Fourth Amendment Essay

¶ … Fourth Amendment by the United States Supreme Court has sometimes been characterized by several controversies. One of the controversies associated with Supreme Court's interpretation of the Fourth Amendment is the belief that it's a demonstration of the challenges in determining a fair balance. As a result of this interpretation, a public-order advocate may argue that the exclusionary rule has restricted the capabilities of law enforcement officers to effectively safeguard the community. In contrast, an individual-rights advocate may claim that the changes have contributed to positive police reforms, which necessitates the expansion of such rights. Therefore, the exclusionary rule continues to generate various debates regarding its impact and relevance in the modern society. Generally, the exclusionary rule is a right to be free from the Fourth Amendment's unreasonable searches and seizures, which in turn provides a dilemma for the society. For some people, this rule gives every individual the right to be from any unreasonable government intrusion into private property. In this case, this Amendment implies that the Constitution does not approve tactics of a police state. To other people, the exclusionary rule is regarded as the curse of the criminal justice system since it hinders the police from fulfilling their duties effectively and aiding the release...

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The Supreme Court's interpretation of this constitutional provision focuses on reasonableness. Therefore, the exclusionary rule focuses on ensuring police officers act rationally and seek to achieve their goals through reasonable means when intruding upon people and their property (Maclin, p.199).
In my opinion, the exclusionary rule is crucial in the modern criminal justice system because it helps in the establishment of a balance during criminal justice operations, especially criminal investigations. Actually, the reasonableness of a specific search or seizure is based on the premise of balancing competing interests between the various stakeholders in the criminal justice system. In this case, the government's focus in achieving effective law enforcement goals requires ensuring a balance between its law enforcement initiatives and individual's interest in personal security and privacy. The contemporary criminal justice system is constantly faced with the need to ensure that law enforcement interests and individual's interests are promoted across all activities and operations. In essence, the significance of the Fourth Amendment is ensuring individual rights are not violated in pursuit of law enforcement objectives and goals.

Given its focus on reasonableness, I would not be willing to overturn the decision in Mapp…

Sources Used in Documents:

Works Cited

"Annotation 6 - Fourth Amendment." Findlaw - For Legal Professionals. Thomson Reuters, 31 Mar. 2015. Web. 03 Apr. 2015. <http://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment4/annotation06.html>.

Maclin, Tracey. "The Central Meaning of the Fourth Amendment." William & Mary Law Review 7th ser. 35.1 (1993): 197-249. William & Mary Law School - Scholarship Repository. Digital Commons, 1993. Web. 4 Apr. 2015. <http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1778&context=wmlr>.

Slobogin, Christopher. "The Liberal Assault on the Fourth Amendment." OHIO STATE JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW 4 (2007): 603-18. The Ohio State University - Moritz College of Law. The Ohio State University | Michael E. Moritz College of Law, 11 Mar. 2007. Web. 4 Apr. 2015. <http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/osjcl/Articles/Volume4_2/Slobogin-PDF-03-11-07.pdf>.


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