Warrantless Searches (From Criminal Justice Administration Cases and Materials, Fourth Edition, P 266-378, 1991, Frank W Miller, Robert O Dawson, et al. -- See NCJ-129355)

• NCJ Number: 129360
• Author(s): F W Miller; R O Dawson; G E Dix; R I Parnas
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 113 pages
• Sale Source: Foundation Press
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

U.S. Supreme Court cases pertinent to warrantless searches encompass the emergency doctrine, administrative inspections and searches of licensed premises, consent searches, automobile searches and seizures, searches and seizures at or near international borders, and extraordinarily intrusive searches.

Abstract

Although most of the situations addressed involve law enforcement activity designed to determine whether a criminal offense has been committed and, if so, the identity of the offender. The so-called "administrative" searches, however, may be conducted by inspectors who are not law enforcement officers and who may intend to counter the violation of legal but noncriminal regulations by means other than the criminal prosecution of violators. Whether a noncriminal objective justifies relaxation of fourth amendment requirements is one of the issues raised by such inspections. Each situation discussed presents two major categories of issues. The first concerns the requirement of a search warrant. In many situations, the issue is whether this requirement should be abandoned entirely and so-called "warrantless" searches regarded as reasonable. In other situations, however, the issue may be whether the warrant requirement should be retained but relaxed somewhat to accommodate the special needs presented by the situation. In other cases, the issue is whether fourth amendment reasonableness should be retained and modified to impose more stringent requirements than are involved in the traditional warrant process. Notes on the cases are included.