Chapter 7:

Vocabulary

1. Frisk  - A patting down of the outer clothing of a suspect based on reasonable suspicion, designed to protect a police officier from attack with a weapon while an inquiry is made.

2. Search - An exploratory inspection of a person or property based on probable cause of law violation.

3. Seizure - Confiscation of property occurring wh...en there is some meaningful interference with the individual's possession of property.

4. Reasonable Suspicion - A situation in which a police officer has good reason to believe that criminal activity may be occurring; this permits a brief investigative inquiry of the suspect.

5. Exclusionary Rule - A legal principle that holds that illegally seized evidence must be excluded from use in trails.

6. Good Faith Exception - A rule stating that evidence seized with a defective warrant, not based on probable cause, is admissible in court if the police acted in good faith in presenting the evidence and the judge made the error.

7. Fifth Amendment - The amendment to the Constitution that includes protection against self-incrimination.

8. Miranda Warning - A five-point warning derived from the case of Miranda v. Arizona.  Its purpose is to provide fair notice to crime suspects of their basic constitutional rights.

9. Public Safety Exception - Police may omit the Miranda warning prior to questioning a suspect when public safety is jeopardized.

Quesions

1.  What limits does the Fourth Amendment place on searches and seizures by police?

- The court decisions have been necessary over the years to interpret and apply the general Fourth Amendment standard in a changing world of drug trafficking, automobile travel, and suspicions persons and activities that fall short of the probable cause threshold.

2.  What is the difference between a frisk and a search? 

- A frisk is a patting down of an individual’s outer clothing on the basis of a reasonable suspicion.  A search is an exploratory quest for evidence.

3.  What is meant by the "reasonable suspicion" standard? How is it different from the "probable cause" standard? 

- Reasonable suspicion is a lower standard of evidence that probable cause, so the scope of the search permitted is less intrusive.

4.  What is the exclusionary rule, and what are some exceptions to that rule? 

- It holds that illegally seized evidence must be excluded from trials.  The "good faith" exception to this rule occurs when police conduct a search on the basis of a warrant that is later found to be defective.

5.   In what kinds of situations may a search be conducted without a warrant?

- Searches can be conducted without a warrant if they are incident to a lawful arrest, are conducted with voluntary consent, or involve evidence in plain view, automobiles and their contents.  It can also apply to open fields and abandoned property.

6.  What protections are provided by the Fifth Amendment? 

- The Fifth Amendment provides or grand juries, protection against double jeopardy and protection from self-incrimination. 

7.  What is the Miranda rule, and what exceptions to the rule have been allowed by the Supreme Court? 

- The Supreme Court has established some exceptions to The Miranda Rule.  These include the public safely exception, in which a suspect may be asked questions prompted by concern for public safety before being read the Miranda Warning.

8.  Why are the impacts of procedural law on law enforcement controversial? 

- The debate continues the benefits of the exclusionary rule and Miranda for citizens for law enforcement, and reflecting continuing conflict in the balance to be struck among the interest of government, the public interest, and the rights of private citizens.  The importance of confessions to police work is limited because most suspects are taken into custody based on other evidence