The Fourth Amendment MCQs
The Fourth Amendment MCQs
Welcome to MCQss.com! This page is dedicated to MCQs (multiple-choice questions) focused on the Fourth Amendment. By engaging with these MCQs, you can deepen your understanding of the important protections provided by the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
The Fourth Amendment is a crucial safeguard of individual privacy and protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. It establishes that people have the right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, and prohibits the government from conducting searches or seizures without a valid warrant based on probable cause.
Through our MCQs, you can test your knowledge and understanding of the Fourth Amendment and its application to search and seizure laws. The questions cover topics such as the scope of the Fourth Amendment, the warrant requirement, probable cause, the role of judges in issuing warrants, exceptions to the warrant requirement, and landmark court cases related to the Fourth Amendment.
Engaging with these MCQs not only allows you to assess your understanding but also helps you develop a deeper appreciation for the Fourth Amendment and its significance in protecting individual rights and privacy. By exploring different scenarios and concepts related to search and seizure laws, you can enhance your critical thinking skills and become more informed about your constitutional protections.
Explore the MCQs on MCQss.com and expand your knowledge of the Fourth Amendment. Whether you are a law student, legal professional, or simply interested in understanding your rights, these questions provide a valuable resource to test your knowledge and deepen your understanding of the Fourth Amendment's principles.
1: Arastoo walked into his college dormitory and was immediately approached by campus security. Security asked for Arastoo’s backpack and immediately started searching the contents. Security said they had a right to search since the dormitory was university property. As a student of criminal law and procedure, Arastoo quoted the U.S. Supreme Court and said to security, “The Fourth Amendment protects . . .”
A. Places not people
B. People not places
C. All closed containers
D. All open spaces
2: People who do not own property have a right of privacy in all of the following except ______.
A. A hotel guest who has paid to rent a room
B. A guest visiting a friend’s home overnight
C. A rental car even if not on the rental agreement
D. Visitors who conduct purely commercial transactions
3: Warrants are generally required for ______.
A. Stingrays
B. Dirtboxes
C. Pen registers
D. Historical cell-site location
4: The activity that gave rise to the reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot in the Terry v. Ohio (1968) case was Detective McFadden watched a store window one night as two out of three men ______.
A. Made 24 trips back and forth up and down the street
B. Stood on a street corner talking, looking, and smoking
C. Argued and engaged in mutual combat with weapons
D. Engaged in hand-to-hand drug transactions for money
5: During a Terry stop, officers may pat down a suspect for a weapon only upon a(n) ______ the suspect is armed.
A. Objective belief
B. Reasonable suspicion
C. Reasonable belief
D. Probable cause
6: Hamilton’s car. The dog alerted for drugs in the trunk, which the officers seized. Hamilton’s best argument to suppress the drugs is ______.
A. Backup should not have been called
B. The Terry stop lasted too long
C. The dog was not certified
D. The initial stop was unlawful
7: In examining the intersection of race and Terry stops, the Massachusetts state Supreme Court noted that Black men were more likely to be targeted for stops, frisks, and searches and their running away from the police may be motivated by the desire to hide criminal activity or motivated by the desire to ______
A. Avoid the recurring threat of unlawful arrest
B. Avoid the chance of being stripped searched
C. Avoid the indignity of being racially profiled
D. Avoid the embarrassment of wrongful identification
8: An arrest is a Fourth Amendment ______.
A. Seizure
B. Investigation
C. Search
D. Terry stop
9: Using excessive force to effectuate an arrest violates the Fourth Amendment’s ______.
A. Unreasonableness clause
B. Reasonableness clause
C. Warrants clause
D. Probable cause
10: Sources of probable cause include all of the following EXCEPT ______.
A. Officer’s perceptions
B. Collective knowledge
C. Uncorroborated anonymous tips
D. Reliable informants
11: An officer’s affidavit of probable cause is ______ which is brought in on the face of the warrant.
A. Incorporated by reference
B. Incorporated by oath
C. Incorporated by affirmation
D. Incorporated by process
12: To protect against general, exploratory searches, the Fourth Amendment leaves “nothing . . . to the discretion of the officer executing the warrant,” by operation of the ______.
A. Warrants clause
B. Particularity requirement
C. Detachment requirement
D. Constitutional language
13: Guests at a home do not enjoy the same right of privacy as the home’s owners.
A. True
B. False
14: A facially deficient warrant is a warrant that does not comply with the Fourth Amendment which no reasonable officer would serve or execute.
A. True
B. False
15: Police do not have to knock and announce their identity before executing a search warrant.
A. True
B. False
16: Is abandoned property once an item is discarded, an owner loses a reasonable expectation of privacy in that item and it can be searched and seized without a warrant?
A. False
B. True
17: _____ is written and sworn document signed under the pains and penalties of perjury
A. All of these
B. Affidavit
C. Filing of a charging document
D. An offender’s execution
18: _____ is defined as required to seize someone not in public
A. Mistakes about the law supporting an arrest
B. Mistakes whether probable cause exists to arrest
C. Arrest warrant
D. All of these
19: _____ is known as at the time of a search or seizure, all information known to all law enforcement and shared with officers on the scene
A. Preliminary hearing
B. Collective knowledge
C. All of these
D. Arraignment
20: Is derivative evidence fruit from a tree that has been poisoned by an initial illegal act in securing evidence that triggers the exclusionary rule?
