Criminal justice system overview and structure

Criminal Justice System

Discuss the means by which police gain access to a suspect's records of cell phone numbers called and received. How do police deal with text messages and emails? Obviously, criminals are using cell phones, text messages, and emails to plan and commit crimes. How does the Fourth Amendment apply to these types of technologies? In what do suspects have a reasonable expectation of privacy?

The way that police are able to gain access to cell phone records is through a warrant. This gives law enforcement the power to listen, monitor and review the activities of the suspect. Text messages and emails will fall under similar guidelines based on the fact that they are considered to be personal communication. (Samaha, 2011)

The way that the Fourth Amendment is applicable is through limiting unreasonable searches and seizures. This means that several different guidelines are used to include:

Was the action considered to be search or seizure?

If so, were the activities considered to be reasonable?

If the actions are unreasonable, does the Fourth Amendment prohibit its use?

The way that this applies to technology is with the similar standards must be used when conducting any kind surveillance activities

. Suspects have an expectation to privacy when they are discussing activities that may not concern law enforcement (such as conversations with a girlfriend or boyfriend). If the individual is involved as a part of the criminal plot is when the police have the right to listen to the conversation. However, this is somewhat of gray area in determining how privacy standards should be applied. As a result, law enforcement has to weigh the right to privacy and enforcing the law when conducting any kind of electronic surveillance. (Samaha, 2011)

Discuss the use of anonymous tips to establish reasonable suspicion. What are the dangers involved in using such tips? What are the dangers involved in not using them? Should it matter to the police what kind of crime (how serious it is, how difficult it might be to solve) the tip is meant to deter or solve?

The use of anonymous tips is designed to provide law enforcement with enough intelligence to show that a crime is being committed. This helps the police in establishing probable cause and connecting other evidence that was collected during the process of the investigation. It is at this point that this information can be used to show how a crime is being committed (which could lead to a judge authorizing a search warrant). (Samaha, 2011)

The dangers involved with using these kinds of tips are that the police could be receiving false information. This is problematic, because they could potentially detain or raid a residence of someone that has committed no crime. If this were to happen it opens law enforcement up to the possibility of a civil lawsuit and a ruling against the search. Another potential danger is that many of the criminals could use this as a way to change the focus of the investigation to someone else. This is troubling, in that this kind of tactic will protect criminals from prosecution by having informants provide the police with information on their rivals and enemies. In the future, this could lead to uneven enforcement of the law by focusing on select groups while ignoring others. (Samaha, 2011)