...Central Ohio Technical College Institute for Public Safety Law Enforcement Technology Autumn Semester, 2013 August 21 through December 11, 2013 Class Syllabus Course Title: Introduction to Criminal Justice Course Number: LET-100 Instructor: Bob Cromwell, MS BBA C: (740)258-0800 Office hours by appointment only. email: rcromwel@cotc.edu Required Materials: Textbook(s): Frank Schmalleger. (2014) Criminal justice: a brief introduction (10th edition). NJ: Pearson Education. ISBN: 978-0-13-300979-8 Packets: Not required Supplies: Any materials students may need to record information in face to face classroom setting AND access to internet for research projects. Additional Materials: None. Closed Reserve: None. ITS Resources: http://www.cotc.edu/faculty-and-staff/it-support/Pages/index.aspx Student Services: http://www.cotc.edu/student-life/Pages/default.aspx Library: http://www.cotc.edu/libraries/Pages/default.aspx College-Wide Policies: 1. Assessment -- As part of COTC’s campus-wide assessment initiatives (quality assurance program), samples of student performance such as test results, projects, papers, etc. may be used. The data gathered will not identify individual students and are not related to the student’s grade for the course, but will be used to improve student learning at COTC. 2. Disability -- Any student who...
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...Drug Policy Reform Eric L. Morton Urban Policy/UST 458 Cleveland State University Abstract In the United States the prison population has increased from 300,000 in 1972 to 2.2 million people today. One in 31 adults in the United States is in jail, prison, on probation or parole. The American government currently spends over 68 billion dollars a year on incarceration. Drug Policy and the incarceration of low-level drug offenders is the primary cause of mass incarceration in the United States. Forty percent of drug arrests are for simple possession of marijuana. Growing evidence indicates that drug treatment and counseling programs are far more effective in reducing drug addiction and abuse than is incarceration. Drug policies most often refer to the government's attempt to combat the negative effects of drug addiction and misuse in its society Governments try to combat drug addiction with policies which address both the demand and supply of drugs, as well as policies which can mitigate the harms of drug abuse. Demand reduction measures include prohibition, fines for drug offenses, incarceration for persons convicted for drug offenses, treatment (such as voluntary rehabilitation), awareness campaigns, community social services, and support for families. Policies which may help mitigate the effects of drug abuse include needle exchange and drug substitution programs, as well as free facilities for testing...
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...2: The Lockdown Rules of the Game Just Say No Supreme Court Sanctions Legal Misrepresentation The Fourth Amendment isn’t the only rule violated in these situations; most of the American civil liberties have been undermined due to the drug war. The Court has allowed the following: War on Drugs tactics #1: Consent Searches Started in 1960’s but rarely used until the 1970’s -primarily for hostage situations, hijackings, and prison escapes Once arrested, one's chances of ever being truly free of the system of control are slim, often to the vanishing point. Tens of thousands of poor people go to jail every year without ever talking to a lawyer. Approximately 80% of criminal defendants are indigent and thus unable to hire a lawyer. People fear police harassment, retaliation, and abuse−especially poor people of color. Those looking for an attorney often find that unless there are broken bones and no criminal record, private attorney would unlikely be interested in the case. Without significant provision over the authority when exercising police discretion, they can arrest Americans for nonviolent drug charges with relative ease. The Supreme Court lets them do it by, and I quote, “eviscerating Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures by the police.” Due to this, people are outright saying that there is a “virtual drug exception” in the Bill of Rights. What this means is that the Supreme Court is creating and abusing a section of the Bill of Rights...
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...Innocence Project Research Paper Since 1992 The Innocence Project has exonerated 289 people in the United States. To be exonerated of a crime means that a person is acquitted for their crime and released back into society. These wrongful convictions are due to unvalidated or improper forensic science, eyewitness misidentification, and false confessions. In this paper I am going to tell the story of Clarence Elkins and why wrongfully convicting a person is a problem in the United States. It all started on June 6th, 1998 in Summit County, Ohio. Clarence Elkins’ niece was sleeping over at her grandmother’s house, only to be woken in the middle of the night to hearing her grandmother screaming. So his niece ran into the kitchen to see her grandmother being beaten by a man. She ran back into her bedroom to be followed by this man. The niece was sexually assaulted by him. Her next memory was waking up to see her grandmother dead in the kitchen. She then proceeded to run to her neighbor’s house to call the cops. While the cops were on the way the niece proceeded to tell her neighbors that the man she saw last night looked like her uncle Clarence Elkins. Elkins was immediately brought in for questioning and he was the police’s number one suspect. Biological evidence, including hairs, was found at the crime scene and from the victim’s body. Mitochondrial DNA testing was done on pubic hairs from the victim’s bodies. This testing excluded Elkins as a possible contributor...
