The Behavioral Consequences of Street Stops on Legitimacy and Cooperation

• In Event: Proactive Policing in New York: Social and Legal Impacts of Two Decades of Stop and Frisk

Abstract

For over a decade, major American police departments have employed frequent proactive street stops, sometimes known as “stop and frisk,” to manage crime. Debates about that police tactic have focused on issues of legality and effectiveness. An additional issue is their impact upon the law-related behaviors of people being stopped. This paper reports the impact of street stops on people’s views about police legitimacy and on their cooperation with legal authorities. It draws upon panel interviews with a stratified random sample of young men ages 18-26 in New York City. We find that street stops shape evaluations of police legitimacy and influence young men’s cooperation with legal authorities and compliance with legal rules and norms. We find that it is not the number of stops per se that are important, but the actions of police during those stops and the subjective interpretation of those police actions. The most important mediators of police stops that affect law-related behaviors are judgments that the police are acting lawfully, fairly, and respectfully. Similar findings emerge when young men are asked about their own personal experience and about their knowledge of police actions in their neighborhood. Implications for the regulation of police stops are discussed.

Authors

• Tom Tyler, Yale University

• Jeffrey Fagan, Columbia Law School

• Amanda Geller, Columbia University