Should we have the Good Faith Exception extended to searches and seizures - Research Paper Example

ditions. The Fourth Amendment is limited to governmental searches and seizures made by the federal government and also state governments through the Due Process Clause, Justice Felix Frankfurter said in the case “The security of one's privacy against arbitrary intrusion by the police is basic to a free society” (Wolf v. Colorado [1941])). But in order to understand what an unreasonable search and seizure is, we must fist understand the concept or definition of “search”. In the landmark case of Katz v. . Any evidence that are taken in violation of the Fourth Amendment is inadmissible as evidence in any criminal prosecution in a court.

The Fourth Amendment protects man from unreasonable government interference in his daily life, although several Supreme Court cases have provided certain exceptions to this general rule. One of this exceptions established by the Supreme Court was made in the landmark case of United States v. Leon (1984) is the “good faith rule”. The fact of the case was based on a drug case that was under surveillance by the police authority in Burbank, California. Based on the information given by the officer taking the said surveillance, a certain Officer Rombach filed for an application of a search warrant for three residences upon the review and approval of the District Attorney.

A state court judge after reviewing the request, issued a search warrant. Hence, a search ensued and the suspects were indicted for federal drug offenses. Upon trial, respondent suspects moved that the evidence taken in the search be inadmissible as evidence stating that the affidavit lacked sufficient proof of probable cause. Officer Rombach replied in his defense that his reliance on the search warrant was based on good faith, believing that the officer that gave the information was based on his personal knowledge that would in effect lead to a proper probable cause.

The Courts accepted the defense and thereafter established good faith reliance on a defective search warrant by the court, as an exception to the exclusionary rule in violating the Fourth Amendment. As Justice Brennan and Justice Marshall dissented in the case, I also agree that the good faith exception is a dangerous decision that can violate the civil liberties protected by the