Search warrants
Search warrants are legal documents that authorize law enforcement officials to conduct searches of specified premises in relation to criminal investigations. These warrants are essential for collecting admissible evidence, as they are governed by the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures. To obtain a search warrant, law enforcement must demonstrate probable cause to a judge, detailing specific information about the suspected crime and the items sought. The warrant must also describe the location to be searched clearly.
The requirements for search warrants were established to prevent abuses reminiscent of colonial practices, where authorities conducted arbitrary searches. While search warrants are a fundamental aspect of lawful police procedures, exceptions exist under which police can conduct searches without a warrant, such as consent searches, plain view searches, and searches during arrests. However, any evidence obtained without a valid warrant may be deemed inadmissible in court, reinforcing the importance of adhering to established legal protocols. Recent legislative changes, particularly after events like the September 11 attacks, have introduced new dimensions to the warrant process, including provisions that allow for delayed notification of searches, raising ongoing discussions about the balance between security and civil liberties.
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Search warrants
SIGNIFICANCE: Search warrants are often crucial to the lawful obtaining of evidence used in criminal proceedings, which depend on evidence that meets the requirements of the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment.
In the justice system, warrants are written legal documents obtained from judges, magistrates, and justices of the peace, unless otherwise specified by a legal statute, that direct law officers to execute specific actions appropriate to their positions. Several varieties of warrants are used, but the most commonly issued are warrants of arrest and search warrants.
Search warrants are written authorizations for law enforcement to inspect stated premises, usually to search for materials related to the commission of crimes. Obtaining search warrants requires law enforcement to convince judges or other magistrates that criminal activity has taken place or is about to take place and that there is an urgent need to conduct searches to acquire evidence. Law enforcement presents its requests to the judge in the form of written affidavits that must establish probable cause for conducting the searches. Probable cause is usually based on either an officer’s own observations or the observations of private citizens or police undercover informants.
Any evidence gathered from a private premise without a valid search warrant is regarded as illegal and inadmissible in court under the exclusionary rule , under rules set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in Weeks v. United States (1914) and Mapp v. Ohio (1961).
Police officers armed with warrants are authorized to search only the places specified in the warrants, and they typically can seize only the property that the warrants describe. However, when investigators conducting legal searches discover additional incriminating evidence, they may seize it as well. Investigators are permitted to seize any unlisted items, provided they are contraband or offer evidence of criminal activity. For example, if investigators using a warrant to search for a weapon believed to be in a particular apartment were to find only packages of cocaine during their lawful search for the weapon, they would be authorized to seize the cocaine and use it against the suspect in court.
The Fourth Amendment
The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution governs police search and seizure procedures. Before search warrants can be issued, it requires that probable cause for conducting searches be supported by oaths, that specific descriptions of the items or persons to be seized be listed, and that detailed descriptions of the premises in question be provided.
The amendment is intended to protect citizens against “unreasonable searches and seizures.” It was written in response to abuses American colonists suffered under British rule. Prior to the American Revolution, British soldiers were given legal “writs of assistance” to rummage and ransack colonists’ homes whenever they so chose. The Fourth Amendment was carefully constructed to guard against searches of that nature. However, the judiciousness with which certain modern searches are permitted has been challenged extensively both in court and elsewhere. In California v. Acevedo (1991), the Supreme Court ruled that searches of bags or other receptacles in car trunks are permissible and not “unreasonable” without warrants if probable cause is found to exist.
The terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, helped to compromise the rights guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment. Following the attacks, the US Congress passed the Patriot Act , which permitted searches authorized by such vague authorities as “TITLE I- Sec. 106 Presidential authority” and “TITLE II-Sec. 213 Authority for delaying notice of the execution of a warrant,” as well as a whole host of others. These delayed notice searches are called sneak and peek searches and can be particularly useful in terrorism cases—alerting the suspects of an impending search could allow time for destruction of evidence or other coverup activities. Evidence has shown, as reported by Vice News, that the majority of these searches are done in cases that have nothing to do with terrorism.
In actual practice, most police searches occur without warrants issued by magistrates or judges because the courts have defined a number of situations in which warrants are not necessary—either because the searches are reasonable under the circumstances or because the Fourth Amendment does not apply because of a lack of a reasonable expectation of privacy. Circumstances under which law enforcement is not required to obtain warrants include consent searches approved by persons in control of the premises to be searched; plain view searches of places in which crime-related materials or contraband in “plain view” reveals to police evidence of criminal activity; and searches made in conjunction with arrests.
Automobiles may also be searched without warrants when they are validly stopped and police have probable cause to believe they contain contraband or evidence. Other exceptions to the warrant requirement include emergency circumstances in which police are authorized to conduct searches when waiting for warrants would place the evidence or public safety in jeopardy, and searches of discarded garbage that has been taken outside premises for collection. Also, individual persons may be searched for weapons when police can establish reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot.
Bibliography
Bloom, Robert M. Searches, Seizures, and Warrants. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2003. Up-to-date text on all aspects of search warrants and related issues.
Del Carmen, Rolando V. Criminal Procedure: Law and Practice. 6th ed. Belmont, Calif.: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2004. Comprehensive and unusually readable textbook on criminal procedure that pays considerable attention to issues relating to warrants and search and seizure issues.
Guion, Payton. "Law Enforcement Is Using 'Sneak and Peek' Patriot Act Power, but Not to Bust Terrorists." Vice News. Vice Media, 31 Oct. 2014. Web. 1 June 2016.
LaFave, W. R. Search and Seizure: A Treatise on the Fourth Amendment. 3d ed. St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing, 1995. Comprehensive overview of search and seizure with special attention to the constitutional issues that it raises.
McWhirter, Darien A. Search, Seizure, and Privacy. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, 1994. Excellent survey of search and seizure and the exclusionary rule that was written to make the subjects interesting for high school and undergraduate college students.
Schwartzbach, Micah. "Search Warrants: What They Are and When They're Necessary." NOLO, 25 June 2021, www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/search-warrant-basics-29742.html. Accessed 11 July 2024.
"Search Warrant." Cornell Law School, May 2022, www.law.cornell.edu/wex/search‗warrant. Accessed 11 July 2024.