Constitutional Criminal Procedure - Police-Citizen Encounters and Use of Force

Vocabulary flashcards covering police-citizen encounters, burdens of proof, investigative detentions, arrests, and legal standards governing use of force.

Seizure

Occurs when a reasonable person in the position of the suspect would not have felt free to leave or otherwise allowed to end the encounter with the police.

Consensual Contact

Contact under circumstances which would cause a reasonable person to believe they are free to leave or otherwise not cooperate, requiring no objective basis or justification.

Detention

A brief, on-the-spot seizure that is limited in its purpose, scope, and intensity, requiring reasonable suspicion as its objective basis.

Arrest

Occurs when an individual is taken into custody, requiring probable cause as its objective basis.

Reasonable Suspicion

Specific and articulable facts that would lead a reasonable officer to suspect criminality.

Probable Cause

Specific and articulable facts that would lead a reasonable officer to believe a crime was committed by the suspect.

Preponderance of the Evidence

A burden of proof meaning more likely than not (i.e., 51%).

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

Proof that eliminates all reasonable doubt, creating an abiding conviction in the truth of the allegation.

No Evidence Standard

A level where there is no evidence whatsoever, representing a mere hunch or speculation.

Terry v. Ohio

Supreme Court case establishing that an officer who reasonably suspects a person is committing or has committed a crime may briefly detain that suspect, on-the-spot, to investigate the suspicion.

Scope of Investigative Detention

An element of investigative detention requiring that the investigation must be focused on the basis for the stop.

Length of Investigative Detention

An element requiring a detention to be brief and last no longer than necessary to confirm or dispel suspicion and discharge associated duties.

Location of Investigative Detention

An element specifying an on-the-spot detention that cannot involve non-consensual transportation without additional justification.

Berkemer v. McCarty

Supreme Court case ruling that ordinary car stops are investigative detentions and may be justified by reasonable suspicion.

Pretextual Traffic Stop

A stop made for an observed traffic violation where the officer's actual subjective motivation is to check out a hunch about unrelated criminal activity.

Whren v. United States

Supreme Court decision holding that pretext stops are lawful provided there is an objective basis to stop the vehicle; the officer's subjective motivation is irrelevant.

Formal Arrest

A type of arrest where a suspect is taken into custody to be charged with a crime and may be advised 'you're under arrest.'

De Facto Arrest

Occurs when a detention becomes excessive in scope, length, and/or results in non-consensual transportation without additional justification.

Deadly Force

Force likely to cause great bodily injury or death.

Tennessee v. Garner

Supreme Court case holding that deadly force against a fleeing felon is permissible only if the suspect fails to comply with commands and there is probable cause of a crime involving death or serious physical harm, deadly force is necessary to prevent escape, and a warning is given if feasible.

Graham v. Connor

Supreme Court decision ruling that the use of non-deadly force is lawful if a reasonable officer at the scene would have believed that the amount of force used was necessary, judged from the scene's perspective rather than with 20/20 hindsight.