Due Process vs Criminal Control - Essay Example

The due process model, however, focuses on the rights and freedoms of suspects and in delaying the suspect's apprehension, threatens the criminal justice system’s objectives of ensuring law and order and the rights and freedom of the majority of members of society who are susceptible to criminal victimization (Packer, 153-172).

The threat of terror identifies the need for profiling but provisions of constitutional amendments preclude law enforcement from focusing investigations on groups of people. The Fifth Amendment establishes the need for due process before initiatives by law enforcement officers, on U.S. citizens, and this means that arbitrary focus cannot be made on a group of citizens, despite their potential association with terror threats. The fourteenth amendment also protects fundamental rights from arbitrary laws and this means that it precludes any authority that law enforcement officers can operate on during profiling (Kaplan, 30). Ethical consideration would however inform my balancing between the interest of safety and security and securing the rights and civil liabilities of citizens. Rights and freedoms always conflict and are the cause of safety and security concerns to require focus on safety and security. In addition, the rights and freedom of criminals, who are a few members of society, contravene the rights and freedoms of other individuals. Consequently, focusing on safety and security extends to ensure the rights and freedom of a majority to establish a good balance.