Fourth Amendment

Chapters 3 and 4 introduced you to the Fourth Amendment and various aspects of searches and limited seizures, otherwise known as stops or detentions. With these course readings in mind, consider and respond to the following questions.

In light of your reading in Chapter 4, do you think that profiling is a legitimate law enforcement tool? Why or why not? Do you think that officers should be able to detain a person solely on the basis of whether he or she fits a particular profile? Why or why not?
Your textbook discussed the use of a “drug courier profile.” Should there be other types of profiles developed? If so, what types and how specific should they be?
Using the Supreme Court’s definition of what constitutes a search, do you think Kyllo v. U.S. was correctly decided? Why or why not?
Now that you’ve read California v. Greenwood in Chapter 3, has your opinion changed at all about whether the police should be permitted to search a suspect’s trash? Do you agree with the Supreme Court’s reasoning that there is no objectively reasonable expectation of privacy in one’s trash left out for collection? Why or why not?