Research Articles Base: Drug Use And Crime

Critically evaluate the accuracy or otherwise of the proposition: In Australia the involuntary detention of a citizen can occur only by the order of a court after a finding of criminal Guilt

In Australia the involuntary detention of a citizen can occur only by the order of a court after a finding of criminal Guilt. There is a partial truth to this. The common foundations for entailing involuntary detention in the criminal law of Australia is divided into two (2) major aspects: (1) the defendant have got to be attested to have carried out a guilty action at the same time as possessing a guilty state of mind, and (2) the Court must order involuntary detention after finding the criminal guilty. The physical components are jointly labeled the actus reus and the supplementary mental condition is labeled as the mens rea. It is the basic responsibility of the prosecution to establish both of these components of the offence to the contentment of the judge or jury beyond reasonable doubt in order for the involuntary detention to take place. Without such evidence the defendant will be exonerated (, 1968). Furthermore, the prosecution is required to establish that the defendant carried out the crime whilst in a particular mental condition. The mens rea essential prior to an individual could be condemned of a crime is indicated in the characterization of every crime. There are several states of mind which independently or jointly can make up the needed mens rea for a criminal offence. These include intention, recklessness and negligence. From time to time, the characterization of a criminal offence will make it apparent which of these mental conditions is suitable, however occasionally court judgments explicate the requirements of the description more specifically (, 1968). Involuntary Detention in Australia Involuntary detention is made of more than merely an action. It similarly takes account of whatever conditions and outcomes are acknowledged for legal responsibility for the crime under consideration. In other words, it consists of all the components of an offence except the mental component. Crimes worthy of involuntary detention can be separated into a couple of classes. Initially, there are conduct crimes where the act is the illegal and illicit behavior itself. For instance, the act of the offence of reckless driving is merely driving a mechanically driven motor vehicle on a street or other public place. No damage or outcome of that reckless driving is required be recognized. The second kind is deemed as result crimes where the act of the crime needs evidence that the demeanor brought about an illegal and illicit consequence or end result. For instance, the act of the offence of criminal damage is that possessions owned by another individual have to be ruined or damaged (, 1986). In Australia, involuntary detention is decided based on the following factors:  1) The admission of the crime of the person has to be voluntary             The offender’s conduct of admission to the crime has to be voluntary or unreservedly resolved if he is to bring upon himself liability. It may possibly be involuntary for various causes. The following represents these causes.    Detention under Terrorism Legislation  Detention under terrorism legislation takes place where the offender carries out a terrorist action but is oblivious of what he is carrying out, or is not on top of his acts, on account of several factor external of the terrorist. Occasionally detained terrorists can react to something with an impulsive reflex action over which they have no direct power. Even though, to some extent, different this is occasionally categorized as a kind of automatism. The behavior may possibly be involuntary in that it is physically enforced by someone else, in which instance there will be an absence of actus reus. One collection of detention cases under terrorism legislation which cannot be argued in the context of voluntary actions is frequently denoted as the “state of affairs” suits. These offences are characterized not in the context of the defendant carrying out a constructive action however consisting in the defendant being found, being in control or being in control. In a number of such suits all the prosecution is required to establish are the subsistence of the factual conditions which make up the terrorism – the subsistence of the state of affairs. (, 1986) Immigration Detention There is an issue whether an immigrant can be deemed criminally responsible for a failure to do something. The common rule is that there can be no legal responsibility for a failure to do something, except at the instance of the failure to act, the immigrant was underneath a legal responsibility to seize constructive action unless a decree distinctively so grants, or the common immigration law obliges a responsibility upon an individual to take action in a specific manner towards another, a measly oversight or omission to take action could not bring about criminal liability (, 1986). A positive duty to take action subsists such as responsibility being caused by statute. Legal responsibility for failure to take action will be forced where the immigrant can be confirmed to have been under a statutory obligation to acquire positive action. An additional is a duty based on a contract. Where an individual is under a positive responsibility to take action for the reason of his commitments under a contract, his failure to carry out the contractual responsibility under consideration can structure the foundation of criminal liability. A third is public duty. Correspondingly, there is the voluntary supposition of responsibility or dependence. There is a common law duty of care where there is a connection of dependence involving the immigrant and the government. Therefore if someone willingly presumes accountability for another individual then they similarly presume the positive duty to take action act for the general wellbeing of that individual and may possibly be legally responsible for omissions which prove deadly. (, 1994) And finally, there is the duty by reason of the immigrant’s previous behavior. If the defendant by chance consigns an action that brings about harm, and later becomes conscious of the hazard he has formed, there begins a responsibility to act rationally to forestall that hazard. 2) The Criminal Intention of the offender must be proven without reasonable doubt by the Court for involuntary detention to push through.   Detention prior to Trial             When the characterization of a crime needs the incidence of specific outcomes, the prosecution has to establish that it was the defendant’s behavior which triggered those outcomes to take place. There are a couple of kinds of causation. One is the causation in fact, in which the “But For” experiment is employed.  (, 1948) Another is the causation in law, for which, for instance in homicide lawsuits, the defendant’s actions have to be the working and considerable reason and grounds of fatality.  In the context of law there are a couple of kinds of intention. Direct intent is the characteristic condition where the outcomes of an individual’s actions are preferred. Oblique intent, also recognized as foresight intent, implies the condition where the outcome is anticipated by the defendant as practically certain, even though it is not preferred for its own sake, and the defendant carries on with his acts at any rate. (, 1948) To necessitating evidence that it was the defendant’s intention to make happen a specific outcome may possibly entail placing an extremely serious evidential burden on the prosecution. Not unexpectedly, provided the above illustration, criminal law usually simply needs evidence of oblique intent (ie, foresight intent) in place of direct intent. The courts have affirmed that foresight of outcomes can merely be proof of intention if the defendant is aware that those outcomes would undeniably come about. Therefore, it is not enough that the defendant simply anticipated a likelihood of a certain incidence. At one instance, involuntary detention was authority for the perspective that an individual anticipated and anticipated the natural and likely outcomes of his actions. As a result, where foresight is needed to be recognized an individual is not to be deemed as meaning the natural and likely outcomes of his actions basically for the reason that they were natural and likely, even though a jury may possibly deduce that from observing all the facts. The test is consequently subjective and a jury is to come to a decision what the defendant’s intention was from bearing in mind all the proof. It is imperative to indicate that foresight of the outcomes is not identical as intention but merely proof of intention. (, 1948) The justification of prescience of the outcomes in Hancock and Shankland and the Nedrick course, where suitable, are pertinent to all crimes and not only murder. A court or jury may similarly deduce that an outcome is anticipated, nonetheless it is not preferred, when the outcome is an almost positive result of the action, and the defendant is aware that it is a practically particular outcome. Recklessness Recklessness is the acquisition of an inexcusable risk. Nevertheless, two dissimilar tests have been created by the courts, the consequence of which is that recklessness now has a couple of unlike legal connotations which relate to dissimilar offences. The initial test for recklessness was subjective, ie the defendant is aware of the risk, is keen to deal with it and deals with it intentionally. The subject that has to be posed is whether the risk in the defendant’s mind at the instance the offence was being carried out (, 1990). The second test for recklessness is objective. Specifically, the risk has to be understandable to the reasonable individual, in that any reasonable individual would have acknowledged it if he had reflected about it. An individual is reckless in the new broader context when he carries out an act which generates an understandable risk, and, when carrying out the action, he has either granted no consideration to the likelihood of such a risk taking place or he acknowledged that a little risk subsisted, but carried on to put up with it. (, 1990) The risk has to be understandable to the sensibly prudent individual. It need not be understandable to the defendant. The individual who pauses to reflect will still be legally responsible if he acknowledged that there was some risk. (, 1948)  Negligence Negligence consists of falling below the standard of the ordinary reasonable person. The test is objective, based on the hypothetical person, and involves the defendant either doing something the reasonable person would not do, or not doing something which the reasonable person would do. It does not matter that the defendant was unaware that something dangerous might happen, if the “reasonable person” would have realized the risk, and taken steps to avoid it. (, 1995) C. Other Crimes applicable for Involuntary Detention   A. Sexual Harassment Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects a person’s employment or education, unreasonably interferes with a person’s work or educational performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive working or learning environment. In the interest of preventing sexual harassment, the University will respond to reports of any such conduct. Sexual harassment may include incidents between any members of the University community, including faculty and other academic appointees, staff, coaches, house staff, students, and non-student or non-employee participants in University programs, such as vendors, contractors, visitors, and patients. Sexual harassment may occur in hierarchical relationships or between peers, or between persons of the same sex or opposite sex (, 1974). B. Child Molestation In determining whether the reported conduct constitutes child molestation, consideration shall be given to the record of the conduct as a whole and to the totality of the circumstances, including the context in which the conduct occurred. While romantic relationships between members of the family and the children may begin as consensual and they may evolve into situations that lead to charges of child molestation, subject to this policy. Child molestation that is not sexual in nature but is based on gender, sex-stereotyping, or sexual orientation also is prohibited by the government’s nondiscrimination policies if it is sufficiently severe to deny a person’s ability to participate in the creation of a hostile environment. Thus, in determining whether a hostile environment due to child molestation exists, the government may take into account acts of child molestation based on gender. C. Drug-related Crime It is often recognized that drug-related crime are triggered by the violence that is brought about by the altered state of mind that illicit drugs induce. In attempting to comprehend the manners in which alcohol and drug utilization may have a say to violent actions, it is similarly imperative to deem the manner in which substance abuse is about human actions generally. A number of attempts have been carried out in the study of psychological expectancies in relation to alcohol’s consequence on actions, the connection involving alcohol and cognitive functioning, and the dynamic developmental consequences of untimely introduction to alcohol and aggression among young individuals and among women who have been wronged as kids and as grown-ups. Comparable work has tried to recognize the connection involving illicit drugs and behavior, even though as a result of the interest centered on the indiscretion of these substances; this organization of work have the tendency be most caught up with unlawful behaviors that may well be connected with drugs. Instances from this literature takes account of assessments of the connections involving drug use and criminal behavior amongst juveniles; associations involving substance use and domestic aggression (, 1992); the manners in which the employment and circulation of illicit drugs are connected to all kinds of crime, principally nonviolent property misdemeanors; and the effects of drug employment on the capability to sustain interpersonal relationships.   Conclusion   The claim that crime is an acquired behavior from an individual’s environment has been a subject of countless debate in the existing literature. Moreover, there is also the claim that crime and rationality of an individual is closely connected.  (1986) has indicated, the occurrence of completed crime is a very faulty gauge of the achievement of crime control, given that a low level of concluded crime is in agreement with high degrees of apprehension and of valuable crime-avoidance actions. To a certain extent, the involuntary detention policy of Australia is supposed to aspire to make use of whatever resources as accessible to diminish the criminal risk available in different elements of the social setting – which may possibly be abstractly operationalized as the incidence of crime that would be stumbled upon by a possible victim in a specific situation who acquired some specified level of safety measure. From this standpoint, crafting involuntary detention policies entails creating conditional predictions on the subject of the behaviour of offenders under diverse conditions, as well as diverse kinds of disciplinary threats. REFERENCES   Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Critically evaluate the accuracy or otherwise of the proposition: In Australia the involuntary detention of a citizen can occur only by the order of a court after a finding of criminal Guilt

