Due Process and Other Protected Rights The Rights of Criminal Defendants

Protecting the Accused The Bill of Rights protects American citizens from the abuse of governmental power. It does this by providing checks on the ability of the U.S. government to prosecute its critics. If a person is accused of illegal activity, he or she is presumed innocent and entitled to due process. © EMC Publishing, LLC

Presumption of Innocence The presumption of innocence means that an accused person is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty. The burden of proving someone guilty is on the government. In a criminal case, the government must use evidence and witnesses to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty. © EMC Publishing, LLC

Due Process Due process of law means that the accused must: ▫Hear the charges and evidence against him or her ▫Have access to legal counsel (a lawyer) ▫Receive a fair trial Due process is a right of every American citizen. © EMC Publishing, LLC

Searches and Seizures Writs of assistance were orders allowing the British government to enter and search colonists’ homes. Colonists called those general searches “grievous and oppressive.” In the Bill of Rights, the founders included the Fourth Amendment, banning “unreasonable” searches. © EMC Publishing, LLC

Searches and Seizures Today, government agents (usually the police) must obtain a search warrant before entering a private home. Search warrants are orders from a judge specifying who and what is to be searched and what evidence is being sought. © EMC Publishing, LLC

Reasonable Searches Police may conduct a search without a warrant if they have probable cause. Probable cause is a reasonable belief that a crime has taken place. Example: Police may search an automobile if it is parked outside a bank where alarms are going off and someone is stuffing money bags into the trunk. © EMC Publishing, LLC

Drug Testing Drug testing often involves taking a blood or urine sample, which is usually considered an unreasonable search. The U.S. Supreme Court allows drug testing when the violation of privacy is outweighed by a legitimate governmental purpose. Examples: Mandatory drug testing is allowed for: ▫Train conductors and airline pilots ▫Public school students involved in extracurricular sports © EMC Publishing, LLC

Obtaining Evidence The exclusionary rule bans evidence obtained illegally from being used to gain a conviction in a trial. The good faith exception says that even if certain evidence was obtained illegally, it may be used to gain a conviction if the police based their actions on a warrant or a law that they believed to be constitutional. © EMC Publishing, LLC

Testifying against Oneself A confession is a voluntary statement admitting that one has committed a crime. The Fifth Amendment protects individuals against self-incrimination. It says no person “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” The Miranda rights protect individuals against coerced, or forced, confessions. They say the police must inform suspects of their right to remain silent and to have a lawyer present during questioning. © EMC Publishing, LLC

Rights of the Accused The Sixth Amendment guarantees three rights of the accused: ▫The right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury ▫The right to defend himself or herself ▫The right to counsel for his or her defense The Fifth Amendment protects against double jeopardy by saying that a person may not be put on trial twice for the same crime in the same government (federal or state). © EMC Publishing, LLC

The Eighth Amendment “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” (U.S. Constitution, Amendment VIII) Bail: Money that an accused person must pay the court if he or she wants to be out of prison while waiting for trial Preventive detention: Holding an accused person without bail out of concern that he or she will flee if released © EMC Publishing, LLC

Cruel and Unusual Punishment The courts have a difficult time defining “cruel” and “unusual.” Definitions vary from state to state. Some states allow capital punishment, and others do not. Capital punishment: The death penalty Lethal injection and electrocution are generally considered less cruel than hanging and shooting. © EMC Publishing, LLC

Due Process and Other Protected Rights Controversial Rights

The Right to Bear Arms “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” (U.S. Constitution, Amendment II) The Second Amendment was written to guard against the tyranny of the British and the federal government. Today some say that the amendment is obsolete because these threats no longer exist. © EMC Publishing, LLC

Gun Ownership I ▫In colonial times, national security was handled by the militia (able-bodied men who volunteered for emergency military service using their own guns). Today, some people want gun control (limits on gun ownership) because: ▫The military supplies troops with guns ▫Violence is a national security concern The National Rifle Association (NRA) challenges gun control laws and supports the rights of gun owners. © EMC Publishing, LLC

Congress and Gun Control In 1990, carrying a gun near a school became illegal. In 1993, the Brady Bill required people to undergo a background check before purchasing a handgun. In 1994, the Crime Bill banned semiautomatic assault weapons. In 1997, parts of the Brady Bill were struck down. In 2004, Congress let the ban on semiautomatic weapons expire. © EMC Publishing, LLC

The Right to Privacy The right to privacy is the right to be left alone to do what we want. The right to privacy appeared in American legal thinking in In 1965, a member of the Supreme Court held that: ▫The right to privacy is not explicit in the Constitution ▫A number of other constitutional rights contain penumbras (outlying shadowy areas), in which a right to privacy exists © EMC Publishing, LLC

Privacy and Life Issues In Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), the U.S. Supreme Court determined that using birth control falls under a right-to-privacy penumbra. In Roe v. Wade (1973), the Court determined that having an abortion is also a privacy right. The Roe v. Wade decision created a battleground over abortion that still exists today. © EMC Publishing, LLC

Other Privacy Rights In 1990, the Supreme Court determined that people can protect their right to die by writing a living will. In 1997, the Supreme Court determined that: ▫Patients had the right to refuse treatment. ▫Doctors did not have the right to help patients end their lives. © EMC Publishing, LLC

Assisted Suicide In 1997, the state of Oregon passed a law that allowed doctors to provide lethal amounts of drugs to help terminally ill patients die. In 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft said he would take away the medical license of any doctor who participates in assisted suicide. In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that the attorney general had no right to interfere with medical practices handled under state law. © EMC Publishing, LLC

Medical Records The 2003 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA): ▫Allows sharing of patient information for medical, billing, and insurance matters ▫Prohibits sharing of patient information for marketing purposes or without the patient’s written consent The federal government is experimenting with an online database of health records. Critics worry that information from the database will be misused. © EMC Publishing, LLC

Personal Information on the Internet The government has made it illegal for Internet companies to reveal personal data. Internet companies are not regulated for privacy infringement as closely as are other media. The USA Patriot Act allows the government to access personal information on the Internet without a warrant. © EMC Publishing, LLC