Abstract There are many names that police officers are referred to nowadays, especially by the media. Police officers have several names; for the most part we think of them as protectors, rather than just patrol officers or beat cops. Society today has become what we know as a place of personal freedom; these freedoms enable us to label people as we choose. News media people refer to police officers as crime fighters, social servants, order maintainers, and crime preventers. This paper lists the names, and each one is analyzed. The writer determines whether or not the depiction is real or just an image.
From the Paper "Some people see police officers as "crime-fighters"; others see a policeman as a person that is always there to lend a helping hand. In my job, we are crime-fighters; we are the ones that do what has to be done. We work traffic, handle citizen complaints and fight drug trafficking. One news story that might depict what a crime-fighter is an article from www.PoliceOne.com, entitled ?9 Million Worth of Cocaine Seized in Texas.? This article tells how DPS troopers pulled over an 18-wheeler on I-40 near Groom and discovered a hidden compartment. "The trooper noticed some unusual tool marks and rivets that didn?t match the other rivets in the trailer, and he suspected that this had been tampered with, so he got a consent to search from the driver. To make a long story short, the trooper got consent from the driver and found a hidden wall, which unveiled 9 million dollars worth of cocaine."
This paper argues that the scales of justice need to be tipped in favor of capital punishment in order for civilized societies to be able to uphold the values of justice, human life, and the rights of the innocent.
Abstract This paper explains that capital punishment serves to protect innocent human life through acting as a deterrent to crime as evidenced by the decline in the number of murders as the number of executions increased between 1990 and 2000 in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas. The author points out that, although many opponents of the death penalty argue that the death penalty is too expensive and that it costs more than simply giving convicts life; currently, the added expense of executing people is not the result of the justice system, but an effect of unnecessary delays in the federal courts. The paper concludes that capital punishment is necessary because, as long as there is crime and violence, citizens need to be assured that they can go about their daily lives free of worry and fear.
From the Paper "Paroled prisoners are not the only problem for there have been several cases of dangerous prisoners escaping from even high security prisons: "Michael Rodriguez, sentenced to life for murder joined six lesser criminals in overpowering prison employees in Connolly, Texas". Police say the "Malevolent Seven" robbed an Oshman's sporting goods store?then shot... police officer Aubrey Hawkins 11 times and drove over his corpse.? The preceding example is just one incident among many. In another case, even a 5,000 volt electric fence did not succeed in keeping in three murderers, all lifers, from escaping a high-security prison in St. Clair Springs, Ala. ?Along with three fellow inmates, they lifted the fence with a broom handle and slithered to freedom.? This example and the earlier cited cases of Arthur Shawcross and Michael Rodriguez should surely suffice in illustrating the danger of merely relying on imprisonment as a method of protecting society from known criminals. More important, it once again raises the question of whether society should concern itself more with the rights of innocent citizens or the rights, if arguably any, of criminals. Surely, society's first concern should be with the prevention of injustice by ensuring the safety and security of its citizens. In fact, this is the fundamental duty of government."
Abstract Historically, juveniles who came to the attention of the courts were considered less guilty than adults because of their age. This, in turn, developed into an attitude at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th Century that the appropriate role for police and the courts was to guide the young person to a better path. Finally, this led to the idea of 'status offenses'; that is, offenses that would not be crimes if committed by an adult. The paper examines the history of juvenile courts in the American legal system. It discusses issues such as the 'parens patriae' policy, juvenile facilities, rehabilitation, and the status of the system today.
From the Paper "The philosophy of parens patriae allowed the courts, and through them a variety of social service programs, to concern themselves with actions that violated societal expectations. The juvenile system then had a tiered set of offenses, just as the adult criminal system did, but at the bottom of the tier for youths were offenses that were not listed in any criminal code. Police had broad discretionary power at this level and could choose whether to ignore what they saw, to simply talk to the youth or youths in question, or to make an arrest (Wolcott, 2001)."
