Introduction
Dollree Mapp, an Ohio woman, was suspected of having bombing material in 1961. Using a fake warrant, an Ohio local police officer entered her house and seized lewd and lascivious material from the basement. The item was enough evidence to justify Dollree’s case, and he was charged, ready for conviction. The Mapp’s attorney, Bernard Berkman, argued that the exclusionary rule that prohibited the use of forcefully acquired evidence against the defendant was supposed to be used in this case (Head, 2020). Based on the inadmissible nature of the evidence presented in the court, the offender was set free following the application of the exclusionary rule.
Discussion
Following the dismissal of Mapp’s case due illegal obtaining of evidence, investigators must ensure they comply with the Fourth Amendment right. In other words, police officers should not seize or conduct searches in a rogue manner that violates the suspect’s rights. The law enforcement unit must apply integrity when collecting the data from the scene as required by criminal procedures (Friehe & Miceli, 2018). Therefore, the exclusionary ruling will ensure the police present pieces of evidence that are legally obtained without infringing the rights of the accused, for instance, the officers should not use fake warrants to search the defendant.
Conclusion
Based on the Mapp v. Ohio ruling, it is evident that the exclusionary rule prevents the courts from using evidence that is purportedly obtained through unreasonable search. When the law enforcement unit violates the US Constitution in the process of collecting necessary information about the defendant, the findings are considered inadmissible hence the offender is set free (Cloud, 2021). In other words, the illegal evidence is suppressed by the court and excluded from the offender’s case.
References
Cloud, M. (2021). Mapp v. Ohio, the exclusionary rule, and constitutional judicial review. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History. Oxford University Press. Web.
Friehe, T., & Miceli, T. J. (2018). On the role of the exclusionary rule for optimal law enforcement effort. Journal of Public Economic Theory, 20(5), 757-767.
Head, T. (2020). The history of the exclusionary rule. ThoughtCo.