In 1787, the Constitution, created by a group of men known as the “Framers”, is the highest law in the United States. At first, the Constitution was not ratify because it did not have a bill of rights which is a list of rights that belong to the people. Therefore to allow changes to the Constitution, the Framers created the amendment process. In 1791, congress proposed twelve changes to the Constitution. Ten of the twelve changes were agreed to by the states and were called “The Bill of Rights.” Some of these rights include the right of free speech, the right to practice your own religion and the right to be silent if you are arrested. The amendment that raises my own eye is the Search and Seizures Clause of the Fourth Amendment. Like most of the Bill of Rights, the Fourth Amendment has its origins in 17th and 18th century, English common law. Unlike the rest of the Bill of Rights, the Fourth Amendment's origins can be traced precisely it arose out of a strong public reaction to three cases from the 1760s, two decided in England and one in the colonies. Two cases from England, “Entick vs. Carrington” and “Wilkes vs. Wood”, involved plaintiffs who produced pamphlets criticizing the government. During the arresting, officials seized books and papers from the plaintiff’s property. A court agreed that the officers’ actions constituted trespassing. The third case occurred within the colonies and involved “writs of assistance,” which permitted officials to search for smuggled goods without specify which house or what goods. Search and seizures is supposed to be carried out by law enforcement officers that get a court ordered warrant from a judge. There are two causes of search warrants. The first clause lawyers usually call it the "re... ... middle of paper ... ...e Court would also fine Mr. Dickerson guilty of contraband. However, after reading the ruling, I understand how easily and differently the Fourth Amendment may be understood and withheld. Another good point was proven in the “Mapp vs. Ohio” case where law enforcement did indeed violate the Fourth Amendment. Interpretation of this amendment was apparent back in the 1760’s where they had cases based on the freedom of citizens. The Fourth Amendment is a very creative amendment that gives the people the right of freedom and to protect their own properties. As a future law enforcement officer, I chose this amendment to gather information on the proper procedures to obtain a search warrant and understand how improperly obtaining a search warrant may change an outcome of a case. Furthermore, the Fourth Amendment may be perceived differently in a court of law.
In fact the officer did violate the Amendments; this was determined by the officer only having reasonable suspicion, not probable cause to seize the items under the “plain view” doctrine. His actions were not backed up by the U.S. Constitution.
After the American Revolution, America had earned it’s freedom from Britain. In order to govern this new country the Articles of Confederation was created. This document was flawed by the colonists fear of putting too much power into a central government. Knowing the document needed to be fixed a constitutional convention was called. The document created at this convention has been our constitution ever since. But even the Constitution was meet with criticism. One major concern when writing the constitution was how to protect the citizens rights. The Constitution did this through the preamble, the legislative process, the limit of presidential terms, the judicial branch, and the bill of rights.
To summarize the Fourth Amendment, it protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures. A search conducted by the government exists when the area or person being searched would reasonably have an expectation of privacy. A seizure takes place when the government takes a person or property into custody based on belief a criminal law was violated. If a search or seizure is deemed unreasonable, than any evidence obtained during that search and seizure can be omitted from court under
The 4th amendment protects people from being searched or having their belongings taken away without any good reason. The 4th amendment was ratified on December 15, 1791. For many years prior to the ratifiation, people were smuggling goods because of the Stamp Act; in response Great Britain passed the writs of assistance so British guards could search someone’s house when they don’t have a good reason to. This amendment gave people the right to privacy. “Our answer to the question of what policy must do before searching a cellphone seized incident to an arrest is accordingly simple - get a warrant.” This was addressed to officers searching people’s houses and taking things without having a proper reason. I find
The Bill of Rights was created as a listing of the rights granted to citizens, the Bill of Rights serves to protect the people from a powerful government. These civil rights granted to U.S. Citizens are included in the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Additionally, Locke’s ideas about checks and balances and the division of church and state were later embodied in the U.S. Constitution as well. The Constitution replaced a more weakly organized system of government as outlined under the Articles of Confederation. John Locke was an English philosopher who lived during 1632-1704.
The Constitution of the United States of America protects people’s rights because it limits the power of government against its people. Those rights guaranteed in the Constitution are better known as the Bill of Rights. Within these rights, the Fourth Amendment protects “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable search and seizures […]” (Knetzger & Muraski, 2008). According to the Fourth Amendment, a search warrant must be issued before a search and seizure takes place. However, consent for lawful search is one of the most common exceptions to the search warrant requirement.
