SURVEY ON THE BILL OF RIGHTS

Survey on the Bill of Rights

Survey on the Bill of Rights

Introduction

In United States, a Bill of Rights contains all human rights that are universally accepted and recognized. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the results of a research study aimed at determining the level of public awareness and the perceptions regarding the protection and enjoyment of such rights. To that end, the survey sought information on public knowledge or awareness of the Bill of Rights, violation or protection of various types of rights, and awareness and perceptions regarding human rights institutions. (Labunski 2008)

Literature Review

In order to understand the protection of human rights in United States, one has to take into account the nature of the country as a transitional society (Labunski 2008). Transitional societies may be described as those societies emerging from past repressive regimes (Spaeth 2008). Such societies usually have a history of autocratic dictatorships, apartheid, periods of conflict, or foreign domination. Respect for human rights is hitherto unknown or disregarded and hence the people in those societies would have had to cope with a legacy of human rights abuses. United States is a typical example of a transitional society. It is a society that has just emerged from a long period of apartheid and colonial domination. That period was mainly characterized by gross human rights abuses and institutionalized discrimination. (Robert 2005)

Methodology

In January-February 2010 the research study was conducted to determine the level of public awareness and perceptions regarding the awareness of Bill or Rights in United States. The methodology adopted involved the distribution of questionnaires in Chicago, United States. In this area questionnaires were distributed randomly among respondents from five households. The respondents in these areas included a factory worker, a student, a criminal justice employee and 2 ordinary people chosen randomly from various households.

In all, 5 questionnaires were distributed and administered by the researcher. The questions were divided into three categories:

1) Those based on the awareness and perceptions regarding the Bill of Rights in the Constitution;

2) Those based on awareness and perceptions regarding human rights violations on one hand and protection on the other; and

3) Those based on knowledge and perceptions regarding certain human rights institutions established by the Constitution.

The advantages of using questionnaires in a study of this nature, are quite obvious. First of all, with questionnaires the researcher is able to reach respondents in distant places, but more ...