Police Stops among Adolescents with ASD and Developmental Disabilities: Implications on Emotional Distress and Police-Initiated Post-Traumatic Stress

• In Event: Where Disability and Life Course Criminology Intersect

Abstract

Exposure to police has been shown to be detrimental to adolescent mental health; however, researchers have only recently begun to examine police stop experiences among youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities (DD; e.g., ADHD, cerebral palsy, intellectual/developmental delay). Youth with ASD/DD may be at increased risk of being stopped by police due to co-occurring behavioral, psychiatric, and physical conditions. Once stopped, youth with ASD/DD may have difficulty processing social situations happening in real time, making police stops increasingly stressful. Little is known about the risk of police stops among youth with ASD/DD, and their mental health implications. The current study utilizes data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a nationally representative cohort study of urban-born youth in the US. Analyses will explore weighted prevalence estimates of direct police stops among youth with ASD/DD compared to youth without ASD/DD. Moreover, among those with a direct police stop, comparisons will be made in features of direct stops, emotional distress during direct stops, and police-initiated post-traumatic stress (PI-PTSS) between youth with and without ASD/DD diagnoses. Findings have implications for policing interventions, including development of trainings for police officers, and improving police interactions with youth with ASD/DD.

Authors

• Lindsey Webb, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

• Calliope Holingue, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

• Dylan B. Jackson, Johns Hopkins University