For example Elizabeth L. Angeli, Department of Psychology, State University.
This research was supported in part by a grant from the Sample Grant
Program.
Angeli, Department of English, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 55555
Evaluate how the freedoms contained in the Constitution are affected by terrorism today.
One day after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, President George W. Bush vowed that “we will not allow this enemy to win the war by changing our way of life or restricting our freedoms.” Despite that, few months after this statement the security policies were being changed and the values of civil liberties were being challenged. Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks the USA Patriot Act was passed. This Act threaten the fundamental constitutional rights of people who had absolutely no involvement with terrorism. The government leaders and law enforcement officials were given the right to search offices and houses without any prior notice. They are allowed to tap into telephones and intercept computer emails and other forms of communications (WHITEHEAD & ADEN, 2002).
Describe the impact of crime rates on the ability to shift resources for law enforcement to fight terrorism.
When a region or a city block is affected by a terrorist attack. The law enforcement resources are shifted to that region the crime rate is dramatically falls. It also has been observed that the regions that are neglected or emptied due to this shift show significant increase in crime rate.
Since 9/11, the U.S. government has passed a variety of laws designed to protect the country against terrorists. In this assignment, you will consider how these laws, which are in place to protect U.S. citizens, affect the rights of those citizens.
The most important rights are
The right to life
Freedom from slavery
Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
The rights to personal liberty
Trial in due course of law
These rights can be derogated from in time of nation-threatening emergency but only to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation (Venice.coe.int, 2014).
There are stories that all the above stated rights had been violated. This happened due to the new laws that had been introduced to fight the war against terrorism.
The new legislation opened the hands of law enforcement agencies. The Antiterrorist laws were created to fight terrorism but many innocent US citizens also suffered who did not had to do anything with terrorism.
The constitution of US gives two basic freedoms to its citizens. Freedom of speech and freedom of press is the basic most two of them. Since 9/11 US government have shut down many websites and restricted other information sources denying US citizens to benefit from freedom of speech. Similarly the freedom of press has also suffered. In 2013 the US ranked 32 in the “Reporter without boarders press freedom index”that was a significant drop. It was associated to arrest of journalist covering the “occupy movement”.
Summarize the recent decline in the U.S. crime rate. Explain how this decrease has affected law enforcement in the fight against terrorism.
The decrease in crime is a long term decrease. Many experts say that crime is not as cyclic as business. Although it is believed that crime rate can directly attributed to economics and per capita income.
It’s not always economics that dictate crime trends. As an example in the sixties when the economy was booming the crime rate went up. It was social institutions that effected the increased crime rate not the economics.
The attacks on 9/11 revealed a dramatic increase in crime rate on that day as the attention of the police was diverted towards the terrorist attacks. The terrorist attacks also became demanding in terms of responsibility from the law enforcement authorities. These demand also led to the increase in law enforcement legal authority and restructuring of law enforcement institutions.
Consider what might happen if local crime rates were to increase rather than decrease. How would such an increase affect America’s ability to devote resources to fighting terrorism?
When the crime rate increases due to any reason such as decrease in per capita income or terrorism. The law enforcement can be reformed as it happened on post 9/11. The law enforcements were reorganized in to two categories as it was done at that time. The federal legislation effected a fraction of 80,000 of law enforcement officers in the United States which was the first category and the second category was a result of judicial decision.
The first category has gotten the most ink thus far, but the second category is more important. The sheer size of America's local law enforcement machinery means that the rules that bind it have much more to do with the amount of freedom most Americans possess than the rules that limit the power of FBI agents. (Yalelawjournal.org, 2014).
Conclusions
The fight against terrorism and crimes are very important for the survival of the US nation. The US government used the Constitutional legislation to achieve this goal but it had been observed by many as a difficult and a degenerative path. A path that took the country to a wall of extremely disturbing consequences when it comes to basic human rights of the US citizens. It is highly debated that the human rights violations could be avoided from going at this highly disturbing level if the bill of rights in the constitution could have been altered with proactive responsibility.
The law enforcement agencies were restructured and reorganized to fight crime and terrorism more effectively. The down side was that they were given certain powers that took away those liberty and values for which the US nation stood proud for centuries.
References
WHITEHEAD, J. & ADEN, S. (2002). Forfeiting “enduring freedom” for “homeland security”: a constitutional analysis of the USA patriot act and the justice department’s anti-terrorism initiatives. [E-book] Virginia: American University Law Review 51, no.6 (June 2002): Available through: digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1149 digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1149 [Accessed: 28 Jan 2014].
Donohue, J. & Ho, D. (2005). Does terrorism increase crime? a cautionary tale. [E-book] Yale Law School Other Scholarship at Yale Law School Legal Scholarship Repository. Available through: digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1034 [Accessed: 28 Jan 2014].
Venice.coe.int. (2014). The delicate balance between civil liberties and national security. [Online] Retrieved from: http://www.venice.coe.int/sacjf/2006_08_moz%20maputo/hamilton_delicate_balance.htm [Accessed: 28 Jan 2014].
Yalelawjournal.org. (2014). The yale law journal online - local policing after the terror. [Online] Retrieved from: http://www.yalelawjournal.org/the-yale-law-journal/essay/local-policing-after-the-terror/ [Accessed: 29 Jan 2014].
