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Staying out of Sight? Concentrated Policing and Local Political Action

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  • Amy E. Lerman
  • Vesla Weaver

Abstract

In some urban neighborhoods, encounters with police have become one of the primary points of contact between disadvantaged citizens and their government. Yet extant scholarship has only just begun to explore how criminal justice interventions help to shape the political lives of the urban poor. In this article, we ask: What are the consequences of the increased use of stop-and-frisks (Terry stops) in disadvantaged neighborhoods for communities’ engagement with the state? Relying on a novel measure of local citizen engagement (311 calls for service) and more than one million police stops, we find that it is not concentrated police surveillance per se that matters but, rather, the character of police contact. The concentration of police stops overall is associated with higher levels of community engagement, while at the same time, a high degree of stops that feature searches or the use of force, especially when they do not result in an arrest, have a chilling effect on neighborhood-level outreach to local government. Our article marks a first step toward understanding what concentrated policing means for the democratic life and political agency of American communities.

Suggested Citation

  • Amy E. Lerman & Vesla Weaver, 2014. "Staying out of Sight? Concentrated Policing and Local Political Action," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 651(1), pages 202-219, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:651:y:2014:i:1:p:202-219
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716213503085
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Weaver, Vesla M. & Lerman, Amy E., 2010. "Political Consequences of the Carceral State," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 104(4), pages 817-833, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Megan Dias & Derek A. Epp & Marcel Roman & Hannah L. Walker, 2024. "Consent searches: Evaluating the usefulness of a common and highly discretionary police practice," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(1), pages 35-91, March.
    2. Brandon R Davis, 2023. "State Incarceration Policy in the U.S. Federal System: Assessing Recent Approaches to Reducing Incarceration Rates," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 53(3), pages 484-510.
    3. Marie Gottschalk, 2014. "Democracy and the Carceral State in America," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 651(1), pages 288-295, January.
    4. Heather Schoenfeld, 2016. "A Research Agenda on Reform," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 664(1), pages 155-174, March.
    5. Traci R. Burch, 2014. "Effects of Imprisonment and Community Supervision on Neighborhood Political Participation in North Carolina," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 651(1), pages 184-201, January.
    6. Desmond Ang & Panka Bencsik & Jesse Bruhn & Ellora Derenoncourt, 2023. "Shots Fired: Crime and Community Engagement with Law Enforcement after High-profile Acts of Police Violence," Working Papers 315, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    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. Jeremy R. Levine & Theodore S. Leenman & Carl Gershenson & David M. Hureau, 2018. "Political Places: Neighborhood Social Organization and the Ecology of Political Behaviors," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 99(1), pages 201-215, March.

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