NCJ Number
143900
Journal
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume: 9 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1993) Pages: 41-55
Date Published
1993
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This article presents an overview and commentary on the constitutional, sociological, and programmatic issues and developments germane to identifying and arresting drug couriers through "profile" stops and "bus sweeps."
Abstract
The article also discusses "voluntary encounters" with drug courier suspects and "consent searches." The analysis focuses on the use of profiles in their main settings (airports, bus stations, and the highway). The underlying rationale common to the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions on the topic is presented, along with the key concepts and tenets that are central to forging legal doctrine that facilitates investigatory encounters. The status of (nonprofile) suspicionless police contacts with passengers as a means for screening drug carriers is also assessed. The article concludes that particularized reasonable suspicion based on a drug courier profile is an appropriate standard for controlling police discretion without obviating it and for guarding against unwarranted temporary deprivations of liberty. Although the reasonable-suspicion criterion implicitly anticipates that the majority of stopped subjects will be innocent, the minimal inconvenience associated with these limited seizures makes it acceptable to detain briefly many innocent passengers for the purpose of catching the few who are guilty. 7 notes and 38 references