The Sixth Amendment - Fairness

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 defence.

My favorite trial movie of all time is 12 angry men. A teenager is one vote away from being convicted after an inept lawyer leaves a void in the defense filled by one member of the jury. He eventually takes the jury from a vote of 11-1 for guilty to 12-0 for not guilty. In the middle of the movie, as the "guilty" group is dropping like flies, one juror exposes the side of everyone you should completely ignore when deciding a man's life. The Sixth amendment promises a trial by an impartial jury, but in a world of whites vs blacks, rich vs poor, east vs wet, north vs south, is that a promise anyone can keep?

This fictional character was lucky, throughout our nation's history there have been far too many real unlucky ones. All too often in this country, justice for a murdered white person bypassed the dry eyed widow, ignored drunken disgruntled business partners, and went straight for the nearest known person of color. We should always remember these stories, like in To Kill a Mocking Bird, and realize how many different kinds of deep prejudice we hold against countless groups of people, because when a false conviction is handed out, everyone loses. The victim, the defendant, the future victims of the real criminal, and the faith we all weakly hold in the criminal justice system suffer in various ways when we ignore reality and embrace vengeance.

Like all laws and amendments in the Bill of Rights, this one is open to be abused by the poor judgment of individual people. Congresses, Supreme Court Justices, and Presidents can all hurt our rights one way or another if they don't take them seriously. However the Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury is only directly violated by our ignorance and our lack of education.