It Goes Both Ways”

How Mixed Police Encounters Influence Young Black Men's Decisions to Engage

Dados Bibliográficos

ID8135362
AutoresAjenai Clemmons (0000-0002-0541-8583, University of Denver, autor correspondente)
Ano2026
Volume16
Fascículo4
Páginas1008-1033
Data de publicação2026-02-16
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoRace and Justice (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2153-3687 • E-ISSN: 2153-3687
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/21533687261419420
OpenAlexW7129065967
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas45

This study investigates the complex and often ambivalent perceptions of police held by young Black men in over- and under-policed neighborhoods in the United States. It focuses on how mixed prior encounters—both negative and positive—influence their expectations of future interactions, drawing on 21 in-depth interviews of 20–31-year-old men in Durham, North Carolina. Participants articulated nuanced attitudes that oscillated between alienation from officers’ violence and appreciation for officers’ service, reflecting a precarious sense of uncertainty about whether future encounters would be threatening or safe. Research reveals that mixed encounters can prompt both police avoidance as an adaptive response to navigating unpredictability and conditional willingness to engage police under specific circumstances they outline. Findings suggest cynicism represents a burden many wish to abandon but cannot without sustained positive change in policing practices

Alienation · Ambivalence · Cynicism · Perception · Suicide prevention · Wish · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Policing Practices and Perceptions