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Chapter 4: Civil Liberties

The Rights of Suspects

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

  • Identify the rights of those suspected or accused of criminal activity
  • Explain how Supreme Court decisions transformed the rights of the accused
  • Explain why the Eighth Amendment is controversial regarding capital punishment

In addition to protecting the personal freedoms of individuals, the Bill of Rights protects those suspected or accused of crimes from various forms of unfair or unjust treatment. The prominence of these protections in the Bill of Rights may seem surprising. Given the colonists’ experience of what they believed to be unjust rule by British authorities, however, and the use of the legal system to punish rebels and their sympathizers for political offenses, the impetus to ensure fair, just, and impartial treatment to everyone accused of a crime—no matter how unpopular—is perhaps more understandable. What is more, the revolutionaries, and the eventual framers of the Constitution, wanted to keep the best features of English law as well.

In addition to the protections outlined in the Fourth Amendment, which largely pertain to investigations conducted before someone has been charged with a crime, the next four amendments pertain to those suspected, accused, or convicted of crimes, as well as people engaged in other legal disputes. At every stage of the legal process, the Bill of Rights incorporates protections for these people.


  1. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966).
  2. Kelo et al. v. City of New London et al., 545 U.S. 469 (2005).
  3. Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514 (1972).
  4. Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986); J. E. B. v. Alabama ex rel. T. B., 511 U.S. 127 (1994).
  5. Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963).
  6. Waters-Pierce Oil Co. v. Texas, 212 U.S. 86 (1909); United States v. Bajakajian, 524 U.S. 321 (1998).
  7. Wilkerson v. Utah, 99 U.S. 130 (1879).
  8. Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002).
  9. Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005).
  10. Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 (2008).
  11. Elizabeth Lopatto, “How Many Innocent People Are Sentenced To Death?,” Forbes, 29 April 2014. http://www.forbes.com/sites/elizabethlopatto/2014/04/29/how-many-innocent-people-are-sentenced-to-death/#6e9ae5175cc1 (March 1, 2016).
  12. Dave Mann, “DNA Tests Undermine Evidence in Texas Execution: New Results Show Claude Jones was Put to Death on Flawed Evidence,” Texas Observer, 11 November 2010. http://www.texasobserver.org/texas-observer-exclusive-dna-tests-undermine-evidence-in-texas-execution/ (March 4, 2016).
  13. “States With and Without the Death Penalty,” Death Penalty Information Center, http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/states-and-without-death-penalty (March 4, 2016).

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