The United States Patriot Act

Essay by kjstubbsUniversity, Bachelor'sC, October 2008

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The United States Patriot ActOn September 11, 2001 America was shattered by an act of terrorists. On this dayterrorists hijacked 4 planes with the plan of destroying America. The first two planes crashed into both towers of the Trade Center in New York, the third crashed into the Pentagon and the fourth crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Because of these attacks the Congress started coming up with ways to prevent terrorist attacks from happening. The United States Patriot Act came about. The United States Patriot Act was created to protect the United States from harm done by terrorists. This act was signed into law by President Bush on October 26, 2001.

When the United States Patriot Act was signed into law, many citizens were unhappy with its provisions. The provisions of the Patriot Act have some pros and cons. Like for instance the information sharing provision. The information sharing provision allows information from suspects to be shared with intelligence agencies and other parts of the government.

The supporters of this provision say that it is a great idea because it allows the government to do what is needed and the critics say that this provision is not good because it would eventually lead to law abiding citizen’s information to be shared (Abramson and Godoy ND). Another provision is “Sneak and Peek” warrants. The “Sneak and Peek” warrant is that it allows authorities to search a home or business without notifying the person of interest. The supporters of this say that this is good because it has already allowed officials to search houses of suspected drug dealers andother criminals without the compromising of evidence and the critics say that this allows officials to search the homes of suspects of minor crimes, not just those suspected of being a terrorist...