Download - Chapters 42 and 17
Right to Privacy
Crime and Law -- Nilsen
Privacy is:
The right to be let alone
Privacy is:
The right to do what you want without
government interference
Privacy is found:
Nowhere in the Constitution!
Zones of Privacy
• First Amendment (religion, others)• Third Amendment (military quartering)• Fourth Amendment (search and seizure)• Fifth Amendment (self-incrimination)• Ninth Amendment (all other rights)• Fourteenth Amendment (due process)
How do courts tell whether privacy is violated?
• Reasonable Expectation of Privacy (REOP)
vs. government interest
What about:
• A public school requires students to obey a dress code and restricts the hair length of boys.
• The government requires taxpayers to reveal the source of their income, even if it is from illegal activities.
What about:
• A law forbids nude sunbathing anywhere at a community’s beaches.
• In a prison that has several stabbings, inmates are strip searched every day.
What about:
• A state law requires motorcyclists to wear helmets.
• The police place a small device in a phone that enables them to record all numbers dialed on that phone.
• The REOP in one’s home is very strong, except
when related to a crime.
• The REOP at school is very weak, except
for some confidentiality concerns.
• The REOP in information gathering is strong, except
for acts done in public.
• The REOP for family decisions is strong,
except in cases of abuse.
• The REOP for reproductive decisions is moderately strong,
except for all sorts of exceptions.
What about:
• A state law requires that the father of the baby provide written consent before a woman is able to obtain an abortion.
• A poor woman is unable to obtain an abortion because her state does not provide public funds to cover such a medical procedure.
What about:
• A state law requires a 24-hour waiting period between the time of the woman’s decision to have the abortion and the actual procedure.
• A state law requires a pregnant minor (someone under the age of 18) to obtain written consent from both parents in order to obtain an abortion.
What about:
• A state law requires a pregnant minor to obtain written consent from one parent or from a judge in order to obtain an abortion.
• The REOP in national security cases is weak,
especially in times of war.
Examples
• The USA Patriot Act allows greater government surveillance powers in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
• President Lincoln suspended the writ of habeus corpus during the Civil War.
Examples
• During World War I, the federal government restricted the right to criticize the government, either verbally or in writing.
• During World War II, the federal government forced over 100,000 citizens of Japanese ancestry into detainment camps.