Stop and Frisk - Fair?
Written by Craig Rogers, Posted on , in Section Therapy News
Picture yourself walking down the street in New York City. You might be heading to a new chic shop down the street or you may be trying to find that legendary pizza joint everybody is talking about. Suddenly a man in ordinary clothes grabs you and tells you to turn around. What do you do? This is the question that many men and women of color in New York City face every day. Plain Clothed officers are allowed to stop and search citizens of the city with very little evidence. Police can stop and search any citizen with as little evidence as ‘furtive movements’ or basically any other reason they choose. With minorities largely targeted, many people in the city feel like this policy is only in place to increase revenue through tickets. This raises the question, how does this type of behavior affect residents of the city and more importantly, does it actually have any effect on crime rates?
Does it work?
The chance of being stopped by law enforcement in New York City is much higher for African Americans than for members of any other race. Young colored men are the primary targets, so does focusing on this group of people actually decrease the crime rate? Research suggests that this might not be the case. Young white males may be more likely to commit certain crimes such as marijuana or prescription pill possession for example and this group is largely ignored. This creates a complete lack of both fairness and effectiveness within the current system.
Who is targeted?
Being apprehended by any plain clothed individual can be frightening. It would not be unfair to say that a negative reaction to being apprehended is not abnormal. For example, resisting or even hurting a person that is physically restraining you would probably be a common reaction. Unfortunately for citizens of New York City, resisting arrest or injuring an officer is illegal. Even if an officer is undercover while wearing normal street clothes it is still illegal to resist them. It is easy to see how this law is unfairly leveraged against people of color. Incoming Mayor of New York City Bill de Blasio has decided to reform the Stop and Frisk policy, citing its unfair application among different races. The law must be equally applied and cannot target any specific group of people over any other.
