NCJ Number
93992
Journal
Criminal Justice Journal Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: (Spring 1983) Pages: 205-234
Date Published
1982
Length
30 pages
Annotation
If 'Miranda' warnings were given in airport-stop cases at the point the person walks into the Drug Enforcement Administration office, there would be little reason to analyze the initial stop under fourth amendment protections.
Abstract
Terry v. Ohio established a stand which permitted law enforcement officials to stop and frisk a person when the officer believes that criminal activity is involved and the person may be armed and dangerous. This decision has been expanded to permit law enforcement officials to stop a person on less than the reasonable-suspicion standard delineated in 'Terry.' Until the 'Royer' decision, the U.S. Supreme Court had viewed factually similar cases and decided them in different ways, thus leaving the lower courts floundering in an attempt to deal with this area of law. By qualifying the use of the drug courier profile (list of characteristics that justifies reasonable suspicion that a person is a drug courier) with a requirement of independent probable cause, the Court in 'Royer' has provided the lower courts the needed guidance for evaluating the voluntariness of consent in future cases. If the Supreme Court were to go a step further and decide that there are no fourth amendment problems at all and establish Miranda-type warnings at the point where the person enters the Drug Enforcement Administration office, then fewer cases would present a problem. A total of 125 footnotes are provided.