Law Enforcement and Civil Liberties - We Can Have Both (From What Changes Are Most Needed in the Procedures Used in the United States Justice System?, P 281-286, 1984 - See NCJ-92785)

• NCJ Number: 92791
• Author(s): L Siegel
• Date Published: 1984
• Length: 6 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Reprinted From Civil Liberties N 345, Feb. 1983, P 5-8.

Annotation

Effective law enforcement is compatible with the protection of civil liberties.

Abstract

The Reagan administration's crime-fighting proposals will not reduce the crime problem but will expand governmental power at the expense of individual rights. However, effective law enforcement and individual rights can go together. Crime is an enormous social problem which is not caused by deficiencies in the criminal justice system, but by proverty, unemployment, dissolved family ties, and lack of community supports. The administration has proposed several solutions to the crime problem: use of pretrial detention, repeal of the exclusionary rule, greater use of imprisonment, and use of the death penalty. However, none of these measures would solve the crime problem, and all would curtail individual rights. Several suggested reforms in policing, sentencing, and prisons could be both effective and constitutional. Policing reforms include improved relations between police and communities and more police intervention in incidents of domestic violence. Sentencing reforms include alternatives to incarceration and use of determinate sentencing. In the area of prison reform, prison conditions must meet constitutional standards of decency, and prisoners should be reclassified nationwide. Prisons must improve vocational training and education programs. They must also take emergency measures to ease overcrowding. Seven citations are appended.