Protecting our Individual Rights
Individual rights are one of the cornerstones this country is basedupon. In fact, individual rights are the foundation of any democracy, andcertainly separate us from the misery of dictatorship, communism, andautocracy. However, while many citizens take individual rights for grantedin our society, there are others who are intent on reducing individualrights in the name of "equality" and safety. Our individual rights are injeopardy from a variety of sources, and protecting them, while stillprotecting society as a whole, should be foremost in the minds of all Individual rights are not a new notion. They were foremost in theminds of our forefathers who forged a new nation. Three Constitutionalexperts note, "As early as 1646 there arose in Massachusetts the demand forthe 'enjoyment of our lives, libertys and estates, according to our due andnatural rights, as freeborne subjects of the English nation'" (Barlow,Levy, and Masugi 169). This unquenchable need for freedom came from erasof oppression and tyranny in Great Britain, where only the uppermostechelons of society and business enjoyed the most prestige and privilege.Newly settled Americans hoped to forge a land where there
Americans are being asked to give up their right to privacyin certain situations, in order to root out terrorists and insurgents inour country. When the rights of an individual outweigh the rights of the many, and itmay cause harm to the many, then the rights of the individual have gone toofar. Mirandaensures suspects preserve their rights by giving them the authority to notspeak until they have an attorney present, and acknowledges suspects havethe right to an attorney, even if they cannot afford one, which reachesback to the Gideon decision in 1963. Some Supreme Court rulings seem to have challenged theindividual's rights, and some seem to challenge our basic rights. Nowhere is this more apparentthan in the criminal justice system. Whileit is one of the jobs of the courts to balance and weigh these delicateissues, as more individual rights seem to be disappearing, it is also theduty of the people to make sure that in the name of equality, too manyindividual rights are not taken over and administered by the government. Ask a victim of a violent crime, and theiropinion regarding the rights of the accused will probably be far differentfrom those of the family of the accused, or the accused themselves. Two ofthe most powerful and contentious of these decisions were Gideon andMiranda, and Miranda is still being challenged and questioned today. Therefore, Gideon madethe criminal justice system more democratic, and said even criminalsdeserve the same basic human rights as the rest of society. This ensures police cannot "coerce"or use force to obtain confessions from suspects. While this seems to be reasonable to many, to some, thisviolates our basic Constitutional rights, and this is part of what is sodelicate and difficult about the issues of individual rights. Constitution, the English Bill of Rights, Cohens v. There is a balance in this fight to protect our individual rights. The Miranda declaration (oftensimply referred to as "Miranda") is read to prisoners before they arequestioned, and usually reads in this format: "You have the right to remainsilent. There areexcellent arguments on both sides, and excellent rebuttals.
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