"Criminalizing Dissent" depicts the 2004 G8 Summit and how a multi-million dollar security policy affected the lives of local citizens, federal and state authorities, and most of all, the people who chose to oppose the summit. The event took place from June 8 - 11 in Sea Island, Georgia: it was America's first attempt in the post 9/11 era. Carol Bass, a single parent mother, wants to organize a peaceful demonstration that offers alternatives to corporate globalization. She also wants guarantees against police brutality from Homeland Security and the local sheriff, Matt Doering. The documentary depicts her struggle beneath the shadow of overwhelming state force, from the unconstitutional protest ordinances that strangled potential social movements, her exclusion from town hall meetings, to the G8 protests that faced over 25,000 combined police and military personnel.