Amendments and Constitutional Bill of Rights
The constitution gets described as a document entailing rules and laws aiming at governing the government of a state. In the United States government, the first ten amendments to the constitution get regarded as the constitutional Bill of Rights. Often the constitution undergoes an amendment where it undergoes formal alteration by the legislation to make it better. The constitution got amended up to around 27 times. With every amendment came an additional clause that turned the way the judicial system saw things. The write-up sets to explain what amendment gets considered the most important in the Criminal Justice System, followed by why it is regarded important.
The fifth, fourth, sixth and the fourteenth amendments deal directly with the criminal justice system. The amendment that gets considered the most important in the criminal justice system is the fifth. It handles various aspects that safeguard the defendants while giving guidelines to the parties that get to handle their case.
This amendment is crucial because it protects the citizens from witnessing against themselves. This rule deals with a couple of parties. For the criminal defendant, they get the exemption not to testify. This means that it is rightfully up to them if they wish to take the stand or not. For a witness, with this, they can refuse to testify if their testimony will incriminate them to a crime unrelated to the one presented in court. It protects the witness from having to be a witness. Also, during the court proceeding, they get not to answer a question that eventually incriminates them.
Also, it protects a person from getting deprived of life, freedom, and property without following the regular route of justice. With this, the courts ensure two main thin gs. That for each case, the right procedure got followed and that it was a substantive due process. It implies that if a person got incriminated, their trial got fairly listened to by the relevant parties. Furthermore, they got a chance to prove their innocence. It also ensures people exercise their fundamental rights, such as the right to religion without prosecution from the government.
Besides, it protects the citizens of a country from being punished twice for the same crime. The amendment protects the defendant from being tried again or prosecuted again for the same crime. It also gives a chance to the defendant to be granted a mistrial and appeal their conviction (Greenawalt 2015). It provides the defendant with time to make their case and be listened to somewhat. With any chance that they may be an angle that would keep them imprisonment, these opportunities give them a fighting chance.
Finally, it grants the defendant right to a jury in case of a felony case. The jury gives an extra set of pairs of eyes in determining if there is enough evidence to charge the defendant of the crime. An opportunity like this gives the defendant a fair fighting chance. The jury consists typically of mere citizens selected randomly; hence their ruling is not biased. If a group of people not interconnected deliberately and think there is a need for the defendant to get charged, then it is only fair to charge them.
In conclusion, the fifth amendment is crucial in the criminal justice system for various reasons. It protects the rights of the defendant in many occasions. It ensures the defendant gets a free trial at all times. It gets achieved since they do not incriminate themselves, and they are offered a jury for a felony case. It also ensures that the right process gets followed before coming to a ruling. This amendment gives the court rules that they should follow to ensure fair rule to the people.
Works Cited
Greenawalt, Kent. Interpreting the Constitution. Oxford University Press, 2015.
Vile, John R. A companion to the United States Constitution and its amendments. ABC-CLIO, 2015.