Content Analysis of Pre- and Post-Jones Federal Appellate Cases: Implications of Jones for Fourth Amendment Search Law

<p>This study examines the state of Fourth Amendment search law in relationship to the decision in the recent, landmark case of <em>United States v. Jones</em>. This study focused on the effects of the <em>Jones</em> decision, trespass doctrine, relative to the former precedent of <em>Katz v. United States</em>, reasonable expectation of privacy doctrine, and the rates of searches being found under these two tests (or a combination of both). This study used a qualitative content analysis of federal appellate cases which cited <em>Jones</em> and/or <em>Katz</em> to answer the following questions: Which tests were being used in federal appellate cases where a search was in question? And; Depending on the test being used, was a search more or less likely to be found? This study concluded, through the analysis of 34 cases pre-<em>Jones</em> decision and 38 cases post-<em>Jones</em> decision, that both tests are still being used, depending upon the parameters within the case itself (as <em>Jones</em> has very specific criteria for determining a search). This study also concluded that since the <em>Jones</em> decision, cases citing solely <em>Jones</em> found more searches to have occurred (100%, 11 cases) than did cases citing solely <em>Katz </em>(27.2%, 3 out of 11 cases) or cases which cited both (37.5%, 6 out of 16 cases).</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in Criminal Justice (MSCJ)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Sociology and Criminal Justice

Year dc:date.available

2015

Author dc:creator

• Purdon, James A

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Christopher Totten
• Dr. Peter Fenton
• Dr. Sutham Cobkit

• Fourth Amendment
• Search Law
• Trespass
• Privacy
• Jones
• Katz
• Criminal Law

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/mscj_etd/2

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu:mscj_etd-1001