Cumulative injustice?:Police stops and the development of legal cynicism in the life course

While some individuals have never been stopped by the police, others report frequent involuntary police stops from an early age. In over-policed neighbourhoods, some adolescents experience several police stops on a weekly basis. Such cumulative experiences at a young age can shape legal socialisation and have long-term unintended consequences. Drawing on data from four large-scale national cohort studies that surveyed individuals born in the UK in 1958, 1970, 1990, and 2000, this study examines whether repeated police stops during adolescence are associated with long-lasting traits related to trust in legal authority and cynicism about social norms in adulthood—and whether such consequences vary across different birth cohorts and socio-political contexts. Using group-based trajectory modelling, I analyse cohort differences in police <br/>stop trajectories from 1969 to 2019, as well as their association with developmental trajectories of legal cynicism. Findings underscore repeated police stops during adolescence as a form of cumulative disadvantage with significant life-course implications.