To snitch or not to snitch? An exploratory study of the factors influencing whether young people actively cooperate with the police

Abstract

The death of Adam Regis in March 2007 and subsequent murder investigation highlighted the difficulties of encouraging young people to cooperate with the police by providing information that could lead to a successful conviction. ‘Snitching’, as it is known, is currently an under-explored area of research in the UK with most extant research having been conducted in the US. Therefore this paper attempts partially to fill this gap in the research. Drawing on a recent multi-method qualitative study, involving 24 interviews with young people in one London borough and two focus groups with teachers, police officers and youth workers, this paper seeks to explore the puzzling issue of why young people do not ‘snitch’. In particular, we explore the impact of relationships with the police and the impact of wider social influences – such as young people's concerns about their safety, peer groups, particularly ‘elders’, families and music – on their decision to ‘actively cooperate’ with the police. We argue that peers, specifically ‘olders’, appear to have more influence on a young person's decision to cooperate with the police, than their relationships with the police or the advice from their family. However, the intertwined nature of the influences on young people's decision to cooperate and the importance of trust in the police provide two points of variation with the existing research on procedural justice and police legitimacy. We also demonstrate the benefits of conducting research on policing ‘from within’ and of collaborations between practitioners and academics.