Rights provisions can be framed as the cause of social problems.

Evidence

If a person stops to think about it, most of the problems we are having can be traced to the Bill of Rights—or more precisely, to the way it has been interpreted by the Supreme Court. “Freedom of speech” has been twisted to mean that pornographers can sell their filth, and that anybody can say whatever he wants, whether it’s good for society or not. And “freedom of religion” has been twisted to mean children can’t pray in public schools any more. And the “right to happiness” has been twisted to mean women can have abortion after abortion if they’re “unhappy” being pregnant. And think how many drug pushers and criminals have gotten off scot-free because their “rights” were supposedly violated after they had robbed or killed somebody. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 274

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘rights protect criminals’ rhetorical frame feeds into current debates about procedural rights and crime — connects to the reader’s knowledge of moral panic theory and law-and-order politics.