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Chapter 15: Search And Seizure 1. The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has been extended to searches and seizures conducted by state and local law enforcement officers. Answer: True 2. The Fourth Amendment contains a provision expressly prohibiting the use of evidence obtained through an unreasonable search and seizure. Answer: False 3. For a search to be valid under the Fourth Amendment, police officers must have “probable cause,” or in certain instances “reasonable suspicion” to believe that a particular search will produce evidence of crime. Answer: True 4. The Fourth Amendment applies to all premises and property, even premises and property that have been abandoned. Answer: False 5. Although the Fourth Amendment refers to “houses,” its protections are extended to stores, offices and places of business. Answer: True 6. A “search” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment refers only to a physical penetration of someone’s person or property. Answer: False 7. Any means of invading a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy is considered a “search” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Answer: True 8. Police must first obtain a warrant before conducting a search of a person’s home, even if the homeowner consents to a warrantless search. Answer: False 9. A tip from a confidential informant can give rise to probable cause to obtain a search warrant. Answer: True 10. Police must have “probable cause” before subjecting a suspicious person to a “stop-andfrisk.” Answer: False 11. The protections of the Fourth Amendment apply only to a person’s home and not to other types of structures. Answer: False 12. Persons crossing the national border or other functional equivalents are not protected by the Fourth Amendment. Answer: True 13. The Fourth Amendment was adopted to limit searches and seizures by both national and state officials. Answer: False 14. Courts have approved properly established and conducted sobriety checkpoints where all drivers passing a certain point are stopped briefly and checked for signs of intoxication. Answer: True 15. A magistrate’s finding of probable cause may not be based on hearsay evidence. Answer: False 16. Increases in drug trafficking over the last few decades gave rise to a number of state courts approving anticipatory search warrants where probable cause does not have to exist until the warrant is executed. Answer: True 17. Police in hot pursuit of a fleeing suspect may not pursue that suspect into a protected place, such as a home, without having to wait until a warrant can be obtained. Answer: False 18. The Supreme Court has said that searches and seizures must always be based on probable cause. Answer: False 19. Police may search a home without a warrant when the homeowner is arrested on the front lawn. Answer: False 20. Police may make a warrantless seizure of incriminating evidence when they are lawfully in an area and that evidence is in plain view. Answer: True 21. As a general rule, the Fourth Amendment requires police to obtain __________ before conducting a search or seizure. a. permission of the property owner b. an indictment c. clear and convincing evidence of guilt d. a warrant Answer: D 22. Which of the following often qualifies as a permissible warrantless search? a. a search of a suspect’s person incident to a lawful arrest b. a search of an automobile based on probable cause c. a “pat-down” search of a person based on reasonable suspicion d. All of these Answer: D 23. Which one of the following statements is INCORRECT? a. Constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures are not violated by police who make warrantless entries and searches when the police have a reasonable basis to believe that an occupant within a house is in immediate need of aid. b. Police who seek to conduct a warrantless search must first advise a person that he or she has the right to refuse to consent to such a search. c. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Fourth Amendment does not restrict searches and seizures conducted by United States agents of a nonresident’s property located in a foreign country. d. Courts often excuse compliance with the “knock and announce” requirement when to require strict adherence would endanger the lives of the officers or provide an occasion for occupants to dispose of evidence. Answer: B 24. When evaluating applications for search warrants based on tips from confidential or anonymous informants, magistrates must consider the __________. a. suspect’s arrest record b. informant’s arrest record c. seriousness of the crime being investigated d. totality of circumstances Answer: D 25. The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure require that a search warrant must be executed within _______ days after it is issued. a. one hundred b. fifty c. thirty d. ten Answer: D 26. Which of the following doctrines would permit a police officer to seize contraband discovered on the floor of an apartment during a valid emergency search? a. plain view b. reasonable expectation of privacy c. curtilage d. good faith Answer: A 27. In conducting a warrantless search incident to a lawful arrest, police may search the person being arrested and the area ____________. a. under person’s ownership b. within that person’s normal sphere of activity c. within that person’s immediate control d. None of these Answer: C 28. Routine searches of persons and automobiles crossing ___________ are not prohibited by the Fourth Amendment. a. state lines b. county lines c. the borders of the United States d. city boundaries Answer: C 29. The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized a limited ________ exception to the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule. a. probable cause b. reasonable suspicion c. national security d. good-faith Answer: D 30. To invoke the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule, a person must have _________. a. U.S. citizenship b. standing c. not been in possession of contraband or evidence of crime when searched d. no prior criminal convictions Answer: B 31. Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 limits ________ without a court order unless one party to the conversation consents. a. interception of electronic communications b. entrapment c. the use of force by police d. aerial photography Answer: A 32. A ___________ is a device that allows the police to learn every number dialed from a specifically targeted telephone. a. spike mike b. pen register c. digital display pager d. random enumerator Answer: C 33. In ___________ (1914), the U.S. Supreme Court first held that evidence obtained through an unlawful search and seizure could not be used to convict a person of a federal crime. a. Weeks v. United States b. Wolf v. United States c. Mapp v. United States d. United States v. Leon Answer: A 34. The ___________ doctrine holds that evidence derived from other evidence that is obtained through an illegal search or seizure is itself inadmissible. a. inevitable discovery b. independent source c. suspension of disbelief d. fruit of the poisonous tree Answer: D 35. The ___________ is justified by the need to deter police misconduct, but it exacts a high price to society in that “the criminal is to go free because the constable has blundered.” a. right to counsel b. prohibition against double jeopardy c. exclusionary rule d. the police deception rule Answer: C 36. Which one of the following statements is incorrect? a. By far the most significant English case in the area of search and seizure prior to the American Revolution was Entick v. Carrington (1775). b. The USA PATRIOT Act permits federal magistrate judges in any district in which terrorism-related activities may have occurred to issue search warrants for searches within or outside the district. c. Federal law permits courts to issue wiretap orders for indefinite periods of time. d. Courts have generally disapproved of blanket policies that allow strip searches of all persons who have been arrested, particularly where traffic violators are concerned. Answer: C 37. In a famous debate in 1761, James Otis called the ____________ “the worst instrument of arbitrary power, the most destructive of English liberty and the fundamental principles of law that ever was found in an English law book.” a. exclusionary rule b. Stamp Act c. Writs of Assistance d. Star Chamber Answer: C 38. The judicial extension of the Fourth Amendment and other protections of the Bill of Rights to limit the actions of the state and local governments is referred to as the doctrine of ________. a. res judicata b. incorporation c. extensión d. absorption Answer: B 39. The Fourth Amendment protects a person’s rights against the police, but generally does not apply to searches and seizures conducted by ___________. a. private citizens b. private employers c. private security personnel d. any of these Answer: D 40. The Fourth Amendment does not apply to property that has been ____________. a. sold b. rented c. abandoned d. None of these Answer: C 41. In United States v. Jacobsen (1984), the Supreme Court held that the Fourth Amendment “is ___________ to a search or seizure … effected by a private individual not acting as an agent of the Government or with the participation or knowledge of any government official.” a. wholly inapplicable b. wholly applicable c. partially applicable d. None of these Answer: A 42. In Illinois v. Rodriguez (1990), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the test to be applied in determining whether a third-party consent to search is valid is ___________. a. based on the relationship of the third party giving consent to the party whose premises are searched b. the degree of dominion and control exercised by the third party over the searched premises c. the police officer’s subjective belief that the third party has the authority to grant consent to a search of the premises d. whether the third party giving consent has some ownership interest in the searched premises Answer: C 43. Although the Fourth Amendment refers to “persons, houses, papers and effects,” its protections are extended to ___________. a. places of business b. open fields c. abandoned property d. all of these Answer: A 44. Which one of the following statements concerning automobile inventory searches is INCORRECT? a. When conducted according to standard police procedures, an inventory search of an automobile legally impounded by the police is generally regarded as an administrative search not subject to ordinary Fourth Amendment requirements. b. Inventory searches are justified by the need to protect a vehicle owner’s property while the vehicle is in police custody, as well as the need to protect the police against false claims of stolen property. c. If a routine inventory search yields evidence of crime, it may be seized and admitted into evidence without violating the Fourth Amendment. d. When investigating crime, police may conduct an inventory search of any vehicle parked in a public parking space that has been legally ticketed for overtime parking. Answer: D 45. The good-faith exception to the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule recognized in United States v. Leon (1984) does not apply to cases where ___________. a. The magistrate was misled by an affidavit that the affiant knew was false or would have known was false except for reckless disregard for the truth. b. The affidavit is utterly lacking in indicia of probable cause c. The warrant is so facially deficient that the executing officer cannot reasonably presume its validity. d. Any of these Answer: D 46. It must be noted that the ____________ exception to the exclusionary rule applies only in cases where police officers rely on warrants that are later held to be invalid; it does not apply to warrantless searches. Answer: good-faith 47. A person who seeks the benefits of the exclusionary rule must have ________ to invoke the rule. Answer: standing 48. The Supreme Court’s current approach to the exclusionary rule is to grant __________ only to those persons who have a possessory or legitimate privacy interest in the place that was searched. Answer: standing 49. For the purposes of the Fourth Amendment, a ________ occurs when government agents look for evidence in a manner that intrudes into a person’s legally protected zone of privacy. Answer: search 50. For a search to be reasonable under the Fourth Amendment police generally must have _______ to believe that a search will produce evidence of crime. Answer: probable cause 51. For hundreds of years, English subjects (and, later, American colonists) were subjected to the abuse of the ___________, that is, a warrant authorizing searches of unspecified persons and places. Answer: general warrant 52. In United States v. Grubbs (2006), the U.S. Supreme Court held that ____________ search warrants do not contravene the Fourth Amendment. Answer: anticipatory 53. At common law, the concept of _______ was developed to afford the area immediately surrounding a house the same protection under the law of burglary as was afforded the house itself. Answer: curtilage 54. Local ordinances allow for routine inspections to enforce building codes and other regulations. The Supreme Court has recognized these ____________ searches as exceptions to normal Fourth Amendment protections. Answer: administrative 55. _________ searches are justified by the need for protection of the owner’s property while the vehicle remains in police custody, protection of the police from claims of lost property, and the need to protect the police from potential dangers that might be lurking inside closed automobiles. Answer: Inventory 56. In determining whether the Fourth Amendment applies to a particular situation, courts employ a twofold requirement: first whether a person has exhibited a subjective expectation of privacy and, second, whether the expectation is one that society recognizes as “___________.” Answer: reasonable 57. In ___________ (1967), the Supreme Court abandoned the trespass doctrine, saying “the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places.” Answer: Katz v. United States 58. The term __________ refers to the taking into custody of physical evidence, property, or even a person Answer: seizure 59. When conducted according to standard police procedures, an ____________ of an impounded vehicle is not subject to ordinary Fourth Amendment requirements. Answer: inventory search 60. The Fourth Amendment expresses a preference for searches and seizures to be conducted pursuant to a warrant, which in turn must be supported by ____________. Answer: probable cause 61. To obtain a search warrant, agents submit an __________ to a judge or magistrate who must then determine whether the stated facts support the issuance of the warrant. Answer: affidavit 62. Courts say police officers are to determine probable cause as a commonsense, practical question in light of the ___________ in a given case. Answer: totality of circumstances 63. The ___________ Act enables law enforcement to access Internet communications, expands the authority for use of pen registers and trap-and-trace surveillance, and allows federal courts to issue “roving” surveillance orders in connection with foreign intelligence matters. Answer: USA PATRIOT 64. The ____________ was judicially created to prohibit the use of illegally obtained evidence in a criminal prosecution of a person whose rights were violated by the police in obtaining that evidence. Answer: exclusionary rule 65. In 1984 the Supreme Court created a ___________ exception to the exclusionary rule where the police officer who conducted a search relied on the validity of a search warrant, even though it was later determined that the magistrate erred in finding probable cause to issue the warrant. Answer: good-faith A local police department suspects that three individuals, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, are growing marijuana on their property and selling it around town. The officers, though, do not have probable cause to obtain a warrant. As a result, the officers begin discussing some creative avenues for acquiring information about these individuals and their activities. A rookie officer who majored in Political Science in college offers three options: 1) looking through trash left outside of the suspects’ home; 2) flying over the suspects’ backyard and using standard binoculars to search for marijuana plants; and 3) using a newly developed piece of equipment that can scan the suspects’ house and detect the presence of large quantities of organic plants. Answer the following questions about these options. 66. The Supreme Court’s decision in Kyllo v. United States has implications for which option? a. Option 1 b. Option 2 c. Option 3 d. None of the options Answer: C 67. Which of these Supreme Court cases has direct implications for Option 1? a. California v. Greenwood b. Kyllo v. United States c. Herring v. United States d. United States v. Ross Answer: A 68. Which of these options is most likely to be deemed unconstitutional? a. Option 1 b. Option 2 c. Option 3 d. Options 1 and 2 Answer: C 69. If the police had probable cause suggesting that these three individuals were growing and selling marijuana in their home, then which of the following would be true: a. Police could forcibly enter the home without a warrant b. Police would likely be granted a search warrant by a magistrate c. Police could break into a parked car in the home’s driveway and execute a search without a warrant d. All of the above are true Answer: B Three college students are travelling from upstate New York to Florida for spring break. In Buford, Georgia, they come to a stop at DUI checkpoint. An officer approaches the driver’s side window, determines that the driver is sober, and tells the college students to head on their way. However, a second officer, suspicious of the out-of-state license plate, attaches a GPS locator to the car’s rear bumper just before the students drive off. Police conduct surveillance on the car’s movements for the next week, and after determining that the car went to Florida—movements that the officers deem consistent with drug trafficking—the Buford police determine that they will stop this vehicle the next time it enters their jurisdiction. Sure enough, as the car enters Buford on the college student’s trip home after a week in Florida, it is pulled over by an officer. As the driver hands the officer a driver’s license, the officer says that he smells marijuana in the car and initiates a search of the vehicle. Inside a zipped backpack on the backseat, he finds contraband and makes an arrest. 70. An officer’s act of visually inspecting the inside of the car at a DUI checkpoint is: a. a violation of the Fourth Amendment, according to Supreme Court precedent b. a violation of the 2nd Amendment, according to Supreme Court precedent c. not a unconstitutional, according to Supreme Court precedent d. only acceptable with a warrant, according to Supreme Court precedent Answer: C 71. The act of placing a GPS locator on the rear bumper of the car and conducting surveillance on its movements is: a. acceptable behavior without a warrant because the car is in “plain view” b. a violation of the Fourth Amendment according to the decision in U.S. v. Jones c. acceptable behavior without a warrant under the “exigent circumstance” doctrine d. permitted under the 4th Amendment according to the decision in U.S. v. Jones Answer: B 72. Assume that the traffic stop on the student’s return trip had in fact been a valid one. Further assume that an officer legitimately smells marijuana. Evaluate all of the statements below and determine which is true. a. The officer could conduct a search of the vehicle because the odor of marijuana provides the necessary probable cause, but could not search a closed backpack. b. The officer could search a closed backpack sitting on the backseat because the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Ross permits a comprehensive search of a vehicle’s contents when probable cause exists. c. After smelling marijuana, the officer needs to call a judge to obtain a warrant before search any part of the vehicle, as declared in the Supreme Court’s decision in Kyllo v. United States d. All statements are false. Answer: B Three college students who attend a public university share an apartment in Collegetown, USA. Police have heard that three members of the local college’s varsity swim team live there and have all recently failed university-administered drug tests. Police show up at the apartment hoping they can acquire to consent to enter. As they approach the apartment, police see that the landlord is standing outside the door. Police ask the landlord to let them in. The landlord, who is a lawyer, refuses, citing the Supreme Court’s decision in Chapman v. United States. Irritated, police instead knock on the door. One resident of the apartment is there and allows police to enter. In a common area, police find drug paraphernalia and a small amount of cocaine. They seize this evidence. Just then, a second resident of the home enters and tells police to leave immediately. They do leave, but take the evidence with them. 73. The drug testing of these athletes by a public university is likely to be: a. ruled unconstitutional as a violation of the athletes’ 4th Amendment rights b. upheld based on Supreme Court precedent c. acceptable only if a warrant is obtained before testing is administered d. seen as providing probable cause for the search of the students’ apartment Answer: B 74. The landlord’s refusal to grant police access to the apartment was: a. an incorrect application of Chapman v. United States. b. correct in principle, but cited the wrong case. c. only valid because somebody was home. d. in fact consistent with appropriate Supreme Court case law. Answer: D 75. The student who allowed the police to enter could validly consent to a search of common areas in the home. This statement is: a. valid as long as there is mutual use of this area and the person consenting has joint access or control. b. is improper because all three students would have to consent for a search to occur. c. is improper because a majority of students (at least two of three) would have to consent for a search to occur. d. is improper because only the landlord can consent to a search of this apartment. Answer: A Test Bank for Criminal Law and Procedure John M. Scheb 9781285070117, 9781285690292, 9781285546131
