Courts in Criminal Justice This paper will explain the doctrine of incorporation states that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applies to the protections of the Bill of Rights to the states. To explain, that incorporation can be selective, and including those rights deemed as fundamental, such as those protected by the First Amendment.
Rights & Protections for the Accused The United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights assures important protections for individuals accused of crimes in the United States. Therefore, when an individual is charged with a crime, they are guaranteed a variety of rights that are aimed to insure that all legal proceedings are followed fairly.
Writ of Habeas Corpus
In Article 1, Section
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To put it in another way, an individual accused of a crime having the rights to have their guilt or innocence determined by a jury.
Self-Incrimination
The Fifth Amendment states that no person “shall be compelled in a criminal case to be a witness against himself”. The accused must have a legitimate concern that their testimony will contribute to their crime. Individual accused of crimes or are witnesses in legal proceedings can invoke this right by pleading the fifth or claiming their Fifth Amendment rights, see Miranda v. Arizona.
Double Jeopardy
In addition, individuals accused of a crime are also protected from double jeopardy. The Fifth Amendment states, no person shall “be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” If the result of a trial is acquittal, no further legal action is taken against the defendant for that crime. It’s possible for an individual to be tried in criminal court for a crime and then be sued in civil court for damages caused by the same criminal act, such as O.J Simpson case. For the purpose of the Fifth Amendment, they are considered different in nature.
No Excessive, Cruel or Unusual
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Supreme Court
The Tennessee Federal Appeals Process When a conviction in the Federal District Court, lawyers, plaintiff, or defendants must make a decision whether or not to appeal, due to a brief window of time. A written statement must be submitted explaining any reasons for the appeal, describing specific instances in which significant errors, omissions or negligence prevented individuals from receiving due process.
Intermediate Appellate Courts
There are two intermediate appellate courts, one is for civil cases and one for criminal cases. Tennessee is one of only two states to have this structure at the intermediate appellate level.
• The Court of Appeals – Composed of twelve judges this Court of Appeals hears most civil cases from lower courts. This Court of Appeals meets in Nashville, Knoxville and Jackson, TN.
• Court of Criminal Appeals – The Tennessee Supreme Court in the 1960’s needing relief from routine criminal appeals, the General Assembly expanded the jurisdiction of the Courts of Appeals to deal with caseloads. Composed of twelve judges, the Court of Criminal Appeals operates in the same way as its civil counterpart, but jurisdiction is limited
Under the Sixth Amendment. The Sixth Amendment guarantees a criminal defendant the right to impartial jury. The jury will consider the evidence against the defendant and decide whether to find him or her guilty of the crime. Twelve jurors must agree in order to find a defendant guilty or not guilty. If the jury fails to reach a unanimous verdict and finds itself at a standstill, the judge may declare a mistrial.
The Double Jeopardy clause in the Fifth Amendment protects people from being tried for the same case multiple times. An example of this is if someone is being tried for murder and is found not guilty by a jury, that person cannot be tried again with a different jury until they are found guilty. In the film Double Jeopardy they set the precedence that if Libby kills her husband at the end of the movie, she couldn't be charged with murder because she had previously been tried and convicted of his death. Unfortunately the double jeopardy clause would not protect her.
The conditions in which the Supreme Court hears a case is on an appeal basis. What is the structure of a typical state court system?
Firstly, victims in both states have the right to protection against threats, abuse, intimidations and other forms of harassment from the offenders who scare the victims as a trick to make them drop the cases. According to Montaldo, some criminals may yawm laudly, make sarcastic faces, laugh, and make obscene gestures as a way of harassing victims (“Tennessee” 14). However, the victims are considered the first priority as far as this protection is concerned. Secondly, victims have the right to be informed of all court proceedings in the two states. Necessary information includes rescheduling of a court hearing and final disposition of the case.
