Deck 3: Basic Underlying Concepts: Privacy, Probable Cause, and Reasonableness

Question 1

The method of establishing probable cause through the use of an informant's information is sometimes referred to as:

A) informant method.
B) the 3rd party method.
C) the indirect discovery method.
D) the hearsay method.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Based on the Aguilar-Spinelli criteria,in order to establish probable cause in a situation where informant information is secondhand,the affidavit must:

A) show how the third person knows the information furnished to the informant.
B) show how the third person knows the information furnished to the informant and why the information from the informant is credible or reliable.
C) show how the third person knows the information furnished to the informant and why the information, from both the informant and the 3rd party, is credible or reliable.
D) show how the third person knows the information furnished to the informant; why the information, from both the informant and the 3rd party, is credible or reliable; and that the information could not be obtained using any other method.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The Katz v.United States (1967)case,while shifting the Fourth Amendment inquiry from property rights to privacy rights,did not result in a lot of reversals of previously decided cases.Why were there not a lot of reversals following the decision?

A) privacy protection requires a reference to "place"
B) a change in focus applies only to future cases and no reversals can occur
C) no cases have come before the court requiring a reversal
D) a reversal would require a constitutional amendment

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Some courts require additional information to establish the veracity/truthfulness of an ordinary citizen informant if the citizen merely provides an anonymous tip.Which of the following is a primary factor mentioned in the text (State v.White,Ga.App.1990)that is used by Georgia courts to assess the veracity/truthfulness of an anonymous tip?

A) the testimony of the officer receiving the tip as to its credibility
B) whether the information is from a "concerned citizen"
C) whether the citizen had provided valid tips in the past
D) whether the tipster had firsthand or secondhand knowledge

Question 5

The cases of Aguilar v.Texas (1964)and Spinelli v.United States (1969)established a process for evaluating probable cause based on informant information.Which of the following is not part of the criteria for the established process?

A) Information be identified that can be used to determine whether the informant has sufficient basis for the knowledge.
B) Information be identified that can be used to determine that the information is credible.
C) The information must be judged based on the totality of the circumstances.
D) Information be identified that can be used to determine that the information is reliable.

Question 6

Which of the following,standing alone,can serve as the basis for probable cause?

A) flight of a person from an area
B) furtive conduct
C) false or improbable answers to questions
D) observation and evaluation of real or physical evidence

Question 7

The Katz v.United States (1967)case is known for establishing that:

A) the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places.
B) the Fourth Amendment protects both drivers and passengers of a vehicle.
C) the Fourth Amendment protects places, but not people.
D) the Fourth Amendment protects neither people or places.

Question 8

Which of the following is the most effective way to assess reliability of a criminal informant's information?

A) the number of convictions his/her information has produced
B) the number of arrests his/her information has produced
C) the accuracy of the past information provided by the informant
D) a positive assessment from the officer who obtained the information

Question 9

A patrol officer stops a car and makes an arrest on the basis of information obtained from a bulletin that officers in another jurisdiction are looking for the driver of a certain car that was described in the bulletin.Assume that the information contained in the bulletin was not correct.Which of the following is a true statement?

A) The arrest would still be considered valid.
B) The arresting officer is shielded from any civil liability for false arrest.
C) The arrest would still be valid and the officer is shielded from any civil liability for false arrest.
D) The arrest would not be valid and the officer is not shielded from any civil liability for false arrest.

Question 10

The change from viewing the Fourth Amendment as law that protected property to a view that the law protected persons was prompted by cases that concerned:

A) whether particular individual's had standing to claim the Fourth Amendment protection.
B) vehicular stops and searches.
C) electronic surveillance.
D) public stops and pat-downs.

Question 11

Following the decision in Illinois v.Gates (1983):

A) all states and the federal government have adopted the totality of circumstances approach.
B) all states adopted totality of circumstances, but the federal government retained the Aguilar-Spinelli criteria.
C) the totality of circumstances approach was subsequently overruled.
D) some states rejected the Gates decision and retained the Aguilar-Spinelli criteria on the basis of their own state constitutions.

Question 12

The U.S.Supreme Court has defined the term "search" to occur when:

A) there is a meaningful interference with an individual's possessory interests in property.
B) an individual has a subjective expectation of privacy and the expectation of privacy has been infringed upon.
C) an individual has a subjective expectation of privacy that society is prepared to consider reasonable and the privacy expectation is infringed.
D) an officer collects any evidence against a person regardless of circumstance.

Question 13

The preference that a search and/or seizure be authorized by a warrant is based on all of the following except:

A) judgments should be made by a neutral and detached individual.
B) police are not qualified to make probable cause determinations.
C) police are sometimes hurried and overzealous in their investigations.
D) police investigations can often be a competitive enterprise.

Question 14

The police suspect that a store is illegally selling illicit drug paraphernalia.A plain clothes detective working undercover enters the store,purchases items,leaves the store,and comes back with a search warrant for the store and an arrest warrant for the store's owner.In terms of the Fourth Amendment,the initial possession of the goods by the police:

A) constituted a search, but not a seizure.
B) constituted both a search and seizure.
C) did not constitute a search or a seizure.
D) constituted a seizure, but not a search.

