128
Opinion of Stevens, J.
Accordingly, we recognized only a "narrowly drawn authority" that is "limited to that which is necessary for the discovery of weapons." Id., at 27, 26. An officer conducting an investigatory stop, we further explained, must articulate "a particularized and objective basis for suspecting the particular person stopped of criminal activity." United States v. Cortez, 449 U. S. 411, 417-418 (1981). That determination, we admonished, "becomes meaningful only when it is assured that at some point the conduct of those charged with enforcing the laws can be subjected to the more detached, neutral scrutiny of a judge who must evaluate the reasonableness of a particular search or seizure in light of the particular circumstances." Terry, 392 U. S., at 21. In undertaking that neutral scrutiny "based on all of the circumstances," a court relies on "certain commonsense conclusions about human behavior." Cortez, 449 U. S., at 418; see also ante, at 125. "[T]he relevant inquiry" concerning the inferences and conclusions a court draws "is not whether particular conduct is 'innocent' or 'guilty,' but the degree of suspicion that attaches to particular types of noncriminal acts." Sokolow, 490 U. S., at 10.
The question in this case concerns "the degree of suspicion that attaches to" a person's flight—or, more precisely, what "commonsense conclusions" can be drawn respecting the motives behind that flight. A pedestrian may break into a run for a variety of reasons—to catch up with a friend a block or two away, to seek shelter from an impending storm, to arrive at a bus stop before the bus leaves, to get home in time for
ment engendered by that intrusion is aggravated, not mitigated, if the officer's entire justification for the stop is the belief that the individual is simply trying to avoid contact with the police or move from one place to another—as he or she has a right to do (and do rapidly). See Chicago v. Morales, 527 U. S. 41, 53 (1999) (plurality opinion) ("We have expressly identified this 'right to remove from one place to another according to inclination' as 'an attribute of personal liberty' protected by the Constitution" (citation omitted)); Florida v. Bostick, 501 U. S. 429, 437 (1991); Florida v. Royer, 460 U. S. 491, 497-498 (1983) (plurality opinion); Terry, 392 U. S., at 32-33 (Harlan, J., concurring); see also ante, at 125.
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