A Gendered Perspective on the New York City Police Department's Stop and Frisk Policy

• In Event: Police Stop and Frisk Encounters with Citizens

Abstract

Although a great deal has been written about the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) Stop, Question and Frisk policy (“stop and frisk”), the research and media discussion of the issue have primarily focused on the policy’s effects on crime and its disproportionate impact on communities of color, particularly young Black and Latino males. While research in these areas has significantly contributed to our understanding of the scope and impact of this policy, the current discourse obscures the full range of citizens affected by stop and frisk – namely women. Consequently, there is a need for more research examining the impact of this policy on women and girls. Drawing on NYPD stop and frisk data from 2003 to 2012, this research examines women’s post-stop outcomes (i.e., frisks, searches, use of force, summonses, and arrests) in comparison to men’s post-stop outcomes and asks: are the factors that predict women’s and men’s stop and frisk outcomes the same? In answering this question, this study contributes to a broader understanding of how citizen’s gender affects outcomes during encounters with police.

Author

• Sydney McKinney, Vera Institute of Justice / New York University