Question 15

A citizen contacts the local police department and alleges that a particular person is dealing drugs out of his home.The citizen states that (s)he thought the police should know,but that (s)he does not "want to get involved by giving my name." What information would the officer need to state in the affidavit to satisfy the first prong of Aguilar-Spinelli (basis of knowledge)?

A) The name of the high school student that purchased the drugs.
B) How, when, and where the informant obtained the information.
C) How, when, and where the drug dealer obtained the drugs that were sold.
D) The reasons to believe that the informant was providing truthful information.

Question 16

The common law approach to applying the Fourth Amendment to particular cases was to focus on:

A) whether the subjective privacy rights of the individual had been violated.
B) whether law enforcement used force during a search and/or seizure.
C) whether the government agent intentionally violated the constitutional protection.
D) whether there was a physical intrusion into a constitutionally protected area.

Question 17

An announcement receives an announcement from dispatch that another jurisdiction is looking for a blue Ford Mustang with Louisiana license plates with a large dent in the passenger side door.The officer spots a car fitting this description.Which of the following is a true statement?

A) The officer does not have justification to stop the car and investigate further.
B) The officer has justification to stop the car and investigate because probable cause is based on the collective knowledge of the police.
C) The officer has justification to stop the car and investigate because (s)he has personal knowledge of the crime.
D) The officer has justification to stop the car and investigate simply because the motor vehicle is being operated in the jurisdiction of the officer.

Question 18

When information is used from a criminal informant,the name of the informant:

A) must always be reported in the affidavit.
B) never has to be reported in the affidavit.
C) need not be disclosed unless the informant information is part of an agreement with the prosecutor in a pending criminal case against the informant.
D) need not be disclosed if his or her credibility is otherwise satisfactorily established.

Question 19

Which of the following statements is true about the concept of probable cause?

A) The concept is strikingly similar to the "preponderance of evidence" and "beyond a reasonable doubt" standards that are used in court proceedings.
B) Whether probable cause exists is determined by considering only the subjective perceptions of the officer(s) involved.
C) The concept of probable cause is a finely tuned standard that has a precise understanding among those who use it.
D) The concept deals with probability that evidence will be found or that the individual committed an offense.

Question 20

Which of the following,standing alone,can serve as the basis for probable cause?

A) an admission
B) presence at a crime scene or a high crime area
C) association with other known criminals
D) past criminal conduct

Question 21

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals established a totality of the circumstances test that has been endorsed and applied by other courts in cases that followed.The test is applied to assess probable cause based on informant information.Which of the following is not among the factors considered in the test?

A) whether the informant information is firsthand or secondhand
B) the nature of the information
C) whether there has been an opportunity for the police to see or hear the matter reported
D) the veracity and the basis of the knowledge of the informant
E) whether there has been any independent verification of the matters through police investigation

Question 22

Which of the following is a true statement about the concept of reasonableness,as it applies to Fourth Amendment inquiries?

A) The term "reasonableness" can be used interchangeably with "correctness".
B) Reasonableness is determined on a case-by-case basis, not through application of a precise test.
C) Reasonableness is conservatively construed by the courts.
D) Reasonableness is the least important consideration among Fourth Amendment concepts.

Question 23

Ordinary citizen informants,even when the tip is given anonymously,are always presumed credible (trustworthy)and no further evidence of credibility need be stated in the affidavit beyond their name and address and their status as a victim of,or witness to,a crime.

Question 24

After it has been determined that a person has standing to make a Fourth Amendment claim and that a "search" or "seizure" has occurred,the final inquiry is to find:

A) whether probable cause exists
B) whether the exclusionary rule can be invoked
C) whether there was a violation of privacy
D) whether the search or seizure was reasonable

Question 25

The leading case on corroboration of information provided by an informant is:

A) Dawson v. State (1971)
B) Spinelli v. United States (1969)
C) Aguilar v. Texas (1964)
D) Illinois v. Gates (1983)

Question 26

Warrantless police actions are presumed to be unreasonable unless based on probable cause.

Question 27

Assuming that no exception to the warrant requirement is relevant,weaker evidence is more likely to justify the issuance of a warrant than it is to justify a warrantless search or arrest.

Question 28

The U.S.Supreme Court has a strong preference that arrests and searches be authorized by a warrant.

Question 29

The fundamental concept(s)for understanding the application of Fourth Amendment is/are:

A) privacy
B) privacy and reasonableness
C) privacy and probable cause
D) privacy, reasonableness, and probable cause

Question 30

When the police obtain a handwriting or voice sample from a criminal suspect,this action constitutes a seizure,thereby implicating the Fourth Amendment.

Question 31

A "search" occurs when an expectation of privacy that society is prepared to recognize is infringed.

