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Full Disclosure: Cognitive Science, Informants, And Search Warrant Scrutiny, Mary Bowman
Full Disclosure: Cognitive Science, Informants, And Search Warrant Scrutiny, Mary Bowman
Mary N. Bowman
Full Disclosure: Cognitive Science, Informants, and Search Warrant Scrutiny
By Mary Nicol Bowman
This article posits that cognitive biases play a significant role in the gap between the rhetoric regarding Fourth Amendment protection and actual practices regarding search warrant scrutiny, particularly for search warrants based on informants’ tips. Specifically, this article examines the ways in which implicit bias, tunnel vision, priming, and hindsight bias can affect search warrants. These biases can affect each stage of the search warrant process, including targeting decisions, the drafting process, the magistrate’s decision whether to grant the warrant, and post-search review by trial and appellate …