Expert: Michael Troy - 3/9/2006

Question

Hello there. My name is Moe.

Is openly demonstrating and protesting the way to go?

Could you comment on the view that it is better that people are held without trail openly, so that we are at least aware of what's going on. Rather than them being dealt with in the same way ever other political decision that affects us is dealt with - 'behind the scenes'.

Are we not making things worse than they already are? Surely, its better to have detained one innocent person as opposed to half heartedly letting one be, that could strike terror for many, in terms of terrorism at least.


Looking foward to hearing from you. moe


Answer
Hi Moe,

I suppose given the choice between the two, it is better to know what is going on regarding imprisonments than not.  But to me that is kind of like a choice between having your head chopped off with a sword or being shot in the head with a shotgun.  I really don't like either choice.

The idea that government can imprison people without an unbiased finding that they are guilty of some crime is antithetical to any free society.  People have been fighting for centuries to prevent governments from having such arbitrary power.  Revolutions have frequently been fought over such abuses of authority.

It may seem reasonable to lock up suspected terrorists rather than let them roam the streets, but where does the suspicion come from?  Evidence has shown that many people the US has imprisoned overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq have been proven completely innocent.  It is reasonable to detain someone for a relatively short time in order to prepare for a trial, but just arbitrarily imprisoning people without strong evidence of guilt make the government a greater danger, in my view, than the terrorists.  Over time, fear of false imprisonment or similar abuses would make people more hostile and fearful of government.

Fundamental concepts like unanimous juries and proof beyond a reasonable doubt are based on the notion that it is better to let a guilty person go free than for the government to imprison someone who is innocent.  Perhaps we have become complacent because our government has been relatively respectful of the rights of citizens for several hundred years.  But I fear that if we do away with fundamental safeguards like the right to a trial, we could quickly revert to the sort of tyranny we have seen throughout history.

Anyway, those are my views.

- Mike