Although it is the highest court in the land, the U.S. Supreme Court depends on local
courts and the police to apply its decisions to daily situations.
a. True
b. False
There is consensus today that it is possible to use DNA testing to determine whether a
biological tissue matches a suspect with near certainty.
a. True
b. False
In the case Lockyer v. Andrade(2003), the Supreme Court ruled that it was a violation
of the Eighth Amendment’s cruel and unusual punishment clause to sentence Andrade to
25 years to life imprisonment for petty theft under the state’s three strikes law.
a. True
b. False
In a constitutional democracy, when enforcing the criminal law:
a. officials are restricted by the law of criminal procedure.
b. officials are restricted by the legislature.
c. officials are restricted by popular opinion.
d. officials have wide latitude to decide what actions to take.
An officer’s subjective, honest belief that a crime has been committed is enough to
support probable cause to arrest.
a. True
b. False
Prosecutors have qualified immunity for their conduct as advocates in the judicial phase
of the criminal process.
a. True
b. False
In Wyoming v. Houghton, concerning the search of a passenger’s purse for drugs based
on probable cause that drugs are in the vehicle, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that:
a. if police know or should know that a passenger owned the purse they cannot search
it.
b. the passenger can prevent the search by identifying the container as his/hers.
c. the police must seize the purse or other container until they get a search warrant.
d. the police may inspect passengers’ belongings that are capable of concealing the
object of the search.
A trial judge may not deal with a continually disruptive defendant by having the
defendant bound and gagged.
a. True
b. False
Identifying perpetrators is easier than proving that a crime was committed.
a. True
b. False
The Federal Tort Claims Act:
a. waives sovereign immunity and allows lawsuits against the federal government for
the constitutional torts of its officers.
b. allows citizens to submit their damage claims resulting from constitutional torts to a
panel charged with deciding if the claim should be paid.
c. upholds the government’s sovereign immunity from lawsuit.
d. only allows lawsuits against the individual officers involved.
According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the death penalty is notcruel and unusual
punishment if:
a. it is automatically applied to all murderers.
b. aggravating circumstances can support it.
c. there is a review procedure to ensure against discriminatory application.
d. judges and juries both agree in a particular case that death is appropriate.
Which of the following constitutes a stop?
a. A person approaches an officer and says, “I saw a man run out of that building with a
knife dripping blood.”
b. Police approach a person and ask, “Did you just leave that building?”
c. A person walks up to an officer and volunteers, “I just killed my enemy.”
d. Officers investigating a robbery that just happened approach a person who fits the
description given by the victim, asking who they are where they were at the time of the
crime.
Arizona’s Immigration Law signed in 2010, requires police officers who, in the course
of a traffic stop or other law enforcement action, have reasonable suspicion the person
entered the U.S. illegally to verify the person’s immigration status.
a. True
b. False
In Lockyer v. Andrade (2003), the Supreme Court held that a 25-year to life sentence
for petty theft under the state’s three strikes law:
a. violated the Constitution because it was disproportionate to Andrade’s crime.
b. did not violate the Constitution and was justified by the state’s interest in
incapacitating and deterring repeat offenders.
c. violated the Constitution because it was cruel and unusual punishment.
d. did not violate the Constitution because the Eighth Amendment doesn”t apply to state
sentences.
Fixed (determinate) sentencing:
a. is currently the only form of sentencing in all jurisdictions in the U.S.
b. is currently not in favor in any U.S. jurisdiction.
c. shares the stage with indeterminate sentencing but is being adopted by more and
more jurisdictions.
d. is only found in mandatory minimum statutes.
Criminal defendants have an absolute right to bail guaranteed by the United States
Constitution.
a. True
b. False
The major issue of contention between the Supreme Court majority opinion and the
dissenting opinion in Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, the case involving the consent search
of the defendant’s car, was:
a. whether consent to search was actually obtained by the officers.
b. whether the initial stop of the defendant’s car was lawful.
c. the coercion of the defendant to obtain the consent.
d. whether the police must inform a suspect of her right to refuse consent to a consent
search.
According to the Supreme Court, guilty pleas waive all of the following rights except
a. prohibition against self-incrimination.
b. right to trial.
c. right to compel witnesses to testify.
d. right to counsel.
Preliminary hearings are adversary proceedings.
a. True
b. False
According to the dual sovereignty doctrine:
a. it violates the double jeopardy clause to prosecute and punish a defendant for the
same act in separate jurisdictions.
b. the federal government cannot prosecute a defendant for a similar state crime.
c. different jurisdictions can prosecute and punish a defendant for the same conduct.
d. state governments cannot charge defendants for the same felony.
Throughout history, fixed sentences have totally dominated criminal sentencing.
a. True
b. False
A Fourth Amendment seizure occurs when the suspect feels a moral duty to cooperate
with police.
a. True
b. False
In Illinois v. Caballes, the Supreme Court ruled that:
a. Drivers of automobiles have a reasonable expectation of privacy that protects them
from the use of drug- sniffing dogs without a warrant.
b. Drug-sniffing dogs can only be used if there is reasonable suspicion the driver has
narcotics.
c. Drug-sniffing dog searches are prone to many errors and are so intimidating that
officials must have probable cause to use them.
d. The use of well-trained drug-sniffing dogs to expose contraband items that would
remain hidden in a routine traffic stop, does not intrude on a driver’s reasonable
expectation of privacy and the Fourth Amendment does not apply.
