The Fourth Amendment

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The Fourth Amendment
What are Your Rights?
Search and Seizure
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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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Search Seizure 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.

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3) Was there a SEARCH and/or SEIZURE?

• The Supreme Court has defined Seizure as 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?

• 3) Officer Jones stops Tim and asks him what he
  is doing, then looks through the suitcase Tim is
  carrying.
• 4) Tim is arrested and taken to jail.
• 5) 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 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.

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Exceptions to the Warrant Requirement

• 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
  
• 6) ConsentA person may knowingly and
  voluntarily let police search w/o a warrant.
  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

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Exceptions to the Warrant Requirement

• 7)Abandoned PropertyOnce you abandon something
  you give up the expectation of privacy.
• 8) 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
• 9) 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?

• 3) The police sneak into Gails yard and see 200
  stolen Ipods through her kitchen window.
• 4) The police go to Joes house, his girlfriend
  (and roommate) agrees to let them search the
  house for marijuana.
• 5) 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.