...Our founding fathers in their quest to set forth protections of citizens enacted the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. (GPOaccess.gov/constitution) The purpose behind this amendment is the people have the right “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures”. At face value you may believe that this amendment provides you with total protection from an illegal search and seizure. In this paper I will demonstrate that the Fourth Amendment does not cover searches that occur in open fields or for items that are observed in plain view. In order to form an opinion on the constitutionality of a warrantless search you first need to determine what an open field is and what would be considered private property. This is known as the Open Fields Doctrine. (Wetterer, 1998) Items in open fields are not protected by the Fourth Amendment so they can be seized by an officer without a warrant or probable cause. Open fields do not fall within any of these categories. What does “open fields” exactly mean? Open fields encompass any open, undeveloped property that is not intimately used for dwelling (including curtilage) or business. The main residence on a piece of land, any outbuildings closely connected with and in close proximity to it, and the land immediately surrounding the residence are all considered to be within the curtilage of the land and are areas in which there is a reasonable expectation of privacy...
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...The Fourth Amendment is part of the Bill of Rights which was established in the seventeenth and eighteenth century English common law. Aside from the rest of the amendments in the Bill of Rights the Fourth Amendment can be traced back to a strong public reaction from some cases back in the 1760s. Two of these cases happened in England and one case happened in the colonies. These cases involved some pamphleteers who would pass out pamphlets to the public in order to spread their word around. These pamphlets however ridiculed the king and his ministers. After finding this out the king issued warrants to have the pamphleteer’s homes ransacked and stripped of all their books and papers. Even back then the pamphleteers knew that their rights were violated and fought back. They stated that the searches were against them, similar to a “personal attack” rather than an attack on their information they held within their homes. This is an extremely early case dealing with search and seizure, if not one of the first cases, in which the individuals being searched stood up for themselves because they felt the actions taken against them were unjust. However, since these cases are dated so far back in history it is hard to understand whether our founder fathers could have foreseen any problems with the amendment in the future, and everything that applies under the fourth amendment today. At the end of the eighteenth century this was dealing with pamphlets that the king did not like and tried...
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...Justice System Shelby Goodwin Professor Debra Shiftlett-Picardi Foundations of the Criminal Justice System Search Warrant Issue Process and Fourth Amendment Requirements The Search Warrant is known as an order being written and issued from the officials of the court. The warrant bestows the officer full authority to find a person at a particular place while looking for particular objects and to take possession if objects are found with the person. As per the criminal court, the constitution of a specific state can be the basis on which search warrants can be sought. Search Warrants objects comprises of commission of crimes along with stolen goods and other things such as black marketing, narcotics and smuggling. A proper check between the judicial along with the legislative government branches exist in the form of the Constitution belonging to the US. The US constitution fourth amendment safeguards people from irrational searches and from their valuables being taken away through legal process. Under this amendment a search warrant is issued only once it’s determined with surety that a crime is committed by a particular individual. The fourth amendment makes it essential to prohibit evidence in the form of trial being taken from illegal searches being made without verifying an authentic warrant (The Fourth Amendment Warrant Requirement, 2008). Searches without Warrants 1. Lawful Arrest Search Incident The lawful arrest search incident is not restrictive...
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...incarcerated for 1-3 years in prison. Terry argued that officer McFadden did not have probable cause to conduct a frisk. Terry made is concluding arguments that McFadden invaded his privacy and violated his fourth amendment rights. On the 10th day of June 10 in 1968 the verdict was handed down. The state won the case, stating that the officer had enough probable cause to conduct the stop. When conducting a frisk all you can do is pat the outside of the suspect’s clothes and feel to make sure they do not have anything suspicious. As for the officer that reached his hand inside the suspects coat while performing a frisk and found the baggie...
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...officer knocks on the front door with no answer so he proceeds to the back door to knock when he observes what appears to be marijuana plants based on his training and experience. The police officer can seize the marijuana plants based on the Plain View Doctrine. “In Harris v. United States (1968), the Supreme Court ruled that anything a police officer sees in plain view, when the officer has a right to be where he or she is, is not the product of a search and is therefore admissible as evidence.” [1] The police officer is legally in a place in which he should be because of the noise complaint call. The police officer recognized the marijuana plants as contraband and has the right to seize them without a search warrant. “How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.”[2] The police officer needs to obtain a search warrant in order to search the rest of the residence. With no exception present, the police officer would be violating the resident’s Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure if he conducted a full search of the residence without a search warrant. “The Fourth Amendment is as follows: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation...
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...preparation of the curriculum for an upcoming two week program, which will focus on various types of searches authorized by federal law, and what is legally necessary to support these searches. Also, the process by which a search warrant is sought and issued pertaining to the Fourth Amendment Requirements. Finally, The author will define probable cause and the standard by which probable cause is met. Finally the author describes the rationale for allowing warrantless searches. This paper is informative and professionally cited. ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- Process by which a search warrant is sought and issued ------------------------------------------------- According to the law, a search warrant is an order written and signed by a specific court that gives authorization to law-enforcement officers to conduct a search, seizure, or arrest of a specific person, at a specific location for a specific item. When Law enforcement officers violate an individual’s constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment and don’t have the proper legal documentation these search and seizure and arrests are invalid. Furthermore, any evidence seized will be suppressed from any criminal case against that individual whose rights were...
