Aggressive policing tactics like stop-and-frisk are linked to worse newborn health outcomes in neighborhoods where such tactics are most pervasive, University of Oregon research finds.
Babies of non-Hispanic Black mothers had lower birth weights in New York City neighborhoods where police made more on-the-street stops, even when controlling for variables like income and education, according to the research, which analyzed data from 2006 to 2013.
The study is the first to examine the effects of overall community exposure to police stops on newborn wellness, an important public health metric. The findings were published in the journal Social Science & Medicine .
"This study offers important insights for public safety and efforts to reduce gaps for infant health disparities that correlate with race," said study co-author Nicole Ngo , an associate professor in the UO's School of Planning, Public Policy and Management in the College of Design .
"People who don't have direct interactions with police could still be affected by stop-and-frisk," Ngo said. "Those effects on pregnant mothers and their children could lead to health problems across generations."
Stop-and-frisk, a crime prevention program adopted by New York City in the 1990s, entails detaining, questioning and searching people when police officers have a reasonable suspicion that a crime has been, or will be, committed.
But stop-and-frisk sowed mistrust and anxiety, especially among minority populations. In 2013, a federal judge found the program violated the constitutional rights of minorities by disproportionally targeting Black and Hispanic populations.
The ruling did not end the practice but led to changes in how it was done. Today, similar practices play out in communities across the United States.
"Racism has been recognized as a public health threat," Ngo said. "However, it's difficult to measure exposure to racism. This specific police activity offers a measurable indicator for researching how racial bias may drive health disparities."
Ideally, policing and public health share a common goal to protect communities, such as efforts to reduce traffic accidents, Ngo said. But aggressive policing practices associated with racial profiling may negatively impact public health, even if they curb crime.
To connect the dots, Ngo and co-author James Rising at the University of Delaware investigated how the number of police stops per capita in different neighborhoods affected infant health, a key indicator of safety and social welfare.
The duo pored over information about police stops and health benchmarks for newborns from 2006 to 2013. They looked at infant birth weights, gestational ages and tests that hospitals use to measure newborn health and compared police stops per capita in the neighborhoods where the mothers lived while pregnant.
After overlaying the police stop and health data, they discovered that neighborhoods with more stops correlated with worse infant health disparities.
The greatest effects on birth weight, a widely used public health indicator, occurred in non-Hispanic Black mothers: a decrease of 1.9 grams from a 10% increase in community exposure to police stops.
The health effects were statistically small but significant, Ngo said. Small reductions in birth weight have been linked to declines in education and income.
The data does not indicate if the mothers were stopped, observed stops or were simply aware of them. However, the general perception of living in a neighborhood with racial profiling and fears of being targeted could be connected to health impacts.
The most active neighborhoods in the study experienced triple the median number of stops per capita.
The researchers used statistical methods to control for other factors that can also affect infant health. For example, mothers in neighborhoods with more police stops may differ from mothers in other neighborhoods in ways that also affect infant health such as income, education, smoking or alcohol consumption.
Ngo emphasized this research covers one city during a specific period of time, providing a snapshot of how policing and public health data correlate. Though observational studies like these don't prove causation, they make connections that could not be practically or ethically tested with lab experiments.
"The results make a compelling case," Ngo said. "Any police practice with clear evidence of racial profiling can do more harm than good for public safety."
— By Ed Dorsch, University Communications
