A person who is going through a trial or is under the custody of the police does not lose his primary, fundamental, and human rights just because he gets accused. The United States constitution guarantees and provides ample protection to the accused person, although it has always been a struggle to ensure that prosecutors, police, and courts fully respect them.
Some of the accused’s fundamental rights are well known and rightly enshrined in the constitution, while others are not that familiar. The following are the rights that an accused person has during the process of a criminal case.
5th Amendment rights.
5th amendment rights are the rights that an accused has under which he or she can refuse to answer any question or make statements that can get the accused incriminated, which gets applied to any stage of criminal prosecution or investigation.
Furthermore, the 5th amendment right can be further broken down into five following constitutional rights.
- A guarantee that all criminal defendants have a fast, speedy, and fair trial.
- The right to indictment by the jury before any criminal charges for felonious crimes.
- Forced self-incrimination.
- Right of a prohibition on double jeopardy.
- A guarantee that the government cannot seize private property without making due compensation according to the property’s market value.
Right to Counsel – The 6th Amendment rights.
A defendant in a criminal case has the right to get representation from an attorney to defend his case. The State should provide an attorney to the defendant if the defendant cannot afford one. Click here to read more about the rights of the accused.
Furthermore, the 6th Amendment rights set forth specific rights, including:
- The right to urge witnesses who can testify on behalf of the accused.
- The right to have a trial by jury
- The right to have proper knowledge and information of the nature and cause of all accusations against the defendant
- Confrontation of witness
8th Amendment rights.
- Excessive bail or fines.
The Eight amendment right of the United States Constitution prescribes fines and other punishments equally proportional to the crime done by the accused. At the same time, the said right also prohibits the courts from imposing excessive or unreasonable bail for the people in police custody.
- Unusual or Cruel punishment
The law is always in the state of development when it comes to unusual or cruel punishment. Punishments that can be considered unusual or offensive are the death penalty for any sort of crime other than capital murder or longer prison sentences for nonviolent crimes. Click here to learn what is a misdemeanor?
14th Amendment rights – The Equal protection clause
The 14th amendment rights of the United States Constitution, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons neutralized or born in the United States. The rights also include a former enslaved person. The 14th amendment rights guarantee all citizen “ equal protection of the law.”
The 14th Amendment rights contained three major provisions.
- The Due process clause – The clause declared that the state could not deny any person’s liberty, life or property, without the due process of law.
- The Citizenship Clause – The clause grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the US.
- The Equal Protection clause – The clause says that the state may not deny equal protection of the laws to any person within its jurisdiction.
What are misdemeanor crimes?
The true meaning of a misdemeanor is minor wrongdoing. A misdemeanor crime is a type of crime that gets considered a lesser criminal act in the eyes of the law. Misdemeanor punishments are less severe when compared to the discipline of felonies. To make it more straightforward, misdemeanors get punished with less than 12 months in jail, community service, or monetary fines.
The typical examples of misdemeanor crimes are:
- Traffic offenses especially involve driving under the influence of alcohol.
- Violations such as Gun possession.
- Perjury crimes – Lying under oath.
- Various drug crimes and possession of a controlled substance such as a drug
- Larceny, theft, or such kind of similar crimes that involve property
- Assault and other relative crimes that involve bodily harm.
- Resisting arrest
- Cybercrime that includes stalking or bullying
- Vandalism
- Trespassing
To conclude
There are provisions in the United States Constitution to protect the rights of the accused considering, and a person is still a respectable citizen of the States “Until proven guilty.” The accused is entitled to all the rights, and getting professional help by hiring a lawyer ensures that the accused is rightfully treated in the eyes of the law and gets what he deserves. The same is in the case of a misdemeanor. If you get charged with the same, a qualified lawyer is required to protect your rights and help you with law proceedings.