What does the good faith exception permit in the context of evidence obtained by police?

The good faith exception permits evidence obtained by police to be admissible in court even if there was an error in how that evidence was gathered, as long as the police were acting under the belief that their actions were lawful. This principle stems from the idea that penalizing the justice system by excluding relevant evidence would be more detrimental than allowing the evidence to be considered, especially when the officers were acting without malintent.

In practice, if police officers rely on a search warrant that they believe to be valid—despite it later being found to have been issued in error—the evidence obtained during that search may still be used during prosecution. This exception is designed to encourage law enforcement to act diligently and uphold justice while also recognizing human mistakes in the complex processes of policing and warrant issuance.