Category: Criminal Justice Issues

The public has heard many different views, issues, thoughts and concerns in the media about the constitutional issues surrounding Apple and the FBI’s use of the All Writs Act.  One of the main critiques of the popular media is encapsulated by a New Yorker Columnist, “By using All Writs, the government is attempting to circumvent the constitutionally serious character of the many questions about encryption and privacy.” (New Yorker Amy Davidson, February 19, 2015).  The main reason for Apple appealing the Federal order is the protection of the potential compromising…

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE ISSUE – Graham V. Connor – Objective 4TH Amendment use  of Force. Graham v. Connor is a very interesting case.  It is a rejection of the due process standards of evaluating police use of force, a re-analysis of the Johnson v. Glick standard and also a re-affirmation of the Rochin case law as interpreted through Tennessee v. Garner and Johnson v. Glick.  The law of the land today with respect to use of force is guided by Graham v. Connor and is based on an objective standard of…

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE ISSUE – Modification of the “Any Fleeing Felon Rule” in 1985: Impact of Tennessee v. Garner (1985). As of the week of 8-24-2019, California has passed their new California Legislation regarding police use of force which directly deals with the modified fleeing felon rule from 1985.  This is a link to an article from “The Courthouse News Service” that goes over some of the changes.​​ Tennessee v. Garner (1985) will always be considered to be a watershed use of force case decided by our United States Supreme Court. …

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE ISSUE – Fusion Centers. Emergence of fusion centers and NSA practices have assuaged fears of some and driven others away from US out of fear of government over intrusion.  The 9-11 terrorist incident precipitated the initial crisis legislation of the US patriot Act of 2001 which loosened the restraint on government ability to search into citizen’s and corporation’s private data.  We say in this country that neither the Constitution nor the Bill of Rights gives any right, but that in recognition of our inalienable natural and/or divine rights…

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE ISSUE – U.S. Bureaucratic/Administrative Response to Terrorism. The United States has developed a very large sub-area of bureaucracy within its normal bureaucracy as a response to terrorism.  Not all of these government offices were begun after September 11, 2001, but a significant push for preparedness has occurred since the Al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.  Two such bureaucracies which have developed counterterrorism programs that coordinate with the legislature as well as law enforcement are the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the CVM…

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COUNTERTERRORISM OPINION ARTICLE by James F. Polk. Counterterrorism is empowered by legislation with federal legislation leading the way.  This paper is not about constitutional arguments for or against certain different elements of the U.S. Patriot Act of 2001 nor the constitutional arguments for or against the different elements of the U.S.A. Freedom Act of 2015.  This paper is not about constitutional issues surrounding the NSA collection of data.  The sole focus of this paper is the practical fight against terrorism as empowered by legislation.  Once the United States had a…

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE ISSUE – The popular media influences which topics the news media addresses. The popular media influences which topics the news media addresses.  This is a basic equation that can be shown by some studies (Stockwell, 2011).  As an example of this let us look at the programmatic content of several television shows after the wake of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.  Between October 3, 2001 and February 11, 2003 the shows “West Wing” and “24” dealt with not-so-fictional topics relating to homeland security which had yet to be truly…

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