due process of law n. a fundamental principle of fairness in all legal matters, both civil and criminal, especially in the courts. All legal procedures set by statute and court practice, including notice of rights, must be followed for each individual so that no prejudicial or unequal treatment will result. While somewhat indefinite the term can be gauged by its aim to safeguard both private and public rights against unfairness. The universal guarantee of due process is in the Fifth Amendment to the U. S. The American Constitution which provides "No person shall...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law," and applied to all states by the 14th Amendment. From this basic principle flow many legal decisions determining both procedural and substantive rights. (Rev:12/09 GPC) >>For more definitions go to NFPCAR online Legal Terminology page.

• Civil Liberties Without Exception: NCCPR’s Due Process Agenda for Children and Families

• Proposed Due Process Act - California

• More on Due process information from Wiki

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CIVIL LIBERTIES WITHOUT EXCEPTION:
NCCPR’s Due Process Agenda for Children and Families
By Richard Wexler, NCCPR Executive Director
August, 2008
Original File: http://www.nccpr.org/reports/dueprocess.pdf

Excerpts

Introduction:

"Suppose, when he was attorney general, John Ashcroft had proposed anti-terrorism legislation with the following provisions: Special anti-terrorism police could search any home without a warrant – and stripsearch any occupant -- based solely on an anonymous telephone tip...."

Recommendations for Due Process:

1. "TRANSPARENCY.  All court hearings in child maltreatment cases and almost all documents should be subject to a “rebuttable presumption” of openness. Hearings and records would be closed only if the lawyer for the parents or the guardian ad litem for the child could persuade the judge, by clear and convincing evidence, that opening a given record or portion of a hearing would cause severe emotional damage to a child. The judge then would keep closed only the minimum amount of material needed to avoid the damage."
    

2.  "OPEN RECORDS.  Reverse the current presumption that most child welfare records are closed, and allow child welfare agencies to comment freely on any case made public by any other source."
    

3. "Child welfare agencies should be free to comment on any case that has been made public by any other source. For example, if a birth parent goes to a reporter and says “my child was wrongfully taken,” CPS should be free to tell its side of the story, as well as to release records under the conditions noted above."
    

4. "Quality legal representation must be available to all parents who must face CPS."
    

5. "The institutional provider of counsel should have lawyers available 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week."
    

6. "Law guardians should act as lawyers. Guardians ad litem should advocate for what the children they represent want, even if the GAL does not think it’s in the child’s best interests."
    

7. "Before a call is accepted by a child abuse “hotline” and referred for investigation, the caller must be able to demonstrate that s/he does, indeed, have “reasonable cause to suspect” maltreatment."
    

8. "A rational method must be established for screening hotline calls."
    

9. "Anonymous calls should not be accepted."
    

10. "No one should be listed in a central register of alleged child abusers, and no allegation should be substantiated, until, at a minimum, the family has had an administrative hearing conducted by a hearing officer outside of the child welfare agency. The standard of proof should be “clear and convincing.”
     

11. " When a report is “unfounded” all records should be expunged within 30 days.¹²"
     

12. "From the moment a child is removed until the first hearing at which all sides are represented, the child welfare agency shall be responsible for arranging daily visits, unless it can show, by clear and convincing evidence, that this would cause severe emotional harm to the child."
     

13. "All interviews conducted by CPS personnel in the course of child maltreatment investigations – not just interviews with children – should be, at a minimum, audiotaped. For interviews conducted at CPS offices or similar settings, videotape is preferable. Information from any interview that is not taped should be inadmissible in all court proceedings."
     

14. " The standard of proof in all court proceedings should be raised from the current standard in most states, “preponderance of the evidence,” to “clear and convincing.” The standard also should apply when a worker decides to “substantiate” alleged maltreatment."
     

15. "Abolish legal “ransom.”  ???
     

16. "In all places where it appears, the phrase “best interests of the child” should be replaced with the phrase “least detrimental alternative.”

Download & Read More: http://www.nccpr.org/reports/dueprocess.pdf