Due Process
Categories: Regulations
When you deal with, say, the mob, you don't get a lot of due process. You're eating a plate of rigatoni at your favorite restaurant, or getting an old-fashioned shave at your local barber shop, and then...bang. You're face down in a pool of blood on the floor. No trial. No 5th or 6th Amendment rights.
Hopefully, when you deal with a legitimate, law-enforcing body (like the government), due process comes more into play. Some places are better than others. But the idea is that, if you're facing prison, or loss of property, or even death, there's a set, predictable processes that will take place.
The procedure for deciding what will happen comes with pre-arranged rules. And you'll get a lawyer who knows those rules, and whose job it is to look out for your interests.
That set of norms represents due process...a system that gives you a fair hearing in a situation where you face a criminal proceeding or a civil action, like a lawsuit.
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