United States v. Lichtenberger: The Sixth Circuit Improperly Narrowed the Private Search Doctrine of the Fourth Amendment in a Case of Child Pornography on a Digital Device
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Authors
Matejka, Katie
Issue Date
2015-12
Volume
49
Issue
1
Type
Journal Article
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
INTRODUCTION|Expansive use of technology and increased storage capacity on digital devices are posing new questions for law enforcement in terms of how to handle searches of private digital devices under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. In United States v. Jacobsen, the United States Supreme Court established the private search doctrine, permitting government agents to perform warrantless searches of items in situations where they were merely replicating a previous search performed by a private individual and had virtual certainty of what repeating that search would reveal to them. Since then, courts have adapted a doctrine originally applied to the search of a box to increasingly complex digital devices. Specifically, in cases where allegations of child pornography invoked the doctrine, an officer's knowledge that a specific area of a device contained pornography was sufficient to meet the standard set forth in the private search doctrine...
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Publisher
Creighton University School of Law