NCJ Number
137690
Date Published
1991
Length
443 pages
Annotation
Any practitioner likely to encounter search and seizure issues must understand the law of warrantless searches and seizures, and this book aims to provide a manageable guide to this rapidly changing area of law.
Abstract
The text of each book chapter is divided into sections that allow the reader to locate additional material on and specific case examples of the point at issue. Numerous U.S. Supreme Court and court of appeals cases are summarized, with citations for immediate use or as a guide for further research. The first substantive chapters examine basic requirements generally applicable to fourth amendment questions and look at the exclusionary rule, presenting the history of its development, challenges to it, the changing way it is viewed by courts, and specific limits on its application. Subsequent chapters consider the issue of pretext; the meaning of "government" in the fourth amendment context; basic concepts relevant to search, seizure, probable cause, and reasonable suspicion; principles applicable to warrantless arrests; searches justified by prior arrest; investigative seizures; suspicionless limited seizures; and the specialized case of seizing persons or things while executing or procuring a warrant. Additional chapters discuss when a chattel may be seized or searched without a warrant and warrant exceptions (consent, plain view, inventory, exigency, the vehicle exception, and the border). Final chapters address ad hoc balancing, office searches by government supervisors, school searches, the special case of drug and other testing, administrative searches, protective sweeps, and standing. A table of cases and an index are included.