person to double jeopardy. However, it has not held that states must provide a grand jury review. The Fifth 
Amendment’s grand jury provision is one of two clauses of the Bill of Rights that has not been incorporated 
to the states, but most states do use the grand jury at least for some types of cases. The Fifth Amendment 
also entitled citizens prosecuted by the federal government to the due process of law. This is discussed more 
fully below as a Fourteenth Amendment right. 
Sixth Amendment Limitations 
The Sixth Amendment guarantees a criminal defendant: the right to a speedy trial, the right to a public 
trial, the right to a jury trial, the right to have his or her trial in the district where the crime took place, the 
right to be told what charges have been filed, the right to confront witnesses at trial, the right to compel 
witnesses to testify at trial, and the right to assistance of counsel. This Amendment governs the federal 
court process, but because of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, these rights also apply to 
defendants in state criminal cases. 
Eighth Amendment Limitations 
Legislatures cannot make laws that make the punishment for a crime “cruel or unusual.” This means that 
punishments cannot be either barbaric (causing needless pain) or disproportionate (i.e.,  too severe to fit 
the crime).  In addition to the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, the Eighth Amendment 
also prohibits the imposition of excessive bail and excessive fines. The Court has dealt with excessive fines 
in terms of whether the fine is disproportionate to the crime. See, e.g., Timbs v. Indiana (above) (forfeiting 
defendant’s $42,000 land rover was excessive compared to the maximum fine he could get for his crime 
($10,000.) The prohibition against excessive bail does not mean that courts must set bail in every case, but 
rather, when courts do set bail, it must not be excessive. Bail is excessive when it is an amount more than 
necessary to assure the defendant’s reappearance. Stack v. Boyle, 342 U.S. 1 (1951). * 
Fourteenth Amendment limitations 
The Fourteenth Amendment mandates that states do not deny their citizen’s due process of law. Due 
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