Case Study Of The Terry Case

Initially the Court was in agreement that the stop and subsequent arrest in the Terry case was appropriate on the basis of the “probable cause” standard. Barrett (1998) states, Chief Justice Warren had initially approached this decision on the basis that the stop in the Terry case was appropriate. It was Justice Brennan who eventually persuaded Chief Justice Warren to render a decision which put forth the new “reasonable suspicion” standard (Barrett, 1998, 793-821). If Chief Justice Warren had maintained his original inclination of rendering a decision which clearly delineated the standards that a police officer must follow before a search is conducted there would be no controversy over this issue. However, had this actually occurred then …show more content…
This new standard has helped to keep police officers safer and act as a deterrent. Like the song goes this is the heaven part. The hell part occurs when you start to have police agencies and/or police officers push the boundaries of the policy. The expansion of boundaries occur in the way the stops are conducted and the location of the stops. As mentioned above the Court in the Terry decision tried to make their decision about policing not about race. The issue of the 14 Amendment came into play when the enforcement of this policy was concentrated in high crime areas which are predominantly inhabited by minorities. Judge Shira A. Scheindlin of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York struck a blow to the Stop and Frisk policy utilized by the New York Police Department during the Mayor Bloomberg administration. Goldstein (2013). Goldstein’s article also contained a link to the 195 page decision which was also published online by The New York Times. The name of the case is David Floyd, Lalit Clarkson, Deon Dennis, and David Ourlicht, individually and on behalf of a class of all others similarly situated against The City of New …show more content…
There needs to be reasonable suspicion that the individual being stopped either is about to commit a crime or recently committed a crime. The officer utilizing this policy must be able to articulate the facts of his suspicion that indicate why he believed the person was involved in criminal activity. A frisk needs to be based on a reasonable suspicion that the person being frisked may have a weapon of some type. Lastly, the frisk or pat down needs to be narrowed down to the person’s outer clothing for the purposes of finding a weapon and or perceptible contraband. Deviations from these standards will lend themselves to the abuse exhibited in the Downs and Alomonor