new dataset of public transit availability and employment across 1,322 Israeli localities, we find that an increase in the number of bus lines servicing Israeli-Arab towns is associated with a small but significant increase in employment rates between 2011 and 2015. We do not see similar effects in Jewish-majority towns.