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

Question 1

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

Answer 1

A

Question 2

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

A) must always be reported in the affidavit
B) may not ever 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

Answer 2

D

Question 3

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

Answer 3

C

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 issue is a primary factor, mentioned in the text (State v. White, Ga. App. 1990), 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 method of establishing probable cause through the use of an informant's information is often referred to as the _____.

A) informant method
B) third party method
C) indirect discovery method
D) hearsay method

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 cases of Aguilar v. Texas (1964) and Spinelli v. United States (1969) established a process for evaluating probable cause based on informant information. According to this test, the informant _____.

A) need not be judged as credible
B) cannot be a criminal
C) must have a "sufficient basis" for the knowledge
D) must have personally perceived the information

Question 8

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

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 9

The preference that a search and/or seizure be authorized by a warrant is based on the idea that _____.

A) judgments should be made by a neutral and detached individual
B) police are not qualified to make probable cause determinations
C) courts may force police to take action when they otherwise would not
D) prosecutors may inadvertently encourage less than honest behavior

Question 10

Which statement about the concept of probable cause is true?

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 11

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 12

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 13

The common law approach to applying the Fourth Amendment to particular cases was to focus on whether _____.

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

Question 14

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 incorrect. Which statement would be true?

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 15

The Katz v. United States (1967) case is known for establishing that the Fourth Amendment protects _____.

A) people, not places
B) both drivers and passengers of a vehicle
C) places, but not people
D) neither people or places

Question 16

The Katz v. United States (1967) case _____.

A) expanded Fourth Amendment protections
B) did away with the idea of "reasonable expectation of privacy"
C) broadened search to include interference with possessory interests
D) restricted the ability of defendants to argue privacy violations occurred

Question 17

The U.S. Supreme Court has defined a "search" to occur when _____.

A) here is a meaningful interference with 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 considers reasonable and the privacy expectation is infringed
D) an officer collects any evidence against a person regardless of circumstance

Question 18

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

Question 19

What 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 20

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) standing to claim the protection
B) vehicular stops and searches
C) electronic surveillance
D) public stops and pat-downs

Question 21

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 22

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

Question 23

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

Question 24

United States v. De Los Santos, 810 F.2d 1326 (5th Cir. 1987) illustrates the _____.

A) near-impossibility of satisfying the totality of circumstances test
B) willingness of police to use information that has limited validity
C) limited importance of obtaining corroborating information
D) continuing validity of the Aguilar-Spinelli two- pronged test

Question 25

Reasons 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 include _____.

A) the Aguilar-Spinelli criteria were so flexible as to be nonsensical
B) the fluidity of the concept of probable cause
C) Aguilar-Spinelli made it too easy to obtain a search warrant
D) the need decision factors that could be used is all cases

Question 26

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

Question 27

Select the most accurate 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 28

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 29

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 whether _____.

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

Question 30

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 31

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

Question 32

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

Question 33

The decision in Illinois v. Gates (1983) completely overruled the Aguilar-Spinelli criteria for establishing probable cause based on informant information .

Question 34

Which concept 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 35

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 36

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

Question 37

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

A) The term "correctness" can be substituted for "reasonableness."
B) Reasonableness is determined on a case-by-case basis.
C) Reasonableness is conservatively construed by the courts.
D) Reasonableness is the least important consideration.

Question 38

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 39

When an officer's experience and expertise is relevant to the probable cause determination, the officer must be able to explain sufficiently the basis of that opinion so that it "can be understood by the average reasonably prudent person."

Question 40

Which best characterizes the concept(s) necessary for understanding the application of Fourth Amendment?

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

Question 41

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

Question 42

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

Question 43

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

Question 44

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

Question 45

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 a(n) __________who relays the information.

Question 46

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

Question 47

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 48

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 49

A criminal informant's ________is never presumed but must be established, usually by demonstrating the informant's track record of having given accurate information in the past.

Question 50

Write the definition of "search". Write the definition of "seizure". Demonstrate how there might be a search without a seizure and vice versa.

Question 51

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 52

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

Question 53

Third party information is often referred to as ________.

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

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

Question 56

The elements of the __________ two-pronged test are important considerations in determining the existence of probable cause based on informant testimony.

Question 57

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

Question 58

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

Question 59

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 60

Do you see any changes in how "privacy" was viewed before and after Katz v. U.S. (1967)? Justify your answer.