reasonable suspicion
Articulable basis for doubt
Reasonable suspicion is the legal standard allowing police to briefly detain someone for investigation—lower than probable cause but requiring more than a hunch.
An officer must point to specific, articulable facts suggesting criminal activity: The officer had reasonable suspicion based on the bulge in his jacket and his flight from the scene.
The concept comes from the 1968 Supreme Court case *Terry v.
Ohio*.
- search warrantDocument permitting lawful premises examination
- arrest warrantJudicial order authorizing detention
- stop-and-friskTemporary police detention and search
- pat downManual body search
- traffic stopPolice halting a motorist
racial profiling · civil liberties · surveillance · Terry stop · implicit bias · Fourth Amendment · constitutional rights · detainment · Miranda rights · exclusionary rule · criminal investigation · privacy concerns · police discretion · legal precedent · judicial review · grand jury proceedings · presumption of innocence · plea bargaining
- policingpatrol, police powers, arrests, police officer, arrest
- drug testingdrug testing, drug test, drug screen, drug screens, drug screening
- legal doctrinescollateral estoppel, strict scrutiny, equal protection, sovereign immunity, absolute immunity
- evidenceevidence, evidence bag, circumstantial evidence, proof, admissible
- Legal Powerssubpoena, warrant, search warrant, arrest warrant, seizure
- detention rightshabeas corpus, pretrial detention, pre-trial detention, remand, detention hearing
reasonable suspiciongut feeling
Instinctive sense about something
speculation · intuition · wild guess · conjecture · paranoia
reasonable suspicionconclusive evidence
Proof that ends debate
certainty · knowledge · proof · random guess · blind faith
reasonable, suspicion, reason, suspect, reasonably, unreasonable, reasonableness, reasoning, reasoned