The Effect of Stop and Frisk on Student Test Scores

• In Event: Stop-and-Frisk Research

Abstract

Education is widely recognized as a major factor in racial inequality. While previous literature has explored a host of potential mechanisms to explain racial disparities, this research investigates an understudied contributor to educational outcomes: community-level law enforcement activity. Stop, Question, and Frisk (SQF) has been shown to have a disproportionate effect on communities of color, having psychological and health impacts, and constituting a “chronic stressor”, on adults who live in these neighborhoods. Just as children’s exposure to neighborhood violence is negatively associated with their test scores, and neighborhood stressors adversely impact young people’s sleep, stress-levels, and, in turn, academic achievement, we hypothesize that, net of crime, stress associated with higher levels of SQF in a child’s neighborhood of residence will be associated with academic outcomes. We explore the extent to which SQF in New York City students’ residential neighborhoods and in the areas surrounding their schools predicts their standardized test scores. We pair publicly available data on SQF and crime with student-level data to estimate the aggregate effects of racially- and spatially-disproportionate policing practices on observed racial disparities in academic achievement.

Authors

• Jessica Rose Kalbfeld, New York University

• Jacob Faber, New York University Robert F Wagner School of Public Policy

• Chantal R Hailey, New York University Dept of Sociology