Since then, the U.S. Supreme Court has expanded the Fifth Amendment to apply not only to criminal cases and pre trials,
According to the Bill of Rights Institute the Fifth Amendment gives a criminal defendant the right to not testify at trail and this stops the prosecutor, the judge and even the defendant’s lawyer can’t force the defendant to take the witness stand against their will. The Fifth Amendment states that no one maybe deprived of life, liberty or property without “due process of law” and there is two types of due process which are procedural which is fairness and substantive. According to the Fifth Amendment it protects a criminal defendant from double jeopardy and the reason’s are that it’s to prevent the government from using it’s superior resources so it would wear down and convict an innocent person. It also protects individuals from the financial,
The ratification of the US Bill of Rights took place in 1789. The Bill of Rights supply citizens of the US with inalienable rights that they are born with and acquire if they immigrate. Since it was ratified, there have been several occasions in which these rights have been infringed upon during times of conflict, in which the United States government attempts to shield the nation from conflicting issues inside or even outside the country because of fear. The government believes that this unconstitutional action to restrict citizens’ rights must be done to protect citizens of the United States, but in an attempt to protect others, many become mistreated.
Hi Nakia, I totally agree with your statement about the fifth amendment. The fifth amendment is a part of the Bill of Rights that protects the rights of anyone accused of a crime and secure life, liberty and property. It requires that a citizen cannot be accused of a serious crime without a grand jury investigation. As well, it also forbids double jeopardy as you said the act of of bringing a person to trail a second time for the same crime. Fifth amendment really changed many people’s lives.
The first amendment establishes the people the right to freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and to petition. The second amendment establishes the peoples’ right to have weapons and the third amendment protects them from being forced to house the military. Due to the Fifth Amendment, Citizens’ protection from unreasonable search and seizure was put in place, as for the sixth amendment Americans has a right to an attorney and a fair trial in the court of law by an impartial jury of his or her peers. The Seventh amendment gives citizens the right to a trial by jury if there are claims exceeding twenty dollars made, and the eighth amendment makes it illegal for bail to exceed an price the contrast to the crime committed, and prevents cruel and unusual punishment by a court of law. The ninth amendment protects what may be later seen as a right, and finally, the tenth amendment gives states the right to establish laws that has yet been established by the federal
The court structure in the United States is comprised of a dual court system. The dual court system consists of “one system of state and local courts and another system of federal courts” (Bohm & Haley, 2011, p. 274). Although the system has a separate court system for state and federal court, they do connect in the United States Supreme Court. Each court has various levels of jurisdiction to hear and make decisions over cases (Bohm & Haley, 2011).
Furthermore, those being accused of committing a crime thanks to the Bill of Rights they have human protection throughout the process. As it states in (Gerland, 2009), “By 1791, the states had ratified 10 of these amendments, which became known as the Bill of Rights (p.36)”. When the Amendments came about there were 12 at first, then as it states it was ratified to be 10. Out of those 10 Amendments of the Constitutional Rights, the 6th Amendment is what this
Going up from there are the circuit courts, the district courts of appeal, and the supreme court. There are 67 county courts, one in each county. These courts are of limited jurisdiction and deal with only minor offenses. The circuit courts are the states courts of original jurisdiction and are courts of record. They also hear appeals from the county courts.
Double jeopardy is subjecting of a person to a second trial or punishment for the same offense (Bohm & Haley, 2011). The essential procedural safeguard in the Fifth Amendment will be the protection against forced self-incrimination. The Fifth Amendment provides criminals the right not to testify or take the witness stand without his or her on will. Miranda rights are any confession obtained by a person before they have been read their rights and cannot hold it against them in a court of law (Bohm & Haley, 2011). Next, in all criminal prosecutions for The Sixth Amendment, depending on the state and district where a crime is committed, the indicted individual can take the preference of a speedy trial by an unbiased jury, only in federal court.
In the state of Texas there are two courts of final appeal. The highest court for civil matters is the nine member Texas Supreme Court. The nine member Texas Court Criminal Appeals is for criminal matters. The number and variety of courts are confusing to the average citizen. The judges in these courts have only general qualifications who need not be lawyers and these judges are selected in a partisan election, which is a general election where the candidates are nominated by the political parties and their respective party labels appear on the ballot.
The American legal system defines two types of cases, a civil case and criminal case. A civil case follows these seven steps: opening statements, presentation of evidence between both sides, witness testimonies, cross examinations, cross statements, jury instructions, jury deliberations, and a verdict is delivered. If the verdict is seen as unfavorable, an appeal is possible similarly to the Roman system of cognitio extraordinaria. The criminal trial follows a much similar process excluding a bond hearing and the verdict among jurors. The jury in a criminal case must be unanimous in deciding a verdict unlike the civil case in which the jury must have a majority