The Exclusionary Rule

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution guarantees Americans the right to freedom from unreasonable searches. The writer then points out that while the Constitution does guarantee the right to privacy, it does not provide a means to ensure and protect this right or suggest remedies for when that right has been violated; determining how to apply the Fourth Amendment has been left to the responsibility of legislatures, who have largely ignored the issues, and the courts. Over time, the Supreme Court has interpreted the Fourth Amendment to require the exclusion of material seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The resulting legal principle is called the exclusionary rule. The writer discusses that the exclusionary rule has been expanded to require the exclusion of evidence obtained in violation of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, as well.

From the Paper:

" The exclusionary rule is aimed at preventing violations of a person's constitutional rights, especially the rights guaranteed to people under the Fourth Amendment, and, to a lesser extent, under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments. Therefore, the exclusionary rule prohibits the admission of evidence collected in violation of a defendant's constitutional rights, in a criminal prosecution. However, it does not exclude this illegally obtained evidence in a subsequent civil procedure. The exclusionary rule applies to evidence seized as a direct result of an illegal search or seizure. In addition, the exclusionary rule sometimes bars the admission of evidence obtained in violation of any of a defendant's constitutional rights, not simply in violation of a defendant's Fourth Amendment rights. Furthermore, the exclusionary rule also applies to evidence that was discovered as a result of an illegal action, even if that evidence was discovered in a legal manner. That type of evidence is referred to as the fruit of the poisonous tree."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Findlaw. (2008). Enforcing the Fourth Amendment: the exclusionary rule. Retrieved February 16, 2008, from FindlawWeb site: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment04/06.html
• Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966).
• Peoples, E. (2007). Basic criminal procedures. New York: Prentice Hall.
• U.S. Const. amend. IV.

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