Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Describe how the civil liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights make it more difficult for law enforcement to catch and convict criminals.

If it were not for the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments, it would be much easier for law enforcement to catch and convict criminals.  While this would be good in some ways, it would also make our country more like a police state.


The 4th Amendment makes it hard to catch criminals because it requires the police to have probable cause to get warrants before they search or arrest people.  The police could catch many more criminals if they were allowed to search any person or any home just because they wanted to or because they thought the person was connected to a crime.


The 5th Amendment makes it harder to catch criminals because it guarantees that suspects cannot be made to incriminate themselves.  Police cannot force people to confess.  They have to inform suspects of their right to remain silent until they have an attorney.  Without these constraints, the police could catch more criminals.


The 6th Amendment makes convicting criminals more difficult.  It gives them the right to an attorney.  It gives them the right to a jury trial.  It gives them the right to confront and cross-examine witnesses against them.  By giving defendants all these rights, it makes it harder to convict them.


In these ways, the Bill of Rights makes it harder for law enforcement to catch and convict criminals.  However, it also prevents us from living in a police state.

No comments:

Post a Comment

What was the device called which Faber had given Montag in order to communicate with him?

In Part Two "The Sieve and the Sand" of the novel Fahrenheit 451, Montag travels to Faber's house trying to find meaning in th...