ABSTRACT
In 2005, the longest and most striking round of riots in France’s contemporary history was sparked by a mere identity check. Identity checks offer an opportunity for aggressive behavior on the part of the police, especially towards youths from ethnic minorities, and have been documented as both discriminatory and highly discretionary. Since the 2000s, research has accumulated extensive quantitative and ethnographic evidence of the extent of these problems and has helped drive identity checking onto the public agenda. This chapter examines three dimensions of the problem. It describes the checking process and who is targeted; it examines why identity checking is such a pervasive police practice; and it reviews the consequences of recent and heated debates in France over the effectiveness and appropriateness of this policing tactic.
