Experiencing police violence and insults: narratives from ethnic minority men in Denmark

Abstract

Young men living in socially deprived areas are more likely to be exposed to criminal activity and extraordinary policing measures. This article focuses on the narratives of police encounters told by ethnic minority young men living in a deprived neighbourhood in Denmark, defined by the Danish government as a ‘ghetto’. In total, 76 young men and 6 young women (age 15 to 26) were interviewed between 2016 and 2017. The article focusses on their experiences of the police’s use of force, interpreted as violence by the participants. We have categorized their experiences into three types: unnecessary use of force, inconsistent violence, and humiliation/insults. While police violence is often understood as primarily physical, we also show that in the young people’s recollections of these incidences, issues of ‘moral violence’ becomes important. While not only specifically violating the body, this type of violence also affects the integrity and dignity of individuals. Our participants recounted forms of violence, which were extra-judicial in terms of physical use of force and they described how the police used indirect and degrading techniques of violence, some of which can be categorized as sexual harassment, embarrassment and public humiliation. From their perspectives, police power appeared unpredictable and illegible.

Introduction

Different population groups are targeted by the police in various ways and, thus, have different experiences and responses to law enforcement. Ethnicity, age, socio-economic background and neighbourhood are central in determining citizens’ experiences of law enforcement and the juridical system (Brunson & Weitzer, 2009; Cochran et al., 2012; Peck, 2015). In particular, ethnic minorities in disadvantaged neighbourhoods experience incidences of procedural injustice (Carr et al., 2007; Fine et al., 2003; Gau & Brunson, 2015). Such experiences can influence the affected citizens’ compliance with law enforcement (Novich & Hunt, 2017; Tyler, 1990). Moreover, perceived suspicion of potential police behaviour can damage the social bonds between the police and those who are policed thereby undermining their trust (Tyler et al., 2015).

Studies from the Nordic countries show that ethnic minorities have low trust in the police and experience more conflictual relations with them (Haller et al., 2020; Kääriäinen & Niemi, 2014; Pettersson, 2013). Young people with ethnic minority backgrounds feel disproportionally policed and have many experiences of negative policing (Haller et al., 2020; Solhjell et al., 2019). In particular, they feel that the police are suspicious of them and therefore treat them differently in comparison with the majority of young people (Haller et al., 2020; Solhjell et al., 2019). These negative experiences with the police can challenge their experiences of citizenship and their feelings of belonging (Solhjell et al., 2019). Ethnic minority youth, especially those living in areas that are regularly targeted by the police, are more likely to evaluate the police negatively with reference to the stigmatization of their neighbourhoods (Wästerfors & Burcar Alm, 2020). Moreover, negative images of the police, as well as everyday conflictual meetings between young people and the police, are often informed by negative narratives and stereotypical images of the police, which circulate among young people (Ansel-Henry & Branner Jespersen, 2003).

Despite a growing literature on the negative experiences of ethnic minority youth with the police in the Nordic countries, no studies have yet focused explicitly on their narratives of actual police behaviours and practices. In Scandinavia generally, there is little research on police misconduct and therefore the extent of police violence can be difficult to chart (Høigård, 2011). Moreover, everyday ‘street punishment’ understood as a mixture of ‘hard-fisted’ treatment and verbal harassment is seldom reported (Høigård, 2011). This lack of research on police transgressions in the Nordic countries could suggest that experiences of such transgressions seldom occur. However, recent, qualitative articles comparing perceptions of the police among ethnic minority youth in Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden report that while experiences of police violence occur in Denmark and Sweden they were much less common in Finland and Norway (Saarikkomäki et al., 2020). Furthermore, in a Swedish article, some ethnic minority respondents reported that, in comparison with their ethnic Swedish friends, they were more likely to be exposed to police violence. (Wästerfors & Burcar Alm, 2020). Finally, results from a Nordic comparative study suggest that more subtle forms of violence, such as harassment, ethnic discrimination, and insults are often present in interactions between ethnic minority youth and the police (Haller et al., 2020).

