Courts, Criminals and the CamorraTrain, Arthur Cheney
History
Courts, Criminals and the Camorra
Train, Arthur Cheney
Camorra; Criminals -- United States; Justice, Administration of -- United States
Accordingly in devising our laws we have provided in every possible way
for the freedom of the citizen from all interference on the part of the
authorities. No one may be stopped, interrogated, examined, or arrested
unless a crime has been committed. Every one is presumed to be innocent
until shown to be guilty by the verdict of a jury. No one’s premises
may be entered or searched without a warrant which the law renders it
difficult to obtain. Every accused has the right to testify in his
own behalf, like any other witness. The fact that he has been held
for a crime by a magistrate and indicted by a grand jury places him
at not the slightest disadvantage so far as defending himself against
the charge is concerned, for he must be proven guilty _beyond any
reasonable_ doubt. These illustrations of the jealousy of the _law_ for
the rights of citizens might be multiplied to no inconsiderable extent.
Further, our law allows a defendant convicted of crime to appeal to the
highest courts, whereas if he be acquitted the people or State have no
right of appeal at all.
Without dwelling further on the matter it is enough to say that in
general the State constitutions, their general laws, or penal statutes
provide that a person who is accused or suspected of crime must be
_presumed innocent_ and treated accordingly until his guilt has been
affirmatively established in a jury trial; that meantime he must not
be confined or detained unless a crime has in fact been committed and
there is at least reasonable cause to believe that he has committed
it; and, further, that if arrested he must be given an immediate
opportunity to secure bail, to have the advice of counsel, and must in
no way be compelled to give any evidence against himself. So much for
the _law_. It is as plain as a pikestaff. It is printed in the books in
words of one syllable. So far as the law is concerned we have done our
best to perpetuate the theories of those who, fearing that they might
be arrested without a hearing, transported for trial, and convicted in
a king’s court before a king’s judge for a crime they knew nothing of,
insisted on “liberty or death.” They had had enough of kings and their
ways. Hereafter they were to have “a government of laws and not of men.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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