Constitutional Criminal Procedures

Table of Contents

Constitutional Criminal Procedures1

Introduction1

Changes To "Traditional" 4th Amendment Procedures2

Rationale behind the Changes-'Constitutional' or 'Unconstitutional'3

Current Trend Regarding 4th Amendment Procedures4

References6

Constitutional Criminal Procedures

Introduction

The paper discusses the significant changes in the 4th Amendment after the post 9 11 event. The content also covers the Patriotic Act along with the changes to the traditional 4th Amendment procedures.

The Fourth Amendment as a part of the Constitution of United States requires the conduct of search and seizures performed by the Government authority, that must be “reasonable”. Moreover the Amendment specifies the justified warrants and arrests, as well as registration stating probable cause and at the same time limited to the scope of particular information presented by a person who oath upon the accuracy of the given information. The law states:

“The right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no orders shall issue, not supported by probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.”

9-11's Effect on Our 4th Amendment Rights and the Patriotic Act

The famous Patriotic Act was enacted in USA within six weeks after the 9/11 events as a response to the drawbacks and pitfalls in the intelligence gathering that are expected to contribute to the attacks. The Bush administration and Congress were highly concerned with the existing statutory situations that have not did not respond to the new technologies like cell phones, electronic banking and above all, Internet.

The US Patriotic Act was renewed on March 9th, with much efforts made for about a year around of presenting proposals and counterproposals. Moreover, two extensions, behind the scene negotiations and two bills passed by Congress majorly contributed to the change in the 4th Amendment. The highlighting part is that, President Bush had signed the legislation only hours before it was set to expire.

Concerns were raised regarding the intelligence and criminal investigation agencies that were unable, as well as unwilling to exchange information. A number of lapses regarding exchange of information, even within the FBI, was reported by the 9/11 Commission. An FBI agent, responsible for investigating the 9/11 attacks on the USS Cole obtained information about a man who was potentially involved in the crime, as well as turned out to be one the hijackers. However, the information was kept under cover and was not shared by other officers in the homeland security department because of real or perceived "need to know" barriers. (Etzioni, 2004)

Changes To "Traditional" 4th Amendment Procedures

The amendement is applicable only to the government entities, that provide no guarantee with the right to freedom of movement of the citizens with respect to searches and seizure conducted by organizations working privately. Particulary speaking, The Bill of Rights specifically restrictsteh power of the Federal Government, at the same time the Supreme Court in the United States has rulled that the amendment only applies to the state ...