The Future of Criminal Justice
University Of Phoenix
Foundations of Criminal Justice
April 19, 2010

The Future of Criminal Justice
Terrorism has never been in the States; only in third world countries. Since 9/11-2001 is has been a reality and ongoing nightmare and hit close to home. The attack on the World Trade Centers in New York was a wakeup call. United States has been on high alert ever since, waiting for the next possible Terrorists attack. This paper will explain why terrorism is a law enforcement concern as well as how terrorism is considered a crime. At last the paper will state some recommendations that the American Criminal Justice should do, to better prepare for future crimes.
Why is terrorism a law enforcement concern?
In the Criminal Justice System law enforcement is one of the agencies that are dedicated to enforcing the laws as well as maintaining order, and control crime within the community. Law Enforcement police officers are the most visible representative of the government in American society; therefore police agencies are responsible for a wide variety of services (Fagin, 2005). Some of those responsibilities include traffic enforcement, accident investigation, patrol and first response to incidents, property crime investigation, violent crime investigation as well as investigating deaths and murders (Fagin, 2005). In other words law enforcement agencies are the ones that physically interact with the community most of the time. After the attack that happened on September 11th on the WTC and the Pentagon, “the criminal justice system assumed new roles on terrorism” (Fagin, 2005 page 19). Prior to the September 11 attack law enforcement agencies were dedicated to one primary goal which was fighting crime. Law Enforcement agencies did not consider airline hijacks as possible freedom fighters or right-wing militant attacks as political statement (Fagin, 2005 page 19). In other words when acts of terrorism were committed against American communities law enforcement agencies used to consider them as crimes and not as a domestic terrorism (Fagin, 2005). Now, law enforcement agencies not only focus in its goals to maintain order and control crime, but also in attempting to catch terrorists and stop their attacks (Fagin, 2005)
Terrorism is definitely a law enforcement concern because it affects the protection of society. According to the views of society law enforcement agencies are dedicated to protecting society against harm from both foreign and domestic attacks (Schmalleger, 2009). Therefore in the event a terrorist attack takes place law enforcement agencies can be affected by the lack of protection provided by the law enforcement agencies to the citizens of the community. The reason terrorism is a concern to law enforcement is due to the violent acts that are committed by these organized groups as well as to maintain peace throughout the communities (Schmalleger, 2009). Terrorist attacks usually come in the form of arson, mail bombs, or car bombs (Schmalleger, 2009). Therefore in the event of a terrorist attack police officers will have an increase in services calls; that will in turn put a greater strain on the police officers (Schmalleger, 2009). Similarly community citizens are going to feel unprotected and not want to be around the streets due to the attacks and as a result law enforcement officers will have the need to change the citizen’s perception and gain their confidence as well as regain their trust. The third reason terrorism is a concern to law enforcement is that after a terrorist attack, police officers may start racial profiling in the community targeting certain people for the way they look regardless of their race or background (Schmalleger, 2009). According to Fagin, (2005), many people that participated in the September 11th attack were citizens that studied and lived in the United States. Therefore terrorism is a main concern within the department of law enforcement especially for police officers because they may be dealing with terrorists that are planning attacks to destroy the communities. Law enforcement officers need to be aware of the characteristics and the personalities of the terrorist(s) in order to combat terrorism in the U.S. (Fagin, 2005). Therefore the Law Enforcement officer’s role in combating terrorists is to be involved within the community and have the ability to recognize when something is out of place or does not belong in the community (Fagin, 2005).
How is terrorism a crime?
