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Ethics And Ethics Of The Patriot Act

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LP 8 Assignment: Patriot Act Kevin M. Cox Professionalism and Ethics in Criminal Justice August 22, 2014 The Patriot Act was introduced as a response to the terrorist attacks in the US on September 11th. It has radically changed the way in which the government operates in the investigations of people in and out of our country. It has broadened the powers of the federal government in the way in which they can obtain information on people. In this paper I will be discussing the ethical and moral issues of the expanded ability of wiretapping, search and seizure, the establishment of the FISA court, and end with the transparency of these practices. Our country has always had laws to protect our citizens against the ability of the government to go on witch hunting expeditions to find any little speck that might indicate someone is engaged in criminal behavior. It has been well established that search and seizure of someone’s property that reasonable cause must be established and law enforcement must have a warrant issued by a judge. This criterion has been greatly reduced with the enactment of the Patriot Act. Federal Agents may conduct surveillance and searches against US citizens without “probable cause” to suspect criminal activity. The targeted person is not notified and cannot challenge the action (Montaldo). This is a deviation from the way in which law enforcement has been allowed to operate in the past. The ethical issue involved in not having to show

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