NCJ Number
77450
Date Published
1980
Length
128 pages
Annotation
This book discusses the relationship between the Bill of Rights and police activities to enhance public understanding and respect for constitutional principles.
Abstract
Its major aim is to convey the idea that the guarantees of the Bill of Rights are neither technicalities nor rigid, inflexible rules; they are seen as incorporating fundamental principles basic to the preservation of a decent society, free from the procedures of a police state. The guarantees are also viewed as in line with commonsense and the needs for order and security. The text explains that easy 'law and order' solutions destructive of individual liberty must be resisted because the crime problem is not causally related to enforcement of the protections of the Bill of Rights; and, even if this were so, the establishment of a police state would be too high a price to pay to eliminate the problem. Among the topics considered are liberty versus security, police interference and first amendment rights, police arrest powers and constitutional protection, and search and seizure procedures and the fourth amendment. Also discussed are police procedures and the custodial investigation, remedies to unconstitutional police practices, and police methods of arrest and search and seizure. Appendixes contain information on crime classifications, automobile searches and inventories in the District of Columbia, and the Miranda case. Footnotes, a glossary, and an index are included.