ISP 80th Academy Criminal Law Practice Test

The Litchfield test uses a balancing approach to determine whether a police action is reasonable by looking at three elements together: how invasive the intrusion is (extent of intrusion), how much suspicion justifies the action (degree of suspicion), and how necessary the action is to achieve a legitimate law enforcement objective (extent of law enforcement needs). This means no single factor alone decides reasonableness; the combination of how invasive the action is, how strongly it is supported by suspicion, and how essential the objective is all have to be weighed. When intrusion is highly invasive, there must be strong suspicion and a clear need for the action; when intrusion is less invasive, the bar for suspicion and necessity can be lower. Because all three factors are considered in tandem, the test encompasses all of them.