Our founding fathers wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to protect our most basic rights as citizens of the United States, and although creating the Constitution was an arduous effort, eventually the new Americans came to an agreement over what was included. “The Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments to the Constitution — went into effect on Dec. 15, 1791, when the state of Virginia ratified it, giving the bill the majority of ratifying states required to protect citizens from the power of the federal government.” (First Amendment Center). After the first amendment went into effect, all religious minorities were now protected from persecution, and people could freely speak their
are expected to tell the truth, even if that truth was to put you in
From time to time, technology has changed the police and other law enforcement agencies with new devices for gathering evidence. Those new tools has made constitutional questions to arise. “The Fourth Amendment says that you have an expectation of privacy in your home and person.” This amendment protects individuals against unreasonable searches and seizures. In the case of DLK versus the United States, DLK felt his Fourth Amendment rights were violated when law enforcement took thermal images of his home to detect heat without a warrant. Based on this information, law enforcement was able to obtain a warrant and upon finding marijuana growing in his home, he was arrested.
The fourth amendment states, “The United States Constitution provides the right of the people to be secured in their persons, house, against unreasonable searches and seizures, and should not be violated, and no warrants should be issued, but upon probable cause sustained by Oath or affirmation, and specifically the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” (law.cornell, n.d.). With that being said, in order for the authorities to search and seize an individual, police officers must have probable cause that an individual has committed a crime, police officer must fill out a legal documentation with further details of what it intends to search and seize to receive a warrant, and lastly, they may proceed with
The Bill of Rights are the first ten Amendments to the Constitution. The Bill of Rights works to provide constitutional protection for the individual and to limit government power. The First Amendment and the Sixth Amendment protects the individual by allowing religious and political freedom, and by promising a public and speedy trial. The Fourth Amendment protects the individual’s privacy and limits the reach of the government into people’s homes and personal belongings. The three essential Amendments from the Bill of Rights are: the First Amendment- Religious and Political freedom: the Fourth Amendment- Search and Seizure: and the Sixth Amendment-Criminal Court Procedures.
Even though the United States has a constitution that supports the privacy of the locals and protect them from intrusion by government officials like law enforcers, some doctrines limit that privacy to certain levels. In particular, Citron (2007) states that country’s Fourth Amendment to the Constitution guides the behavior, actions, and decisions of police officers to ensure they operate legally and lawfully. Under this amendment, the clause of the probable cause states that police need to show or inform the judiciary that if they search premise, it is probable they will find stolen items or evidence to support their claims against suspected criminals. The fulfillment of this clause permits officers to conduct reasonable searches and seizures in various premises in the country. In Horton v. California case, the police officer believed that evidence of robbery existed in the Horton’s house. As a result, he requested for a warrant of both search and proceeds of robbery before he searched the house. The decision of the officers to apply a warrant for a search of weapons before the actual search proves that he adhered to the principle of probable cause. Therefore, his decision to seize the weapons of crime was justified under this
The United States may hold for use as proof in the criminal arraignment of their proprietor implicating reports which are swung over to it by private people who acquired them, without the support or learning of any administration official, through a wrongful pursuit of the proprietor's private work area and papers in an office. The Court has never constrained the Amendment's disallowance on outlandish pursuits and seizures to operations directed by the police. Or maybe, the Court has long talked about the Fourth Amendment's strictures as limitations forced upon "governmental action" that is, "upon the activities of sovereign authority" (Burdeau v. McDowell, 256 U.S. 465, 475).
Our bill of rights all began when James Madison, the primary author of the constitution, proposed 20 amendments for the bill of rights and not the ten we know of today. Madison sent these twenty proposed rights through the house and the senate and was left with twelve bill of rights. Madison himself took some out. These amendments were then sent to the states to be ratified. Virginia was the tenth state out of the fourteenth states to approve 10 out of 12 amendments. This two-third majority was necessary to make the bill of rights legal. On December 15, 1791 the bill of rights were finally ratified.
Criminal procedures are intended to defend both the innocent and the guilty from aimless use of substantive criminal laws and from abusive treatment of law enforcement, the courts, or members of the justice system. The Fourth Amendment prohibits the government from conducting unreasonable searches and seizures while investigating criminal activity and building a case against a particular suspect. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, effects, against unreasonable search and seizures, and no Warrants should issue, but rather upon reasonable justification, bolstered by Oath or affirmation, and especially depicting the spot to be sought, and the persons or things to be seized Law enforcement officers are endowed with