Court Decisions and Crime

Abstract

In the perennial debate on whether court decisions have helped heighten the crime problem, it is essential to reiterate that criminals are not freed on "technicalaties." Not only do these cases usually result in new trials, rather than release of the defendant, but the reversals enforce constitutional guarantees that protect the common interest against oppression. Fifty-five years ago the Supreme Court ruled that evidence obtained through a violation of the Fourth Amendment could not be introduced in a federal court. When the same rule was applied to the states eight years ago, it was hardly an innovation. Rather, it represented a lag in applying the Fourteenth Amendment, which, requiring the states to apply due process of law as called for in the federal constitution, had been adopted in 1868. The evolving decisions are part of a lengthy re-examination de manded by the fact that government has become more powerful and more pervasive than in the days of our ancestors. The de cisions are essential to the preservation of the constitutional structure of government in a free society.