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United States v. Leon

THE HISTORY AND IMPACT OF UNITED STATES v. LEON

This study traces the history and assesses the impact of the United States v. Leon. The thesis of this study is that the motivations for the pursuit of this case by the government and justifications for the decision criteria applied by the United States Supreme Court were both inconsistent with and hostile to the preservation of Fourth Amendment constitutional protections, and that the ruling of the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Leon weakened Fourth Amendment protections against illegal search and seizure.

The case of the United States v. Leon began in 1981 when an informant communicated to police in Burbank, California information concerning persons selling controlled narcotic substances. Police investigations eventually implicated Alberto Leon, and following a warranted search of Leon's residence, charged were laid against Leon. The case eventually reached the United States Supreme Court, which rendered its decision in mid1984. The social milieu prevailing in the United States in the firsthalf of the 1980s, thus, was relevant to both the prosecution and the judicial deliberations of United States v. Leon.

Three aspects of the American social milieu of the firsthalf of the 1980sthe national war on drugs, a get tough on crime and criminals mentality, and a drive for economic efficiency in governmentwere particularly cogent with respect to the United States v. Leon. Each of these phenomena provided government prosecutors motivations to pursue the United States v. Leon through the appeal process in the face of a finding that the original search warrant was defective, and each of these phenomena provided the justices in the majority on the United States Supreme Court with justifications for their rationale in the selection and application of decision criteria.

Most American politicians and public prosecutors in the firsthalf of the 1980s were fond o...

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United States v. Leon. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 11:16, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1684755.html