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Simple English definitions for legal terms

unreasonable search and seizure

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A quick definition of unreasonable search and seizure:

An unreasonable search and seizure is when the police search or take someone's things without a good reason or a special paper called a warrant. This is against the law because everyone has the right to keep their things private. If the police do this, the evidence they find cannot be used in court. However, sometimes the police can search without a warrant if there is an emergency or if someone gives them permission. If the police follow the rules and make an honest mistake, the evidence they find can still be used in court.

A more thorough explanation:

An unreasonable search and seizure is when a search or seizure is done without a legal search warrant or without probable cause. This violates the Fourth Amendment, which protects people's privacy against government officers. The Fourth Amendment says that people have the right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures.

If an unreasonable search or seizure happens, the evidence obtained cannot be used in criminal trials. This is called the exclusionary rule. However, this rule does not apply to other court proceedings, impeachment of evidence against the defendant, or civil proceedings.

Qualified immunity protects government employees from being personally sued by the defendant. This means that even if the evidence is excluded, the officer who performed the unreasonable search or seizure cannot be sued.

There are exceptions to warrantless searches, such as the plain view doctrine, exigent circumstances, hot pursuit, consent, administrative search, and stop and frisk. If a government officer has a search or seizure warrant that turns out to be invalid, evidence seized via their search or seizure may not be excluded if they acted in good faith.

  • If a police officer searches someone's house without a warrant or probable cause, it is an unreasonable search and seizure.
  • If an officer stops a car and searches it without probable cause, it is an unreasonable search and seizure.
  • If an officer searches someone's car and finds drugs in plain view, it is not an unreasonable search and seizure because the officer did not need a warrant or probable cause to see the drugs.
  • If an officer searches someone's car without a warrant or probable cause and finds drugs, but the officer believed they had a valid warrant, the evidence may not be excluded if the officer acted in good faith.

These examples illustrate how an unreasonable search and seizure can happen and how the exclusionary rule and good faith exception work.

unreasonable | unseasoned issuer

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Nostradumbass
10:45
Expecting a lot of rejections though
11:07
I'm sure you'll get a full ride to a few schools :P
11:11
The impression I get is most schools try not to judge based on the political implications of what you write about. They probably care more that you saw a problem and tried to fix it. That seems like a great thing to write a PS about @chowie
11:18
Besides, if a school didn’t let you in for trying to fix a problem you saw in your community, that doesn’t say great things about your school’s culture (assuming the thing you did showed good common sense judgment ofc)
11:19
That school’s* culture
11:23
Thanks Howl you're right :D I def talked about solving problems in my PS
12:03
@HowlEngineer: what's your dream school
MildChiller
12:08
"Have you applied for admission to [school] in a prior year" I applied in Oct. of the 23-24 cycle, should I put 23 or 24 as the year I applied?
MildChiller
12:09
Bcuz 2023 is when I technically applied but I applied for admissions in 2024
12:14
2024 cuz that's when you would've been admitted
I agree with Howl
12:19
Gecko what's ur dream school
Hard to say. I'm pretty firmly committed to the philly area so probably temple or villanova
Also relatively debt averse so I'd have to get a good scholarship from BC or Fordham to want to go but that's not very likely for me
Any advice? lol
[] baddestbunny
12:25
what’s a good scholarship for you? what would make BC or Fordham worth it?
12:25
Hmmmm let me think
[] baddestbunny
12:25
fordham’s max aid they give is 45k per year
Bunny I can possibly get a 75%+ scholarship from villanova or temple, and I'd be moving back in with my parents if I went there so I'd have near-zero COL. It'd be really hard to beat that
I would prefer BC over Fordham just because I like boston more, but I'm expecting a WL there tbh
I would maybe consider BC with $ but I don't know how to decide if a better biglaw chance is worth the COL + higher tuition
12:50
How do I know if my status checkers are properly linked
12:59
@ChowieBean: right now, Michigan, but there are several that come close. How about you?
13:05
@Law01: I haven't gotten the status checkers to work at all. When I sent an email to the LSData folks the other week, they said they were working on fixing them
13:10
but I think "Last Checked" would change from "Never" to something else
13:30
@HowlEngineer: I'll get more specific once I get my LSAT score, but NYU, Berk, GTown, UCLA
13:30
Anywhere that's top for PI
14:54
What do people typically write in the 'Optional Statement' for Georgetown
15:25
Yale application is wayyy too much work
15:28
So many apps want 'post-college activities' time to get a fuckin job
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