Abstract

The objective of this article is to discuss modern means of evidence collection by the enforcement agencies and their effects on the accused privacy under the United States’ law. Focus of this article is on the modern means of evidence collection such as electronic surveillance, wiretapping and technology eavesdropping, among others. In the age of modern technology, the objective of revealing the truth and instituting justice has encouraged those with an interest in matters of criminal justice to use modern means beside or instead of the conventional means of evidence collection. Resorting to modern means is premised on the need for criminal proceedings to reflect the circumstances and level of progress of the society where it has been taken. The main problem here however is that there is a possibility of the law enforcement interest in prosecution to be favored and the accused rights to be underrated. We found that at the US federal level, the accused’s privacy right is one of the rights included in the Bill of Rights in 1791 (Fourth Amendment) and supported by many case-law. The article adopts a legal analysis approach which is an accepted form of a qualitative method in social science research.

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