...America’s Cash Crop “Why is marijuana against the law? It grows naturally upon our planet. Doesn’t the idea of making nature against the law seem to you a bit . . . unnatural?” ― Bill Hicks The legalization of marijuana is a debate being held all over the country. Everyone has their own opinion on the whole idea of marijuana. There are legislators who think that if marijuana is legalized that it will be grown illegally, and medically abused. There are potheads who think it would be cool and that they would get cheaper weed. But what it comes down to are the numbers. Marijuana is a cash crop. How can Wisconsin say no to numbers like fourteen billion, and thirty five billion dollars? Can legalizing marijuana rescue Wisconsin’s economy? Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, DC, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington. In seventeen states, and DC it is legal to have at least an ounce of marijuana. In fourteen of them it is legal to even have plants (ProCon). Should Wisconsin be state number eighteen? NBC News produced an article Marijuana Called US Cash Crop and within that article they state “The study estimates that marijuana production, at a value of $35.8 billion, exceeds the combined value of corn ($23.3 billion) and wheat ($7.5 billion).” Wisconsin is in forty six billion dollars of debt and increasing every second (WisconsinDebtClock). If marijuana can bring in millions...
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...a very ugly turn and lead to the biggest stressors of their life. According to the European Society of Criminology (ESC), criminology is defined as "all scholarly, scientific and professional knowledge concerning the explanation prevention, control and treatment of crime and delinquency, offenders and victims, including the measurement and detection of crime, legislation, and the practice of criminal law, and law enforcement, judicial, and corrections systems" (Schmalleger, 2009, p. 15). Citizens see crime as unwelcome and needless deviance. In the other hand citizens from lower communities tend to be emotionless and see it as a normal part of their everyday lifestyle. Crime can happen anywhere at any time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation implements a wide database known as the Uniform Crime Report, which is compiled monthly from local and state law enforcement agencies reports of the Federal Bureau of Investigation them the information is released to the public nationwide (FBI.gov,2014). The National Incident-Based Reporting System is used to collected data by law enforcement by showing more in depth information on each single crime occurrence (FBI.gov, 2013). The type of data used in the National Incident-Based Reporting System is information on the nature of the crime, type of crime, a description of the victims and offender involved, type and value of any stolen properties, and a complete description of the person arrested in connection with the crime. Although these reports...
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...of vehicle or firearm Wis.Stat.Ann §940.09 Issue: Is the taking of a blood sample a violation of Defendants fourth amendment rights? Rule: Wis.Stat.Ann §343.305(3) (West 2012) states (a) upon arrest of a person for violation of s. 346.63(1), (2m) or (5) or a local ordinance in conformity therewith, or for a violation of s. 346.63(2) or (6) or 940.25, or s. 940.09 where the offense involved the use of a vehicle, or upon arrest subsequent to a refusal under par. (ar), a law enforcement officer may request the person to provide one or more samples of his or her breath, blood or urine for the purpose specified under sub. (2). Compliance with a request for one type of sample does not bar a subsequent request for a different type of sample. S. 343.305 (3)(2) states if a person is the operator of a vehicle that is involved in an accident that causes the death of or great bodily harm to any person and the law enforcement officer has reason to believe that the person violated any state or local traffic law, the officer may request the operator to provide one or more samples of his or her breath, blood, or urine for the purpose specified under sub. (2). Compliance with a request for one type of sample does not bar a subsequent request for a different type of sample. A person who is unconscious or otherwise not capable of withdrawing consent is presumed not to have withdrawn consent under this subdivision and one or more samples specified in par. (a) or (am) may be administered to...
