Question

The Alaska Supreme Court recognized that almost every human activity ultimately manifests itself in waste products and ... any individual may understandably wish to maintain the confidentiality of his refuse. When garbage is placed in a dumpster located outside an apartment building that accommodates garbage from the other apartments, the owner should not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in his/her discarded garbage. The dumpster in this case was located in the parking area outside the building and was routinely collected by the municipality. It was also in "plain view" of the officers. The evidence seized from the garbage was properly cited in the affidavit in support of a search warrant for the defendant's residence. Do you have an expectation of privacy when you place your garbage out on the curb or in this case a dumpster? Why or why not?

Answer 1

According to the Supreme Ruling of 1988 in the case between California v. Greenwood, it was decided that the 4th amendment to the United States constitution does not permit Law Enforcement Agents to seize or search garbage that a suspect left outside of his or her residence without a warrant.

The court's initial argument was that if an individual put out their garbage outside of their house, and in the public, knowing that anyone and or anything could tamper with or rummage it, then there was no reason for such an individual to expect the Law Enforcement Agents to provide a warrant prior to searching such garbage.

Justice Brennan in a counter-argument stated whilst it was true that anyone could have accessed the garbage without the owner's consent, snooping around such behaviour was not exactly one that was reasonably expected of civilised people.

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