"Duncan vs. Louisiana" (1968)

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, in "Duncan vs. Louisiana" (1968), the challenge by the defendant was that Louisiana had violated his right to a trial by jury. The author relates that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the defendant claiming that Louisiana had violated the man's constitutional rights. The paper reviews the chronology of due process and the right to impartial judgment, beginning with the fundamental constitutional standards and challenges to these rights. The paper stresses that this case indicates the development of a system, which extends the right of a trial by jury to any defendant who is facing a sentence for a crime that would break the six month federal minimum mandatory sentencing rule.

From the Paper:

"Duncan clearly had his rights violated when he asked for a jury trial and did not receive one. Especially given that the conviction was held on conflicting and limited witness testimony that was likely highly charged and differential. In the end is it possible that battery occurred simply because the defendant touched the other individual and yet it is unlikely that intent to do harm, an aspect of battery could have been proven in a court of law without a reasonable doubt."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Eidelberg, Paul. On the Silence of the Declaration of Independence. Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, 1976.
• Rosen, Philip. "Teaching the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in a U.S. Government Course." Social Studies 81.1 (1990): 19-25.
• Supreme Court of the United States Duncan v. Louisiana 391 U.S. 145 May 20, 1968 Decided. April 20, 2008 http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/duncan.html

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