Although from a qualitative research perspective, we still know relatively little about the conduct and misconduct of police forces in many parts of the world. (Zoettl, 2017), there does exist a much more extensive Anglo-American literature. In the US especially, there has been a lot of research on police brutality against ethnic minorities (Brunson, 2007; Durán, 2009; Gabbidon et al., 2011; Gilbert & Ray, 2016; Novich & Hunt, 2016; Worden, 1996).

With this study, we wish to introduce and explore the experiences of ethnic minority youth with police behaviours within a Danish context. To what extent do these youth experience police practices as violence? While it is outside the scope of this qualitative study to determine the extent of police violence in Denmark nor the wider circumstances surrounding the incidents described by our participants, nevertheless this paper can hopefully provide insight into the individual and social perceptions of policing practices for this group of young adults. When exploring their perceptions of violence, we include both physical violence and ‘moral violence’, a less easily identifiable form of violence, but which nevertheless, affects the integrity and dignity of individuals (Fassin, 2013).

Focusing on young people’s experiences of police violence in Nordic welfare states such as Denmark is particularly interesting because citizens generally have a very high trust in the police (Danish National police, 2018; Jackson et al., 2011). The Danish case is also interesting because there has been a societal and political problematization of ethnic minority youth, which has resulted in an increased policing of this group in neighbourhoods defined as ‘ghettos’.¹

In general, it is important to focus specifically on negative experiences with the police as these experiences seem to have a much heavier impact on people’s understandings of police legitimacy than do positive experiences (Skogan, 2006). In this regard, negative experiences of violence do not necessarily leave bodily traces but are stored in the personal and collective memories of people. Narratives of both personal and vicarious experiences of this kind of violence are important, as they can be central in the production and experience of otherness and exclusion. Moreover, when negative first-hand experiences of the police turn into second-hand stories these can create additional cultures of distrust (Warren, 2011; Wilson et al., 2020).

Although in Denmark, the police have an obligation to report their use of force, such as use of pepper spray, dogs, batons, or shotguns, there exist few official statements on the police’ use of more ‘soft’

Narratives of violence

Violence is an ambiguous and unclear concept that cannot only be understood in terms of its physicality (how it inflicts pain). Other dimensions of violence include the person-hood, dignity, and sense of worth of the victim (Bourgois, 2001). Expressions and repressions of violence do not stand alone but are shaped by social structures, ideologies and ideas (Ibid.). In that regard, the violence taking place between a policeman and a policed individual is situated within specific historical and cultural conditions of possibility (Martin, 2018). A police officer can be understood as a street-level bureaucrat, who is licenced to manage the state’s legitimate monopoly on violence by using discretionary power to manage the problems in which he is implicated (Martin, 2018). Therefore, police violence is also closely linked to citizenship, order and state authority (Zoettl, 2017). It is important to note that the lines between illegal and legal violence, extraordinary and ordinary violence are socially constructed (Jauregui, 2013:130; Zoettl, 2017). Within this framework, violence is always subjectively perceived and interpreted by socially situated individuals and violent interactions can be interpreted in different ways depending on the various parties involved.

While the experiences of violence exemplified in this paper take many forms, we have mainly focused on the blurred boundaries between physical and psychical violence. In our research participants’ narratives, both types of violence were often entwined and can be characterized as ‘physical-symbolic’ (Zoettl, 2017), violence, which produces feelings of humiliation and insecurity and attacks the person’s sense of self-worth through techniques aimed at the body without necessarily inflicting marked bodily pain (Zoettl, 2017). Such experiences ‘affect the integrity and dignity of individuals, not just their body and flesh’ (Zoettl, 2017). This can also be linked to what Fassin (2013) has conceptualized as ‘moral violence, which involves dimensions of abasement, harassment and humiliation, which violate the entire person (Fassin, 2013). Within this framework, we focus on the subjective experiences of practices of physical and moral violence during the young people’s interactions with the police, and, in particular, examine which situations and kinds of punitive police practices induce feelings of being subjected to humiliating, suppressive, and extra-judicial police practices.

