The post-trial
stages include: sentencing of the convicted criminal, appeal from judgment, and
enforcement of judgment. Some of the due process protections already discussed
apply equally to the trial stage (right to counsel, protection against
double jeopardy, and the right to unbiased judge). Among the other post-trial
due process protections available to the criminal defendant are the following:
Prohibition Against Cruel and Unusual Punishment
PROHIBITION AGAINST CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT
The Eighth
Amendmentprohibits the infliction of
cruel and unusual punishment upon persons convicted of the commission of a
crime. The prohibition applies to both the method of punishment, as well as to
the severity of punishment itself.
The purpose of American criminal punishment is not to torture or
inflict physical pain upon convicted criminal.
Under the prevailing American law today the following punishment
are deemed to be cruel and unusual: punishment that amounts to torture;
punishment that is grossly excessive in proportion to the offense for which it
is imposed; punishment that is inherently unfair (e.g. deprivation of U.S.
Citizenship), punishment that is unnecessarily degrading; and punishment that
is shocking to people of reasonable sensitivity (sterilization of convicted
criminal).
The concept of cruel and unusual punishment is not static. It is
dynamic and is influenced by political, cultural and historical factors. Thus,
what is considered to be permissible punishment today may be held
unconstitutionally cruel and unusual in the years to come.
Under the present American standards, the death penalty per se is
not considered to be cruel and unusual punishment. The constitutionally
permissible methods of executing capital punishment are: death by hanging,
shooting by firing squad, use of lethal gas, electrocution, and killing by
injection.
The Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual
punishment has been applied also to the treatment of prisoners in both federal
and state prisons. Thus it has been held to be unconstitutional to do any of
the following things to prisoners: to treat inmates with persistent and
deliberate cruelty, to brutally mistreat inmates, to hold inmates in
particularly gruesome conditions, to deny inmates reasonable medical care.
An appeal asks
a higher court to review the actions of a lower court in order to correct
mistakes or injustices. Appellate review represents the defendant's last chance
to obtain review of unfavorable decision of a trial court. This right is not
strictly constitutional. However, the Supreme Court of the U.S. has held that
this right to appeal has become constitutionalized because all states have
passed laws recognizing this right.
In American
law, the criminal defendant is entitled to at least one appellate review.
Appeals are discretionary, that is, the losing party is not required to seek
appellate court review. The lone exception involves capital punishment cases.
When a jury imposes a sentence of death, the case must be appealed regardless
of the defendant's wishes.
Appeals are
restricted to questions of law; findings of fact are not appealable. Thus,
appellate courts don't hear new testimony and don't consider new evidence.
Rather they focus on how decisions were made in the trial court, basing their
review on the trial court record. Questions of law that are commonly raised on
appeal include defects in jury selection, improper admission of evidence during
the trial, incompetent assistance of counsel, and mistaken interpretations of
the law. The appellant may also claim constitutional violations, including
illegal search and seizure, improper questioning of the defendant by the
police, or the identification of the defendant through a defective lineup.
Appeals are
also confined to issues properly raised in the trial court. During trial,
attorneys must make timely objections to the judge's rulings on points of law.
When an attorney makes such objections, and the trial judge overrules it, there
is a disagreement over a point of law and the issue has been preserved for
appeal.
An indigent
defendant who wants to appeal unfavorable decision of the trial court has the
right to have attorney appointed to handle his/her first appeal.
THE RIGHT OF
HABEAS CORPUS
Habeas corpus is a Latin term that literally means
"you have the body - the body being that of the suspect or criminal. It is
defined as a writ directed to a sheriff or other person detaining another,
commanding him or her to produce the body of the prisoner at a certain time and
place and to report the day and cause of the prisoner's taking and detention to
the judge awarding the writ. Habeas corpus is the remedy against any
type of illegal restraint by a government official.
Habeas corpus proceedings have their basis in
Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution, which provides that "the Writ of
Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Case of Rebellion
or Invasion the public Safety may require it."
Anyone who is unconstitutionally held in custody
may file habeas corpus. The writ may be used as a pre-trial relief and
as post-conviction relief. It may be filed any time a prisoner establishes (or
thinks he or she can establish) that his constitutional rights have been
violated. The rights prisoners usually invoke in habeas corpus proceedings are
the protection against unreasonable search and seizure, the exclusionary rule,
privilege against self-incrimination, the right to an attorney, the protection
against double jeopardy, and the right to due process of law. A person who has
been awarded a writ of habeas corpus is entitled to immediate release from
custody.
The writ of habeas corpus is not a substitute for an appeal. In
contrast to an appeal from judgment, which is a form of direct review, a writ
of habeas corpus is a form of indirect review that only focuses on
legality of detention or imprisonment. While the appeal is a part of criminal
proceeding, the writ of habeas corpus is a separate civil proceeding whose
purpose is to provide for a swift judicial review of alleged unlawful restraint
of liberty.