The Exclusionary Rule is considered as one of the revolutionary rules in the country. It is aimed at giving back the power to the people, rather than concentrating it on a select few, which mostly include the law enforcement forces. This rule has come under immense fire in recent times, but the truth remains that it is one of the foremost rules when it comes to safeguarding civil rights. There are however, some exceptions to the Exclusionary Rule, which make it quite difficult for the criminals to get any benefit from this rule. More on the Exclusionary Rule, and its impact on criminal cases, are mentioned in detail below.
Exclusionary Rule defined
This rule is aimed at protecting civilians from illegal searches and seizures carried out by the law enforcement agencies in the country. This rule states that, any evidence that was gathered because of an illegal search or seizure will have to be excluded from being presented in a court of law. This primary objective of this rule is to make sure that the law enforcement officers stay within the lines of the law when it comes to collecting evidence. The significance of this law lies in the fact that, it prohibits the admission of evidence, even if it incriminates the defendant, if the evidence was obtained through an illegal search. In other words, it ensures that no law is broken in the attempt to uphold justice.
Exceptions to the Exclusionary Rule
This rule is not without its exceptions. These exceptions are necessary to ensure that no criminal gets past the net of justice due to some slight misjudgment on the part of the law enforcement agencies.
The first exception to this rule is the “good faith exception”. This exception makes it clear that, the evidence that was gathered with the help of a search warrant that lacked a probable cause can still be admitted in the court. But this only if the officer who gathered the evidence was at the time under the impression that the search warrant was valid. There exists anther exception to this rule, and it is the Plain View doctrine. It states that if evidence was to appear in plain view of the officer, then it can be seized without the need for a warrant.
These are some details regarding the Exclusionary Rule. It is a very important rule, which gives a sense of security to the civilians.