Go Away or Come Closer? Parsing the Preferences of the Most Policed

• In Event: Recent Trends in Policing and Punishment

Abstract

Scholars have long documented how sustained and widespread procedural injustice in policing can lead to legal cynicism. I conducted two-hour interviews with fifty-two men aged 18-29 living in the most heavily policed areas of their respective cities: African American men in Durham, North Carolina, and Muslim men of Bangladeshi descent in East London, England. I find that although a majority of participants express legal cynicism, they largely demand more policing and a deep-seated desire for connection with police officers. On both sides of the Atlantic, participants articulate their vision of policing rooted in their desire for protection from knife and gun crime. They collectively identify roles officers must play, forming a “pathway to partnership” they believe will result in safer communities.

Author

• Ajenai Clemmons, University of Denver