“Driving while black” and all other traffic offenses: the Supreme Court and pretextual traffic stops.
The writer discusses the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Whren v. United States and the effect that the decision will have in relation to pretextual traffic stops. In the Whren case, police officers used traffic violations as a pretext to stop a vehicle and investigate possible drug offense...
| Published in: | Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology Vol. 87; pp. 544 - 583 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Northwestern University
Winter97
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=502428969&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 502428969 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00914169 CLC jtl: Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology issn: 00914169 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Winter97 vid: 87 pid: 1093 pub: Northwestern University artinfo: ui: 502428969 10.2307/1143954 ppf: 544 ppct: 39 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 1.6MB tig: atl: “Driving while black” and all other traffic offenses: the Supreme Court and pretextual traffic stops. aug: au: Harris, David A. su: Traffic violations Discrimination in criminal justice administration Police power Searches & seizures (Law) Drug control Traffic regulations United States sug: subj: United States Traffic violations Discrimination in criminal justice administration Police power Searches & seizures (Law) Drug control Traffic regulations keyword: United States -- Supreme Court -- Decisions ab: The writer discusses the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Whren v. United States and the effect that the decision will have in relation to pretextual traffic stops. In the Whren case, police officers used traffic violations as a pretext to stop a vehicle and investigate possible drug offenses even though the officers had neither probable cause nor reasonable suspicion to stop the driver for narcotics crimes. The government argued that at any time the police could have stopped the defendant for a traffic infraction and that it did not matter that they actually stopped him to investigate a crime for which they had little or no evidence. The Court upheld this argument. This decision represents more than a lost opportunity for the Court to rein in some police practices that go against the ideas of freedom and equal treatment. It represents a clear move in the other direction—toward authoritarianism, racist policing, and a view of minorities as criminals, rather than citizens. Examples of other cases of pretextual traffic stops are provided. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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