Murder and rape are both legal terms that are used in contemporary society to describe the social construct of crime. Murder is a homicidal act resulting in death that is not permitted by the laws within society. Therefore, shooting a man to death as a lawful soldier engaged in a warranted military conflict with another country's group of soldiers is not considered murder. The same action between country members when there is no martial conflict, however, is considered murder. ape consists of unpermitted sexual acts that have not been condoned by one of the parties. In most instances men rape women and other men, although women have been known to rape men as well.
Evolutionary theory accounts for murder by positing it as a conflict of interests between two parties that is resolved violently (Dal and Wilson, 1997, p. 53). Moreover, this theory considers the fact that most crimes are…...
mlaReferences
Daly, M. & Wilson, M. (1997). Crime and conflict: Homicide in evolutionary psychological perspective. Crime & Justice, 22, 51 -- 100. Retrieved from http://psych.mcmaster.ca/dalywilson/Crime&Conflict.pdf
Wood, M.E. (No date). "Criminality is a product of genes and environment." www.personalityresearch.org. Retrieved from http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/jones.html
Such is the case with Tennessee v Lane, a case in the Supreme Court that focused on the legality of Congress to enact laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act under section V of the Fourteenth Amendment. The High Court ultimately found that Congress does have the power to enact a law which may run contrary to an individual state's sovereign immunity in cases that implicate access to the courts (Tennessee v Lane, 2004).
The suite was brought by plaintiffs who were disabled, lived in Tenessee, and claimed that they were unable to access the upper flowers of the state courthouses, thus denying them a public service under Title II of the ADA. The state of Tennessee argued that the 11th Amendment prohibited the suite. Congress, said Tennessee, could use its powers to remedy discrimuination that was blatant and purposeful, but not in general because of a state's sovereign…...
mlaREFERENCES
Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v Garrett, 531 U.S. 356 (U.S. Supreme 2001).
Tennessee v Lane, 541 U.S. 509 (U.S. Supremem Court 2004).
Bradley, C. (Ed.). (2006). The Rehnquist Legacy. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Criminal Justice Issue
As a police detective, I handle the majority of homicide investigations with my partner, Officer X (X). We are investigating the brutal beating, rape and assault of a woman in our community who is now in a coma. Earlier that evening, officers responded to a complaint that a gang of young men were assaulting residents and two members of the gang, 14 years of age, were arrested. X interviewed both in separate rooms. We found that they had previous records for robbery and assault. X reports that both confessed and the case is closed. However, the case has reached national prominence due to the circumstances. A conviction will vindicate the police, but there are proprietary questions of Constitutional ights, Policy, and ethics that are bothering me and forcing an ethical decision.
Major Ethical and Legal Dilemmas:
The youths were 14, minors, and entitled to have parents or guardians present during…...
mlaREFERENCES
Deverette, R. (2002). Introduction to Virtue Ethics. Washington, DC: Georgetown
Sandel, C. (2010). Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? New York: Farar, Straus and Giroux.
Sissler, D. (2001). The Needs of the Few Outweigh the Needs of the Many. Retrieved from Davidsissler.com website: http://www.davidsisler.com/05-09-2001.htm
Ethics Policy for the Media in Handling the Reporting of Criminal Justice Issues and News
American constitutional history speaks of balancing two or more rights against each other; in this particular context, the two rights requiring balancing are: society's right of knowing and press victims' privacy rights. One end has media reporters who seek free public data access together with complete discretion to publish whatever they desire, while the other has crime victims who are largely private citizens wishing to remain unseen but shoved unwillingly into the press's glare. A hodgepodge of multiple-level court rulings and state and federal legislation illuminate the pendulum's direction over time (Steele, 2002).
(1) Strive to find accurate facts and report them in maximum possible detail
• Be constantly informed in order to be able to clearly and persuasively inform, involve, and educate society on major subjects.
• Maintain honesty, fairness, and courage when collecting, publishing, and inferring accurate…...
Whereas judicial decisions are more likely to concern substantive matters of law and definitions of legal concepts, legislative adjustments generally reflect social consensus, particularly over large spans of time. Admittedly, political access and the relative ability of specific individuals, communities, and entities to generate legislative changes beneficial to them are not, in any sense, equal when viewed from the microcosmic perspective. Nevertheless, over time, changes in the American criminal justice are largely functions of widely-shared societal concerns and social values in the United States.