Abstract Serial killers have long fascinated the general public, not only because their crimes are so heinous, but also because they embody the extremes to which psychological disorders can take a person. In the name of psychological insight, the lives of serial killers are dissected down to the most minute detail in the hope of understanding what factors contribute to making a 'monster'. This paper shows that what motivates the serial killer is an area of much research. Whether we are any further ahead in our understanding of the psychotic personality is debatable, however. The question of environment versus genetics is a matter of contention in the study of serial killers, as is the question of power versus pleasure in the motive. By looking at such serial killers as John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz, and Jeffrey Dahmer, this paper provides a clearer understanding of the many influences in developing the antisocial or psychotic personality.
From the Paper "The serial killer who seeks sexual pleasure may be of several different types. "Lust murders can be disorganized or organized, and the sexual orientation can be either heterosexual or homosexual. The primary difference is that an organized lust killer can usually escape police detection." (Connor, 2004). Ted Bundy fits the profile of an organized lust killer, who seemed quite personable, and was able to seduce at least twenty-two women to their deaths. A variety of deviant practices often accompany the lust murder. These may include pedophilia, bestiality, pyromania, necrophilia, torture and cannibalism, although the latter three are usually found in the disorganized serial killer. (Connor, 2004)."
Abstract This paper looks at the minimum drinking age in the United States and the reasons that this age has been deemed appropriate by authorities. It then presents several reasons why the present minimum drinking age should be lowered and looks at statistical evidence that supports this contention. It concludes by making the point that at eighteen years of age,a citizen can die for his/her country, get married and divorced, apply for credit, and move out of his/her parents' home ; therefore, he/she should also be allowed to drink.
From the Paper "In America, when a person reaches the age of 18 he can die for his country, obtain credit, get married, get divorced and be charged in criminal court. By all appearances the age of 18 sets the stage for adulthood and all that it entails. In a curious contradiction to that, however, America insists on maintaining a drinking age of 21 years old. While 18 year olds can do all of the above except drink, individual states, under the threat of reduced federal interstate funding, keep the legal age of drinking at 21 years of age. The minimum legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 because it (age) is not a contributing factor in the number of accidents/deaths that involve young people between 18 and 21 in the United States."
This paper argues that Megan's Law, which requires persons convicted of sexual crimes to register where they are living after being released from prison, is constitutional.
Abstract This paper explains that critics of Megan's Law, which has been adopted in some version of the original New Jersey statute in all fifty states, contend that the law infringes on the constitutional rights of the sex offenders. The author points out that sexual offenders question the registration requirements based on the fact that the offenders feel they are facing a type of double jeopardy. The paper relates that the problem with Megan's Law is not its constitutionally, but rather that the legal process for the law may have some flaws because legislatures tend to respond to horrifying sexual crimes through hurried legal responses.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Megan Kanka
First Megan's Law
Constitutionality
Legal Process
Recommendations
Conclusion
From the Paper "?Megan's Law is named for 7-year-old Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl who was raped and killed in 1994 by a child molester who moved in across the street from her house.? In July, 1994, Megan was sexually molested and brutally killed by a repeat sexual offender named Jesse Timmendequas. Timmendequas had been convicted two times of serious sexual offenses and he lived in a house with two other sex offenders right across the street from Megan Kanka. Timmendequas had recently been released from a New Jersey prison and treatment center for individuals with compulsive and repetitive sexual habits."
Abstract Behavior that violates significant social norms and is disapproved of by a large number of people as a result is considered social deviance. This paper examines the concept and looks at it in relation to crime and society's view of deviant behavior.
From the Paper "The labeling theory is considered one of the most important approaches to the understanding of criminality. Labeling theorists do not see deviance as a certain set of characteristics pertaining to an individual or group, but they see it as a process of interaction between deviants and non-deviants. According to their theory, we must find out why one is given the label of a deviant in order to understand deviance itself. (Haralambos, Holborn, van Krieken, Smith, 1996)"
Abstract This paper attempts to address the question of whether or not the technological advances made in today's society have affected the police officer, and if they have, in what manner they have done so. The paper begins with an historical look at police officer safety and then delves into the greater focus of the paper regarding the effects, both negative and positive, of technology on police safety, as well as the evolution and development of technology used for police work.
