Examining Police-Minority Youth Contacts in Urban Settings Rod K. Brunson, PhD Associate Professor Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice Southern Illinois University - Carbondale

 Disentangle the impact of race and neighborhood context in negative police encounters  Focus on male adolescents’ police experiences

Three Disadvantaged Neighborhoods  Mayfield (majority white)  Barksdale (majority African American)  Hazelcrest (racially mixed)

% White% BlackMedian HH Income % Families in Poverty % Female- Headed HH* % Unemployed Mayfield $ 22, Barksdale $ 24, Hazelcrest $ 24, Citywide $ 27, Source: U.S. Bureau of Census, 2000 * With own children under 18 years of age Neighborhood/Citywide Racial Composition and Socioeconomic Profile

HomicideRapeRobbery Aggravated Assault BurglaryLarcenyAuto Theft Number Mayfield Barksdale Hazelcrest Citywide ,1129,94115,72346,40916,791 Rate* Mayfield Barksdale Hazelcrest Citywide Source: Police Department (Study Setting) *Mean rate per 1,000 population in 2000 Neighborhood/Citywide Crime Data,

 Data come from a broader study of male adolescents’ experiences while living in three disadvantaged neighborhoods  Survey and in-depth interviews with 45 black and white young men  Ages with a mean age of approximately 16  Interviewing began fall 2005 and was completed in the spring of 2006

 Male adolescents’ perceptions of policing efforts in three inner-city neighborhoods  Race, place and aggressive policing

Will A friend of mine and me were in the community, we were outside and it was a late night and I guess the officer that approached took us as gang bangers or whatever…

Martez We was playin’ basketball and [my friend] put a wristband in his gym bag…The police thought it was some crack so they stopped him and was harassing him, like, “where its at?”…

Ed If white [police officers] are pulling over whites they are probably nicer than if they are pulling over blacks, but if they are pulling over whites and blacks together…

Toby [We] was on a corner during school hours and a cop talked to us about what we were doing, and then took us back to school. We got in trouble for it at school, it sucked…

It’s the way we dress and talk. [Police] pretty much stereotype people... They think if kids do saggin’ pants and grills, gold [teeth] in they mouth, [that] we punks or we ain’t no good. Nate

My neighborhood is [now] mostly black. It didn’t used to be; back in 1998 it was dominated by whites. The police wasn’t as strict back then when there wasn’t a lot of black people. Now all you see is police! Chris

James [The police] react faster if somebody called from a white neighborhood, say somebody getting shot. They gonna get there faster and they gonna treat them with more respect…

 Black youths believed that officers viewed them as symbolic assailants, regardless of the context.  White youths primarily risked being stopped in a more narrow set of situations.  Neighborhood racial composition appears to be important in shaping police-community relations.