This paper examines the second critical thinking question found at the end of chapter 7 in
Robert Aberle 's text, The Administration of Justice an Introduction to the Criminal Justice System in
America. I will present a discussion highlighting the “differences between probable cause and
reasonable suspicion and what each of these levels of evidence allow a police officer to do” (Aberle
2014). Aberle 's accretions will be presented and contrasted with my own.
First off I 'm going to start with reasonable suspicion for this is most of the time the first step to
probable cause. What is reasonable suspicion in Robert Aberle 's text this is how he describes
reasonable suspicion "Reasonable suspicion can be defined as the level of …show more content…
If I was a police officer, and I was sitting across
the street from a gas station in my squad car and I saw two individuals who were just hanging around
the gas station, not going into the convenience store or getting gas. Furthermore also i saw them in the course of two hours go up to twenty different cars and lean into an open window and seem to be conversing with the driver or passenger. This scenario might lead a reasonable person to believe that the individuals are selling drugs. The three articulable facts for reasonable suspicion would be that the individuals were
hanging around the gas station not going in to the store and not getting gas. The second one would be
that I saw them go up to twenty different cars in the course of two hours. My third reason would be that
they also leaned in an open window of the vehicles they went up to.
In the scenario I just presented to you I the officer would have the ability to do a pat-down
search now you might say that this is against the individuals Fourth Amendment right. The Fourth
Amendment of the US Constitution states “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, …show more content…
The court has further stated that the facts and circumstances that lead to an arrest or a
seizure must be sufficient to persuade a reasonable person to believe that an illegal act has been or is
being committed. Probable cause is an issue of Law and therefore the final determiner of whether
probable cause exists is a judge not the police officer" (Aberle 2014). Furthermore in his text Aberle
also described probable cause in his own words as "a simplified working definition of probable cause
for arrest is it is more likely than not that the person being arrested committed the crime that they are
being arrested for"(Aberle 2014). Now in my own words I would describe probable cause as having
almost no doubt that the individual that an officer is arresting has committed some kind of crime. As
most people may not know there are times when probable cause is predetermined such as when you
have a search and or an arrest warrant. The reason that a search or arrest warrant has predetermined
probable cause is because a judge was presented the facts that were discovered during the course of
Robert Aberle 's text, The Administration of Justice an Introduction to the Criminal Justice System in
America. I will present a discussion highlighting the “differences between probable cause and
reasonable suspicion and what each of these levels of evidence allow a police officer to do” (Aberle
2014). Aberle 's accretions will be presented and contrasted with my own.
First off I 'm going to start with reasonable suspicion for this is most of the time the first step to
probable cause. What is reasonable suspicion in Robert Aberle 's text this is how he describes
reasonable suspicion "Reasonable suspicion can be defined as the level of …show more content…
If I was a police officer, and I was sitting across
the street from a gas station in my squad car and I saw two individuals who were just hanging around
the gas station, not going into the convenience store or getting gas. Furthermore also i saw them in the course of two hours go up to twenty different cars and lean into an open window and seem to be conversing with the driver or passenger. This scenario might lead a reasonable person to believe that the individuals are selling drugs. The three articulable facts for reasonable suspicion would be that the individuals were
hanging around the gas station not going in to the store and not getting gas. The second one would be
that I saw them go up to twenty different cars in the course of two hours. My third reason would be that
they also leaned in an open window of the vehicles they went up to.
In the scenario I just presented to you I the officer would have the ability to do a pat-down
search now you might say that this is against the individuals Fourth Amendment right. The Fourth
Amendment of the US Constitution states “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, …show more content…
The court has further stated that the facts and circumstances that lead to an arrest or a
seizure must be sufficient to persuade a reasonable person to believe that an illegal act has been or is
being committed. Probable cause is an issue of Law and therefore the final determiner of whether
probable cause exists is a judge not the police officer" (Aberle 2014). Furthermore in his text Aberle
also described probable cause in his own words as "a simplified working definition of probable cause
for arrest is it is more likely than not that the person being arrested committed the crime that they are
being arrested for"(Aberle 2014). Now in my own words I would describe probable cause as having
almost no doubt that the individual that an officer is arresting has committed some kind of crime. As
most people may not know there are times when probable cause is predetermined such as when you
have a search and or an arrest warrant. The reason that a search or arrest warrant has predetermined
probable cause is because a judge was presented the facts that were discovered during the course of