BELMONT, Calif., April 28 – Thomson Wadsworth, a
part of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC) and a leading provider
of higher education textbooks, including those for the criminal justice
discipline today released survey results indicating that many of the nation’s
top criminal justice experts harbor deep concerns and negative views of the
USA Patriot Act.
Nearly all the criminal justice experts polled for the survey say the Act
was passed too quickly and without adequate regard for the long-term legal
repercussions of the Act’s provisions. In addition, a solid majority says the
Act violates the rights of individuals.
To gauge the experts’ perception of the Act, Thomson Wadsworth polled 263
of the criminal justice community’s most renowned figures, a pool that
includes university professors and institute researchers with highly
recognized levels of knowledge in criminal justice. Thomson Wadsworth e-mailed
them a link to the survey questions and respondents were able to complete the
survey online for untainted data collection. Responses were collected over a
two-week period beginning in February 2004. With 65 respondents, the survey
netted a very high 25 percent response rate.
Key findings include:
* 95% of the respondents feel that the Patriot Act was passed too quickly
without considerable thought on how it may impact existing laws or
public policy.
* About three-quarters (74%) of individuals feel that the Patriot Act
violates individual rights.
* Most respondents (68%) believe that existing laws could be leveraged to
protect the nation from terrorism.
* All respondents believe that the federal government has a law
enforcement/defense role in protecting the country against terrorism.
“As the Patriot Act regains the spotlight and claims a position in
President Bush’s re-election campaign, it is more important than ever before
to hear from the top minds in the criminal justice field,” said Sabra Horne,
senior executive editor with Thomson Wadsworth’s criminal justice department.
“The American public should have access to the thinking behind important
criminal justice-related topics that can impact and potentially shape their
personal lives and society as a whole.”
The goal of the Thomson Wadsworth criminal justice survey is to tap the
top minds in the criminal justice field to bring to light current trends,
issues and topics in criminal justice. The findings should spur additional
debate in the hopes of impacting and helping to educate the American public as
they form their opinions on key issues affecting their personal lives as well
as national events, like the upcoming presidential election.
If you are interested in seeing the complete results of the USA Patriot
Act survey or would like to speak with any of the survey respondents, please
contact Gabrielle Zucker Acevedo at 212-367-6861 or via email at
gabrielle.zucker@eurorscg.com.
Thomson Wadsworth will be conducting a criminal justice survey each
quarter to investigate key trends and significant issues in the field,
providing an opportunity for criminal justice professors, researchers and
authors to offer their expertise and uncover new points of view in favor of
promoting healthy debates. The next survey, focused on racial profiling, will
be released in May.
About The Thomson Corporation and Thomson Higher Education
The Thomson Corporation (http://www.thomson.com), with 2003 revenues of $7.6
billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to
business and professional customers. Thomson provides value-added information,
software tools and applications to more than 20 million users in the fields of
law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference
information, corporate training and assessment, scientific research and
healthcare. With operational headquarters in Stamford, Conn., Thomson has
approximately 39,000 employees and provides services in approximately 130
countries. The Corporation’s common shares are listed on the New York and
Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC). Its learning businesses and
brands serve the needs of individuals, learning institutions, corporations and
government agencies with products and services for both traditional and
distributed learning.
Thomson Higher Education (http://www.wadsworth.com; http://www.brookscole.com;
http://www.swlearning.com; http://www.heinle.com) is a leading provider of higher education
textbooks, software, and Internet materials for the humanities, behavioral,
and social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, and business and economics.
Thomson Higher Education publishes under the brands of Thomson Wadsworth,
Thomson Brooks/Cole, Thomson South-Western, Thomson Heinle, and Thomson
Schirmer.
