The Fourth Amendment

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The Fourth Amendment
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The Fourth Amendment
What are Your Rights?

• Search
• and Seizure

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The 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.

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Analytical Model
Used to determine if a search and/or seizure has
occurred, and if it has occurred, was it
reasonable (legal)

1. WHO conducted the search/seizure?
2. WHAT has been searched/seized?
3. Was there a SEARCH/SEIZURE?
4. If so, was it REASONABLE

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1) WHO conducted the search and/or seizure?

• Under the Fourth Amendment a search or seizure
  must involve action by an agency or official of
  the government

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2) WHAT has been searched and/or seized?

• Was it a person, house, paper and/or effect
  (other possesion)

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3) Was there a SEARCH and/or SEIZURE?

• The Supreme Court has defined Search as any
  governmental intrusion into something in which a
  person has a reasonable expectation of privacy. A
  seizure is any taking into possession, custody
  or control

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4) If there was a search and/or seizure, was it
REASONABLE?

• Was there a valid search or seizure warrant?
• Or, did one of the exceptions to the warrant
  requirement apply?

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Cases Search and/or Seizure?

1. Lucy breaks into her ex boyfriends apartment and
   steals some of her old love letters to him.
2. The police order Joe to have a blood test to
   determine how much alcohol he has in his
   bloodstream

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Cases Search and/or Seizure?

1. Officer Jones stops Tim and asks him what he is
   doing, then looks through the suitcase Tim is
   carrying.
2. Tim is arrested and taken to jail.
3. The FBI puts a wiretap on Ellens telephone and
   listens to her conversations.

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Reasonable vs Unreasonable

• For a search/seizure to be reasonable there must
  be a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate
• The police must have probable cause to convince a
  judge to sign a warrant
• There are also some exceptions to the warrant
  requirement.

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Probable Cause

• There must be good reason to believe that that a
  crime has been, is being, or is about to be
  committed, and that the person, place or thing
  which is to be searched or seized is involved in
  some way.

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Exceptions to the Warrant Requirement

1. Search Incident to a Lawful Arrestextends to
   everything w/in arrestees immediate control
2. Stop and Friskcan frisk outer layer of clothing
   with articulable suspicion of crime
3. Emergency SituationsBomb threats, burning
   buildings, etc.
4. Hot PursuitWarrant not required for places
   police follow suspect into.
5. Items connected with crime in Plain ViewIf
   police had a right to be there in the first place

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Exceptions to the Warrant Requirement

1. ConsentA person may knowingly and voluntarily
   let police search w/o a warrant. Fraud and
   deception are excepted. Must be that persons or
   common property. In some case eg. parent/child,
   teacher/student, a person may legally let police
   search someone elses property
2. Abandoned PropertyOnce you abandon something you
   give up the expectation of privacy.
3. Border Airline SearchesCustoms Agents may
   search w/o warrant OR probable cause. Airline
   personnel may search passengers and carry on
   luggage with metal detectors and/or x-rays
4. Vehicle SearchesPolice may search a vehicle WITH
   Probable Cause W/O Warrant

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Cases Search and/or Seizure?Reasonable or
Unreasonable?

1. Customs agents spend an entire day going through
   Vivians luggage on her return from Istanbul.
   They have no Warrant.
2. After Suzanne checks out of her hotel room the
   police come in and find receipts from illegal
   gambling in the wastebasket. They have no Warrant.

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Cases Search and/or Seizure?Reasonable or
Unreasonable?

1. The police sneak into Gails yard and see 200
   stolen Christmas turkeys through her kitchen
   window.
2. The police go to Joes house, his girlfriend (and
   roommate) agrees to let them search the house for
   marijuana.
3. Carols neighbors hear screams from her house and
   call the police. The police arrive, hear the
   screams, enter the house to investigate. They
   find stolen goods on the dining room table.

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United States vs Ross, 1982
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United States vs Ross, 1982

• 1) Did Detective Marcums opening of Bandits
  car trunk constitute a search? What about the
  paper bag? The cellophane envelopes? Explain your
  answers.
• 2) Assume that that opening the trunk, the brown
  bag and cellophane envelopes were searches. Do
  you think that they were reasonable under the
  circumstances or should the officers have secured
  a warrant first? Why or why not?
• 3) Was the unzipping of the red leather pouch at
  the police station a search? If so, was it
  reasonable under the circumstances or should
  the officers have obtained a warrant first? Why
  or why not?

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United States vs Ross, 1982

• In a 6-3 decision the United States Supreme Court
  ruled that the searches and seizures were
  reasonable and did not violate Mr. Ross Fourth
  Amendment rights.
• Cars are easily moved and evidence can easily be
  removed, concealed or destroyed
• Justices White and Marshall wrote dissenting
  opinions.

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Group Work on Cases

• Work in groups of four
• Use the Analytical Model to work through the
  cases on the handout
• Write down your answers
• Be prepared to present your answers to the class
  and discuss

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New Jersey vs T.L.O., 1985

• Read the facts of the case involving high school
  students faced with search and seizure
• Be prepared to discuss and answer questions about
  the case at our next meeting.
• Be prepared for a quiz on your Fourth Amendment
  Rights in the near future.