Our Rights


Book Description

"This boxed set contains classroom resources to help America's educators teach about the most important documents in U.S. history"--Box




How Rights Went Wrong


Book Description

An eminent constitutional scholar reveals how our approach to rights is dividing America, and shows how we can build a better system of justice.




Police Encounters


Book Description

THIS IS THE NEWEST VERSION OF POLICE ENCOUNTERS, PLEASE ENJOY!!!This book is written by a former investigator and was designed to give the everyday citizen critical information about their rights when dealing with law enforcement. There might be information in this book you only need to know one time, but that one time could save your life. Case laws are also included.1) What is the difference between a frisk and a search? 2) Did you know that if you were getting patted down (frisked) by an officer and that officer starts manipulating the items in your pocket with his finger, that "pat-down" just became and illegal search? 3) Did you know that if that officer puts his hand in your pockets that "pat-down" just became an illegal search? 4) Did you know that a "pat-down" is to be conducted on the outer layer of your clothing? Police Encounters: Know Your Rights was designed to educate it's readers on their everyday rights. This book is written by a former Investigator, SWAT member, and Hostage Negotiator. As an Investigator I've worked: Street level narcotics and was assigned to a DEA task force (developed informants, conducted surveillance, conducted undercover operations, conducted wire taps) Property crimes (burglary and thefts) Person's crimes (aggravated assaults and violent offenses) Sexual assaults (rapes and sexual assaults against children) White collar crimes (identity thefts and frauds.) As an investigator I've worked God knows how many cases. It's sad, but many of them were crimes against children, we receive too many of those. Anyway, I drafted numerous search warrants in my career to search everything from vehicles to body cavities. I've taken thousands of arrest warrants and conducted about the same number of interviews. I've had people confess things to me from petty thefts to despicable child molestations. And I've received all the information with a straight face and the suspect thinking I was there to show them support. I can't recount how many times I conducted an interrogation and thought to myself, "You need to ask for a lawyer right about now." But, my job was to extract information; so I did. I've participated in more than my share of hot pursuit chases, high risk warrant services (arrest warrant and search warrants), no-knock search warrants, and stand-offs in which I had to negotiate. With that being said, the information in this book is true and accurate with applicable case law to back it up. After each section of this book you will find numerous case laws with brief descriptions that will support what was just stated. Feel free to research the case laws and read the full scenario of what happened to bring about the case law. Also, the "examples" given in this book are taken from actual events so everything is true to life. Police Encounters: Know Your Rights is straight forward and very easy to understand. If you didn't know the answers to the questions asked, then you need to get this book. There is no telling how many times your civil rights have already been violated, and you didn't have the slightest idea. If you have a friend or loved one in college, this is the book for them. If you have brushes with the law, then this is the book for you. There is information in here that you didn't know about, that I guarantee. Now is the time to gain this new knowledge so that you can be mentally aware for you and those close to you. There is information in this book that you may only need to know one time, but that one time can be the difference between freedom and life in prison, or remaining a sexual assault victim or fighting back with the law. The knowledge is here, I suggest you give it a once over because I've personally sent people to prison who didn't know when to ask for a lawyer. Grant, they did the crime, but a lawyer could have helped negotiate a lighter sentence for a confession and cooperation. Don't be one of these people.




Black Book of Rights


Book Description

The Black Book of Rights: In Furtherance of the Civil Rights Movement is written in two distinct but related sections. The first section reviews law enforcement in the United States of America, citing several studies demonstrating how, despite the Civil Rights Movement's successes, Black Americans are still under attack by the Criminal Justice Regime (police, prosecutors and judges). Relevant United States Supreme Court case law is highlighted to show, 1) the progression of how courts have viewed Black Americans and their place in the United States, and 2) how close in time we are to American cultural practices and customs that were said to have detrimental effects that "are likely to be undone."The second section of the book details the various encounters you have with police officers, provides you with bullet point law and facts concerning those encounters and explains how to best position yourself for the safety and preservation of your rights in a potential criminal case. The stated goal of the Black Book of Rights is to reduce the number of Black men in prisons. The Black Book acknowledges that law enforcement is unlikely to change the tactics it deploys against Black Americans that create the disproportionality found in all aspects of the Criminal Justice Regime, so the author places the responsibility on Black America to learn their rights and asks for accountability to one another for properly invoking those rights. With approximately 90% of individuals waiving their Miranda rights, the Black Book is critical in teaching the rights you possess during a police encounter and how to invoke those rights correctly. You're charged with the duty of education and application, because white America is not coming to save you.




Know Your Rights


Book Description

For more than 200 years, the Constitution of the United States has been a “working” document, maintaining the original principles upon which our nation was founded while, at the same time, changing with the country, as reflected in its amendments. While the U.S. Constitution itself outlines the basic structure of the federal government, its twenty-seven amendments address many subjects but primarily focus on the rights of individual American citizens. This booklet outlines those rights, offering historical context and other information that is both interesting and informative.The continued vitality of our democracy is dependent upon an informed citizenry. Understanding the history of the Constitution and its amendments will assist all of us in more fully appreciating these rights and responsibilities as they have evolved over time. Moreover, such understanding will ensure that these rights will continue to be exercised, valued, and cherished by future generations.