In Australia the involuntary detention of a citizen can occur only by the order of a court after a finding of criminal Guilt. There is a...

Identify agency and affectedness in the following three â€˜hard newsâ€™ texts (Texts 1 to 3) dealing with the WTO protests which took place in Hong Kong in December 2005

Text 1 (1) & (2) Text 1 Facing fists of fury, police aren’t ruling out the heavy hand by … The Korean farmers and unionists did not use diversionary tactics as they had on Tuesday / when 100 protesters jumped into Victoria Harbour just before others rushed the police line. Following yesterday’s march through Wan Chai, / (1) police moved quickly to separate the hardline Koreans at the front of the march from the main body. (2) They prevented the larger group from entering the cargo handling area in Wan Chai, stalling them in Marsh Road, while stopping the Koreans’ progress towards the Convention and Exhibition Centre. (3) The Korean group prepared for the impending clashes  by covering their mouths with scarves and handkerchiefs and stretching cling film over their eyes to shield against pepper spray. Hundreds of police were already in place with full-body plastic shields, / creating an impenetrable human wall across Hung Hing Road. The previous day, / riot police had stayed out of view / as the marchers entered the protest zone, / running to block the road only as the protesters left the demonstration area / and tried to march on the Convention Centre. Some (4) 9,000 officers are on duty to deal with crowd control, traffic and security during the WTO conference. Exactly how many Police Tactical Unit officers – the riot police – are on hand / specifically to control the protesters has not been revealed. The Koreans, reacting with military precision to the orders of demonstration leaders, / tried repeatedly to push back the police, but seemed unsurprised and unperturbed when they made little progress. However, they managed to seize up to 15 shields from police, / which they returned to the officers once they abandoned their protest. Mr Ma said: ‘Our defences were not affected by the snatching of the shields. Our strategy is effective.’  , 15 December 2005           Text 1 (3)(i)   Material Process Agent Goal Transitivity Agentive de-emphasis (1) Actor Role Police separate hard line Koreans from main body move quickly hardline Koreans (2) Goal Role Police  prevent protesters from entering the cargo handling area stall  Korean protesters (3) Goal Role Korean Group prepare for impending clashes prepare Police Tactical Unit preparations (4) Actor Role Police  deal with crowd control, traffic and security go on duty  protesters Attending the march             In Text 1, there were four material processes identified. Two of the clauses were aligned with the actor role and the remaining two clauses adhered to the goal role. In the material process clauses, the agent is either the police or the Korean group; the goal is either for the police to stop the Korean protesters or for the Korean group to break through to their target area of protest; and the transitivity processes involved the moving quickly, going on duty, or stalling for the police group and preparing for the Korean group. The material clauses identified as adhering to the actor rule because of the consideration because the sentence construction primarily expresses the agent as the doer of something while the material clause classified under goal role was identified as such because the sentence construction primarily focuses on the action being done by the agent. Text 1 (3) (ii)   Koreans as Actors Police as Goal Police as Actors Koreans as Goal Protesters as Actors WTO as Goal  WTO as Actors Protesting Farmers as Goal In Text 1, two possible formulations could contribute to agent de-emphasis. One is the transmutation of the Korean protesters and the Hong Kong police as agents or actors in the sentence. In the text, the Hong Kong police force could comprise the actors such as in going on duty, stalling the protesters or moving quickly to barricade or separate the Korean group from the bigger group of protesters while the Korean protesters could become the actors by preparing for the clash with police officers and marching in protest.                                       Text 2 (1) & (2)   Text 2   Why the Korean protesters are so determined   Dear Editor, Hong Kong people are justly proud of our peaceful marches. / Fortunately, we are not marching for survival, / needing rice on the table or clothes for our children. We march for democracy, / but we will still have our jobs tomorrow. Hong Kong does not have much reason to be ‘militant’. (1) So it is no surprise that Hong Kong is panicking about the aggression of some protesters against the World Trade Organisation, /especially among the South Korean farmers. We are not used to seeing such scenes in Wan Chai, / except when American or British sailors are in town. But, and this is odd, / if you have spent any time in South Korea, / you will know that its people are not by nature aggressive. The streets at night are as safe as those in Hong Kong. There is no vandalism, / hostility at sports events is unheard of, / and gun and drug-related crime are virtually non-existent. South Korea has never invaded or colonised another country. So why are the South Koreans here / in such numbers and determined to derail the WTO talks? How has this peaceful nation produced farmers / intent on disrupting the conference? After all, South Korea was a battleground for the superpowers in the 1950s, / after being torn apart by US foreign policy at the end of the second world war. And it was brutalised by Japan from 1910 to 1945. Then, from the 1950s until the 1990s, it had US-backed military regimes. Does this not tell pro-WTO people in Hong Kong / that the organisation might bring cheer to the suited men in the boardrooms of the world’s larger corporations, / but has so far offered little hope to the poorer inhabitants of the Earth? (2) People fight back when cornered, / and (3) the South Koreans marching this week fear they have nothing to lose. , 16 December 2005               Text 2 (3) (i)   Material Process Agent Goal Transitivity Agentive de-emphasis (1) Actor Role Hong Kong reaction to impending effects of the marches and protests panic  protesters (2) Actor Role People freedom from being cornered fight WTO, police (3) Actor Role South Koreans protest WTO march WTO, police             In Text 2, three material process clauses were identified, all of which fall under the actor role. This is because the construction of the sentences emphasise the actions committed by the actors for a particular purposes. There are different actors in the material clauses, including Hong Kong as an inanimate actor or agent, South Koreans as the animate actors, and people—that could refer to people in general or to the South Korean group— as animate actors. Unlike the previous text, the goals or purposes were implied by the meaning derived from the sentence instead of being expressly stated by the sentences. In the material clause ‘People fight back when cornered’, the agent are ‘people’—used to refer to people as a means of generalisation and the South Koreans as a group of people when read in the context of the whole text—, the transitive verb used is fight back to indicate the action relating the actor to the goal, and the goal is to be free from the state of being cornered, which if understood in the context of the text refers to the lack of options of South Korean farmers due to the actions of WTO.   