What is the difference between Reasonable Suspicion and Probable Cause?

Reasonable suspicion means that the police feel that they suspect someone of participating in a crime because of certain pieces of evidence that are not solid enough to warrant an arrest. Probable cause is referred to as the possible reason why a crime has been committed by someone.

For example, a doctor is being suspected of killing his wife because of the high level of barbiturates injected into her bloodstream. The possible reason why the crime has been committed is the affair of the doctor’s wife with another doctor that the doctor recently uncovered. There is a big difference between the two. You should know more details so that you will know which one is being referred to.

Reasonable suspicion stands for a sort of assumption that a crime is currently planning to be committed, is being committed, or has already been committed. This will be based on all of the details that the police or the investigators have gathered.

Probable cause is the potential reason why crime is being planned to be committed, is being committed, or has already been committed. When you say probable cause, this means that there is already a piece of evidence linking to the crime, whereas, for reasonable suspicion, there is no concrete evidence just yet. The police need reasonable suspicion to question someone and probable cause to get someone arrested.