Editing Terry stop (section)

=== Psychological and emotional harm ===
A stop and frisk can be damaging to communities.<ref name=":25"/> Kwate and Threadcraft argue that stop and frisk is a public health problem and works to "produce bodies that are harassed, stressed and resource deprived, if not altogether dead".<ref name=":112">{{Cite journal|last1=Kwate|first1=Naa Oyo A.|last2=Threadcraft|first2=Shatema|date=2017|title=Dying Fast and Dying Slow in Black Space: Stop and Frisk's Public Health Threat and a Comprehensive Necropolitics|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/du-bois-review-social-science-research-on-race/article/abs/dying-fast-and-dying-slow-in-black-space/113E9238F929CC40959D3F5ABE7D7509|journal=Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race|language=en|volume=14|issue=2|pages=535–556|doi=10.1017/S1742058X17000169|s2cid=149517503|issn=1742-058X|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Stop and frisk creates an environment of fear that alters the behaviors of a community's inhabitants and limits their freedom of action.<ref name=":112"/> The police conduct pat-downs that intrude upon the privacy of the individual, and can result in escalation through physical or sexual violence. During this process, officers sometimes use profanity and discriminatory slurs. Because of this, residents often have anger, fear, or distrust towards the police.<ref name=":25"/>

For those with mental disorders and disabilities, pat-downs can be traumatic, especially for those with sensory disorders. Those who have suffered through sexual trauma, which is prevalent among men with criminal justice histories and black people in poorer urban areas, can relive their trauma through the invasive procedure, resulting in stress, depression, and anxiety.<ref name=":25"/> This practice also increases the possibility of sexual exploitation or assault, especially in communities that are more vulnerable, like black and poor sex workers and sex trafficking victims.<ref name=":25"/> Because ways of transporting drugs have evolved, some police officers utilize methods such as stripping the civilian and searching their body for drugs, which can be traumatizing for both users and nonusers of drugs.<ref name=":82"/> Civilians have also reported that police officers often wait until their quota is filled up to bring the arrested civilians back to stations. Civilians must stay in the back of the van, which often was missing seats, for hours on end and packed with 15 or 16 people, without access to the bathroom.<ref name=":82"/>

In a study conducted by Cooper et al., young men who do not use drugs stated that they feel uncomfortable when stopped by a police officer because they were afraid that "unnecessary violence or life disruption was imminent during every police stop".<ref name=":82"/> Those who have been stopped more often develop more [[allostatic load]], resulting in low self esteem and despair. When residents of a community know they are being treated both unfairly, and unfairly due to their social identity, they are more likely to anticipate stigma and rejection due to their race.<ref name=":25"/> Marginalized communities that experience recurring injustice from the police distrust them and become more cynical of them, resulting in [[legal cynicism]], which in turn results in decreased cooperation and respect toward the legal system.<ref name=":25"/> This loss of faith in the system causes depressed civic and political engagement. Community residents are less likely to call for the police to help when they believe the police are not on their side, instead turning towards other community members. This distrust towards police is passed down from generation to generation, otherwise known as [[legal socialization]], as a means of protection, forcing the community to live in perpetual fear.<ref name=":25"/>

Items that are discovered during pat-downs that are incriminating, like clean needles, condoms, and other harm reduction tools, are used less to prevent arrest; this then is a danger to public health.<ref name=":25"/>