Law
is a form of social control or a method of encouraging people to behave in a certain way.
sources of laws
constitutional law, statutory law, ordinances, criminal law, case law, and civil law.
Constitutional law
defines the form of government Americans have established; the Constitution defines our representational government and its three-branch structure (executive, legislative, and judicial).
Statutory law
is written and enacted by Congress, state legislatures, or local governing authorities in response to a perceived need.
Civil law
pertains to the legal action that a person takes to resolve a private dispute with another person.
Administrative law
is the body of law that allows for the creation of public regulatory agencies.
Case law
is formed by the decisions of the court system (the judicial branch).
Law enforcement officers are required
to abide by the limitations that the Constitution sets and the case law decisions that interpret those limitations
the first ten amendments to the Constitution
known as the Bill of Rights.
in Article VI, the supremacy clause states
that when laws conflict, federal law generally overrules state and local law.
The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution comprise
the Bill of Rights
The First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments are of particular importance to law enforcement, as they
concern issues of officer liability.
The First Amendment
protects the freedom of speech, press, peaceful assembly, and religion
The Fourth Amendment
prohibits unreasonable search and seizure and generally requires a warrant signed by an independent magistrate (judge).
The Fifth Amendment
is best known for prohibiting compelled self-incrimination. It also requires grand jury indictment for capital crimes and prohibits double jeopardy and deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
The Bill of Rights
was originally intended to restrict the actions of the federal government only. The Fourteenth Amendment expanded the application of the Bill of Rights to state and local governments as well
The two main components of due process are
substantive and procedural
Noncriminal offenses, or civil infractions, are
punishable by monetary fines or something other than incarceration.
felony
is any crime committed for which the maximum penalty is death or incarceration in a state correctional facility for more than one year
misdemeanor
is any criminal offense with a maximum incarceration penalty in a county jail of up to one year.
An offense for which the only penalty may be a fine, forfeiture, or other civil penalty is a
noncriminal violation, also known as a civil infraction.
Local ordinances
apply only to the geographical area of the county or city that enacted them.
The maximum penalty for violating a local criminal ordinance
is a fine of $500 or incarceration in a county jail for a period of up to 60 days and/or both.
Criminal Offense
Felony,Capital felony Death or life imprisonment in a state correctional facility without possible parole
Life felony=Life imprisonment, $15,000 fine, or both
Felony 1st degree =30 years and, in some cases, life imprisonment, $10,000 fine, or both
Felony
Criminal Offense Misdemeanor (does not include noncriminal traffic violations or infractions)
Misdemeanor 1st degree=Imprisonment in a county correctional facility for up to 1 year, $1,000 fine, or both
Misdemeanor 2nd degree=Imprisonment of up to 60 days, $500 fine, or both
Noncriminal Offense/ Civil Violation
Infraction/ violation
$500 fine, forfeiture, or other civil penalty. According to s. 775.08(3), F.S., noncriminal shall not mean any conviction for any violation of any municipal or county ordinance.
Municipal/ County Ordinance Violation
Civil/criminal
of up to $500 or imprisonment of up to 60 days, or both
consensual encounter
occurs when an officer comes into voluntary contact with a citizen under circumstances in which a reasonable person would feel free to disregard the police and go about his or her business.
In determining whether an encounter was consensual, the court will look at all of the circumstances surrounding the encounter. Some questions the court may ask include:
� Was the individual physically stopped or restrained by the officer?
� Was the individual restricted from leaving at any time during the encounter?
� Was the individual's freedom of movement restricted in any way? For example, did the officer's vehicle b
Mere suspicion
is sometimes described as a hunch or gut feeling based on law enforcement training and knowledge. Mere suspicion does not grant any enforcement authority
Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968).
The Florida Legislature incorporated the Terry stop guidelines into the Florida Stop and Frisk Law, s. 901.151, F.S. Note: Florida's Stop and Frisk law, s. 901.151, F.S., requires probable cause before such a weapons pat down is permitted
Under the Stop and Frisk law, an officer can
only make an investigative stop if the officer has reasonable suspicion that the person stopped was committing, is committing, or is about to commit a law violation.
Reasonable suspicion
is the standard of justification needed to support a legal Terry stop or investigative detention. Reasonable suspicion is sometimes called "articulable suspicion" or "founded suspicion.
