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1999 SESSION

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HJ 687 Study; "driving while black" (DWB).

Introduced by: William P. Robinson, Jr. | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:

Study; "driving while black" (DWB). Establishes a joint subcommittee to study racial profiling and pretextual traffic stops of minority drivers, known as "driving while black" (DWB). The joint subcommittee is requested to compile and analyze statistical data regarding police traffic stops in Virginia, particularly along Interstate 95. Also, the joint subcommittee is required to review and consider the legal principles of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments relative to pretextual traffic stops, racial profiling, and constitutional protections and restraints. Information regarding traffic stops litigation, whether similar problems occur in Virginia, certain legislation proposed in Congress addressing pretextual traffic stops, and remedies ordered by the courts and settlement agreements reached by litigants must also be considered, among other things, for applicability in the Commonwealth. The phenomenon known as "driving while black" in which African-American and other minority motorists are frequently stopped, held, and searched without cause and charges never filed, has reached crisis proportions. Based on their daily experiences, many African-Americans and other minorities believe that police officers may enforce the law arbitrarily and capriciously, with bias and prejudice and with impunity. Many such persons also believe that the protections afforded citizens in the United States Constitution do not extend to them because the police may circumvent Constitutional protections and restraints when dealing with minorities. Many people believe that this situation is volatile, and that if the problem is not quickly and appropriately addressed, the resentment and contempt for American justice and law-enforcement officers in the minority community will threaten the rule of law.


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