Fourth Amendment Rights

1
Fourth Amendment Rights

• The young man knows the rules, but the old man
  knows the exceptions.
• Oliver Wendell Holmes
• Please note that some of us prefer wise or
  perhaps experienced.

2
Boyd v. United States (1886)

• The Good Forcible removal of ones papers to be
  used as evidence is not permitted under the
  Fourth Amendment.
• The Bad Only applied to searches involving
  forcible and compulsory extortion and only
  applied to evidence used in criminal trials.

3
Weeks v. United States (1914)

• The Good This decision established the
  exclusionary rule, which prohibited police from
  using illegally obtained evidence in trials.
• The Bad This ruling only applied the
  exclusionary rule to federal officials. The
  decision was not applied to states.

4
Wolf v. Colorado (1949)

• The Good The Court made the due process clause
  of the Fourteenth Amendment applicable to the
  states, which then made the Fourth Amendment
  applicable as well.
• The Bad The Court said specifically that the
  exclusionary rule WAS NOT applicable to the
  states because it was not expressly stated as a
  remedy for a bad search.

5
Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

• The Good Fixed the Wolf decision and applied the
  exclusionary rule to the states.
• Police must have reasonable suspicion or
  probable cause and follow rules in gathering
  evidence.
• The Bad Many gray areas and exceptions remain,
  such as

6
New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985)

• ". . . The warrant requirement, in particular, is
  unsuited to the school environment . . . The
  legality of a search of a student should depend
  simply on the reasonableness, under all the
  circumstances, of the search . . . Such a search
  will be permissible in its scope when the
  measures adopted are reasonably related to the
  objectives of the search and not excessively
  intrusive in light of the age and sex of the
  student and the nature of the infraction.
  "Justice Byron White, speaking for the majority
• Translated The Court established more lenient
  standards for reasonableness in school searches.

7
U.S. v. Leon (1984)Good Faith Exception

• An exception to the exclusionary rule.
• Illegally gathered evidence can be admitted at
  trial if police officers have reason to believe
  they have a valid warrant or reason to search.
• Previously, police were responsible for bad
  searches.
• So far the new rule has been confined to errors
  made by judges or legislatures. Example if a
  judge makes a mistake in issuing a warrant, the
  police officer is not responsible if she had good
  reason to believe that the warrant was valid.