Individual liberties guaranteed by the Constitution are under pressure across the board. Government surveillance has increased as security risks have grown. Laws affecting life and death (abortion, euthanasia, etc.) have been politicized. Protecting society by enforcing a moral code has become an accepted government function.  Prohibition laws and other regulations have been enacted on consensual behaviors including drugs, sex and gambling whenever those behaviors are viewed as detrimental to society.  Security provisions at airports post 911 subject travelers to intrusive searches. NSA surveillance of civilian telecommunications traffic is rumored to subject billions of conversations to checks for keywords, phrases, voice signatures and the like.

Laws like the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act (MCA) and the Defense Authorization Act of 2012 reduce basic guarantees in the name of security. MCA and subsequent legislation erodes basic freedoms like the right of Habeas Corpus, the freedom from unlimited government detention, which traces back to the Magna Carta and is specifically guaranteed by Article I Section 9 of the Constitution “except in times of rebellion or invasion.”  

As a direct result of these changes and of sentencing guidelines passed in 1997, more people (6 million) are in US prisons and under judicial system parole or probation than ever before. We have more people in prison (2 million) than any other country both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the population. Minorities are overrepresented in prisons. 65 million Americans have criminal records.