United States Code


Book Description

"The United States Code is the official codification of the general and permanent laws of the United States of America. The Code was first published in 1926, and a new edition of the code has been published every six years since 1934. The 2012 edition of the Code incorporates laws enacted through the One Hundred Twelfth Congress, Second Session, the last of which was signed by the President on January 15, 2013. It does not include laws of the One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, enacted between January 2, 2013, the date it convened, and January 15, 2013. By statutory authority this edition may be cited "U.S.C. 2012 ed." As adopted in 1926, the Code established prima facie the general and permanent laws of the United States. The underlying statutes reprinted in the Code remained in effect and controlled over the Code in case of any discrepancy. In 1947, Congress began enacting individual titles of the Code into positive law. When a title is enacted into positive law, the underlying statutes are repealed and the title then becomes legal evidence of the law. Currently, 26 of the 51 titles in the Code have been so enacted. These are identified in the table of titles near the beginning of each volume. The Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives continues to prepare legislation pursuant to 2 U.S.C. 285b to enact the remainder of the Code, on a title-by-title basis, into positive law. The 2012 edition of the Code was prepared and published under the supervision of Ralph V. Seep, Law Revision Counsel. Grateful acknowledgment is made of the contributions by all who helped in this work, particularly the staffs of the Office of the Law Revision Counsel and the Government Printing Office"--Preface.




The Bill of Rights Primer


Book Description

Many Americans reference the Bill of Rights, a document that represents many of the freedoms that define the United States. Who doesn’t know about the First Amendment’s freedom of religion or Second Amendment’s right to bear arms? In this pocket-sized volume, Akhil Reed Amar and Les Adams offer a wealth of knowledge about the Bill of Rights that goes beyond a basic understanding. The Bill of Rights Primer is an authoritative guide to all American freedoms. Uncluttered and well-organized, this text is perfect for those who want to study up on the Bill of Rights without needing a law degree to do so. This elementary guidebook presents a short historical survey of the people, events, decrees, legislation, writings, and cultural milestones, in England and the American colonies, that influenced the Founding Fathers as they drafted the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. With helpful comments and fun facts in the margins, the book will provide a deeper understanding of the Bill of Rights, exhibiting that it is not a stagnant document but one with an evolving meaning shaped by historical events, such as the American Civil War and Reconstruction.




We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights


Book Description

National Book Award for Nonfiction Finalist National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction Finalist A New York Times Notable Book of the Year A Washington Post Notable Book of the Year A PBS “Now Read This” Book Club Selection Named one of the Best Books of the Year by the Economist and the Boston Globe A landmark exposé and “deeply engaging legal history” of one of the most successful, yet least known, civil rights movements in American history (Washington Post). In a revelatory work praised as “excellent and timely” (New York Times Book Review, front page), Adam Winkler, author of Gunfight, once again makes sense of our fraught constitutional history in this incisive portrait of how American businesses seized political power, won “equal rights,” and transformed the Constitution to serve big business. Uncovering the deep roots of Citizens United, he repositions that controversial 2010 Supreme Court decision as the capstone of a centuries-old battle for corporate personhood. “Tackling a topic that ought to be at the heart of political debate” (Economist), Winkler surveys more than four hundred years of diverse cases—and the contributions of such legendary legal figures as Daniel Webster, Roger Taney, Lewis Powell, and even Thurgood Marshall—to reveal that “the history of corporate rights is replete with ironies” (Wall Street Journal). We the Corporations is an uncompromising work of history to be read for years to come.




You Have the Right to Remain Innocent


Book Description

An urgent, compact manifesto that will teach you how to protect your rights, your freedom, and your future when talking to police. Law professor James J. Duane became a viral sensation thanks to a 2008 lecture outlining the reasons why you should never agree to answer questions from the police--especially if you are innocent and wish to stay out of trouble with the law. In this timely, relevant, and pragmatic new book, he expands on that presentation, offering a vigorous defense of every citizen's constitutionally protected right to avoid self-incrimination. Getting a lawyer is not only the best policy, Professor Duane argues, it's also the advice law-enforcement professionals give their own kids. Using actual case histories of innocent men and women exonerated after decades in prison because of information they voluntarily gave to police, Professor Duane demonstrates the critical importance of a constitutional right not well or widely understood by the average American. Reflecting the most recent attitudes of the Supreme Court, Professor Duane argues that it is now even easier for police to use your own words against you. This lively and informative guide explains what everyone needs to know to protect themselves and those they love.




This Is Not Civil Rights


Book Description

Since at least the time of Tocqueville, observers have noted that Americans draw on the language of rights when expressing dissatisfaction with political and social conditions. As the United States confronts a complicated set of twenty-first-century problems, that tradition continues, with Americans invoking symbolic events of the founding era to frame calls for change. Most observers have been critical of such “rights talk.” Scholars on the left worry that it limits the range of political demands to those that can be articulated as legally recognized rights, while conservatives fear that it creates unrealistic expectations of entitlement. Drawing on a remarkable cache of Depression-era complaint letters written by ordinary Americans to the Justice Department, George I. Lovell challenges these common claims. Although the letters were written prior to the emergence of the modern civil rights movement—which most people assume is the origin of rights talk—many contain novel legal arguments, including expansive demands for new entitlements that went beyond what authorities had regarded as legitimate or required by law. Lovell demonstrates that rights talk is more malleable and less constraining than is generally believed. Americans, he shows, are capable of deploying idealized legal claims as a rhetorical tool for expressing their aspirations for a more just society while retaining a realistic understanding that the law often falls short of its own ideals.