Chapter 7

List the four categories of items that can be seized by use of a search warrant.

1) Items resulting from a crime, such as stolen goods 2) inherently illegal items 3) evidence of the crime 4) items used in committing the crime.

stop

A brief detention of a person by law enforcement agents for questioning.

frisk

A pat-down or minimal search by police to discover weapons.

Exclusionary Rule

A rule under which any evidence that is obtained in violation of the accused's rights, as well as any evidence derived from illegally obtained evidence, will not be admissible in criminal court.

search warrant

A written order, based on probable cause and issued by a judge or magistrate, commanding that police officers or criminal investigators search a specific person, place, or property to obtain evidence.

arrest warrant

A written order, based on probable cause and issued by a judge or magistrate, commanding that the person named on the warrant be arrested by the police.

affidavit

A written statement of facts, confirmed by the oath or affirmation of the party making it and made before a person having the authority to administer the oath or affirmation.

List the four elements that must be present for an arrest to take place.

A) Intent, B) authority, C) seizure or detention, and D) the understanding of the person that he or she has been arrested.

Outline the four major sources that may provide probable cause.

A) Personal observation, usually due to an officer's personal training, experience, and expertise; B) information, gathered from informants, eyewitnesses, victims, police bulletins, and other sources; C) evidence, which often has to be in plain view; D) association, which generally must involve a person with a known criminal background who is seen in a place where criminal activity is openly taking place.

List the three basic types of police identification.

A) Showups, B) photo arrays, and C) lineups.

Indicate situations in which a Miranda warning is unnecessary.

A) When no questions that are testimonial in nature are asked of the suspect; B) when there is no suspect and witnesses in general are being questioned at the scene of a crime; C) when a person volunteers information before the police ask anything; D) when a suspect has given a private statement to a friend without the government orchestrating it; E) during a stop and frisk when no arrests have been made; F) during a traffic stop; and G) when a threat to public safety exists.

false confession

An admission of guilt when the confessor did not, in fact, commit the crime.

warrantless arrest

An arrest made without first seeking a warrant for the action.

fruit of the poisoned tree

Evidence that is acquired through the use of illegally obtained evidence and is therefore inadmissible in court.

The legal basis for Miranda can be found in the:

Fifth Amendment.

Which of the following statements applies to identification using a photo array?

Police cannot "steer" a witness toward a positive identification of a suspect by saying things like "Doesn't this look like the man you saw under the street lamp that night?"

Probable Cause

Reasonable grounds to believe the existence of facts warranting certain actions, such as the search or arrest of a person.

Explain when searches can be made without a warrant.

Searches and seizures can be made without a warrant if they are incidental to an arrest (but they must be reasonable); when they are made with voluntary consent; when they involve the "movable vehicle" exception; when property has been abandoned; and when items are in plain view, under certain restricted circumstances (see Coolidge v. New Hampshire).

Consent searches

Searches by police that are made after the subject of the search has agreed to the action. In these situations, consent, if given of free will, validates a warrantless search.

searches incidental to arrests

Searches for weapons and evidence that are conducted on persons who have just been arrested.

exigent circumstances

Situations that require extralegal or exceptional actions by the police.

Distinguish between a stop and a frisk, and indicate the importance of the case

Terry v. Ohio. Though the terms stop and frisk are often used in concert, a stop is the separate act of detaining a suspect when an officer reasonably believes that a criminal activity is about to take place. A frisk is the physical "pat-down" of a suspect. In Terry v. Ohio, the Supreme Court ruled that an officer must have "specific and articulable facts" before making a stop, but those facts may be "taken together with rational inferences."

Explain why the U.S. Supreme Court established the Miranda warnings.

The Supreme Court recognized that police interrogations are, by their nature, coercive. Consequently, to protect a suspect's constitutional rights during interrogation, the Court ruled that the suspect must be informed of those rights before being questioned.

Miranda rights

The constitutional rights of accused persons taken into custody by law enforcement officials, such as the right to remain silent and the right to counsel.

interrogation

The direct questioning of a suspect to gather evidence of criminal activity and to try to gain a confession.

custody

The forceful detention of a person, or the perception that a person is not free to leave the immediate vicinity.

seizure

The forcible taking of a person or property in response to a violation of the law.

"good faith" exception

The legal principle that evidence obtained with the use of a technically invalid search warrant is admissible during trial if the police acted in good faith when they sought the warrant from a judge.

"inevitable discovery" exception

The legal principle that illegally obtained evidence can be admissible in court if police using lawful means would have "inevitably" discovered it.

plain view doctrine

The legal principle that objects in plain view of a law enforcement agent who has the right to be in a position to have that view may be seized without a warrant and introduced as evidence.