This article draws on young people’s narratives. In investigating social phenomena, we, as social researchers, take all kinds of stories seriously (Fleetwood et al., 2019). However, people’s stories should not necessarily be regarded as objective truths. On a subjective level, people’s narratives organize and give meaning to their experiences and are ways in which people can rework their reality (Jackson, 2004). People draw selectively on their experiences and telling stories can be a way of reflecting the identity or self-story of the narrator (Holstein & Gubrium, 2000; Tutenges & Sandberg, 2013). Narratives are also intersubjective and recounted within a framework of existing social stories (Jackson, 2004).

In relation to this article, the young people’s narratives of violence are individually and socially situated readings of events, which tell us about the ways in which they experience, interpret, perform, and construct their realities. We emphasize that there is an intimate relationship between behaviour and stories: Behaviours can generate stories and stories can influence behaviours (Tutenges & Sandberg, 2013). Hence, our participants’ narratives do not necessarily rely on personal or immediate experiences, but can be influenced vicariously through their friends’ experiences with the justice system (Fine et al., 2003; Wilson et al., 2020). Previous research on perceptions of the police has pointed to the importance of vicarious experiences of policing. In adopting the findings of this research, we would also suggest that circulations of rumours, including media stories and societal discourses that take place outside the actual interactions between the police and young people (See also Warren, 2011; Wilson et al., 2020), can constitute a context for the young people’s narratives and ways of experiencing encounters and confrontations with the police. In this way, narratives (including our participants’ narratives) are not confined to any psychical setting. Rather, they move back and forth from social media, to popular culture, to the stories recounted by individuals, groups and communities (Fleetwood et al., 2019).

In general, there is a reason why people choose to tell us particular stories. Therefore, we must note the ways that narrative patterns make available some kinds of realities whilst ruling out others (Fleetwood et al., 2019). Moreover, there can be a discrepancy in the multiple ways in which situations can be interpreted by different parties involved. A word, a certain gaze, or a grip around an arm can, from the officer’s perspective, be understood as a normal part of his daily routine. However, the young men who experience these behaviours from the police may perceive the situation as threatening or insulting. The data of this article are constituted by young people’s situated and selected narratives of their experiences with the police. On that basis, the intention with this article was not to explore the verisimilitude of their narratives but instead try to make sense of them (Fleetwood et al., 2019) as intersubjective interpretations of particular realities. Therefore, based on narratives from first- and second-hand experiences from meetings with the police, our task is to understand how the young people construct meanings from these meetings and how this shapes the more general social understandings of law enforcement.

Background, methods and data

Background

The study was conducted in a deprived neighbourhood on the outskirts of a large Danish city with more than 5000 residents from 80 different nationalities. Since 2000, there has been an increase in the societal, media and political focus on ethnic minority youth and the social problems and criminal behaviours in deprived neighbourhoods (Freiesleben, 2015). In 2010, the Danish government introduced the term ‘ghetto’ and called for action against ‘parallel societies’. Since then, the neighbourhood, where we conducted this study, has been on the Government’s official ‘ghetto list’. ‘Ghettoes’ are defined by the government as areas with at least 1000 citizens of which more than 50% are first or second-generation immigrants from non-western countries. Other criteria include a high criminal rate and high rate of unemployment among the citizens as well as low levels of income and educational attainment (Ministry of Transport and Housing, 2017). In order to fight ‘parallel societies’, the Government implemented a range of national ‘ghetto’ policies (Government, 2004, 2010, 2018). For instance, in 2018, the government introduced enhanced policing in the targeted areas and increased prison sentences instead of fines in the targeted neighbourhoods (Government, 2018). As stated in the Government’s action plan these initiatives were part of: ‘a firm, focused, and consequent reaction towards troubled youth’ (Government, 2018). From an international perspective, this illustrates a tendency to adopt extraordinary policing and juridical measures in specific spaces targeting lower socio-economic classes and ethnic minority citizens. These developments can increase the differences in how different population groups experience and understand law enforcement authorities.

