Confrontation Clause Essay

In the United States criminal justice system, the defendant is innocent until proven guilty.

There are three ways that actually help the defendant from being wrongly accused and gives

them a fighting chance to win in case they are innocent; the confrontation clause, cross-

examination and the burden of proof. The confrontation clause is an important part of the 6th

amendment which gives the defendant the right to confront their accuser. Cross examination

helps to find out more about the witness and the incident and the burden of proof falls upon the

prosecutor to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the offense. All three

of these have importance because they help lead to the conviction of the offender.
They can be the reason the defendant wins or loses. When the person who called

the witness questions the witness they are directly examining them When the other party

questions the witness, that is called cross examination. Both the defense lawyer and prosecutor

try to discredit the person who is being cross-examined. When the prosecutor questions the

defendant their initial goal is to get something out of the defendant. They try to get the
Different states

have different procedures regarding the confrontation clause even though it violates their state

constitutions

The burden of proof falls upon the prosecutor. They have to prove beyond a reasonable

doubt that the defendant is in fact guilty. There is only one case where the burden of proof falls

on the defense. The burden of proof falls on the defense when trying to prove that the defendant

is mentally ill therefore, not fully responsible for their actions. In these cases, if the defense

proves that the defendant is in fact mentally ill then the defendant is sent to a mental institution

instead of prison. Until that moment that the prosecutor proves that the defendant is guilty, the

defendant is presumed innocent. The reason as to why the burden of proof is extremely important

to the criminal justice system is because it is there to protect people from being wrongly

convicted. The defendant can’t be convicted unless the majority of the jury gives the verdict that

he or she is guilty. However, there have been countless cases where innocent people have spent

decades in prison for a crime that they didn’t commit. While the burden of proof doesn’t