How to Infringe on a Personal Liberty

Although personal liberty is an abstract and fairly fluid concept, it is also the basis of modern democratic society. The right to exist in society as a free person who has the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," is what keeps a democracy stable. It's important to understand how someone infringes on a personal liberty so you can avoid being a victim or a perpetrator.

Instructions

1. Fail to understand the basis of personal liberty law. In the U.S., the personal liberty protections reside in the Constitution and the set of laws and court rulings that pertain to the lines between law enforcement, individual rights and privacy. Ignorance of personal liberty makes impingement easier.

2. Arrest someone without cause. A crucial personal liberty is the right to have due process and reason for arrest, or habeus corpus. One of the things that most outraged the founders of the American democracy was the British king's ability to have someone arrested for no reason. To infringe on a personal liberty in a big way, arrest someone without telling them why and without cause to do so.

3. Deny due process. The basis of the criminal justice system is respecting the citizen as free and placing the burden of proof on the state. To infringe on a personal liberty in the court of law, deny a suspect the right to due process, to an attorney and to a jury of his or her peers.

4. Impinge on religious beliefs. As with legal restrictions on the government, personal liberty concepts of a Western democracy forbid the governments from regulating, restricting or impinging on religious beliefs. A classic method of personal liberty infringement (one that goes on every day in dictatorships) is oppression of a religion or the practicing of religious beliefs or ceremonies.