![]() The prohibition on governmental discrimination is not absolute it depends on the class of persons targeted for special treatment. The Fifth Amendment due process clause prohibits the federal government from discrimination if the discrimination is so unjustifiable that it violates due process of law. The equal protection clause prevents the state government from enacting criminal laws that discriminate in an unreasonable and unjustified manner. State constitutions generally have a similar provision. The Fourteenth Amendment states in relevant part, “nor shall any State…deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” The equal protection clause A clause in the Fourteenth Amendment that prohibits the state government from enacting statutes that arbitrarily discriminate. With a void for vagueness challenge, the statute must be so unclear that “men of common intelligence must guess at its meaning,” Connally v. In addition, and more important, they give too much discretion to law enforcement and are unevenly enforced. Statutes that are not precisely drafted do not provide notice to the public of exactly what kind of behavior is criminal. A statute is void for vagueness if it uses words that are indefinite or ambiguous. challenges the wording of a statute under the due process clause. Void for vagueness A criminal statute so imprecisely worded that it gives too much discretion to law enforcement, is unevenly applied, and fails to provide notice of what is criminal, violating the right to due process. Both substantive and procedural due processes ensure that individuals are not denied their life (capital punishment), liberty (incarceration), or property (forfeiture) arbitrarily. ![]() protects individuals from being criminally punished without notice and an opportunity to be heard. Procedural due process The government cannot criminally punish individuals without providing notice and an opportunity to be heard. protects individuals from an unreasonable loss of substantive rights, such as the right to speak freely and the right to privacy. Substantive due process The government cannot unreasonably encroach on an individual’s substantive constitutional rights. Most states have a similar provision in their constitutions. The federal due process clause is mirrored in the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees due process of law in state criminal prosecutions. states, “No person shall…be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” The due process clause in the Fifth Amendment applies to federal crimes and federal criminal prosecutions. The due process clause A clause in the Fifth Amendment (which applies to the federal government) and the Fourteenth Amendment (which applies to the state government) providing that no individual will be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Thus although the original focus of the Bill of Rights may have been limiting the federal government, modern interpretations of the Constitution ensure that its protections also extend to all levels of state and local government. This doctrine is called selective incorporation Applying the Bill of Rights’ constitutional protections to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment., and it includes virtually all the constitutional protections in the Bill of Rights. ![]() However, US Supreme Court precedent has held that any constitutional amendment that is implicit to due process’s concept of ordered liberty must be incorporated into the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections and applied to the states. The Bill of Rights was originally written to apply to the federal government. In addition, the Fourteenth Amendment, which was added to the Constitution after the Civil War, has a plethora of protections for criminal defendants in the due process and equal protection clauses. is the first ten amendments to the Constitution. The Bill of Rights The first ten amendments to the Constitution.
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