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...The Journalists' Right to Protect News Sources Jessica L. Graham JRN 410 Journalism Law Michael Angelo May 18, 2014 The Journalists' Right to Protect News Sources The Bill of Rights, written by James Madison, was established because the America people, from the beginning, demanded assurances that their inherent freedoms would be protected. Yet, the American people have consistently disputed the extent to which the First Amendment applies. Does the freedom to report the news also include the freedom to gather it and protect the source of their information? Laws will consistently attempt a compromise to initiate equilibrium but it is absurd to assume any law will give 100 percent protection. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances,” − The First Amendment to the United States Constitution (Bill of Rights Transcript Text, n.d.). The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics states sources should be identified whenever possible and it is very important his or her motives are clarified before publication of the material. A journalist should also confirm and attribute the information of the source before relying on the information (Society of Professional Journalists, 1996-2010). Confidential sources should only be used as...
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...Innocence Project Research Paper Since 1992 The Innocence Project has exonerated 289 people in the United States. To be exonerated of a crime means that a person is acquitted for their crime and released back into society. These wrongful convictions are due to unvalidated or improper forensic science, eyewitness misidentification, and false confessions. In this paper I am going to tell the story of Clarence Elkins and why wrongfully convicting a person is a problem in the United States. It all started on June 6th, 1998 in Summit County, Ohio. Clarence Elkins’ niece was sleeping over at her grandmother’s house, only to be woken in the middle of the night to hearing her grandmother screaming. So his niece ran into the kitchen to see her grandmother being beaten by a man. She ran back into her bedroom to be followed by this man. The niece was sexually assaulted by him. Her next memory was waking up to see her grandmother dead in the kitchen. She then proceeded to run to her neighbor’s house to call the cops. While the cops were on the way the niece proceeded to tell her neighbors that the man she saw last night looked like her uncle Clarence Elkins. Elkins was immediately brought in for questioning and he was the police’s number one suspect. Biological evidence, including hairs, was found at the crime scene and from the victim’s body. Mitochondrial DNA testing was done on pubic hairs from the victim’s bodies. This testing excluded Elkins as a possible contributor...
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...Data Collection and Surveillance Andrew John Martin UNCW Computer Science Department Abstract The purpose of the research is to see if the mass collection and surveillance of U.S citizens legal and ethical. The goal is to have a better understanding of the how data is collected, and the what the Fourth Amendment means. This is done by examining several aspects of the Fourth Amendment, and recent articles on the NSA. Upon examination, it becomes clear that the NSA is indeed breaching the rights of lawful U.S citizens. Through showing that the Fourth Amendment protects the U.S citizens against such actions. Key Words: NSA, Fourth, Amendment, warrant, PRISM, Edward, Snowden. The NSA collects millions of American phone, internet, and personal information. They do this by using a system call PRISM which allows them to collect this data through several different internet websites. However, many believe this is in complete violation of the Fourth Amendment which protects against unwarranted searches and seizures. The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." The ultimate goal of this provision is to protect people’s...
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... and any trucker who wants to drive through the state of Confusion has to stop and have the B-type hitch installed or they would have to drive around Confusion. The federal government has not made any attempt to regulate the truck hitches used on the nation’s highways. Tanya Trucker, who trucking company contends that the additional expense this statute imposes on her business is unnecessary and frivolous. She intends to file suit against Confusion to overturn the statute. * Before Tanya files her law suit she needs some questions answered, such as which court will have jurisdiction over this case, is the statue constitutional, what provisions of the U.S. Constitution will be applied by the courts to determine the statue’s validity, and finally the steps to filing a civil suit. I believe Tanya should file suit in Federal court to challenge the constitutionality of this law. She should file suit in the federal court in the state of Confusion since they would have the most knowledge of the reasoning and understand the subject matter the most. I do not believe this statute is constitutional. The Commerce Clause protects intra-state trade and this law would affect the free flow of trade among the states. * Since Tanya’s company is from the State of Denial where no such law exists it creates issues and added expense if she wishes to conduct business in the State of Confusion. Tanya would have added time, energy and costs in order to travel through this state. Assuming...
