...2003 Principles of Ethics Professor Margaret De Alminana ‘On April 12, 2015, Freddie Gray, a 25 year old African American male, was arrested by the Baltimore Police Department. He had a known unethical character and had been involved in twenty criminal court cases, five of which were still active at the time of his death. He was due in court on a possession charge on April 24, 2015. Freddie Gray died on April 19, 2015, due to injuries to his spinal cord. On April 21, 2015, pending an investigation of incident, six Baltimore police officers were temporarily suspended with pay. On May 1, 2015, state prosecutors in Baltimore received a medical examiner’s report ruling Gray’s death as a homicide. Was it foul play that was intentional, gross negligence, or inflicted self harm by the prisoner? We identified “Rae’s first step in making a moral decision is to gather the facts.” Much of the other information had conflicting reports and statements. So what are the “ethical issues that Rae has for level two” in the model for making moral decisions? The formal charge filed by Office Garrett Miller accused Gray of violating statute 19 59 22, “unlawfully carry, possess, and sell a knife commonly called a switch blade knife, with an automatic spring or other device for opening and/or closing the blade within the limits of Baltimore City.” The prosecutor alleged that Gray’s arrest was unlawful because the switchblade the arresting officers reported he had in his possession was actually...
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...Allegations of the use of excessive force by U.S. police departments continue to generate headlines more than two decades after the 1992 Los Angeles riots brought the issue to mass public attention and spurred some law enforcement reforms. On Staten Island, N.Y., the July 2014 death of Eric Garner because of the apparent use of a “chokehold” by an officer sparked outrage. A month later in Ferguson, Mo., the fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown by officer Darren Wilson ignited protests, and a grand jury’s decision not to indict Wilson triggered further unrest. In November, Tamir Rice was shot by police in Cleveland, Ohio. He was 12 years old and playing with a toy pistol. On April 4, 2015, Walter L. Scott was shot by a police officer after a routine traffic stop in North Charleston, S.C. The same month, Freddie Gray died while in police custody in Baltimore, setting off widespread unrest. The policeman in the South Carolina case, Michael T. Slager, was charged with murder based on a cellphone video. In Baltimore, the driver of the police van in which Gray died, Caesar Goodson, was charged with second-degree murder, with lesser charges for five other officers. There have been no indictments in the earlier cases. These follow other recent incidents and controversies, including an April 2014 finding by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), following a two-year investigation, that the Albuquerque, N.M., police department “engages in a pattern or practice of use of excessive...
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...Brentyn Trujillo Period 3 11/3/2015 Police should wear body cameras at all times while on duty. Police officers should be forced to wear body cameras while on their patrol duty. Equipping police with body cameras may be an effective way to advance the behavior of officers and the community with which they interact, a new study finds. Researchers at the Campus of South Florida released their report on a yearlong body-worn camera pilot program at the Orlando Police Department, in which they randomly selected 46 officers to wear the plans and compared them against 43 officers who did not. In the 12 months from March 2014 through February 2015, use-of-force events also known as "response to resistance" events fell 53 percent amongst officers with...
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...Militarized Police: A Growing Epidemic Eric Reed Liberty University Abstract The purpose of this research is to document the chronic spread of militarization of police agencies across the United States at the federal, state, and local levels. Police militarization is one of the most controversial issues facing our police forces and encompasses a wide range of problems, from cases of excessive force, to civil rights violations, to budgetary problems. This research will include events that led to the creation of the first SWAT units, the aftereffects of the September 11 attacks, as well as the problems that both the contemporary public and police agencies face today. Finally, this project will highlight several proposed solutions to curb the increasing prevalence of police militarization, specifically as it pertains to agency administration. Militarized Police: A Growing Epidemic Eric Reed Liberty University Every day across the United States, tens of thousands of police officers and federal agents put their lives on the line to serve their communities and their country. They face a myriad of threats that could reveal themselves at any given moment, and it's impossible to predict what the next day of work holds for these men and women. The key to survival is to be well-prepared for any situation; as such, it is of utmost importance that our officers and agents have access to the protection and tools they need to deal with and adapt to the ever-changing force of...
