Criminal Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 9

Criminal Justice - Essay Example Nevertheless there are those who feel violated once their rights are ignored, including in safety situations (Barnett, 54). The main objective of the public order advocates is to protect the law abiding citizen in the society from harm. Such individuals believe that under certain conditions that involve a criminal threat to public order, the society’s interest ought to take precedence over the individual rights (Barnett, 54). In my opinion, individual rights are important as one can have their individual rights and still keep safety in a society. Individual rights are constitutional and are assured to the citizens under the constitution. Constitutional rights are taken to be basic rights but, not as absolute rights. For instance, one has his freedom of religion unless his religious belief is infringing on the rights of other citizens. For instance, if ones religious beliefs allow him to kill someone as a sacrifice to his God, then his freedom of religion can be restricted (Barnett, 59). Ever since 11 September 2001 there has been a lot of questions on individual rights versus public safety. The Patriot Act has an effect on foreign travelers more than anybody else as it denies due process to the foreigner visitor. This act is not constitutional since the American Government is supposed to give due process to everybody. Law enforcement bodies have to still get a warrant to conduct searches but probable cause is more lenient than before (Barnett, 59). Majority of the people have a belief that individual rights ought to be sacrificed for the safety of the public. However, this is a dangerous move since it insinuates that the government is not supposed to abide by the procedures and policies that are set by the constitution. The import of this is that the government can then become corrupt. The rights of an individual will trump public safety but a peaceful society can still be sustained with no denial of