6 - The Frisk: “Injuries to Manhood” and to Womanhood

Summary

Chapter 6 lays out a continuum from lawful but awful frisks to sexual assault. I’ll never forget the male teenager who told me during a training that the last time he was frisked, “it felt like rape.” Sexual abuse of women and girls targeted for stops constitutes an enormous problem that’s rarely addressed. Likewise, police sexual misconduct is a huge hidden problem for men and boys. Courts mostly avoid mentioning the sexual aspect of patdowns, although the Supreme Court noted in Terry v. Ohio that a police training manual directed the officer to “feel with sensitive fingers every portion of the prisoner’s body. A thorough search must be made of the prisoner’s arms and armpits, waistline and back, the groin and area about the testicles.” This chapter illuminates the challenges that flow when courts categorize certain police actions as sexual abuse while omitting most sexual indignities from that category. If it feels like rape, it’s even more troubling when training manuals call for the maneuver and the Court approves it.