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Drug Trafficking at Airports - The Judicial Response

NCJ Number
84925
Journal
University of Miami Law Review Volume: 36 Issue: 1 Dated: (November 1981) Pages: 91-114
Author(s)
K Mahoney
Date Published
1982
Length
24 pages
Annotation
Focusing on governmental attempts to apprehend drug couriers at national airports, this article examines the judicial response to the fourth amendment issues raised by searches and seizures of suspected couriers.
Abstract
The transportation of narcotics has become a critical problem nationally, as well as in Florida. To combat the problem, the Drug Enforcement Agency and local police have initiated programs to apprehend suspected drug couriers at airports. The seizures and searches have raised a number of constitutional issues. For example, the initial police-citizen encounter may constitute a fourth amendment seizure, but the seizure may not be constitutionally justified, and the suspect's consent to a luggage search may not be voluntary. Furthermore, evidence obtained through the illegal search may not be admissible in court. Although the seriousness of this problem has caused some courts to bend traditional fourth amendment principles, the Supreme Court has cautioned against such practices in Boyd v. United States. It is suggested that the magnitude of the drug trafficking problem cannot be permitted to justify the violation of constitutional rights and that alternative means must be developed to combat the distribution of narcotics. The article provides 159 footnotes. (Author summary modified)