What constitutional provisions protect criminal defendants? Give examples.
What will be an ideal response?
Criminal defendants are afforded broad constitutional rights under the federal Constitution, and also may receive additional rights under applicable state constitutions. Rights are afforded criminal defendants in Articles I and III, and in Amendments IV, V, VII and XI of the U.S. Constitution. Article I provides for the writ of habeas corpus, and prohibits bills of attainder and ex post facto laws. Article III ensures the right to a jury trial, and, read in conjunction with the Sixth Amendment, guarantees the right to a speedy trial in public by an impartial jury.
The application of provisions of the Bills of Rights to action by the states has been accomplished through selective incorporation by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Fourth Amendment prohibits the police from making unreasonable searches without a proper search warrant.
The Fifth Amendment contains the Due Process clause used by courts when they determine if particular state or police actions shock the conscience. Specifically, this amendment requires a grand jury indictment for a capital or otherwise infamous crime. The Supreme Court has declined to apply the grand jury indictment requirement to the states. The Fifth Amendment also prohibits double jeopardy, and the privilege against self-incrimination.
The Sixth Amendment requires that a defendant be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted by the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. The right to counsel was held to apply to states through incorporation. The Eighth Amendment prohibits excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment.
The Fourteenth Amendment has served as a means by which the Supreme Court has made the Bill of Rights applicable to the states through the doctrine of selective incorporation. The Fourteenth Amendment also ensures procedural due process.
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Federal slip laws can be designated as public or ________
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In Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000 ), the U.S. Court refused to apply a New Jersey civil rights law to require the Boy Scouts to retain a homosexual troop leader because the Court concluded that it would violate the organization's right to the freedom of ________
Fill in the blank(s) with correct word
In a complex office legal memorandum involving several issues,
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