Due Process of Law
Due Process of Law
In our government today we have due process of law. Due process of law simply means that we have protection against a chance deprivation of life, liberty or property. Within the due process law, if you are to be accused of something it has to be under fair and reasonable circumstances. If we are ever to be arrested of something, under due process it commands that we are taken to court and showed a cause. It is very important that we have due process in the law for the people of the United States. Law enforcement always requires the balancing of two competing social concerns: on one hand, is the government's interest in protecting its citizens and prosecuting criminal conduct; on the other hand, is the right of innocent citizens to be free from unrestricted searches and seizures and compelled confessions. Under British rule before the Revolution that established a sovereign United States, citizens were subject to unwarranted searches of their property and seizure of their persons for suspicion of criminal conduct without the need for justification on the part of government agents. This experience under British rule was incorporated into the U.S. Constitution and its subsequent amendments, including the Bill of Rights, precisely to provide the protection of citizens against unrestricted governmental police powers. Unrestricted police powers might, in principle, allow for the highest level of crime prevention and prosecution, but at a very steep cost, because virtually any police action would be permissible, including searches and apprehension, detention, and imprisonment without any justification, based solely on the suspicions, or even the whims, of government agents. Excessive protections of individual rights would prohibit the investigatory, arrest, and prosecutorial functions necessary to enforce the laws of society. The goal of modern constitutional criminal procedure is to define principles of law enforcement that protect citizens from
In our government today we have due process of law. Due process of law simply means that we have protection against a chance deprivation of life, liberty or property. Within the due process law, if you are to be accused of something it has to be under fair and reasonable circumstances. If we are ever to be arrested of something, under due process it commands that we are taken to court and showed a cause. It is very important that we have due process in the law for the people of the United States. Law enforcement always requires the balancing of two competing social concerns: on one hand, is the government's interest in protecting its citizens and prosecuting criminal conduct; on the other hand, is the right of innocent citizens to be free from unrestricted searches and seizures and compelled confessions. Under British rule before the Revolution that established a sovereign United States, citizens were subject to unwarranted searches of their property and seizure of their persons for suspicion of criminal conduct without the need for justification on the part of government agents. This experience under British rule was incorporated into the U.S. Constitution and its subsequent amendments, including the Bill of Rights, precisely to provide the protection of citizens against unrestricted governmental police powers. Unrestricted police powers might, in principle, allow for the highest level of crime prevention and prosecution, but at a very steep cost, because virtually any police action would be permissible, including searches and apprehension, detention, and imprisonment without any justification, based solely on the suspicions, or even the whims, of government agents. Excessive protections of individual rights would prohibit the investigatory, arrest, and prosecutorial functions necessary to enforce the laws of society. The goal of modern constitutional criminal procedure is to define principles of law enforcement that protect citizens from