Terrorism Enforcement Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Terrorism Enforcement - Research Paper Example Also, enforced sentences on international terrorists is not impressive given that by May 2006, the average sentence for individuals convicted dropped to 20 days from the prior 41 months. Terrorism Enforcement: 9/11 Aftermath Introduction September 11 is a day that marked great changes in relation to terrorism enforcement especially in the USA. A few months after the 9/11 event, the then Bush administration and Congress worked closely in putting up vital adjustments to the Department of Homeland security. The private and public sector agreed to work together where federal agents and airport security staff performed searches to individuals for explosives and weapons which could be used for terrorism activities. The then president of the United States of America issued secret orders to intensify surveillance programs headed by the National Security Agency (NSA). In the same period, the congress worked indefatigably to establish laws to enable terrorism enforcement. Majority of these law s controlled the flow of legal and illegal immigrants and visitors to the US as well as establishing systems critical to preventing terrorism. The following paper looks into the legal side of terrorism enforcement largely inspired by the act of terrorism in September 9th 2001 in the United States in New York City and the Washington, D.C. After 9/11, categories of terrorists were increased. This was done to enhance effective information gathering and analysis as terrorism enforcement is sort out for. The new bookkeeping system is aimed at diversifying activities of anti-terrorism as well as checking kinds of terrorism. The US government has categorized a considerably large number of individuals as terrorists and antiterrorists. The following table show categorized individuals between 2001 after the attacks and 2006. Source: Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC, 2006) Federal prosecutors resolved that 64% of the total set of completions do not deserve prosecution. An addit ional 9% of the completions were either found not guilty or their cases were dismissed after prosecution. This means that approximately 27% of the total sets of completion were convicted. This statistics leads to a conclusion that of the total set of 6,472 people categorized as antiterrorist or terrorist, only one-fifth of the total number were convicted by 2006 since the 9/11 attacks. The table below shows the actual anti-terrorism and terrorism categories. Source: Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC, 2006) The low rate of success in achieving conviction can be clearly seen by the attainment of only 1329 convictions from the 6472 individuals categorized by terrorism enforcement agencies. A look at the nature of convictions raises an even more interesting picture. Approximately one percent (14 individuals) of all convictions bares a substantial sentence of 20 and above years. 67 individuals received penalties of sentences longer or equal to 5 years. This represents only 5% of the total set of completions. It is worth noting that the rest of the individuals received minor convictions: 704 individuals were not imprisoned while 327 of the remaining had imprisonment periods less than a year. Simply put, the median imprisonment figure was zero. Countering International Terrorism Trends After the 9/11 attacks, an international terrorist was defined as â€Å"an individual suspected of having been involved in acts that are violent