The search and seizure rule is premised on the Fourth Amendment rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America. The main intention of the provisions is to provide privacy which applies to persons and their property. In that vein, in every investigation, an officer must approach searches and seizures from a premise of observation of the right to privacy. Such rights may only be overridden by probable causes and or existence of reasonable circumstances. This shall be discussed in the following section in relation to the legal guidelines.
The legal guidelines in searches and seizures are derived from the provisions of the Fourth Amendment read together with the cases decided on the same at the Supreme Court level. However, in brief, all searches and seizures may be carried out only with the appreciation of probable cause. This is to mean sufficient reason exists to the extent that the persons whose privacy is to be infringed were involved in a crime and that the fruits of the search would be useful in the investigation of the crime.
In that context, such probable cause needs to be certified by a judicial officer, who in many cases is a judge, who issues a warrant for the search and the seizure. The warrant is often limited to the extent that it has to specify the places to be searched and the property to be seized. In that vein, the police officers carrying the search cannot go beyond the set limits by the warrants. In any case they fail to observe the same, the fruits of the search outside the permits of the warrant would not be applicable and the evidence so gathered would be considered inadmissible. It is, therefore, necessary that a warrant is provided for a legal search and seizure to be conducted and whose fruits would aid in the prosecution of the case for the evidence so gathered to be considered admissible.
However, the rider to the Fourth Amendment privacy rights is that the provision permits the police officers to conduct searches and seizures without warrants on a reasonable basis. This is to mean where reasonable circumstances suffice, the search and seizure may proceed even without the sanction of a judicial officer. This approach was embraced by the law in appreciation of the special circumstances that often exist making execution of the search and seizure almost impossible if warrants are a must.
Nonetheless, it must be appreciated that searches and seizures are compounded by a number of problems. Foremost, the investigation may not have sufficient evidence to justify a search and seizure and may, therefore, fail to convince a judicial officer to issue a warrant. In such cases, either the police officers have to abandon the search and seizure and pursue other alternatives or they proceed with the search and seizure and reside on the fact that reasonable circumstances did exist for the unwarranted search. Often the admissibility of the evidence so gathered would depend on the conviction of the judicial officer whose court the trial is heard. In addition, at times the warrant specifies different properties for seizure yet it is other property which are equally illegal that are found. An exclusionary approach would have the additional seized items admitted in evidence. However, whether they become admissible equally depends on the interpretation of the law that the judicial officer applies.
Finally, defense attorneys often consider key aspects to search and seizure provisions. It should be appreciated that the main safeguard of the Fourth Amendment provisions is privacy to persons and their property. Defense attorneys often try to raise issues of privacy rights violations. It is critical for the prosecution to ensure the violation is justified.
References
Berlin, M. (2011). Crime Scene Searches and the Fourth Amendment. Investigative Sciences Journal, 3(2), 30-38.
Scheb, J. (2010). Criminal Law and Procedure. New York: Cengage Learning.
Stephens, O., & Glenn, R. (2010). Unreasonable Searches and Seizures: Rights and Liberties Under the Law. New York: ABC-CLIO.
Woody, R. (2009). Search and Seizure: The Fourth Amendment for Law Enforcement Officers. New York: Charles C Thomas Publisher.
