Lesson 20: The Rights of the Accused versus the Rights of Society
In this lesson, we will learn about the rights that
are guaranteed to the accused, including their pretrial, trial and post-trial
rights. We will also learn about how the Miranda Rights came to be, and look at
the Exclusionary Rule, designed to protect suspects from having
illegally-obtained evidence used against them. Finally, we will discuss the
erosion of personal liberties through the Patriot Act and the revelations of
the leaks by Edward Snowden concerning NSA surveillance, and the consequences
of those leaks.
The rights of the accused are clearly outlined and are as follows:
No unreasonable or unwarranted searches and seizures.
No arrest except with probable cause.
No coerced confessions or illegal interrogation.
No entrapment.
And on questioning, following an arrest,
a suspect must be informed of her or his rights.
The defendant’s rights do not end after being informed of their rights while
being arrested. There are pretrial rights, including:
Writ of habeas corpus.
Prompt arraignment.
Legal counsel.
Reasonable bail.
To be informed of charges.
To remain silent.
There are even rights during the trial and after the proceedings are over.
These rights include:
Speedy and public trial before a jury.
Impartial jury selected from a cross-section of the community.
Trial atmosphere free of prejudice, fear, and outside interference.
No compulsory self-incrimination.
Adequate counsel.
No cruel and unusual punishment.
Appeal of convictions.
No double jeopardy.
In 1963, in Gideon v. Wainwright,
it was decided that
a person charged with a felony who lacks the resources to pay for an attorney
has the right to free legal counsel.
In the famous case of Miranda v. Arizona, Ernesto Miranda confessed to
kidnap and rape. Obviously, he was convicted.
His lawyer appealed on the grounds that
the police did not make him aware of his rights. From this landmark case in
which the court decided in Miranda's favor, came the infamous words we hear
today every time someone is placed under arrest:
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and
will be used against you in
a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot
afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these
rights as they have been read to you?"
With the overturning of the case of a confessed kidnapper and
rapist,
it was clear that there were going to need to be some exceptions to the rule.
In 1991, a decision was made that a case would not necessarily be reversed if
the confession was coerced. If the other evidence against him was strong enough
to have convicted the man without the confession, then the fact that it was
coerced could be ignored.
In the course of police investigations, sometimes there are errors.
That is why the Exclusionary Rule exists. If evidence is seized illegally, it
cannot be entered into the case, no matter how damaging it is. That is how the
courts keep the police honest.
In Mapp v. Ohio (1961),
police entered the apartment of Dollree Mapp without a warrant and without her
permission. They found obscene materials and she was convicted.
In 1961, her conviction was overturned because the obscene material was seized
illegally. If there is no search warrant, evidence can only be seized if it is
in "plain view."
The Supreme Court has made exceptions to
the Exclusionary Rule. There is an exception known as "good faith." If an
officer makes an arrest with a warrant that had a clerical error, that would be
covered by the good faith exception.
Today,
the police have to obtain a search warrant to seize the digital content of a
cell phone. The Exclusionary Rule is being updated to keep up with the latest
technology.
After 9/11,
the government took great liberties with its power. The USA Patriot Act is
legislation that was passed to grant the government powers that they never had
before.
Government agents can secretly enter a suspect's home and search it. They can
put surveillance on their use of the internet, their phone usage, and look
through their financial records. They now even have the ability to open a
suspect's mail.
The 4th Amendment states that when a warrant is served,
it has to state the exact location. The government can now bypass that
with "Roving" wiretaps.
They can surveil a suspect electronically,
which means anywhere the suspect is using a device. The government can comb
through phone conversations and emails of anyone.
President Bush gave the NSA the right to monitor phone conversations and all
other communications when it involved certain persons and foreign parties, when
one of those was thought to have links to terrorists.
There was an outcry when the truth of this came out,
but the government pressed forward and passed laws granting the NSA official
authority matching what President Bush had authorized.
Edward Snowden made headlines when he provided leaks in
June 2013 revealing that
the NSA was invading our privacy even more than we had previously thought.
It is hard to
believe, but the NSA records data on every phone call made within the United
States. That data includes both phone numbers of the caller and the person
called, as well as the time the call was made.
The NSA is not finished collected data yet. They are
also gathering information about companies through their websites. They spy on
European countries and they bug offices of organizations entering into trade
talks with the U.S.
When the NSA’s practices were exposed,
Snowden had to flee to
Russia. President Obama defended the surveillance tactics stating that they
were approved by secret courts.
When arguing in his own defense,
NSA director Michael Hayden alarmed foreign countries when he declared that
4th Amendment protections against unreasonable search did not apply to
them. It was only for citizens of the United States.
That could have a huge impact on American tech firms and foreign businesses
that find it hard to trust us. They could pull their business and take it
elsewhere if they think that a company's data collection practices exist to
help the NSA spy on people.