The Citizen's Constitutional Rights

All U.S. citizens are protected by the 8th Amendment, prohibiting the government from issuing excessive bail.

As indicated the Eighth Amendment addresses the matter of pretrial release by providing protection against excessive bail. The defendants, taking lead from Stack v. Boyle argued that the clause provides for bail to be set based upon the consideration of the defendant's flight risk, asserting that the Bail Reform Act affords the courts the right to set bails in amounts not consistent with the risk, thus violating the Excessive Bail Clause (Zalman, 2011).

Bail bond is an insurance policy that gives a defendant incentive to show up for court appearances. If a defendant fails to show, that individual forfeits the collateral that was put up for their release. The Eighth Amendment forbids the use of excessive bail (U.S. Const. amend. VIII). This does not mean that every defendant will be eligible. For particularly dangerous offenses, bail can be denied for reasons of safety. If a defendant has been known to not show up for court proceedings, the judge may also deny bail for this reason. Even with the protection of the Eighth Amendment, many defendants, especially those of low-income, are unable to afford bail.

America is built on the foundation of society being run and well-flowing around the three values the Republic of the United States hold most dear to: equality, freedom, and justice. The rights of the accused is an important factor in maximizing justice. Amendments 4-8 in the Bill of Rights specifically detail how criminal law should be dealt with, and how justice can be ensured every step of the way. The Fifth and Sixth Amendments contain two systems that go hand in hand with one another, a due process and a trial by jury for all citizens. Amendments 4-8, a Due Process, and a Trial by Jury are essential for establishing the rights of the accused and their absence would be detrimental to the effectiveness of the American criminal justice system.

The 8th Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the people from a government who may try to restrict or null your right to fair bail. The right restricts the judicial branch from performing any unfair procedures that can be directed towards a defendant, which is due process. Which is to state that the right to fair bail falls under due process because it is selectively incorporated in order to protect one’s unalienable rights of life, liberty, and property. The right guarantees that the defendant who is paying bail is given a fair/reasonable bail price.

This means in all cases, the accused person will enjoy the right to a quick and public trial by an unbiased judge of the state and county where the crime was committed. The county will be determined by law enforcement and the accused person has the right to be hold what they are accused of and able to confront witnesses against him/her as well as have the ability to call his/her own witnesses. The accused person has the right to have a lawyer to define him/her. The sixth Amendment does allow for equality because it allows a public trial without unnecessary delay, the right to a lawyer. The VII Amendment states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. This means a large amount of bail will not be required to leave jail or a large amount of fines imposed on people who are guilty, or cruel punishment used on people who are in jail. Amendment Eighth does allow for equality because it prohibits cruel and unusual punishments, but also mentions “excessive

The mission and values that are of importance will be taken from Portland, Oregon, Houston, Texas, Madison, Wisconsin because all of their attributes is beneficial to the community. For instance, it is vital that police officers work with the community, whether than against them regardless of their geographical location. A law enforcement officer cannot become effective to the community unless there are some trust and respect(Cordner, G.W., 2016). I believe that The Constitutional Rights need to be exercised and protect when it dehumanizes people. Therefore, peace and providing a safe environment is needed in our society now, due to terrorism and other malicious crime. Spokane Washington value statement states that it is service oriented,

In the amendments there are four that protect people who have been accused for a crime or arrested for a crime. These are the fourth, fifth, sixth, and the eighth amendments that give specifics on how the process should go and how the arrested person is to go through it. In the amendment they even say that the police must read you your rights when they arrest you, and if they don’t they can get in trouble.

Anyone who has watched or still watches the show Law and Order(a show that depicts the criminal justice system),will know that the recurring arguments between prosecutors and defense attorneys on the show is the issue of the amount of bail that should be set for the defendant. The prosecutors will argue that the bail should be set high,and the defense attorney would disagree, stating that this is a violation of the defendant’s Eighth Amendment right. The Eighth Amendment states that “excessive bail shall not be required,nor excessive fines imposed,nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted”.This amendment helps protect Americans against excessive punishments. What exactly does the Eighth Amendment allow?- In countries like the United States, where a person is usually innocent until proven guilty,the Eighth Amendment allows for the person to get out of jail for the time being, but not cleared of all charges until their trial.

The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments were created to protect American citizens and give them rights. Even know a person is arrested does not mean he or she is guilty of crime. In The United States we have a justice system in place to determine if the subject is guilty or not and to ensure that the person who was arrested rights were not violated. This includes the right to council, issued of the Miranda warning, and a speedy trial. If the subjects rights were violated this can mean rather the subject is guilty or not he or she could be let go or found not guilty. Evidence that was submitted that was found by violating a person’s rights can also be excluded from court. The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments affect the court proceedings on day to day operations in both juvenile court and adult court.

The second right that the 8th amendment protects, is the right to no excessive bail. Bail is when someone on the outside pays money for a prisoner to be let out of jail until the prisoner is put on trial. However, just because the amendment states that prisoners may not be charged excessive bail, they don’t always have the right to bail in the first place (Excessive Bail). A prisoner can only be bailed out if they are determined to not be a risk to themselves or other people. It must be determined that they are unlikely to commit another felony, otherwise they will not be allowed bail. Bail is set in the first place as a way to make sure the suspect goes to all court hearings. If the suspect goes to all court meetings then whoever paid the bail will have all

An analysis of the statutory law relating to bail brings to the fore the basic consideration underlying the bail system. Section 436 underlines a doctrine that bail can be had as matter of right without warrant. Since an arrest without warrant is serious encroachment upon an individual’s personal liberty, the doctrine comes as protective check against executive action. This right is extended to cover situations where the interests of society are not likely to be prejudiced by bailing out a person; instead the state’s obligation to protect individual liberty gets promoted.

Like other people, incarcerated individuals has constitutional rights to appeal the government for redress of grievances, as well as reasonable right of right of entry to courts and fair discipline procedures within prison surroundings. The 5th amendment grants due process plus shield against twice jeopardy and right for a prisoner to be free from self incrimination therefore no person shall be held for a capital (P.J., 2006). Next is the 14th amendment equal protection of the law for the prisoner and right to disciplinary hearing (Bartollas, 2002).

An important provision of the Bill of Rights is the protection of freedom to publish, as provided by the First Amendment. This protection applies to all kinds of publications, even those that print unpopular opinions. In most censorship cases, every attempt is made to suppress the written word after publication, not before. Minnesota passed a law in 1925 that sought to prevent newspapers, magazines, and other publications from printing obscene, malicious, scandalous and defamatory material. This law was called the Minnesota Gag Law . This law allowed private citizens and/or public prosecutors to request a court injunction to shut down any publication that was known as a public nuisance. Publishers of newspapers had to show that they had good motives for anything they were going to print before they printed it.

People mostly have a right to bail except capital cases in 40 state constitutions. There are a few reasons why bail is significantly important to a defendant. First, it gives the individual time to wait for their trial outside the jail cell. Without bail, the defendant would have to await their trail but stay in jail for a number of months. It wouldn’t seem fair for someone to spend time in jail if they are presumed not guilty in the near future. Second, bail gives the defendant time to spend with their lawyer, so they carefully prepare for the upcoming trial. Statistically, people generally are convicted and sentenced more when they don’t make bail compared to the ones that do make bail (Lippman 2015). Families with a low income suffer the most because they may not have enough to pay 10 percent fee. Most importantly, bail gives the individual time to spend with their loved ones while dealing with dire