fourth amendment summary

Fourth Amendment Summary

Tina Martin-Fleming, Ebony Whitted, Lance Burton, Nancy Lyons

CJA/364

October 30, 2014

John Jung

Executive Summary

The Bill of Rights was drawn up to assure the rights of citizens and to limit governmental power. The amendment to the Constitution is designed to protect the individual liberties, of the people of the United States. The first ten amendments are the foundation of the Bill of Rights that controls misuse and abuse of judicial authority granted to the governing body (billofrightsinstitute.org). The Fourth Amendment is perhaps one of the most controversial additions to the Constitution because of its definition of terminology related to the bases and common law background of its originality.

The Fourth amendment states that it is the right of the people to secure their possessions against search and seizure that is unreasonable and without probable cause. An illegal search without proper documentation is a violation of that right and unconstitutional. According to Worrall (2012), the terminology used in the Fourth Amendment: person-the whole individual, house- structure used as residence by a person, papers- any personal records, diaries, letters, memos, or business documents, and effects- the overall phrase given for all categories defines who and what is protected, (Chapter 3 ). Along with citizen’s rights to protect their personal possessions is the right of guaranteed privileges and immunity of citizenship, with due process and fair and equal protection. The concept of probable cause and its implications dictates justification required by law enforcement before conducting search or seizure without infringing upon a person’s right. This means that there must be reasonable suspicion along with an administrative justification to proceed in the act of search and seizure.

The Concept of Probably Cause and its Implications

Justifications; shows that before any police officer has the authority to a search or seizure you, he or she must have probable cause. “Justification needs to be in place a priori—that is, before a person or evidence is pursued in an area protected by the Fourth Amendment. Public officials cannot conduct an illegal search, to obtain evidence, and then argue after the fact that what they did was appropriate,” (Criminal Procedure, From First Contract to Appeal). The Supreme Court has focused on the reasonableness clause with hopes of carving out exceptions to the requirement of the probable cause clause within the Fourth Amendment. There are times when probable cause is not needed, such as so-called Terry stops. Although the probable cause is not needed, the stop must still be in reason. Probable cause is required in the following scenarios:

• Arrests with warrants;

• Arrests without warrants;

• Searches and seizures of property with warrants; and

• Searches and seizures of property without warrants.

A probable cause determination normally made by the magistrate charged with issuing the warrant. If there is a time when a warrant has not been used, the authorities will make the determination of probable cause. Probable cause can come from anywhere like the media, citizen, family, and, etc.that are anonymous. These are normally people who may mingle with those types of people who involve themselves in criminal activity and decide to snitch or turn their so-called friend/associate. Implications always fall back on the misconduct of the police authorities and how they handle their actions or “probable cause.” It’s never a fair process.

Compare Reasonable Suspicion and Administrative Justification to Probable Cause

Reasonable suspicion is the legal standard by which law enforcement officers have the right to briefly hold a suspect for investigatory reasons and frisk the outside of their clothing for weapons, but no drugs.

While many influences contribute to a police officer’s amount of authority in a particular circumstance, the reasonable suspicion standard needs facts or conditions that would lead a reasonable person to believe that a suspect has, is, or will commit a crime (“Flexyourrights,”2002). This level of insight is less than that of probable cause, so reasonable suspicion is usually used to justify a brief frisk in a public area or a traffic stop at roadside.

“Probable Cause” means that the officer must possess enough reliable facts to believe that a crime has been committed. In some cases, the police may need only a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity to conduct a limited search (Legal-dictionary, 2014). To have either probable cause or reasonable suspicion, an officer must be able to quote precise articulable facts to warrant the interference. Items related to suspected criminal activity found in a search may be taken or seized, by the officer.

The Fourth amendment is very crucial to our society and for the police officers as well. Police officers must have probable cause to search individuals. However, there are two dilemmas within the Fourth Amendment that causes major issues, observational probable cause (witness to the crime) and, informational (anonymous tip). However, the information retrieved by the officer must abide by the Fourth Amendment search and seizure clause. This will not only protect the defendant but it prevents evidence from being tainted and it allows it to be admissible in a court of law. If the arresting officer does not follow the guidelines according to the Fourth Amendment this could allow guilty individuals to walk free.

References:

http://billofrightsinstitute.org/founding-documents/bill-of-rights/

Worrall, J. L. (2012). Criminal Procedure.From First Contact to Appeal (4th Ed.).Retrieved from the University of Phoenix eBook Collection.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Probable+Cause+and+Reasonable+Suspicion (2014)

http://www.flexyourrights.org/faqs/what-is-reasonable-suspicion/ (2002)