None of the above alone justifies a stop
� subject's nervousness
� subject's running or trying to evade the officer
� subject is in a known high-crime area
� time and location of the encounter/stop
� subject's unusual dress or actions
� perceived smells or sounds
In Terry v. Ohio
the Court ruled that a law enforcement officer may frisk the exterior clothing of someone lawfully detained if the officer has reasonable suspicion to believe that the person is armed.
Known as the plain touch/feel doctrine
this rule allows the officer to seize the contraband even if it does not feel like a weapon. Plain touch/feel does not permit any manipulation or groping of the object in an effort to identify it as contraband.
The duration of a Terry stop
is limited to the time reasonably necessary to accomplish the purpose of the stop.
During the stop,
the officer may not require the person to move from the location of the stop or its immediate vicinity. Doing so would turn the stop into an arrest.
Supreme Court, in Whren v. U.S., 517 U.S. 806 (1996),
said that the courts are not required to consider an officer's motive for stopping a vehicle as long as the officer had an objective basis for the stop
Probable cause
is a fair probability or reasonable grounds to believe that someone committed a crime, based on the totality of circumstances.
probable cause standards have been met, courts review all factors known to the officer at the time of the incident
This is known as the totality of circumstances
fellow officer rule
involves relying on the collective knowledge of other officers when taking law enforcement action.
A show-up
occurs when a law enforcement officer locates a suspect a short time after the commission of an offense and attempts to get a one-on-one identification of the suspect in the field by a victim or witness.
Proof beyond a reasonable doubt
is the standard used to determine if a criminal defendant is guilty. Based on the facts of the case, there is no other reasonable explanation than that defendant committed the crime.
In administrative proceedings,
the burden of proof is "clear and convincing evidence." Each of these is a lesser standard than proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Florida
A search
occurs when the government intrudes into a place where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.
A seizure
occurs when the government affects a person's right to have or control his or her property, usually by physically taking it.
A search warrant
is a court order that authorizes law enforcement to conduct a search and seizure.
The existence of probable cause will be determined
based on the totality of the circumstances.
The Supreme Court has ruled that evidence obtained by the government in violation of the Constitution cannot be used as evidence in court. This is known as the
exclusionary rule.
The Fruits of the Poisonous Tree doctrine
holds that evidence gathered with the assistance of illegally obtained information must be excluded from trial.
Two search types that are often considered exceptions to the search warrant requirement are not technically searches because the person
does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the place to be searched. Those are searches of abandoned property and open fields. abandoned property is the contents of a trash can which has been put out by the curb for pickup.
Open fields
are areas of someone's property where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.
Any contraband an officer can see can be seized without a warrant as long as three conditions are met:
(1) the officer is lawfully present in the place where he or she sees the item, (2) the item is in plain sight, and (3) the officer has probable cause to believe that the item is contraband or crime evidence.
First
Because vehicles and other mobile conveyances must be licensed, registered, and insured, and are easily moved,
they have a reduced expectation of privacy and may be searched without a warrant.
Probable cause is required for a mobile conveyance search. This is sometimes called
the Carroll doctrine, so named for the case of Carroll v. U.S., 267 U.S. 132 (1925).
Exigent circumstances
are certain emergencies such as the case of evidence destruction, an emergency scene, or a fresh pursuit that justifies a warrantless entry
Fresh pursuit
allows an officer to enter a residence or other private place, while chasing a suspect. It generally requires (1) probable cause that the suspect committed a serious crime, (2) immediate or continuous pursuit of the suspect, and (3) probable cause that th
Four additional search warrant exceptions require less than probable cause:
1. consent
2. inventory
3. administrative searches
4. incident to arrest
Consent searches
do not require probable cause, reasonable suspicion, or even mere suspicion. An officer may ask anyone for consent to search.
Inventory searches
are not designed to search for evidence but to protect the arrested person's property and to protect the officer from accusations of theft. An inventory is a written list of all valuable property in a vehicle.
Administrative searches
generally do not require a warrant due to the setting or special conditions. Subjects of this type of search include students, public schools, people in government offices, government property (such as desks, lockers, and vehicles), people engaged in cert
incident to arrest When a person is lawfully arrested and taken into custody
he or she may be searched without a warrant. Such a search incident to arrest is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment
The scope of constitutional searches
The scope of constitutional searches is limited to the items being searched.
