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likely criminals. When San Diego released statistics on traffic stops in 2000, it was found
that blacks and Hispanics had a 10 percent chance of being searched, while whites had a
3 percent chance. However, 13 percent of both whites and blacks were found to have had
contraband, while Hispanics were found to have contraband only 5 percent of the time.23
The most notorious recent case of alleged racial profiling began in 1986, when the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) began a program known as “Operation Pipeline.” As
part of the program, some 27,000 law enforcement officials were trained to recognize
what the DEA termed “key characteristics, or indicators, that are shared by drug
traffickers.”24 Although the DEA maintained that “the program does not advocate such
profiling by race or ethnic background,” studies of police officers who received the training
found that they were significantly more likely to stop minority drivers than white drivers.
For example, a study of police behavior in Maryland between 1995 and 1999 found that
African Americans constituted 63 percent of the motorists searched by state police on
Interstate 95, even though only 18 percent of motorists on the highway were black.25
In the late 1990s, events in New Jersey began to reverse the widespread use of racial
profiling. State troopers there were alleged to be detaining black motorists based on their
race alone, and many troopers testified that their supervisors had ordered them to engage
in racial profiling. A federal lawsuit on Fourteenth Amendment grounds ended with the
placement of a federal monitor in the state police department and a consent decree in
which the state police agreed not to detain individuals based on race unless they matched
descriptions of specific criminal suspects.26 Since then, other states and municipalities
have adopted bans on profiling, and President George W. Bush has spoken out against the
practice.
In 2005, approximately 7,000 of America’s 18,000 police departments used tasers or
stun guns, up from 1,000 in 2001. Reports that these weapons have led to approximately
160 deaths since 2000 have raised questions about their safety and the situations in
which they should be used. In notable cases, stun guns have been used against handcuffed
suspects and children who have committed minor offenses. Proponents of stun guns argue
that they save lives, as they provide police officers with an alternative to lethal force.
Critics have called for greater regulation of the weapons, with detailed reporting and
monitoring procedures.27
The use of police lineups has also received increased scrutiny in recent years. After several
exonerations of inmates following DNA testing, a number of states began to change lineup
procedures in the 1990s. Witnesses were shown each person individually, rather than as
part of a group, with the reasoning that the witness could more objectively and accurately
identify a suspect alone than in comparison to other individuals. However, subsequent
studies have shown that the new lineups lead to more inaccurate identifications than the
old system, and no uniform system of lineups is currently in place in the United States.

Legal Services for Indigent Defendants. The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right of each
defendant in a criminal prosecution “to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.”
Since 1938 the Supreme Court has held that the right to counsel in federal proceedings
applies to all defendants. Many states have extended this right to misdemeanor cases and
to appeals, although federal jurisprudence does not require it. Under federal law, all
defendants also have the right to have an attorney present during any custodial
interrogation by police, and evidence collected from interrogations during which that right
was denied is generally inadmissible in court.

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