The term terrorism is used widely in present day especially in the United States. Terrorism is a double standard, the people who commit those terrorist acts, commit the acts out of beliefs and in their eyes ok. Terrorism can be described as the illegitimate use of force to achieve a political objective by targeting innocent people (Laqueur, 1987). To me the definition mention above is a great definition to describe terrorism as a crime. To aim for innocent people to prove a point which lead major injuries or death in most cases is to most people would be a crime, no questions asked. According to Martha Crenshaw (1995), “Terrorism cannot be defined unless the act, target and possibility of success are analyzed”. So to think, terrorist are people who commit these acts as a way to get their political or religious point across. If we look at the some of the most famous terrorist acts they are automatically labeled crimes. 9/11 was a crime because the persons affiliated with the act, targeted the United States innocent citizens for political gain. The 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany probably the most famous of all “terrorist acts” is a great example of terrorism for political gain. I think the main reason why terrorism is considered a crime is because it’s mainly innocent people who have no reason to be attacked. Just because someone does not believe in the same religion as you or they have different political views as you does not constitute a reason to go and show your beliefs by force or the threat of force. It is common knowledge in my opinion. As we press toward in to the future and more and more new technology arises, we are starting to see new forms of terrorism. “Cyber-Terrorism” which would be the act of corrupting computer information infrastructures or sending out viruses can be constituted as a crime because you are basically hacking in to information that is private and it is really invading ones privacy, in terrorist terms, it would be more public information but can interrupt everyday life. Criminal Terrorism is not just international, we have seen in recent news, acts that were in local. In Michigan on March 30th, 2010 a radical Christian group aimed police officers at a local officer’s funeral. The motive is believed to religious, as from the statement of the group’s leader David Stone; “Prosecutors said the Hutaree militia considered law enforcement to be "foot soldiers" of the Federal Government and counted among their enemies anyone who did not share their beliefs or was participating in the "new world order."(Guthrie, 2010)
Again, you go back to the definition of Terrorism as being an act for political gain. In this case innocent officers were targeted because they are working for the government and this so called “Christian” group was anti-government. Innocence seems to be the determining factor in terrorism, as in any crime. So to answer the question, why is Terrorism a crime? Because it is a waged war against innocent people who have no idea. Terrorism breaks the military code of the Geneva Convention.
What may the American Criminal Justice do to better prepare for future crimes?
There are many Terrorists groups that are very active and very dangerous to us today; they are planning to attack the States at any time as well as other countries that get in their way. Here are some of the groups and their main purposes. For example: Afghanistan (Al Qaeda) which was established in the late 1980s by Osama Bin Laden (Fagin, 2005). The group’s main interest is to overpower any one that is not “non-Islamic” by terminating any Westerners and the ones that are no Muslims in a Muslim state (Fagin, 2005). Algeria has two active terrorists groups: Armed Islamic Group (GIA) has been active since 1992 their main goal is to overtake Algerian regime and replace with an Islamic state (Fagin, 2005).
The Criminal Justice System now has to train new tactics on Terrorism and how to respond in case of a terrorist attack in the community. For example, Law Enforcement officers, not only have to worry about gangs and other criminal acts, but also they are going on to look for a certain group on individuals that fit the descriptions of a terrorist and their activities. Since they patrol, terrorism, is another stress factor on them. The hard part of their job is that police officer does not know what they look like because the terrorist blend in with the rest of the civilization. Terrorist have regular jobs, families, they assist to colleges and universities and have no accents at all. That makes their job more dangerous.
The Criminal Justice System has to work on a strategy on how to detect potential terrorist and their activities that are going on in their local region. The departments of Law Enforcement, Corrections and the Courts have to keep informed and in touch with the (FBI- TSC Terrorist Screening Center) in order to know who they are looking for and the tactics they use to carry out their plans (Fagin, 2005). All government agencies should pass in daily basis any information that could help patrol police officers, in case they come across that individual, police officers will know how to handle the situation with the proper procedures and tactics.
The Criminal Justice System should create meetings to let the community know about the terrorism issues. The community should have a meeting at least once a week in city hall with their police department management team. The focus on the meetings should be to obtain all the proper information on the entire Terrorist groups that are active and to be aware of their surroundings or any suspicious activities that are going on. The Criminal Justice System agencies should provide the community contact numbers for the Terrorist unit, show video clipping to know how dangerous they are. The main reason is to teach and train the community the tactics that certain terrorist groups used in order to make their attacks as well as their business.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are many Terrorists groups that are very active and dangerous to society. Terrorists groups are planning to attack the United States at any time as well as other countries that get in their way. Terrorism is a law enforcement issue because it affects society, harming their families. Terrorism is a crime because those acts are described as the illegitimate use of force to achieve a political objective by targeting innocent people. Therefore the Criminal Justice agencies should work together passing on information amongst each other as well as teaching the community how to provide information when they noticed that a person is trying to commit terrorisms attacks.
References
Fagin, James A. (2005). Criminal Justice (5th Ed). Boston: Pearson Education Inc
Crenshaw, M. (1995). Terrorism in Context (4th ed.). University Park, PA: The
Pennsylvania State University Press. Guthrie, D. (2010, April 2). Militia members arrested in Sunday raid to be
Charged today From the Detroit News: Retrieved from: http://detnews.com/article/20100329/METRO/3290334/Militia-members-arrested-in-Sun.-raid-to-be-charged-today Laqueur, W. (1987). The Age of Terrorism. Boston, Mass.
Schmalleger, F. (2009). Criminal Justice Today. An Introductory Text for the 21st
Century. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Retrieved from: University of Phoenix. Course material web site https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/