Search and Seizure in Digital Crime: Laws, Concepts, and Applications

This assignment explores the legal concepts surrounding search and seizure in the context of digital crime. It begins by explaining the intent and fundamental principles of search and seizure law, emphasizing the importance of warrants and the protection of individual privacy. The assignment then identifies and explains situations where search and seizure can be performed without a warrant, such as consent, plain view, search incident to arrest, exigent circumstances, and border searches. The document references key legal sources to support its arguments, including the need for a warrant to search for digital evidence in cybercrime investigations, and the limitations of each exception to the warrant requirement. The document highlights the role of computer forensic specialists in digital crime investigations.

Title
concepts of search and seizure law

1. Explain the intent and fundamental concepts of search and seizure law as it applies to
digital crime.
The intention of the search and seizure law is to prevent illegal search and seizure of personal
properties by the enforcement. According to Kerr (2005) the law was meant to protect the
citizens by upholding their right to privacy and reasonableness from the government agencies but
not from private individuals. Any agency which intends to perform a search and seizure must do
so under a warrant and only seizes the listed items on the warrant if the search was successful. In
a situation whereby, a person has been suspected to have committed cybercrime, the agency
responding to the issue must seek for a warrant from a neutral magistrate which will permit them
to search and seize any digital evidence that shall be used in taking action to the culprit against
cybercriminal activities. They use the evidence to create a concrete need to apprehend the person
against cybercrime assisted by the computer forensic specialists in extracting the data required.
There are two ways through which search can be performed in case of suspected cybercrime
activities: through warrant or without warrant.
2. Identify and explain situations where search and seizure is possible without a warrant.
Please describe the limitations.
According to Murphy (2013), there are exemptions through which agencies can perform search
and seizure without warrant are;
Situation 1: Consent- This is where an individual complies with the enforcement agencies to do a
search and seizure without being coaxed or tricked by the agency into doing so. In this
circumstance, the police can go ahead and search without a need for a warrant.
Situation 2: plain view- If the evidence is visible, agencies are given a go ahead to continue and
search for the evidence and seize if need be.
Situation 3: Search Occurrence to Arrest- In a situation where the police have arrested a suspect,
they don’t need to have a warrant to perform a search and seizure in the victim’s premises so as
to gather more evidence pertaining the arrest. Police have all the right to gather more evidence
pertaining a related arrest crime associated with a cybercrime that could otherwise be destroyed.

Situation 4. Exigent circumstances: If the police perceives that the time to be taken in acquiring a
warrant would jeopardize the safety of the public or result to the loss of evidence, then a search
without a warrant can be performed.
Situation 5: Boarder search- This is where government should be able to monitor any item that
may be deemed entering the country illegally, the court recognizes the necessity of border
searches to be more intrusive unlike local locations.

References
Kerr, O. (2005). Searches and seizures in a digital world. Harv. L. Rev., 119, 531.
Murphy, E. (2013). The politics of privacy in the criminal justice system: Information disclosure,
the fourth amendment, and statutory law enforcement exemptions. Michigan Law
Review, 485-546.