The policing of subway fare evasion in postindustrial Los Angeles
| Date | 01 July 2022 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1462474521992115 |
| Author | Lallen T Johnson,Evelyn J Patterson |
| Published date | 01 July 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
The policing of subway
fare evasion in
postindustrial Los
Angeles
Lallen T Johnson
American University, DC, USA
Evelyn J Patterson
Vanderbilt University, TN, USA
Abstract
According to the postindustrial policing thesis, cities that use cultural development
strategies to attract new residents and visitors rely on order maintenance policing
tactics to reinforce middle-class perspectives of safety and civility. This study applies
that thesis to understand how shifting social structural dynamics influence the policing
of fare evasion across the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority subway system.
In accordance with the postindustrial perspective, results indicate that order mainte-
nance policing is most intense at stations located in gentrifying neighborhoods; and, at
the average station this form of policing is overwhelmingly directed towards Black and
Latinx riders. Collectively, study findings suggest that mass transit in gentrifying areas
represents a disputed resource that is policed in the interests of urban revitalization.
Moreover, this treatment of fare evasion joins a growing body of penal remedies that
expands the sphere of public social control, and further marginalizes disenfranchised
groups.
Keywords
ethnicity, fare evasion, gentrification, order maintenance, postindustrial policing, race,
social control
Corresponding author:
Lallen T Johnson, Department of Justice, Law and Criminology, American University, 4400 Massachusetts
Avenue, NW Kerwin 270, Washington, DC 20016, USA.
Email: johnsonl@american.edu
Punishment & Society
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DOI: 10.1177/1462474521992115
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2022, Vol. 24(3) 457–476
Introduction
Gentrification refers to the processes by which home values increase and wealthier
residents settle in less affluent neighborhoods (Glass, 1964; Zuk et al., 2018)—an
outcome precipitated by postindustrial revitalization strategies to attract educated,
middle-class residents and visitors (Bassett, 1993; Grodach and Loukaitou-Sideris,
2007; Kantor and Judd, 2010). According to the postindustrial policing thesis, such
cultural redevelopment strategies not only imply the physical reconstruction of
space to facilitate White middle-class consumerism, but also the order maintenance
policing of behaviors and bodies that misalign with racialized and classist percep-
tions of safety in the new contemporary city (Sharp, 2014).
This study builds upon current literature by applying the postindustrial perspec-
tive to the policing of mass transit. While studies reveal that postindustrial policing
has consequences for people of color through street stops (Laniyonu, 2018), drug
law enforcement (Lynch et al., 2013), and the regulation of social order generally
(Sharp, 2014), none have applied it to the realm of mass transit. This omission
represents a void at the intersection of criminology and urban studies since mass
transit is a highly valued resource that provides connections among amenities.
Because the perceived presence of disorder and crime within transit systems con-
flicts with middle-class perspectives of safety and neighborhood desirability,
increased formal social control emerges to strictly regulate unwanted groups
(Gibson, 2004).
Using data from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation
Authority (MTA), we demonstrate that order maintenance policing is most aggres-
sive at rail stations located in gentrifying neighborhoods. And in accordance with
existing postindustrial policing studies, we find that Black and Latinx riders are
significantly more likely to be cited than Whites, even when accounting for rele-
vant local social structural characteristics. Taken together, our findings suggest
that mass transit is a socially, politically, and economically “contested space”; and
these contests are settled by agents of formal social control to further local
economic policy agendas (Lynch et al., 2013). In the subsequent sections we
frame this argument by situating transit policing within the contemporary urban
renewal movement. In doing so, we highlight the nature of mass transit as a space
that surveilles disenfranchised groups in the interests of order maintenance and city
revitalization. We then summarize our study data and methodology, provide
results that support our key arguments, and conclude with a discussion of
implications.
Background
In the wake of urban deindustrialization cities have pursued growth strategies to
attract middle-class White residents and visitors. By re-envisioning the metropolis
as a space to cluster knowledge production and exchange, cities such as Los
Angeles have positioned themselves as cultural utopias for high-wage service
458 Punishment & Society 24(3)
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