...versus Voice: Exploring the Effects of the Stop-and-Frisk Law on Black Citizens in Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric. In Citizen: An American Lyric, Claudia Rankine’s prose poetry sheds light on the racial aggressions...
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...Abstract The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects one’s rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. It also states that no warrants shall be issued without probable cause. Probable cause can be defined as a person of reasonable caution who believes that a crime has been committed and the person accused has committed that crime. Modern law has afforded police officers an incentive to respect this amendment, known as the “stop and frisk” act. The Stop and Frisk law allows police officers to stop someone and do a quick search of their outer clothing for weapons: if the officer has a reasonable suspicion that a crime has or is about to take place and the person stopped is armed or dangerous. The reasonable suspicion must be based with specific expressed facts and not on just an officer’s intuition or guess. The Stop and Frisk law balances crime control, protects an individual’s right, and prevents from unreasonable searches. This law is further implemented and proven in the Supreme Court case Terry v. Ohio where it was ruled that the search performed was in fact reasonable under the constitution and the fourth amendment. Introduction The Fourth Amendment states, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place...
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...from unreasonable search and seizures was violated. The court denied the defendants' motion on the ground that Officer McFadden, on the basis of his experience, "had reasonable cause to believe . . . that the defendants were conducting themselves suspiciously, and some interrogation should be made of their action." Purely for his own protection, the court held, the officer had the right to pat down the outer clothing of these men, who he had reasonable cause to believe might be armed. The Supreme Court of Ohio dismissed their appeal on the ground that no “substantial constitutional question” was involved (Kemp, David. (2012). Terry v. Ohio 392 U.S. 1 (1968). U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Douglas strongly disagreed with permitting a stop and search without probable cause, stating “I agree that petitioner was "seized" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. I also agree that frisking petitioner and his companions for guns was a "search." But it is a mystery how that "search" and that...
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...America CJA/364 February 10, 2015 Search and Seizure in America The fourth amendment has given us the protection against unreasonable search and seizure but what exactly does that mean? To understand, one must define right of privacy, search, seizure, arrest, and reasonableness and how each of these relates to stop and frisk, automotive search rules, and requirements regarding border and regulatory searches. Have you ever been stopped on the street or anywhere and frisked by a police officer? Individuals should be aware of the rules regarding such a situation. In the state of New York, the people, "Mayor Michael Bloomberg" (Wells 2013, p. 1) and the district court judge "Shira Scheindlin" (Wells 2013) argued about reforming the stop and frisk policy. The objective issues in improving system addressed after a stop and frisk case won by the arrestee. In the case involving the arrestee "David Ourlicht" (Whitaker, 2013, p. 1) claimed he was wrongfully stopped and frisked. The officer stopped and frisked the defendant because the object in his pocket resembled a gun. The attorney representing the defendant argued his constitutional rights, and the stop and frisk was unconstitutional. The environment of the Missouri cities, counties, suburbs, and rural area are subject to society socialization, private activity, and deviant behavior which may cause the proper authority to respond to the nature of the action the same as in New York City. Society plays a significant role to deter...
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...Search and seizures are highly debated topics in the United States. Stop and frisk, automobile searches and border searches all fall within the guidelines of the Fourth Amendment. Discussed in this paper will be what reasonable searches, seizures and arrests are and how they are applied. Also to be discussed is whether probable cause is needed during warrantless searches and how the right to privacy is weighed. Finally, this paper will discuss how America’s borders are being protected by the Fourth Amendment, and what exceptions to the rule are necessary to protect America’s security interests. Stop-and-Frisk The definition of a “stop and frisk” is when the police temporarily detain a person and “pat down” their outer clothing if a law enforcement officer believes a suspect is armed and dangerous (Center for Public Education, 2015). For example, if a person is observed walking back and forth in front of jewelry store, meets another person around the corner from the store, and an officer observes one person handing the other person something which they put into their jacket. The officer can stop and frisk that suspect because they will have a reasonable suspicion that the suspects could be armed, and are possibly going to commit a crime. A frisk, by definition, is a type of search that requires an officer to have a lawful reason to stop and search (Center for Public Education, 2015). When an officer is going to frisk a person, it cannot be for any other reason than to look for and...
