Policing, legal estrangement, and the reproduction of social inequality
European Society of Criminology | September 2026
University of Manchester
Does stop and search contribute to the reproduction of social inequality?
Legal estrangement framework
Legal estrangement framework
“Legal estrangement is a theory of detachment and eventual alienation from the law’s enforcers, and it reflects the intuition among many people in poor communities of color that the law operates to exclude them from society” (Bell 2017, 2054)
“Structural aspects of policing (…) exclude whole groups of people from experiencing policing as a protective benefit and create a dividing line between the valued and the valueless” (Bell 2017, 2149)
Legal estrangement framework
Legal estrangement framework
Legal estrangement framework
Stop and search in England and Wales
Testable implications of legal estrangement theory
\(\cdot\) Individuals more frequently stopped and searched by police officers, particularly during adolescence
\(\cdot\) Individuals vicariously exposed to stop and search practices, with friends, relatives, neighbours being consistently stopped and searched by police officers
\(\cdot\) Individuals growing up in neighbourhoods where stop and search concentrates
Testable implications of legal estrangement theory
\(\cdot\) Individuals more frequently stopped and searched by police officers, particularly during adolescence
\(\cdot\) Individuals vicariously exposed to stop and search practices, with friends, relatives, neighbours being consistently stopped and searched by police officers
\(\cdot\) Individuals growing up in neighbourhoods where stop and search concentrates
\(\leadsto\) Objective experiences of social exclusion across the life course
Testable implications of legal estrangement theory
\(\cdot\) Individuals more frequently stopped and searched by police officers, particularly during adolescence
\(\cdot\) Individuals vicariously exposed to stop and search practices, with friends, relatives, neighbours being consistently stopped and searched by police officers
\(\cdot\) Individuals growing up in neighbourhoods where stop and search concentrates
\(\leadsto\) Objective experiences of social exclusion across the life course
\(-\) Lower educational attainment
\(-\) Employment and financial instability
\(-\) Lower engagement with political and civic duties
Data and methods
Data
Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)
- Longitudinal cohort study
- Around 19,000 children born in the UK in 2000
- Eight sweeps of data collection, from infancy to age 23
- Comprehensive data on social, economic, and health outcomes across the life course
\(\leadsto\) Linkage of MCS respondents’ residential history with stop and search records from England & Wales&
Research questions
Two exposure variables
(measured during adolescence):
- Individual experiences with involuntary police stops
- Cumulative neighbourhood exposure to stop and search
Four outcome variables
(measured at age 23):
- Educational performance
- Highest educational qualification
- Receiving government benefits
- Intention to vote in the next general election
Measures
- Police stop experiences during adolescence
Have you ever been stopped and questioned by the police? (yes/no)
- Measured at age 17
- Respondents who had previously, at age 14, reported being stopped and questioned by the police were excluded from the analysis
Measures
- Educational performance
MCS point score using interpolated scoring system (\(0-120\))
- Scale capturing total GCSE points
- Educational attainment
Highest qualification degree obtained by age 23
- Levels 1 through 8
- Benefits
Whether respondent receives any benefits at age 23 (yes/no)
- Intention to vote
Likelihood to vote in the next general elections (\(0-10\))
Some descriptive insights
Covariates included
- Ethnicity
- Gender
- Parents’ qualifications
- Self-reported perceptions of neighbourhood safety (age 14)
- Previous offending behaviour (age 14)
- Previous risk-taking behaviour (age 14)
- Previous victimisation (age 14)
- Self-reported educational motivation (age 14)
- Conduct problems (parent-reported, age 14)
- Emotional symptoms (parent-reported, age 14)
- Hyperactivity and inattention (parent-reported, age 14)
- Peer problems (parent-reported, age 14)
- Prosocial scores (parent-reported, age 14)
Results
Results: Educational performance
Survey-weighted linear regression controlling for parents’ qualifications, self conception, area safety, previous offending, risk-taking behaviour, victimisation, conduct problems, emotional symptoms, hyperactivity and inattention, peer problems, prosocial scores, gender, and ethnicity. \(N=5,931\).
Exposed respondents report MCS point scores 4.37 points lower than non-exposed respondents
Results: Educational attainment
Survey-weighted ordinal logistic regression controlling for parents’ qualifications, self conception, area safety, previous offending, risk-taking behaviour, victimisation, conduct problems, emotional symptoms, hyperactivity and inattention, peer problems, prosocial scores, gender, and ethnicity. \(N=3,687\).
Odds of higher qualification among exposed respondents 38% lower than non-exposed respondents
Results: Employment/financial stability
Survey-weighted binomial logistic regression controlling for parents’ qualifications, self conception, area safety, previous offending, risk-taking behaviour, victimisation, conduct problems, emotional symptoms, hyperactivity and inattention, peer problems, prosocial scores, gender, and ethnicity. \(N=5,931\).
Odds of receiving benefits among exposed respondents 65% higher than non-exposed respondents
Results: Political and civic engagement
Survey-weighted linear regression controlling for parents’ qualifications, self conception, area safety, previous offending, risk-taking behaviour, victimisation, conduct problems, emotional symptoms, hyperactivity and inattention, peer problems, prosocial scores, gender, and ethnicity. \(N=5,931\).
Exposed respondents report scores (likelihood to vote) 0.49 points lower than non-exposed respondents
So what?
Next steps
- Finish linking MCS residential history with stop and search records from
Create a measure of cumulative neighbourhood exposure to stop and search during adolescence
Marginal structural models with residual balancing to assess cumulative effects
Focus on the vicarious marginalisation and structural exclusion mechanisms highlighted by the legal estrangement framework
Final thoughts
Does stop and search contribute to the reproduction of social inequality?
- Not a theory-testing exercise
But results are consistent with empirical implications of the legal estrangement framework
Focus on objective experiences of social exclusion
People who have had police stop experiences during adolescence are more likely to have
- educational damage
- more employment and financial instability
- lower engagement with political and civic duties
Thank you!
Funded by the ESRC Vulnerability and Policing Futures
(Early Career Development Fund)
References
