RT Article
T1 The effect of police contact: does official intervention result in deviance amplification?
JF Crime & delinquency
VO 62
IS 3
A1 Wiley, Stephanie Ann
A2 Esbensen, Finn-Aage 1951-
LA English
YR 2016
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/157639655X
AB Current police policies are based on assumptions that proactive policing strategies will not only deter crime but will also improve police–community relations. Deterrence theorists argue that general and specific deterrence can be achieved through such policing strategies. Labeling proponents, however, maintain that juveniles stopped and/or arrested by the police, rather than be deterred, will actually engage in more delinquency as a result of this contact. Research to date has provided mixed evidence. The current study seeks to inform this debate by examining the effect of being stopped or arrested on subsequent delinquent behavior and attitudes. Relying on three waves of data from a multisite sample of youth, we use propensity score matching to control for preexisting differences among youth who have and have not experienced police contact. Our findings reveal that being stopped or arrested not only increases future delinquency but also amplifies deviant attitudes.
K1 Arrest
K1 Police contact
K1 Labeling
K1 Deterrence
K1 Abschreckung
DO 10.1177/0011128713492496