The Fourth Amendment Protects People Not Places Essay

The statement, “The Fourth Amendment protects people, not places,” is one of the most controversial statements in Criminal Procedure. The amendment’s purpose is to secure individuals’ rights to privacy within their houses, papers, and defends them against unreasonable searches and seizures. However, to what extent does the law preserve a person’s privacy? The Law of Search and Seizure and the Search Warrant, give the government strict to stipulations as to how they are able to rightfully obtain information that is presumed to be private. Although Searches, Seizures and Warrants seem to have simple guidelines, they are each intricate categories. It is common for a search to be defined as any action by government officials, which involves seeking for indication of a violation of law. Nonetheless, according to the Court’s cases, a search ensues when there is a physical invasion into one of the “constitutionally protected areas” which can be associated with the Fourth Amendment: persons, papers and effects (Whitebread and Slobogin, 120). Silverman vs United States (1961) exemplify how searches have conditions. Evidence officers gathered by …show more content…
In fact, most searches violate of the Fourth Amendment unless it conducted after a warrant has been used based on probable cause. Undercover and “Institution” Agents are pivotal factors in conducting searches that do not infringe on the rights stated in the Amendment. Undercover agents who take action based on the consent of the defendant imply that no intrusion took place and the Amendment was upheld. INSERT COURT CASE Along with Searches, Seizures also have guidelines and stipulations that are designed to abide by the Fourth Amendment. There are three tiers within the category of seizures, arrest, investigatory stop and a consensual encounter.