Exclusionary Rule

Contemporary Issues Paper The Exclusionary govern Jennifer Howell November 6, 2010 The Exclusionary dominate and Its Exceptions Introduction The Exclusionary Rule The one-fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the unite States protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures by law enforcement personnel. (US Const. amend. IV) Though the Amendment forbids unreasonable searches and seizures, it does not provide a mechanism for prevention or a remedy. (Jackson, 1996) After passage of the Fourth Amendment, courts began to constitute laws regarding the rule against unreasonable searches and seizures.The courts knowing a rule known as the Exclusionary Rule, which provided a remedy for the violation of a suspects Fourth Amendment privileges any deduction seized in violation of the suspects rights and protections may not be used against the suspect in a roughshod prosecution. The courts have been working and refining the exclusinary rule since its introduction in the 1900 s. (Exclusionary Rule, n. . ) The commencement ceremony case that applied the exclusionary rule was the case of Weeks v. United States, 232 U. S. 393, in which the coercive administration held that the Fourth Amendment barred the use of march secured by a warrantless search. (Exclusionary Rule, n. d. ) The exclusionary rule requires an black-market action by a natural law officer or agent of the police, evidence secured as a result of the il ratified action, and a casual connection mingled with the illegal action and the evidence secured. (Evaluation, n. d. ) Exceptions to the Exclusionary RuleSince the introduction of the exclusionary rule, courts have assemble that it can not be oblige across the board, and have carved out a number of exceptions. These be * The Impeachment Exception This exception allows the Government to offer illegally-seized evidence on cross-examination of the suspect to impeach the defendant after the defendant takes the stand and perjures himse lf. It should be tell that the exception applies only to the testimony of the defendant, and not to any other witnesses. * The separate Source ExceptionThis exception is a way of protecting the governments case when the evidence was found through an independent source sufficiently distinguishable to be purged of the primary taint. (Jackson, 1996) That is, the evidence was seized not only illegally, exactly in addition legally. * The Inevitable Discovery Exception The inevitable discovery exception was established to allow the admission of illegally-seized evidence that, though it was discovered unlawfully and in violation of the Fourth Amendment, would have inevitably been discovered anyway, through lawful means. The Good Faith Exception When an officer acts on a search warrant and discovers evidence, and the search warrant is later determined to be invalid, the evidence can still be used as tenacious as the officers acted in good faith that the warrant was valid at the time o f its execution. This exception was developed because the purpose of the exclusionary rule was not designed to punish the errors of judges and magistrates, but to deter police misconduct. (Exclusionary Rule, n. d. ) * The Harmless misunderstanding ExceptionThe harmless error exception allows introduction of evidence as farseeing as the evidence is determined to be harmless evidence that is, it applies to apathetic issues. The evidence and circumstances be reviewed by the court, and the evidence has to be found harmless by a reasonable doubt. (Jackson, 1996) * The Rule of Attenuation The Court established the rule of attenuation, which allows the introduction of illegally-seized evidence when the Fourth Amendment violation is sufficiently far from the discovery of the evidence as to dissipate the taint. (Jackson, 1996) The Courts have provided trio factors for Courts to apply to determine if the rule of attenuation applies (1) the length of time between the illegality and the s eizure of evidence, (2) the presence of additional intervening factors and (3) the degree and purpose of the appointed misconduct. (Jackson, 1996) Legal Implications of the Exclusionary Rule The exclusionary rule and the development of its exceptions are of vital legal importance to the people of the United States.The courts have reasoned that illegally obtained evidence can not be used in a runnel to do so would be to condone unconstitutional behavior, thereby compromise the integrity of the jury. (Jackson, 1996) The Fourth Amendment is a constraint on the power of the police officers, and gives the officers an incentive to control their power. The exclusionary rule has great legal implications in that it protects American citizens from officers and other State actors who have personal motivations that may otherwise be in conflict with Fourth Amendment compliance. (Jackson, 1996) In fact, the Supreme Court has held that the abuses that gave beginning to the exclusionary rule featured intentional conduct which was patently unconstitutional. (Herring, 2009)Political & Financial Implications on that point are political adversaries of the exclusionary rule, who argue that the rule protects criminals. However, studies show that the actual social cost of the exclusionary rule is relatively small. The cumulative loss in felony cases credited(predicate) to Fourth Amendment violations and the subsequent exclusion of evidence is between . 6% and 2. 5%. (Davies, 1983) The exclusionary rule, while seemingly necessary to deter police misconduct, has financial implications in that when evidence is suppressed, the State may be unable to prosecute the case, and not only wastes the time and be of the police department involved, but also the time and efforts of judges, court employees, and jurors. Interestingly, Mialon found in his study that the exclusionary rule instantly reduces searches by police (in that it reduces chances of a successful conviction) and it als o indirectly accessions them (via an increase in crime).The exceptions that have been carved out help deter these costs by ensuring that the only cases that are affected by the exclusionary rule are those that truly violated the Fourth Amendment rights of the defendant.Sources Davies, Thomas (1983) A Hard smell at What We Know (and Still Need to Learn) About the Costs of the Exclusionary Rule The NIJ Study and Other Studies of Lost Arrests. 1983 American Bar Foundation look Journal 611,622 Evaluation of the Exclusionary Rule. Retrieved November 4, 2010, from http//www. essortment. com/all/exclusionaryrul_rmlx. htm Exclusionary Rule (n. . ). Retrieved November 3, 2010, from http//legal-dictionary. thefreedictionary. com/Exclusionary+Rule Herring v. United States. (2009) 129 S. Ct. 695 (via scholar. google. com)Jackson, Heather. (1996) Arizona v. Evans Expanding Exclusionary Rule Exceptions and Contracting Fourth Amendment Protection. The Journal of Criminal fairness & Criminology , Vol 86, No. 4. Northwestern University School of Law. Mialon, Hugo and Sue Mialon. Abstract on The personal effects of the Fourth Amendment An Economic Analysis. Retrieved November 6, 2010, from http//jleo. oxfordjournals. org/content/24/1/22. abstract