By MALIK NICKENS, IndyKids Staff
“End stop-and-frisk. Hands off the kids.” Message on a building in Gowanus, Brooklyn.
PHOTO: Kathryn Schlechter
On August 12, 2013, Federal Judge Shira A. Scheindlin ruled the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy in violation of the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures and the Equal Protection Clause under the 14th Amendment. Judge Scheindlin declared that the NYPD “adopted a policy of indirect racial profiling,” targeting young black and Latino men. The ruling does not end the practice, but does demand reforms and increased oversight.