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...References…………………………………………………………………...page 5 Blue Cross v. Marshfield Introduction The Marshfield clinic is a health care system founded in 1916 comprised largely in Wisconsin (Marshfieldclinic.org, 2012). It has 2 hospitals, 53 community care centers, and has about 800 physicians in more than 80 medical specialties and subspecialties-from cardiology, to neurology, to dentistry - provide care at over 50 locations throughout northern, central and western Wisconsin. In 1995, Blue Cross and Blue Shield United of Wisconsin brought a suit against the Marshfield Clinic and Security alleging violations of sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, a federal antitrust statute (Meili & Sarskas, 1996). The Sherman Act of 1890 sections 1 and 2 outlawed restraints of trade (for example, collusive price-fixing and dividing up markets) as well as monopolization (McConnell, Brue, & Flynn, 2012). It argued that the Marshfield clinic used its monopoly power and engaged in collusion with competitors to charge supra-competitive prices for health care services in the region. Jury and Government Findings In December of 1994, a jury found Marshfield clinic in violation of the Sherman Law and awarded Blue Cross and Blue Shield $48 million on the grounds that it had engaged in anticompetitive, monopolistic practices to restrict the health care market in northern and central Wisconsin (Lutes & Vanderbilt, 1995). Upon appeal, however, the amount of the award was reduced to $17 million and in a written opinion, the court...
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...Racial profiling is a problem that has been going on in the United States for far too long. Everyday, people are being pulled over and searched just because of their race or because of their ethnic background. Police profiling is defined as being law enforcement officers targeting people based on a specific trait of theirs such as their race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, or gender. One branch of police profiling that has been in the news a lot lately although it has been a problem for many years is racial profiling. Many people automatically think of black people when they hear the words racial profiling, when in fact, it is a problem amongst other races as well such as Mexican, Asian, and Middle Eastern. Racial profiling has led to many lawsuits and deaths recently and is a growing problem in the United States, as it has led to riots and protests. One case of racial profiling is the Michael Brown case. Michael was a 17 year old teenager from Ferguson, MIssouri who was gunned down by a white police...
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...that commit crimes and get incarcerated often do not receive the treatment that they need. The Wisconsin Prison System is currently so overcrowded that many offenders often do not have a long enough sentence to overcome the waiting list for needed programing. With inmates getting released and more often than not committing a new crime or violation of the supervision and returning to prison overcrowding is continuing to be a problem. As of May 2011 Wisconsin had a recidivism rate of 46-percent rate which was a little above the national average at that time. Luckily recidivism rates have decreased and prospects are looking better for inmates to receive the treatment they need. I have done additional research and just stumbled upon a very interesting article titled, "Stopping the Revolving Door: Reform of Community Corrections in Wisconsin" by Kate Lind. She states that, "Wisconsin’s criminal justice system is marked by a pronounced cycle of crime followed by incarceration followed by parole followed by repeated crime. Several statistics provide evidence of the revolving-door nature of the criminal justice system. In Wisconsin, 38.2% of offenders released from incarceration are convicted of a fresh crime within three years." In my opinion I believe that this can be attributed to lack of treatment and I feel that this is truly the flaw in the Criminal Justice System. Wisconsin is currently in the process of enacting a plan to reduce overcrowding in the prison system, thus...
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...Scott Walker Governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker is striving for nothing but the best. He was born in a small town in Colorado, now traveling around the country gaining presidential votes. Walker was born on November 2nd, 1967, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. At the age of 10, he moved to Wisconsin and grew up in a Christian household. Growing up, he participated in verity amounts of activities within the church and school. In high school, had an interest in politics and was selected by the American Legion’s Badger Boys State program, to be one of two representatives for Wisconsin in Washington, D.C. During his time in Washington, D.C, he met Ronald Reagan, and said Reagan was his inspiration and role model in politics. In 1986-1990, Walker attended Marquette University, but dropped out to work full time in development for Red Cross. For four years, he worked for American Red Cross, handling marketing and fundraising efforts. At age 25, he was elected a member of the Wisconsin State...
