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Rights Guaranteed to Criminal Defendants

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Rights Guaranteed to Criminal Defendants
The Framers of the Constitution recalled a time when the government accused people of crimes they did not commit and then convicted them in one-sided trials. Subsequently, these men put in great effort to guarantee that the new government would not engage in such practices. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights guarantee a series of important securities for persons accused of committing crimes in the US.

The Sixth Amendment provides many protections and rights to a person suspected or accused of a crime. One of these rights is to have his/her case heard by an impartial jury. This right is particularly important based on the fact that the people determining your guilt or innocence should make a neutral decision, based on the facts of the case and what they feel is accurate, not how they see you as a person.

Criminal defendants have several constitutional clauses that protect defendants from excessively severe or uncommon punishments. Most of these restrictions can be found in the Eighth Amendment. The Eighth Amendment states that in a criminal case, “excessive bail shall not be required”, “excessive fines shall not be imposed”, and “cruel and unusual punishment shall not be inflicted”. This is important because it restricts the court from issuing a punishment that is not fitting for the crime.

Our legal system grants important rights to all of us. The reason criminal defendants have these protections is because every citizen deserves to be innocent until proven guilty. I believe that basic rights would be protected for individuals facing criminal charges; however, those who violate laws should face proper punishment for their

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