The Fate of Evidence

I think it is wrong to not allow illegally obtained evidence to be used. It is silly to punish the evidence instead of the person who obtained it. In other words, the police should be punished, not the evidence.

Supporters of this practice would argue that using illegally obtained evidence validates the means by which it was obtained. This is incorrect. For example, pretend that in inventing the light bulb Thomas Edison committed murder. Would we then be validating his behavior every time we turn on a light? No. As supporters of the practice in question would say, the two events are related, but they are wrong to suggest that kind of relationship.

Furthermore, not only is the evidence being punished, but the victim of the crime and possibly even future victims of the same criminal, as well. As another example, pretend that in developing a vaccine a doctor infected people with the virus against their will. Supporters of the practice in question would say that the vaccine should never be used, no matter how many lives it might save. It is easy to see that this view is wrong, and that it only hurts society as a whole. Just because something is obtained illegally, that does not mean that we should not use it for the benefit of society.

Supporters of this practice would say that the benefit to society should be sacrificed in order to protect the rights of a criminal, but this too is illogical. The person’s rights have already been violated, and all that rejecting evidence does is protect the person from getting what they deserve. The proper legal action to give a person justice is to punish the person responsible, not to protect the person whose privacy has been invaded from being punished for their own crimes. Obtaining evidence illegally should be treated as a criminal offence and the evidence should be permitted in court.

To look at it yet another way, say that someone steals a television from a criminal. Would it be okay to give the victim of the thievery the chance to commit murder and get away with it as a form of justice instead of putting the thief in jail? This is essentially what happens right now every time someone obtains evidence illegally. We condone criminal behavior in the victim of obtaining evidence illegally as a form of justice, and the person who obtained the evidence goes free. In this example the victim represents the person that evidence was obtained illegally from, and the thief represents the person who obtained it.