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...If the defendant pleads not guilty at the arraignment, a court date will be established for a preliminary hearing. In this hearing the prosecutor will present the evidence collected to the courts that will be used during the trial proceedings. Additional in this hearing, the defendant, defense attorney, prosecutor and judge will determine whether the evidence collected support the defendant charges and if probable cause is established. In this hearing if probable cause is not established, the case will be dismissed (del Carmen, Rolando V., 2014). In the Gagnon v. Scarpelli case, the state of Wisconsin revoked probationer Gerald Scarpelli rights to a preliminary hearing due to his admission of violating his probation. Under the United States...
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...would allow citizens to see that the Police Department is impartial, meaning they could lose the trust and respect of the community. The Judges in this case dismiss the case because for a group of people to be uniform (collectively similar) their cannot be any appearance of religion and that all those who serve must appear neutral to better server the community. Anything to separate identity could be costly when it comes to the overall good of protection. The Judge(s) decide this because if it seems that the police department is partial then citizens may not or will not comply with the enforcement that the police are trying to achieve. Is it ethical for the judge(s) to make this decision? In my opinion yes the judge(s) were correct in their ruling. I have always viewed the police department as an unbiased organization. Regardless of the sex or race of someone they uphold the law. I may feel intimidated by an officer who would be allowed to display their...
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...are as new as contemporary technology. The Internet has opened a variety of new rooms for cybercriminals to commit cyber-based terrorist attempts, computer intrusions, and major cyberfrauds. Cyberextortion is an outsider threat designed to obtain money, products, or favorable considerations from an organization or individuals by using illegal means of persuasion related to computer intrusion (Cybercrime Investigation & Intelligence, 2012). This paper addresses the relatively new form of sexual exploitation called “sextortion” that has emerged on the cybersex crime scene recently, and its affect upon teenagers and children. In addition, the paper addresses the dangers of scams associated with “sextortion”, its criminal profile, law enforcement initiatives to combat “sextortion”, and the penalties for committing these types of crimes. “Sextortion” is a method of sexual exploitation in which individuals are extorted with nude images of themselves shared online over the Internet. Texting has become the modern day method of communication among teens and children, and in the case of “sextortion” these images are displayed online via the new term of “Sexting” that is done via cell phones. Sexual predators that live online, in chat rooms, and on social networking websites eventually coerce their victims into performing sexual acts, or even performing hardcore pornography by sending threating e-mails through personal sites or social networking sites, such as Facebook, and MySpace...
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...Ohio State University law professor and civil rights activist Michelle Alexander, author of "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness," reports there are more African American men in prison and jail, or on probation and parole, than were slaves before the start of the Civil War. Statistics reported in 2006, by the U.S .Department of Justice, Bureau of Statistics support this claim, which show that Blacks made up 41 percent of the nation’s 2 million prison and jail inmates, while Non-Hispanic whites made up 37 percent and Hispanics made up 19 percent. The disproportionate ratio of blacks to whites who are incarcerated is especially great in Iowa, Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota – greater than 10-to-1 (USJB, 2006). Why this structural inequality towards African Americans is happening, why it matters, and suggestions to rectify this, are issues that are discussed in this paper. Why is this happening? Since 1970, the U.S. has experienced a large and rapid increase in the rate at which people, regardless of race, are housed in federal and state correctional facilities (Snyder, 2011). This rapid growth in the prison population has been attributed in a large part to the rate at which individuals are incarcerated for drug offenses, especially minorities (Snyder, 2011). Between1995 and 2003, the number of people in state and federal prisons incarcerated for drug offenses increased by 21 percent, from 280,182 to 337...
