USA PATRIOT Act

“USA PATRIOT Act in full is Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001”. This act was approved by the congress in reaction to the September 11^th, 2001 terror attacks and George W Bush signed it into law in2001 October. This act consisted certain legislation provisions such as the amendment of the 1968 Wiretap Act which outlawed spying by the authorities on one to one, telephone and automated communications unless approved by a court directive in hardly distinct situations in circumstances of grave misconducts (Kranich 9). Computer and terrorist crimes were incorporated in the list of grave offences allowing law-enforcement personnel to adhere to a court directive to eavesdrop as per section 201 and 202 of the Act. The law also added the controls of the Treasury of the Secretary to curb currency washing, boosted the number of border patrol and custom provision significantly. Section 203 of the same act facilitated partnership of enforcement officials and intelligence bodies in terrorism occurrences (Banks 18).  Prosecutors of the Government were allowed to unveil issues before a federal grand jury to any centralized law enforcement, defensive and any other matter concerning counterintelligence.

Robert Bowers was charged by a jury in Pennsylvania with federal crimes of hate following the 27^th October 2018 shootings at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. According to the charges, Bowers deliberately instigated bodily injury to 11 deceased, and 2 surviving victims due to religious differences. Bowers drove to the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where worshippers of the Tree of Life, New Light Jewish, and Dor Hadash had assembled. He began shooting randomly at the worshippers thus injuring and killing the believers. He also injured the police who came to the rescue of the worshippers. Besides, the published precarious statements of Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) on the gab.com website, and linked the worshippers of accepting activities pertaining to refugees.

The above hate crime is motivated by prejudice towards a particular group of people and in this case the Jewish people. It led to physical assault of the victims and death of some of them. The posting of information critical of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society is another characteristic of a hate crime.

The police were reactive to this case of hate crime as they were able to reach at the crime scene on time to save the fatalities, calm the situation and arrest the offender which they succeeded. Additionally the court was able to charge the offender for his commission of hate crime on the victims based on religious backgrounds and his possession of firearms which he used in the commission of the crime. He was also charged with posting discriminating information targeting the Jewish religion and a Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.

Both intelligence and investigations must comply with the law. This is simply because both can seem quite easy for a start but later turn into complex issues with legal implications ( Holz 15). Therefore, they should be carried out with the law in mind as there are laws that govern the conduct of both the investigations and intelligence.

In both, follow ups must be done. It doesn’t mean that just because intelligence collection and investigations have been conducted the whole thing is over but steps must be taken to ensure that the issue at hand is rectified. For instance if the issue pertained terrorism attacks, steps to prevent the attacks should be taken and the culprits arrested.

Information gathered from conducting investigations is used in the apprehension of criminals. Evidence collected which can be in terms of fingerprints or persons being found in possession of weapons used in committing a crime are apprehended. This prevents the case of mistaken identities in the apprehension.

The main purpose of conducting an investigation is recovering evidence tying certain people to certain crimes. This evidence is then presented in a court of law. If they are found guilty of having conducted such a crime they are prosecuted as the evidence collected adds weight in the decision making by the jury.

Intelligence collected is useful in law enforcement as it helps to prevent future crime occurrences such as terrorism attacks. Officers may gather intelligence that the terrorists are planning to attack social places such as stadiums during the festive season. This information will be used to deal with the situation before it happens for instance by looking for the terrorists and dealing with them before causing any harm.

In conclusion, intelligence collected is also a proactive way of giving knowledge on what should be anticipated. Through this, measures such as deploying of officers in risky areas are conducted thus reducing the impact of any potential criminal occurrence. It is also used as a deterrence method may it be physical or psychological deterrence. For instance the government may announce in the social media about terror threats. This can lead to cancelling of the plans by the terrorists as they get to know that the government is aware of what they want to do and will take measures to deal with them.

Works Cited

Holz, Mathieu. “Intelligence and Investigations.” Intelligence and Investigations Departmen (2017): 1-21.

Banks, William C. “sentencing considerations and their implications on foreign policy.” National Security Law and Security (2016): 1-25.

Kranich, Nancy. “The Impact of the USA PATRIOT Act on Free Expression.” RUTGERS (2016): 1-15.

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USA PATRIOT Act

Paper details
Write a paper in which you:
Explain what the USA PATRIOT Act stands for and discuss its primary purpose
Summarize an article about a recent example of a hate crime (within the last year) on
the Internet and include why it was a hate crime, the characteristics that made it a hate
crime, and how the police and court responded to the hate crime.
Compare the characteristics of intelligence and investigation and describe how the
information from each is used.
Go to https://research.strayer.edu to locate at least three (3) quality references for this
assignment, including the initial article. One must have been published within the last
year. Note: Wikipedia and similar websites do not qualify as quality resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
This course requires use of new Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). The format is
different than other Strayer University courses. Please take a moment to review the
SWS documentation for details.
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins
on all sides; citations and references must follow SWS or school-specific format. Check
with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the
professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page
are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
Explain the various digital laws and legislation in support of law enforcement.
Explain the ethical concerns that information technologies raise in society and the
impact of information technologies on crime, terrorism, and war.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in information technology
in criminal justice.
Write clearly and concisely about information technology in criminal justice topics using
proper writing mechanics and technical style conventions.