Amendment 6

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district where in the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.



This amendment provides the basic rights to a speedy trial, a fair and impartial jury, and the rights of an accussed to face the witnesses testifying against him. These are many of the basic rights that we take for granted in our justice system today, but did not exist under British rule. There are only a few cases that are attributed to this amendment, the first being Escobado v Illinois 1964, which extended the right to council all the way to the interrogation chamber. The other case, Powell v Alabama in 1932 incorporated these rights to the states.