University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Faculty Publications Law School 5-2014 Policing Facts Seth W. Stoughton University of South Carolina - Columbia,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/law_facpub Part of the Fourth Amendment Commons Recommended Citation Seth. W. Stoughton, Policing Facts, 88 Tul. L. Rev. 847 (2014). This Article is brought to you by the Law School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. TULANE LAW REVIEW VOL. 88 MAY 2014 No. 5 Policing Facts Seth W Stoughton* The United States Suprme Courth understandmgofpolice practces plays a simficant role in the development of the constitutional rules that regulate officer conduct. As it approaches the questions of whether to engage in constitutional regulation and what form of regulationto adopt; the Court discusses the environment in which officeis act describesspecific police practices, and explains what motivates officers. Yet the majority of the Court factual assertions are made entirely without support or citation, rsing concerns about whether the Court is acting based on a complete and accurateperweption. When it comes to polichigfacts, the Courttoo often gets it wrong. This Article explors the influence that the Courth conception ofpolichig has on the creation and modification of constitutional nons. It demonstrates that misundestandigs about law enforementhave led to constitutionalrules that fail to ahgn with the worldthat they were designed to rgulate. Confusion about the facts upon which a rule is built creates a gap between the conceptualjustifcation of the rule and its practical consequences, between the effect that the rule was intended to have and the effect it actualy ha.