Text 2 (3) (ii)   Koreans as Actors Police as Goal Police as Actors Koreans as Goal Koreans as Actors WTO as Goal  WTO as Actor Koreans as Goal People as Actor WTO as Goal WTO as Actor People as Goal People as Actor Police as Goal Police as Actors People as Goal Hong Kong as Actor Protesters as Goal  Protesters as Actors  Hong Kong as Goal In Text 2, there are many ways to formulate the agent-goal structure of the sentence in order to achieve agent de-emphasis. First is by considering the Korean protesters as actors in the text with the goal of either affecting the police officers or the World Trade Organisation but the Hong Kong police or the WTO could also be considered as agents affecting the Korean protesters with the WTO action as the catalyst for the protest and the police officers action as affecting the preparation and protest activities of the Korean protesters. Second is by considering the people in general or referring to the whole group of protesters as the actors affecting the World Trade Organisation or the Hong Kong police but by changing the sentence structure WTO or the Hong Kong police could become the agents affecting the actions of the people or the outcome of events involving the people. Third is by using Hong Kong as the inanimate actor in the sentence, with its actions— of hosting the WTO conference and panicking amidst impending protests—affecting the protesters but the protesters could also become agents that affect Hong Kong by creating fear of what could be the outcome of the protests.  These changes determine shifts on who did what and why certain actions were committed.   Text 3 (1) (2) Text 3 Fury on the streets turns to gloom by … After a night of the fiercest violence Hong Kong has seen for decades, / (1) police rounded up more than 900 protesters – mostly Korean farmers –  and brought armoured cars on to the streets outside the convention centre in a show of force aimed at deterring further attempts to breach their lines. It proved unnecessary. / A march by 5,000 to 7,000 protesters passed off peacefully. As has been the case for the entire week of protests, / (2) all the attention was on the Koreans, who have stirred up a mixture of resentment and grudging respect among locals for their aggression, determination and strategic nous. / On Saturday night,this 1,000-strong group mounted repeated assaults on police lines,  which they breached with steel bars, wooden poles and battering rams made from crowd barriers. Security forces fought back with tear-gas, truncheons and high-pressure hoses. / Hong Kong officials said 135 people, including 61 police, had been injured in the clashes. / One Korean man remains in a critical condition. / Hong Kong’s chief executive, Donald Tsang, said those responsible for assaults on police would be prosecuted within 48 hours.  / José Bové, the fiery French farmer who was involved in the anti-WTO riots in Seattle six years ago, called on the authorities to release those being held. ‘/ They aren’t terrorists or criminals. / They are farmers and workers asking for rights,’ he said. / ‘We’re not allowed to talk to delegates about rice, about cotton, about anything. / That’s why we’re so angry. / That’s why we resist globalisation.’ (3) Many of the marchers yesterday held placards calling for the farmers to be freed. / (4) One group of about 20 local students began a hunger strike outside a detention centre, demanding the prisoners’ release. Yesterday’s march, which included local migrant workers and prostitutes, was a colourful but low-key affair. / The 100 or so Koreans in the crowd were downbeat over the summit’s outcome. / ‘We’ve no future,’ said Kim You-jong, whose arm was in a sling after the previous night’s battle. / ‘The WTO has ruined our lives.’                                                   , , 19 December 2005             Text 3 (3) (i)   Material Process Agent Goal Transitivity Agentive de-emphasis (1) Actor Role Police show force round up protesters Protesters including Korean farmers (2) Goal Role Koreans gain attention Stirred up resentment and grudge Police and local residents (3) Actor Role Marchers Gain freedom of farmers Held placards Police (4) Actor Role Local Students Release of imprisoned farmers Held a hunger strike Police               In Text 3, there are four material process clauses identified. One clause expresses the goal role while the remaining three clauses utilise the actor role. These classifications were based on the focus of the sentence structure so focus on the actor doing something meant actor role while something being done by the actor meant goal role.             Similar to Text 2, the object of the actors in doing something or the actions of the actors were implied in some of the sentences. In the third and fourth material process clauses, the intended recipients of the action are implied. In the third sentence, the purpose of the protesters in holding the placards were to urge the police to release the imprisoned farmers while in the fourth sentence the impact of the hunger strike was to address the police to release the imprisoned officers. However, this was only implied by the text and not expressly mentioned in the sentences       Text 3 (3) (ii) Protesters as Actors Police as Goal Police as Actor Protesters as Goal Koreans as Actors Police as Goal  Police as Actor Koreans as Goal Koreans as Actors Locals as Goal Locals as Actors Korean as Goal Marchers as Actors Police as Goal Police as Actors People as Goal Local Students as Actors Police as Goal  Police as Actors  Local Students as Goal               In Text 3, there are four possible ways of structuring the clauses or sentences in order to draw emphasis from the agent to actor. One is by shifting focus from the protesters as actors to the police as actors so that the actor-goal position shifts accordingly indicating a different meaning. Another way is by transferring the focus of the sentence from the Koreans as actors to the police or locals as actors. Still another way is by making the police as actors instead of the marchers or local students. These changes could either make the parties active or passive players or protagonists and antagonists depending upon the sentence structure.               Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Identify agency and affectedness in the following three â€˜hard newsâ€™ texts (Texts 1 to 3) dealing with the WTO protests which took place in Hong Kong in December 2005

Text 1 (1) & (2) Text 1 Facing fists of fury, police aren’t ruling out the heavy hand by … The Korean farmers and unioni...

