U.S. police are legally authorized to conduct surveillance and engage in search and seizure to
gather prosecutorial evidence (del Carmen, 2004). Originally, the Fourth Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution required the existence of a “probable cause” legal justification and court-issued
warrant (U.S. Constitution IV Amendment).
4
These rigid standards have been relaxed through
various legal exceptions.
5 However since the mid-1980s, courts have significantly changed legal
guidelines which permit the police to conduct various types of administrative and warrantless
searches (Bloss, 2005). Legal constraints on police surveillance and search activities have been
dramatically reduced by new federal counter-terrorism laws (Whitehead and Aden, 2002). In
the U.S., campaigns against public threats such as the “war on drugs” and “war on terror” have
prompted the courts and lawmakers to make significant changes in the scope of civil liberties
(Bandow, 1991; Whitaker, 2003). Particularly after 9/11, they have given rise to several federal
laws that bestow greater surveillance powers on the police. "
'via Blog this'
No comments:
Post a Comment