Essay on "Rochin v. California Summary"

Essay 8 pages (3609 words) Sources: 8

[EXCERPT] . . . .

(Samaha, p. 223).

Recommendations -- Under a stricter interpretation of the Bill of Rights as noted in Rochin, if there was no reasonable overt showing that any of the passengers had either done anything wrong or were holding any contraband, the idea of assuming a high probability seems counter to the Constitution. The original stop was made because of a faulty brake light, and had nothing to do with any of the passengers. Even though the driver had a visible needle and admitted to using, the other passengers, according to the case, were not acting as if they were under the influence and did not physically do anything to cause suspicion. Therefore, the search of the purse should have been illegal.

Case 3 -- Jacobson v U.S. (1992) Summary of the Facts -- This case was focused on both criminal procedure and entrapment and was the first time the Court considered entrapment outside of controlled substances. U.S. Postal Inspectors began a sting operation in 1985 to find people who might be obtaining illegal pornography in the mail. Keith Jacobson was a 56 bachelor and retired Army employee who received a bogus letter and materials that might gauge his interest in certain types of pornography. In 1987 more material was sent and Jacobson responded, placing an order that was never filled. In June of that year, Jacobson received a card asking him to go to the post office to pick up material and he was observed doing so, causing a judge to issue a search warrant for his home. He was then arrested and indicted on receiving sexually explicitly materials depicting minors. He denied knowing that any pornographic materials was ordered, saying that he thought it was nudist art. He was subsequently fired from his job and had to sell his assets to defend himself and, despite no evidence that he had ever approached underage children his life was ruined. His case was heard by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals and in 1990 it was overturned on the grounds that the government had insufficient grounds at that Jacobson had been baited. The Supreme Court heard arguments on the cased based on Justice John Paul Steven's recommendation that this was entrapment. The High Court, in a 5-4 margin reversed his conviction, agreeing that he had been entrapped (Keith Jacobson v. United States, 1992).

Issue - Was Jacobson entrapped and did the prosecution ever prove that the agencies of the U.S. government did not in fact, cause him to violate the Child Protection Act?

Analysis and Evaluation -- Essentially, this case is about entrapment, which is the idea that law enforcement agencies act in a manner to cause people to commit crimes they might not ordinarily had done if they had not been encouraged. In the case of Jacobson, while he may have had predilections to view underage pornography, his record and his actions never showed that he was dangerous to children or the community. Since he did not seek out the materials, but was presented with opportunities for them by agents mailing materials, this was clear entrapment because it was the government that put the idea of purchasing said materials into his mind. There was no evidence that other than these bogus ads, that he had ever ordered or purchased underage pornography at all. (1) The government induced Jacobson to order child pornography by first sending mail to him based on an assumption that he had previously ordered material when it was legal. USPS investigators further sent him materials from a sham group called the American Hedonist Society and then supposedly found his name in another file. In 1986 they sent him mail from another fictitious organization and despite trying to get him to write back with a list of others in his community who might share other interests, had to send him materials in 1987 from the Far Eastern Trading Company. In all, there were at least four attempts over the years to entice Jacobson to purchase underage pornography. (2) The only evidence shown that Jacobson was predisposed was that he had been on a list that ordered materials prior to 1985 of a sexually explicit nature involving children. In addition, Jacobson responded that sexual freedom was under attack based on materials from fictitious groups eliciting his sympathy. (3) The Court reversed the jury-led conviction because it believed that while child pornography was certainly a societal evil, there was clear evidence that the government had exerted pressure for over 2.5 years to push Jacobson into committing acts and using multiple techniques to coerce him into doing so, often without the knowledge that the materials were in fact illegal. (4) Justice O'Connor, writing for the dissent, noted that in the future, everyone will claim entrapment regardless of their record of predisposition and that the redefinition of entrapment will mean that even if someone does something illegal, they will claim they were coerced into that action (Samaha, pp. 356-8).

Recommendations -- Some claim that this decision limits law enforcement's ability to stop illegal activity. In fact, Jacobson seems to have allowed Courts to agree with more and more entrapment activities. Rather than baiting consumers into purchasing pornography and/or illegal materials, why go to the time and expense to do so rather than simply prosecuting those who do illegal activities on their own. Someone may think, for instance, about robbing a bank, but unless they actually rob that bank, they are not guilty of anything more than thinking about it. Someone may, in fact, be predisposed to child pornography, but once they found it was illegal, may have not purchased it without being pushed into it by other sources. Jacobson may have been predisposed, but it was the 2.5 years of pushing and effort that actually caused the action. Finally, the overall reward to actions like this, supposedly protection of society, does not fit with the expense and time involved. This is particularly true now with the Internet, in which it is relatively easy to find images from all over the world that some would define as pornographic.

Case 4 U.S. v Martinez-Fuerte (1976) Summary of the Facts - This case was a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that allowed the Border Patrol to set up permanent structures on public highways leading from the Mexican/American border and that these checkpoints were not in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The issue followed the defendant, Martinez-Fuente, who agreed to transport to illegal Mexican citizens who had entered the U.S. through San Ysidro. When stopped, they admitted their status and Martinez-Fuente was charged with illegal transporting aliens. Martinez-Fuente moved to have the evidence suppressed the grounds that the checkpoints violated the 4th Amendment. He was subsequently convicted. The High Court, in a 7-2 decision, ruled that internal checkpoints were, in fact, not a violation of the 4th Amendment but were consistent with that portion of the Bill of Rights. Law enforcement could simply not practically seek warrants for every vehicle that passes through the border, and to prevent illegal activity and promote the public interest, the use of these checkpoints outweighed the potential constitutional incursions placed upon any individual (United States v. Martinez-Fuente, et al., 1976).

Issue - Do stops and permanent locations to embed such stops violate the individual's rights against unreasonable search and seizure?

Analysis and Evaluation -- Racial profiling is certainly not new. Many law enforcement agencies, in fact, believe that it is necessary and effective. The argument centers around the fact that demographic factors prove that crime is higher in some areas than in others. Profiling and intent to search is based not just on ancestry, and certainly in the border between Mexico and the United States one would expect to see more persons' of Hispanic origin, but on activities (e.g. driving while appearing intoxicated, etc.). The Court correctly indicated that it would be impossible to do anything but randomized searches, and those searches must be done based on certain statistical probabilities -- whether every nth car, every car with people appearing to be of Mexican origin, or some other formula. (1) The issue from the government's perspective focuses on a larger societal issue -- illegal immigration. Despite being a country of immigrants, if current societal mores and thus governmental attitudes are trying to limit illegal immigration, then steps must be taken to prevent such actions. It is not a matter of moral or ethical issues that surround this case, but of the law. Thus, to prevent illegal immigration, the law must be upheld by using checkpoints. If citizens do not wish this done, then the place to change that law is by voting in representatives who support a different view. (2) Individually, Latino immigration is based mostly on rural and seasonal farm workers who follow crops from Texas to California. Many note that American agriculture could not exist without this population, and… READ MORE

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