Investigators may enter or search a premises without a warrant if what type of circumstances exist?

• A. Exigent circumstances
• B. Probable Cause
• C. Consent
• D. Plain View

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is the exigent circumstances exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement. When there is an urgent need to act to protect lives or safety, or to prevent the imminent destruction of evidence or the escape of a suspect, investigators may enter a home or conduct a search without a warrant. The urgency justifies bypassing the delay of obtaining a warrant, but the action must be tightly tied to addressing that emergency and limited to what is necessary to resolve it.

Consent, plain view, and probable cause relate to separate bases for warrantless actions: consent is voluntary permission to search, plain view allows seizure of evidence observed in plain sight during a lawful intrusion, and probable cause is the standard used to justify obtaining a warrant in most cases.