The criminogenic and psychological effects of police stops on adolescent black and Latino boys

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Although proactive policing may be associated with reduced crime within a geographic area, our findings suggest that the single most common proactive policing strategy—directing officers to make contact with individual boys and young men in “high-crime” areas—may impose a terrible cost.

Our findings suggest that police stops are associated with harmful outcomes for young boys in those neighborhoods, and that they may be even more harmful when they occur earlier in boys’ lives. These potentially damaging consequences warrant urgent attention from social scientists and policymakers.