Street Stops and Police Legitimacy: Teachable Moments in Young Urban Men’s Legal Socialization

This article summarizes a study conducted by Yale Law School, Columbia Law School and Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, examining the influence of street stops by police on the legal socialization of adolescents and emerging adults ages 18-26 in New York City.

The study showed an association between the number of police stops conducted on adolescents and emerging adults ages 18-26 and a diminished sense of police legitimacy. The study also looked at whether the police were viewed as exercising their authority fairly and lawfully, and how that view shaped the participant’s general judgments about police legitimacy.

These results suggest that the widespread use of street stops undermined legitimacy. Lowered legitimacy had an influence on both law abidingness and the willingness to cooperate with legal authorities. The findings show that people were influenced by perceptions of police injustice/illegality.