Editing Probable cause (section)

{{Short description|Legal concept in US law}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = February 2019}}
{{Use American English|date = February 2019}}

In [[United States criminal law]], '''probable cause''' is the legal standard by which police authorities have reason to obtain a warrant for the arrest of a suspected [[criminal]] and for a court's issuing of a [[search warrant]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Senior Specialist Charles Doyle |title=CSR Memorandum to the United Senate Select Committee on Intelligence entitled "Probable Cause, Reasonable Suspicion, and Reasonableness Standards in the Context of the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Act" |url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/m013006.pdf |website=fas.org |publisher=Congressional Research Service via the [[Federation of American Scientists]] |access-date=September 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824161409/https://fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/m013006.pdf |archive-date=August 24, 2019 |date=30 January 2006}}</ref> One definition of the standard derives from the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of ''[[Beck v. Ohio]]'' (1964), that probable cause exists when “at [the moment of arrest] the facts and circumstances within [the] knowledge [of the police], and of which they had reasonably trustworthy information, [are] sufficient to warrant a prudent [person] in believing that [a suspect] had committed or was committing an offense.”<ref>{{citation |last1=Cook |first1=Joseph P. |title=Probable Cause to Arrest |journal=Vanderbilt Law Review |date=1971 |volume=24 |pages=317–39}}, quoting ''Beck v. Ohio'', 379 U.S. 89, 91 (1964).</ref>

Moreover, the [[grand jury]] uses the probable cause standard to determine whether or not to issue a criminal indictment. The principle behind the probable cause standard is to [[limited power|limit the power]] of authorities to conduct [[unlawful search and seizure]] of person and property, and to promote formal, forensic procedures for gathering lawful evidence for the prosecution of the arrested criminal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/probable_cause|title=Probable Cause|last=Busby|first=John C|date=2009-09-17|website=LII / Legal Information Institute|language=en|access-date=2017-05-09}}</ref> In the case of ''[[Berger v. New York]]'' (1967), the Supreme Court said that the purpose of the probable-cause requirement of the  [[Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourth Amendment]] is to keep the state out of Constitutionally protected areas until the state has reason to believe that a specific crime is being committed or has been committed.<ref>{{cite web |title=Berger v. New York, 388 U.S. 41 (1967), at 59.|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/388/41/ |website=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=September 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230918144644/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/388/41/ |archive-date=September 18, 2023 |date=June 12, 1967}}</ref> The term of criminal law, the ''probable cause'' standard is stipulated in the text of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

{{Quote|The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, ''but upon probable cause'', supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.}}

Moreover, in U.S. immigration law, the term “reason to believe” is equivalent to the ''probable cause standard'' of criminal law,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/198382907/Jose-Manuel-Isabel-Diaz-A205-500-422-BIA-Dec-30-2013|title = Jose Manuel Isabel Diaz, A205 500 422 (BIA Dec. 30, 2013) &#124; PDF &#124; Removal Proceedings &#124; Social Institutions}}</ref> and should not be confused with [[reasonable suspicion]], which is the legal criterion required to perform a [[Terry stop]] in the U.S.