Questions: In The Criminal Justice System

The stages of the Criminal justice process in the United States are designed to ensure that innocent people are not convicted, and that law enforcement officials do not abuse their power. The majority of cases do not proceed past the preliminary review stage and only a small percentage of arrests end in convictions. Law enforcement officers are expected to act within their jurisdiction and avoid infringing on the rights of private citizens.

This will be the first in a series of questions. There are always pros’ and con's to all questions, so feel free give your opinion. The questions to be addressed, will be some questions that law enforcement tends hear. :

(1) Should the government punish members of the press who refuse to reveal their sources?

In my opinion: The press is a very powerful organization in our society. I believe that any unauthorized information that is leaked to the press, and that pertains to national security, that is, information that relates to some new weapon's system, covert operations and/or other undercover activities, should not exempt the press from their responsibility to present their information to the court when requested. At the least, the press should provide the source of their information to the judge in a private setting, and that judge can disseminate to others the source as deem necessary.

I believe that there are to many secrets that are being kept from the public that should not be. The public has a right to be kept informed of the various issues that affect them. However, the information should be disseminated when authorities deem it necessary.

A bill was submitted by Senator Dodd's and according to the bill, "journalists would only be forced to reveal a source if such information would be decisive in a legal case, could not be obtained elsewhere, and would be of absolutely vital public interest" (Reporters Without Borders, 2005).

"Members of the press serve a very important role in a democracy. Reporters make the citizenry aware of matters of public importance, such as the workings of their govrnment" (U.S. Court, n.d). With the war on terrorism the media do not need to disseminate sensitive information to the American public unless there is a need to know. Releasing certain types of information can end up goig to our enemies which can lead to uncertain consequences from them.