WE NEVER CALL THE COPS AND HERE IS WHY: A QUALITATIVE EXAMINATION OF LEGAL CYNICISM IN THREE PHILADELPHIA NEIGHBORHOODS*

TLDR

The study examines how youth in high‑crime Philadelphia neighborhoods construct narratives about police encounters and propose crime‑reduction strategies, and analyzes whether these views support a subcultural or procedural‑justice framework with implications for community‑based policing. The authors conducted a first‑wave, purposive comparative study of 147 delinquent and non‑delinquent youth across three Philadelphia neighborhoods, gathering in‑depth interviews and self‑reports to examine crime, danger, and informal social control. Findings show that most youth harbor negative attitudes toward police rooted in adverse encounters, yet they overwhelmingly advocate for tougher law enforcement as a crime‑reduction strategy, prompting an analysis of subcultural versus procedural‑justice interpretations.

Abstract

This article presents data from the completed first wave of a multiwave comparative study of crime, danger, and informal social control that focuses on youth living in three high‐crime neighborhoods in Philadelphia, PA ( N = 147). The study is a purposive sample of delinquent and nondelinquent young men and women in one predominantly African‐American, one predominantly Latino, and one predominantly white neighborhood, and researchers have completed in‐depth interviews and self‐reports with each subject. This article focuses on the narratives that youth living in high‐crime neighborhoods build around their contact with police and the strategies the young people propose for crime reduction in their communities. The data illustrate that most youth in each neighborhood are negatively disposed toward police and that this is grounded in the lived experience of negative encounters with law enforcement. However, when youth expounded on what they thought would reduce crime, they overwhelmingly chose increased and tougher law enforcement. We analyze these findings to determine whether support exists for a subcultural approach or a cultural attenuation/procedural justice argument, and we explore the implications of our findings for community‐based crime control.