Trial

Question 1

Trial

Answer 1

In the federal system, the Sixth Amendment provides the right to jury trials. States are obligated under the Fourteenth Amendment to provide jury trials in criminal cases involving only serious offenses.[i] States have wide latitude to determine the conduct and details of jury use.

Question 2

Speedy Trial

Answer 2

The Due Process Clause and federal and state statutes protect defendants from intentional and prejudicial pre-accusation delay. The Sixth Amendment speedy trial guarantee, the Fourteenth Amendment, the Speedy Trial Act of 1974, and other federal and state statutes protect defendants from undue post-accusation delay.

Question 3

Right to Confrontation

Answer 3

A defendant has the right to directly encounter adverse witnesses, to cross-examine adverse witnesses, and to be present at any stage of the trial that would enable the defendant to effectively cross-examine adverse witnesses as guaranteed by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Question 4

Cruel and Unusual Punishment (Eighth Amendment)

Answer 4

The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the federal government from imposing cruel and unusual punishment for federal crimes, or “such punishment as would amount to torture or barbarity, any cruel and degrading punishment not known to the common law, or any fine, penalty, confinement, or treatment so disproportionate to the offense as to shock the moral sense of the community.” U.S. Const. amend. VIII.