Excerpt
In an effort to win the "War on Drugs," law enforcement agencies are using drug courier profiles to identify and detain persons who display characteristics that law enforcement agents believe are typical of drug traffickers. Using the reasonable suspicion standard, courts have upheld the use of these profiles against Fourth Amendment challenges. The author of this note traces the history and development of both drug courier profiles and the reasonable suspicion standard, and concludes that the reasonable suspicion standard has been inappropriately applied to drug courier profiles. The author argues that the Fourth Amendment's general proscription against unreasonable searches and seizures requires courts to balance the government's need to use drug courier profiles with the intrusiveness their use has on civil liberties. According to the author, applying such a balancing test would lead courts to conclude that as they are presently being implemented, drug courier profiles are unconstitutional. In order to make drug courier profiles constitutional, the author proposes that they should be objectively codified and expressly limited in their application.
Citation
Hall, Stephen E., ‘Balancing Approach to the Constitutionality of Drug Courier Profiles, A’ (1993) University of Illinois Law Review,1007.
Link to article