Case study on exclusionary rule

In order to prepare for this case study, you will need to review Chapter 13, “Police and the Law,” in your textbook. In your case study, you will address the following:

Analyze and explain the use of the exclusionary rule by the Supreme Court of the United States.
Define how the exclusionary rule has affected the use of evidence acquired from police search and seizure cases.
Compare and contrast each of the following cases and the effects that the ruling decision by the Supreme Court has had on evidence obtained from police search and seizure.
What constitutes a reasonable search (include information regarding the ways that the police can use probable cause and execute a search warrant)?
How is search and seizure governed by the Fourth Amendment?
How do you feel that the police could have completed their searches in these cases more efficiently?

Base your case study on the following three cases:

Weeks v. United States (1914)—Exclusionary rule applied to federal law enforcement agencies
Rochin v. California (1952)—Exclusionary rule applied to all cases involving extreme police misconduct
Mapp v. Ohio (1961)—Exclusionary rule applied to all law enforcement agencies (local, state, and federal)

The completed assignment must be a minimum of five pages in length, not including the title page and references pages. You must include at least two references, one of which may be your textbook. The entire case study assignment must be written following APA style guidelines. Therefore, the APA rules for formatting, quoting, paraphrasing, citing, and listing of sources are to be followed.

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Case study

Introduction

Police are better referred to personnel of officers who represent the civil authority of the government. They are responsible for several roles in the community. Firstly, they are expected to ensure that law is enforced around the state. It is only applicable in the instance that a law has been broken or violated and a suspect has to be identified and arrested. Such cases include burglary or murder among others. Secondly, they are expected to maintain order in society in general. This entails keeping peace and preventing behaviors that are disruptive to the people. In some cases, police are called upon to separate fist fights where they are expected to handle the cases with discretion and not treat them as a violation of the law. Lastly, the police are expected to be community caretakers. Here they help in cases of saying a fire outbreak, offer the first aids in the case of an emergency. Community caretaker is when a police officer is offering services to the citizens in order to ensure their safety as well as their welfare. For instance, in the case that a person is homeless and they refer them to a shelter. However, sometimes the line between the officer being a community caretaker and law enforcer can be pretty thin.

(3,063 words)