Exam ; Search & Seizure

Question 1

(D) What is a search?

Answer 1

A process where law enforcement officers examine a person, place, or object to find evidence of a crime.

Question 2

(D) What is a seizure?

Answer 2

The government’s legal act of taking possession of property or an individual.

Question 3

(D) What is the expectation of privacy?

Answer 3

The right of individuals to be free from unreasonable government intrusion into their personal lives, such as their homes, bodies, and communications.

Question 4

(D) What is consent?

Answer 4

Voluntarily given by someone who resides on the premises, eliminating the need for a warrant.

Question 5

(D) What is abandoned property?

Answer 5

Items that a person has intentionally left behind or discarded with no intention of retrieving them

Question 6

(D) What is incident to arrest?

Answer 6

Where it is reasonable for the officer making the arrest to search the person being arrested to get rid of any weapons that person might try to use to fight the arrest or get away.

Question 7

(D) What is plain view?

Answer 7

Evidence in plain sight.

Question 8

(D) What is curtilage?

Answer 8

The area immediately surrounding a person’s home that is considered private property and generally protected from unreasonable searches and seizures. (yard for short)

Question 9

(D) What is scope?

Answer 9

Boundaries and content of the right in question; defines the locations that may be searched.

Question 10

(D) What is intensity?

Answer 10

The thoroughness with which they may be searched.

Question 11

(D) What is a warrant?

Answer 11

A document issued by a court that authorizes law enforcement to search a person or place for evidence of a crime.

Question 12

(D) What is reasonable articulable suspicion?

Answer 12

A standard used by law enforcement to justify stopping and briefly detaining someone based on specific facts and circumstances that suggest they may be involved in criminal activity.

Question 13

(D) What is exigent circumstances?

Answer 13

Situations where law enforcement officers can act without a warrant due to a pressing emergency, such as imminent danger to life or property.

Question 14

(D) What is contraband?

Answer 14

Any item that is prohibited or restricted by law, such as illegal drugs, weapons, or stolen property.

Question 15

(D) What is the exclusionary rule?

Answer 15

A legal principle that prevents evidence obtained illegally from being used in a criminal trial.

Question 16

(D) What does “good faith” in criminal justice mean?

Answer 16

To act of “good faith” is where an officer reasonably believes that they are complying honestly and justly according to the law.

Question 17

(D) What is inevitable discovery?

Answer 17

A legal doctrine that allows evidence to be admissible in court, even if it was obtained illegally, if the prosecution can prove that the evidence would have been discovered through legal means eventually.

Question 18

(D) What is police created exigent circumstances?

Answer 18

Situations where law enforcement officers intentionally create a sense of urgency to justify warrantless searches or arrests, often based on fabricated evidence or false pretenses.

Question 19

(D) What is probable cause?

Answer 19

That which leads a police officer to believe an offense has been committed or is being committed and the suspect committed it.

Question 20

(D) What is the vehicle limited weapons search?

Answer 20

A type of search conducted on a vehicle when there is reasonable suspicion that a weapon is present, but not enough probable cause for a full search.

Question 21

(Q) What does the 4th Amendment protect?

Answer 21

The 4th Amendment protects individuals (and their effects) from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.

Question 22

(Q) What four activities are not treated as searches under the 4th Amendment?

Answer 22

1. Searches and seizures conducted by non-governmental/private people
2. Abandoned property
3. Investigation of matters exposed to public view (plain view)
4. K9 Narcotics sniffs

Question 23

(Q) In order to secure a search warrant, the officer must have probable cause. What are three things needed to secure a search warrant?

Answer 23

1. Statement that a crime has been committed
2. That specific items associated with the crime exist
3. That those specific items will be found in the place to be

Question 24

(Q) What are the four categories of objects police may seize for use as evidence?

Answer 24

1. Fruits of the crime
2. Instrumentalities used to commit the crime
3. Contraband
4. Mere evidence

Question 25

(Q) What are the requirements for a “plain feel” seizure during a Terry Stop.

Answer 25

A “plain feel” seizure during a Terry Stop is allowed when an officer takes the measure to conduct a pat-down for weapons outside the clothing only, being weary of an object that could be identifiable as contraband or a weapon.

Question 26

(Q) When may the police perform a vehicle search incident to arrest?

Answer 26

Police can search a vehicle incident to arrest when the driver or occupant is arrested and the police have reasonable belief that evidence of a crime is in the vehicle.

Question 27

(Q) What’s the automobile exception to the 4th Amendment?

Answer 27

The automobile exception allows police to search a vehicle without a warrant if there is probable cause to believe it contains contraband or evidence of a crime.

Question 28

(Q) What are the three exigent circumstances that allow the police to make a warrantless entry into a residence?

Answer 28

1. hot pursuit
2. threat to evidence
3. imminent danger

Question 29

(Q) What are the five exceptions to the Exclusionary Rule?

Answer 29

1. Inevitable discovery
2. Good Faith
3. Valid warrant entry method
4. Discrediting defendant’s testimony
5. Civil and administrative hearings present evidence.

Question 30

(Q) What is a “Mincey Warrant?”

Answer 30

It’s the nickname for the crime scene warrant, a no exception clarifying that you need a search warrant for a crime scene as you do for any other location that is desired to be searched.

Question 31

(T/F) Warrants cannot be open ended general warrants.

Answer 31

True. They must be specific as to the place to be searched and the items to be seized.