The film Dear Zachary, directed by Kurt Kuenne, makes an argument in response to a very specific situation: the murder of Kuenne’s best friend Andrew Bagby and Bagby’s son Zachary, both killed by Andrew’s ex-girlfriend Shirley Turner. Kuenne argues that bail should be denied to anybody accused of a serious crime who also has custody of a child. While this argument is reasonable, it only provides a solution for very narrow circumstances. For the greater protection of society as a whole, an expanded version of Kuenne’s stance on bail laws is necessary. Bail should be denied not only to people accused of a serious crime who have custody of a child, but also to anybody suspect of a violent crime. In instances where a person with a child commits …show more content…
In the United States Constitution, rights of the accused are ensured in various places. The fifth and fourteenth amendment both contain a due process clause, which ensures that nobody can be denied liberty without due process of law. Some may use this clause to argue that refusing bail to people, thus keeping them in jail before being tried, is unconstitutional. Another way in which people could argue that denying bail to anybody violates the Constitution is through the eighth amendment, which prohibits excessive bail; in this case, the interpretation of “excessive bail” is not providing any opportunity for bail. Most other democracies guarantee rights of the accused similar to those provided in the United States Constitution, allowing for similar arguments to be made in other countries. However, despite these provided liberties, the government also has a responsibility to protect the safety of its citizens. If one person who was accused of a serious crime but does not turn out to be guilty has to spend time in jail awaiting their trial, it is worth it if the lives of other people are saved. Although the rights of the accused are extremely important, human lives should be protected whenever possible: ultimately, the safety of civilians is more
7th Amendment to the Constitution The 7th amendment to the constitution of the United States was formulated and then ratified as a part of the famous Bill of Rights. This specific Amendment defines a citizen’s right to trial by a jury and in the Bill of Rights, it is mentioned quite frequently. It was fundamentally designed to prevent the establishment of dictatorial courts of justice, where the judges’ decisions were subjected to the control and whims of the government. Just as the first ten amendments to the constitution of the United States, the seventh amendment also plays a prominent role in the American legal and political theory.
Aggravation towards the government within Dear Zachary The letter and Documentary Dear Zachary: A letter to a son about his father was written and produced by Kurt Kuenne, a dramatic crime film that occurred in 2001 where 28-year old medical resident Dr. Andrew Bagby was found dead in a park in Pennsylvania who was shot by his ex-girlfriend Shirley Turner, who then ran away and drowned herself with her newborn into the Atlantic Ocean. In a film review by Steve Rhodes he explains how “We witness the Canadian judicial system as it utterly fails past and future victims of crimes with liberal judges and laws, the system bends over backwards to protect the rights of the criminals,” (Rhodes) explains how the government will sometimes defend more the criminals and avoid the innocent. This documentary was filmed for purpose of wanting to explain the injustice done by the government that caused multiple deaths, and how they could’ve been prevented.
The Bail Act 2013 (NSW) is a crucial piece of legislation that outlines the legal framework for granting bail to persons who are charged with an offense in New South Wales. In 2014, the Act underwent significant reform due to concerns about the effectiveness of the existing bail system in achieving justice. This essay will discuss the conditions that gave rise to the reform of the Bail Act 2013 (NSW) in 2014, the specific changes to the Bail Act 2013 (NSW), and evaluate the effectiveness of the law reform in achieving justice. Conditions that gave rise to the reform of the Bail Act 2013 (NSW) in 2014 The reform of the Bail Act 2013 (NSW) was triggered by a number of factors, including the increasing rate of reoffending by people on bail and concerns about community safety.
Despite the theory behind the Eighth Amendment, judges often use excessively high bail amounts to prohibit an arrested individual from getting out of jail. This type of excessive bail is often used for people that have been arrested on suspicion of dealing drugs, murder or other crimes where flight is a real possibility. Many people have argued that this type of high bail violates the Eighth Amendment, but almost all have been unsuccessful. There are also situations in which bail is set at a reasonable amount, but the arrestee still cannot afford to pay the bail. When this happens, the arrested individual must wait to ask the judge to lower the bail amount at a special bail hearing or during the defendant 's first court appearance.
