Policing the Police
September 2008
Few gay people know who Dollree Mapp was. Yet her 1961 Supreme Court case, Mapp v. Ohio, is at the core of advances in jurisprudence key to gay liberation.
In 1957, Cleveland police, acting without a warrant on an erroneous tip that a bombing suspect was in Mapp’s house, busted down her door and ransacked her home. They did not find their suspect, but did discover a suitcase containing sexually explicit photographs. Mapp was charged with and convicted of possession of pornography.
Mapp appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned her conviction. Holding… Continue reading