Rule of Law

Three Principles of the Rule of Law

Absolute supremacy or predominance of regular law as opposed to the influence of arbitrary power, equality before the law or the equal subjection of all classes to the ordinary law of the land administered by the ordinary courts, and law of the U.S. Constitution as a consequence of the rights of individuals as defined & enforced by the courts (means are more important than the ends)

Fourth Amendment

Protects against unreasonable searches and seizures

Probable Cause

More than a mere hunch yet less than actual knowledge that the arrestee committed the crime

Exclusionary Rule

Requires evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment to be excluded from government’s use in a criminal trial

Warrantless Arrests

Requires exigent circumstances & that the officer possess probable cause

Wilson v. Arkansas

Searches are invalid if the police identify themselves as they enter the residence

Brigham City v. Stuart

Officers’ warrantless entry into a home is justified under the emergency exception because their entry is “plainly reasonable under the circumstances”

Michigan v. Fisher

Officers do not need ironclad proof of a likely serious, life-threatening injury to invoke the emergency aid exception and should not be required to walk away from a situation like the one they encountered in this case

Kentucky v. King

Officers can conduct a warrantless search of an apartment after police smell marijuana and fear that persons inside were destroying evidence

Types of Warrantless Searches

Searches incident to lawful arrest, searches during field interrogation, searches of automobiles that are carried out under special conditions, seizures of evidence in “plain view,” and searches when consent is given

United States v. Robinson

In the case of lawful custodial arrest, a full search of the person is not only an exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment, but is also a reasonable search under that Amendment

Chimel v. California

Searches incidental to lawful arrest are limited to the area within the arrestee’s immediate control or that area from which they might obtain a weapon

Terry v. Ohio

Police have the authority to detain a person briefly for questioning even without probable cause if they believe that the person has committed a crime or is about to commit a crime

Minnesota v. Dickerson

The Court allowed such seizures in the future when officers’ probable cause is established by the sense of touch

Illinois v. Wardlow

A citizen’s running away from the police under certain conditions supports reasonable suspicion to justify a search

Maryland v. Wilson

Police may order passengers out of vehicles they stop, regardless of any suspicion of wrongdoing or threat to the officers’ safety

Carroll v. United States

Established the Carroll doctrine

Carroll Doctrine

Police must have enough probable cause that if there was enough time, a search warrant would have been issued AND urgent circumstances must exist that require immediate action

Preston v. United States

Once police had made a lawful arrest and then towed the suspect’s car to a different location, they could not conduct an incidental search of the vehicle

Harris v. United States

Police have a right to enter an impounded vehicle following a lawful arrest in order to inventory its contents

Collins v. Virginia

Police generally cannot enter private property to search a motor vehicle without first obtaining a warrant

Schneckloth v. Bustamonte

Individuals, although poor, uneducated, and alone, can reasonably be considered capable of knowing and exercising their right to deny officers permission to search

Olmstead v. United States

Wiretaps were not searches & seizures & did not violate the Fourth Amendment

Katz v. United States

Any form of electronic surveillance, including wiretapping, is a search & violates a reasonable expectation of privacy

Fifth Amendment

Right against self incrimination

Maryland v. Shatzner

If a suspect has a break in Miranda custody of more than two weeks between the first & second attempts at interrogation, their confession is admissible

Entrapment

Police inducing or encouraging a person to commit a crime that they would otherwise not have attempted

Sixth Amendment

right of the accused to have the assistance of counsel before & at trial

Powell v. Alabama

in capital cases, when the accused is indigent, they enjoy the right to assistance of counsel for their defense & due process

Gideon v. Wainwright

all indigent people charged with felonies in state courts are provided counsel

Argersinger v. Hamlin

extends the right to counsel to indigent people charged with misdemeanor crimes if they face the possibility of incarceration

Parens Patriae

The state is the ultimate parent of the child

In Loco Parentis

The state will act in place of the parent

Kent v. United States

Waiver from juvenile to criminal court without a hearing violates the right to due process

In re Gault

Fourteenth Amendment protections apply to juveniles as well as adults

McKeiver v. Pennsylvania

Juveniles do not have an absolute right to trial by jury, whether or not a juvenile receives a trial by jury is left to the discretion of state and local authorities

Roper v. Simmons

The Eighth & Fourteenth Amendments forbid the execution of offenders under the age of 18

Juveniles & Life Without Parole Sentences

Court ruled that the Eighth Amendment prohibits juveniles who commit crimes not involving murder from serving life without parole sentences