Methods and data

Between 2016 and 2017, we interviewed 76 young men and 6 young women (age 15 to 26) who resided in, or had grown up, in a neighbourhood labelled as a ‘ghetto”. All participants had ethnic backgrounds other than Danish. The majority of them had parents who came from Somalia, Palestine, Lebanon, or Iraq, but almost all were born in Denmark. The neighbourhood was home to a variety of young people with different experiences with the police. In order to examine these differences in our study, we recruited participants from various settings, including youth clubs, a local library, a gymnasium, a production school, a local employment project, a local shopping mall, and from the streets. Our recruitment strategies included distributing leaflets, local newspaper announcements, snowballing sampling techniques (Biernacki & Waldorf, 1981) and contacts through social workers or other individuals engaged in the neighbourhood. Even though the participants had different ethnic, family and educational backgrounds as well as diverse experiences with crime, they all had had encounters with the police. Moreover, many of them (n = 28) were, or had been, involved in criminal activities some of which were gang related. Eleven had only minimal involvement in criminal activities and 28 had no experiences at all with crime (15 participants did not reveal whether they had criminal experiences). Both those participants with and without criminal experiences reported that they were frequently stopped by the police and in 32 out of the 59 (individual and group) interviews, the young people recounted different experiences with police’ use of force. Among those with little or no criminal experiences, some reported one or two violent incidents with the police, while others had only observed or heard about other young people’s experience with police violence. Only a few reported that they had never experienced or heard of negative incidents about the police.

Among our participants, who were frequently in contact with the police and who reported experiences of police violence, there was a group of about 20 young men who had known each other since childhood and frequently hung out together. This group was initially sceptical about our research project and, at times, difficult to interview, as they were often impatient, busy, and found it hard to concentrate for too long. Therefore, 17 participants were either re-interviewed individually, or in different group gatherings, often based on their friendship networks. Interviewing the same people, both individually and in different social groups, allowed us to gain insight in the differences and similarities between personal and collective statements about the police. For example, some subjects, such as the person’s own involvement in the violent situation, were elaborated more in the individual interviews than the group interviews.

In the interviews, we used a semi-structured interview guide focusing on: everyday life, religion and ethnicity, job and education, the local area, personal experiences with the police, experiences with crime and drug use, use of social media, and friends’ experiences with the police. However, the participants also had the opportunity to raise other issues of interest or concern, if such arose during the course of the interview. All participants received a gift voucher of 150 DKK (20 Euro) for their involvement. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were then coded using NVivo 11, a data analysis software program. In this analysis, we focused on emerging themes such as, everyday experiences of the police in the area; positive and negative experiences of the police, including experiences of violent incidents; and experiences with crime and notions of ethnicity in encounters with the police. The young people’s participation in our study was voluntary, they were informed about the project and received a hand-out with a short, simple description of the project as well as our contact information in case they had any questions or concerns. The participants and any identifying information have been anonymized. The project complied with Danish guidelines for ethical research, which, for instance, requires that participation is based on informed consent, participants should not be exposed to risks of damage, anonymization of participants should be ensured, and data should be stored safely.

Findings: experiences of violence

In this section, we focus on the young people’s narratives of violent incidents with the police. We examine what the young people experience as violence and insults as well as how violence is enacted in interactions between them and the police. Three features characterized the participants’ experiences of police violence: unnecessary use of force, inconsistent violence, and humiliation. However, the boundaries between these different features are not always clear-cut.

Unnecessary use of force

According to the young men, police officers often exaggerated their use of power during routine operations, such as stop and search situations. In some of the examples in this section, the police directly made use of unnecessary physical power, which can be categorized as illegitimate. In other situations, the young people just felt the police were using unnecessary and disproportional measures. However, the dividing lines between legitimate and illegitimate, necessary and unnecessary use of physical power can be blurred and can depend on how the different participants make sense of the situation.

