Stop And Frisk Analysis

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The enforcement of the stop and frisk laws in New York City reflects Weber’s theory of the relationship between law and society because it correlates to his belief that institutions are governed by formal rules and the application of these rules lead to greater efficiency in achieving institutional goals. Weber was a German sociologist who had a law degree but did not practice law. Weber is renowned for his theory of rationalization and rationality. Weber broke both of these components into society’s view and the individual view. In the legal system rational decisions are a key component to fairness. Rules are what is used to settle disputes in the legal system, rules also provide us with a clear gapless system which leaves little to no room…show more content…
Many minority groups are not proponents of the practice due to the fact that they believe that the program is inherently racist and only targets minorities. While supporters of the program would point to the declining numbers of murders and crimes in New York City as a main reason to keep utilizing the practice of stop and frisk. By definition the purpose of the stop and frisk program is to stop crimes before they occur. This leads to police officers having to intervene in situations that they deem to be suspicious and unnatural. A main issue with this is how can a cop assume a situation is going to turn violent before it…show more content…
There are over 538,000 tourists in New York City and they expect to be safe(Huffington Post, 8/14/12). The best way to keep these tourists and every day residents of New York City safe is through the practice of stop and frisk. As Weber states institutions have laws, and the following and enforcement of said laws leads to institutional goals. For the New York Police Department the law is stop and frisk and the enforcement of stop and frisk leads to a safer city, which is undoubtedly the ultimate goal of the New York Police Department. By achieving these goals the police department of New York City is looked upon as an example for other major cities across the country and globe. Many other major cities have used the tactics of stop and frisk to prevent crime as well. New York City just happens to use it the most, but this is probably due to the large population of New York City compared to other cities. In conclusion stop and frisk tactics in New York City reflect Weber’s theory that institutions are governed by a formal set of rules and the enforcement and following of these said rules leads to institutional goals being achieved, for New York City the goal of a decreased crime and murder rate has definitely been
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