The American criminal justice system is adversarial in nature, and governed by rules of evidence and procedure basically designed to protect against the conviction of an innocent man. Many of these rules are constitutional and derived from the Bill of Rights. Taken together, they have served for over 200 years as the foundation for the fairest system of criminal justice the world has ever seen. They include:

• The right to the presumption of innocence
• The right to the benefit of the doubt
• The right to an attorney
• The right to a jury trial
• The right to a fair trial
• The right to a speedy trial
• The right to remain silent
• The right to confront your accusers
• The right to subpoena witnesses and evidence
• The right to an appeal