Modern Crime

Modern Crime

The Fourth Amendment Requirements and Exceptions

The fourth amendment search warrant requires not just the warrant sworn upon by the searching officer but also the details of the place or person to be searched. Another essential warrant requirement is of a distinguishable description of the individual so that may not be mixed with others (Stewart, 1978). There are exceptions to this amendment. Exceptions relating to crime scenes are in case of demanding situations. In these situations, a warrantless search and seizure could be done provided that the act is justifiable. This could be satisfied for situations in which there is a need of preventing the crime scene destruction, removal of proofs and for matters of life and safety. Another exception is the plain view exception. According to this exception if the evidence could be clearly viewed by the legitimate authorities they are allowed to proceed without any warrant for search and seizure. Consent is another exception that could be related to the crime scenes. If permission is granted by the person who is believed to be in authority for giving such consents then again no warrants are needed. Search incident to arrest is another well known form of exception of the fourth amendment related to the crime scenes (Berlin, 2011).

Exclusionary Rule

The Exclusionary Rule is a wisely provided remedy that is used for determining the police misconduct during the period of collecting evidences. Under this rule, the judge has the authority of irradiating any evidences gathered; involving police misconduct. According to this rule protection is provided against the illegal activities of search and seizure. Fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine is applicable to evidence collection at crime scenes. According to this doctrine any illegal evidence gathered up from the illegal search could be excluded by the court during the trial. The logic behind this is that if the tree that is the source of evidence is infected so would be the fruits (Walters et.al, 2010).

Modern Crime Labs

Modern crime laboratories offer advanced forensic science services to the crime investigators. This branch of science applies the most recent developed technologies for gathering, retaining, processing and analyzing evidences. The results obtained could be assessed to look for innocence or guilt. Forensic science is a merge of various kinds of information. It encompasses fingerprinting, chemical level studies, document analysis, DNA analysis for tracing linkages and identification instrument. DNA analysis and Explosive investigation are the ...