Question

Due process requires the government to act fairly and according to established rules. List 5 characteristics of what “fair” means in regards to established rules.

Answer 1

1. Different defendants are not treated arbitarily different, e.g. because they are black or white or brown, male or female, well-dressed or sporting gangbanger saggy pants. (They can certainly be treated differently for relevant reasons, e.g. a previous criminal record.)

2. The government does not change the rules of criminal procedure -- e..g how you subpoena witneses in your defense, how you get access to evidence, where and when the trial takes place, et cetera -- in the middle of proceedings, or in secret, or in ways that simply burden you without serving some important public good.

3. Traditioanl (English common law) rights, such as habeas corpus, the right of trial by a jury of your peers, the neutrality of the judge, your riht of appeal, are not infringed or made unreasonably difficult.

4. The government is honest, and does not lie to you or attempt to trap you, although it may allow you to trap yourself. It proceeds "in sunshine" and submits itself to any reasonable monitoring which the people, or individual persons, choose to deploy. (This is why you have a due process right to tape-record or make video records of the police, or any other government official, when he is performing his duties, without asking permission, so lolng as you do not substantially interfere with his work. You are a citizen monitoring the honesty of the government. Do bear in mind this right is not recognized in all jurisdictions yet, however.)

5. You are afforded every reasonable opportunity to defend yourself, and if the government can easily do something to make that easier -- share evidence, and as it happens supply you with a lawyer in some cases -- it must do so.

This is not meant to be legally definitive -- I'm not a constitutional lawyer.