Police Stops and Mental Health among Latino Adults: The Role of Perceived Fairness

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Abstract

U.S. police officers interact with more than 50 million people annually. Despite police stops representing the most common form of criminal legal contact, inequities persist in the perceived legal necessity, fairness, and enforcement outcomes of police stops. Studies have documented vast inequalities tied to the occurrence and outcomes of police stops, but less research has examined the patterning and consequences of unfair police stops for Latinx adolescents. Using insights from the stress process model and tri-racial stratification theory, this study investigates the relationship between negative police stops and multiple mental health outcomes among an understudied population. Data come from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. We use weighted generalized estimating equations to estimate depressive symptoms, clinical depression, and suicidal ideation based on whether a person has ever been stopped by police and whether they have experienced a police stop perceived as unfair. Results show that any police stop was associated with greater odds of suicidal ideation while unfair police stops were linked to greater depressive symptoms, odds of suicidal ideation, and risk of depression. Findings call to action policymakers and law enforcement agencies across the United States. This study highlights the need for increased training for police officers to recognize the biases that underlie discriminatory profiling. Researchers must continue to grapple with how systemic racism impacts daily life outside the white-Black binary such is the case with police stops and Latinx populations. It remains imperative to eradicate unfair police stops considering their extensive criminogenic, socioeconomic, and health effects. Disinvesting from punitive policing practices is crucial for reducing ethnoracial disparities in the criminal legal system and their spillover health consequences.

Author

• Ryan D. Talbert, University of Connecticut