NCJ Number
130671
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 15 Issue: 2 Dated: special issue (April 1991) Pages: 121-138
Date Published
1991
Length
18 pages
Annotation
Third party consent searches, conducted without the warrants required by the fourth amendment, are discussed with regard to relevant psychological theory. This theory establishes a correspondence between legal concepts and assumptions, on the one hand, and individual behaviors and social expectations, on the other.
Abstract
Concepts of common authority area versus exclusive use areas and the assumption of risk doctrine are the key legal elements of reasonable expectation of privacy in the event of third party consent searches. Psychological theory and research which relate to the legal components of privacy regulation focus on interpersonal relations and human territorial functioning. The authors suggest that the third party consent search exception to the fourth amendment should be modified in light of serious legal criticisms of the practice, the potential damage wrought by these searches on intimate social relationships, and discrepancies between legal assumptions about interpersonal relations among co-residents and their actual behaviors. 117 notes (Author abstract modified)