The Exclusionary Rule Of Weeks V. United States

Basically the Exclusionary rule as set forth by the US Supreme Court states that any evidence obtained by police through search and seizure, arrest, interrogations and stop and frisk situations or any other evidence despite its relevance can be excluded as evidence. The Weeks v. United States was basically the origin of the Exclusionary Rule in 1914. In Weeks v United States Mrs, Weeks was arrested for shoplifting and attempted to get a note to her husband about this. Law enforcement went to the residence and without a warrant searched the home and found illegal lottery tickets and removed everything in relation to the tickets charging him with a federal crime because there was evidence showing these were handled through the mail. Mr. Weeks attorney filed with the courts this was illegally obtained evidence and should be excluded. The judge agreed that items taken not incriminating should be released and excluded and Mr. Weeks was later found guilty and the Supreme Court ruled all illegally obtained evidence was inadmissible overturning the conviction. This ruling was aimed at federal law enforcement and not the state government agencies (Dempsey & Forst, n.d.). It was not until 1961 via Mapp v
In Mapp, the Court held that the exclusionary rule was an “essential part” of the Fourth Amendment, and that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, which says that “No state shall…deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,” meant that the federal exclusionary rule now applied to the states. “Since the Fourth Amendment’s right of privacy has been declared enforceable against the States through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth, it is enforceable against them by the same sanction of exclusion as is used against the Federal Government.” ( http://billofrightsinstitute.org/resources/educator-resources/lessons-plans/landmark-cases-and-the-constitution/mapp-v-ohio-1961/