Criminal Procedure In American Society Essay Research

Condemnable Procedure In American Society Essay, Research Paper

Using the Infotrac entree system, I located two articles sing consent hunts. The first article discuses the geting of consent by constabulary officers by agencies of misrepresentation. The other sets guidelines for officers when trying to obtain consent while maintaining the voluntariness of the suspect in head.

The first article appeared in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin in August of 1996. Kimberly A. Crawford discusses guidelines for officers to follow when obtaining consent for warrantless hunts. She agrees that it is a valuable fact-finding tool, but officers must be aware when make up one’s minding the grade of voluntariness of the consent given. When finding the voluntariness of a consent hunt, the tribunals use a & # 8220 ; entirety of the fortunes & # 8221 ; trial. This trial has concluded that the undermentioned actions do non needfully render consent involuntary:

1 ) The failure to rede an person of the right to decline consent,

2 ) The fact that the officers had their arms drawn and had handcuffed an single prior to inquiring for consent, and

3 ) The obtaining of consent from a individual under the influence of drugs.

Although these state of affairss do non automatically necessitate unwillingness, the tribunals do acknowledge these events when measuring the function they play in the entirety of the fortunes to find the voluntariness of the existent consent.

The writer, every bit good as our category, used the Supreme Court instance Illinois v. Rodriguez to body this issue of consent hunts. The statement that the pursuant did non hold the right to stamp down the rights of the arrested was the cardinal issue. The instance of Florida v. Jimeno besides arose when discoursing consent. An officer had overheard Jimeno discoursing a drug trade and he had so pulled him over for a traffic misdemeanor. After publishing the commendation, the officer noted that he had ground to believe that Jimeno & # 8217 ; s vehicle contained drugs and asked if he could seek it. Jimeno consented and the officer turned down a brown paper bag to happen a kg of cocaine. Jimeno, at the test, moved to stamp down the grounds on the footing that his consent did non cover the hunt of containers inside of the auto. The tribunal did non hold.

The 2nd article besides appeared in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. John Gales Sauls published the article in January of 1994. He discusses that officers frequently times have to utilize misrepresentation and other covert techniques to derive entree into a fishy & # 8217 ; s brooding or topographic point of concern.

Harmonizing to the article, officers may come in shops or offices and other topographic points open to the populace in order to look into without go againsting the Fourth Amendment.

The writer describes cases where officers went into public topographic points to look into with the freedom allowed to any citizen. The Supreme Court decided that shop clerks and office directors did non hold any sensible outlook of privateness in countries of the shop where the populace was allowed to come in and carry on legal concern. The outlook that the perchance illegal nature of a merchandise will non come to the attending of the governments is non one that society is willing to accept as sensible.

The writer describes several differing types of misrepresentation frequently used by constabulary officers to derive entryway to a nonpublic country. The tactic in inquiry and under argument is the technique called coercive misrepresentation. This is where an officer relies on coercion to come in a premiss. One specific case discussed is when an officer knocked on the door of a brooding claiming to be with the gas company look intoing a leak in the vicinity. This is coercive because the resident of the home feels obligated to allow the & # 8220 ; gas adult male & # 8221 ; in due to the badness of the denial of the petition.

It is my sentiment that the consent hunt is a powerful tool for the constabulary to derive entree without traveling through the fusss of obtaining a warrant, particularly when likely cause International Relations and Security Network & # 8217 ; t present. If an officer can derive entree into a individual & # 8217 ; s brooding to look into without acquiring a warrant foremost, I think it is in their involvement.

My job with the thought of consent hunts falls into the premiss of voluntariness. I think officers should inform the resident of their right to deny the petition for entree. The resident of the home has full right to deny the officer & # 8217 ; s request, but frequently does non cognize it and can acquire burned by it subsequently. I do non believe this is one of those instances where policy should non & # 8220 ; protect the stupid & # 8221 ; . It is a instance where officers are normally taking advantage of the defects of others, particularly minorities who may be less informed of their rights, and come ining their houses and private belongings to carry on illegal hunts of grounds that is subsequently used to imply them in a tribunal of jurisprudence.

Plants Cited:

1. Crawford, Kimberly A. , & # 8220 ; Consent Searches: Guidelines for Officers, & # 8221 ; FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. V65 n8 P ( 27 ) 6, August 1996.

2. Sauls, John Gales, & # 8220 ; Obtaining Consent to Enter by Deception, & # 8221 ; FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. V63 n1 P ( 28 ) 5, January 1994.