Right to Speedy Trial
Definition
The guarantee that a criminal case will be tried within a reasonable time, so that pre-trial detention does not itself become a form of punishment for the unconvicted.
Related terms
- Custodial Rights
- The set of protections owed to a person once police take them into physical custody, including protection from violence, timely medical examination...
- Exclusionary Rule
- A rule that evidence obtained in violation of constitutional or statutory search-and-seizure requirements cannot be used at trial. Applied strictly and automatically...
- Habeas Corpus
- A writ requiring whoever holds a person in custody to bring that person before a court and justify the detention, the primary...
- Judicial Precedent
- A prior court decision that binds later courts of equal or lower rank when facts are materially similar, giving a single ruling...
- Right to Legal Aid
- The entitlement of an accused person who cannot afford a lawyer to receive one at state expense, recognised as essential to a...