In this society parents can not protect their children at all. Harrison, a fourteen year old, has multiple physical and mental restraints forcibly placed on to his body by the government and placed into jail because of his lack of compliance (Vonnegut 233). The government nonconsensually restrained a minor and placed him into an adult holding cell. Parents across the world would be horrified if this were to happen to their child, however because Harrison’s parents have handicaps they can not remember or do anything about the mistreatment of their child. Most parents agree to draw the line when it comes to government interference with their children's daily
The creation of the United States and the colonies that came before, brought about many legal traditions and precedents. Among these legal traditions and precedents, is an essential precedent present in all interrogation related proceedings and court ones—the Miranda warning. When an individual is detained, they may be subjected to an interrogation by designated officials. During an interrogation certain rights are guaranteed to an individual through the provision of the Bill of Rights to prevent self-incrimination and the historical precedent established before it. However, in certain situations, these rights were not always guaranteed as they should’ve been.
The imprisonment of the child’s mother does not help resolve this issue. Stevenson argues that unfortunately, Marsha Colbey is not alone in this injustice. In the case of infant deaths, “a presumption of guilt has now fallen on thousands of women—particularly poor women in difficult circumstances—whose children die” (Stevenson 145). A deadly combination of nosy peers, a presumption of guilt, and a structural oppressive “justice” system spells the end of free life for many women in minority communities all around the United States. The problem of presumption of guilt spoken about in the first part is built on by a lack of representation endorsed and maintained by the criminal justice system itself.
The outcome of this case made sure that every person who was arrested and put under the custody of the police had to read their Miranda rights and therefore made known of their Fifth Amendment rights. This case would change the procedure of every legal arrest from that point on, and ensure that any person under the custody of the police would be fully aware of their
The Constitution of the United States is the concrete platform that the nation is built upon which contains fundamental principles in which our nation is governed by. However, much of the Constitution is very ambiguous which leads to controversy in the court room. For example, the Eighth Amendment which states that “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” (Baltzell). The first part of the Eighth Amendment protects accused citizens of the United States from unreasonable and extreme amounts of bail that would prevent them from being released from pretrial containment and it also limits the amount of a fine that can be given to a convicted person (8th Amendment)(Kurt). The
The accused person has the right to enjoy a speedy trial but that does not mean that the trial will be done within two days but rather means that, "The country or state cannot make the person sit in jail for a very long time, for example 5 years, while they wait for their trial. This would be very unfair to anyone who is not guilty." ; that was mentioned by the website Laws.com. This means that a person can not get punished for committing a crime the rest of his life, that would go against his right of pursuiting happiness. The sixth amendment also allows the accused person to know the cause of accusation and his accuser, and that leads to the second ideal which is opportunity or chance to defend oneself or even ask a lawyer to defend
Drew Hayden Taylor writes, in his 1991 essay, about his life being a First Nations man but looking “Pretty like a white boy.” He writes about how he witnessed and heard so much racism towards First Nations people because people thought he was Caucasian. Taylor tells us all through out his essay that he is judged by both races for not “looking the part” of a First Nations man. At one point Taylor tells his readers about an especially embarrassing moment while visiting a trapper woman and her kids.
The fifth amendment is possibly one of the most underrated yet incredibly important amendments in the constitution. The fifth amendment gives rights relevant to both civil and criminal proceedings, the most well known being the protection against self-incrimination and the “double-jeopardy” clause. The rights given in the fifth amendment have proven to be important, yet controversial over the years in this country’s justice system. The fifth amendment gives various personal liberties involving the court system.
Granting children, the right to visit their incarcerated mothers is a contentious topic with both sides having strong claims and counterclaims. Terrance Bogans does an outstanding job in his essay, “Being Mommy Behind Bars: The Psychological Benefits of Child Visitation with Incarcerated Mothers” addressing why children should be allowed to visit their incarcerated mothers, citing many reasons and using many argumentative components. Bogans has an explicit thesis in the conclusion “Child visitation must be increased in order to alleviate the psychological strains that take place during incarceration” (15). Bogans uses this clearly stated thesis to tell his main point and to address his opposition. The author’s purpose is to convince readers that children and incarcerated mothers have a right to see each other and no one should stop that.
First, at the federal level an American has the guarantee to a trial by jury (almost all states have similar amendments as well). The second part is that the jury is the final arbitrator of your innocence or guilt. This is a critical concept of the amendment. Just like in early England and the colonies, if a judge is the arbitrator, then there is no protection from the government. The judge could jail one for anything.
The principle in law that one is innocent until proven guilty has created much discourse. There are those who feel that the moment that one is arrested, there is reasonable belief that they committed the crime. However, there are those who feel that just as the principle states, one is, and should be taken as a victim and the outcome could be either way: guilty or not guilty. In fact, this argument is supported by the many cases of malicious prosecutions and mistaken identities.