HOW HE SEES IT Our rights as Americans are slowly slipping away

America has long been a shining beacon of freedom and liberty. Thomas Jefferson wrote of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" in the declaration of independence. Now those cherished rights are slowly slipping away. Not because of tyranny or terrorism, not because of the watchful eye of big brother or the overzealous acts of politicians, rather due to a willing citizenry voluntarily trading its personal freedom for personal security.
Some will argue that our personal freedoms will continue to erode thanks to government initiatives like a proposed national ID card, public video surveillance, access to personal library records, Internet searches and expanded electronic surveillance. The idea of these powers being broadened may appear to be, and in some instances are, a threat to the United States Constitution. However, the real threat may well lie with what freedoms Americans will give away, not what the Congress or courts will take away.
Violent crime
Americans have been cowering in the face of violent crime for more than three decades. But something strange has happened. As certain freedoms slipped away, violent crime plummeted. Violent crime has declined each year since 1994 and since then, it has dropped nearly 40 percent. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics there were 52 violent crimes per 1,000 people in 1994. Ten years later, there were only 21. A recent FBI report shows that as of 2004, the national homicide rate had retreated back to the levels of the 1960s.
Theories abound as to why violent crime decreased so dramatically over the last decade. Steven D. Levitt, an economics professor at the University of Chicago and author of the bestseller "Freakonomics," suggests four factors that reduced violent crime; more police officers on the streets, more people in jail, the decline in the demand for crack cocaine and the most controversial -- the legalization of abortion.
However, experts such as Levitt do not come right out and say it, and the average American may not admit it (or even know it), but falling crime rates have come at a heavy cost; the sacrifice of our personal liberty. According to the Center for Victims of Crime one out of two Americans lives in fear of becoming a violent crime victim. In fact, 41 percent of Americans say they avoid certain neighborhoods, avoid going out at night and avoid going out alone, due to their fear of being mugged, beaten, raped or robbed.
It has been said that a man's home is his castle. In modern America, a man's home is his fortress. A significant majority of Americans have altered the way they live in exchange for safety.
Security systems
In this nation, where we have secured the blessings of liberty, more and more homes and businesses have security systems, spot lights, motion detectors, metal gates covering front doors, video surveillance, car alarms, & quot;The Club & quot;, mace, pepper spray, stun guns, hand guns, personal self-defense training, and even architectural design with crime prevention in mind. There are near-strip-searches at every airport gate, metal detectors at every courthouse door and fortified entrances of every local school.
In addition, crime, or the fear of it, cannot be overlooked as a significant factor in the demise of American cities. People have fled our cities for the safe haven of the suburbs making fright and flight "effective" crime fighting tools. Americans live in fear of being victimized and are willing to sacrifice freedom, liberty and even their homes to avoid it.
Liberty and freedom allow us to enjoy all the rights granted by the United States without fear of reprisal. If those freedoms are willingly sacrificed, they are lost nonetheless. While a suspicious eye is cast upon the government, the average citizen casually walks away from the fundamental freedoms Jefferson wrote about more than two and a quarter centuries ago. Sure, crime is down, but at what cost? The question remains, do Americans really have liberty if they are afraid to exercise it?
X Matthew T. Mangino, the former district attorney of Lawrence County, Pa., is a featured columnist for the Pennsylvania Law Weekly. Mangino can be contacted at matthewmangino@aol.com.