ABSTRACT
No-knock warrants authorize police to conduct searches or arrests by forcibly entering homes without prior announcement. No-knock warrants represent an important exception to the normal Fourth Amendment rule that police must recognize the sanctity of the home and avoid the use of force by giving suspects a chance to comply with a warrant. Federal law and the law in many states require law enforcement officials to knock on a suspect's door and announce their intentions and identity before entering and executing arrest or search warrants. The Supreme Court's unanimous opinion held that officers' adherence to the standard knock-and- announce rule was only one of the factors judges should consider in assessing the constitutional reasonableness of a search or seizure. State lawmakers and judges took up the implicit invitation in Wilson to experiment with no-knock pro-cedures. Several states, for example, adopted a categorical or "blanket" approach, authorizing no-knock warrants whenever officers faced certain classes of crime, such as felony drug cases.
