NCJ Number
122964
Journal
American Criminal Law Review Volume: 26 Issue: 4 Dated: (Spring 1989) Pages: 1433-1456
Date Published
1989
Length
22 pages
Annotation
The warrant clause of the Fourth Amendment has its origins in British law and events of the American colonial period, but recent United States Supreme Court decisions have narrowed the privacy rights that the framers of the Constitution sought to protect.
Abstract
Warrants can be issued only on the basis of probable cause, but judicial decisions have defined increasing numbers of exceptions to the warrant requirement. Exceptions now exist based on good faith of police officers, searches incident to valid arrests, automobile searches, inventory searches of persons or vehicles that are in lawful police custody, and searches of evidence in plain view. Other exceptions relate to exigent circumstances, inevitable discovery, independent sources, consent, and stop-and-frisk situations that occur under the doctrine set forth in the case of Terry v. Ohio. Future exceptions designed to meet new criminal challenges and to reflect advances in law enforcement technology may further endanger the current Fourth Amendment protections. Thus, efforts to control drug trafficking and other serious crimes may lead the Supreme Court to permit greater invasions of privacy. The result could be a situation in which privacy rights receive no better protection than in the days of general warrants and writs of assistance. 239 footnotes.