Drugs should not be legalized

Drugs Should Not Be Legalized If drugs were granted legalization, there will be a whole new set of laws. The restriction acts and laws that were proposed before will turn to nothing, because its legalization is a threat that the worst is yet to come. If drugs are legalized, there will be a new set of problems ( 2000). Drugs can be the main cause of health failure of the entire nation if the legalization is being deployed. The people need to make drugs controlled substances just like alcohol. The government should regulate them and imposed authoritative action against it. It is best for the future of the children. In today’s’ generation, it is good that the kids understand that illegal drugs are different from prescribed drugs. Otherwise, these children will take illegal drugs without the knowledge of its consequences and be a delinquent when they reach adolescence. Unlike alcohol and cigarette, the control of drugs should be doubled. The war on drugs is thousands of miles long, but it’s only about a quarter-inch deep. Drugs are bad and the need to stop its entering by locking up the entire country is difficult ( 2000). The U.S. Against Legalization of Drugs There are top ten reasons why the United States did not turn their backs in fighting the drugs and resists on the full influence of it ( 2003). 1.      The government and its people made a significant progress in fighting drug use and drug trafficking. And for them, it is not the time to abandon and waste all their efforts. 2.      The balance approach of prevention, enforcement, and treatments are the discovered key in fight against drug. All three aspects are crucial but with the cooperation of all the Drug treatment facilities, it is not impossible to be the standard approach. 3.      The kids know the truth behind the drugs, and therefore, the adults should understand it better. It is simply about the fact that illegal drugs are illegal because they are harmful. 4.      Smoked marijuana is not scientifically approved medicine. But Marinol, the legal version of medical marijuana, is approved by science. It is because, the drugs had been examine under the supervision of Food and Drug Administration, but people can’t buy it anywhere without proper prescription. 5.      The drug control spending is a minor portion of the U.S. budget. Compared to the social costs of drug abuse and addiction, government spending on drug control is minimal. The United States has wasted billions of dollars in its anti-drug efforts and seeks for progress, and it’s not worth to make the war stop where the people are seeing the future to win against it. 6.      The fact that the legalization of drugs will lead to increased use and increased level of addiction. The legalization has been tried before, and failed miserably. The host country is Alaska in 1970’s that led to using drugs more than twice in most of the teens. This failure led to re-criminalize marijuana in 1990. 7.      The crime, violence, and drug use go hand-in-hand because of the influence of drugs. 8.      Alcohol has caused significant health, social, and crime problems in this country, and legalized drugs would only make the situation worse. 9.      The other countries that successfully legalized the use of drugs, like in Europe’s liberal drug policies are not the right model for America. 10.  And the most non-violent drug users get treatment, not in jail. It is because of the plea-bargained down the major trafficking offences or more violent drug crimes.  The possibility of legalizing drugs continues to rise. If people positively response to this action, many would become addicted because of its availability. Drugs exact an enormous toll on society. The jails are jammed with drug offenders, the morgues are filled with males killed in drug wars, and the courts with backlogs of drug cases (1996). The more threatening is the high rates of violent robbery just to satisfy the need of addicts to buy drugs. Drugs can destroy lives, as alcohol can. The Effects of Drug Legalization Some thought that the legalization might suspect that it is a convenient way to keep troublesome minorities doped up while eliminating crime. Legalization might take enough pressure off susceptible populations to allow underlying problems (1996). If the drug traffic didn’t provide such a lucrative temptation to the enterprising, schools and real jobs might look a lot more attractive.         Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Drugs should not be legalized

Drugs Should Not Be Legalized If drugs were granted legalization, there will be a whole new set of laws. The restriction acts and laws t...

Assessment

ASSESSMENT I   A. Summary of the author’s attitudes   The author’s attitudes towards the literature she emphasize in the reading is clear and full of substance as the reading commends on the power of mass communication in exploring the value of media integration and its contents affecting such audience awareness and understanding of arising situations surrounding them. The author strongly implies the importance of media as an ideological reality as based in the Marxist theory and that media influences strongly on people’s views about the society and that in adrift stance, affecting the decisions and plans of the authority impacting the greater community. Thus, a person as a social being is dominated by the culture as it is visible that, the author’s attitude implies sense of conviction to the audience in providing own meaning to such media messages. B. Evaluation of the article standpoint The standpoint of the article shows how people accept and embrace media languages and its broad context mostly affecting the social structure and cultural underpinnings in such a way that media is one of the factors concerning issues pointing to the greater majority in the society such as political assumptions due to the fact that media allow to have unity and clashes of minds of people in authority. Thus, there initially provides impeccable perspective on the role of media as well as its underlying function to such people and culture activities respectively.      ASSESSMENT II           The topic proposed: Use of Drug among Children     Applicable Research Lenses     The use of drug among children ascribes a controversial issue and is a growing problem of the society as o the present. There posits that there are several agencies conducting such seminars and workshops addressing for the prevention of drug use in children. Thus, due to the rising reality that children can be sometimes called as ‘’criminals’’, involving themselves into crime incidences because o such affective reality of drug use. The use of drug among children can be avoided and prevented through community involvement, persuading campaigns against drug use with the ample presence of agencies concern and support groups that can be composed o health care providers, family members and parents or guardians.         Research Statements   These of drugs among children is due to general statements in factor concepts involving such truths behind the following:   <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Family problems – being involved in broken homes and disoriented family set ups, parents are separated or divorced</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Violence and Discrimination – these children can possibly be victims o family violence and discrimination within the family members and it can be also related to domestic and or societal violence a well as racial or ethic discrimination </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Child Labor – this situation is true mostly to those children growing in a tight and chaotic environment</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Gang Involvement – reflecting strong sense of peer pressure and is influenced greatly on the type o peers these children go into </li>   Case study utilization and semi-structured interviews can be applicable in assessing such reality as well as unstructured survey and questionnaire that can possibly be given to those affected children and their families as a whole. It can be ideal in focus groups using youth as main subjects for the research.         Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Assessment

ASSESSMENT I A. Summary of the author’s attitudes The author’s attitudes towards the literature she emphasize in the reading i...

