Racial Profiling In Criminal Cases
Congress enacted the material witness law in 1984 which enabled the government to secure material information of suspects who might avoid testifying in criminal cases . As soon as a witness is apprehended, the government should allow him access to a trial. During his prosecution the court determines whether the suspect should be released or detained .
While the Justice Department denied any identifiable link of the law with the Patriot Act critics insisted that Bush administration designated suspects as material witnesses under the jurisdiction of section 412. According to Roza Pati, the government used extensively this measure to detain individuals for months as well as it denied them their “procedural guarantees” .
In this vein, the
“Human Rights Watch” report, argued that the justice department breached the constitutional conventions through violating the fifth and sixth amendments . In fact this investigatory tool has been misused since at least seventy men - all Muslims but one – were victims of indefinite detentions of which thirty were never brought before a grand jury or a court to testify .
While the Justice Department denied any identifiable link of the law with the Patriot Act critics insisted that Bush administration designated suspects as material witnesses under the jurisdiction of section 412. According to Roza Pati, the government used extensively this measure to detain individuals for months as well as it denied them their “procedural guarantees” .
In this vein, the
“Human Rights Watch” report, argued that the justice department breached the constitutional conventions through violating the fifth and sixth amendments . In fact this investigatory tool has been misused since at least seventy men - all Muslims but one – were victims of indefinite detentions of which thirty were never brought before a grand jury or a court to testify .