What is Exclusionary Rule ?

Answer 1

The so-called Exclusionary Rule was established via U.S. Supreme Court decisions in response to instances of law enforcement agencies (individuals) who, for whatever reasons, gathered evidence in violation of constitutional limits. The rule is supposed to act as a dis-incentive to such activity because it requires that evidence gathered illegally cannot be used at a criminal trial nor can anything derived from that evidence be used ("Fruits of the Poisoned Tree"). The cases involving illegally gathered evidence tend to revolve around analysis of the fourth and fifth amendments to the U.S. Constitution and, when state actions are involved, the 14th amendment as well. The rule does not apply in civil proceedings or a parole revocation hearing or in some kind of grand jury proceeding. There are many exceptions to this rule. So many exist that some legal authorities claim that the exclusionary rule is close to extinction. Originally, the Supreme Court formulated the rule in 1914 as a result of the decision that they reached in a case called: U.S. :vs: Weeks (232 U.S. 383) and further articulated it many years later in a very famous case called: Mapp :vs: Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 which was decided in 1961.

When such judgements are made, for purposes of applying the exclusionary rule, they are made by way of analysing "how" the evidence was obtained rather than "what" the evidence might prove. This is generally referred to as an exercise in "deontological ethics" which, in classic Greek terminology, means that an act is examined for its rightness or wrongness itself, without regard to the rightness or wrongness of the consequences of the act.

Answer 2

Evidence obtained in violation of the US Constitution is inadmissable in criminal proceedings.

Answer 3

evidence collected or analyzed in violation of the U.S. Constitution is inadmissible for a criminal prosecution