Order ID 385247630_Relationship Between Forensic Investigations and The Fourth Amendment
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Relationship Between Forensic Investigations and The Fourth Amendment
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Relationship Between Forensic Investigations and The Fourth Amendment
The Bill of Rights, of which the Fourth Amendment is a component, was ratified as
part of the Constitution on December 15, 1791. The protection of the people against invasions
of their privacy brought about by unwarranted searches was the primary motivation for
inserting the Fourth Amendment into the Constitution (Smentkowski, 2010a). This means
that the police were no longer permitted to inspect people or restrain someone without a
warrant and a legitimate justification for doing so. This brings up an important point: the
relevance of the Fourth Amendment to forensic inquiry. Thus, the forensic investigation of
legally seized things, such as drugs, can readily incorporate computer forensics into their
established procedures. The Fourth Amendment additionally facilitates forensic scientific
examination of materials seized by law enforcement.
In Daniel Ashley McDonnell v. State of Maryland, No. 1246, the court ruled that
McDonnell's consent to search was invalid and overturned McDonnell's porn conviction. In
reversing Daniel McDonnell's pornography conviction, Maryland's 2nd highest court
determined the Constitution required that police officers respect McDonnell's drawdown of
his assent to their ongoing search or seizure of his computer, even though a week had
elapsed, and they had already duplicated his storage device (Lash, 2022). Documents
submitted to the U.S. On July 12, 2019, investigators from the Army Criminal Investigation
Division Command visited McDonnell's residence, and he approved a paper permitting them
to investigate his computers. Before they left, investigators made a backup copy of his hard
disk. After McDonnell had reconsidered granting permission to search, his lawyer notified the
authorities seven days later. According to the Court of Special Appeals, which sided with
McDonnell's attorney, permission to conduct a warrantless search of a computer's digital
information can be rescinded at any time before the investigation is completed (Lash, 2022).
Therefore, according to Hawkins (2021), the officer's assessment of their duplicate of Daniel
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McDonnell's storage device after he had revoked approval was a violation of his Fourth
Amendment protection against unlawful search and seizure because McDonnell reclaimed a
reasonable expectation of privacy in the data by drawing down his consent, and the decline
was unambiguous and unequivocal.
I believe that each individual has the right to privacy and personal space. However,
the law permits a search warrant to be issued if someone suspects that we have committed a
crime. However, there needs to be a hard cap in the legislation that makes violating that right
impossible. Our government must strictly enforce and completely support this law.
Contrarily, it is not illegal for an officer to examine and take items that are in plain sight or
that she has personally observed. Also, it's not a violation of the Fourth Amendment to pick
up abandoned items or anything that look like abandoned items in a field because it is
assumed that an abandoned or field location does not inspire high expectations of personal
space.
Therefore, search and seizure are important to this amendment because it establishes
different rights that promote the security of individual property, as demonstrated by the fact
that property can be seized, according to Hawkins (2021). In addition, the relevance of the
fourth amendment is primarily based on the fact that it safeguards the people from the many
illogical actions taken by the government. The Fourth Amendment protects people from
various government activities, which allows for warrantless searches and seizure of property.
This is made possible by carrying out various genital inspections to search for a person who
has committed a specific offense, which, in turn, assists in safeguarding persons from
unjustified actions taken by the government.
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References
Hawkins, D. (2021). 4th Amendment Violation Unlawful Seizure.
Wisconsin Law Journal
.
Lash, S. (2022, December 7).
Md. court reverses porn conviction, says consent to search was
withdrawn
. The Daily Record. https://thedailyrecord.com/2022/12/07/md-court-
reverses-porn-conviction-says-consent-to-search-was-withdrawn/
Smentkowski, B. P. (2010a, October 8).
Fourth Amendment | United States Constitution
.
Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fourth-Amendment