A new California law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday requires police agencies to videotape interrogations of juvenile suspects in homicide cases to prevent false confessions.
October 15, 2013
Under what circumstances would the Fourth Amendment allow routine collection of DNA samples upon arrest and booking? A recent Supreme Court decision addressed this issue.
August 5, 2013
Three Phoenix Police officers claim their privacy rights were violated when they were forced to give DNA samples during the investigation into the mysterious death of a fellow officer.
December 11, 2012
A convicted rapist is challenging a Maryland law that allows police to take a DNA sample from violent suspects, arguing his Fourth Amendment privacy rights have been violated.
November 12, 2012
Police are allowed in some circumstances to install hidden surveillance cameras on private property without obtaining a search warrant, a federal judge said Monday.
October 31, 2012
Thirty-four ACLU affiliates in 31 states filed 379 public records requests in 31 states around the nation on Wednesday, demanding information about how law enforcement agencies use mobile-phone location information.
August 3, 2011
A U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down Monday gives law enforcement officers the right to forcibly enter a residence if they suspect evidence is being destroyed after they have announced their presence.
May 16, 2011
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Camreta v. Greene, an Oregon case centering on a whether a child protective services caseworker and deputy sheriff violated the Fourth Amendment when they interrogated a child who alleged sexual abuse in a private office at the child's school for two hours without a warrant, exigent circumstances or parental consent.
October 21, 2010
What the exclusionary rule has actually meant in practice is that thousands (maybe millions) of criminals have been able to stop the prosecution from using critical evidence of their guilt to hold them accountable for their crimes.
March 1, 2009
In your search warrant affidavits, your reports, and your testimony you have to lay out the basis of your suspicions and justify every detention, arrest, search, seizure, entry, and use of force.
September 1, 2008
The general rule-of-thumb is to try to get a warrant whenever possible. On the other hand, if you can seize evidence without engaging in a search, you don't need either a warrant or any exception.
March 1, 2008
There are four ways to make a lawful entry into a private home. Notice that "entry incident to outdoors arrest" is not on the list of lawful ways to get inside a residence. In three separate cases, the U.S. Supreme Court has held such entries to be unconstitutional.
February 1, 2008
In the 2007 decision in Brendlin v. California, the U.S. Supreme Court added yet another to a series of Fourth Amendment opinions on the subject of vehicle searches and seizures involving passengers, rather than drivers.
September 1, 2007
One of the "firmly established exceptions" to the warrant requirement for searches and seizures is the "consent exception."
May 1, 2006
Most officers are aware of the general rule on entering a suspect's home to arrest him or to search for evidence. These actions must be supported by either valid consent or a recognized exigency.
August 1, 2005
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