Searches and Seizures

The legal term, as found in the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, that generally refers to the searching for and the confiscating of evidence by law enforcement agents.

racial profiling

The practice of targeting people for police action based solely on their race, ethnicity, or national origin.

search

The process by which police examine a person or property to find evidence that will be used to prove guilt in a criminal trial.

booking

The process of entering a suspect's name, offense, and arrival time into the police log following her or his arrest.

custodial interrogation

The questioning of a suspect after that person has been taken into custody. In this situation, the suspect must be read his or her Miranda rights before interrogation can begin.

electronic surveillance

The use of electronic equipment by law enforcement agents to record private conversations or observe conduct that is meant to be private.

coercion

The use of physical force or mental intimidation to compel a person to do something—such as confess to committing a crime—against her or his will.

Police officers can force themselves into a home without first knocking and announcing their presence under which of the following exigent circumstances?

They have reason to believe that the target of their arrest warrant is armed with a shotgun and would shoot first if warned of a police presence.

Explain the exclusionary rule and the exceptions to it.

This rule prohibits illegally seized evidence, or evidence obtained by an unreasonable search and seizure in an inadmissible way, from being used against the accused in criminal court. Exceptions to the exclusionary rule are the "inevitable discovery" exception established in Nix v. Williams and the "good faith" exception established in United States v. Leon and Arizona v. Evans.

arrest

To deprive the liberty of a person suspected of criminal activity.

Describe the plain view doctrine and indicate one of its limitations.

Under the plain view doctrine, police officers are justified in seizing an item if A) the item is easily seen by an officer who is legally in a position to notice it; B) the discovery of the item is unintended; and C) the officer, without further investigation, immediately recognizes the illegal nature of the item. An item is not in plain view if the law enforcement agent needs to use technology such as a thermal imager to "see" it.

Which of the following is usually not a valid source of probable cause?

a suspicious-looking person walking down the street in a high-crime neighborhood

The necessary elements for arrest include all of the following except:

culpability.

In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled, unanimously, that police officers:

do need a warrant to search the contents of cell phones belonging to suspects they have just arrested.

The "fruit of the poisoned tree" doctrine is a by-product of which rule?

exclusionary rule

Which of the following is not one of the three general types of false confessions according to psychology professor Saul Kassin?

externalized

The United States Supreme Court has stated that a frisk should be a protective measure and not a:

fishing expedition.

Items which may be seized in the course of executing a valid search warrant include the following, except for which?

items that are legal but could be used in a different crime

What are the three identification procedures used to establish the identity of a suspect as provided in your text?

lineups, showups, and photo arrays

A lineup is used by police during a criminal investigation to:

obtain a suspect identification.

In Florida v. Jardines, the Supreme Court ruled that:

officers had overstepped the bounds of their authority by using a drug-sniffing dog to detect the smell of marijuana from Jardines' front porch.

Members of the First Congress were uncomfortable with the idea of law enforcement officers making "general, exploratory" searches of people and their belongings. Consequently, the Fourth Amendment requires that a warrant describe the persons and objects being seized with:

particularity.

In recent years, American courts have determined the constitutionality of warrantless searches of all but which of the following?

physical property (other than electronic devices) taken from arrestees in police custody

After serving an approved search warrant, Officer Smith conducts a search of the business suspected of selling illegal firearms. The search is fruitful and leads to the seizure of over 500 confirmed stolen firearms and the arrest of the shopkeeper. While searching for the guns, Officer Smith discovered two pounds of marijuana sitting on a counter. Under which exception to the search warrant rule can Officer Smith seize the marijuana?

plain view

The U.S. Supreme Court enunciated which doctrine in the 1971 ruling of Coolidge v. New Hampshire?

plain view

A judge will only provide law enforcement agents with a warrant to arrest a suspect if the agents provide the judge with _______ that the suspect has committed a crime.

probable cause

The Fourth Amendment contains which two critical concepts?

probable cause and searches and seizures

A police officer can __________ a person when the officer has reasonable suspicion that the person is about to take part in a crime.

stop

Because every situation is different, it is often difficult to determine whether a police officer's "Terry" stop of a suspect was based on an acceptable amount of reasonable suspicion. To help both police officers and the courts make this difficult determination, the U.S. Supreme Court has settled on which test to determine the validity of an officer's actions?

the "totality of the circumstances" test.

Officer Warhol is certain that Max is guilty of murdering his wife, Francine. Employing an unreasonable search, he finds a handgun in the glove compartment of Max's car. He shows the gun to Max, who breaks down and confesses to killing his wife. Max's lawyer would try to get the confession thrown out of court based on which legal doctrine?

the fruit of the poisoned tree

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Miranda v. Arizona introduced the concept of inherent coercion, which means that:

the interrogation process is in and of itself coercive and therefore poses a threat to a suspect's Fifth Amendment guarantee against self-incrimination.

When is a law enforcement officer required to read a suspect his or her Miranda rights?

when a suspect has been taken into custody and an interrogation is about to take place

Officer Smith is in her "rookie" year on the job and she is about to prepare her first search warrant request seeking permission to search a business that is suspected of selling illegal firearms. In preparing the search warrant request, which of the following is not necessary?

who will be expected to be present during the search besides those serving the warrant