Speaker: Nikki Jones (Sociology, UC Santa Barbara)

Regular contact with the criminal justice system, from arrest to incarceration, has emerged as key mechanisms by which racial inequality is created and sustained in the 21st century. Daily interactions with the police are meaningful encounters for residents in distressed inner-city neighborhoods. In San Francisco's Fillmore neighborhood, where Prof. Jones conducted field research over a five-year period (2005-2010)*, young men often refer to these everyday encounters as "the regular routine."

In this talk, Prof. Jones draws on observation, in-depth interviews and the systematic analysis of video recorded police-citizen encounters to illustrate the range of ways that such encounters unfold in young people's everyday lives and the implications of these routine encounters for healthy adolescent development. Special attention is paid to how such encounters shape the gender socialization of young men in this setting. The talk ends with a discussion of key questions to consider in future research on "stop-and-frisk" and other targeted police practices.

*This research was supported, in part, by the William T. Grant Scholars Award (2007-2012)