In describing the police’ unnecessary use of physical power, our participants referred to incidents where the police, for instance, twisted their arms too hard, pressed them to the ground, or used police dogs without reason. In general, they were concerned with situations where the police’ use of force was unnecessary, or seemed out of proportion. For example, Amir describes the following incident:

The day it happened the police caught me and accused me for driving a car […] I was just standing with the others [friends]. (…). Then I was arrested. While I was arrested they almost tore off my arm and they used violence and knees. (Man, 26 years old, int. 3)

As in the other examples, it can be difficult to tell whether this incident is an example of illegitimate, aggravated violence or whether it can be characterized as forms of ‘everyday violence’, which are expressions of violence and interpersonal aggressions taking place during routine encounters on a micro-interactional level (Bourgois, 2001). This depends on how the involved parties construct the meaning of the situation. Sometimes, the violence was more indirect and based on everyday, ritualized, reciprocal intimidations and provocations between the police and the local youth (Haller et al., 2020). Often the incidents took place when the young people were just hanging out or on their way somewhere. In the following case, Salim describes how his friend was on his way home when the police stopped him:

They grabbed him and put him on the ground and pressed him against the ground and used violence. Then they handcuffed him. And then they were just identifying him. You know, checking who he was. Nothing more. (Man, 19 years old, int. 24)

The young people described this type of disproportional forcible measures as a kind of extra, unnecessary punishment, which was deeply disrespectful (see also: Novich & Hunt, 2017). Being confronted with physical measures from the police were linked to feelings of being prejudged and suspected for no justifiable reason (see also: Saarikkomäki et al., 2020). Even if the young men had actually been involved in something criminal, they found that the reactions of the police were out of proportion to the potential threat.

The experience of disproportional policing was also connected to the experience of being subjected to extrajudicial forms of power (see also: Zoettl, 2017), where individual police officers took the law into their own hands. The following example illustrates different aspects of disproportional policing and unnecessary use of force. Ali recalls how he was met with a disproportionate number of officers (22 officers), an overstated charge (suspected for an armed hold-up), violent treatment (a slap in the face), and an officer exceeding his powers (negotiating about transgressing the law).

Ali: It was Saturday. I needed money that day (…) That guy [his friend] took a knife and 34 kroner [5 euro] [from a person in the park]. We were suspected for an armed hold-up – for 34 kroner!

I: So what happened. Did the police come?

Ali: Yeah, there were 22 of them.

Ali: Then they [police officers] hit me in my face. Then he [police officer] found a pill [morphine]. Then I say ‘It’s not mine’. Then he says: ‘You’ll get a fine for this’ and then he hits me (…) Then he [police officer] said: ‘I throw away the pill and then you forget about the punch I gave you’ (…) Since that day, I only felt hate for the police (Man, 16 years of age, int. 27)

The experience of being treated as someone, who was not only subjected to unnecessary and extrajudicial kinds of power but also had no rights of an ordinary citizen’s, was linked to many of our participant’s overall feelings of being discriminated and treated differently from ethnic Danes (see also, Haller et al., 2020). These accounts seem to tally with procedural justice research, which examines the experiences of disrespectful treatment in everyday interactions with the police, and the extent to which such experiences generate feelings of exclusion and the absence of any sense of being a citizen in Denmark (Bradford, 2014; Pettersson, 2013). Consequently, experiences of disrespectful treatment from the police communicated to these young people a sense of having an ‘out group’ status and a feeling of not belonging (Solhjell et al., 2019). Such experiences enforced a feeling of distance between ethnic minority individuals and the wider society (Saarikkomäki et al., 2020). These experiences can also be linked to prior experiences of being treated differently than the majority population and the fact that many young people in Denmark’s so-called ghetto-areas experience structural marginalization in relation to the job market, education, etc.

Inconsistent violence

This theme illuminates the circumstances under which violent incidents with the police took place and the experiences of inconsistency in terms of where, how, in which situation, and by whom police violence could occur. According to our participants, the police would deliberately use different techniques in various situations. Therefore, the police appeared unpredictable to the young people and knowing that they could potentially be targets of uncertain behaviours from the police gave rise to feelings of insecurity. As such, this theme is a more indirect aspect of the young people’s experiences of violence.

