The Criminal Justice System After 9/11

Introduction
September 11, 2001 brought American's to a complete stand still. The secure nation that Americans were used to no longer existed. There have been several changes that have occurred in law enforcement since the 9/11 attacks. The main focus has been on security. There have been measures to monitor the internet, airports and borders to make sure that future attacks are limited or excluded completely. The freedom that American's were used to in the past is no longer given to American's. American's have to be more aware of their surroundings; more aware of world issues and more aware of what could happen in the future if the attacks of 9/11 are ever forgotten. In response to 9/11, local law enforcement agencies and state agencies undertook a number of steps: increasing the number of personnel engaged in emergency response planning; updating response plans for chemical, biological, or radiological attacks and, to a lesser extent, mutual aid agreements; and reallocating internal resources or increasing departmental spending to focus on terrorism preparedness. All of this due to the 9/11 attacks. 

The Patriot Act
The most prevalent area of criminal justice that the 9/11 attacks had on our society was the amount of security that increased in all aspects of our lives. Congress passed the USA Patriot Act "which enabled law enforcement to search more deeply to try to get information on terrorist and possible future attacks".(Davis, 2004) Many citizens and government officials were concerned that the Act would give too much power to government snooping.