The Fourth Amendment was created in response to the British practice of issuing a general warrant—warrants that were not limited in scope. The ultimate check that the Amendment places on law enforcement is one of “reasonableness.” This creates two broad categories of searches: searches that would be unreasonable without a warrant and searches that do not require a warrant. For example, warrants are not relevant in the context of school administration. However, warrants have historically always been required in the course of ordinary law enforcement.” Searches have generally always required warrants, but over time the Court created exceptions.
These exceptions have broken down the broad distinction created that was originally created by “reasonableness.” Two categorical exceptions were created by essentially balancing public and private interests: “special needs” and “totality of the circumstances.” Special needs cases arise when there is some great public need other than ordinary criminal detection present. The totality of the circumstances justify a warrantless search, for example, for a parolee because the state’s interest in preventing recidivism is much greater than the parolee’s expectation of privacy, which
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In King, Justice Kennedy referred to the invention of DNA technology as “one of the most significant scientific advancements of our era.” This statement has been criticized, but the impact of DNA technology has been significant. Currently, forensic analysts can use “junk” DNA to identify a person with near certainty. Law enforcement can collect a person’s DNA through saliva. The sample is then uploaded to CODIS, a national network of DNA databases. Any DNA that remains in CODIS available for comparison against new samples from recently apprehended criminals and old samples from unsolved cases. This has become an invaluable tool for law