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...Criminal Justice 207 Kwak The City That Became Safe Over the last ten years the United States has experienced a dramatic decrease in crime since the early 1990’s. New York, has maintained their remarkable drop in crime over the last twenty years in comparison. So it is only logical that criminologist would want to study this phenomenon to get to the root of its success. In “ The City That Became Safe” Zimring decides to go beyond New York’s surface success and find the causes in these decreases. Through his analysis of the New York’s constant decline in Zimring says: “We now know that life-threatening crime is not an incurable urban disease in the United States.” He takes the stance that improved policing strategies and systems explain New York’s constant decreasing in various area’s of crime. Dr. Zimring will further assert his stance through finding the causes of the decline and explain what else can be learned though criminological theories and crime control policy. As previously According to Zimring, New York’s decrease in serious crime is unprecedented among America’s biggest cities. In the 1990s the entire country experienced the largest documented crime decline of the twentieth century, in which the typical big city experienced approximately 35 to 40% reductions in felonies. But in most urban areas the downward trend ended around the year 2000. In contrast, Zimring notes that New York’s decline has so far lasted twice as long, and the average felony rate drop has...
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...An issue I deem that is a flaw in the criminal justice system is using racial profiling for the stop-and-frisk policy. Racial profiling is basically the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of committing a crime or an offense. The stop-and-frisk policy is when a police officer stops someone he/she deems suspicious and frisking the person for something. One case that relates to this flaw in the criminal justice system would be the Floyd v. City of New York. The date that this case was filed was on January 31, 2008 by David Floyd, David Ourlicht, Lalit Clarkson and Deon Dennis. This case challenged the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) practices of racial profiling and seeing whether or not the stop and frisk policy...
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...Rhetoric and Ethics Assignment "The Ethic of Expediency" by Steven B. Katz discusses the ethical problems of technical writing. The author suggest that the ethic of expediency enables deliberative rhetoric and gives impulse to most of our actions in technological capitalism. Katz explains that the problem with deliberative rhetoric and technical communication is epistemology and ethics. He uses a Nazi memo as a technical writing sample, which embodies the rhetoric and ethos of the Nazi Party but fails to take any account for ethics. He also uses Aristotle's Politic and Rhetoric to make the connection between rhetoric, ethics, technology, and expediency. Katz concludes that the deliberative orators aim is utility, to determine means to ends- a question of expediency. Aristotle believed that practical wisdom must be accompanied by moral virtue to supply the right end. Hitler used Aristotle’s work to form the ethos in Nazi Germany. However, with Hitler, there was no distinction between "practical wisdom" and "moral virtue", between expediency and the good as long as rhetoric serves its end, that is, the State. His belief in the efficacy of science and technology as the basis of ethics and politics resulted in mass extermination. Based on the ethic of expediency, rhetoric for Hitler was pure technique, designed not to encourage debate, but rather to indoctrinate. Hitler created an ethos of expediency to carry out his program for the “greater good” of Germany. Katz believes that to...
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...Evaluation Model Essay Kevin Jackson CJA/385 April 06, 2016 Professor: Lois Fegan Evaluation Model Essay In this essay, I will select an evaluation model that I believe is most applicability and relevance to criminal justice policy today. I will also summarize the model that I have chosen and provided analysis and explanation for my choice. The two models of the criminal justice system are created by a professor named Herbert L. Packer in 1964 at Sanford University, and these two models are "Crime Control Model" and the "Due Process Model." To understand and comprehend what these two models processes are that Professor Parker created for the criminal justice system, we must first define their meaning. Crime Control Model- Refer to a theory of criminal justice which places emphasis on reducing the offense in society through increased police and prosecutorial powers (Us Legal 2016). Due Process Model- Is a type of justice system which based on the principle that a citizen has some absolute rights and cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or property without appropriate legal procedures and safeguards (Us Legal 2016). Summary The crime control model believes that to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens in society, the best course of action would be to expand both the police and prosecutors department in law enforcement. This model belief that stricter, harsher, punishment will ultimately reduce crime. Here...
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...Issues of police legitimacy and public distrust have run rampant through the media in recent years. One of the most notable instances of the impact of poor police-community relations is the result of stop-and-frisk efforts in New York City. According to an article in the New York Daily News, in some neighborhoods in New York City approximately 9 in 10 people do not trust the police as a result of police contact (Durkin, 2013). While this distrust is believed to be linked to stop and frisk, it also stems from an overall distrust for the entity, especially in crime-ridded neighborhoods that are primarily comprised of minorities. In this paper I will analyze the issue of public distrust of law enforcement by determining how it occurs, its effects...
