Probable Cause and Reasonable Suspicion
Overview of Fourth Amendment Case Law on Police Searches
In oversimplified terms, probable cause “exist[s] where the known facts and circumstances are sufficient to warrant a man of reasonable prudence in the belief that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found.” — Ornelas v. United States (1996). Under a similar gloss, reasonable suspicion is a standard, more than a hunch but considerably below preponderance of the evidence, which justifies an officer’s investigative stop of an individual upon the articulable and particularized belief that criminal activity is afoot. Fourth Amendment reasonableness is that point at which the government’s interest advanced by a particular search or seizure outweighs the…
