4th Amendment

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Guilt By Association: How Police Databases Punish Black and Latinx Youth

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From the executive summary: “• Police increasingly replace stop-and-frisk practices with databases that crudely profile Black and Latinx youth based on their neighborhoods, peer groups, and clothing. • These databases ruin lives: police typecast minority youths as gang members without evidence, putting them at risk of false arrest and wrongful deportation. • Many police departments…

DOJ Investigation of the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department 

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From the executive summary: “On April 21, 2021, the Department of Justice opened a pattern or practice investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) and the City of Minneapolis. By then, Derek Chauvin had been convicted in state court for the tragic murder of George Floyd in 2020. In the years before, shootings by other…

The Empty Promise of the Fourth Amendment in the Family Regulation System

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This Article argues that the casual home invasions of the family regulation system are not just another story of lawless state action carried out by rogue actors or of an adversarial system failing to function. Instead, this is a story of a problem-solving system functioning exactly as it was designed. The problem-solving model emphasizes informality,…

Implications of New School Surveillance Methods on Student Data Privacy, National Security, Electronic Surveillance, and the Fourth Amendment

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This article discusses the legal landscape of school surveillance, including digital and artificial intelligence surveillance, through the lens of Fourth Amendment and federal privacy laws. From the Abstract: “Since the Covid-19 pandemic, schools have escalated their use of educational technology to improve students’ in-school and at-home learning. Although educational technology has many educational benefits for…

DOJ Investigation of the Louisville Metro Police Department and Louisville Metro Government

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From the executive summary: “The Department of Justice has reasonable cause to believe that the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government (Louisville Metro) and the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of their rights under the Constitution and federal law: • LMPD uses excessive force, including unjustified…

Sample Expert Report on Implicit Racial Bias and Policing as Trauma

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This expert report analyzes the presence of racial bias in a police encounter with Black teenage girls in Colorado. The report utilizes research on implicit racial bias, stereotype threat, adultification, and policing as trauma in its analysis of the facts of the case. 

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act: A Dangerous New Chapter in the War on Black Youth

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From the introduction: “This brief offers context on the youth criminalization crisis in the United States. We then outline a series of harmful elements in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Specifically, we review provisions that: • Increase funding for threat assessments, surveillance, and greater police presence in schools; • Expand data-sharing between law enforcement and…

State v. Sum, 511 P.3d 92 (Wash. 2022)

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The Washington Supreme Court ruled the trial court was required to consider an accused person’s race and ethnicity in the totality of the circumstances when determining whether a person was “seized” in Washington state constitution’s prohibition against unlawful seizure.   The court offered the following language in support: As noted above, the article I, section 7…

People v. Thorne, 207 A.D.3d 73 (N.Y. App. Div. 2022)

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The New York Supreme Court Appellate Division reversed the guilty plea and conviction of Mr. Thorne after the court denied his motion to suppress, finding that the arresting officers lacked requisite reasonable suspicion to stop him. The Court, citing several inconsistencies in the radio description of the assailant compared to Mr. Thorne, offered the following language in support:   “The officers did not have reasonable…

Disability’s Fourth Amendment

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From the introduction: “This Essay centers disability as a lens for analysis in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. This Essay discusses the ways in which disability mediates interactions with law enforcement and how Fourth Amendment doctrine renders disabled people vulnerable to police intrusions and police violence. More specifically, this Essay critiques the Terry doctrine, consensual encounters, consent…

Utah Toolkit for Representing Young People Charged with Sex Offenses

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From the introduction: “This project, which started in fall 2020, was initially intended to be significantly smaller than it turned out to be. Our coalition of authors intended to outline ways juvenile defenders could streamline their representation of youth charged with sex offenses. As the project gained momentum, this team of trial attorneys, social workers,…

Using Student Data to Identify Future Criminals: A Privacy Debacle

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This article from Education Week examines the implications of the Pasco County sheriff’s office in Florida using  school data and records from the Department of Children and Families to create a list of students that were “at-risk for a life of crime.” Data privacy experts shared with the media that the actions of the Sheriff’s…

The Presence of School Resource Officers (SROs) in America’s Schools

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From the introduction: “Communities across the country have come together to demand meaningful changes to law enforcement practices in the wake of the tragic murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks at the hands of the police. The focus has rightly been on how deadly police actions have had an outsized impact on…

Brief in Support of Motion to Suppress

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Motion to Suppress Tangible Evidence

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This pleading addresses involuntary consent to search.

Brief Challenging Court’s Finding on Consent to Search

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NAACP LDF Complaint

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This pleading addrresses school district illegally strip searching 12-year-old Black and Latina students.

Brief of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire

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This pleading discusses perspective of youth of color and reasonableness standard.

New Jersey v. Scott, Appellant’s Brief

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This pleading addresses racial bias in the description.

Brief on the Merits of Amici Curiae Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and Oregon Justice Resource Center

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To read the opinion in this case, please click here.

Spears v. South Carolina

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This pleading addresses the reasonable Black person standard. Click here to read the opinion.

Oregon v. Arreola-Botello Opinion

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To read the Amici Brief submitted by Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and Oregon Justice Resource Center, please click here.

Spears v. South Carolina Opinion

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Click here to see the brief.

Commonwealth v. Evelyn Brief for the Defendant

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This brief addresses a reasonableness standard when considering race and age. Click here to see the defense reply brief and an amicus brief.

State v. Myers and Nyema, Brief of Proposed Amicus Curiae Kristin Henning

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Click here to read Myers and Nyema’s supplemental briefs.