IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/empleg/v12y2015i4p602-636.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Consequences of Being an Object of Suspicion: Potential Pitfalls of Proactive Police Contact

Author

Listed:
  • Tom R. Tyler
  • Jonathan Jackson
  • Avital Mentovich

Abstract

During the latter half of the 20th century U.S. policing became more professional (Skogan & Frydl 2004) and the rate of violent crime declined dramatically (Blumstein & Wallman ). Yet public trust and confidence in the police increased at best marginally and there has been a large and continuing racial gap in police legitimacy. This article reviews changes in police policy and practice to explore the reasons for this seeming paradox. It is argued that a new model of proactive police stops has increased both the frequency and the range of police contact with people in the community. Such police contact does not inherently undermine public trust in the police, but the style of such contact, which involves the police communicating suspicion of ongoing or future criminal conduct and seeking to prevent it via the threat or use of coercion, has not increased trust. This article examines how such policies developed and why they are problematic. The result of a survey of Americans shows that perceived suspicion damages the social bonds between the police and the community and undermines trust in the police. The article concludes by arguing that police contact need not be inherently negative and contact during which the police use fair procedures can addresses issues of crime and disorder while building trust and confidence.

Suggested Citation

  • Tom R. Tyler & Jonathan Jackson & Avital Mentovich, 2015. "The Consequences of Being an Object of Suspicion: Potential Pitfalls of Proactive Police Contact," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(4), pages 602-636, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:empleg:v:12:y:2015:i:4:p:602-636
    DOI: 10.1111/jels.12086
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jels.12086
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jels.12086?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Geller, A. & Fagan, J. & Tyler, T. & Link, B.G., 2014. "Aggressive policing and the mental health of young urban men," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(12), pages 2321-2327.
    2. Tom R. Tyler & Jeffrey Fagan & Amanda Geller, 2014. "Street Stops and Police Legitimacy: Teachable Moments in Young Urban Men's Legal Socialization," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(4), pages 751-785, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Das, Aniruddha, 2022. "Childhood police encounters, social isolation and epigenetic age acceleration among older U.S. adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    2. Avital Mentovich & Guy Ben‐Porat & Natalie Levy & Phillip A. Goff & Tom Tyler, 2020. "Policing alienated minorities in divided cities," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(3), pages 531-550, July.
    3. Victor Le Franc & Alexis Spire, 2021. "How Does Voluntary Contact with the Police Produce Distrust? Evidence from the French Case," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-15, October.
    4. Christopher M. Sullivan & Zachary P. O’Keeffe, 2017. "Evidence that curtailing proactive policing can reduce major crime," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 1(10), pages 730-737, October.
    5. Elizabeth Jordie Davies & Jenn M. Jackson & Shea Streeter, 2021. "Bringing abolition in: Addressing carceral logics in social science research," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(7), pages 3095-3102, December.
    6. Carriere Kevin R. & Encinosa William, 2017. "The Risks of Operational Militarization: Increased Conflict Against Militarized Police," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 23(3), pages 1-13, August.
    7. Yael Cohen‐Rimer, 2023. "Participation in welfare legislation—A poverty‐aware paradigm," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(1), pages 83-102, January.
    8. Andrea Silva & Diego Esparza, 2021. "Explaining the American crisis of policing: Media, malfeasance, and racial prejudice," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(7), pages 3103-3113, December.
    9. Baćak, Valerio & Apel, Robert, 2020. "The thin blue line of health: Police contact and wellbeing in Europe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. McFarland, Michael J. & Geller, Amanda & McFarland, Cheryl, 2019. "Police contact and health among urban adolescents: The role of perceived injustice," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 1-1.
    2. Crifasi, Cassandra K. & Williams, Rebecca G. & Booty, Marisa D. & Owens-Young, Jessica L. & Webster, Daniel W. & Buggs, Shani A.L., 2022. "Community perspectives on gun violence and safety: The role of policing in Baltimore City," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    3. Gottlieb, Aaron & Wilson, Robert, 2019. "The effect of direct and vicarious police contact on the educational achievement of urban teens," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 190-199.
    4. Baćak, Valerio & Apel, Robert, 2020. "The thin blue line of health: Police contact and wellbeing in Europe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    5. David Weisburd & Kevin Petersen & Taryn Zastrow & Robert Davis & Lorraine Mazerolle & Elizabeth Eggins, 2021. "PROTOCOL: Police stops to reduce crime: A systematic review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), June.
    6. Amanda Geller, 2017. "Policing America's Children: Police Contact and Consequences Among Teens in Fragile Families," Working Papers wp18-02-ff, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    7. Kevin Petersen & David Weisburd & Sydney Fay & Elizabeth Eggins & Lorraine Mazerolle, 2023. "Police stops to reduce crime: A systematic review and meta‐analysis," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(1), March.
    8. Christopher M. Sullivan & Zachary P. O’Keeffe, 2017. "Evidence that curtailing proactive policing can reduce major crime," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 1(10), pages 730-737, October.
    9. Arabella Kyprianides & Clifford Stott & Ben Bradford, 2021. "‘Playing the Game’: Power, Authority and Procedural Justice in Interactions Between Police and Homeless People in London [‘Beyond Procedural Justice: A Dialogic Approach to Legitimacy in Criminal J," The British Journal of Criminology, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, vol. 61(3), pages 670-689.
    10. Carbonaro, Richard, 2022. "System avoidance and social isolation: Mechanisms connecting police contact and deleterious health outcomes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    11. Ross, Heather M. & Pine, Kathleen H. & Curran, Sarah & Augusta, Dawn, 2022. "Pathway mapping as a tool to address police use of force in behavioral health crisis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    12. Jaeyong Choi & Glen A. Ishoy & Julak Lee, 2020. "Using Structural Equations to Model the Relationships between Procedural Justice, Risky Lifestyles, and Violent Inmate Misconduct," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-15, October.
    13. Moule, Richard K. & Burruss, George W. & Gifford, Faith E. & Parry, Megan M. & Fox, Bryanna, 2019. "Legal socialization and subcultural norms: Examining linkages between perceptions of procedural justice, legal cynicism, and the code of the street," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 26-39.
    14. Bhatt, Monica & Heller, Sara & Kapustin, Max & Bertrand, Marianne & Blattman, Christopher, 2023. "Predicting and Preventing Gun Violence: An Experimental Evaluation of READI Chicago," SocArXiv dks29, Center for Open Science.
    15. Kyriopoulos, Ilias & Vandoros, Sotiris & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2022. "Police killings and suicide among Black Americans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    16. Nir, Tal & Perry-Hazan, Lotem, 2016. "The framed right to participate in municipal youth councils and its educational impact," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 174-183.
    17. Fine, Adam D. & Del Toro, Juan & Orosco, Carlena, 2022. "Consequences of fearing police: Associations with youths' mental health and felt obligation to obey both the law and school rules," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    18. Jason Corburn & DeVone Boggan & Khaalid Muttaqi & Sam Vaughn & James Houston & Julius Thibodeaux & Brian Muhammad, 2021. "A healing-centered approach to preventing urban gun violence: The Advance Peace Model," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-7, December.
    19. Thomas C. O'Brien & Tom R. Tyler & Tracey L. Meares, 2020. "Building popular legitimacy with reconciliatory gestures and participation: A community‐level model of authority," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(4), pages 821-839, October.
    20. Chegwin, Valentina & Teitler, Julien & Muchomba, Felix M. & Reichman, Nancy E., 2023. "Racialized police use of force and birth outcomes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:empleg:v:12:y:2015:i:4:p:602-636. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1740-1461 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.