Your Eighth Amendment Rights

The US Constitution spells out the rights guaranteed to all American citizens. Several are devoted to what are called the “rights of the accused,” which defend citizens who have been accused of crimes. In the United States, the general structure of the law assumes that the accused is “innocent until proven guilty,” and as an American citizen, it is important to know and understand your legal rights.

If your constitutional rights have been violated, the charges against you should be dropped. However, this does not mean that the charges are removed from your record. These charges can haunt you by preventing employment or higher education opportunities. If you are interested in having the charges against you expunged from your record, contact Rhode Island expungement attorney James Powderly by calling 401-662-9006.

Your Rights

The Eighth Amendment affords you several rights with which you should be familiar. These include:

• Freedom from Excessive Bail. You are protected from being charged with excessively high bail. However, bail may be denied for particularly serious charges.
• Freedom from Excessive Fines. According to this part of the amendment, the courts are barred from demanding fines that are disproportionate to the crime.
• Freedom from Cruel and Unusual Punishment. This is perhaps the most debated part of the Eighth Amendment, as the definition and interpretation of “cruel and unusual” has evolved over the years. In general, though, the clause prevents punishments that are overly severe for the crime. For example, it would be unconstitutional for purse theft to be punishable by death.

Contact Us

If you or someone you love has been cleared of charges and would like to have these charges expunged from the record, contact Rhode Island expungement attorney James Powderly by calling 401-662-9006.