In recent years, the American criminal justice system has changed in several significant respects: it has become increasingly federalized; it seen a dramatic increase in the privatization of criminal justice facilities; and it has become ever-more effective by virtue of its technological evolution. Likewise, concepts and principles of criminal reform have continually undergone cyclical changes, due in part to unanticipated flaws in prior approaches or simply…...
To the extent that crime is a function of larger social issues, it is unrealistic to expect those underlying social problems to be rectified by law enforcement efforts. Even with respect to specific incidence of criminal behavior, law enforcement authorities must address two competing interests that fall within the purview and responsibility of law enforcement.
Specifically, poverty, unwanted pregnancy, lack of educational and vocational opportunities, and perceived social "disenfranchisement" within communities contribute heavily to crime in those areas but none of those social factors are capable of being redressed directly by law enforcement authorities. Likewise, even within the realm of law enforcement responsibilities, emphasis on quality-of-life-oriented policing and crime prevention-oriented policing conflict with the goal of preventing crime in light of empirical evidence and anecdotal experience demonstrating that efforts directed at the former do not necessarily achieve the goals of the latter appreciably.
In that regard, directed police patrols and crackdowns…...
Criminal Justice -- Sheriff's Departments Hiring Requirements
San Francisco County Sheriff's Department
The minimum qualifications for applying to the San Francisco Sheriff's Department (SFSD) are as follows: the candidate must be at least 18 years of age; must be a U.S. citizen or a "permanent alien who is eligible and has applied for citizenship"; must have a U.S. high school diploma (or GED certificate) or a 2-year or 4-year college degree; cannot have any felony convictions (and certain misdemeanor convictions); must be physically and mentally healthy and be of good moral character.
The selection requirements include: a) testing reading and writing ability (an acceptable score must be obtained on the POST Entry-Level Law Enforcement Test Battery); b) an oral interview (the department head and another department employee, or an oral panel, gives this oral interview; a candidate's "experience, problem solving ability, communication skills, motivation/interest, interpersonal skills and community awareness / involvement are covered);…...
mlaWorks Cited
Saint Louis County Missouri. (2009). Law and Public Safety / Evaluating Quality Police
Services / What is Quality Police Service? Retrieved June 3, 2012, from http://www.stlouisco.com .
San Diego County Sheriff's Department. (2011). Become a Deputy Sheriff / Lateral Program /
Join Our Team. Retrieved June 3, 2012, from http://www.joinsdsheriff.net/lateral.html.
Such an approach allows determinations of fewer prejudgments, and is less disturbing to respondents than experiments.
However, the disadvantages arise in the probability and possibility of corrupted subject, which essentially deprives the outcome in its entire accuracy.
Complete participation observation is very time-consuming. It requires commitments that measure months or even years. In all consideration, as many aspects of this type of study require disguise and complete life-modification, it is assumed to be the most rigorous and cumbersome method of study for the observer and study partakers.
3. Explain the following statement:
Lamda, the correlation coefficient used for nominal variables provides only the strength of the relationship between two variables unlike gamma, spearman's rho, and Pearson's correlation coefficients."
Nominal level variables are representations of the simplest level of measurement. Demographic variables such as sex, race, religion, and city are examples of nominal variables. Values can be distinguishingly assigned to nominal variables. Considering religion, the…...
mlaBibliography
Lavine, James P. (1983) Jury Toughness: The Impact of Conservatism on Criminal Court Verticts. Retrieved May 3rd, 2007, from the World Wide Web: http://cad.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/29/1/71
International Criminal Justice Philosophies
International criminal justice is a relatively new field in the criminal justice system since it deals with issues that go beyond the local or national level. This field of criminal justice examines several crimes and criminal justice responses from an international or global perspective. As a result of incorporating a global perspective in examining criminal justice issues and responses, this field is multidisciplinary in nature and relatively complex. In essence, the international criminal justice field can be described as a discipline that examines crimes and criminal justice responses to these issues from a global perspective (Kiriakova & Gross, 2005). Additionally, international criminal justice field focuses on how the international community and states react to atrocious international crimes like war crimes, human rights abuses, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
There are several aspects included in the field of international criminal justice including international crimes, transnational crimes, conventional crimes, international…...