Whether conducting a search using a warrant or acting under a legally recognized exception, case law and statutes allow officers to search for these items:
� dangerous weapons
� fruits of the crime�objects obtained by the suspect as a result of committing the crime
� instruments of the crime�items used by the suspect to commit the crime
� contraband�anything that is illegal to possess
� evidence�anything tha
Forfeiture
is a civil proceeding in which the law enforcement agency asks the court to transfer ownership of the property from the defendant to the government.
An arrest
is defined as depriving a person of his or her liberty by legal authority.
An arrest warrant
tis a court order authorizing law enforcement to take the individual named on the warrant into custody to answer for charges specified in the warrant.
misdemeanor exceptions
� Carrying a Firearm in Violation of an Injunction (s. 790.233, F.S.)
� Battery (s. 784.03, F.S.)
� Act of Retail Theft (s. 812.015, F.S.)
� Traffic Offenses Related to Crash Investigation (ss. 316.645 and 318.17, F.S.)
� Carrying a Concealed Weapon (s. 7
a notice to appear
is a written order that may be issued by a law enforcement officer in lieu of a physical arrest requiring a person accused of violating the law to appear in court at a specified date and time.
an officer may issue a notice to appear, except in any of the following circumstances:
1. The accused fails or refuses to sufficiently identify him- or herself or supply the required information.
2. The accused refuses to sign the notice to appear
3. The officer has reason to believe that the continued liberty of the accused constitutes an
probable cause affidavit
also called an arrest affidavit�is a sworn, written statement by a law enforcement officer establishing certain facts and circumstances to justify an arrest.
Fresh pursuit
is a legal doctrine that permits a law enforcement officer to make an arrest of a fleeing suspect who crosses jurisdictional lines.
In Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989), the United States Supreme Court held
that all law enforcement use of force cases are to be judged by an objective reasonableness standard based upon the Fourth Amendment.
The use of force is to be judged
d from the perspective of a reasonable officer under the same circumstances without the benefit of hindsight.
The objective reasonableness test requires the officer to answer two questions about the level of force used in any situation:
Was the action reasonable and necessary, and was the amount of force applied reasonable and necessary?
776.06, F.S.
Florida law defines deadly force as any force that is likely to cause death or great bodily harm
Law enforcement officers are also authorized to use reasonable and necessary force
to affect an investigative detention (Terry stop).
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602 (1966).
the Court decided that whenever a law enforcement officer questions a suspect in custody, the officer must advise the person of certain Constitutional rights.
Custody
means the suspect is deprived of freedom in a significant way. Generally, interviews at the scene�such as Terry stops, traffic stops, and field sobriety exercises� are not considered custody because they are typically brief in nature
subject or otherwise restricting his or her movement so that he or she is not free to leave
is considered custody.
Many agencies in Florida prefer the expression "custodial interview" to refer to
the process of interrogating or questioning a suspect; however, Florida courts routinely use the term "interrogation.
The elements of interrogation include
questioning initiated by law enforcement that is directly or indirectly intended to elicit an incriminating response.
These statements, known as spontaneous statements
will be admissible even if an officer does not advise the suspect of the Miranda rights.
If the suspect makes a clear and unequivocal request to invoke any of his or her rights under Miranda,
all questioning must cease immediately.
If the suspect invokes only his or her right to remain silent,
the officer may re-initiate the interrogation after "a significant lapse of time," as stated by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The right to counsel contained in the Miranda warnings is not crime-specific
Therefore, an officer may question the suspect about a burglary when the suspect was arrested on completely unrelated charges.
Before a person can be charged with a criminal offense, the officer must have evidence that a crime has been committed. This is the legal principle known as
corpus delicti or "body of the offense.
For an offender to be guilty of a criminal offense
the offense must be defined so that the offender engages in specific conduct or intentionally produces a specified result
Under criminal law principles, there are four basic classifications of intent:
general, specific, transferred, and criminal negligence.
General intent
defines most criminal offenses and requires some forbidden act by the offender. To qualify as an act, the offender's bodily movement must be voluntary.
Specific intent
requires an expectation of a particular result, which requires a heightened mental state of intent to commit the act. A specific intent crime will list in the statute the specific elements which must be met. In other words, it must be proved that the susp
Transferred intent
is present when an intentional act harms an unintended second victim.
criminal negligence
or recklessness, imposes criminal liability on defendants when they did not intend for a behavior to cause the resulting harm.
Culpable negligence
is consciously doing an act that the person knew or should have known was likely to cause death or great bodily injury. For criminal liability to exist based on an offender's act, there must also be a causal relationship between the offender's act and the