The Fourth Amendment is a key part of the United States Constitution. In response to what the Founding Fathers saw as the impunity of the British, the Fourth Amendment was written to establish a philosophical ideal of fairness and justice to underpin the United States's legal and law enforcement systems.
Some people talk about the Fourth Amendment as "limiting" or "restricting" the activities of law enforcement by requiring warrants, insisting on probable cause, and preserving the rights of innocent civilians. Although this can be frustrating for some law enforcement officials, as it may slow down time-sensitive actions, it also provides a much higher caliber of law enforcement, focusing on taking the time to make good judgments, using rigorous procedures, and building solid cases against the right people. It can also prevent corruption and impunity and build up trust for law enforcement in the community.
While no system is absolutely perfect, the major effect of this has been to create a sense of legitimacy and transparency that makes law enforcement serve justice rather than just degenerating into vigilantism.
The Fourth Amendment has became famous, although sometimes misunderstood, with the advent of the police procedural genre in literature and television. Law enforcement is forever walking a fine line between apprehending criminals and protecting individual rights.
The Fourth Amendment protects Americans from illegal searches and seizures. However, this does not mean that the Fourth Amendment protects Americans from all searches and seizures. In fact, it does not even protect Americans from searches and seizures without a warrant, which is what many citizens believe.
It's true that in many cases the police must obtain a court-issued warrant to search your person or residence. When they fail to do so, they risk losing the right to use seized evidence in court, which imperils their case against potential criminals. But in some cases, the police may, in fact, conduct searches and seizures without a warrant.
If they believe they have what is known as "probable cause," like hearing a threat of violence, they can search without a warrant. Sometimes, however, what the police consider probable cause is not what a judge might consider probable cause, which can cause problems at trial. Also, if something is in "plain sight" they can search without a warrant. In movies and television you frequently hear arrested characters claiming that such evidence was planted by the police as a ruse. Hopefully that doesn't happen too often in real life!
https://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-rights/search-and-seizure-and-the-fourth-amendment.html
https://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-rights/when-the-fourth-amendment-applies.html
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