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How Did the Current Criminal Justice System in the US Evolve?

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How did the current criminal justice system in the U.S evolve? The development of the criminal justice system in America was greatly influenced by English common law. However, there were some notable differences. In developing what would become the Constitution, the Founding Fathers were also influenced by the fractious relationship the colonies had had with the British sovereign and by Enlightenment philosophy of inalienable human rights. After America became a sovereign nation, it created a written constitution which specifically delineated the rights of all citizens in what came to be known as the Bill of Rights. The process of judicial review of American law was established with the U.S. Supreme Court case of Marbury v. Madison (History and organization of the federal judicial system, 2008, American.gov). Laws and actions of law enforcement officials must honor the rights of all American citizens, including the right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures. Regarding this Fourth Amendment right, for example, the doctrine of the 'fruit of the poisonous tree' holds that illegally obtained evidence must be excluded from trial (Fruit of the poisonous tree. 2012, University of Cornell Law School). This reflects the idea that it is better to let a guilty person go free versus putting the maximum amount of persons behind bars to ostensibly keep the state 'safe.' Gradually, over the development of U.S. history, the tension between the rights of the federal and

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