An examination of that relationship reveals at least two false assumptions in terms of the general public's perceptions of crime: (1) Individuals are arrested because they are guilty of crimes; and (2) Cases in which prosecution does not occur usually involve victims of technical criminal procedure rules. The legal analysis considers the language and the judicial interpretation of the fourth amendment and its relationship to State arrest laws. The operation of State arrest laws is discussed, with statistics provided on arrests and prosecutions. Also examined are the roles of the police, prosecutors, and the criminal justice system in creating a volume of arrests that jurisdictions cannot effectively handle. Consideration is also paid to the ratio of arrests to prosecutions by the reasonableness standard of the fourth amendment and the requisite standard for determining reasonableness. Finally, the legal analysis identifies possible solutions by courts, legislatures, administrative agencies, and litigants. The author concludes that the criminal justice system is relatively ineffective in the face of crime, at least in part because it does not address the phenomenon of the loss of liberty experienced by millions of people without benefit of the constitutional protections the public assumes accompany criminal prosecution. Statistical data on arrests and convictions are appended. 578 footnotes, and 12 tables