The Importance Of Due Process In The American Criminal Justice System

Due process is the fair treatment of the judicial system by the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments. This is the constitutional guarantee that one will be given the opportunity to be heard before they are deprived of their life and (discharge from all restraints or obligations unless convicted). (Schmalleger 631-632) And also guaranteed that the law will not be unfair in anyway and that the government will not in any way deprive any person(s) of their constitutional rights.

The reason that due process is so important in the American criminal justice system is because it is a social justice a belief of right and wrong. Due process is based on the 5th, 6th and 14th Amendments, the constitutional amendments are to make sure that a person cannot be accused of a crime without a grand jury investigation, they have the right to an attorney and a person should not be deprived of life. For example if a person was being accused of robbery but there was no evidence that this person did the crime he/she would need to be represented by an attorney to plead their innocence than the case would be taken in front of a jury for them to deliberate on whether this person should be found guilty

This system is put into place to be fair to those accused. There are many cases in which the due process was not followed and the case was considered unfair and thrown out. Ex: Gideon v. Wainwright (1963). Clarence Gideon was accused of burglary and while in court he asked for an attorney to be appointed to his case because he could not afford one, but he was denied. At the time attorneys were only appointed to those who were poor, but who is to say whether or not a person is not poor enough to get an attorney appointed to them. Because the courts denied his request for an attorney Gideon was eventually acquitted of all