What Protections Does the Fourth Amendment Offer?
The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects individual privacy interests by preventing unreasonable searches and seizures. An individual’s privacy interests are referred to as a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy. The Fourth Amendment protects this interest by limiting when and how police can conduct a search of a citizen’s house, papers, effects, or physical person. However, the Fourth Amendment only protects people against “unreasonable” searches. “Reasonable” searches can override a person’s Fourth Amendment privacy concerns. Generally, the police need two things before they can invade a persons reasonable expectation of privacy: • Probable cause • A search warrant issued by a judge that specifies the details of the search Under certain circumstances however, the police can conduct searches without a warrant. What is a Reasonable Expectation of Privacy? The Fourth Amendment only applies to searches that violate a persons reasonable expectation of privacy. If no re
