Issues Related to the Constitution and the Executive Branch - Research Paper Example

The Fourth Amendment: Search and Seizure The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. constitution spells out the rights of individuals under criminal investigation. In this Amendment, there are boundaries set on what power the police have regarding performing searches on individuals and property, make arrests and confiscate objects such as weapons, drugs and evidence. These boundaries are the basic principles of search and seizure law in criminal investigation matters. This is how the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized” (Dahl, 2003). It is all about privacy in the search and seizure provisions of the 4th amendment. The amendment simply provides protection against searches and seizures in criminal investigations by federal or state law enforcers that are unreasonable in nature. Any evidence obtained in a criminal investigation case in the course of search for seizure is unlawful if it cannot be of use at the court trial of the individual from whom the evidence was confiscated (Billias, 2009). In the Fourth Amendment, for an arrest or search to take place, the warrant must be approved judicially. Basically, searches must plainly be reasonable and the warrant necessity ought to have been clearly stressed and pointed out. The Fourth Amendment is only applicable to governmental searches and seizures in criminal investigations but not to the ones done by private establishments or nationals who are not acting on behalf of a government. I am in support of the Fourth Amendment due to a number of reasons. Firstly, the amendment is beneficial to citizens because it offers them protection against governmental actions that are unreasonable in nature (Harper, 2007). For instance, particular guidelines have to be met in the issuance of a warrant for it to be considered legal and must be strictly complied to protect the citizen and the law enforcer. Those who framed the constitution saw that intrusions by governmental agencies in cases involving criminal investigation encroached on the rights of the public. In previous times, it was common for officials to harass average citizens who had no means of preventing searches and seizures that were unwarranted. The 4th Amendment is of great importance as it constitutes legal representation of the key right of an individual who is accused of wrong doing. It aids in protection of their rights and promotes feel of entitlement since liberty and freedom have no meaning if they do not cover all members of the society regardless of the social order. These even include those accused of criminal activity. Among the reasons why the Fourth Amendment stringently states all investigation and searches of property must be accompanied by authentication and justification is because groundless and warrantless searches became very predominant in pre-amendment times hence causing infringement of rights which the very constitutions aims at promoting. The Fourth Amendment is also beneficial to the citizens as it pushes the government to systematically follow clear measures in matters of people’s privacy as regards criminal investigation. This Amendment enforces the notion that a person is always innocent until they can be proven guilty and that until there is a reasonable reason to hint that guilt has been established, an individual’s privacy remains paramount. The Amendment was in the first place laid down to act as a limit to the ability of the government and its law enforcers to intrude on a person and private property without judicial oversight or even probable cause. This would have eventually made it possible for our democracy to turn into something similar to a police state. The Fourth Amendment reflects various experiences of the colonists. They were appalled on many degrees by the fact that British soldiers could come into residential homes, search private property and seize what belonged to locals without any bona fide paper work or probable cause. This amendment is beneficial because it forbids searches and seizures that are unreasonable in nature and requires that there be probable cause for arrests and searches. It also calls for a judge to put a signature on the arrest warrants. This simply means that an officer must have a definite good reason to convince an impartial judge on the necessity of a search (Leonard, 1992). Even though the Fourth Amendment protects individuals from searches and seizures that are illegal in nature, it has a few disadvantages. One of them is the fact that the Fourth Amendment was written long ago (in the 18th century). This makes applying it in the 21st century quite a difficult task (Paul, 2011). For instance, judges in previous times classified wiretapping under the Fourth Amendment. Oddly, tapping of a phone is listening but cannot be classified as either seizing or searching. It is therefore getting harder and harder to enforce the Fourth Amendment to everyday life today since the world is getting more modern and the modes of communication by individuals are getting more advanced. Even though this is can be a setback, legal authorities have are capable of dealing with such problems when they arise. The judiciary can set precedents which it can refer to in situations where technology and modernity outdates the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment can lead to the release of a renowned criminal just because the evidence obtained was not gathered in the proper manner such as lack of a warrant or probable cause. It is possible that in such a criminal investigation, the evidence was in no way planted meaning that the culprit will eventually be set free citing improper investigation procedure (Billias, 2009). Keeping this Amendment will mean that there are times when criminals will be set free and possibly commit more crimes in a bid to ensure that the criminal investigation procedure if upheld.. This may seem like a tradeoff that is sometimes quite frustrating, but it is one that we have arrived at with full knowledge on how the right to privacy is of great importance to each of us as citizens. The tradeoff is justifiable since it leads to a greater good and fairness. This is the purpose of the law. This constitutional provision is not be perfectly popular given that it is widely mentioned in media only in rear situations in which a court pronounces that certain raids by investigators as unconstitutional. The Fourth Amendment may appear to be beneficial to criminals especially when used as a shield by individuals who have ill intentions. Even with the few cons that come with the Fourth Amendment, the pros which are self-evident outweigh the disadvantages. The fundamental purpose of the Fourth Amendment is that people are not made subject to unfair searches and seizures which infringe the very rights which the constitution promotes. There is a certain degree of power that a citizen has over the system of authority hence avoidance of a dictatorial form of governance. The 4th Amendment’s requirement is that searches should meet a standard of reasonableness. The reasonableness can be measured on the circumstances surround a given search. It can also be measured by determining the level of the search’s overall intrusiveness against the interests of the government. Any given time that the government cannot prove that a search was necessary it automatically becomes unreasonable. The 4th Amendment is therefore beneficial to the citizens since for a search to be held as constitutional, the government must indicate probable cause. Every citizen should therefore celebrate the Fourth Amendment Reference Billias, G. (2009). American constitutionalism heard round the world: A Global Perspective. New York: New York University Press. Dahl, R. (2003). How democratic is the American constitution?. (2nd ed.). New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Harper, T. (2007). The complete idiot's guide to the U.S. constitution. New York: Penguin. Leonard, W. (1992) Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. 5 vol; 3000 pp. Paul, R. (2011). United States Constitutional Law: An Introduction. North Carolina, NC: McFarland. Read More