Criminal Justice

Individual Project Unit 1 August 24, 2007   Explain the differences between the three types of evidence and provide a typical example of each.               Generally, there are three types of evidence: direct evidence, circumstantial evidence, and hearsay evidence. Of these three types of evidence, direct evidence usually carries the greatest weight in determining the innocence of guilt of a suspect and more so when this is supported by circumstantial and hearsay evidence. However, direct evidence also constitutes the most difficult to obtain.             Direct evidence constitutes proof referring to the facts subject of dispute. Due to the close proximity of this evidence to the crime circumstances under investigation, this makes up best evidence and overshadows other evidence. (1997; 1998)  In the case of a robbery, direct evidence would be a videotape taken by the installed security cameras of the jewelry store showing the perpetrator breaking the glass cases and placing these into his knapsack before fleeing the site. In the case of attempted homicide, direct evidence would be the testimony of a survivor positively identifying the perpetrator from a line of people or a number of pictures. In other cases, direct evidence would be fingerprints to place the accused in the location of the crime or blood samples taken from the crime scene as evidence of the suspect being in the location of the crime. In other crimes, a certified copy of a birth certificate constitutes evidence of the age of the suspect, significant in the resolution of cases involving age. Employment records also constitute evidence of the location of a suspect in criminal cases requiring the location or time.             Circumstantial evidence pertains to proof that allows the establishment of facts based on inference. These are proof of facts that control decisions of criminal cases by using other connected facts. (1997; 1998)  Due to the nature of this type of evidence, the aggregate of all existing circumstantial evidence should be of great weight to support the fact of the guilt or innocence of the accused relative to the claim of a complainant, witnesses or law enforcement investigators. When taken together with direct evidence, the bulk of evidence would greatly control the filing of cases and the resolution of these cases by the courts. In the robbery case, circumstantial evidence would include testimonies of witnesses describing an individual fleeing the scene of the crime at the time of commission that matches the description of the suspect or describing a vehicle or plate number seen fleeing the crime scene at the time that the crime was committed. In the case of homicide or attempted homicide, the presence of the suspect within the vicinity of the location of the crime together at the time of the killing constitutes circumstantial evidence. A person seen as arguing with the homicide victim prior to the killing also constitutes circumstantial evidence. The particular behavior of suspects when reasonably perceived could constitute circumstantial evidence. A person running away from the direction of a store with a tripped blaring alarm could constitute circumstantial evidence of theft. In the case of documents, school records or church baptismal certificates constitute circumstantial evidence of a person’s identity such as age or marital status. These documents constitute circumstantial evidence because these do not primarily work as evidence of age or marital status unlike a birth or marriage certificate.             Hearsay evidence refers to proof constituted by reports by other people other than the persons who directly observed or witnessed the commission of the crime. (1997; 1998)  Due to the lesser proximity of this type of evidence to the facts of the case, the resolution of cases usually place greater weight on the testimonies of direct observers more than secondary sources. This is because direct testimonies carry higher levels of validity and reliability more than hearsay records. Commonly, hearsay evidence serve to support first hand testimonies or lead to the identification of potential witnesses who have observed the commission of the crime or the circumstances resulting to the commission of the crime. In the case of robbery, hearsay evidence would be the testimony of a restaurant employee who heard a group of men talking about a bank robbery a few days before an actual bank robbery. The report made by a law enforcement authority on the statements given by a person questioned regarding the commission of circumstances surrounding the crime. A report given by an inmate regarding the commission of another crime by a fellow inmate that corresponds to an unsolved crime constitutes hearsay evidence. A report made by a neighbor regarding an argument ensuing between two people inside the premises with one of the arguing arties posing a threat to the other person before the death of the threatened individual could constitute hearsay evidence. In considering hearsay evidence, the accused or suspect should refute hearsay evidence. If a suspect is confronted with hearsay evidence but fails to refute this, then together with other evidence such as the actions or statement of the suspect would make enhance the weight of hearsay evidence.              There are differences in the nature and weight of direct, circumstantial and hearsay evidence. However, even with these differences, the consideration of the value or weight of evidence is not necessarily easy or simple. This finds exemplification in the sexual assault case filed against the NBA icon Kobe Bryant in July 2003. Direct evidence presented in this case includes the statements of the victim but this was not presented in court since the prosecution dropped the criminal charges because of the refusal of the victim to testify in court (MSNBC, 2004). Nevertheless, the testimony still constitutes direct evidence accorded with relative great weight by the criminal court. Another direct evidence is the blood and semen samples taken from the underwear and person of the victim during physical and medical examination. Although blood matched the victim’s blood type, the semen did not match that of the accused. Due to this disparity, the prosecution presented the blood evidence to support the claim that the bleeding was due to the sexual assault committed by the accused on the claimant. This was disputed by the defense by using the semen of an unknown individual as a means to counter the blood evidence. (2003) Moreover, the defense also questioned the blood evidence by posing the question on whether the victim’s intercourse with three individuals could have caused the bleeding and not necessarily the claimed sexual assault. Although, Colorado has a rape shield law that bars the sexual activities of the victim from presentation as evidence, this bar is not without exceptions depending upon the consideration of the courts on whether the specific sexual activities being presented against the victim constitutes compelling evidence significant in the resolution of the case (1991).             Due to the dropping of the case, the evidential issue on whether the bleeding could be caused by the sexual intercourse of the victim with three people in three days within which the alleged sexual assault was committed could have caused the bleeding and not necessarily the alleged sexual assault since the defense claims that the sexual intercourse was consensual.             Based on the details of the case, it seems that the resolution of this question and the presentation of the blood evidence by the defense as proof of sexual intercourse with three different individuals within just a span of three days to counter the presentation of the blood evidence by the prosecution as proof of the sexual assault could have been put into consideration by the court. This is because the blood constitutes direct evidence but there is need to determine what facts or circumstances do the blood serve evidence. Had the criminal case proceeded, the court could have done so.             The semen that does not match the sample given by accused constitutes a weakness in the case of the prosecution. However, this could have been countered by the testimony of the victim constituting compelling evidence of the sexual assault. This also constitutes direct evidence that would have been given relatively great weight by the court. Since the victim refused to testify in court, the prosecution found a weak case in relying on the blood evidence alone, especially since the reliability of the DNA testing was accepted by both parties. The case involved the controversy over blood offered as direct evidence and showed that direct evidence significantly sway the resolution of cases and that a direct evidence can be countered by another direct evidence of equivalent weight.     Discussion Board Unit 1 August 24, 2007   1. Should circumstantial evidence be the sole basis for a conviction in capital cases?               Circumstantial evidence could be the sole basis for a conviction in capital cases. This works by deriving evidence on facts to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused based on a reasonable consideration of the circumstantial evidence relative to the known facts. Apart from the possibility of drawing reliable support for facts, courts mostly deal with circumstantial evidence since perpetrators commonly practice conscious efforts not to leave direct evidence for the police to find. Due to the difficulty in obtaining direct evidence, circumstantial evidence becomes important in the resolution of cases. Capital cases entail the most serious penalties so that utmost diligence is expected from the courts in determining the weight of evidence, circumstantial evidence if constitutive of compelling evidence could support the resolution of the case. This is not to say that lesser diligence is required in less serious offenses but that the decisions in capital cases could mean the loss of life or liberty of accused individuals.              