Essays on Search Warrants

The issue concerning cell phone searches is whether it is constitutional for law enforcement officers to conduct incidental searches on people’s phones without a search warrant. Search warrants should be required when looking for cell phone contents. This is because, as Hoogstraten argues, people have reasonable expectation of privacy that outweigh the government’s interest in enforcing the criminal law (p. 911). However, there should be no blanket requirement for police officers to obtain search warrants before they can search suspects’ personal effects. This bright-line rule provided by the Fourth Amendment needs to be given a broad, flexible ...

With the fast advancement of technology, most industries have had to catch up, including the law sector. The issue of search warrants on phones has come up in multiple cases as mobile phones have become trendy. However, there are cases that set precedence to the rulings that judges follow today. There is a need to establish under what circumstances a person’s phone can be searched without being viewed as a violation of their privacy. In some cases, phone searches are important in getting justice for the victims, especially being that this is a common mode of communication and ...

The Fourth Amendment is part of the United States Constitution. It protects citizens from unlawful situations and offers guidelines that must be followed in the criminal justice system. The Fourth Amendment allows people to be safe in their homes and their personal belongings to secure as well. This means that a person should be able to do as they please in their home without the legal system coming into the home. If a warrant is issued and signed by a Judge, then this gives the authority the right to enter a person’s home and search for items. “The ...

Abstract

The paper investigates Steiney Richards, Petitioner v. Wisconsin case in order to justify whether the police officers’ use of deceptive means and forcible entry into Richards’ room violates the protection rights granted by the Fourth Amendment. It offers a summary of the case, thereby presenting the issue of the case. The paper also analyzes the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s judgment by evaluating the facts of the case. It presents the reasons offered by Richards in favor of his privacy interests and compares them with the reasons offered by police officers to gain forcible entry into Richards’ room. Therefore, the ...

The US PATRIOT Act

The September 11 bombings in 2001 had created a massive influx of political and domestic ruling within the United States as terrorism had caught the most powerful nation off-guard. The Bush Administration had immediately mobilized the Congress and the Senate to redraft the entire US national security framework and enhance the country’s law enforcement agencies to prevent further attacks in the nation. One of the most notable policies set after the September 11 bombings is the US PATRIOT Act, proposed to support law enforcement agencies by enabling them to check records and devices of citizens and “suspected” terrorists ...

‘Project Synergy’ is one of the major cases that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DFA) in the United States have embarked on in the recent past in their endeavor to fight narcotic trading. The enforcement operations were conducted in a total of 35 states, in the United States by the DFA as well as its partners in the law enforcement department aimed at the upper class of drug trafficking organizations. In particular, the operation was targeted towards the upper class of dangerous designer synthetic drug cartels and organizations that acted with no regard for public safety and the law. These enforcement ...

Minnesota v. Carter525 U.S. 83 (1998) This was a case against a man called Carter. It was a case that was argued and also decided in the year 1998 by the supreme court of Minnesota. The case involved a police officer finding out Carter together with John's activities that involved packaging of drugs, to be specific cocaine. The police officer found this out by peeping through a gap on the window of the apartment Carter, and John were at the time. They were arrested by the officer, charged and convicted with offenses involving drugs. However, a particular issue arose from this case by the ...

SWAT, which stands for Special Weapons and Tactics is a specially designated law enforcement team that provides certain departments with the capability to safety during high-risk situations such as hostage situations, suicidal subjects, and VIP protection details among others. To effectively carry out these risky tasks, SWAT undergoes optimum and special training similar to that of the secret service. It is a special team that is operationally deployed on approximately 210 times annually to assist federal, state, and law enforcement agencies. Its members are selected, well trained and equipped, and thereafter assigned critical tasks to counter attacks. The unit is comprised ...

According to the affidavit, the search must be conducted as per the law states since the victim is being involved in unlawful behavior (Chrystie, 1995). Similarly, the victim states that he has illegal goods in his house that he is using in exploiting the children. Brown revelation that he poses media containing child pornography prompts the court to justify a search so that the goods and materials found can act as an evident in the court. In addition, the property found in the Brown’s possession will afford evidence of a crime or the intended commission of pursuit to commit a crime. ...

Abstract

In recent months, a lot of controversy has surrounded the use of electronic search warrants or the use of electronic devices to deliver search warrants especially in drug related crimes. Many prosecutors have advocated for the legalization of the use of such devices especially in emergencies where delay in thus issuing of a search may lead to a situation where a particular case is compromised, for instance the suspect may destroy or contaminate the drugs to be used as evidence. The delay may be occasioned by the fact that the officer or agent conducting the search may have to physically go to a magistrate ...

The Bill of Rights is a collection of the first ten amendments of the United States Constitution. The rights protect the liberty, natural rights and the property of American citizens (Vile, 2010). The following is an analysis of three of the amendments and a reviewing of one of the amendments.

Amendment 1: Freedoms, Petitions and Assembly

Overview This amendment states that congress shall make no laws that undermine the right of the people to exercise the freedoms to assemble, speech, press and petition the government (ushistory.org). It outlaws the establishment of a state or federal religion and gives people the freedom to assemble and belong to religions ...

The United States Constitution did not originally have a Bill of Rights, but during the time when the Constitution was being written, the Founding Fathers were very concerned about the potential for individual rights' abuse by the government. Some of the Founding Fathers were against the addition of a Bill of Rights to the Constitution, but eventually, the concern about the government using its power to abuse the rights of citizens won out over the fear of not giving the government enough power (Cuddihy). The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution were added and are now called the Bill ...

The stop, question and frisk program in New York is spearheaded by the Department of Police. It is a legal program established by the New York State Criminal Procedure Law section 140.50. Arguably, the program was motivated and arose from the Supreme Court holding in Terry v. Ohio. The program gives a police officer the discretion to stop, question and frisk a person in the public precincts including the streets. The discretion is predicated on the fact that the police officer would exercise it (discretion) reasonably and devoid of any malice or self-aggrandisement. Whether the officers have leaved to this spirit, is ...

The United States (U.S.) was attacked on 9/11 in such a way that even surpasses the attack on Pearl Harbor. At least during WWII the country knew who its enemies were. However, although the terrorist group(s) that attacked and caused the collapse of the Twin Towers are known, they are hidden. That leaves the U.S. Government scrambling to find these concealed enemies that are either still on U.S. soil or planning more attacks from abroad. It will be necessary to look at the ethical dilemmas involved with the USA PATRIOT Act (“Epic.org”, n.d.), in regards to authorization of ...

LST 301 Q30

Search warrants are necessary to prevent searches that interfere with the privacy of individuals as far as such searches are not very necessary. Searches can be done in the residential areas of individuals, body or vehicles of individuals. The courts are responsible for the issue of search warrants. The warrants may also issue limitations of the search such that they specify what is to be searched and what is to be taken if found (Siegel, 2010). This research paper will evaluate circumstances under which search warrants may not be necessary. It will also discuss how matters relating to search ...

Critical Thinking Paper

Was the commodification of Facebook a betrayal of its original premise, that is, social networking among private individuals? Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in February 4, 2004 as an instrument for Harvard sophomores to get to know their classmates better. (Roeder, 2011) Never did he realize that it will expand its use to millions of netizens all over the world. The primary purpose of Facebook is to give its users the power to stay connected and relate to other people’s worlds. At present, many of its users use Facebook daily in order to keep up with their ...