Chapter 6 Question
The police face a number of challenges in their searches, and this can be attributable to certain factors. For instance, one such factor pertains to racial and ethnical biases in policing. A majority of African Americans are of the belief that they are regularly targeted for a certain “offence”-DWB or driving while black (Gaines 201). This perception is somewhat backed by statistics; a study conducted by the justice department reports that African Americans and Hispanics are nearly 3 times more likely to be searched after a stop. Moreover, the study revealed that the police are thrice more likely to use force when they come into contact with Black Americans compared to whites (Gaines 201) Therefore, the police have a difficult time justifying their need to conduct a search on certain people because rather than being seen as carrying out their work of policing, many may term their actions as discriminatory.
Chapter 7 Question
The law has provided several guidelines on police searches. Therefore, police searches that the police conducted in Boston were informed by these guidelines. In this regard, the police searches that Boston conducted after the recent bombing were constitutionally valid and hence not illegal. In this case, the police requested people not to leave their homes; a door-to-door search was then conducted by law enforcement officials that were heavily armed. In the year 2006, the court affirmed that the police are not required to have a warrant in order to enter a private home in an emergency situation, such as when they have reasonable fear for the safety of the occupants (Gaines 229). The police in Boston were reasonable in believing that the inhabitants in this state were in imminent danger considering that a bomb attack had occurred; as such, they needed to ensure that they left nothing to chance as another bomb attack was very likely.
Work Cited
Gaines, Larry K.. Criminal Justice in Action. Cengage Textbook: Kindle Edition, 2017.
