Sacrificing civil liberties to reduce terrorism risks

摘要

In order to reduce the terrorist attack risks, particularly in air travel, extra precautions are being taken, like much more rigorous passenger screening. 1. These create intrusions such as searches of people and their belongings, which are paid for with ticket surcharges. 2. Searches also focused on a certain class of people like Middle-Eastern-looking men as opposed to undertaking searches randomly or generally. 3. The issue of compromising the civil liberties can only be examined by an assessment of and valuation of the risks and on our willingness to sacrifice civil liberties to reduce terrorist risks. The subject is empirically explored using a survey done using Harvard Law School students. The survey was carried out approximately seven months after the 9/11 attack.