Civil Rights and Police Departments

The outline for basic civil rights in America is deceptively simple and straightforward; it appears in the Bill of Rights, with a concentration on the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments. Taken together, these amendments govern the ability of the government to conduct searches and seizures, dictate the rules required for arrest, guarantee the right to remain silent, provide the right to an attorney, and prohibit cruel and unusual punishment (U.S. Const. Amends. IV, V, VI, and VIII). However, while the Bill of Rights provide a broad outline of the civil rights that a criminal accused has in the United States, they are sufficiently vague that they have required constant interpretation. Furthermore, the United States has an ugly history of racial discrimination, and the Civil War Amendments, which include the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments were written to apply the Equal Protection guarantees of the...
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