Question 32

Which of the following is the best characterization of the U.S.Supreme Court's current view toward the Aguilar-Spinelli two-prong criteria?

A) The criteria are a good reference point for analyzing probable cause based on informant information, but the applicability to all cases is limited.
B) Rigid application of the criteria is the best way to analyze probable cause based on informant information.
C) The criteria are so outdated that the case is completely useless in assessing probable cause.
D) The criteria are a good ending point of the probable cause analysis, but there are several steps that need to occur first.

Question 33

The term ____________ means strengthening or confirming the information supplied by the informant with supporting information obtained by law enforcement officers.

A) attenuation
B) corroboration
C) discovery
D) verification

Question 34

A police officer is considered an expert in the area of gangs and gang behavior.The courts are not permitted to give extra credence to the judgments of the expert when (s)he applies for a search or arrest warrant in a case involving gang behavior.

Question 35

Which of the following concepts is so important that it has been referred to as the "touchstone" of the Fourth Amendment?

A) the exclusionary rule
B) privacy
C) reasonableness
D) probable cause

Question 36

A law enforcement officer's perceptions that a crime is being committed in his or her presence clearly provide __________ to arrest the person committing the crime.

A) absolute suspicion
B) reasonable suspicion
C) absolute cause
D) probable cause

Question 37

Other Fourth Amendment considerations,such as warrants,reasonableness,exigency,and good faith,are factors that are considered subservient to probable cause.

Question 38

A criminal informant's credibility (veracity/truthfulness)must always be established by a statement of underlying facts and circumstances.

Question 39

Which of the following is not reflective of the reasons why the U.S.Supreme Court put into effect the totality of the circumstances test for assessing informant information based on the Illinois v.Gates (1983)decision?

A) The Aguilar-Spinelli criteria were inflexible and mechanistic.
B) Probable cause was judged to be a fluid concept.
C) Aguilar-Spinelli made it very difficult to obtain a search warrant based on information from an anonymous informant.
D) The Court wanted to establish a clear test could be applied in all cases using essentially the same decision factors across all cases.

Question 40

The decision in Illinois v.Gates (1983)completely overruled the Aguilar-Spinelli criteria for establishing probable cause based on informant information.The Aguilar-Spinelli criteria did not retain their vitality in analyzing the presence of probable cause in cases of informant information.

Question 41

Explain the difference in the concept of privacy before and after Katz v.U.S.(1967).

Question 42

A criminal informant's credibility is never presumed but must be established.Usually,this is done by demonstrating the informant's __________ of having given accurate information in the past.

Question 43

Compare and contrast the requirements for establishing probable cause on the basis of a citizen informant versus a criminal informant.

Question 44

Write the definition of "search".Write the definition of "seizure".Explain how there could be a search without a seizure.Explain how there can be a seizure without a search.

Question 45

Write a brief paragraph explaining the importance of note-taking by an officer as the case progresses.

Question 46

Third party information is often referred to as ________.

Question 47

Probable cause to search means that there is a __________ that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place.

Question 48

Explain the importance of corroborating information from informants.Also,consider the distinctions between known informants,unknown informants,criminal informants,and citizen informants.Are the distinctions in how the law handles these different types of informants justified? Why or why not?

Question 49

A seizure of property occurs when there is some __________ with an individual's possessory interests in that property.

Question 50

The elements of the __________ two-pronged test are important considerations in determining the existence of probable cause based on informant testimony.Nonetheless,they should be evaluated only as part of the commonsense determination under the totality of the circumstances-not as rigid rules to be applied mechanically.

Question 51

Compare and contrast the requirements for establishing probable cause on the basis of an anonymous informant versus a known informant.Explore the differences in risk for liability for providing false information.

Question 52

The Gates v.Illinois (1983)decision abandoned rigid adherence to the Aguilar-Spinelli criteria in favor of a __________ approach to determining probable cause.

Question 53

The concept of probable cause is based,ultimately,on the notion of objective expectation of privacy,in contrast to subjective expectation of privacy.Explain the difference.

Question 54

Define the concept of probable cause.Compare and contrast probable cause relating to search and probable cause as it relates to arrest.

Question 55

Define the term "reasonableness" as it relates to the Fourth Amendment inquiry.Explain the standards used to assess reasonableness.

Question 56

Name two indicators of criminal activity that alone support probable cause.Compare and contrast these two indicators of criminal activity with some other indicators that,taken alone,do not support probable cause.

Question 57

Probable cause is evaluated by examining the __________ in the possession of the police at the time of the arrest or search,not merely the personal knowledge of the arresting or searching officer.

Question 58

Information on which probable cause is to be based may come to a law enforcement officer's attention in two possible ways: through the __________ own perceptions or through the perceptions of an __________who relays the information.

Question 59

Katz v.U.S.(1967)held that a person's Fourth Amendment rights are implicated wherever the person has an expectation of __________which society is prepared to recognize as reasonable.

Question 60

In terms of applying the privacy right that exists under the Fourth Amendment,the amendment is said to protect __________,not __________.