ASSIGNMENT : Criminal Procedure Self-Incrimination and Confessions

You are a police officer assigned to a task force that is investigating major drug trafficking operations in your jurisdiction. As part of the investigative process, a judge has issued a wiretap order for a suspect’s phone. You are assigned the responsibility of monitoring phone conversations, and you overhear the suspect as well as other individuals who may or may not be involved in the drug ring. Before obtaining enough evidence to arrest and prosecute the suspect, you hear evidence related to other types of criminal activity.

Assignment Guidelines
Address the following in 1,200 words:

What constitutional issues are involved in the scenario that dictates what you can and cannot do related to the evidence of other criminal activity outside the scope of the original wiretap order? Explain.

If you arrest the other individuals for the crimes not associated with the reasons for the wiretap, what happens to any future evidence that might be obtained from the wiretap? Why?

If you fail to arrest the other individuals, are there any potential risks involved? Explain you answer.

SAMPLE SOLUTION

Wiretap Investigation by Police
There are various constitutional issues involving the scenario that may or may not relate to the evidence of other criminal activities outside the scope of the original wiretap. However, there are two doctrines that give the privilege to exclude evidence obtained by police in the informal setting of a police station. The first one is the rule of evidence and the second is the constitutional law. The rule of evidence is a confession doctrine that rejects confessions that are not voluntary while the rule of constitutional law refers to the notion of due process which as a rule preserves those things that are important to a scheme of ordered liberty. In a criminal case, the court may issue a wiretap order for a suspects phone to overhear the content of a conversation for purpose of a given court case, however, this power and privilege have its limits. There are various constitutional issues that dictate what police officers should and should not do to the evidence of other activities outside the scope of their investigation. In the criminal justice system, self-incrimination refers to the act of exposing oneself by making a legal statement to a charge in crime to involve yourself or another person in a criminal prosecution. The act of self-incrimination can take place directly or indirectly through…