Due Process Clause Fourteenth Amendment Is Important

¶ … Due Process Clause Fourteenth Amendment is Important to Me

Adopted in 1868 to the U.S. Constitution during the Reconstruction era the Fourteenth amendment is known as one of the three Reconstruction Amendments. Of these three, the Fourteenth is the most complex and resulted in the greatest number of unforeseen effects. The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment States "nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law…" Initially the intent of the amendment was to protect the Civil Rights Act passed in 1866, ensuring that persons born in the United States, excluding Indians not taxed, were citizens to be given full and equal benefit of all laws. Many feel the meaning of this passage is that a state has to use sufficiently fair and just legal procedures whenever it is going to lawfully take away a person's life, freedom or possessions. Thus, before a man can be executed, imprisoned or fined for a crime, he must get a fair trial, based on legitimate evidence, with a jury, etc. These are procedural or "process" rights ("Substantive Due Process").

I believe these rights are important in a free society in order to ensure that justice is equal and available to all regardless of their race, beliefs, or social status, in other words the liberties of equal citizenship are not based on social circumstances, financial position or authority. In our society we must have a set of legal principles established to ensure justice so that the advantaged do not unfairly gain by their position. Justice must be blind (Rawls).

Our government is a very powerful institution able to affect the lives of citizens in many ways. One of their most invasive functions is to restrict personal behavior. History tells us that if governments are left to their own devices they can and have people killed, tortured, imprisoned and enslaved. Furthermore, governments have unjustly restricted matters such as speech religion, and association. The Due Process Clause is a reaction against such abuses, meant to limit the power of government.

The Due Process Clause is the claims a criminal defendant processes when accused by the government of an illegal act. The government must respect these rights before during and after a criminal trial. A violation of ant of these rights will normally void a conviction. Due process rights cannot be involuntarily given up, we all have the right to be free from arbitrary arrests, detentions, and exiles, and this is a central concern of due process. A major component of due process is the right to a fair trial.