Chapter 3, Basic Underlying Concepts: Property, Privacy, Probable Cause and Reasonableness, law homework hekp

1) Should a person in a telephone booth be given the same degree of Fourth Amendment protection (privacy) as a person in his or her bedroom? What about the same degree as a person in his or her garage? Explain your reasoning.

2) If a suspect’s actions, demeanor, and/or appearance match the components of a predetermined criminal profile, can this fact alone give rise to probable cause to arrest? To help answer this question, consider Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491 (1983), a major U.S. Supreme Court decision in the area of criminal profiling. In that case, the police detained an individual at an airport because he fit the following components of the “drug courier” profile: (1) he carried a certain brand of luggage which appeared heavy in weight; (2) he was young and dressed casually; (3) he appeared nervous; (4) he bought his ticket with cash; (5) he failed to identify himself fully on his luggage tags; (6) he traveled from a drug import city (Miami); and (7) he possessed a different name from the one appearing on his airline ticket (i.e., it appeared that he used an alias while traveling). On these facts, the U.S. Supreme Court determined there was no probable cause to arrest the suspect, but that there was reasonable suspicion to briefly detain and question him. 460 U.S. at 506. Do you agree or disagree with the Court’s opinion in Royer that police should notbe able to use criminal profiles to establish probable cause for an arrest? Defend and explain your position.