EXCLUSIONARY RULE

Exclusionary Rule

Exclusionary Rule

Introduction

The exclusionary rule forbids the introduction of certain evidence in court, in an attempt to ensure that the state and federal governments do not violate individuals' constitutional rights. The rule applies to criminal trials and as a general matter forbids the use of evidence that was obtained as a result of a violation of the Fourth or Fifth Amendments in the government's case-in-chief, that is, in the part of the trial where the government presents its evidence of the defendant's guilt. Accordingly, if the police, on a wild hunch, break down a person's front door and discover drugs in the house, the drugs may not be used to convict the homeowner of drug possession (Wall, 2007).

There are several exceptions to this rule, however, which will be discussed in more detail below. The rule does not apply to civil proceedings and does not apply to pretrial or sentencing hearings in a criminal prosecution. Even at trial, if the defendant testifies falsely, the government can rebut the defendant's testimony by using the illegally obtained evidence. Furthermore, if the police obtain a warrant that is defective in some way, so that the resulting search is unconstitutional, the evidence found may still be admitted at trial in the prosecution's case-in-chief if the police were acting in reasonable good faith on the warrant.

The exclusionary rule ordinarily applies to ban the government from using not only the evidence that is found during an unconstitutional search, but also that evidence that is found because of that search. So, a search that turns up a lead to further evidence will result in suppressing both the lead and the additional evidence. But not all evidence that is found as a result of the unconstitutional action will be excluded. If the connection between the illegality and the evidence is too attenuated, or if the police would have found the evidence by legal means, then the exclusionary rule does not apply. Lastly, the exclusionary rule is an available remedy only for the individual whose person or property was searched or seized. If a search of a person turns up evidence of his friend's crime, the friend will usually be unable to have that evidence suppressed (Wall, 2007).

Arguments for and against the Exclusionary Rule

The Supreme Court has held since Weeks v. United States (1914) that the exclusionary rule bars the use in federal trials of evidence that was obtained by violating the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits "unreasonable searches and seizures." It was not until Mapp v. Ohio (1961), however, that the Supreme Court required states to use the exclusionary rule as well. The rule was originally based on two considerations. First, the Court wanted to deter police from violating the Constitution. If any evidence illegally seized by the police could not be used in the defendant's trial, then (the theory went) there would be no reason to commit the violation in the first place. Second, the Court thought it was wrong to involve the judicial process ...