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Constitutional Policing

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Constitutional Policing
Constitutional Policing

The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution states:
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable search and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things seized.” The Fourth Amendment is clearly broken in the case of Weeks v. United States, it was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously held that the warrantless seizure of items from a private residence constitutes a violation of the Fourth Amendment. It also prevented local officers from securing evidence by means prohibited under the federal exclusionary rule and giving it to their federal colleagues. It was not until the case of Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961), that the exclusionary rule was deemed to apply to state courts as well. On December 21, 1911, Fremont Weeks, the plaintiff in error and defendant, was arrested by a police officer at the Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri where he was employed by an express company. Other officers entered the house of the defendant without a search warrant and took possession of papers and articles which were afterwards turned over to the US marshal. The officers returned later in the same day with the marshal, still without a warrant, and seized letters and envelopes they found in the drawer of a chiffonier. These papers were used to convict Weeks of transporting lottery tickets through the mail. Weeks petitioned against the police for the return of his private possessions. In the case Silverthorne Lumber Company, Inc., Et Al. v. United States was also a was a U.S. Supreme Court Case in which Silverthorne attempted to evade paying taxes. Federal agents illegally seized tax books from Silverthorne and created copies of the records. The issue in this case is whether or not derivatives of



References: Mapp v. Ohio. 367 United States. 643. (1961). Retrieved from http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=589965672959279882&q=Mapp+v+Ohio&hl=en&as_sdt=2,15&as _vis=1 (This case outlines the case law around constitutional policing in the United States.) Weeks v. United States. 232 United States. 383. (1914). Retrieved from http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=8676110639881267815&hl=en&as_sdt=2&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr (This case outlines the case law around constitutional policing in the United States.) Silverthorne Lumber Company, Inc., Et Al. v. United States. 252 United States. 385. (1920). Retrieved from http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1946214737793111775&q=Silverthorne+Lumber+&hl=en&as_sdt =2,15&as_vis=1 (This case outlines the case law around constitutional policing in the United States.)

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