Street Stops and Broken Windows: Terry, Race, and Disorder in New York City 28 Fordham Urban Law Journal 2000-2001

28 Fordham Urb. L.J. 457 (2000-2001)
Street Stops and Broken Windows: Terry, Race, and Disorder in New York City

handle is hein.journals/frdurb28 and id is 471 raw text is: STREET STOPS AND BROKEN WINDOWS:
TERRY, RACE, AND DISORDER IN
NEW YORK CITY
Jeffrey Fagan and Garth Davies*
Patterns of stop and frisk activity by police across New York
City neighborhoods reflect competing theories of aggressive po-
licing. Broken Windows theory1 suggest that neighborhoods
with greater concentration of physical and social disorder should
evidence higher stop and frisk activity, especially for quality of
life crimes.2 However, although disorder theory informs quality
of life policing strategies, patterns of stop and frisk activity sug-
gest that neighborhood characteristics such as racial composition,
poverty levels, and extent of social disorganization are stronger
predictors of race- and crime-specific stops. Accordingly, neigh-
borhood street stop activity reflects competing assumptions and
meanings of policing strategy. Furthermore, looking at the rate at
which street stops meet Terry standards of reasonable suspicion3
in various neighborhoods provides additional p&spective on the
social and strategic meanings of policing. Our empirical evidence
suggests that policing is not about disorderly places, nor about
improving the quality of life, but about policing poor people in
poor places. This strategy contradicts the policy rationale derived
from Broken Windows theory, and deviates from the original em-
phasis on communities by focusing on people. Racially disparate
policing reinforces perceptions by citizens in minority neighbor-
hoods that they are under non-particularized suspicion and are
therefore targeted for aggressive stop and frisk policing. Such
broad targeting raises concerns about the legitimacy of law,
threatens to weaken citizen participation in the co-production of
* Jeffrey Fagan is a professor at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia
University, and a visiting professor at Columbia Law School. Garth Davies is a doc-
toral candidate, School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University. All opinions are those
of the authors. Peter K. Manning provided helpful comments on this article. Bran-
don Garrett provided timely and thorough research assistance.
1. James Q. Wilson & George L. Kelling, The Police and Neighborhood Safety:
Broken Windows, ATLANTIC MONTHLY, Mar. 1982, at 29-38 (using the analogy of a
broken window to describe the relationship between disorder and crime).
2. Id.
3. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968) (establishing reasonable suspicion, as opposed
to the higher quantum of proof of probable cause, as the constitutional standard to
govern stop and frisks).

457

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