Rights of the accused

The rights of the accused is a class of rights in law that apply to a person in the time period between when they are formally accused of a crime and when they are either convicted or acquitted. Rights of the accused are generally based on the maxim of "innocent until proven guilty" and are embodied in due process.

Promotion of the rights of the accused sometimes comes into conflict with promotion of victim's rights. One example of this is conflict between the right of the accused to personally confront his accusers and the desire to protect child witnesses from the intimidation that they may feel in the courtroom.