Individual Freedom Discussion

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Individual Freedom Discussion

The exclusionary rule is a rule that prohibits the use of illegally acquired evidence in prosecuting people. The purpose of this rule is mainly to prevent law enforcement officers from conducting some unwarranted searches. This rule has some exceptions under the fourth amendment of the constitution. For example, if the officer acquired the evidence through a search, in good faith but then it turned out to be invalid, then the evidence is not excluded in the prosecution.

The Bill of rights makes sure that there is individual freedom in many instances. Among the main rights protected, there is the freedom of religion and the freedom of expression. The bill of rights stipulates that the government has the mandate to uphold these as failure to it would destroy the supremacy of the government (Re, 2014).

The US Supreme court has shifted in position a number of times in regard to the issue of the individual freedom. The shift in 1949 said that the exclusionary rule did not apply to court jurisdictions. The main purpose of these shifts was to make sure that they could deal with crime well enough, while at the same time protecting the main rights of the people.

In the modern days, the extent to which the exclusionary law is obeyed is minimal. The reasons for this is that even if people are prosecuted or incriminated with evidence acquired illegally, they are not likely to sue. This makes it easy for the police especially to disregard this law. The arguments often made include the fact that the exclusionary law protects the guilty while making the innocent suffer (Hanlon, 2015). However, in some cases, where the evidence is not good enough, or the crime is not considered heinous enough, the exclusionary law is upheld and maintained.

References

Re, R. M. (2014). The due process Exclusionary rule

Hanlon, C. (2015) LIMITED FAITH IN THE GOOD FAITH: THE THIRD CIRCUIT REQUIRES A WARRANT FOR GPS SEARCHES AND NARROWS THE SCOPE OF THE DAVIS EXCEPTION TO THE EXCLUSIONARY RULE IN UNITED STATES