Experiences of unpredictability had to do with the uncertainty of how the police would act in various settings and situations. According to our respondents, they were often subjected, not only to ‘different kinds of police officers’, but also police officers who behaved inconsistently in various situations. For instance, our participants reported that officers would behave differently depending on whether the interaction took place in a public space or in a hidden location (e.g., a police station, a police car, or a detention cell). In addition, the young people described how the social context of the situation could impact on how the police behaved and whether or not transgressive behaviour was used. For instance, if they were alone, or in groups, or with their parents, or with professionals (e.g., social workers), then police behaviours varied. Moreover, even though the young people, to a certain degree, could anticipate how officers would behave depending on the situation, they nevertheless felt that it was difficult to predict individual police officers’ behaviour.

According to many of our participants, they were treated in an unpredictable manner by the police when they were alone with officers in secluded spaces, such as in detention cells police stations, police cars, or in staircases and back streets. In the following example, Khalid described such a situation:

Khalid: They brought me to the police station (…) Then suddenly he [police officer] came. He made me stand up and then suddenly four or five officers came. They grabbed me and put me down. They almost prickled out my eyes and such things. And they beat me up, completely. (Man, 16 years of age, int. 27a).

When our respondents recalled such incidents of violence that occurred in hidden places, they often recalled both a sense of powerlessness and a strong desire to strike back.

Fadi, who defined himself as being ‘gang related,’ and who had been imprisoned several times, also emphasized that police officers treated him differently depending on the place where the incident took place. He recounted several violent incidents, which took place when he was alone with a police officer and specifically recalled an incident that occurred in a police car:

Fadi: Then he [police officer] began to slap my cheek. Forth and back. What can you do? I couldn’t hit back, you know. If I would hit back, I had to slap his cheek without him getting bruises in his face. But the police they could easily – for example, if you and me were colleagues then I could smack you [a civil person] and give you a blue eye. Then I could say: ‘But he was the one hitting me’. They [the police] could easily do that. But then I was there, handcuffed in the car and I was beaten and they drove me to the harbour. There I got a beating. (Man, 22 years of age, int. 34)

According to our participants, the police strategically used these techniques of being unpredictable and inconsistent as a way of dealing with the young men. For example, Fadi, describes how police behaviours depended on whether he was approached by the police in the local neighbourhood or in the city centre.

Fadi: Sometimes they harass you. You know. Like when I met one, three, four officers in [local neighbourhood]. They saw my face and said: ‘Hey, hey’ and one asked what my name was and who I was. Then later I joined the city festival down the city and then I meet them in the exact same way. They tell me: ‘Come, you have to be checked’. I said: ‘But you just saw me and said hi in [local neighbourhood] where I was all alone. And just after you see me in the city then I have to take off my trousers and my underpants so you can check me’ (…) Then I told him: ‘Couldn’t you at least have checked me in [local neighbourhood] when I was all alone. Why do you have to search me in front of the entire city? The entire walking street, man’. (Man, 22 years of age, int. 34).

Being stopped and stripped searched in public was particularly embarrassing and a major source of concern for these young men. To many of these young men, the presence of the police was connected to a sense of ambiguity in not knowing whether they were suspected or protected by the police (Saarikkomäki et al., 2020).

The presence or absence of a third party, for instance, their parents, was another factor that, according to the young people, influenced the behaviour of the police and their risk of being exposed to violence. According to Akram, the police were ‘two-faced’ as they would change their approach completely depending on whether, for example, his parents were present or not.

Akram: The only thing the police do during a home interrogation – because your mum and dad are there – then they’re like two-faced. You know, they are nice and they don’t say shit. But when he [the dad] leaves then you just get … When your dad is there they talk politely and such. But when it’s at the police station, they hit you. (Man, 16 years of age, int. 27a)

According to our participants, the presence of a third party could therefore operate as a protective factor against rough treatment. Tarif recalled that the policed treated him differently when he was interrogated in the presence of a social worker (he was under 18 at the time).

At the interrogation, the police said: ‘Say it’s your friend [who committed a crime]. You have to say it’. Then they took me outside so the woman from the municipality couldn’t see us. ‘Fool. We know, it’s you’ they said and grabbed me. They wanted to put me in the detention and pushed me inside. I was wearing handcuffs. They knew I couldn’t resist because then it would be categorized as violence against a civil servant. (Man, 20 years, Field notes).

