Criminal Law in the 1960s

A Decade of Change.

During the 1960s the U.S. Supreme Court dealt with many cases involving criminal procedure. Several of these cases resulted in major changes in the way police and the courts dealt with criminal defendants. Some of the changes involved extending protections granted in the Bill of Rights to the states, others involved interpreting the Constitution's provisions in light of changing technology and circumstances that the founding fathers could not have imagined. In other cases the Court moved to enhance the protections of criminals in response to changing social values. The result of all these cases was enhancement of individual liberties and confusion for police, as the standards by which law enforcement would have to operate were in a state of flux.

Search and Seizure.

The standards by which a police search for evidence was deemed valid and the admissability into evidence of anything that was found...

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