Criminal Law and Procedure
Criminal Law and Procedure tests your working command of the Fourth Amendment, Article I, Paragraph 7 of the New Jersey Constitution, the Criminal Code (Title 2C), and the Rules of Court governing arrests, searches, and charging. Expect fact patterns requiring you to name the legal standard and identify whether the police action was lawful.
Core standards
- Reasonable suspicion supports an investigative detention; probable cause supports arrest and search warrants.
- Terry stops must be justified at inception and reasonably related in scope and duration to the suspicion.
- Consent must be knowing and voluntary; New Jersey requires that the person knows they may refuse.
- Search incident to arrest of a vehicle is limited to areas within the arrestee's immediate reach; once the arrestee is secured, that justification disappears.
- Automobile exception permits a warrantless search of a vehicle when probable cause exists, subject to New Jersey's timing requirements.
- Miranda applies to custodial interrogation; custody and interrogation are separate questions.
Worked example
An anonymous caller says a described man at a named address sells narcotics from a blue sedan. Before seeking a warrant, officers corroborate the address, observe the described man entering the described sedan, and confirm the plate matches a vehicle reported in an earlier distribution complaint. A judicial officer reviews the affidavit. The analysis is not whether the tip alone suffices; it is the totality of circumstances, with the independent police corroboration supplying the reliability the anonymous source lacks. The affidavit should state the corroboration explicitly rather than asserting the conclusion that probable cause exists.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating reasonable suspicion and probable cause as interchangeable.
- Ignoring the scope of consent once the stated purpose is complete.
- Searching a vehicle incident to arrest after the arrestee is handcuffed in a patrol car.
- Confusing a voluntary encounter with a detention.
- Citing federal doctrine without checking whether New Jersey provides greater protection.