In a decision issued Tuesday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that in light of data evidencing disproportionate police profiling of black men, a black man's decision to flee police may be legitimate and should not automatically be treated as suspicious behavior or an implicit admission of guilt:
We do not eliminate flight as a factor in the reasonable suspicion analysis whenever a black male is the subject of an investigatory stop. However, in such circumstances, flight is not necessarily probative of a suspect's state of mind or consciousness of guilt. Rather, the finding that black males in Boston are disproportionately and repeatedly targeted for FIO [Field Interrogation and Observation] encounters suggests a reason for flight totally unrelated to consciousness of guilt. Such an individual, when approached by the police, might just as easily be motivated by the desire to avoid the recurring indignity of being racially profiled as by the desire to hide criminal activity. [Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court]
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