The young people emphasized the inconsistency in how the police acted in different contexts. According to them, officers’ potential use of violence particularly evoked feelings of uncertainty and concern. When violence is unpredictable, it can become all-pervasive and an issue of constant concern. The young men therefore took precautions, which often involved avoiding any contact with the police.

Researchers have argued that the inconsistency and unpredictability of police behaviour can be linked to general discussions about illegibility and arbitrariness of state power executed by the police in marginalized neighbourhoods (see: Das, 2007). In that regard, inconsistency and unpredictability in policing may, according to the youth, produce feelings of insecurity and indignity (see Zoettl, 2017).

Humiliation/insults

Humiliating experiences were also recurrent themes in many of our participants’ narratives. In most examples in this section, physical and psychical forms of humiliation are intertwined and these forms of ‘moral violence’ both affected the dignity and integrity of the young man.

Amin had been in contact with the police since childhood, his body was covered in tattoos and had just been released from prison when we interviewed him. He recalled this incident:

Amin: I threw a bottle at an officer, because he was beating my friend. And then I made the mistake of running into a stairway where nobody could see us. And then I got the biggest spanking in my life. They directly pulled down the trousers of a 14 years old boy and stuck a police baton up where it touches his asshole. And I’m not ashamed to tell about it. So I’m not lying about it. It’s true, that thing happened. (Man, 24 years, int. 2)

Such experiences of physical and psychical degradation could leave deep emotional traces in the minds of the young people (Haller et al., 2020), for even though, the incident took place 10 years earlier, experiences of sexual insult profoundly affected his future perceptions of the police. As Amin noted, later in the interview: ‘It would be over my dead body to help the police’.

While most experiences of sexual harassment did not inflict bodily pain nevertheless they were directed at the body in different ways. Isaam, for example, recounted experiences of sexual harassment while in detention.

Isaam: Then you get in there [the cell] and freeze a bit. Just for a couple of hours. Then they [the police] come. They push you and provoke you. (…). You get down there. And then they sometimes check you under the balls and around your asshole. And they body search me (…)

I: Do you have to take off your clothes?

R: All naked. And then of cause they give you some clothes (…) Then if you have to use the toilet you ring the bell and then: ‘Hey, I want to go to the toilet now’. [Imitates the police] ‘You can’t’. Sit down and shut up, asshole’. (Man, 18 years of age, int. 29).

As can be seen in this example, recollections of humiliating and insulting experiences often included physical, sexual insults and provocations.

A more indirect technique of sexual harassment and humiliation also took place in some stop and search situations. According to Musad, the police ‘have a new trick. They put their hand down your pocket and then they start to grope.’ (Man, 25 years of age int. 30). In a similar vein, Nasser recounted:

Nasser: I told them [the police]: ‘But you are not allowed to check me’. Then they directly came and put his hand in my pocket. You know, his hands in my pocket [close to his private parts]. Then they start to push me into the car and they still couldn’t’ get my hands off my pocket. Then I pushed them away and then I trembled to the ground and then they held me and twisted my hand. (Man, 17, int. 1)

Experiences of both physical and moral violence were often intertwined in the same situations. For example, when our participants described how the police would purposely strip-search them in presence of others. Such experiences of public humiliation were often described as a degrading and embarrassing form of violence. Rashid recalled a Friday night when he was stopped and searched in front of a popular department store:

“Then they [the police] came and searched me. They took off my pants and underpants and frisked me in front of the entire city.”(Man, 17 years of age, int. 31).

Omar tells of a similar experience:

Omar: (…) all of a sudden I’m suspected for weapon possession. Then they pull down my pants and search me (…). He did this when I was with him [points at his friend] and someone else and we came out of the café with three girls (…)

I: So you have to take off your pants?

Omar: Take off the pants and the underpants.

Omar’s friend: In front of everyone in the city. (Man, 17 years of age, int. 30)

According to some of the participants, the police would, on occasion, deliberately stop and humiliate them in situations, where they felt exposed or had something at stake. For example, in public spaces when they were with friends or girlfriends (as in the example above) or in their local neighbourhoods, where they lived with their families. In these cases, being stopped by the police not only affected the reputation of the young man himself, it also affected the status of his family. Humiliation through public exposure was, according to the participants, an indirect strategy of the police to deter the young people from committing crime.

