Georgia Law Review, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Spring 1967), pp. 376-501

Abstract

The sweeping social changes presently occurring in this country are having important effects on the law. The impact of this philosophical revolution upon th elaw is manifesting itself most directly and vividly in the Supreme Court of the United States where the entire concept of "individual liberty and freedom" is undergoing far-reaching change. One of the most important changes is occurring in the development of constitutional rules of criminal procedure, particularly those applicable to the states through the fourteenth amendment. Most of the particular longstanding announced aims of the Court, e.g., protection against the conviction of the innocent and prevention of governmental infringement of individual liberty and dignity, are unchanged, but, the scope and relative degree of importance given these aims are undergoing extensive change. An attempt to describe this change is the purpose of this Article. While there has been no holding that the Bill of Rights in its entirety is applicable to the states, there has been a marked and continually growing tendency toward absorption of the Bill of Rights guarantees into the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment. This process of absorption has reached such a point that the applicability of Bill of Rights guarantees to the states is a reality. Because of this growing tendency to apply the federal standard to the states, federal cases are treated in this Article as if applicable to the states, unless the contrary is indicated. If the federal holding is not now applicable to the states, every indication is that it will soon be.

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