Constitutional Law - Searches, Seizures, and Interrogations (10 Weeks)

This is the same class I offered during the Summer of 2020 with a slightly different class name. Please be aware of that if you have taken several of my courses already!

When do the police need to have a search warrant? How do the police get a search warrant? What happens if the police don’t follow the right procedures when they get a search warrant?

Criminal Procedure is about the set of rules that police must follow when the government enforces the law. 

At the federal level, criminal procedure rules will protect the guarantees within the Constitution's Bill of Rights, such as the right to due process and equal protection, the right to legal counsel, the right to confront a witness, the right to a jury trial, and the right not to testify against oneself.

This class will do a high school level walk through of the 4th amendment and the 5th amendment (as it connects to criminal procedure), and mention the 6th amendment. 

If you have taken my Introduction to Criminal Law classes, the format will be similar in using an outline with a slide show to work through various scenarios to give us a greater understanding of how the law works. Please download and look over the Discussion Outline for greater insight into the class topics.

The main teaching methods will be discussion in small break out rooms between students, discussion in the main classroom with the teacher, and questioning for clarification from the teacher.

In addition to the discussion format, this class will start to explore various cases from the Supreme Court that further clarify the amendments and how they are applied to our everyday lives. We will look at famous cases like Katz v. United States, Mapp v. Ohio, Terry v. Ohio, and Miranda v. Arizona among several others.

In a general sense, the class will be split into two parts: "Searches'' and "Seizures." The first six classes will talk mostly about what makes a search legal or illegal, and the second part of the class will talk about what makes a seizure legal or illegal along with custodial interrogations. I will then weave the other parts of criminal procedure into the discussion as they fit what we are talking about.

Due to the free flowing nature of discussions and questions brought by students, the daily schedule will adapt as needed to best serve the students. The daily outline below is a general outline of what we will cover.

Day 1: Introduction to the 4th Amendment
- Introduction to the class and Expectations
- What is the 4th Amendment?
- Why is it Important?

Day 2: Arrests and other Detentions
- Stop and Question

Day 3: What is a Search?
- Can the Government search anything they want at any time?
- Execution of a Warrant and Searches with Warrants

Day 4: What is a Search continued
- Exclusionary Rule
- Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

Day 5: Searches without a Warrant
- Search incident to a lawful arrest
- Stop and Frisk
- Consent Searches

Day 6: Searches without a Warrant (cont.)
- Plain View
- Hot Pursuit
- Vehicle Searches

Day 7: Searches without a Warrant (cont.)
- Airport Searches 
- Emergency situations
- Begin Section on Interrogations

Day 8: Interrogations, cont.
- Miranda Warnings
- Rules for Government Agents when Interrogating

You do not need to have taken my Introduction to Criminal Law classes to take this course and understand it, though it is a nice compliment to what we learn in those classes.

As this is a Criminal Law class, we will talk about various crimes at various times. I strongly advise parents to look over the Discussion Outline to make sure this class is appropriate for your learner. 


You do not need to have taken my Introduction to Criminal Law classes to take this course and understand it, though it is a nice compliment to what we learn in those classes.

As this is a Criminal Law class, we will talk about various crimes at various times. I strongly advise parents to look over the Discussion Outline to make sure this class is appropriate for your learner.