Viewing page 466 of 484

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[image - THURGOOD MARSHALL]]
[[image - half on next page]]

Criminal Law

The exclusionary rule decision was the major development in the term. The Court ruled, 6 to 3, that evidence obtained by the police in "objectively reasonable" reliance on a search warrant that later proves to be defective an be used by the prosecution in a criminal trial (U.S. v. Leon, No. 82-1771).

Throughout the term, the Court generally took a narrow view of the rights of criminal suspects and prison inmates. In a series of procedural rulings, a majority of the Justices expressed growing impatience with death penalty appeals. In the term's most important substantive ruling on capital punishment, the Court ruled that states may carry out the death penalty without first conducting a special review to insure that the sentence is "proportionate" to other sentences imposed in the state for similar crimes. (Pulley, v. Harris, No. 82-1095).

For the first time, the Court carved out an exception to the rule that requires the police to advise a suspect in custody of his rights against self-incrimination before any questioning may begin. The Court ruled 5 to 4 that "overriding considerations of public safety" may justify immediate questioning without first giving the suspect warnings against self-incrimination. (N.Y. v. Quarles, No. 82-1213). 

But in a second decision on the scope of the Miranda doctrine, the Court ruled that it applies to a suspect in custody for any crime, no matter how minor, with the sole exception of ordinary roadside traffic stops. (Berkemer v. McCarthy, No. 83-710).

In another exclusionary rum decision, the Court ruled that illegally obtained evidence may be admitted at trial if the prosecution can prove that the evidence would "inevitably" have been discovered by lawful means. (Nix v. Williams, No. 82-1651).

The Court upheld a New York law, similar to laws in all 50 states, permitting juveniles charged with delinquency to be held before trial to prevent them from committing additional crimes. The decision, Schall v. Martian, No. 82-1248, marked the first time the Court has upheld the concept of preventative detention. 

Chief Justice Burger, who gave several speeches over the year advocating prison reform, wrote two decisions that in fact sharply limited the rights given to prison inmates by the lower Federal courts. In one, the Court ruled 5 to 4 that the Fourth Amendment's protec[tion]

464