rights of accused

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rights of accused, in law, the rights and privileges of a person accused of a crime, guaranteeing him a fair trial. These rights were initially (generally from the 18th century on) confined primarily to the actual trial itself, but in the second half of the 20th century many countries began to extend them to the periods before and after the trial.

All legal systems provide, at least on paper, guarantees that insure certain basic rights of the accused. These include right to trial by jury (unless jury trial is waived), to representation by counsel (at least when he is accused of a serious crime), to present witnesses and evidence that will enable him to prove his innocence, and to confront (i.e., cross-examine) his accusers, as well as freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures and freedom from double jeopardy.

Certain very general rights are attached to the process. An accused person must not be allowed to languish indefinitely in jail but must be given a speedy trial. Involved with this issue are the rights to a reasonable bail and prohibitions against being detained for more than a specified time without bail.

The most important right has been the right to be represented by counsel. During the second half of the 20th century this right was extended to cover the time when a person is arrested until final appeal. Different countries set different times at which an accused must be provided with counsel as well as different types of crimes for which counsel must be provided if the accused is indigent. The United States has made the most far-reaching changes in this area and has set a pattern that other nations have begun to emulate. Essentially, the U.S. system stipulates that the accused has the right to counsel from the time that he is taken into custody until all appeal is exhausted. The Supreme Court has ruled, moreover, that where the accused is indigent, the right to counsel must be implemented by the provision of a court-appointed lawyer in the case of all crimes for which punishment may be imprisonment. The Court established an indigent defendant’s right to counsel in the cases Powell v. Alabama (1932) and Gideon v. Wainwright (1963). The Supreme Court also decided that at the time of his arrest the accused must be notified of both this right to counsel and the right not to answer any questions that might produce evidence against him (see Miranda v. Arizona). Both rights (now part of the famous Miranda warning) were introduced to prevent the police from extracting involuntary confessions to be used as evidence in court.

In civil-law countries such as France and Germany, there is less emphasis on the importance of the confession as evidence. It is considered merely as one piece of evidence. Because confessions are not as important, rights to counsel and to remain silent are less clearly defined. As a result, particularly in France, certain abuses have existed during the period of interrogation.

Other important rights guaranteed to the accused are those that protect him from illegally gathered evidence, be it from search and seizure or electronic eavesdropping (qq.v.). Also important are the rights to appeal, which vary from country to country (see appeal).