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...U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Reducing Fear of Crime Strategies for Police Gary Cordner Reducing Fear of Crime Strategies for Police Gary Cordner Kutztown University January 2010 This project was supported by Grant Number 2003-CK-WX-K049 awarded by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions contained herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. References to specific agencies, companies, products, or services should not be considered an endorsement by the authors or the U.S. Department of Justice. Rather, the references are illustrations to supplement discussion of the issues. The Internet references cited in this publication were valid as of July 2009. Given that URLs and web sites are in constant flux, neither the authors nor the COPS Office can vouch for their current validity. Letter from the Director Dear Colleagues, Fear of crime has an incredibly corrosive effect on individuals and entire communities. This issue is of great concern to all of us in law enforcement. Fear negatively shapes all aspects of the quality of life of America’s communities. The COPS Office recognizes that people not only need to be safe, but they also need to feel safe. Treating both of these issues as two parts of a greater whole is a critical aspect of community policing. That...
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...Police brutality is widely held to have become a serious problem in recent decades in many countries. It is a subset of unjustified shootings, severe beatings, and abuse. The number of deaths and injuries is getting high from police abuse has directed our attention to the need all reasonable steps to ensure a safe society for people. There are many factors for the occurrence of police brutality. The most common factors are racial profiling, prejudices, and the pressure of work. Government laws try to prevent these factors from endangering the police in the working environment. I believe that police brutality is not only a United States problem, but also a global problem that quickly needs to be resolved. The definition of police brutality is...
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...MANAGING CRIME AND QUALITY OF LIFE USING COMPSTAT: SPECIFIC ISSUES IN IMPLEMENTATION AND PRACTICE By Dr. Vincent E. Henry* I. INTRODUCTION The highly effective management model or paradigm that has come to be known as Compstat was first developed within the New York Police Department in 1994 as a process for managing crime and quality of life in New York City. Compstat was developed in response to a very specific set of immediate needs confronting the NYPD at that time: the compelling need to bring spiralling rates of crime and disorder to within manageable bounds and to refocus the NYPD on its primary mission of effectively ensuring public safety by reducing crime and violence. Since its introduction in early 1994, Compstat has proven to be highly effective in achieving the goals for which it was initially intended. Over time it has also evolved and grown from a basic and fairly rudimentary process involving the collection and analysis of crime data as well as a mechanism for ensuring accountability and information-sharing into a more complex, more nuanced, and eminently more effective management paradigm. As Compstat grew and changed over time, so too did the issues and problems challenging the NYPD. As crime and public disorder offences declined to within more manageable limits, the agency had the luxury of turning its attention to a range of other management problems and issues. While reducing crime and disorder and increasing public safety have never lost their prominence...
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...Heather Mac Donald, the term "Racial profiling" has two meanings, hard and soft profiling. “Hard” profiling uses race as the only factor in assessing criminal suspiciousness: an officer sees a black person and, without more to go on, pulls him over for a pat-down on the chance that he may be carrying drugs or weapons. "Soft" racial profiling is using race as one factor among others in gauging criminal suspiciousness: the highway police, for example, have intelligence that Jamaican drug posses with a fondness for Nissan Pathfinders are transporting marijuana along the northeast corridor. A New Jersey trooper sees a black motorist speeding in a Pathfinder and pulls him over in the hope of finding drugs (Mac Donald). Racial Profiling really came to the forefront with the beginning of The War on Drugs, during the Reagan era in 1982. In 1985, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) instituted Operation Pipeline, an intelligence-based assessment of the method by which drug networks transported bulk drugs to drug markets, and began training local and state police in applying a drug courier profile as part of highway drug interdiction...
