The impact of a verbal warning on police consent search practices

✍ Scribed by Illya Lichtenberg

• Book ID: 104021235
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 103 KB
• Volume: 32
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0047-2352
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2003.10.008

✦ Synopsis

This article explores the impact of requiring a verbal warning prior to a police request for consent to search a suspect's automobile. The United States Supreme Court expressed concern that requiring a verbal warning prior to a consent request would make consent searches impossible for the police. Twenty-seven months of motor vehicle stop data (N = 800) was analyzed during periods where a verbal warning was and was not required prior to a consent request. The findings did not support the conclusion that a verbal warning would cause a substantial decrease in consent searches. A slight increase in the volume of consent requests was observed after the police were required to administer the warning.