Surveillance and the Advantages And/or Term Paper

This has the advantage of showing the suspect in different profiles. But there have also been accusations that in-person lineups may be biased, if they present the suspect with persons who are not sufficiently 'like' the accused. Also, the use of double-blind presentations, where the officers conducting the lineup do no know who the suspect is, might be advisable to dilute the potential for biased or swayed eyewitness identification. Although in-person lineups are likely to be more accurate because they will not contain the possibility of 'bad' photographs swaying the witness, which is especially problematic if the photo line-up is of 'mug shots,' 'live' lineups also have more of a potential for bias by the body language of the officer conducting the investigation, thus this must be guarded against.

Question

Discuss the protections afforded by the Fourth Amendment and give an example of how investigators may constitutionally gather evidence and not violate it.

The Fourth Amendment protects citizens against illegal searches and seizures, and an investigator cannot use the fruit of the poisonous tree, or illegally obtained evidence, in presenting a case. There is a good faith exception to the 4th Amendment, as well as stop and frisk, or searches incident to arrest exceptions ("Valid Searches and Seizures without Warrants," 2007Findlaw.com). Ideally, warrants should be obtained in all unclear areas, to ensure that the evidence is useable in a court of law. Also, an officer must clearly ask a suspect if he or she permits the officer to search his or her property, such as a car or a home, in absence of a warrant and probable cause that a crime has been committed.

Works Cited

Gelbspan, Ross. (26 Nov 1988). "Undercover Work: A Necessary Evil?" Boston Globe. Retrieved 15 May 2007 at http://web.mit.edu/gtmarx/www/reviews.html

Valid Searches and Seizures without Warrants." Annotations p. 3. (2007).

Findlaw.com. Retrieved 15 May 2007 at http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment04/03.html.....