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...was about to be destroyed so they kicked in the door. There were three people in the apartment Hollis King, his girlfriend, and a guest. There was marijuana and powder cocaine in plain view. Crack cocaine, cash,...
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...to determine if an activity is a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment? Privacy approach it’s deciding what constitute a search. The government argued there was no search of a person, house, papers, or effects, so the Fourth Amendment did not apply. 2. Please explain the Exclusionary Rule? How does the case of Mapp v. Ohio (1961) relate to the rule? Exclusionary rule is a rule of evidence that excludes evidence from being admitted in criminal trial. This rule relate to the case Mapp v. Ohio for the first time to protect the rights by the Fourth Amendment as the protection of the rights of the citizens of freedom from unreasonable search. 3. How does the plain view doctrine differ from the open fields doctrine? Plan view doctrine...
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...discusses how the warrants are issued through the Fourth Amendment and why. Discusses Probable cause and what it is and the reason why it’s called probable cause. Talks about search less warrants and gives examples of several. The rationale for allowing warrantless searches. Also the rights that an officer has during a search and why. Items or rooms that may need an additional warrant. Criminal Justice Unit 3 The process by which a search warrant is sought and issued, in law search warrant is a written order by an official of a court. The warrant gives an authorization to an officer to search a person in a specific place for specified objects and to confiscate them if found. Under criminal code, a search warrant can be sought according to the constitution of a particular state. The objects required for a warrant may be stolen goods or physical evidence of the commission of a crime. (For example) Narcotics Smuggling, and Black Marketing. (Law Teacher.net) The constitution of the United States provides system of checks and balance among the legislative and judicial branches of government (The Fourth Amendment warrant requirement, 208). The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects against unreasonable searches and taking possession by legal process. It also states that a search warrant may be issued only by pledge or affirmation that a crime is most likely committed. According to the fourth amendment, it is mandatory to exclude trial evidence obtained...
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...Any evidence obtained under this rule is not admissible in a criminal proceeding in order to prove guilt. Mapp v. Ohio was a criminal case that was in violation of the Fourth Amendment. This case was used as the platforms in order protect citizen rights from illegal search and seizure. In this case the United States Supreme Court decided that due to the fact a warrantless search and seizure was performed, the evidence collected from the search would be not admissible in court (Mapp v. Ohio,...
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...Search and Seizure Louisa Barnes CJ333: Constitutional Law March 16, 2014 Erin Shriver SEARCH AND SEIZURE Constitutional Search The high school students were throwing a party that created so much noise that a noise complaint was lodged with the police by a neighbor. This gave the police the right to enter onto the property to investigate the complaint. Once they arrived at the residence and started talking to the party goers they smelled marijuana on the individuals. Because of the reasonable suspicion and probable cause that criminal activity was taking place they had a right to search the premises. This is found in the Fourth Amendment under Probable Cause and Reasonable Suspicion (Farlex, Inc., 2014).To protect evidence from being destroyed they also had a need for the search of the premises. To protect themselves as well as possible evidence they were also permitted to frisk the individuals that were out on the porch of the house. This exercise is permitted when they have reasonable suspicion that a criminal activity is taking place (Daniel E. Hall, 2012, pp. 509-510). While frisking the individuals a bag of marijuana was found. This led the police officers to then call for backup for searching the house before evidence inside the property could be destroyed before a warrant could be obtained. While waiting on the backup they proceeded to search the remaining individuals inside the home, again to keep themselves safe. Drugs are a type of evidence that can disappear...
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...Describe the type of search the framers of the Constitution prohibited through the Fourth Amendment. Searches that were prohibited through the Fourth Amendment were, general warrant and searches, multiple specific warrants, nocturnal searches and no-knock entries that were considered unreasonable (pp.739.50, Cuddily, William). General warrant was the “preponderant behind the 4th amendment”, (Cuddily, William, p.771), According to Cuddihy he argued that these warrants were considered unreasonable. General warrants were used just because officers may disapprove or did not like you. Anyone that they wanted to target this type of warrants were used whenever they felted necessary. Nocturnal Searches and No-Knock Entries like general warrant these...
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...arrest warrant is required and when it is not. The Fourth Amendment protects citizens from unreasonable government searches and seizures of their persons, houses, and effects. It states no warrants shall be issued unless there is probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and specifically describes the place to be searched and the person or things to be seized. However, both the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts have specified limited exceptions to the Fourth Amendment search warrant requirement. The seven exceptions to the Fourth Amendment...
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...pursued the suspect, who entered one of two apartments. One apartment smelled strongly of marijuana smoke so police assumed this was the apartment of entry. Upon banging on the door and announcing their presence, and failure of the occupant to answer the door, they could hear what sounded like people moving things around inside leading officers to believe evidence was being destroyed. Given the circumstance, officers announced their entry and kicked the door in to prevent the destruction of evidence. Upon entering, they found the defendant and two other people inside with cocaine and marijuana in plain view. Since the illegal drugs were in plain view, officers proceeded to search the premises without a warrant under the presumption of probable cause in which they found more drugs and drug paraphernalia. King claims the evidence should be suppressed because the police infringed upon his Fourth...
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...obtained by a police officer with a proper warrant and is believed to be valid may be used in trail this action is called the good faith exception. Another is called the attenuation doctrine which is when evidence is collected incorrectly but the only time it can be used in court is when it has a very close connection between the evidence and illegal thing (Legal dictionary). The Fourth amendment protects any citizen the right to keep their personal stuff such as property, paper...
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