During the Stop and Frisk era, neighborhoods in New York City with heightened police activity faced greater rates of psychiatric hospitalizations among their teenagers and young adults, regardless of the socio-economic factors of those areas. This trend was particularly pronounced in communities of color that have faced increased scrutiny and policing practices aimed at controlling crime.
A study conducted by researchers from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health is among the first to examine the impact of neighborhood-level policing on mental health disparities in the city, specifically highlighting how young residents in highly policed areas are affected during critical phases of development. These results contribute to a growing body of research indicating that aggressive policing serves as a social factor influencing adolescent mental health, and were published in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.
Research referenced in the study reveals that over half of all police stops in New York City involve individuals younger than 25 years old. On a national scale, about one-third of teens aged 12-18 report having been stopped by police at least once; among Black boys, nearly 21 percent have experienced multiple stops, compared to just 9 percent of white boys. These police encounters have been linked to an increase in depressive symptoms, with the relationship being notably stronger for young Black men than for their white counterparts.
In this recent study, researchers utilized publicly accessible data from the New York City Police Department (NYPD), along with information on psychiatric hospitalizations from the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) and demographic data from the American Community Survey (ACS). They specifically looked at psychiatric hospitalizations among individuals aged 10 to 24 and the instances of police stops during the period from 2006 to 2014, coinciding with the NYPD’s Stop Question and Frisk (SQF) initiative, which was ruled unconstitutional in 2013.
The researchers discovered that an increase of one police incident per 1,000 residents correlated with a 0.3 percent rise in youth psychiatric hospitalization rates. Areas with a higher percentage of Black residents saw elevated rates of both psychiatric hospitalizations and policing, with the relationship being particularly strong in those neighborhoods compared to mostly non-Black areas. The connection between policing and psychiatric hospitalization was most pronounced when focusing solely on SQF stops and criminal summonses rather than all policing instances, underscoring that external crime rates do not fully explain the findings. Instances of policing due to psychiatric emergencies, which might have contributed to reversed causation, were regarded as minimal.
The impact of policing on mental health arises from both immediate and broader influences. Residents in heavily policed neighborhoods often face direct interactions with law enforcement or witness the experiences of friends, families, and neighbors. Furthermore, the study’s authors argue that these communities are largely formed by a city prioritizing policing over social resources. Future research may delve into the outcomes of shifting assets from policing toward social and economic support systems.
“It’s evident that both direct and indirect exposure to policing can be a source of stress and trauma for individuals,” notes Sam Packard, a doctoral student at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. “An increasing body of research highlights that the cumulative impact of such trauma constitutes a form of structural violence, which the current analysis addresses.”
“The results reinforce the concerns voiced by communities heavily affected by policing: aggressive policing practices are detrimental to both individual and community health. As rates of mental health issues rise among adolescents, addressing and mitigating mental health challenges will require us to tackle not only individual treatments but also the underlying social and structural factors, including excessive policing,” emphasizes Seth J. Prins, PhD, an assistant professor in Epidemiology and Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.
The significance of these findings transcends history; they remain relevant even a decade after the termination of the Stop and Frisk initiative, according to Prins. “Although the official practice has ceased, we are aware that police stops continue in different forms and often go unreported. Thus, while frequency may have decreased, aggressive policing persists unequally across the city.”
Previously, Prins has explored the impacts of policing on intimate partner violence, effects of school policing on student substance issues, and the relationship between incarceration and early mortality.
The co-authors of this study also include Zoe Verzani, Megan C. Finsaas, Natalie S. Levy, Ruth Shefner, and Amelia K. Boeme at Columbia Mailman, along with Arrianna M. Planey from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
This research received funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (grants DA045955, DA058962), the National Institutes of Health (CA240092-03S1), and the National Institute of Mental Health (MH013043).