mlaReferences
Boas, G.J. (2012). What is International Criminal Justice? Retrieved February 15, 2017, from https://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=245087086113076022082095092070068103113043039055000059064096010000067018031031115064102049096037117024113117120120097001007001057081030030036089108004024083015010009005005029109007019102080106082079117026120105107086079082006025005026006083000013008&EXT=pdf
Henn, M., Weinstein, M., & Foard, N. (2009). Critical Social Research. In A critical introduction to social research (2nd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice. (n.d.). International Criminal Justice: A Research Guide. Retrieved from Lloyd Sealy Library website: https://www.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/research/International/
Weber, R. (2004). Editor's Comments: The Rhetoric of Positivism Versus Interpretivism: a Personal View. Management Information Systems Quarterly, 28(1), pp. iii -- xii
Criminal Justice System Today
Most Significant Problem Facing the Criminal Justice System
What is the most significant problem facing the criminal justice system today?
The urgency needed in addressing crime issues is a factor that is widely acceptable, the public view crime and fear of crime as among the most vital issues. A number of communities have been converted into war zones with a ring of gunshots being the order of the day and night. The society struggle everyday to bring order but, this is challenged by criminal behaviors that do not adhere to traditional standards. On the other hand are the policy makers and administrators in the criminal justice systems trying to unravel the complex nature of crime. There have been significant changes in how policing, adjudication, sentencing, imprisonment, and community corrections are approached. The existence of pressure from the public and ever changing policies creates the need understand which approaches are…...
mlaREFERENCES
Green, B. (2011). "Criminal Justice - What's Ahead? Roadblocks and New Directions."
Criminal Justice, Volume 25, Number 4.
Leipold, A.D. (1995). Why grand juries do not (and cannot) protect the accused, 80 Cornell.
Rev. 260
Criminal Justice
When the Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation in 1789, the United States of America formed a government that specifically divided its powers between three separate branches. This was done in order to make certain that no one branch of government could accumulate too much power. These three are called the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of government, and the Constitution defines the powers each branch of government is allowed to exercise. While the Executive and Legislative branches of government deal with the running of the government, the Judicial branch is limited to dealing with legal matters. While it may seem that the Judicial branch is someone less important, it is the judiciary that decides whether the actions taken by the other two branches of government are legitimate.
Alexander Hamilton argued in the Federalist Papers that a separation of powers was necessary in order to prevent one particular group "adverse…...
mlaReferences
"Court Procedures." United States Courts Web Page. Retrieved from http://www.uscourts.gov/FederalCourts.aspx
"Criminal Justice System - Structural and Theoretical Components of Criminal Justice Systems, The Systems in Operation, The importance of Viewing Criminal Justice as a System." Retrieved from Criminal Justice System - Structural And Theoretical Components Of Criminal Justice Systems, The Systems In Operation, The Importance Of Viewing Criminal Justice As A System
Kaiser, Frederick. (2003). American National Government: An Overview. CRS Report for Congress. Retrieved from http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/RS20443.pdf
"Federal Courts." United States Courts Web Page. Retrieved from
Criminal Justice Leadership
Identify two types of ethics and explain their role in criminal justice organizations. Support your responses with resources.
Ethics are concerned with the issues of right and wrong and provide a framework for moral living. Ethics in the criminal justice system is an integral part of police work. Ethical considerations are paramount to decisions involving discretion and a strong moral foundation suits police work well. Banks (2010) notes that knowledge of ethics provides people an opportunity to analyze assumptions and weigh options. Two types of ethics that have particular importance in criminal justice are normative ethics and ethical absolutism.
Normative ethics
Normative ethics is fundamental to proper and prudent decisions made by personnel in the criminal justice system. Banks (2010) writes that normative ethics involve taking into account the range of moral issues in an area and that a person should always act morally, having deduced the proper course of action…...
mlaReferences:
AELE Mo L.J. (2008). Civil Liability for Use of Deadly Force -- Part Three Supervisory Liability and Negligent/Accidental Acts, 101, 1.