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...FOURTH AMENDMENT Protecting the rights of citizens and law enforcement is very important and the Fourth Amendment does that. The Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. This Amendment is not a guarantee against all searches and seizures, but only those that are deemed unreasonable under the law. There are two important factors when a search is considered being reasonable. The first factor is whether the search is an intrusion on an individual's Fourth Amendment rights and the second is whether public safety an issue. Law officials have to make a tough decision when the correct time and place is conduct a search. The extent to which an individual is protected by the Fourth Amendment depends, in part, on the location of the search or seizure (Smith, 1999). An example is in the case of Minnesota v. Carter, when a police officer looked into a window of an apartment and observed bagging of white powder. The officer called back to the station to obtain a search warrant. In the meantime, the suspects that the police officer was watching, Carter and Johns, had left the apartment with some of the powder. The police followed them and pulled them over and searched the car and then searched the apartment. Carter and Johns were charged with controlled substance crimes. The two argued that the officer’s observation was an unreasonable search and all evidence was inadmissible as “fruit of the poisonous tree” because...
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...perspectives on this topic expressed by justices of the Supreme Court, leaders in other branches of government, and commentators in both the academic and popular media; 1.)The role of the President as Commander-in-Chief, 2.) The role of Congress in determining when habeas corpus can be suspended, 3.) The role of the Supreme Court in protecting civil liberties, including the judicial philosophy which should guide the Court in this role, and 4.) The last topic will include my evaluation and personal philosophy, values or ideology about the balance between civil liberties and national security in the context of an unending war on terror. Habeas Corpus originated June 15, 1215 it was expressed in the Magna Charta and forced on the then King John to stop the unlawful seizure of the free men. The actual Latin meaning for habeas corpus is “that you have the body”. Habeas Corpus is used in conjunction with writ. A writ is a written order normally from a judge or judicial officer (Cornell...
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...Racial Disparities in the U.S. Judicial System Melinda Sims English Composition II Instructor Brandon Bond March 16th, 2014 Racial Disparities in the U.S. Judicial System The United States has the largest documented incarceration rate in the world. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics at yearend 2012, approximately 6,937,600 offenders were under the supervision of adult correctional systems (2013). Of this number, more than 60% of the inmates in prison are minorities however; they make up only 37% of the United States population. Considering the trends in which minorities commit crimes, such broad statistics conceal that racial disparities pervade each stage of the U.S. judicial system, from arrest to trial and sentencing. The first stage of the judicial system is the arrest made by an officer. Police are given an incredible amount of discretion to use that leads to bias and racial profiling. According to Paul Bou-Habib in his article “Racial Profiling and Background Injustice”, he states, “The main reason in favor of using racial profiling in the context of criminal investigation is that I can increase the chance of catching criminals” (para. 2). A key factor in the imbalance of the arrests on minorities in comparison to whites is that they commit more crimes at higher rates. In the article, “The Correlates of Law Enforcement Officers’ Automatic and Controlled-Race Based Responses to Criminal Suspects” by B. Michelle Peruche & E. Ashby Plant (2006) suggests...
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...We both chose our participants because we knew them and felt like they would be able to feel comfortable speaking to us. In order to get them to engage with us positively we described the class and what was the purpose for our research. We also assured confidentiality of their identity. After receiving their consent to be interviewed, we conducted semi-structured interviews, of about an hour long for each interview. Prior to the interview, we prepared some open-ended questions for the interviewees instead of simply ‘yes’ or no’ questions. This way we would be able to allow them to go as much in depth as they would like and get more insight on their first or second hand experiences with the justice system. As they spoke we asked follow up questions...
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...Kristen Fortin Kaplan University CJ:140 Introduction to Constitutional Law Professor Robert Winters February 22, 2014 Abstract: Pertaining to the differences between probable cause and reasonable suspicion within law enforcement can determine the difference between a legal search and seizure and police officers obtaining evidence in an illegal manner. Officers need to handle each situation when probable cause and reasonable suspicion is involved. Determining what is reasonable and what is not takes great skill, perseverance, comprehension of the law, and an innate intuitiveness on the part of the officer. The Fourth Amendment clearly defines the exceptions to the warrant requirement. There are several exceptions pertaining to a legal, valid search and seizure without a warrant. Officers must possess the specific, lawful knowledge pertaining to such events, and do so without violating any one’s constitutional rights. Within this essay I will define and discus the differences between probable cause and reasonable suspicion, as well what constitutes reasonableness. Also, I will discus four of the Fourth Amendment’s exceptions to the warrant requirement with several examples. Probable Cause: The Fourth Amendment guards the peoples right from unreasonable search and seizures, and stipulates that “no warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause.” (Bill of Rights; The Fourth...
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