Detention Without TrialChloe, Beth and Marissa

History

• Criminals have always been detained- need a way to protect their rights

• Bill of rights created w/ Habeas Corpus– Fourth Amendment- protects against unlawful

search and seizure– Fifth Amendment- guaranteed due process of law– Sixth Amendment- accused is informed of charges

held against them

HistoryContinued

• American Rights – Habeas corpus- “you have the body”- one who is

restraining liberty to forthwith produce before the court the person who is in custody and to show cause why the liberty of that person is being restrained. Absent a sufficient showing for a proper restraint of liberty, the court is duty bound to order the restraint eliminated and the person discharged.

Events That Happen in the Past

• Begging of the Civil War (1861)- Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus- deemed constitutional war– Withheld 300,000 people without charge

• 1942 Roosevelt removed 110,000 Japanese Americans living on west coast– Claimed they could aid Japan in the war

• Ex Parte Quinn- Supreme Court gave Roosevelt right to detain 8 German soldiers who were caught planning sabotage

Events Continued

• POWs- Geneva Convention- gave rights such as provision of clothing, food, basic shelter, medical attention, and protection from torture/humiliation/ corporal punishment– WW II– Now- War on Terror• Bush declared after 9-11-01

Interest Groups

• NDAA– National Defense Authorization Act– for the defense of the United States and its interests

abroad

• ACLU– American Civil Liberties Union– Detaining hundreds of individuals indefinitely without

charge or trial. Some are being held at Guantánamo and others at the prison at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

Recent Developments

• President Obama signed NDAA into United States for 2012

Pro• Terrorism investigations are part of a war effort• The detention policies such as denying access to legal counsel are an

important tool in the ongoing war against terrorism• Gain information about future threats• Giving them access to a defense lawyer, proponents contend, will

impede the gathering of information and put innocent people at risk from future attacks.

• Lawyers given access to detainees, will likely instruct their clients not to answer questions, and demand that they be charged or released.

• Prevent sensitive information from becoming available to the public. • Safeguards in place within the court system will prevent abuses of power.

Cons• Violate the civil liberties of those detained• Process be followed closely, even in extreme or unusual cases, to avoid

serious misapplications of justice because civil liberties are too vital even to be encroached on

• Tales away the right to an attorney, the right to be charged or released, or the right to challenge detention because of a violation of due process sets a dangerous precedent and invites serious misuse.

• A lack of information, opponents contend, will keep Congress and the public from deciding whether the investigation is proceeding in an efficient and effective way

• Abuse of powers• Will encourage more repressive governments to move even further in

the direction of disregarding basic rights.

Political Parties

• Democrats are more against the detention without trial

• Republicans are more in favor