Rational Court System

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The development of rational policies in criminal justice is complicated by conflicting values—our commitment to due process of law and our determination to fight crime. Public opinion has long held that the court system is overly concerned with the rights of accused criminals. A majority of Americans believe that the Supreme Court has gone too far in protecting the rights of defendants in criminal cases and that the courts are more concerned with protecting these rights than the rights of victims. Yet although society needs the protection of the police, it is equally important to protect society from the police. Arbitrary searches, seizures, and arrests; imprisonment without hearing or trial; forced confessions; beatings and torture; tainted…show more content…
Indeed, most police searches today take place without a warrant under one or another of these conditions. The Supreme Court has also allowed automobile searches and searches of open fields without warrants in many cases. The requirement of “probable cause” has been very loosely defined; even a “partially corroborated anonymous informant’s tip” qualifies as probable cause to make a search, seizure, or arrest.27 And if the police, while making a warranted search or otherwise lawfully on the premises, see evidence of a crime “in plain view,” they may seize such evidence without further authorization.28Self-Incrimination and Right to Counsel. The Fifth Amendment protects people from both physical and psychological coercion.29 It protects not only accused persons at their own trial but also witnesses testifying in trials of others, civil suits, congressional
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