I'm Working On This Question And I Need A Sample Draft To Help Me Study
Flyinghiger
LTSD503week2resp.docxLTSD 502
Marcus
To assist in better understanding the Constitution, please answer the following question: Of the Constitutional amendments we are addressing in this class (Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth), which one is most important? Why? There is obviously no wrong answer, so your analysis in support of the amendment you choose is key.
The first ten amendments are known as the Bill of Rights. These are the first and most significant amendments to the US constitution that focus solely and squarely on the individual rights and freedoms of the American people, acting as a safeguard against any potential overreach perpetrated by the federal or state government (ConstitutionUS.com, 2022). The Constitutional amendments we are addressing in this class fall under the first ten amendments which are equally important. However, I choose the Sixth Amendment as the most important among the Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. It states:
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed; which district shall have been informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Not everyone accused of a crime is found guilty. There are many cases where innocent people are framed or wrongly accused. Once accused, they could be placed in holding for their trial indefinitely under a cloud of unproven criminal accusations or given secret trials where there may not be fairness or impartiality. In such cases, the longer it takes for the trial to occur, innocent people including their household members suffer from shame, distrust, dishonor, loss of reputation, and many more which also affect family, work, and social life. Furthermore, if too much time elapses between the alleged crime and the trial, witnesses may die or leave the area, their memories may fade, and physical evidence may be lost. Therefore, the right to a speedy trial is crucial to assuring the accused a trial as quickly as possible while also in public. In addition, the Supreme Court made it clear that the only remedy for a right to speedy trial violation is to throw out the conviction. For example, in Smith v Hooey, 1969, the defendant’s charges were dropped after spending seven years in a federal prison in Texas. He was charged with a Texas crime that had not even made effort to be prosecuted. He claimed that his right to a speedy trial had been violated and the Supreme Court ruled in his favor (Abramson, 2007).
On the other hand, this right also provides justice for the victims’ family members with closure. As I mentioned earlier, not everyone accused of a crime is found guilty but most of them are found guilty. For example, in a murder case, when sufficient evidence and witnesses are available to claim the accused guilty and somehow the defendant is not brought for trial promptly, the defendants can wipe the evidence or kill the witnesses. Or if the defendant is held for a longer time, all the charges can be dropped out despite having hard evidence and witnesses. Therefore, this right is again crucial to assuring a trial as quickly as possible and serving proper justice against the accused and guilty of a murder or any criminal cases to provide closure to the victim and victims’ family if the victim is dead.
Angela
Both the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution involve the right to counsel and refer to the right to counsel during a custodial interrogation; the Sixth Amendment ensures the right to effective assistance of counsel during the stages of criminal prosecution.[1]The Sixth Amendment guarantees the rights of criminal defendants, including the right to a public trial without undue delay, the right to a lawyer, the right to a fair jury, and the right to know who your accusers are and the nature of the charges and evidence against you.[2]
I feel that the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution is one of the most important ones. It gives all people the due process of law. It promises people they will not be subject to double jeopardy. A person who pleads not guilty, goes to trial and is found not guilty, and therefore acquitted of the crime cannot be prosecuted a second time.[3] A person who is a suspect of committing a crime will never have to testify, issue a statement or be forced to sign a confession during their criminal prosecution. [4]People that are arrested for a crime are told of their protections found in the Fifth Amendment when they are given their Miranda Rights.
People are not aware that protecting their rights against self-incrimination is not to plead the Fifth throughout proceedings. You can not get on the witness stand and start answering all of the questions put to you, and then plead the Fifth at a point where you think your response might involve you in a crime. [5]You can not open the door by answering some questions and trying to bypass others. Either you take the Fifth throughout or not at all. People think they are safe only answering the defense attorneys’questions.If the prosecutor follows up on some of those answers in rebuttal you might find that they gave up the right to take the Fifth. [6]For instance, if you tell your lawyer that you were not at the scene of the crime at the time it was committed, the prosecutor can later ask you where you were that day. You have opened the door by addressing the topic. 65 percent of individuals believe that pleading the fifth ultimately protects them from accidentally confessing to a crime so, if they are convinced that they do not want to answer any questions on the witness stand, plead the fifth and request an attorney ASAP. The fifth amendment does not protect them from reasonable questioning during an initial police stop. They are required to answer straightforward questions such as those required to confirm their identity and can be arrested for refusing to cooperate.
