The Right People: Neutralizing Minority Threat by Reducing the Protections of Probationers/Parolees

• In Event: The Right People: The Purposive Policing and Correctional Control of People of Color

Abstract

In Terry v. Ohio the Supreme Court held stops and searches of American citizens constitutional under the Fourth Amendment when based upon “reasonable suspicion”-a lower legal standard than probable cause. Similarly, the Court’s decision in United States v. Knights subjects the close to five million Americans under probation or parole to search of their homes and private spaces, on “reasonable suspicion” that they have violated the terms of their correctional supervision. This lower standard of constitutional protection increases the likelihood of these individuals being searched and seized under circumstances that other individuals would not. Blacks are disproportionately represented in the population of probationers and parolees, and thus are disproportionately subjected to these lower Fourth Amendment standards. By examining data on probation and parole populations in comparison to data on stops, searches and arrests by race, we argue that the Court’s decision in Knights alienates a substantial proportion of the population from Fourth Amendment protection and masks or legitimizes the possibility of race-based motivation for police activity. Additionally, we explore the rationalizations used to justify the trend toward lower standards of search and seizure and greater correctional control of certain populations through the tenets of rational racism and minority threat theory.

Authors

• Victor St. John, Center for Race, Crime and Justice, John Jay College / Graduate Center, CUNY

• Kwan-Lamar Blount-Hill, John Jay College / Graduate Center, CUNY

• Earl Thomason, Jr., Center on Race, Crime and Justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / Rutgers University