Apart from the greater of availability of circumstantial evidence relative to direct evidence, circumstantial evidence offers the advantage of being less susceptible to fabrication or suppression. This is because circumstantial evidence is most often not subject to conscious consideration or cover-up by the accused. This means that circumstantial evidence accorded with high degree of reliability could support case resolution, even those involving capital crimes. In U.S. v McVeigh (1998), the conviction of the accused on eleven counts including eight counts of first-degree murder for the Oklahoma City bombing. Circumstantial evidence included the identification of the accused as the person that rented the car found as the containing the bomb through a rear axle. Employees of the car rental helped the police in drawing a sketch of the person that rented the car and this significantly matched the features of the accused. During his arrest, circumstantial evidence also included the behavior of the accused. During his arrest he was the wearing a shirt, printed on the front is the Virginia state motto, which was also the statement issued by Booth after killing Abraham Lincoln. Apart from this, McVeigh’s background also supported his capability and motive in committing the bombing. He was a former marine with knowledge in making bombs together with a drug-abuse history and violent tendencies for causes related to the building and the people killed in the bombing. Aggregate circumstantial evidence supported the conviction.              Engram v State of Arkansas (2000) also provides that circumstantial evidence could support the determination of court cases but the circumstantial evidence should coincide with the guilt of the defendant and inconsistent with the other reasonable conclusion. This means that while circumstantial evidence can solely support the resolution of capital cases, the volume and quality of circumstantial evidence should weigh towards the guilt of the accused so that the courts can reasonably resolve capital cases through the conviction of accused individuals. If circumstantial evidence is not sufficient to support the decision in the case, then the courts cannot solely depend on this type of evidence.  2. What is your stand on the use of inferences and presumptions?             Conviction standards should extend beyond mere inferences and presumptions to enhance the role and importance of the criminal justice system even if inferences and presumptions also contribute, when taken together with other evidence, to the resolution of criminal cases.  Conviction standards that developed in criminal law fall under three classifications differentiated according to the degree of proof required. The minimum standard is preponderance of evidence that determines whether the evidence weights more towards one conclusion or the other as basis for the decision. Inferences and presumptions that are not accompanied by other proof falls under this standard of proof. A medium standard of proof is clear and convincing proof that requires a greater degree of evidence. Inferences and presumptions could support the achievement of this standard of proof if taken together with other evidence.  The highest standard of proof is beyond reasonable doubt that requires a high level of evidence to support conviction. Inferences and presumptions fall under this standard of proof only if supported by positive and strong evidence of guilt. (2006) In criminal law, the standard of proof based on the constitutional terms is the standard of evidence showing guild beyond reasonable doubt ( 2005). Inferences and presumptions should constitute the framework upon which evidence is collected, analyzed and applied to the resolution of the case but these should not be used on their own to support the resolution of criminal cases. Otherwise, the parties involved in the resolution of the case may be in violation of constitutional provisions and jurisprudence.          Individual Project Unit 2 August 24, 2007               The purpose of the preliminary hearing is the determination by the judge of the existence of sufficient evidence to raise the case to the upper court for trial (1997;2001;  2006). During this process, the judge determines two things: one is the existence of probable cause in believing that the crime subject of the compliant was committed and the other is probable cause in believing that the accused presented before the court has committed the crime. (2006) Since the positive identification of the identity of the robber was made by the victim before dying and the identification was made in front of the judge, prosecution and defense, the testimony of the victim could be used as evidence in the trial since there were no questions over the state of mind of the witness during the examination and cross-examination that positively identified the perpetrator. Moreover, the positive identification constitutes direct evidence to the crime (Famber v State, 1975) and even if the victim eventually died, the weight or value of the evidence remains.             Even if the series of robberies and killings stopped after the arrest of the defendant, this cannot be used as evidence for the other robbery and homicide incidents. This constitutes a circumstantial evidence that in some instances, such as in these particular situations cannot stand on its own to support the case covering the other incidents. The ballistic evidence may provide proof that similar caliber weapons were used in the series of robberies and homicides but this does not provide strong evidence that the accused committed the other robberies and homicides, especially without a weapon traceable to the accused.       Discussion Board Unit 2 August 24, 2007               The testimony of expert witnesses may be allowed subject to the test of standards ( 2002), particularly the Daubert standard that tests the relevance and reliability of the testimonies of expert witnesses in determining whether to include the testimonies as evidence. Only if the testimonies pass the relevance and reliability test that these may be included as evidence. The Daubert standard also pertains to scientific evidence so that the reliability of the testimonies of expert witnesses depends upon their expertise on a particular scientific knowledge or evidence.             This case involved a case filed against Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. due to the birth defects caused by its drug Bendectin intended for nausea in pregnant women. During the trial, the pharmaceutical company presented expert evidence showing that ingesting the drug during pregnancy causes birth defects. This was refuted by the claimant by presenting an expert testimony based on eight animal testing studies indicating an adverse effect of the drug to unborn children. The lower court decided in favor of the respondent because the expert evidence presented by the claimant do not hold any general acceptance in the scientific field and the studies were not also peer reviewed. On appeal, the Supreme Court remanded the case back to the appellate court for consideration by applying the two-pronged test of relevance and reliability. Based on these tests, the appellate court still decided in favor of pharmaceutical company. This means that the testimonies of expert witnesses become admissible as evidence only in instances when the testimony has been found by the court to be both reliable and relevant to the case. Reliability may be supported by expert opinions that are generally accepted or peer reviewed and relevance pertains to the materiality of the testimony to the resolution of the case.               In the succeeding case of Kumho Tire Co. v Carmichael (1999), the court again applied the Daubert standard in determining the merit of the testimonies of expert witnesses. In this case, Carmichael met a vehicular accident after the right-rear tire exploded resulting to injuries to one of the passengers. After three months, he filed a case against the manufacturer of the tire based on the claim that the tire sold by the manufacturer was defective. The cases primarily rested on the testimony of a witness with expertise on tires. The testimony of the expert witness relied on existing tire technology together with the factual background on the model of the tire used in the claimant’s vehicle. The tire manufacturing company did not dispute the use of existing technology to test the tires but the tire manufacturer vigorously disputed the conclusion that the tires were defective. In the lower court, the decision was in favor of the tire manufacturer because the methods of the expert witness were not scientifically valid. On appeal, the court reversed this and decided in favor of the acceptability of the evidence since expertise also included knowledge and skills by experience. The Supreme Court ruled that the testimony of the expert witness could not be included as evidence because the Daubert standard applied only to scientific expert evidence. Since the expert witness relied heavily on experience and observation that no other factors that could have caused the tire explosion, these do not meet the standard. This means that the testimony of expert witnesses become acceptable if their statements refer to scientific theories and results of empirical studies.                 Individual Project Unit 3 August 24, 2007   1.         In the given case, the determination of the validity of the evidence against the defendant depends on the consideration of three factors. First is the proximity of the illegal detention to the evidence collected. U.S. v Melendez-Garcia (1994) provides that the prosecution should prove intervention or break in the causal link between the alleged illegality and the concurrent evidence derived from the situation. This means that if the evidence was collected directly on account of the illegal detection without any intervening factors, then the admissibility of the evidence may be questioned in court. Second is the existence of intervening variables breaking the causal chain of illegal action and evidence collection (U.S. v Jerez, 1997) such as when the person illegally detained was released on account of which the person voluntarily acceded to inquiries or request for information. Third covers the nature, extent and circumstances surrounding the illegal act and the collection of evidence (Brown v Illinois, 1975). This means that the acceptability of the evidence obtained in the commission of an illegal action depends upon the severity of the illegal act and the extent of influence that this has on the process of evidence collection and the evidence collected. In application to the given case, it appears that the illegal detention was not as closely connected to the collection of evidence for the case since the illegal detention resulted to the collection of evidence to support the filing of a case but the complainant was also able to positively identify the defendant during the trial. This indicates an intervening event, particularly the positive identification by the complainant of the defendants as the perpetrator during the case that validated the identification during the investigation. This means that the case now primarily depended on the in-court identification and other evidence presented and the in-court evidence cannot then be invalidated. 