Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Wisconsin Law Review
Publication Date
4-2024
ISSN
0043-650X
Page Number
181
Keywords
policing, pretextual traffic stops, law enforcement
Disciplines
Law | Law Enforcement and Corrections
Abstract
Few topics in policing have received more attention than pretextual traffic stops—traffic stops made for crime-fighting purposes. Community leaders, legislators, police executives, and even presidents have recognized that the overuse of pretext stops has deleterious effects, including racially disparate enforcement, needless death, and degraded public trust in law enforcement. The result is a growing movement at the state and local level to roll back the widespread use of this tactic.
As promising as these developments are, most discussions of pretext stops largely omit a key player that drives the problem: the federal government. Presidents from Bush to Biden have decried discriminatory pretext stops and federal investigations have pushed localities to limit their use of the tactic. Yet, behind the scenes, the federal government has long trained and incentivized police to use pretext stops widely.
Recommended Citation
Farhang Heydari,
Rethinking Federal Inducement of Pretext Stops, 2024 Wisconsin Law Review. 181
(2024)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/1599