No Need For Reasonable Suspicion for Search of Probationer

Agents of law enforcement are not required to cite reasonable suspicion before searching a probationer under standard probation.

 

United States v. Tessier, 2016 BL 45438, 6th Cir., No. 15-5284, 2/18/16

     The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that, as long as the standard probation form that consents to searches "without a warrant" and "at any time", law enforcement officials do not need reasonable suspicion to search a probationer.

     Probationers still have some protections, but are not entitled to the same absolute liberties, guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment, as people not on probation. In this case, officers were acting within a operation searching the residences of every known sex offender in the county. The court used a "totality of the circumstances" analysis and said that because the search conditions in this case advanced the two primary goals of probation - rehabilitation and protecting society from future criminal violations -  the intrusion was reasonable.

     The court said that it did not need to answer the greater question of "whether a search of a probationer's home that has no legitimate law enforcement or probationary purpose-such as a search with no purpose other than to harass the probationer-would be reasonable under the Fourth Amendment."

http://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/United_States_v_Tessier_No_155284_2016_BL_45438_6th_Cir_Feb_18_20?1457129207