Abstract
This paper introduces and critically analyzes the USA PATRIOT Act, passed shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The author identifies and discusses benefits of the law, threats to civil liberties, important realities of the law (including how it is being used), and examines whether the intrusions it imposes on American citizens are reasonable. The paper also includes a detailed discussion of a major backlash against the law, discusses the likely future of the law, and concludes with implications of the law for the criminal justice discipline.

Matthew Robinson
Appalachian State University in Boone, NC
Matthew Robinson is currently an Associate Professor of political science and criminal justice at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. Robinson teaches and does research in the areas of criminological theory, civil liberties, injustices of criminal justice agencies, the death penalty, the war on drugs, and 9/11. He is the of the new books, Death Nation: The Experts Explain American Capital Punishment (Prentice Hall, 2008), and Lies, Damned Lies, and Drug War Statistics: A Critical Analysis of Claims Made by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (State University of New York Press, 2007). Robinson is also author of four other books and more than fifty other pieces of published research. E-mail: robinsnmb@appstate.edu.