Living Under Surveillance: Gender, Psychological Distress, and Stop, Question, and Frisk in New York City

• In Event: 550 - Section on Medical Sociology Paper Session. Health and the Carceral State

Abstract

A growing body of research is highlighting the collateral consequences of mass incarceration, including stop-and-frisk policing tactics. Living in a neighborhood context characterized by aggressive policing may affect one’s mental health, especially for men who are the primary targets of police stops. We examine whether there is an association between psychological distress and neighborhood-level aggressive policing structures (i.e., frisking and use of force by police) and whether that association varies by gender. The 2009-2011 New York City (NYC) Stop, Question, and Frisk Database is aggregated to the neighborhood level (N=34) and merged with individual data from the 2012 NYC Community Health Survey (N= 8,066) via the United Hospital Fund neighborhood of respondents’ residence. Weighted multilevel generalized linear models are used to assess main and gendered associations of neighborhood exposures to aggressive police stops on psychological distress measured with Kessler-6 items. The neighborhood stop rate exhibits inconsistent associations with psychological distress; however, neighborhood-level frisk and use of force proportions are linked to higher levels of non-specific psychological distress among men, but not women. Specifically, men exhibit more non-specific psychological distress and more severe feelings of nervousness, effort, and worthlessness in aggressively surveilled neighborhoods. Male residents are affected by the escalation of stop-and-frisk policing in a neighborhood. Living in a context of aggressive policing should be considered an important risk factor that contributes to men's health.

Authors

• Abigail A. Sewell, Emory University

• Kevin Jefferson, Emory University

• Hedwig Eugenie Lee, University of Washington