The 6th Amendment Public Trial Clause guarantees that people accused of
crimes will be tried in public. Public trials may increase
embarrassment for accused or convicted people, but are generally
believed to be in the accused's best interest because they prevent the
judge or other officials from persecuting or punishing the accused in a
manner that would violate the law. The Public Trial Clause of the US
Bill of Rights' 6th Amendment reads like this:
"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a... public trial."
The Public Trial serves several basic purposes. First, a public trial guarantees that the defendant will not be treated unfairly by the judge or other officials. Throughout European history, there is a long trail of judicial abuses in private trials. A judge could throw someone in prison who was completely innocent and the defendant would have no way to save himself. Judges could make up false charges, refuse to allow the accused to defend himself or exact enormous sentences that have no relation to the severity of the alleged crime, if trials were held in private.
Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black put it this way. Public trials are:
"Whatever
other benefits the guarantee to an accused that his trial be
conducted in public may confer upon our society, the guarantee has
always been recognized as a safeguard against any attempt to employ our
courts as instruments of persecution."
Public trials serve to protect the accused from judicial tyranny, but
also serve several public interests. They tend to cause witnesses to
come forth with relevant information because the witness hears about
the proceedings. They also tend to pressure people to tell the truth
because anyone who hears of the proceedings and knows they are lying
might come forward and tell the truth.
The Public Trial also serves to increase the public's trust in
the judicial and legal system because they can see plainly what is
happening in the courtroom. If the public likes what it sees, it will
have confidence in the system. If the public doesn't like what it sees,
it will elect new officials to replace the old ones and change the
laws. The Public Trial also serves to satisfy the public's
desire for justice when it sees a criminal receive a just punishment.
The history of a right to public trial goes back far into English
history. The Assize of Clarendon of 1166 was the first time that local
citizens were brought in to be a part of court proceedings. Before this
time, guilt or innocence of the accused was often determined by using
the most barbaric means, such as trial by battle, where the loser in a
fight was determined to be guilty, or trial by ordeal, where a
defendant was made to walk over red hot ploughshares or carry a red hot
iron, or dip his hand in boiling water or lead to prove his innocence. If the skin was not
damaged, or if the wound healed quickly, he was determined to be innocent!
Abuses in secret courts were common as well, in European history, from
the Spanish Inquisition to England's Court of Star Chamber, which
persecuted political and religious dissenters.
As a reaction to these horrible abuses, the idea of the right to a
public trial took firm hold in the minds of English citizens to protect
themselves from the government. It is not known exactly when the idea
was brought to the American colonies because the idea was commonly held by
everyone and already by this time nearly all trials were held in public.
Public Trial Clauses were not written in the laws of the early colonies
because it was just understood that trials were to be public. Once the
Revolutionary War began though, the states and Founding Fathers thought
it would be wise to list the right to a public trial specifically in
their constitutions, to guarantee that no abuses of this right
would occur in the governments they were creating.
The Public Trial Clause and other protections listed in the Bill of
Rights were added to the Constitution in 1791 in order to protect the
citizens' natural God given rights from government abuses. You
can read more about the purpose of the Bill of Rights here.
The first Public Trial Clause in a state constitution appeared in 1776.
After the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution in 1791, nearly
all other states and jurisdictions added Public Trial Clauses to their
constitutions or local laws as well.
The Public Trial Clause covers the entire period of the trial and
certain pre-trial activities. It is considered to be a right held by
the defendant and not by the public, although the First Amendment has
been held to give the public and the press a right to observe trials.
There must be freedom of access to a trial by the public, but that
doesn't mean that everyone who wants to attend can attend. For example,
in a high publicity case, more people may want to attend than the
courtroom will hold. The Public Trial Clause has not been violated if
everyone cannot attend, because some people have been allowed to
observe and this will ensure that the trial will function in a fair and
legal manner. The Public Trial Clause has been violated only if the
trial is completely held in secret.
Occasionally trials may be closed to the public, if there is a belief
that the defendant's right to receive a fair trial will be damaged as a
result of publicity. For example, have you ever heard of a trial being
moved to another county because the case received so much publicity?
Sometimes courts will decide that the defendant can't get a fair trial
because the jury must be drawn from local people. If these people have
been tainted against the defendant by excessive local media coverage,
the defendant might not get a fair trial.
Sometimes a case like this will result in a closed trial. If a trial is
closed, the court must have very specific concerns about the
defendant's right to receive a fair trial that would justify closing
the trial. Trials can also be closed for security reasons, as in Mafia
cases, or to protect the identity of minors or of rape victims.
All government restrictions listed in the Bill of Rights applied only
to the Federal government when they were first written, not to the
state governments. After the Civil War, the 14th Amendment was added
to guarantee equality to all citizens regardless of their color.
Through the 14th Amendment's Due Process Clause, the Supreme Court has
now applied nearly all of the restrictions in the Bill of Rights
against the state governments as well, including the Public Trial
Clause. You
can read the 14th Amendment here.
You
can read about several interesting and significant Sixth Amendment
Court Cases dealing with the Public Trial Clause here.
Return
to 6th Amendment
Other 6th Amendment clauses:
Speedy
Trial Clause
Right to Trial by Jury
Clause
Arraignment Clause
Confrontation Clause
Compulsory
Process Clause
Right
to Counsel Clause
Amendments:
Preamble
to the Bill of Rights
Learn
about the 1st Amendment here.
Learn
about the 2nd Amendment here.
Learn
about the 3rd Amendment here.
Learn
about the 4th Amendment here.
Learn
about the 5th Amendment here.
Learn
about the 6th Amendment here.
Learn
about the 7th Amendment here.
Learn
about the 8th Amendment here.
Learn
about the 9th Amendment here.
Learn
about the 10th Amendment here.
Read
the Bill of Rights here.
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