Ten specific rights in the Bill of Rights pertaining to criminal cases are as follows:
- The right of all people to be secure from "unreasonable searches and seizures" without a warrant is protected in the Fourth Amendment. This forces officers to show that there is reason to search or seize the property of the accused before they do so.
- A person cannot be tried for a "capital or otherwise infamous" crime except by a grand jury, according to the Fifth Amendment.
- The accused cannot be tried more than once for the same crime, a situation called "double jeopardy," per the Fifth Amendment.
- Also according to the Fifth Amendment, a person cannot be forced to testify against themselves--a right interpreted as the right to "remain silent."
- A person cannot be "deprived of life, liberty, or property" without receiving "due process of law." This protection, also in the Fifth Amendment, essentially protects against arbitrary arrests and imprisonments.
- The Sixth Amendment guarantees a person a "speedy and public trial," intended to prevent authorities from imprisoning a person for too long before they are actually found guilty on the one hand, and that their trial be exposed to public scrutiny (again, a protection against arbitrary imprisonment).
- The Sixth Amendment also provides that a person should have an impartial jury drawn from among their peers, a right sometimes called a "jury of the vicinage."
- According to the Sixth Amendment, the accused must be informed of the charges against them, and be able to confront the witnesses against them and to compel people to testify on their behalf (technically three different protections, but identical in purpose--to establish what is often called an "adversarial" criminal justice system).
- The Sixth Amendment also says that a person is entitled to the "assistance of counsel," a protection that, according to Supreme Court rulings, requires the state to appoint an attorney for those who cannot afford them.
- The Eighth Amendment stipulates that "excessive bail" cannot be required of the accused, and (to name one more protection than the question requires) that "cruel and unusual punishments" cannot be visited on those convicted of crimes.
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