The Importance Of Due Process In The American Criminal Justice System

House Publishing in New York, NY. Anthony Lewis is a columnist for the New York Times. After covering the Supreme Court and the Justice Department as a member of the Times Washington Bureau, Mr. Lewis served as the Chief London Correspondent for the Times. Prior to these significant life achievements, Mr. Lewis won a Pulitzer Prize for national correspondence and

High rates of social disorganization and poverty levels can cause crime rates to increase as well. No economic opportunities in a community can factor into high crime rates. Drug use and gangs can also factor into this. Other factors may include a lack of family support and a poor education system.

What is due process? Fair treatment through the regular judicial system, especially as a citizen entitlement. This means that everyone that is charged with a crime has the right to go to court and prove their innocence. What is a plea bargaining? According to Nolo Cotendere dictionary, a plea bargain is an agreement between a defendant

The case starts with the arrest of Clarence Earl Gideon who was charged with breaking and entering with intent to commit a misdemeanor. Gideon was a runaway, having left home around eighth grade he became a drifter. He wandered around from place to place and spent time in and out of prison of prison for many non-violent crimes. He eventually found some part time work at a pool club, the same club room he was accused of breaking into and robbing.

The criminal justice system has a set of rules it follows when arresting, interrogating, and placing the accused on trial. These rules are known as procedural rights. Procedural rights are the rights of the accused/defendant, when going through the criminal justice system. They are the first ten amendments of the United States Constitution (Bohm, 2018). Also, known as the Bill of Rights. Four of the ten amendments are found in criminal justice proceedings. These are the fourth, fifth, sixth, and eighth amendments (Bohm, 2018).

Petitioner, Triniti T. (“Student” or “Petitioner”) filed her initial request for due process hearing (“Beaumont I”) on February 24, 2014. In the request, Petitioner alleged that the District denied Student a free, appropriate public education (“FAPE”). A hearing was held on June 24-26, 2014 and a Decision following due process hearing (“Decision”) was issues on August 28, 2014. The Decision found that Petitioner had met her burden in proving that the District failed to provide Student with a FAPE in specific areas and the Petitioner was entitled various relief including, but not limited to specific prospective placement, services, assessments, training, devices/equipment for the remainder of the 2014-2015 school year; program development for the 2015-2016 school year, and reimbursement

The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects any person within their jurisdiction of their due process and equal protection. The Equal Protection Clause under the 14th Amendment requires the states to apply their laws equally to any person within their jurisdiction. The equal protection clause aims to provide equal application of the law. It is also crucial to the protection of civil rights. There should be no discrimination in its application. Also no state can deny any person of their equal protection rights. The laws of a state must treat an individual in the same manner as others in similar conditions or circumstances. Due process deals with the fair use or enforcement of laws. The Due Process clause protects any person of their

The United States justice system is a complicated system. The justice system is the third branch of the government. This branch holds the responsibility to create and up hold laws. The justice system has a precise order of how things fall into place when a crime has been committed. The process to arrest an individual to the sentencing of that individual takes a bountiful amount of steps and procedures.

A public school cannot suspend a student with no notice or hearing because it infringes on his or her rights. The specific amendments broken by the public school officials are primarily the fifth and sixth. Public schools are not allowed to take away rights and liberties given to the American people. The suspended student was denied his rights to due process and his right to formal informant of crime committed.

Prisoner’s Rights go back many years ago and prisoners fought for quite some time for equality. Men were granted certain rights and fought to expand those rights while women fought to have rights. “OMETHING HAPPENED TO THE PRISONERS' RIGHTS MOVEMENT FROM 1975 TO THE 1990S; Women happened” (Barry, 2000). There were many court cases that contributed to rights being granted. “One early state case, Barefield v. Leach (1974), demonstrated that the opportunities and programs for female inmates were clearly inferior to those for male inmates” (Schmalleger & Smykia, 2015, p. 377).

When controversy and conflicts sprout, many individuals go to courts to seek justice and to have a fair and just trial. Since this is the United States, a country known internationally for its equality and democracy, many individuals would think that the court system in the U.S. is the fairest and has the most sophisticated court system. However, for many individuals, this simply is not the case. Many face discrimination and are not given the right to a fair trial. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus states, "our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal." Atticus’s statement about how courts are our great levelers and that in courts, men are created is deemed as inaccurate and

The Sixth Amendment states that someone being accused of a crime has multiple rights; those of which include protection from double jury, prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments, and the right to a jury trial.

Herbert Packer believed in a two-model form within the criminal justice system: crime control and due process. With the 1996 film, A Time to Kill, most of society watched this eye-opening and astonishing film and saw nothing but the conflict between races. As individuals studying for the future of criminal justice, it is imperative that we are able to analyze cases in movies and everyday life creating a second nature mindset of the rights and wrongs within cases. Packer explains and introduces to society in his article, Two Models of the Criminal Process, of the idea that crime control and due process are the key elements within the criminal justice system. Furthermore, the film A Time to Kill presents due process but little to no crime control through the court trial

The due process is a fair Treatment through the normal Judicial system, especially as a citizen’s entitlement It respect all legal rights that are balances the power of law of land and protects the individual person.

Within the criminal justice system, there are two competing models: the crime control model and the due process model. These two models were constructed by Robert Packer and each represents a particular school of thought. In managing crime, there is the individual i.e. the suspect and there is the society. The due process model is seen to focus on the suspect whereas the crime control model focuses on the society. This paper analyzes these two models and based on the rate of crime in the society, makes recommendations as to which is the best model in criminal justice.