RJA #11a: Introduction

No matter how much one one wants crime to disappear, it will always be here. From petty things such as stealing a pack of gum after school to large things such as murder, crime will be a part of society as long as people are around. What if we had the ability to stop a murderer before that person was anywhere close to committing that murder? What if we could stop that person from stealing that pack of gum after school while he or she was still in class? That would be pretty great, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, nobody has the ability to read another person's mind. Nobody, except the different governments of the world, evidently. In many countries of the world, there exists a program called Preventive Detention. This is a system in which a person is detained without having committed a crime. In addition, that person does not have the right to any trial or defense in the form of a lawyer. This happens when a person is said to be a threat to the security of the nation. Have you ever heard the phrase, "its not what you know, its what you can prove in a court of law"? According to the Constitution of the United States, everyone has the right to a fair trial. So how can it be allowed that a person can be detained, not allowed defense and a fair trial, having never committed a crime, and worst of all not even be told why they are being held? That is because paranoia over "terrorism" has driven the different governments of the world to drastic, fearful measures such as taking away our civil and human rights. Some might consider that to be the government's very own form of "terrorism". Despite what has been said by creators and supporters of Preventive Detention, it is an unjust way for the government to give people a false sense of national security. They trick people into thinking that since the guy that was recently arrested was a threat and now is off the streets, the country is now that much safer. Sure, it is possible that he was a threat, but it is also possible that you have the wrong guy. Is that man not still "innocent until proven guilty."