Criminal Procedure for the Criminal Justice Professional 11 th Edition

1. Criminal Procedure for the Criminal Justice Professional11th Edition John N. Ferdico Henry F. Fradella Christopher Totten Administrative and Special Needs Searches Chapter 6 Prepared by Tony Wolusky

2. Protecting Public Safety • Certain governmental activities aimed at protecting public health, safety, and welfare have a long history of regulatory enforcement. • Regulatory enforcement is quite different from criminal investigation. • The usual strictures of the Fourth Amendment have been modified to allow for more flexible enforcement of public safety laws.

3. Administrative Search Warrants

4. Administrative Searches • An administrative search is a routine inspection of a home or business by governmental authorities responsible for determining compliance with various statutes and regulations. • It seeks to enforce things like fire, health, safety, and housing codes and licensing provisions. • An administrative search ordinarily does not result in a criminal prosecution.

5. Special Warrant Requirements for Administrative Searches • Administrative searches differ in nature and purpose from criminal searches; therefore, the probable cause standard for administrative searches differs in nature and is less stringent than the standard for criminal searches.

6. Exceptions to Administrative Warrant Requirements • Warrantless inspections of licensed and closely regulated enterprises are reasonable if: • A “substantial” government interest supports the regulatory scheme under which the inspection is made • Warrantless inspections are necessary to further the regulatory scheme • The regulatory statute provides a constitutionally adequate substitute for a warrant by advising the owner of commercial premises that the search is being made pursuant to the law, has a properly defined scope, and limits the discretion of the inspecting officers.

7. Distinguishing Between Administrative and Criminal Searches • The line between an administrative and a criminal search sometimes blurs. • Depends on investigative purposes and privacy expectations. • Any criminal evidence found during a valid administrative search may be seized. • When an administrative search begins to take on the characteristics of a criminal search, the stricter standards applicable to criminal searches apply. • If these standards are not satisfied, any evidence obtained is inadmissible in a criminal prosecution.

8. Special Needs Searches

9. The Special Needs Doctrine • An exception to the warrant and probable cause requirements of the Fourth Amendment exists where “special needs” of the government, beyond the normal need for law enforcement gathering evidence for crime investigation, make the warrant and probable cause requirements impracticable.

10. Evaluating “Reasonableness” • “Special needs” exceptions are evaluated under the “reasonableness” standard of the Fourth Amendment, by balancing • The weight and immediacy of the government interest • The nature of the privacy interest allegedly compromised by the search • The character of the intrusion imposed by the search • The efficacy of the search in advancing the government interest.

11. Searches of Governmental Employees • “Special needs" may justify a warrantless search of a public employee’s office by the employee’s supervisor. • For searches conducted by a public employer, the invasion of the employee’s legitimate expectations of privacy must be balanced against the government’s need for supervision, control, and the efficient operation of the workplace. • Determined on a case-by-case basis

12. Governmental Drug Testing • Public safety is a special need. • People who work in heavily regulated industries have a lesser expectation of privacy. • Drug testing in the interest of special needs is different than searches done for purposes of law enforcement.

13. Searches of Probationers and Parolees • Searches of probationers and parolees are based on the system’s necessity for non-adversarial supervision their population. • Conducting such a search is a “special need” justifying lessened Fourth Amendment protection for the probationer. • The warrant requirement is impracticable. • The probable cause standard for searching is replaced by a "reasonable grounds" standard.

14. Searches of Elementary and High-School Students • The Fourth Amendment applies, but the warrant requirement does not. • Determining the reasonableness of any search involves an inquiry into: • whether the action was justified at its inception • whether the search as actually conducted was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances that justified the interference in the first place. • Random, suspicionless drug testing of students participating in extracurricular activities is reasonable.

15. Searches of College Students • The law of search and seizure in the college and university setting is inconsistent. They depend on: • Whether the search was initiated by police or college employees • Whether it is a public or private college or university

16. Border Searches • There is no reasonable expectation of privacy at any of the U.S. borders or their functional equivalents. • Border searches are a part of maintaining the sovereignty of the country by controlling the flow of both people and articles into or out of the country and play a vital role in maintaining national security. • More invasive searches of people—such as strip searches, body cavity searches, or extended periods of detention—require reasonable suspicion, although they do not require a warrant.

17. Other Special Needs Searches • Other searches that may fall within the realm of special-needs searches are: • Airport and courthouse searches • DNA searches • Public transit system searches