Due Process as defined by Merriam-Webster, is a judicial requirement stating that enacted laws may not contain provisions that result in the unfair, arbitrary, or unreasonable treatment of an individual. A more simple explanation is that due process refers to the rights of any citizen to certain procedural actions prior to the denial of their civil liberties. Due process actions trace back all the way to when kings and queens ruled the people in our nation's history. Although, then due process may have simply been constituted by shouting of, "Off with his head!” While the term may easily be defined and summarized in a book, the actual concept of due process has changed quite dramatically as generations have progressed. Even with the provision of due process in the Bill of Rights, due process laws were only applied in the federal processes. The states were not required to comply with due process until 1866, when the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted.

At that time, people felt that it was necessary for the Constitution to require due process because slaves had been denied any facade of it for such a long time. Many due process decisions of the Supreme Court have been issued since that time in our history, but due process has always been and will probably remain a heavily discussed area in law enforcement, courts, schools, legislative processes, and other areas of criminal justice. It seems as though for each individual person, due process means something different. One major problem that has seemingly always surrounded due process is how to extend the rights deserved by the public without interfering with the obligations of a government. Many people wonder why issues such as this are being raised now, at this present time in history. Nonetheless, since questions like this do arise daily in our criminal justice system it is important to be familiar with