Civil Disobedience & Activism — Breaking Law to Make Law
1960-1970

This era is one of great upheaval and change. The Civil Rights and antiwar movements set the tone by challenging established authority, and many other groups — from Native Americans to gays and lesbians — follow their lead. These movements are driven by youth determined to remake the world around them. Protests, rallies, and uprisings become increasingly familiar. Civil disobedience, consciously breaking a law to bring attention to an issue, proves highly successful. Television, by bringing these dramas into people's living rooms, is more effective than earlier media at stimulating emotional responses and active involvement. This is a time of division and discord. Often, the result is terrifying violence.

The criminal justice system participates in the era's happenings in a multitude of complicated ways. It becomes an agent of both repression and liberation. The police beat down protesters across the land, while the courts finally guarantee rights promised long ago. Bull Connor hoses peaceful protesters, and the police and national guard shoot students at Jackson State and Kent State. Yet some of the same government agencies escort black students into schools to enforce desegregation. The judicial system that ignores or exonerates assassins of civil rights leaders is the same one that ensures voting rights, the right to an attorney, and juvenile due process. The long-term effects of this turbulent decade continue to be debated, but from criminal procedure and Miranda rights to organized protest and civil disobedience, the criminal justice system is forever changed.