ABSTRACT
This chapter starts by examining the criminal regimes in Australia and the United Kingdom (UK) that have been enacted in response to the terrorist threat. Law enforcement agencies themselves have expressed concern about the workability and even potentially counterproductive effects of these offences. The most common criticisms that have been put forward, however, are those based on fundamental norms of human rights. The chapter examines how the preparatory offences affect the freedoms of association, expression and religion, as well as the presumption of innocence. One of the offences that has been most heavily relied upon in terrorism prosecutions in Australia, although slightly less so in the UK, is that of membership of a terrorist organization. All nation states have a basic responsibility to ensure the security of their people and it may therefore prove necessary to restrict the freedoms of association, expression and religion, as well as the presumption of innocence.
