CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

Should the Exclusionary Rule be Abolished

Table of Contents

Table of Contents .1

Should the Exclusionary Rule be Abolished .2

References .5

Should the Exclusionary Rule be Abolished

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica 's article entitled Exclusionary Rule (2008 , exclusionary rule is that principle in United States law that provides that evidence seized by police in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution may not be used against a criminal defendant at trial . It is , according to the article The Exclusionary Rule (n .d ) a

judge-made rule , adopted by the courts to stop the police from conducting illegal searches and seizures . The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution affords the citizens the protection against unreasonable searches and seizures This protection extends even to the accused or a defendant in a criminal case . One way to promote this right is through the exclusionary rule Under the Exclusionary rule , evidence obtained illegally by law enforcement officers should be considered inadmissible in court founded under the Fourth Amendment provisions . With the safeguard that the exclusionary rule provides , I think that it should not be abolished but should instead remain as one of the more important pillars of the criminal justice system

One of the essential justifications for the exclusionary rule is the phrase fruit of a poisonous tree ' under criminal procedure . Under this principle evidenced seized illegally are inadmissible in court This is very important because the rights of the accused are protected by the constitution as much as the rights of the victim are . To allow the recognition of illegally seized evidence in court is to allow ad to provide law enforcement officers an excuse for their improper administration of justice and to disregard specific criminal procedures set by law . This will give them the opportunity to abuse the authority conferred upon them by virtue of their position , in dealing with suspects . Moreover , it should also be noted that the law also provides for other instances by which evidence may be legally seized even without a warrant , which only means that if law enforcement would want to , they would always find a way to stay with the established rules in handling evidence and an accused

It is never denied that even with the rights of the accused provisions or the Miranda doctrines , various violations of the rights of the accused have been reported thus to take away the shield being provided by the exclusionary rule will even more expose the accused to more abuses and the disregard of their rights . In fact , as it is provided by Lynch (1999 , history shows that , where courts do not employ the exclusionary rule , the problem of police lawlessness gets worse . For example , Lynch (1999 ) observed that in Ohio specifically , when the exclusionary rule was not in effect , the police force rarely applied the search warrants . Thus , in this aspect , the exclusionary rule also helps police officers so that they may be guided and motivated to act according to established criminal procedure principles

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