Fourth Amendment Essay Examples

I could be driving minding my own business and a drive by a police officer just parked somewhere and police officer spots me and pulls me over for some reason. The police officer orders me out of my vehicle. Maybe I was speeding and I did not know? Or maybe the police officer wants to search me and my car? Can the officer do that? The answer to all these questions are no, Thanks to the Fourth Amendment, The police officer has limited power to seize and search me or my car (Friedman, Barry, and Orin Kerr). Now, the Fourth Amendment has been questioned repeatedly during the last several years, as police and higher intelligent agencies in the United States have engaged in a number of controversial activities. From the federal government collecting telephones and Internet connections to protect us, due to the War on Terror and trying to prevent the same damage that happened on 9/11. Many municipal police forces have engaged in violent use of “stop and frisk.” There have been as far as incidents were police officers were force to shoot civilians (Friedman, Barry, and Orin Kerr).

Even brief street detentions are arrests, and pat downs are searches, so the police can’t do anything unless they’ve got probable cause.

For searches without a warrant, then its mandatory to comply with standards of probable cause is the court. Even the searches being made for a criminal cannot be made without the existence of a proper probable cause. Therefore the officers don’t have the right to lawfully carry on searching and arresting people without having the proper probable cause with them.

In the court case United States v. Ludwig the police took a narcotics dog through a parking lot in hopes that he would find the scent of drugs (www.loompanatics.com). Since a motorized vehicle has the ability to be driven far away and evidence can be removed, police believe that under certain circumstances they can search a car without a warrant. A dog alerted the cops by letting them know he smelled the scent of narcotics. They asked the suspect if they can search his truck. The suspect didn’t give them consent he was against the search but they still took the keys from him to search the truck. They found drugs in his trunk and a couple of large bags of marijuana. The police didn’t have a warrant nor did they have permission from the suspect to search his truck. The Supreme Court first ruled that it was unlawful to search his car without a warrant and no legit reasoning for the search. Then the court ruled that it was lawful because the officers said that the dog alerting them, were their reasoning for a warrantless search. The cops also stated in court that the reason they took the suspect’s keys is because if they have didn’t, there was a possibility that he could drive off and get rid off the drugs which would be their loss of evidence. This case shows how citizens have certain rights when it comes to their vehicles but they can still be ‘violated” in a sense.

Before a person is arrested the police usually need a probable cause to arrest them, or a solid reason to arrest someone. The same goes with the police coming to your house to search it, they need a warrant, or a signed piece of paper signed by a judge. In order to get this paper they need proper evidence or else it

Law enforcement officers can conduct warrantless searches for a variety of reasons. Some of the benefits are not having to wait for a judge of magistrate to sign off on it. If you can obtain consent from an individual it must be voluntary and stay within its scope, as well as the person giving consent must have the authority to do so. The search incident to lawful arrest exception is used every time an officer makes an arrest, this is to ensure their safety, prevent escape, and prevent destruction of evidence. This could be a body search, or a search within the area within a person’s immediate control. Police may use warrantless searches when exigent circumstances arise, such as when a warrant may be impractical, useless, dangerous, or unnecessary. These include danger of physical harm to officer or destruction of evidence, searches in hot pursuit of dangerous suspects, danger to a third person, and driving while intoxicated. Police can also use the special needs beyond law enforcement exception for public school searches, testing students for drugs, airport searches and searches of probationers and parolees.

For police officers as we learned in several chapters, there are issues that come with their abilities to conduct legal searches, for example a police officer cannot just approach someone on their front porch and demand to enter their home to search for illegal substances or arms etc. However, if one was driving by your home and seen you in your garage with what appeared to be a meth lab or marijuana grow operation then they can stop to search as it would be a duty of theirs to protect the community. A search where one person would feel that they have a reasonable expectation of privacy cannot happen without a warrant. The police officers job abilities can

Again in other case if a judge has issued a warrant he can break the door when there is no response from the person and go inside the house to investigate and also he can catch at the public place also. Upon that they are some exception while searching or seizing the things like emergency, lawful arrest, consents, stop and frisk etc…

Fourth Amendment: 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, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

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, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The laws of the United States can be hard to understand sometimes. The Fourth Amendment states that people have a right not to be searched without a reasonable warrant and that people have a right to feel secure in their homes. There are acts giving police permission to do what ever they need to to keep drunks off the streets. There are also rules and regulations, kind of like a sports game, and, just like games, there are always ways to get around these rules. Like finding it legal to randomly stop cars to give people breathalyzer tests, or entering people's homes and searching for things without a warrant. Unlike a game however, the results of going around these rules can sometimes be devastating. Police may ruin a home trying to find

A consent search is one waiving their Fourth Amendment right to have a search or seizure be conducted and still be taken with any penalties if found anything. Jacinta A. Gau explains in Consent Searches as a Threat to Procedural Justice and Police legitimacy: An Analysis of Consent Requests During Traffic Stops, how there are many traffic stops every year and within those traffic stops many searches and seizure are being conducted, but from those searches and seizures they are mainly from giving consent. Many of the consent searches and seizure are given from either the fear of saying no will indicate hiding something or the fact that many do not know their rights to be able to say no, or an officer not being able to make it clear from one being able to not give consent. “Police officers are not required to inform citizens of their right to withhold consent and refuse a search, though

As far as searches and seizures are concerned, a simple tip by an anonymous person gives the police permission to get a search warrant (Wisotsky 1993). However, in accordance with the Fourth Amendment, these warrants must ‘particularly describe’ locations and be from a recent date (Sterling 1990). Also, the Supreme Court has “significantly enlarged the powers of the police to stop, question, and detain drivers of vehicles on the highways on suspicion with less than probable cause or with no suspicion at all at fixed checkpoints or roadblocks; make warrantless searches of automobiles and of closed

The Fourth Amendment mandates that “probable cause” must be demonstrated in order for law enforcement personnel to obtain a warrant. Probable cause is obtained by law enforcement personnel proving to a judge that there is a high expectation of evidence of a crime being located upon the person, or within the location, they wish to search (Hill & Hill, 2014). Federal law does allow law enforcement to conduct a search without a warrant. The exception is for

To the degree that a warrant is required in principle before police can seek, there are such many special cases that practically speaking warrants seldom are acquired. Police can search cars without warrants, they can confine individuals in the city without them, and they can simply seek or seize in a crisis without setting off to a judge.