Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy (NVCJTA) Exam 3 Practice

Corroboration of informant information is required to establish probable cause in a warrant affidavit. In criminal procedure, tips from informants are usually treated as hearsay, so they must be supported by other independent evidence or observations to be reliable. Corroboration strengthens reliability by verifying key details through independent means—like surveillance, physical evidence at the scene, or other corroborating facts that align with what the informant reported. This independent verification helps show a fair likelihood that the described evidence or wrongdoing exists, which is why corroboration is the standard. The other terms imply direct verification by the informant itself, whereas the legal requirement is independent corroboration to support probable cause.