criminal procedure in american society

A detailed Summary of criminal procedure in american society

Using the Infotrac access system, I located two articles regarding consent searches. The first article discuses the acquiring of consent by police officers by means of deception. The other sets guidelines for officers when attempting to obtain consent while keeping the voluntariness of the suspect in mind.

The first article appeared in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin in August of 1996. Kimberly A. Crawford discusses guidelines for officers to follow when obtaining consent for warrantless searches. She agrees that it is a valuable investigative tool, but officers must be mindful when deciding the degree of voluntariness of the consent given. When determining the voluntariness of a consent search, the courts use a "totality of the circumstances" test. This test has concluded that the following actions do not necessarily render consent involuntary:

1) The failure to advise an individual of the right to refuse consent,

2) The fact that the officers had their weapons drawn and had handcuffed an individual prior to asking for consent, and

3) The obtaining of consent from a person under the influence of drugs.

Although these situations do not automatically necessitate involuntariness, the courts

The second article also appeared in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. John Gales Sauls published the article in January of 1994. He discusses that officers often times have to use deception and other covert techniques to gain access into a suspect's dwelling or place of business. According to the article, officers may enter stores or offices and other places open to the public in order to investigate without violating the Fourth Amendment.

do recognize these events when evaluating the role they play in the totality of the circumstances to determine the voluntariness of the actual consent.

The author describes instances where officers went into public places to investigate with the freedom allowed to any citizen. The Supreme Court decided that store clerks and office managers did not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in areas of the store where the public was allowed to enter and conduct legal business. The expectation that the possibly illegal nature of a product will not come to the attention of the authorities is not one that society is willing to accept as reasonable.

The author describes several differing types of deception often used by police officers to gain entrance to a nonpublic area. The tactic in question and under debate is the technique called coercive deception. This is where an officer relies o

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Approximate Word count = 920
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics