Police Interrogation and Due Process Research Paper

Police Interrogation and Due Process - Research Paper Example The above principles which are contained in the 5th amendment are very important to an individual accused of a crime. Although the amendment is viewed to contain various provisions, four elements widely protects an individual accused of a crime are right of protection against double jeopardy, right to due process, a right to what is known as grand jury and finally, right against self incrimination (Tomkovicz, 2002). Within courts in the United States, whenever questions arise in criminal trials whether a confession is incompetent because it is not viewed to be voluntary; this issue is mainly controlled by the 5th amendment commanding that specific individual shall at any given time be compelled in a criminal case to be a witness against himself. Self incrimination indicates that no person accused of a particular crime may be compelled to be a witness against her/himself. Supreme Court ruled that this specific action is only available not only police interrogation but also the trial. Further, this same rule may only apply to custodial interrogation where police interrogates an individual while in custody. Grand jury is defined as a group of individuals who decide whether there is enough evidence to charge a particular suspect. However, the US Supreme Court has not ruled on this requirement to apply to the states. Double jeopardy implies that individuals may not be punished and tried twice for the same crime. This area is complex such that even Supreme Court struggle with it. Finally, based on the due process, the 5th amendment indicates that no one should at any time be deprived property, life and liberty without due process of the law. The two types of due process are substantive and procedural. Procedural type focuses on fundamental fairness whereas substantive widely extend beyond the context of criminal prosecutions (Sonneborn, 2004). 4th Amendment Clearly, it is the legal responsibility for any government to provide each and every defiant in any criminal ac tion with legal representation which must be viewed to be effective. This is explained by the 6th amendment to the U.S that states â€Å"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦to have the assistance of counsel for his defense†. This clause gives all defendants the right to communicate with an attorney from the specific moment the defendant was taken into police custody. Decision by U.S Supreme Court to have constructed this clause was to ensure that any defiant enjoyed the constitutional right especially during critical stages in a criminal proceeding. These critical stages are namely; preliminary hearings, custodial interrogation, trial, post indictment, first appeal conviction and sentencing (Chemerinsky, 2002). This same clause was mainly to react against English practice where assistant from an attorney was denied even in very serious criminal cases. Here, defendants required