Civil Liberties vs. National Security @ Ars Technica

Linc

Are our civil liberties fundamentally at odds with national security concerns in the age of nuclear terrorism? Three prominent panelists recently debated the issue, and Ars Technica was there to report on their exchange.

View: Civil Liberties vs. National Security: A Panel Report

Posner stated that the criminal justice system relies on deterrence and incapacitation to address crime. The "deterrence" part stems from the potential criminal's presumed desire to avoid incarceration at all costs. Clearly, the deterrence value of the threat of incarceration is exactly zero to a suicide bomber, so in that respect the criminal justice system is quite poorly equipped to prevent terrorism. Furthermore, the criminal justice system presumes a crime rate, and works to keep that rate down to manageable levels. In the age of nuclear and biological terrorism, Posner argued, we can't really afford a "terrorism rate," even if that rate is really low. All it takes is one spectacular attack to do us in, he reminded the audience.

Talk about some quality content...

Source: Ars Technica