Community residents’ narratives of violence, safety, and low-level enforcement

• In Event: Misdemeanor Justice Project: A Mixed Methods Approach to Understanding Low Level Offenses in New York City

Abstract

This paper examines how residents of communities with high police presence understand and articulate the role that law enforcement activity, violence, and the threat of violence play in their everyday lives. We draw on focus groups conducted in three New York neighborhoods with high rates of crime, violence, and police contact. One set of focus groups was conducted with adult residents over age 30 living in the community at least 10 years, and a second set was conducted with Black and/or Latino males aged 16-20. Using narrative and conversation analysis, we closely examine how these two groups of community residents express concerns related to the prevalence of violence in their communities, threats to their personal safety and the strategies employed for navigating them, fear and distrust of law enforcement, and low-level “quality of life” police enforcement activity. We consider the implications of these findings for police-community relations and for procedural and restorative justice more broadly.

Authors

• Carla Barrett, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Megan Welsh, San Diego State University