Sixth Amendment rights and protections

¶ … Amendment

The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution offers a set of protections from a potentially overbearing criminal justice system. The amendment reads as:

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 previously ascertained by law, and to be 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[footnoteRef:1]. [1: (Cornell University Law School)]

The law protects individuals from allegations of criminal conduct that are false by providing them a public trial by their peers.

The concept of a jury trial is not a new phenomenon and has its roots that date back to the ancient republics. As opposed to one person deciding someone's fate, the decision is spread out to multiple people who make the trial and the decision more objective. Ancient Greece used to actually use a form of the modern jury trial to sentence certain criminals. This process ensures that one person's will or motives cannot sentence a person for personal or political reasons among others. Juries typically make the right decisions on the evidence and come to the right verdicts[footnoteRef:2]. [2: (Mendelle)]

In Gideon v. Wainright, the Supreme Court explained the importance of this right, stating, "[I]n our adversary system of criminal justice, any person haled into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him[footnoteRef:3]." This ensures that every citizen is entitled to at least some reasonable defense to defend themselves in a court of law. It also provides protections to the poor and provides some measure of equal treatment under the law. [3: (Stull)]