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...PORT OF BALTIMORE Prepared for the: MARYLAND PORT ADMINISTRATION Revised January 28, 2008 Prepared by: MARTIN ASSOCIATES 941 WHEATLAND AVE., SUITE 203 LANCASTER, PA 17603 Maryland Port Administration Inter-Office Memorandum TO: DATE: File March 19, 2008 SUBJECT: MPA’s comments concerning the Martin and Associates Study of Economic Impacts to Port of Baltimore in 2006 The MPA commends the excellent work by Martin and Associates in completing a comprehensive report of the economic impacts of the Port of Baltimore in late 2007, and revised on January 28, 2008. There are two methodology changes (or new features) in the current report - induced and indirect related jobs and a new single measure of the total economic activity. Although other ports are using this enhanced methodology, the MPA chooses not to include them when speaking of the Port’s impacts for the following reasons: • In previous comprehensive studies, only the number of direct related jobs was measured. In the January 2008 study, the related impacts measure the jobs, personal income, and associated state and local taxes that occur at each stage of production of exports or consumption/use of imported cargo. This includes induced and indirect related jobs that are supported by the direct related jobs. The new change in methodology in the current study concerning total related jobs provides a very comprehensive and extremely broad view of the economic impact of the cargo moving via the Port of Baltimore to the...
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...U.S. Department of Justice DE PA ME RT NT OF J US CE TI Bureau of Justice Assistance IJ J O F OJJ D P B RO J US T I C E P Bureau of Justice Assistance Understanding Community Policing A Framework for Action MONOGRAPH S G OVC RA MS Office of Justice Programs N BJ A C E I OF F Bureau of Justice Assistance Understanding Community Policing A Framework for Action MONOGRAPH August 1994 NCJ 148457 Bureau of Justice Assistance This document was prepared by the Community Policing Consortium, supported by grant number 93–DD–CX–K005, awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Bureau of Justice Assistance Response Center 633 Indiana Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20531 800–421–6770 The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime. ii Monograph Acknowledgments The Bureau of Justice Assistance wishes to thank Stephen J. Gaffigan, Director of Operations, Community Policing Consortium for supervising and coordinating the preparation of this document with the Consortium Management...
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...THE PLAN OF AMNESTY: The Solution to Illegal Immigration Michael Mays ENG 102: Composition II February 10, 2012 The Plan of Amnesty How much would it cost to put 10 Million people in busses or airplanes and ship them back to their countries of origin? Is there a better way to deal with illegal immigration in the United States? Is the answer a strict and enforceable amnesty, allowing illegal immigrants to report themselves in order to achieve legal status, or is mass deportation of the estimated 10 million illegal aliens living in the U.S. the solution? A well laid-out, simplified, yet fair and enforceable amnesty plan could solve the multi-billion dollar battle of amnesty, deportation and illegal immigration. The cost of illegal immigration to the United States is estimated in the billions by numerous news avenues but what are the actual numbers and their impact on the United States? “More than 10 million illegal immigrants live in the United States, and 1,400 more arrive every day” (Katel, 2005). This number seems very high and somewhat scary to people but the truth is that “illegal immigrants only make up about 5 percent of the U.S. work force” (Ketel, 2005). Nonetheless, strong actions have been taken by the government to try to put a stop to illegal immigration. Over the past decade or so, billions of dollars have been spent on border-control measures such as walls, fences, and increasing border patrol personnel. From 1993 to 2004, the federal government quintupled...
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...in conjunction with a Baltimore lawsuit. Trudy Festinger, head of the Department of Research at the New York University School of Social Work, determined that over 28 per cent of the children in state care had been abused while in the system. Reviewed cases depicted "a pattern of physical, sexual and emotional abuses" inflicted upon children in the custody of the Baltimore Department. Cases reviewed as the trial progressed revealed children who had suffered continuous sexual and physical abuse or neglect in foster homes known to be inadequate by the Department. Cases included that of sexual abuse of young girls by their foster fathers, and that of a young girl who contracted gonorrhea of the throat as a result of sexual abuse in an unlicenced foster home.[1] In Louisiana, a study conducted in conjunction with a civil suit found that 21 percent of abuse or neglect cases involved foster homes.[2] In another Louisiana case, one in which thousands of pages of evidence were reviewed, and extensive testimony and depositions were taken, it was discovered that hundreds of foster children had been shipped out of the state to Texas. Stephen Berzon of the Children's Defense Fund explained the shocking findings of the court before a Congressional subcommitte, saying: "children were physically abused, handcuffed, beaten, chained, and tied up, kept in cages, and overdrugged with psychotropic medication for institutional convenience."[3] In Missouri, a 1981 study found that 57 percent...