Conclusion

In this article, we have examined our participants’ experiences of police violence and categorized them into three types: First, they recounted forms of violence and measures, which they found were disproportional and excessive in relation to their own understanding of the severity of their offences. Second, they described how the power of the police often appeared unpredictable and inconsistent and consequently they found it hard to predict how the police would potentially act and whether or not they would use force in different settings and situations. Third, the young men experienced humiliating forms of violence, some of which could be categorized as sexual harassment and as embarrassment, including situations where they felt publically humiliated and undignified.

In many of these experiences of violence, the individual’s self-worth and integrity were attacked through techniques which aimed at the body (Zoettl, 2017). This form of violence can be characterized as ‘moral violence’ and involves elements of abasement, harassment and humiliation (Fassin, 2013). In this way, police violence experienced by the young men was both physical but also ‘moral’. Moreover, it would appear as though it was the moral transgressions inflicted through the fact that the physical violence was disproportional, unpredictable and humiliating, that stood out in the young men’s recollections. According to Fassin (2013), invisible or less easily identifiable forms of violence, which are not necessarily subject to control or legal sanctions in the same way as overt physical violence, constitute a form of substitute violence in contemporary, pacified societies (Fassin, 2013, p. 30). In this way, the young people’s narratives indicate that indirect and humiliating techniques of violence might take place in the interactions between the police and ethnic minority Danish youth, especially those living in so-called ‘ghetto’ areas.

Our participants’ experiences of this type of violence might further augment their general experience of being marginalized and stigmatized and not being treated in the same way as other citizens (Solhjell et al., 2019). Hence, we need to be wary about focusing solely on cases of overt physical police violence. We also need to pay attention to the moral aspects of police violence as this form of violence can negatively impact an already marginalized group of young people’s sense of feeling integrated (Fangen et al., 2016; Kolind et al., 2017). Additionally, experiences of respectful treatment in everyday interactions with the police are fundamental for citizens’ compliance with law enforcement and also for their experiences of inclusion, belonging and a sense of citizenship (Bradford, 2014; Pettersson, 2013). Abuse by the police – distinct representatives of the state – can be regarded as a form of collective punishment of ‘non-citizens’ (Zoettl, 2017).

Another consequence is that negative experiences with the police, including aspects of moral violence, may also be reinforced by the way such experiences are narrated and remembered. In fact, it is possible that experiences of different kinds of violence, including moral violence, may be amplified and even get a life of their own, in being recollected.

In the neighbourhood where our study was conducted, stories and rumours of police violence circulated among friends, acquaintances, and family members. Our participants uploaded and watched images of the police on social media and many followed public debates about the police, crime, and ghettos on local and national popular news. Specifically, police transgressions and violent behaviours appear to be important themes of interest and concern among many young people. In this way, their own negative experiences with the police were contextualized and maybe even affected and augmented by the experiences of others including, for example, other marginalized ethnic minorities subjected to police violence, e.g., as currently witnessed in the US. In this way, recounting tales of police violence can be viewed as a form of social action and as a way of resisting State power (see also: Ugelvik, 2014). Therefore, because of the narrative nature of our participants’ experiences and because their stories tend to ‘travel’ in rumours, social media and social groups, and because such stories have the potential of resistance, these recollections of police misconduct can have consequences far beyond the specifics of the space and time of the actual events.

We hope that this study will inspire more qualitative and quantitative research on the ways in which different social groups are confronted with diverse forms of police practices and hence a greater understanding of how these young people accumulate various experiences and responses to law enforcement. Moreover, we hope to raise more awareness about the consequences of the various kinds of more of less identifiable forms of violent interactions taking place between ethnic minority citizens and the police. These are often invisible to the larger population and not necessarily subject to legal sanctions.

This study could also be relevant for policy makers, police authorities and lay police officers in order to facilitate both better working conditions for police officers and enlightened police cultures in order to ensure a high degree of professionalism in situations when police officers encounter marginalized social groups.