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accused, rights of, in law, rights and privileges of a person accused of a crime, guaranteeing him a fair trial. These rights were initially (generally from the 18th century on) confined primarily to the actual trial itself, but in the second half of the 20th century many countries have begun to extend them to the periods before and after the trial.
All legal systems provide, at least on paper, guarantees that insure that an accused person shall have the right to defend himself at his trial, that he be represented by counsel (at least when he is accused of having committed a serious crime), and that he be able to present witnesses and evidence that will enable him to prove his innocence.
Certain very general rights are attached Lo the process. Au accused person must not be allowed to languish indefinitely in jail, but must be given a speedy trial. Involved with this issue are the rights to a reasonable bail and prohibitions against being detained for more than a specified time without bail.
The most important right has been the right to be represented by counsel. During the second half of the 20th century this right has been extended to cover the time when a person is arrested until final appeal. Different countries set different times at which an accused must be provided with counsel as well as different types of crimes for which counsel must be provided if the accused is indigent.
The United States has made the most far- reaching changes in this area and has set a pattern that other nations have begun to emulate. Essentially, the U.S. system stipulates that a person accused of a misdemeanour or a felony has the right to counsel from the time that he is taken into custody until all appeal is exhausted. Further, at the time of his arrest he must be notffied of both this right to counsel and the right not to answer any questions that might produce evidence against him. Both rights were introduced to prevent the police from extracting involuntary confessions to be used as evidence in court.
In civil-law countries such as France and Germany, there is less emphasis on the importance of the confession as evidence. It is considered merely as one piece of evidence. Because confessions are not as important, rights to counsel and to remain silent are less clearly defined. As a result, particularly in France, certain abuses have existed during the period of police interrogation.
Other important rights guaranteed to the accused are those that protect him from illegally gathered evidence, be it from search and seizure (q.v.) or electronic eavesdropping (q.v.). Also important are the rights to appeal, which vary from country to country.
