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Fourth Amendment -- Protection Against Unreasonable Search and Seizure: The Inadequacies of Using an Anonymous Tip To Provide Reasonable Suspicion for an Investigatory Stop

NCJ Number
131668
Journal
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume: 81 Issue: 4 Dated: (Winter 1991) Pages: 760-778
Author(s)
O S Shifrin
Date Published
1991
Length
19 pages
Annotation
The Supreme Court held in Alabama v. White that under the totality of circumstances approach, an anonymous tip, when corroborated by an independent police investigation, was sufficient to provide the reasonable suspicion needed to justify an investigatory stop.
Abstract
The author argues that this decision threatens the public's fourth amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure. The two-pronged test, which requires a determination that an informant is generally trustworthy and that he obtained his information in a reliable manner, better assures the dependability of the information than the totality of circumstances approach. In addition, the Court extended the investigatory stop doctrine to include nonviolent crimes including possession of illicit drugs. In this case, the majority weakened the standard of the fourth amendment protection by accepting easy corroboration of the informant's revelations. 131 notes