A. True
B. False
21: _____ is a cell site simulator that mimics cell phone tower signals to intercept information from nearby cell phones
A. All of these
B. Rehabilitation
C. Dirtbox
D. Lab results are considered “testimony”
22: _____ is defined as all force used to seize people (arrest) is guided by the Fourth Amendment’s reasonableness clause
A. Cyberstalking
B. None of these
C. Excessive force
D. Swatting
23: _____ is known as a judge-made rule that excludes from trial evidence seized in violation of the Constitution (e.g., evidence taken in violation of the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable search and seizure, the Fifth Amendment prohibition against compelled self-incrimination, or the Sixth Amendment right to counsel)
A. The judiciary
B. Exclusionary rule
C. The defense counsel
D. All of these
24: Is facially deficient if by looking at the face of a warrant a reasonable officer can tell the warrant is legally deficient, she may be personally liable if she executes the defective warrant?
A. False
B. True
25: _____ is protects against unreasonable searches and seizures; lists the requirements for a warrant as probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the things to be seized
A. A guest visiting a friend’s home overnight
B. Fourth Amendment
C. Visitors who conduct purely commercial transactions
D. All of these
26: _____ is defined as doctrine that punishes police misconduct by excluding from trial all evidence derived from an initial illegal action when police seized said evidence in violation of the Constitution
A. All of these
B. Fruit of the poisonous tree
C. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
D. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
27: _____ is known as issued by King George III to seize and arrest American colonists’ publications critical of the king and his governance
A. General warrants
B. Evolving standards of decency
C. Meaningless standard of decency
D. All of these
28: Is hunch legally insufficient basis for the police to forcibly engage the public?
A. False
B. True
29: _____ is an affidavit establishing probable cause attached to the warrant and integrated into the legal authority for the warrant
A. Protected space
B. All of these
C. Incorporated by reference
D. Plain view zone
30: _____ is defined as person who works undercover on behalf of the government, often in exchange for personal benefit with the informant’s own criminal case; must be proven to be reliable prior to use in a probable cause affidavit
A. Waited for the warrant
B. Did not ask questions
C. All of these
D. Informant
31: _____ is known as legal requirement for law enforcement to knock and announce police presence prior to executing a warrant; should wait 15 to 20 seconds between knocking and entering, but the exclusionary rule will not apply even if the wait is as short as 3 to 5 seconds
A. Using coercion and threats
B. All of these
C. Using intimidation and isolation
D. Knock and announce
32: Is no knock warrant if serving a warrant will threaten officer safety, the judge may dispense with the knock and announce requirement by making a notation on the face of the warrant?
A. True
B. False
33: _____ is the place to be searched and things to be seized must be described specifically.
A. All of these
B. Particularity requirement
C. Prosecutors
D. Judges
34: _____ is defined as captures the numbers a phone receives and makes; no reasonable expectation of privacy
A. Circumstantial evidence
B. All of these
C. Debase
D. Pen register
35: _____ is known as a determination made by examining all the facts and circumstances tending to establish that a crime has been, is being, or will be committed; more than a suspicion
A. Probable cause
B. Malware
C. Burglary
D. All of these
36: Is reasonable belief more than reasonable suspicion but less than probable cause; standard to conduct a pat down for weapons during a Terry stop?
A. True
B. False
37: _____ is an individual’s confidence that certain places and things will not be examined by others. When an expectation of privacy exists, officers typically need a warrant to search and seize
A. None of these
B. If both tenants on site grant consent to search, the police still need a warrant
C. If one tenant on site refuses consent, police may not search without a warrant
D. Reasonable expectation of privacy
38: _____ is defined as the government must use only as much force is necessary to effectuate an arrest.
A. Reasonable force
B. Prosecutors
C. All of these
D. Law enforcement
39: _____ is known as legal standard based on specific and articulable facts (more than a hunch) that criminal activity is afoot, which means that a crime has been, is being, or will be committed
A. Daubert test
B. None of these
C. The government
D. Reasonable suspicion
40: Is search a government invasion to look for contraband or other evidence of an area in which a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy?
A. False
B. True
41: _____ is the government’s acquisition of certain personal property, either contraband or potential evidence of a crime, or the deprivation of a person’s liberty due to the person’s arrest
A. Reasonable suspicion
B. Seizure
C. Show-up
D. All of these
42: _____ is defined as facts that a police officer can cite that support the legality of his actions
A. Specific and articulable facts
B. All of these
C. Investigation
D. Search
43: _____ is known as cell site simulator that can intercept and track nearby cell phone signals
A. If one tenant, but not the other, grants consent to search, the police may search
B. StingRay
C. If both tenants on site refuse consent to search, the police may search anyway
D. None of these
44: Is terry stop the brief detainment and questioning of a person by police to either confirm or dispel their reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot. If officers have a reasonable belief that the person is armed, officers can pat down the outer clothing for weapons only?
A. False
B. True
45: _____ is no reasonable expectation of privacy in information one shares with third parties such as banks or telephone companies
A. All of these
B. Arraignment
C. Bail hearing
D. Third-party doctrine
46: _____ is defined as a legal order to seize specific property connected to crimes or to arrest a specific person suspected of criminal activity
A. Warrant
B. Cross-examination
C. The defense counsel
D. All of these
47: _____ is known as Papers authorizing the seizure of property from American colonists to help pay King George III’s debtors
A. The judge chose to overlook at the sentencing hearing
B. All of these
C. Associated with the offense, but not charged as a crime
D. Writs of assistance
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The Fourth Amendment MCQs