2.         The ‘fruit of the poisonous tree’ doctrine provides that evidence obtained due to information that was retrieved illegally cannot be validly included as evidence.  This emanates from the rationale that when the source has been tainted, anything that is derived from that source would also be tainted, which in application to evidence makes proof retrieved in this situation tainted. This doctrine applies as a preventive measure for the possible use of illegally derived evidence and to encourage law enforcement authorities to obtain evidence within legal bounds. (Silverthorne Lumber Co. v United States, 1920) However, there are three exceptions to this doctrine so that evidence obtained illegally will become admissible in the following instances: 1) evidence was partly discovered from an untainted source; 2) evidence could have been discovered outside of the tainted source; or 3) causation relationship arising between the illegal act and the tainting of evidence has been weakened through intervening factors. (2006) In application to the given case, the doctrine applies and the evidence should be suppressed because there was a direct causal connection between the illegal arrest and the derivation of tainted evidence. There is also no evidence that the police would have learned about the robbery had they not illegally arrested Watson causing the need to find people to take care of his pets while he is under police custody. 3.         The cased in point covering instances when incriminating testimony is obtained through a police informant placed in the custody with a suspect are U.S. v Henry (1980) and Kuhlmann v Wilson (1986). In U.S. v Henry (1980), a paid informant was placed with the federal inmates to listen to the statements given by the prisoners but without initiating leading conversations. However, the information befriended the defendant resulting to the drawing of information on the case. The informant then testified against the defendant but this was rendered inadmissible because there was a deliberate move to draw information. In Kuhlmann v Wilson (1986), an informant was placed to listen to the conversations of the defendant without engaging the latter in conversation. The informant never questioned or spoke to the defendant but heard the defendant’s admission to the crime. This time the court held the testimony as acceptable because there was no move to deliberately obtain incriminating information. In application to the given case the situation where the informant merely listened to the conversations of the defendant or deliberately placed in a spot to be able to overhear conversations, the testimony of the informant is acceptable as evidence. In the scenario where the informant engaged the defendant in conversation to draw incriminating information, the testimony of the informant is unacceptable as evidence because of the deliberate plot to obtain incriminating information that violated the Fifth Amendment rights of the defendant. 4.         Consideration of the admissibility of statements and evidence obtained during police questioning depends upon whether the evidence collected are self-incriminating, the questioning constituted an interrogation, and the interrogation was done with Miranda warning. Rhode Island v Innis (1980) provides that interrogation covers not only the express questioning by police authorities but also the uttering or words or doing of actions by police officers that they know would draw incriminating evidence from the suspect. In this case, the court held that the situation was not an interrogation because the police officers engaged the suspect in mere conversation. The evidence obtained was admissible since even if there was no Miranda warning the conversation did not constitute an interrogation. However, NY v Quarles (1984) provides the exception of public safety in making evidence collected during an interrogation without a Miranda warning admissible. In application to the given case, the statements made by the defendant and the gun confiscated cannot be admitted in evidence because there was no Miranda warning when the interrogation was made. There was interrogation because the suspect was deemed in custody and there was an indication of compulsion when the police officers had to ask the location of the gun for the second time. Also, there appears to be no public safety issue to support the application of the exception.   Discussion Board Unit 3 August 26, 2007               Admissions and stipulations in criminal cases are processes involving the collaboration of both parties covering facts and other relevant factors for the purpose of expediting the resolution of the case. Admissions are statements made involving the case by the parties sought to be admitted as evidence while stipulations constitutes the agreement between the opposing parties prior to the trial regarding facts or admissions to be excluded from the hearing (2006;2006). After reaching an agreement, this would be raised to the court for resolution on admissibility. Rule 801(d)(2) of the Federal Rules of Evidence provides that admissions may be the statement of one the parties or statements to which one of the parties accrue great belief. Since admissions are statements made by any one of the parties, the court has to consider whether these are obtained or given in order to determine the reliability of the statements and whether these are material to the resolution of the case. Admission would be included as evidence if these are deemed to be given in order and material to the resolution of the case. Stipulations are agreements on facts or other things constituting the limit of the trial or making-up the items not to be brought up in trial. Before the court could accept the stipulations, it should consider whether the stipulations were derived without any undue pressure from any of the parties to the other party and whether the stipulations really significantly aid in the resolution of the case. If so, then stipulations are accepted for compliance by the parties. Overall, the courts play the role of legal guardians in settling the merit of admissions and stipulations.       Individual Project Unit 4 August 27, 2007   1.         Eyewitness identification is an important aspect of criminal justice because this provides valuable evidence of the commission of a crime and/or of the perpetrator. Due to its value, this process is also delicate since reliability is achieved with the proper procedures and the certainty of the identification made by the eyewitness. In common practice, eyewitness identification is made through a photo line-up. In conducting a photo line-up it is important that the pictures are presented in a way that does not positively suggest a particular picture as the perpetrator. A number of practical things could be done to make the photo line-up less incriminating such as placing pictures together with similar sizes of the face, angles and other factors that lessens the pointing towards a single picture for identification. Singletary v United States (1978) adds that on-site identification carries greater reliability. United States v Hunter (1997) allowed suppression of evidence because the identification process was obviously suggestive. In the given case, only a single picture was shown to the undercover agent making this very suggestive of the suspected perpetrator. On-site identification could have provided greater reliability to cause the arrest of the defendant after the sale of illegal drugs and not two days after the incident. The in-court identification may be admitted as evidence because this constituted a personal identification different from the photo line-up. The conviction of the defendant for selling heroine could be affirmed because the flaw in the process of identification is not too grave to affect the other identification evidence.   2.         The legality of a search depends in part on the consent of the premises or property being searched. However, this is subject to the rule that the actual search should comply with the scope and scale of search for which the consent was obtained. Any evidence obtained from beyond the scope and scale of the search could be inadmissible in evidence depending upon the particular circumstances of the case. In the given case, the police stopped a vehicle and requested permission to search the car on suspicion that the driver is carrying narcotics. By giving his consent, the police opened the passenger and found a paper bag containing cocaine. The brown paper bag is covered by the scope of the permission obtained because this involved the suspicion of the driver carrying narcotics and illegal drugs would necessarily be hidden and not in plain view. Searching compartments or covered items is necessarily covered by the request and the permission given by the vehicle driver. The evidence obtained should be admitted in evidence. However, it is up to the prosecution to prove that the consent for the evidence obtained was voluntarily given (Bumper v North Carolina, 1968; Johnson v United States, 1948) 3.         United States v McKeever (1958) provides rules on the admissibility of audio evidence. The authenticity of audio evidence depends upon the existence of these seven rules: 1) the device used to record is capable of making the record presented in court; 2) the person operating the audio recording has the capability to make the recording; 3) the recording presented in court is correct; 4) the recording included as evidence is unaltered; 5) the recording presented in court is preserved to be the same unchanged recording; 6) the speakers in the recording have been identified; and 7) the conversations recorded have been made voluntarily. There is no indication that there was a violation of any of the rules provided above so that the Supreme Court may hold the audio evidence as properly used. Since the proper collection and use of audio evidence have been complied with making the audio evidence admissible in evidence, then together with material evidence sufficient to support conviction, the US Supreme Court may affirm Lorenz’ conviction for bribery. 