PUBLICATIONS
Zarkin, Jessica. 2025. "Security is on the Upswing; Who Should Get the Credit? Insights from Mexico City Residents." Urban Affairs Review. OnlineFirst.
González, Yanilda and Jessica Zarkin. 2024. "Who Governs Policing? Mayors' Strategic Linkages to Police in Latin American Cities." Comparative Political Studies. OnlineFirst.
Flores-Macías, Gustavo A., and Jessica Zarkin. 2024. "The Consequences of Militarized Policing for Human Rights: Evidence from Mexico." Comparative Political Studies 57(3): 387-418.
Zarkin, Jessica. 2023. "The Silent Militarization: Explaining the Logic of Military Members' Appointment as Police Chiefs." Comparative Politics 55 (4): 549-572.
Flores-Macías, Gustavo A., and Jessica Zarkin. 2022. "Explaining Public Support for Militarizing Law Enforcement: Evidence from a Conjoint Experiment in Mexico.” British Journal of Political Science 52(3): 1377-1397.
Flores-Macías, Gustavo A., and Jessica Zarkin. 2021. “The Militarization of Law Enforcement: Evidence from Latin America.” Perspectives on Politics 19(2): 519-538.
WORKING PAPERS
Blair, Rob, Michael Weintraub, and Jessica Zarkin. 2023. "Why do Citizens Support Ineffective Military Policing Policies? Evidence from Field and Survey Experiments in Colombia." (Revise and Resubmit)
Abstract: Governments across the Global South increasingly rely on their militaries to conduct domestic policing operations. Despite recent evidence that military policing does not reduce crime, most Latin Americans still endorse it. What explains persistent support for this apparently ineffective practice? We propose two mechanisms sticky beliefs and blame shifting—that could account for these patterns. Results from a survey experiment of 7,858 respondents in Cali, Colombia support the blame-shifting mechanism, but not the sticky beliefs mechanism. We complement the survey experiment with evidence from a real-world, randomized military policing intervention shown to be ineffective at reducing crime. In line with our survey experimental results, civilians living on or near blocks that were randomly assigned to military patrols in 2019 support the practice less than those living on control blocks even three years later. We discuss the implications of our findings for policing and democratic responsiveness in countries beset by crime.
WORK IN PROGRESS
Zarkin, Jessica. "Decentralize Policing? Insights from Mexico City Residents."
Canales, Rodrigo, Jessica Zarkin, and Lluvia González. "Procedural Justice Training and the Guardian Mindset: Evidence from the Mexico City Police."
Canales, Rodrigo and Jessica Zarkin. "The Importance of Managerial Quality for Police Organizations."