Outline
Historical Facts of Police Officer Safety
The Creation of 911
The Community Policing Era:1970
The Role of the National Institute for Justice
in the Development of Law Enforcement Technology
New and Emerging Developments in Technology
Statistical Data
From the Paper "The police officer's job is one that is demanding as well as dangerous. From the routine traffic stop to the pursuit of someone armed and dangerous, the police officer depends on the technology and equipment that are the tools of his trade. The advancement of technology in the twentieth century was one of rapid acceleration and has proven to be effective both in the control as well as the perpetration of crime. The technology provided to the police officer is being at all times defended by offensive creations and implementations by the criminal element in society."
Tags: law, enforcement, national, institute, for, justice, gun, nightstick, callboxes, polygraph
Abstract This paper contends that the science of fingerprinting has been used for centuries in almost all areas of the world. From the prehistoric writing on hands in Nova Scotia to more than 46 million stored fingerprints in FBI files today, the history of fingerprinting is vast. The paper presents the history of fingerprinting and discusses how it has developed over the last several hundred years. The paper explores the development of technology in recording and comparing fingerprints. The paper states that, while fingerprint comparison has been challenged in the court systems because science has no proof that no two matches are alike, it is currently the best method for identification available.
From the Paper "Fingerprinting appears to have been an interesting topic even to prehistoric peoples of the world. In Nova Scotia, pictures of hands with ridge patterns on the palms and fingers were found painted on cave walls. In primeval Babylon, business transactions required fingerprints from those involved. Each person in the transaction placed a fingerprint on a clay tablet, according to ancient journals of the time. Even China, in ancient times, used thumb prints on clay seals (Meaney, 2003). It is obvious that even the ancient people of the world realized that fingerprints were different between different people. While they may not have realized their full potential, they did see at least limited use for the science."
Abstract Are serial killers programmed to kill? Research paper with psychological and genetic background that focuses on early family life and behavioral science methods to capturing such criminals.
From the Paper "Each murder committed by a serial killer is unique. The method that he or she uses to kill, the ways that the victims are chosen, the eventual disposal of the bodies, and the sexual perversions are all a result of many factors. These can be things such as the environment in which he or she was brought up in, the relationship that the parental figures in the family had, the community in which they resided, the friends with which they spent time, the religion which they followed, and the levels of education attained by the killer. The motivation behind these killings is sometimes not apparent. However, most infamous serial killers share some common genetic diseases, familial issues, and disturbed childhoods. Whether they are acting on instinct, are programmed to act the way they do, or are expressing their emotions and frustrations in this perverted way, each serial killer has some sort of motivation for their actions."
Tags: fbi, genetics, jacobs, killer, motivation, psychology, serial
Abstract This paper explains that, in general, eyewitnesses are less accurate because the eyewitness can make mistakes from the time a crime occurs, through the investigation, during lineup identification, and even on the witness stand. The author points out examples in which eyewitness identification was racially biased. The paper concludes that, although racial bias can interfere with eyewitness identification, there are circumstances in which it does not; therefore, it is important that eyewitness testimony not be stricken from the courtroom, but the procedures by which it is permissible ought to be made more stringent.
From the Paper "Mistaken identification can help to put innocent people in prison. In a 2000 study of seventy-four wrongful conviction cases, 81 percent were due (at least in part) to mistaken identification. Mistaken identification can be caused by the factors discussed in the preceding paragraph, but it can also be caused by cross-racial identification. This problem is called "racial skew". Racial skew was the cause of the wrongful conviction of Johnny Frederick and David Keaton in Florida in 1971."
Abstract This paper shows that juvenile boot camps, although specifically designed to keep youth from mainstream prison, actually increase a juvenile's chances of recidivism after release. While the paper notes the short-term effectiveness of boot camps, it emphasizes the negative long-term effects of the camps. The paper also examines after-care programs for their effectiveness.
