CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Criminal Justice

Criminal Justice

Ammendments in United States Constitution

The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of worship, of speech, of the press, of assembly, and of petition to the government for redress of grievances. This amendment has been the center of controversy in recent years in the areas of free speech and religion. The Supreme Court has held that freedom of speech does not include the right to refuse to testify before a Congressional investigating committee and that most organized prayer in the public schools violates the First Amendment.

Though there are twenty-seven amendments in the United States Constitution the first ten that were ratified in 1791 are known today as the Bill of Rights. These first ten amendments represent the foundation upon which all other amendments were built upon. The Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791 with the intention to stop the federal government from infringing on the affairs and individual freedoms of United State citizens. Without any of these rights the government today would have more power over individuals then the original settlers originally intended when drafting the United States Constitution.

The right to keep and bear arms—adopted with reference to state militias but interpreted (2008) by the Supreme Court as essentially an individual right—is guaranteed by the Second Amendment, while freedom from quartering soldiers in a house without the owner's consent is guaranteed by the Third Amendment. The Fourth Amendment protects people against unreasonable search and seizure, a safeguard only more recently extended to the states.( Breyer, 2005)

The Fifth Amendment provides that no person shall be held for “a capital or otherwise infamous crime without indictment, be twice put in “jeopardy of life or limb for the same offense, be compelled to testify against himself, or “be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. The privilege against self-incrimination has been the center of a great deal of controversy as a result of the growth of Congressional investigations. The phrase “due process of law, which appears in the Fifth Amendment, is also included in the Fourteenth Amendment. As a result there has been much debate as to whether both amendments guarantee the same rights. Those in favor of what is termed fixed due process claim that all the safeguards applied against the federal government should be also applied against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. The supporters of the concept of flexible due process are only willing to impose those guarantees on the states that are implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.

The fifth amendment refers to being put in "jeopardy of life or limb." The clause, however, has been interpreted as providing protection regarding every indictment or information charging a party with a known and defined crime or misdemeanor." The clause, it has been held, does not prevent separate trials by different governments, and the state and federal governments are considered separate sovereigns. Therefore, one may be prosecuted for a crime in a state court, and prosecuted for the same crime in another ...