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...Prepared for THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PEACE, VIOLENCE, AND CONFLICT, 2nd ed., (Academic Press, expected 2008). Hate Crimes Jack Levin and Jack McDevitt Northeastern University I. Legal Distinctions II. Hate Crimes and Prejudice III. Why Treat Hate Crimes Differently? IV. Problems in Collecting Hate Crime Data V. Types of Hate Crimes VI. Organized Hate Groups VII. VIII. Are Hate Crimes on the Rise? Responses to Hate crimes IX. Conclusion GLOSSARY Defensive Hate Crimes Hate offenses aimed against particular “outsiders” who are regarded as posing a challenge to a perpetrator’s neighborhood, workplace, school, or physical wellbeing. Ethno-violence Acts of hate that do not necessarily rise to the legal standard of a crime, but contain an element of prejudice. Hate Crimes (also known as Bias Crimes) Criminal offenses motivated either entirely or in part by the fact or perception that a victim is different from the perpetrator. Mission Hate Crimes Hate offenses committed as an act of “war” against any and all members of a particular group of people. Modern Racism victim. Prejudice A negative attitude toward individuals based on their perceived group Subtle and institutionalized forms of bigotry based on the race of the membership. Retaliatory Hate Crimes terrorism. Thrill Hate Crimes Hate offenses typically committed by youngsters who are motivated by Hate offenses designed to get even for hate crimes or acts of the desire for excitement. HATE CRIMES are criminal...
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...Running Head: SOCIOLOGY IN CRIMINAL SYSTEM Abstract Sociology in the criminal justice system s both interest but very complicating. There are some many different aspects on what can be touched upon. The criminal justice system is known to be very biased. In specific terms the system is racial bias and unfair. The America uses a formal social control, to deal with crimes. Statistics show a fair difference and connection between race and the percentage of people convicted of crimes. Other components influence these percentages but always seem to come back to race. The racial unfairness has taken a toll on the American people and contrasts the idea that America was originally built on Incredible as it is America is one of the most tolerant nations in the world. America is a country that was built on freedom, pride, happiness, and equality. Though this is common knowledge and an allusion of the American people, the country has some faults. Equality is a major moral in America that was fought for in history and even in today's society. Throughout our history minority groups have fought hard for there rights and we have accepted the fact that its wrong to discriminate. It is agreed that racial discrimination is wrong as well (Banks, 2009, p 79). Racism has been a problem in America seen the country was founded. Slavery was a form of racism in the early centuries of America. Our judicial system has...
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...The police and neighborhood safety BROKEN WINDOWS by JAMES Q. WILSON AND GEORGE L. KELLING James Q. Wilson is Shattuck Professor of Government at Harvard and author of Thinking About Crime. George L. Kelling, formerly director of the evaluation field staff of the Police foundation, is currently a research fellow at the John F Kennedy School of Government Harvard. In the mid-1970s, the state of New Jersey announced a "Safe and Clean Neighborhoods Program," designed to improve the quality of community life in twenty-eight cities. As part of that program, the state provided money to help cities take police officers out of their patrol cars and assign them to walking beats. The governor and other state officials were enthusiastic about using foot patrol as a way of cutting crime, but many police chiefs were skeptical. Foot patrol, in their eyes, had been pretty much discredited. It reduced the mobility of the police, who thus had difficulty responding to citizen calls for service, and it weakened headquarters control over patrol Officers. Many police officers also disliked foot patrol, but for different reasons: it was hard work, it kept them outside on cold, rainy nights, and it reduced their chances for making a “good pinch.” In some departments, assigning officers to foot patrol had been used as a form of punishment. And academic experts on policing doubted that foot patrol would have any impact on crime rates; it was, in the opinion of most, little more than a sop to public...
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