4.         Technology is important in criminal justice to enhance the reliability of police investigations. However, there are limitations to the use of technology because of constitutional rights such as privacy and right against self-incrimination. In Kyllo v United States (2001), the court held that the use of thermal imaging technology to determine whether the defendant is growing marijuana in his home is deemed as a search and since the police did not have a search warrant in using this technology, evidence obtained was rendered inadmissible resulting to the acquittal of the defendant. The Passive Alcohol Sensor (PAS) obtains information that could be deemed as a search because of its self-enhancing functions. However, there are differences between thermal imaging and PAS. PAS is a sense-enhancing device similar to thermal imaging but PAS obtains information that the police officers could have obtained in other ways involving the consent of drivers. In addition, motor vehicles are accorded differently in terms of privacy issues than homes so that evidence obtained through the Passive Alcohol Sensor may be acceptable as evidence unlike the evidence obtained from thermal imaging technology.           Discussion Board Unit 4 August 26, 2007               Exigent circumstances refer to conditions that would builds the belief or supports the action of a reasonable person over the necessity of preventing physical harm to law enforcement officers or other people, preventing the destruction or loss of evidence, preventing the flight of suspects, or preventing other circumstances that affects the valid efforts of police officers in investigating a case (United States v McConney, 1984). Exigent circumstances test the judgment of law enforcement authorities in determining whether to proceed with a search or arrest due to the emergence of an exigency or whether to wait for the warrant before acting. In Boulder, Colorado the DA made the statement that exigencies drive the timing of arrest. The statement referred to the investigation being made on Karr in relation to the murder of Ramsey. Karr went to Thailand to work as a teacher in an international school. The safety of the schoolchildren came up as an exigency for the arrest even if no formal charges have yet to be made. ( 2006) In Wisconsin, the entry of a police of the garage of a person reported to be heavily drunk resulting to the arrest of the drunk-driver was upheld as constituting an exigent circumstance because the driver might need assistance or he may cause harm to himself and to other people. In the first case, exigency was used to make the arrest but there was no indication that evidence obtained due to the arrest was used to support the filing of charges while in the latter case the evidence obtained through the search was used as evidence against the defendant. In both cases, sound judgment was important.             Group Project Unit 5 August 27, 2007     Crawford v Commonwealth (2000)               This case involved the presentation of DNA evidence to prove the crime of rape. In this case, the defendant entered a woman’s home in Virginia, held a knife in the throat of the woman, covered the woman’s eyes, and demanded money. When the woman replied that she did not have any money, the defendant then raped her before fleeing the site. The woman reported the incident to the police and provided her clothing and agreed to a physical exam for the collection of DNA evidence. Due to lack of suspects to match the semen DNA found on the clothing of the victim, the case remained unresolved for two years. A break in the case happened when an inmate in Washington, D.C. reported to the authorities that he heard Crawford talking about having raped a woman in Virginia and then fleeing to Maryland afterwards. Due to this statement, the police obtained a DNA sample from Crawford and matched this to the DNA sample found on the woman’s clothing. According to the testimony of the DNA expert that conducted the test, the DNA of Crawford matched the DNA from the woman’s clothing on six points. This is deemed as a significant or positive match. The testimony of the expert was then presented to the jury as evidence without any objections from the defendant. The testimony mentioned the significance of the degree that the DNA samples matched and the process of matching DNA samples. Both the scientific process and interpretation of the results of the DNA test formed part of the testimony.             After the presentation of all evidence, including the testimony of the victim, the jury was instructed by the court through a statement that DNA testing is accorded reliability as a scientific technique by Virginia law in proving identity, which in this case is the assailant’s identity and in considering the weight given to the DNA evidence the jury should look into the processes and the results involved in the DNA test of the samples. After deliberation, the jury decided to convict Crawford. The defense appealed on the ground that the direction offered by the court on the reliability of DNA tests would lead the jury to place great weight on the DNA evidence that eventually resulted to the guilty verdict. The appellate court held that the court directive to the jury regarding the reliability of DNA testing was improper. The case was remanded back to the lower court for consideration.             Although the case was remanded back to the lower court due to the statement made by the court to the jury on the reliability of DNA tests, the case showed that scientific testimony such as the statements made by a DNA testing expert on the results of a DNA match could constitutes a reliable and relevant evidence consistent with the Daubert standard (Daubert v Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 1993; 2005). In this case, the DNA testimony was relevant because it was able to determine the identity of the assailant and tie the defendant to the crime and the victim. DNA testimony is also reliable because this was not questioned by the defense. It was only the directive made by the court that was questioned by the defense.             It is also worth noting that there was a dissenting opinion in the decision of the appellate court providing that the decision of the jury should have been affirmed because DNA testing is recognized as a reliable scientific tool and although the weight of DNA results should be weighed on a case-by-case basis, in this given case the weight of the DNA match is towards the identification of the defendant as the assailant resulting to the guilty verdict.             The use of DNA evidence in criminal cases is valuable but its value greatly depends upon adherence to scientific methods and processes to come up with reliable results (2002; 2005). Moreover, the results should also be used in adherence to legal procedures or practices to constitute relevant evidence in the resolution of criminal cases.             Based on the consideration of cases using scientific evidence to support the resolution of criminal cases, there are a number of basic tips for rookie officers in investigating a crime scene: <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-autospace: none"> Secure the immediate area and periphery of the crime scene to prevent loss or contamination of scientific evidence. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-autospace: none"> Make a general observation of the whole area so that if a witness or the victim has been questioned, this can be checked based on the crime scene. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-autospace: none"> Protect the crime scene from changes in weather such as sudden rain or strong winds that could erase significant evidence.</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-autospace: none"> Avoid personally contaminating the crime scene by dropping gums, candy wrappers, cigarette butts and other contaminants. </li>       Discussion Board Unit 5 August 27, 2007               DNA evidence is becoming commonplace in the resolution of criminal cases because of technological innovations and the growing knowledge on DNA testing processes and result interpretation ( 2002; 2003). However, developments in DNA evidence gave rise to various issues such as whether DNA evidence can solely stand as evidence for the resolution of cases. This issue cannot be resolved through a definitive yes or no answer since there are differences in the standards applied in DNA testing. There is just too much variability in DNA testing so that even if there are basic standards on DNA testing, it is still more rational to consider DNA evidence in the context of the processes and use as well as the facts of the case. In the case of bite marks, its weight as the sole or primary evidence in a case depends upon the circumstances of the case. In some instances, bite marks is sufficient but not in some cases. These results are both covered by State v Krone (1995) , where Krone was convicted for killing a bar owner based on the teeth impression left on the neck and breast of the victim that was matched to the teeth impressions of the defendant. On appeal, the case was remanded to the court because a videotape of the expert witness’ testimony was not disclosed to the defense until the presentation itself. When the case was remanded, the court again convicted the defendant. Krone served sentence for ten years until an evaluation of the case using more advanced DNA technology showed that based on the saliva taken from the bite marks on the victim, the perpetrator was not Krone but another inmate already serving sentence for child molestation. On one hand, DNA evidence such as a bite mark is not sufficient to convict a defendant if the processes used are still elementary that does not consider all factors such as teeth impressions, saliva and other DNA residue but on the other hand, bite marks is sufficient with advanced technology that positively points to the defendant based on matching teeth impressions, saliva, blood, and other corroborating forensic results.     Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Criminal Justice

Individual Project Unit 1 August 24, 2007 Explain the differences between the three types of evidence and provide a typical example o...