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...Measuring of Crime Stephanie Winget CJS/201 03/07/2016 Robin Clawson Measuring of Crime With having multiple ways of gaining crime statistics, it can be difficult to figure out which ones are the most accurate. Uniform Crime Reports, National Crime Victimization Surveys and the National Incident Based Reporting System are three ways of collecting crime data. However all three have different statistics that they collect. Uniform Crime Reports One of the main sources of gaining crime statistics are Uniform Crime Reports, also known as UCR’s. These are crime statistics that are given to the FBI by law enforcement agencies on a monthly basis, based off of their reports. There are only eight crimes that this crime reporting program reports on. Those crimes are murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, auto theft, arson and larceny. National Crime Victimization Survey This crime reporting program is a survey done of households to determine the extent of criminal victimization, more so the unreported victimization. This survey is conducted twice a year. This reporting program helps to determine what amount of crimes people have not reported. Whether it is because they are too scared to because of what consequence could come from the offender, or because they may not have known that they had been robbed right away there are many reasons that civilians don’t report crime. National Incident Based Reporting System ...
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...Many Hmong refugees resettled in the United States after the Vietnam War. Beginning in December 1975, the first Hmong refugees arrived in the U.S., mainly from refugee camps in Thailand; however, only 3,466 were granted asylum at that time under the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975. In May 1976, another 11,000 were allowed to enter the United States, and by 1978 some 30,000 Hmong people had immigrated. The Hmong community is very religious for the most part. In some of the large cities where Lao and Hmong-Americans live and work, tensions have, on rare occasion, running high between them and neighboring ethnic groups. Hmong people have sometimes been targets of discrimination, mainly because of job competition and stereotyping of them as foreigners and too dependent on welfare. Some of their persecutors justified their actions by claiming that the Hmong unnecessarily took jobs, welfare money, and other services away from long-time residents. As with any social issues, these communities evolve to being very successful but also they suffer issues such as crime that is perpetrated by their own. Hmong gangs are considered to be some of the most violent Asian gangs on the US. These gangs are formed mainly by younger generations of Hmong; they become enchanted with the American way of life and get involved with crime. Throughout the United States, the number of Hmong gangs and the level of their criminal activity are increasing in severity. Their participation...
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...2011, seventy-two law enforcement officers lost their lives to felonious assault. The seventy-two officers killed in the line of duty from city, county, state, university and college, and federal agencies. Fifty officers were employed by city police departments. Each of these seventy-two lives left behind families, police agencies, and friends struggling to come to grips with this sad reality. According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reports the average age of the officers killed was thirty-eight, and their average length of service was twelve years. Among the most frequent circumstances in police killings included ambushes, traffic pursuits and being attacked while attempting other arrests. Seven officers died from injuries inflicted as a result of answering disturbance calls. Eleven officers were conducting traffic pursuits or stops, fifteen were killed as a result of ambushes and five officers were investigating suspicious persons or circumstances. Five officers sustained fatal injuries while they were performing investigative activities and nine while they were engaged in tactical situations. Offenders used firearms in sixty-three of felonious deaths. Of the seventy-two victim officers, fifty-one were wearing body armor at the times of their deaths. Seventeen of the victim officers fired their own weapons, and...
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...209-014 April 18, 2012 Critical Essay: Civil Disobedience Civil disobedience is the active refusal to comply with certain laws or demands of a government, such as paying fines or taxes. Although it is not necessarily on-violent, it has classically been attributed to nonviolent resistance. The etymological origin of the term is from Henry David Thoreau’s essay Resistance to Government, written in 1849, which was eventually renamed to Essay on Civil Disobedience. Since its republication in 1866, Thoreau’s essay has inspired many important activists over the course of history. Its messages have resonated within countless people unsatisfied or disgusted with the law of the land; one of the most prominent lessons it teaches is that an unjust government can only be corrected by the defiance of its people. As long as there is an imperfect government, there will be a need for civil disobedience. Citizens of nations from all over the globe still read and learn from Civil Disobedience because even in modern times a perfect government does not exist. In Civil Disobedience, Thoreau prompts the reader to take direct action against injustice. He argues that the government is a representative of corruption and injustice that, like a machine, fuels the enabling of its wrongdoings through enforcement of law. He states that an individual’s silent compliance with the law is essentially the same as cooperation with injustices that the lawmaker commits. In particular, he points out that paying taxes...
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