NCJ Number
195491
Journal
Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology Volume: 92 Issue: 1 Dated: Fall 2001/Winter 2002 Pages: 211-272
Date Published
2001
Length
62 pages
Annotation
This article questions the legitimacy of the notion of a voluntary consent to search.
Abstract
In this article, the author argues that the notion of a voluntary consent to search is naive, at best. In a court of law, the decision of whether a search was submitted to voluntarily rarely considers a defendants’ subjective interpretation of the police request to search. Rather, the more objective examination of what was said and done by the police officer and the defendant is used as evidence of a lawful, voluntarily consented to search. Thus, the goal of this article is to question the role of the voluntary consent in present society. The first section outlines the law concerning voluntary searches as it is set forth under the Fourth Amendment. The second section discusses the author’s three main problems with the notion of voluntary consent. The author maintains that first, the law of consent is unclear; second, that case law in this area fails to consider the subjective feeling of compulsion most people feel when presented with a request from a police officer; and third, that the doctrine of consent fosters an atmosphere of distrust of the criminal justice system. Finally, in the third section, the author posits possible solutions to the dilemma of voluntary consent to search.