Effects of US v. Leon on Police Search Warrant Practices

In United States v. Leon and the companion Massachusetts v. Sheppard case (1984), the Supreme Court ruled that the exclusionary rule need not apply to evidence obtained by law enforcement officers who acted in good faith on a search warrant properly issued but later found to be defective. Of the 2,115 search warrant applications examined, the search warrant processes and the number and content of warrants had not changed; the impact on judicial suppression of evidence was virtually nonexistent. Police administrators and investigators view the Court decision positively. Prosecutors approve, judges take note of, and defense attorneys deplore the decision's withdrawal of options for challenging warrants and evidence suppression. All agree, however, that the decision has had little practical impact on the daily processing of criminal cases. 1 table. For the full report, see NCJ 102174.