Unit 3 Assignment Fourth Amendment
1/13/2015
IS3350
Mr. Pragel
The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution requires that no law enforcement official has the right to carry out search or seizure unless a warrant has been first issued by a judge. The exceptions are: searches with consent, frisks, plain feel/plain view, incident to arrest, automobile exceptions, exigent circumstances and open fields, abandoned property and public place exceptions (Harr, Hess, 2006, p. 219). "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." Is what the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution grants to every single US citizen.
Consent to search any property must be given by the actual owners or, as set forth in the court case of United States v Matlock (1974) by a person in charge of that property. If, for instance more than one person owns a property, only one of those individuals must give consent. There are exceptions to that rule as well. Only commonly shared areas of that property may be searched (Harr,Hess, 2006). Take for instance a family living in an apartment which comprises of a husband, wife and sister to the man. The sister would give consent for common areas, such as the living room, den, kitchen, and bathroom, to be searched and she cannot give consent to allowing the bedroom of the brother and sister in-law to be searched. The husband, on the other hand, could consent to having the bedroom searched because it is there joint bedroom and is not off-limits to him.
Other conditions on the searches incident to arrest exception include the use of force, the search of other individuals with the arrested individual, searching the vehicle of an arrest