Criminal Justice System

Criminal Justice System The fourth amendment to the United States constitution is a constituent of the Bill of Rights which prohibits unreasonable seizures and searches and requires that any warrant presented has t be sanctioned and supported by a reasonable cause. They have to be supported by oath or affirmation and the place to be searched has to specify as well as the person or things that are to be seized.

This was adopted due to the abuse of writ of assistance a general search warrant that was issued by the British government that accused a lot of tension in the pre-Revolutionary America. Common law affirmed that any form of evidence even if it was got through illegal means was admissible and was never to be excluded simply because it was obtained illegally. Common law evidence of the guilt of the defendant defended against the charges with claims that the search was a violation of the rights of the defendant.

The constitution was then ratified in 1789 and there was an addition of the Bill of rights that included the fourth amendment two years later. Despite this the Supreme Court went ahead to use common law approach when it came to admitting evidence .However in weeks v.U.S. In 1914 the declaration of evidence that had been obtained by illegal means was not admissible in the criminal court (Thomson Reuters,2014).

If the exclusionary clause of the 4th amendment was not in existence then the courts would be accepting and admitting any evidence without taking into consideration the means through which the evidence was obtained. This exclusionary rule was a modification that was done to the 4th amendment .this rule was added since members of the court felt that the way in which the 4th amendment was written it was not offering enough protection to people.

The declaration was that despite the fact that the exclusionary rule was not in the same language as that of the fourth amendment at its ratification over 100 years ago it was of great importance since without it the 4th amendment would be invaluable (Thomson Reuters,2014). The fourth amendment should not be modified since the inclusion of the exclusionary rule has made it possible for the defendant's rights to be protected. Therefore there should not be any amendments made to this amendment since it is okay the way it is.

The exclusionary rule is a rule made by a judge that any evidence that has been obtained by the government through the violation of the constitutional rights can not be used against them. This rule applies to suppression of physical evidence such as stolen property, murder weapon or illegal drugs which are obtained by the police through the violation of the defendants' fourth amendment right not to be under subject of unreasonable search.

The exception to this rule is when police make an honest mistake when they are conducting their search meaning when the police act on the basis of a search warrant which is later declared invalid by the court. The exclusionary rule was invented in weeks v.U.S.it is based on the idea that when police exceed their constitutional authority in the process of carrying out a search then this search should be termed as null and void.at this time the bill of rights was.