"The Criminal Class and the Right to Be Subjected to Unreasonable Searches and Seizures"

The title of this post is the title of this new paper now available on SSRN authored by Matthew Greife and Ryan Hull. Here is its abstract:

People that are on parole have been lumped into what is called the criminal class by the courts.  Being in the criminal class has many consequences.  One such consequence is the loss of individual Fourth Amendment rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.  While on parole an individual and their property can be searched with only reasonable suspicion rather than probable cause.  The justification for a lower standard is that those in the criminal class pose a greater threat to the community and are in need of greater control because of their propensity to commit crimes at higher rates than the average citizen.  However, these beliefs may be founded on misinterpretations of data and inaccurate cultural beliefs.  In this article we investigate the “social threat” presumption courts relied upon to lessen parolees Fourth Amendment protections.  Specifically, we interview parolees in Colorado to understand why they violate their parole terms and are re-incarcerated.  Generally, we find that the presumptions about parolees posing a greater threat to society than the average citizen is unsupportable and therefore unconstitutional.

Via RSSMix.com Mix ID 8247011 http://www.rssmix.com/