Should the Exclusionary Rule Be Abolished? Essay Example

Should the Exclusionary Rule be Abolished? Since the introduction of the exclusionary rule, many debates have raged about whether or not it should be in place in our justice system. The exclusionary rule was set in place to protect citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights against illegal searches and seizures. As a result of the induction of this rule, law enforcement throughout the country has been affected and changed. Personally, I do not believe that the exclusionary rule should not be excluded from the criminal justice system because constitutional rights need to be upheld. I also feel that the rule acts as a check and balance system for officers in law enforcement. However, there are a couple recommendations that I have on how to tweak the exclusionary rule to minimize the amount of criminals that are set free because they use the rule as a technicality in court proceedings. I feel that the exclusionary rule is a work in progress and it needs to be altered as often as criminals and technology change in order to keep its effectiveness. In 1914, the Supreme Court case of Weeks vs.United States established that illegally seizing items from a private residence was in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. This case also established the exclusionary rule in which the admission of illegally obtained evidence into federal court proceedings was illegal. However, at this time, this rule did not apply to individual state’s court proceedings. This lasted until the case of Mapp vs. Ohio reached the Supreme Court in 1961. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that the exclusionary rule applied to not only federal criminal prosecutions, but to state prosecutions as well. This decision brought about great changes for police and criminal procedure throughout the country. The Supreme Court case of Mapp vs. Ohio (1961) changed the way that law enforcement officers were legally allowed to obtain evidence for criminal prosecutions. Before this landmark case,