U.S. SUPREME COURT AND THE FOURTH AMENDMENT
This research paper summarizes and describes the effect on law enforcement of four cases decided by the United States Supreme Court concerning the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961), Terry v. Ohio,
392 U.S. 1 (1961), United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897 (1984), and Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27 (2001).
The Fourth Amendment provides that "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated . . ."
Important precedents. In Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383 (1914), the Supreme Court held for the first time that evidence secured during illegal (unconstitutional) searches or seizures could not be introduced into evidence in federal criminal prosecutions; however, as late as 1949 the Court held in Wolf v. Colorado, 338 U.S. 25 (1949) that this exclusionary rule did not bar the use of such evidence in state courts in state criminal cases.
Facts. In Mapp, police officers in Cleveland, Ohio knocked on Miss Mapp's door and demanded that she admit them on the grounds that they had reason to believe that a crime was being or had been committed inside her house. She refused to them entry unless they could produce a valid search warrant. Waving a piece of paper which they claimed (falsely as it turned out) was a warrant to search her home, the police forced their way inside her house. She grabbed the piece of paper which she stuffed in her blouse. A struggle ensued. The police discovered in the house pornographic material.
Proceedings below. At her trial Miss Mapp was convicted of knowingly violating a Ohio misdemeanor statute concerning the possession of lewd and lascivious books. The Ohio Supreme Court upheld her conviction, citing Wolf.
Holding of the Supreme Court. In a five to four decision, the Court reversed Wolf and Miss Mapp...