Patriot Act First off, the USA Patriot Act was an act of Congress that was signed into law by former President George W. Bush on October 26, 2011. The USA Patriot Act is actually an acronym that stands for United and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to intercept and Obstruct Terrorism. It is an act to deter and punish terrorist activity not only in the United States, but the entire world as well. Also, it is supposed to enhance law enforcement investigating tools, and for other specific purposes. This act ultimately expanded the power of the president to “use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed or aided during the terrorist attacks… in order to prevent any future acts of terrorism” (Reddington 65). Unfortunately, a lot of criticism and controversy has come about from the USA Patriot Act ranging from personal to political problems. For example, two of the main controversies have been about a lack of privacy along with a violation of substantive due process. First off, the lack of privacy can greatly be seen in section 203 of the act, which allows information sharing. It basically allows all information from criminal probes to be shared with intelligence agencies and all other parts of the government. This section ultimately breaks down the ‘wall’ that was used to separate criminal and intelligence investigations. Critics like to complain and conform that unrestricted sharing could lead to the development of massive databases about citizens who are not the target of criminal investigations. Also, in section 206 of the act it allows the roving of wiretaps. This allows wiretap authorization to cover multiple devices, eliminating the need to separate court authorizations for a suspects cell phone, PC, and smart phones for example. Critics like to say that the language of the act could lead to privacy violations of anyone who comes into causal contact with a suspect. As you can see here, the lack of privacy is a very big controversy, but the violation of due process is as well. For example, sections 411 and 412 explain the broad grounds for deportation and mandatory detention. It is believed by critics that these acts gave the attorney general certain powers for deportation and indefinite detention of non-citizens. Unfortunately, this means that a noncitizen that provides material support to an organization can be deported even if the organization is not officially designated a terrorist group. This practically means that innocent people are finding themselves deprived of liberty. In conclusion, if I were president, I would have definitely pushed the law through. Keep in mind this was during one of the biggest crisis in the United States History. A month before the act was passed; our country was basically hit square in the face with an act of terrorism. On September 11, our country was in a state of panic an ultimate fear. As president, it would be my job to deter that fear and panic as much as I possibly can. By doing so I would need to pass certain laws and make some changes in the government. I believe the USA Patriot act was a great idea not only to spread safety and knowledge throughout our country, but to subsidize the fear and panic in the citizen’s eyes as well. Ultimately, I would have taken the same exact actions that President George W. Bush took at the time, maybe even a little sooner.
CH9: Juvenile Transfer Over the past couple of decades, there has been an abnormal increase in violent crimes committed by youth offenders. Consequently, actions have been taken to “Get Tough on Crime” in order to hold juveniles more accountable for their illegal actions. One of the main controversies of this model is whether or not to transfer juveniles to adult court for more problematic and harsh crimes that they committed. In a perfect world, it is noted that prosecutors would have discretion to
