Critical Thinking:
A local police department suspects that three individuals, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, are growing marijuana on their property and selling it around town. The officers, though, do not have probable cause to obtain a warrant. As a result, the officers begin discussing some creative avenues for acquiring information about these individuals and their activities. A rookie officer who majored in Political Science in college offers three options: 1) looking through trash left outside of the suspects' home; 2) flying over the suspects' backyard and using standard binoculars to search for marijuana plants; and 3) using a newly developed piece of equipment that can scan the suspects' house and detect the presence of large quantities of organic plants. Answer the following questions about these options.
-Which of these Supreme Court cases has direct implications for Option 1?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Option 1 (looking through trash left outside of the suspects' home) is directly impacted by the Supreme Court case California v. Greenwood, which held that individuals do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of their trash left outside their homes for collection. Thus, officers can search through trash without a warrant. Option 2 (flying over the suspects' backyard and using standard binoculars to search for marijuana plants) is questionable under the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures as it involves the officers conducting a search without a warrant or probable cause. Option 3 (using a newly developed piece of equipment that can scan the suspects' house and detect the presence of large quantities of organic plants) is also questionable under the Fourth Amendment as it involves the use of a highly advanced technology that might be considered a search without a warrant. Therefore, Option 1 is the best choice.

Critical Thinking: A Local Police Department Suspects That Three Individuals, Alvin, Simon