Stop-and-frisk: only 3% of 2.4m stops result in conviction, report finds

Report by New York attorney general is first detailed examination of policy deemed unconstitutional earlier this year

Adam Gabbatt
theguardian.com, Thursday 14 November 2013 13.18 EST


New York’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy, hailed by the city’s mayor and police chief as crucial in fighting crime, could boast only a 3% conviction rate between 2009 and 2012, according to a report by the state attorney general released on Thursday.

The report by Eric Schneiderman, the first detailed examination of the policy’s arrest and conviction rate, used data from the New York Police Department and the Office of Court Administration to examine approximately 2.4m stops over the three-year period. Those stops resulted in almost 150,000 arrests, but only half of those led to a conviction or a guilty plea.