Morgan
Hey everyone,
Hope you’re all off to a great second week!
This week’s discussion topic is very interesting to me. I was actually quite excited to write this discussion. Also, for a side note, the statistics listed blew my mind. Then the more I thought about it, I believe that the only reason I know any of the information listed in the discussion forum was from going through the police academy. Had I been asked any of those questions prior to my going through the police academy, I don’t actually know that I could have answered those questions correctly either.
In the academy we learned first and foremost through our training for Special Functions Officer that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land. That began our introduction into learning the amendments and understanding some of their processes. As officers we were expected to know and understand the amendments, the way I always looked at it was “how can we enforce laws if we know nothing about them”, it was great for us to have these understandings, as mundane as they may have been to learn, it was extremely important. Of the amendments we will be discussing in class (fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth and fourteenth), which is the most important to me and why is a very hard question to answer because I think that they are all extremely important and vital to our freedom as Americans. First of all to explain what each of these amendments (also known as the bill of rights) are;
Fourth Amendment: Right to be protected from unreasonable searches and seizures.
Fifth Amendment: Right to remain silent. Indictment by a grand jury. Double Jeopardy. This may also be known as Miranda rights.
Sixth Amendment: Right to a speedy trial. Right to confront witnesses. Right to an attorney.
Eighth Amendment: Right to reasonable bail. To be free of cruel and unusual punishment.
Fourteenth Amendment: No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. Due process clause (National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
To specify which of these amendments is the most important to me, is difficult to say because I do believe that they are all extremely important and I for one would not want any of them to be taken away from me, as an individual. The one that continuously comes to mind for my current situation right now I would have to say though is the fourth amendment, the right to be protected from unreasonable searches and seizures. The United States Constitution states for this amendment “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized” (National Archives and Records Administration, 1991). One of the articles we read this week, published by the University of Chicago explains that the fourth amendment leaves some questions unanswered, in regards to if the search is reasonable but not authorized by a warrant and discusses how law enforcement needs to follow the fine line between what is reasonable and necessary to search for the safety of themselves and others (Stone, 1988). The reason that I chose this amendment is because at this present time my prison is actually facing this very issue. Without going into too much detail (as our FOP (legal) is now getting involved), our officers are being forced to go through a body scanner upon entry each day, each time they are entering the facility. The only problem is that this type of body scan is not like the regular ones that are seen with TSA at the airport with a blob if an area needs to be looked at closer, it’s like an x-ray. The visual is VERY detailed and while we can agree scanning is acceptable, having it done the way TSA does it (or the way we previously had done them) is acceptable, but having your fellow officers scan you and see a basically naked picture of you, many of us feel is completely wrong. Many of our chain of commands are fighting this and as officers we are furious for many reasons. This actually may be the topic I consider writing my term paper on and is my primary reason for selecting now that the fourth amendment, reasonable search and seizure is the amendment I consider to be the most important. Other reasons would include how careful officers are warned to be during searches and seizures, we are taught continuously there must be reasonable suspicion for there to be a warranted search. In another article we read in class this week by Police Magazine, it stated while discussing that defendants will try anything to get their case overthrown, and in many cases they use the exclusionary rule, they explain this as “The basic rule is that evidence derived from an unreasonable search or seizure is generally admissible against a defendant whose Fourth Amendment rights were violated by that search or seizure” (Rutledge, 2014). This is very important because you could be the arresting officer of an individual who had record breaking amounts of cocaine in his car (just for an example), but you did not have any reasonable suspicion to warrant your search and therefore you may have just shot this record breaking find, right in the foot because it was not done properly. I do believe that searches and seizures are extremely important, especially for the health and safety of officers, the suspect themselves and potentially even bystanders, but if they are not conducted based on reasonable suspicion and there is not evidence to back that up, there could be a lost case with a whole lot of potential to get really bad.
