Judge Rejects New York’s Stop-and-Frisk Policy
In a 195 page decision, Judge Shira A. Scheindlin rules that stop-and-frisk, as implemented over the last decade, has demonstrated a blatant disregard for the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, protecting against a government’s unreasonable searches and seizures as well as upholding the equal protection clause, respectively. Emphasizing the overtly discriminatory manner of stops and frisks (“…83% of the [4.43 million] stops between 2004 and 2012 involved blacks and Hispanics, even though these two demographics make up just slightly more than 50% of the city’s residents.” Nearly 90% of those stopped are released, as no basis for arrest is found.), Judge Scheindlin ordered numerous remedies and a pilot program to enforce the use of body cameras on NYPD to record street encounters. Additional reforms to the implementation of stop-and-frisk will take form of revised training procedures.
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