Does-the-United-States-Government-do-a-good-job-of-protecting-society-and-maintaining-order-homework-help-
Does-the-United-States-Government-do-a-good-job-of-protecting-society-and-maintaining-order-homework-help-
1. Does the United States Government do a good job of protecting society and maintaining order?
2. Does the United States Government intrude into your individual life to the point that your individual freedom and privacy is unfairly compromised?
Beginning on page 4 of your text (Ferdico 11th) the balance between Due Process and Crime Control is discussed. Herbert Packer discussed these competing concepts (see table 1.2, p. 5). Keep in mind that these two competing governmental interests are at odds each time action is taken by the police, corrections and the courts – our criminal justice system. It is important to understand that criminal procedure is the study and practice of how the law is made and enforced. For example, each time the police conduct a search or make an arrest they are intruding into an individual’s rights. The determination of whether that intrusion is reasonable is weighed against the need to protect society. It is our individual rights as defined in the Bill of Rights, (generally amendments 1-10 & 14), which provide the template for the interpretation of actions by the government that affect those individual rights. This interpretation is carried out by the judicial branch of government through a concept known as judicial review. Judicial review is the process by which the courts determine if actions by the government are in adherence to constitutional law – the supreme law of the land. The case of Marbury v. Madison (1803) made clear that it was the responsibility of the judicial branch of government to determine what the law is and to interpret that law. Marbury v. Madison is discussed on p. 9 (Ferdico 11th).
