Max Boot

Max Boot contends in the following viewpoint that discovering the truth should be the goal of the criminal justice system. However, defense attorneys try to keep the truth about their client’s guilt from emerging during a trial. One way they do this is by invoking the exclusionary rule, which prohibits illegally seized evidence from being admitted at trial. Boot asserts that the exclusionary rule has allowed tens of thousands of criminals to go free every year. He maintains that the exclusionary rule does not protect innocent people—only the guilty. Boot is the editorial features writer of the Wall Street Journal, and author of Out of Order: Arrogance, Corruption, and Incompetence on the Bench.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What is the role of a defense...