Mississippi Burning -- Crime or Thesis

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The fact that the local police authorities and local governing officials (like the mayor) were all of the same mindset as the perpetrators and that a deputy sheriff was involved first-hand in the murders virtually ensured that the crimes would remain unsolved unless the investigating authorities deviated from the normal guidelines for criminal investigations.

Nevertheless, the specific tactics used by the FBI agents were themselves criminal actions that, in other circumstances and certainly nowadays, would have resulted in charges of official misconduct, criminal prosecutions of the agents involved ironically) for civil rights violations, as well as civil claims against the agents personally and the Bureau. The agents illegally abducted the mayor and terrorized him with the implied threat of castration. They coerced information from the deputy's wife, (who was not involved at all in the crimes), exposing her to grave danger and causing her to be subjected to a beating from her husband. They perpetrated another abduction in connection with a mock lynching of an uninvolved Klan member for the purposes of enlisting his cooperation as an informant. While it was not covered in the film, evidence that came to light much later suggests that the Bureau also used a known Mafia hitman to terrorize and intimidate information from the suspects.

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Ethical Analysis:

Because the film opens with the murders of the civil rights workers and leaves no doubt as to the guilt of those responsible, it is difficult to sympathize with their deprivation of fundamental constitutional rights by the FBI agents who extracted the information necessary to solve the crime and formally charge the individuals involved. However, the wider implications of such practices by law enforcement would undermine some of the most important protections against government abuse and suspend many of the constitutional rights that distinguish the United States from typical police states.

Specifically, the tactics employed by the FBI agents violated the defendants' Fourth Amendment constitutional rights against unwarranted search and seizure as well as their Fifth Amendment rights against compelled self-incrimination. To be fair, the case preceded the historic changes in law enforcement and the modern application of civil rights principles within the criminal justice system. Ultimately, while the defendants certainly deserved no such consideration, the true test of a constitutional democracy is whether it adheres to its values and principles in the cases where doing so is hardest. That may very well be the same dilemma currently faced by the new presidential administration in connection with handling detainees in the realm of….....

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