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50 Clev. St. L. Rev. 425 (2002-2003)
Police Discretion and Traffic Enforcement: A Government of Men

handle is hein.journals/clevslr50 and id is 435 raw text is: POLICE DISCRETION AND TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT:
A GOVERNMENT OF MEN?
ILLYA LICHTENBERG'
If Jefferson were writing the Declaration of Independence today he
would undoubtedly be besieged to include an assertion of the inalienable
right to the pursuit of happiness' in an automobile.'
I.  INTRODUCTION      ..................................................................... 426
II. POLICE DISCRETION AND TRAFFIC
ENFORCEMENT: THE LAW .................................................... 427
III.  POLICE DISCRETION IN TRAFFIC
ENFORCEMENT AND JUDICIAL REVIEW ................................ 430
A.   W  hren  and  Atwater ...................................................... 434
IV.   POLICE DISCRETION AND TRAFFIC
ENFORCEMENT: PRACTICE ................................................... 436
A.   The Scope of Police Discretion in Traffic Stops .......... 436
B.   Conduct of the Motorist During the Traffic Stop .........439
C .  D em eanor ..................................................................... 439
D.   Factors Unrelated to the Motorist's
Conduct Influencing Police Discretion ........................ 442
E.   Quotas, Shifts, and Dates ............................................. 442
F.   Easy Targets and Duck Ponds ................................ 445
V.   IMMUTABLE CHARACTERISTICS AND
PLACE   OF  RESIDENCE   ........................................................... 446
A .  A ge  ............................................................................... 446
B .  R ace  .............................................................................. 447
C .  S ex  ................................................................................ 44 7
D .  Place  of  Residence  ....................................................... 448
E.   The Privileged, Non-enforcement and
Ticket  F ixing  ................................................................ 448
V I.  D ISCU  SSION  .......................................................................... 450
V II.  C ONCLUSIONS     ...................................................................... 452
'The author is currently an assistant professor at Montclair State University in the
sociology department. His research addresses numerous areas intersecting law and social
science with particular emphasis on traffic enforcement and the Fourth Amendment. The
author would like to thank Alisa Smith and G.O.W. Mueller for their comments on earlier
drafts of this article.
2Arthur Vanderbilt Traffic Law Enforcement from the Standpoint of the Courts, 4
RUTGERS L. REV. 555, 561 (1950).

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