Kristen Holmes
Criminal Law
CJ 31000.11
March 16, 2009
The citizens who live in the United States of America are all governed by the same set of rules. The Constitution of the United States sets forth the rights and privileges of each American. The Constitution explains ever right that Americans have. One of these important rights is the fourth amendment. It is important for citizens to understand their rights under the fourth amendment and understand how science, technology, and some laws can violate their rights how the government determines what is reasonable and what is not.
There is a very fine line that determines whether or not a search is a search and if it is, is it constitutional or reasonable? The fourth amendment to the United States Constitution reads as follows: “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. (1)” Under the fourth amendment the three most common and well known ways to search a place and seize something is if the owner grants permission for the police to search, if the police present a search warrant, or if something is in plain view of an officer. But there are other ways to search something other than physically entering a place and is it necessary to provide a warrant?
The main purpose of the fourth amendment is to protect people right to privacy and to be free from governmental interference. Every citizen has a reasonable expectation of privacy under United States law. “What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his or her own home or office, is not protected by the fourth amendment. But what a person seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected (11).”...