The Fourth Amendment is the basis of many valuable rights in the United States, and the right to freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures is one of them. Therefore, it would seem illegitimate, even un-American, for a law enforcement officer to illegally search and seize evidence or for a court to charge the accused with a guilty verdict based on evidence. obtained illegally. One can only imagine how many people would have been incarcerated in our prisons without the introduction of the exclusionary rule. The exclusionary rule is a law passed by the United States Supreme Court. It requires that “any evidence obtained by the police using methods that violate a person's constitutional rights be excluded from use in a criminal prosecution against that person” (Ferdico, Fradella, & Totten, 2009). Prior to this rule, under common law, evidence was admitted in court provided it met evidentiary admissibility criteria, such as relevance and reliability. Any evidence meeting these principles was admitted because it was considered to contribute to achieving justice. Under common law, evidence obtained through illegal searches and seizures was permitted (Tinsley and Kinsella, 2003). During this period, the protections of the Fourth Amendment remained a dead letter for those convicted until 1914 in Weeks v. UNITED STATES. In the landmark 1914 case Weeks v. United States, the Supreme Court created the exclusionary rule and was effectively created to protect people from unreasonable searches and seizures by federal agents. The Court ruled that property or any evidence apprehended without a warrant or without the consent of the defendant will be omitted in a criminal prosecution...... middle of paper ......e Heritage Foundation Backgrounder. Ferdico, JN, Fradella, HF and Totten, CD (2009). Criminal Procedure for the Criminal Justice Professional (10th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Holten, NG and Lamar, LL (1991). Criminal court structures, personnel and processes. Florida: McGraw-Hill, Inc. Mapp v. Ohio, 367 US 643 (1961). Retrieved October 13, 2011 from http://supreme.justia.com/us/367/643/case.html Tinsley, P. and Kinsella, SN (2003). In defense of the evidence: against the exclusionary rule and against libertarian centralism. Retrieved November 15, 2011 from http://www.lewrockwell.com/kinsella/kinsella14.htmlWeeks c. United States, 232 US 383 (1914). Retrieved October 13, 2011 from http://laws.findlaw.com/us/245/618.htmlWolf v. Colorado, 338 US 25 (1949). Accessed October 13, 2011 from http://laws.findlaw.com/us/338/25.html