Bio

Brenden Beck is a sociologist studying policing, city budgets, and housing. A current research project of his investigates how the shift from social services toward policing has influenced long-term crime rates. His previous research examined how cities’ reliance on fine-and-fee revenue affects their frequency of police killings, how police budget size shapes police practices, and how gentrification and suburbanization affect misdemeanor arrest rates. Brenden has published in Criminology, the Annual Review of Sociology, Social Forces, Criminology & Public Policy, and elsewhere. He teaches courses on research methods, race, and policing. His general-interest writing has appeared in Slate, the New York Daily News, and the Appeal, among other places. His work has been funded by Arnold Ventures.

Website

Publications

Beck, Brenden. 2024. “Do Austerity Cuts Spare Police Budgets? Welfare-to-Carceral Realign-ment During Fiscal Crises.” Criminology 62(4).

Beck, Brenden. 2024. “Local Government Spending: Policing Versus Social Services.” Annual Review of Criminology 8(1).

Beck, Brenden, Angela LaScala-Gruenewald, and Joseph Antonelli. 2024. “Neck-restraint Bans, Law Enforcement Officer Unions, and Police Killings.” Criminology and Public Policy 23(3): 663-688.

Beck, Brenden. “Policing Gentrification: Stops and Low-Level Arrests during Demographic Change and Real Estate Reinvestment.” 2020. City & Community 19(1): 245-272.

Beck, Brenden and Adam Goldstein. 2018. “Governing Through Police? Housing Market Reliance, Welfare Retrenchment, and Police Budgeting in an Era of Declining Crime.” Social Forces 96(3):1183-1210.