Law Commons^™

Resources And Rights: Towards A New Prototype Of Criminal Representation, Laura Gardner Webster

Mercer Law Review

A comprehensive concern in recent criminal procedure decisions in the United States Supreme Court has been the apprehension that certain rights afforded to the accused detract from efficient law enforcement. Efficiency in controlling crime and obtaining accurate verdicts is preferred over the recognition of rights which impede that process. This model of the purposes of the criminal justice system has its origins in the judicial reluctance to apply the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule as a means of excluding otherwise probative evidence simply because "the constable blundered."' The problems in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence are well known. As two commentators have observed, …