Targets of police attention. Discrimination in pedestrian stop-and-search of young people in Germany and France

Abstract Surprisingly little is known about pedestrian stops targeting young people on the streets of European cities. Relying on a cross-country evaluation of school survey data carried out in four German and French cities, I ask: are the police discriminating against young people in pedestrian stop-and-search? Based on results from mixed-effects negative binomial regressions and controlling for other relevant predictors and neighbourhood effects, I find mixed evidence for claims of gender and ethnic discrimination. In German cities, I find only small evidence of gender and no evidence of ethnic discrimination, challenging core assumptions drawn from conflict, minority threat, and dominance theories. Contrarily, in French cities, I find substantial evidence of gendered ethnic discrimination. The gender gap is largest for young people of Maghrebi origin. Whilst young Maghrebi males are the focus of police attention, young Maghrebi females do not experience pedestrian stops at higher rates than other ethnicities. Results also point to a remarkable similarity in pedestrian stop rates of females across ethnicities and between European cities and show only minor differences between ethnic majority males and females. I conclude with a discussion of the implications of these results for policing ethnic minority youth and propose avenues for future research.