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OPEN FIELDS DOCTRINE: SOME BASIC RULES

NCJ Number
143760
Journal
Crime to Court: Police Officer's Handbook Dated: (June 1993) complete issue
Author(s)
J C Coleman
Date Published
1993
Length
18 pages
Annotation
Intended for use by police officers, these articles summarize judicial decisions regarding the police searches in open fields and discuss the effects of anabolic steroid drug abuse on the body and mind.
Abstract
The appellate court decision in United States v. Pinter involved 1989 charges of drug law offenses and upheld a police decision to enter an open field to seize items from an illicit drug manufacturing laboratory. The defendant asked the court to make an exception to the open fields doctrine to require probable cause or reasonable suspicion before police officers could enter an open field. The court analyzed U.S. Supreme Court decisions and other appellate court decisions and determined that prior precedents do not require such an exception. Thus, it declined to impose such a limitation on the open fields doctrine. Effects of steroids include an increased cholesterol count, liver tumors, liver cirrhosis, other physical effects, addiction, depression, and violent tendencies. Photographs, summaries of judicial decisions regarding the open fields doctrine, and multiple choice questions and answers

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