Chapter 6 Criminal Procedure

What is the main purpose of criminal procedure? Well, as I have learned from the lectures in class and reading through the textbook, there are two things that we want in our justice system. The right to have protection of our privacy which is due process model and reducing crime and the protection of public order, aka the crime control model. Yeah I think that due process is really important to all of us, but so is reducing crime. So which of these is a better model? I don't really know. That is probably why we have both of these models in our Criminal Justice System. It maintains our protection of privacy and it is reducing the amount of crime with these two models. The fourth amendment is the search and seizure law. It has the warrant clause and the reasonableness clause. I learned that in order for a warrant to be granted that there must be probable cause. I didn't know that the warrant itself had to justify where exactly the search was going to partake and the person being seized had to be on the warrant. It is because that is a way to limit discretion of the policemen. One of my friend's was having a party one time, and there were drugs and alcohol there....well the police showed up, banged on the door, walked around the house, and flashed their flashlights in the windows. The owner of the house opened the door and that gave the police the right to give out tickets to minors under the influence and tickets to those in possession of drugs. I didn't know that if nobody would have opened the door that none of them would have gotten tickets. I wasn't there, but I did have many friends get alcohol consumption tickets, and possession tickets. It just goes to show that hey, maybe if you knew the law, you wouldn't be getting tickets.....but I'm not saying that drinking and doing drugs are smart but the point is don't do illegal things and you won't get in trouble by the law! I have also learned that there are some exceptions to a search warrant. An officer can search the area of which they have arrested somebody, and it has to be at the time of the arrest. Another way an officer can withhold from getting a search warrant is by asking for consent. If the officer asks to search your car and you say yes, then he doesn't have to have a search warrant. Other ways officers don't need to get a search warrant is by searching things like when something is in plain view, open fields are not protected by the fourth amendment, therefore there is no need to get a search warrant, and abandoned property.