A Feminist Critique of Police Stops: (Introduction to Published Book)
Cite as: Josephine Ross, A Feminist Critique of Police Stops, Cambridge University Press, 2021 (Introduction)
18 Pages Posted: 10 Mar 2021 Last revised: 17 Mar 2021
Date Written: March 8, 2021
Abstract
Three feminist principles animate this book and apply these principles to policing: Consent; Bodily Integrity; and The Victim/Survivor Point of View.
POV: The debate over stop-and-frisk generally assumes that unconstitutional policing is the sole problem, that everything will be fine if officers act within the confines set by the Supreme Court. But that assumption won’t hold if we look at police stops from the point of view of the victims of unwanted police encounters. Civilians must assert their Constitutional rights or lose them, dangerous territory as asserting any right might trigger retaliation.
CONSENT: As some states restrict consent as a defense available to police officers charged with sexual assault, it begs the question: why does the law still pretend that civilians can say no to police who seek “consent” to search our bodies and possessions? What courts call “consent,” feminists would describe as submission.
BODILY INTEGRITY: Even lawful frisks can create trauma. In Terry v. Ohio, the Court famously weighed the benefits of this crime fighting tool against the harms to individuals. New psychological literature reveals the fallout from police stops beyond anything the Supreme Court imagines.
Using real life examples as well as court cases, the author shows that “consent” is a sham, that it is impossible to exercise free speech (1st Am), the right to silence (2nd Am) or demand probable cause when police seek to search our bodies (4th Am). Just as the Supreme Court opinions hide race in order to allow racial profiling to flourish, they also hide and disguise police aggression in order to blame the victims of unconstitutional policing for failing to assert their rights. This reckoning should be a death knell for stops and frisks and consent searches.
Keywords: policing, feminism, racism, gender, #MeToo, stop and frisk, searches, consent, LGBTQ, Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment, First Amendment, constitutional rights, suppression motions, criminal justice
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation