Introduction to Criminal Justice: Policing - Legal Aspects

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment due process requirements, landmark search and seizure Supreme Court cases, interrogation guidelines, and digital evidence rules from Chapter 7: Policing - Legal Aspects.

Landmark Cases

U.S. Supreme Court cases that produce substantial changes in both the understanding of the requirements of due process and in the practical day-to-day operations of the justice system.

Probable Cause

A set of facts and circumstances that would make a reasonably intelligent and prudent person believe that a particular person has committed a specific crime.

Warrant

A specific written order issued by a judge (magistrate) directing law enforcement to search or seize a particular person, place, or thing.

Illegally Seized Evidence

Evidence gathered and seized without regard to the legal Fourth Amendment requirements, typically from improper interrogations or searches lacking a valid warrant.

Exclusionary Rule

A legal rule established under Weeks v. U.S. holding that evidence seized illegally by law enforcement cannot be introduced or used in a trial.

Weeks v. U.S. (1914)

The landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that formed the basis for the exclusionary rule, holding that illegally seized evidence cannot be used in federal trials.

Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

The landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that incorporated and applied the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule to state-level criminal proceedings.

Herring v. U.S. (2009)

A Supreme Court decision holding that the exclusionary rule does not apply when officers act in good faith, ruling it should be used only as a last resort for intentional or reckless violations.

Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine

A legal doctrine established in Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. U.S. stating that any evidence deriving from a search or seizure that was itself illegal cannot be used in trial.

Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. U.S. (1920)

The U.S. Supreme Court case that articulated and introduced the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine.

Good-Faith Exception

A legal exception recognizing that evidence seized under a search warrant later found to lack sufficient probable cause is admissible if executing officers believed the warrant was valid.

U.S. v. Leon (1984)

The landmark Supreme Court case that officially recognized the good-faith exception to the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule.

Warrantless Searches

An examination by police of an individual, location, or possession conducted without obtaining a written judicial authorization.

Chimel v. California (1969)

The Supreme Court case ruling that a warrantless search incident to an arrest is valid only when restricted to the defendant's person and the physical area within their immediate control.

Plain-View Doctrine

A Fourth Amendment doctrine established in Harris v. U.S. permitting officers to seize evidence without a warrant if it is plainly visible and observed from a location where the officer has a legal right to be.

Harris v. U.S. (1968)

The Supreme Court case that created the plain-view doctrine after an officer discovered robbery evidence while conducting an inventory of an impounded vehicle.

Exigent Circumstances Searches

Emergency warrantless searches justified by special needs involving clear dangers to life, risk of suspect escape, or imminent removal or destruction of evidence.

Anticipatory Warrants

Search warrants issued based on probable cause that evidence of a crime, while not presently at the specified place, will likely be there when the warrant is executed.

Arrest

The act of taking an individual into physical custody by authority of law to charge them with a criminal offense, a delinquent act, or a status offense.

Investigative Detention

A temporary seizure of an individual by law enforcement for investigative purposes, distinct from an arrest and limited to the time reasonably needed to resolve police business.

Reasonable Suspicion

A belief based on facts and inferences that would induce an ordinarily prudent person to conclude that criminal activity has occurred or is taking place; justifies a brief stop and frisk.

Terry v. Ohio (1968)

The Supreme Court case authorizing an investigatory stop and pat-down frisk of an individual's outer clothing for weapons based on reasonable suspicion.

Fleeting-Targets Exception

An exception to the exclusionary rule permitting warrantless vehicle searches based on probable cause because motor vehicles can be quickly driven out of a jurisdiction.

Carroll v. U.S. (1925)

The Supreme Court decision establishing that a warrantless search of an automobile is valid if supported by a reasonable belief that contraband is present.

Suspicionless Searches

Warrantless searches conducted without individualized suspicion, justified when public safety needs provide a compelling interest that outweighs individual privacy expectations.

Interrogation

Any behaviors by police officers that they should know are reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response from a criminal suspect.

Inherent Coercion

Any form of non-physical coercion, hostility, or pressure applied by investigators to force a confession from a suspect, deemed unconstitutional in Ashcraft v. Tennessee.

Psychological Manipulation

Interrogation methods designed to pressure suspects into divulging information using subtle intimidation and control, banned by Leyra v. Denno (1954).

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

The Supreme Court case establishing that suspects must be advised of their constitutional rights to silence and legal counsel prior to custodial interrogation.

Knowing and Intelligent Waiver

A voluntary waiver of Fifth Amendment Miranda rights executed with full awareness of both the nature of the right abandoned and the consequences of abandoning it.

Inevitable-Discovery Exception

A rule established in Nix v. Williams (1984) allowing inappropriately gathered evidence in court if it would have invariably been discovered through normal police operations.

Public Safety Exception

An exception established in New York v. Quarles (1984) permitting limited questioning prior to Miranda warnings when urgent public safety concerns override procedural protections.

Miranda Triggers

The dual conditions of custody (arrest) and custodial interrogation that legally necessitate the reading of Miranda rights before police questioning.

Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA)

Federal legislation establishing requirements for wiretap court orders to intercept oral communications, while excluding pen registers and recording devices from warrant mandates.

Sneak-and-Peek Searches

Searches conducted by law enforcement without prior notice to the occupant and in the absence of the suspect, authorized under the USA PATRIOT Act.

USA PATRIOT Act of 2001

Federal legislation expanding law enforcement authority to conduct roving wiretaps, execute sneak-and-peek searches, and intercept electronic communications related to terrorism and crime.

Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (CISA)

A federal law designed to facilitate the sharing of cyber threat information and Internet traffic data between private tech companies and federal agencies like the FBI and NSA.

Electronic Evidence

Latent information and data of investigative value stored in or transmitted by an electronic device, which is fragile, time-sensitive, and easily transmissible across borders.