Which of the following is TRUE with regard to bail?
a. The Judiciary Act of 1789 provides that a person charged with a non-capital offense
shall be permitted to bail.
b. The Eighth Amendment states that citizens have a Constitutional right to bail.
c. The Judiciary Act of 1789 and the Eighth Amendment provides that a person charged
with any offense shall be permitted bail.
d. The Judiciary Act of 1789 did NOT provide that a person charged with a non-capital
offense shall be permitted bail.
Which is true about containers?
a. They can only be searched with probable cause and a warrant.
b. No warrant is ever needed to search them, if there is probable cause to do so.
c. No warrant is needed if the container is found in a car the police have probable cause
to search, and the container is a likely place where the items searched for may be found.
d. No warrant is needed if the container is found in a vehicle the police have probable
cause to search, regardless of the nature of the container.
Which of the following activities can NOT be conducted as a matter of routine at an
international border stop?
a. Dog sniff
b. Cavity search
c. Pocket check
d. Wallet search
The U.S. Supreme Court has held that fitting a drug courier profile is itself alone
enough to furnish reasonable suspicion.
a. True
b. False
The Supreme Court has ruled that a judge’s failure to ask a defendant if they knowingly
and voluntarily entered a guilty plea in open court is:
a. not reversible if there is strong evidence of the defendant’s guilt
b. not reversible if the defendant was represented by counsel during the entry of the
plea
c. reversible error because the judge accepted a plea without an affirmative showing
that it was freely given and the defendant knew what he or she was agreeing to
d. may be grounds for an appeal if the defendant can show the judge was aware the
defendant was not of sound mind
An officer who uses a flash light to look inside the front seat of a locked, illegally
parked automobile on a public street and notices a bag of marijuana on a front seat has:
a. conducted an illegal search because he enhanced his normal senses with a flashlight.
b. conducted an illegal search because he looked into the windows of a locked car.
c. not conducted a search at all and his actions are not in violation of the Fourth
Amendment because the marijuana was in plain view.
d. conducted a legal search because under the Fourth Amendment he can use a
flashlight.
All dismissals because of speedy trial violations are with prejudice.
a. True
b. False
A special need that justifies airport searches is:
a. protection of endangered species.
b. protection of public health.
c. protection from drug smuggling.
d. protection for air travelers.
Justice Black, in his dissenting opinion in Katz v. U.S., claimed that:
a. the Fourth Amendment’s words did not support the majority and that the Court was
expanding the meaning of the Fourth Amendment to keep up with the times.
b. the Fourth Amendment created a general right of privacy.
c. the Fourth Amendment was meant to protect against eavesdropping.
d. the Fourth Amendment created a general right of privacy and was meant to protect
against eavesdropping.
A grand jury is composed of a group of which of the following individuals?
a. Defense attorneys
b. Private citizens
c. Trial judges
d. Police officers
According to former Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter regarding interrogation
and confessions:
a. Modern advances in the technology of crime detection make interrogation
unnecessary.
b. Where innocent human witnesses cannot be found, nothing remains but interrogation
to get information from guilty persons.
c. Substantial restrictions on the ability of the police to interrogate suspects should have
no effect on the ability of police to investigate crime.
d. All empirical studies of the importance of confessions in solving crimes are
untrustworthy.
Since 9/11, the government has shifted its primary goal from gathering evidence in
order to prosecute terrorists to:
a. deporting them.
b. prosecuting drug dealers.
c. gathering intelligence in order to prevent future attacks.
d. detaining them without trial.
For Fourth Amendment purposes, privately owned land not in included within the area
immediately surrounding the home is called ________.
Searches that consist of compiling lists of property in government custody are
________searches.
Identify three exceptions to the “knock and announce” rule.
Final government authority rests in the U.S. Constitution by virtue of the _________.
Barricades set up for stopping vehicles and questioning the occupants are known as .
The main sources of hearsay information used to establish probable cause in most
arrests that rely on hearsay are _________ ___________.
The rule that detection by means of the ordinary senses is not a Fourth Amendment
search is known as the ______ doctrine.
The exigent circumstance constituting the need to apprehend a fleeing suspect is
___________.
The requirement that search warrants have to describe the place to be searched is
known as the _________ requirement.
A decision by a prosecutor not to charge a crime if the suspect performs community
service instead is called ___________.
The U.S. Constitution is the highest authority in criminal procedure; it is what is called
a court of _________.
Identify, define, and explain the twoprongs of the U.S. Supreme Court’s test of
“effective” counsel adopted in
Strickland v. Washington.
Identify the sources of authority for the Military Order of November 13, 2001, and
describe the jurisdiction of military commissions created by the order.
Describe the progress through direct appeal and collateral attack.
The jury’s authority to reach a not guilty verdict despite proof of guilt is called
_______________.
List and describe the differences between testing the government’s case by grand jury
review and by preliminary
hearing.
Identify and describe the significance of the three sources that have affected the balance
between security and rights in the detention of terrorist suspects since 9/11.
When a police officer grabs a citizen with the intent to stop that person, that is called
a(n) _________.