Criminal Law on the Streets

Summary of Article: A New York judge has ruled that New York City police officers have not been following the law. They have been stopping people on the recent, usually young minority men, without any objective reason/any reason to suspect them of doing something illegal. The police then searched these people for drugs or weapons before letting them go. In 88% of cases, no one was arrested. This is called "stop and frisk." Under criminal law codes, police must have a good reason to stop and frisk a person on the street or it violates someone's constitutional rights. The judge found that NYC police were stopping minorities, doing racial profiling, and conducting illegal stop and searches in neighborhoods with high crime rates. The judge ordered a federal oversight board to monitor this and ordered some cops to wear cameras to record street interactions.