RIGHTS OF ACCUSED IN CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS

Amendment 6

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

Coverage of the Amendment

Criminal prosecutions in the District of Columbia[1] and in incorporated territories[2] must conform to this amendment, but those in unincorporated territories need not.[3] For this purpose, Alaska was held to be an incorporated territory even before the organization of its territorial government.[4] In in re Ross[5] the requirements of this amendment were held to cover only citizens and others within the United States or who are brought to the United States for trial for alleged offenses committed elsewhere, not to citizens residing or temporarily sojourning abroad.[6] Accordingly, laws passed to carry into effect treaties granting extraterritorial rights were not rendered unconstitutional by the fact that they did not secure to an accused the right to trial by jury.

Offenses Against the United States

There are no common law offenses against the United States. Only those acts which Congress has forbidden, with penalties for disobedience of its command, are crimes.[7] As used in the Constitution the word "crime" embraces only offenses of a serious character. Petty offenses may be proceeded against summarily in any tribunal legally constituted for that purpose.[8] The nature of the act and the severity of punishment prescribed determine whether an offense is serious or petty. A penalty of $50 for a violation, not necessarily involving moral delinquency, of a revenue statute indicates only a petty offense.[9] The unlawful sale of the unused portion of railway excursion tickets without a license, is at most an infringement of local police regulations; and its moral quality is relatively inoffensive; it may therefore be tried without a jury.[10] But a charge of driving an automobile recklessly, so as to endanger life and property, is a "grave offense" for which a jury trial is requisite.[11] A conspiracy to invade the rights of another person also falls in that category.[12]

Actions to recover penalties imposed by act of Congress,[13] deportation proceedings[14] and contempt proceedings[15] for violation of an injunction have been held not to be criminal prosecutions. Only a prosecution which is technically criminal in its nature falls within the purview of Amendment VI.[16] The concept of a criminal prosecution is much narrower than that of a "criminal case" under the Fifth Amendment.[17]