AELE Mo L.J. (2007). Civil Liability Law Section: Civil Liability for Use of Deadly Force -- Part Two Qualified Immunity and Inadequate Training, 101,12.
Archives.gov (2010). Retrieved from: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act/
Banks, N. (2010). The Importance of Ethics in Criminal Justice. Retrieved from: http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/4031_Banks_Chapter_1_Proof.pdf
Under the stewardship of Police Commissioner Howard Safir, the NYPD began analyzing daily crime statistics collected from its 40,000 officers throughout the five boroughs of New York City and generating computer modeling of crime trends in a system dubbed CompStat that allowed the accurate identification of crime trends with pinpoint accuracy, often permitting nearly as precise predictive modeling via extrapolation (Safir, 2003).
The other main benefit and purpose of CompStat was that is enabled police administrators to grade the performance of every precinct according to any criteria defined by policy considerations. That aspect of CompStat is relied upon heavily by NYPD administration to the extent that Commissioner Safir reassigned, removed, or demoted fifty-four precinct commanders during his tenure as commissioner between 1996 and 2000 (Safir, 2003). Naturally, the technical means of data collection and analysis techniques differ quite profoundly from those available to previous generations of police administrators, but the…...
mlaReferences
Coleman, J.L., Thomas, C.C. (2002). Operational Mid-Level Management for Police. Illinois: Springfield.
Conlon, E. (2004). Blue Blood. New York: Riverhead.
Lee, W.D. (2007). Program Evaluations: Improving Operational Effectiveness and Organizational Efficiency; FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (Nov/07 Vol. 76
No. 11, pp. 1-6).
In that regard, sentences imposed for crack cocaine are so much harsher that approximately 100 times as much powdered cocaine is required to approach the sentences imposed in connection with crack cocaine offenses. This issue is particularly relevant to the disparity inherent in mandatory sentencing and arbitrariness in sentencing, especially since dealers in powdered cocaine are much more likely higher up on the supply chain than distributors of crack cocaine (USSC, 2007).
The issues concerning provisions of the U.S.A. PATIOT Act pertain to establishing sentences for crimes established and defined by the ACT, such as narco- terrorism, smuggling munitions or military equipment without a license for transport, mining U.S. waters, and interfering with maritime navigation equipment (USSC, 2007).
The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 requires sex offenders to register and imposes criminal penalties for failure to comply. The current federal sentencing issues authorize increasing sentences for failure to…...
mlaReferences
Cullen, F.T., Eck, J.E., Lowencamp, C.T. (2002) Environmental Corrections: A New Paradigm for Effective Probation and Parole Supervision.
Lynch, M.J. (1999) Beating a Dead Horse: Is Their Any Basic Empirical Evidence for the Deterrent Effect of Imprisonment?
Schmalleger, F. (2001) Criminal Justice Today: An Introductory Text for the 21st Century. New Jersey: Prentice Hall
Sentencingproject.org
Richard Allen, the state's prisons commissioner, said ednesday the change is meant to reduce overtime, and should save the state $3 million to $4 million a year. 'e don't have any choice about it,' Allen said. 'e've got to save money. e've got to do some things that are out of the box, and this is one of them'" (Diel 2008). Corrections officers have naturally protested this measure, citing the dangers of the job and the impact upon the quality of their health and financial lives.
Alabama is not alone. In Florida budget cutbacks were blamed recently when "A Florida correctional officer was killed on the job last week" (Ray 2008). Even though corrections officer positions have not been eliminated in the state of Florida, an expanding prison population coupled with a refusal to add more positions have lead to understaffed prisons and overworked, tired officers. In other states, cutbacks…...
mlaWorks cited
Corrections officers. (2008). 2008 Occupational Outlook. Department of Labor Statistics 2008-
2009 Edition. Retrieved 1 Oct 2008. http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos156.htm
Diel, Stan. (2008, September 25) Corrections officers at seven Alabama prisons to work 12-hour shifts. Birmingham News. Retrieved 1 Oct 2008.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/statebriefs.ssf?/base/news/1222330508324710.xml&coll=2
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