What is the exclusionary rule?
The exclusionary rule is a remedy created by our justice system which results in the suppression from the State’s case evidence which has been derived from an illegal search or seizure under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The rule is designed to deter unlawful police conduct. This assures that each citizen has the right to be free from unreasonable invasions of privacy. It is also designed, to a lesser extent, to protect the integrity of the judicial process from the effects of unlawful government conduct.
The exclusionary rule may be the most controversial legal issue in criminal justice. If a court believes that the constitutional rights of a defendant have been violated, the court will order that any information or evidence gathered by law enforcement as a result of that violation be excluded from use as evidence against the defendant in a trial. In some cases, this will result in a defendant having his or her case dismissed when there is significant evidence of guilt. However, the Supreme Court has decided that this is the best way to deter law enforcement from violating the constitutional rights of the people, and, as a result, law-abiding people can have confidence that their constitutional rights will not be violated. The exclusionary rule is not unique to the United States, but it is applied more broadly in there than in any other country.