From the Paper "Boot Camps were introduced into the juvenile justice system in the early 1990's as an alternative to incarceration for less serious offenders. It was thought that a militaristic type setting would provide more structure than probation but less structure than incarceration for those offenders who fell in the middle ground of these two. The boot camps were designed to serve as cost effective alternatives to incarceration, promote discipline, instill morals and work ethic, promote academic achievement, reduce drug abuse, hold offenders accountable and produce respectable citizens. They were intended to have a militaristic feel including uniforms and military jargon and follow a rigorous daily routine including drills, discipline and physical conditioning. The amount of rehabilitative and educational programs incorporated depended heavily upon the individual program."
Abstract This paper discusses how the Internet has made child pornography easily accessible to pedophiles. The paper explains how this easy access has created an escalation in crimes against children. It assesses what is being done by the law to remedy the problem and explores what role the parents can play in protecting their children from online predators. The paper examines what the warning signs are that a child is being manipulated by someone older in an inappropriate manner online.
From the Paper "The Internet is no doubt a great resource for education, communication, research, business, and entertainment that has grown at a breakneck pace ever since the debut of the first commercial web browser in 1994. According to one study conducted in December 2004, about 60% of Americans are now connected to the Internet with the average user spending close to 3 hours per day online. (Nie, et al, 2004) The children too have widespread access to the Internet at school and at home. Unfortunately, easy accessibility to the Internet has its downside. It makes the children vulnerable to exploitation by predatory pedophiles lurking in what the US Attorney General, John Ashcroft described as "the dark corners of cyberspace." (Quoted by Magid, 2002) Before the mass advent of the Internet, most child predators stalked their victims in public places such as schoolyards, playgrounds, and shopping malls."
Abstract There are numerous theorists from the criminal justice arena who tend to blame crime and delinquency on biological, psychological, or sociological factors. Control theories take another approach. They assume that all people would commit crime if left to their own devices. In general, the control theories helps society understand that there are ways to prevent crime. This paper explains the theories and presents some of the writer's own opinions.
From the Paper "In 1951, Albert J. Reiss published an article that examined the number of factors related to control perspective. His work was a product of an experiment whose intent was to prove whether control factors can be used to predict prohibition revocation among juvenile offenders. Reiss analyzed court records of 1,110 white male juvenile probationers between the ages of 11 and 17. He found that prohibition revocation was more likely when the juvenile was psychiatrically diagnosed as having an ego or superego controls and when the "psychiatrics recommended either intensive psychotherapy in the community or treatment in closed institutions" (Vold 178). Reiss argued that such assessments were based on the juveniles' personal controls, which is the ability to refrain from meeting needs from ways that conflicted with the norms and views of the community. Furthermore, he managed to find that probation revocation was more likely when juveniles did not regularly attend school, and they were described as behavior problems by school authorities. Consequently, Reiss agued that these were a messure of acceptance or submission of the juveniles control, namely the controls of socially approved institutions."
A look at how technological advances in criminal identification procedures have improved the ability of law enforcement agencies to identify offenders and capture suspects.
Abstract This paper describes the many technological advances that have become available in the last few decades and explains how they can help law enforcement agencies improve their overall ability to locate and capture suspects. The paper looks at such technologies as iris-recognition technology, electronic surveillance technology, citizen smart cards technology and facial recognition technology.
From the Paper "The world today is filled with cameras that can film an individual wherever he goes, his cell phone signal can pinpoint his location, and even one glance can reveal his true identity (Shenk 2003). Iris-recognition technology, soon to be common in places such as airports, offices, and banks, will simply scan an individual's eyes to reveal his idenity (Shenk 2003). Many feel that in this post-9/11 landscape, there is a serious need for these high-tech tools to help detect money laundering, encrypted e-mails, bio-weapons, and suitcase nukes (Shenk 2003)."