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...Michael Collins Presents: Family Medical Leave Act Abuse: Regulation Changes are Necessary for Today’s Workforce. In partial fulfillment of the requirements for English 215 Research and Writing Summer 2014 To: Professor Sgroi, Course Facilitator Department of English and Humanities Strayer University—White Marsh Campus White Marsh, Maryland Family Medical Leave Act Abuse: Regulation Changes are Necessary for Today’s Workforce. Abuse of the Family and Medical Leave Act regulations by reciepients is a common practice that affects those who depend on the regulation. When Interminttent FMLA leave is requested, employers often find employees abusing the leave, when the leave is not necessary. When Intermintent FMLA leave is exploited, it affects those who do not abuse the regulation; by adding more stipulations to time allowences and even lessening the time granted for those who do not abuse the leave. This has become a major problem with employers and employees. The Family and Medical Leave Act must be changed, in order for it to protect those who it is intended for, and not as a “work when I want” for those who it is not intended for. The history of FMLA started in 1984 when the first draft of the legislation was written by The National Partnership for Women and Families. The Family and Medical Leave Act passed in Congress in January 1993 with bipartisan support. President Clinton signed the act with it being one of his first accomplishments...
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...Police Corruption and court cases are very common and prevalent. A common pleas judge reversed 53 narcotic convictions Friday which is based on investigations of police in drug units (Writer, 2013). Judge Shiela Woods- Skipper overturned convictions that were based on the testimony of former Jefferey Walker who was arrested in May as part of an FBI corruption inevestigatgion (Writer, 2013). The District Attorney in the case Robin Godfrey requested the reversals in the hearing he said afterward that he was very dissappointed to drop cases involving defendants who had pleaded guilty to drug charges (Writer, 2013). Walker was arrested after he was overheard bragging on how easy it was to rob drug dealers. Agents have said that Walker was assigned to the narcotics unit since 1999 and that he plotted with a government informant to rob drug dealers (Writer, 2013). What he wasn’t aware of is that FBI agents had been listening in on what he was doing (Writer, 2013). In one theft Walker planted drugs in a volkswagon Jetta and arrested the suspect (Writer, 2013). Walker and the informant then entered the drug dealer’s house and took $15,000 according to federal charges. Walker’s next federal case was scheduled for November. 20, at Friday’s hearing more than 70 convictions involving Walker had been scheduled for dismissal (Writer, 2013). I think that most of us know about the blue wall of silence that police use to protect themselves, and co-workers. U.S. attorney Howard Klien...
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...James Thomas, Senator for the State of Oklahoma To the Congress of the United States of America: When our Constitution was first drafted the Founding Fathers argued long and hard about the inclusion of a Bill of Rights .The key reason the Founders finally united and agreed to pass a Bill of Rights, even though the Federalists had initially argued that a piece of paper could not act to protect individual freedoms, was because they felt there had to be a way to “oblige the government to control itself,” (Postell). There are many searches of colonists’ private homes and their inability to protect themselves from such intrusions by the British Crown led the Founders to pass the Fourth Amendment (Flex Your Rights Foundation). At its core, the Fourth Amendment protects the right of the people to be free from an absolute government intrusion and from a government that has run wild with its own power. The Fourth Amendment says (Findlaw): The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. People have a right to feel safe in their houses and property cannot be lost to government action simply because the government has the power. To protect people from government intrusion and its...
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...of this Agreement and Recipient hereby agrees that in addition to any legal or other rights that may be available in the event of a breach hereunder, Palmtop Innovations may seek equitable relief to enforce this Agreement in any Court of competent jurisdiction. _______________ Date ________________________________ Signature This is a business plan and does not imply an offering of securities. Palmtop Innovations Contact Information: Palmtop Innovations, Inc. "Productivity In The Palm Of Your Hand" 26209 Fairfax Ave. Cincinnati, OH 45207 (513) 555-7272 Bradley Regent, CEO palmtopinnovations.com This document contains confidential information. It is disclosed to you for informational purposes only. Its contents shall remain the property of Palmtop Innovations and shall be returned to Palmtop Innovations when requested. This is a business plan and does not imply an offering of securities. Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary Business Opportunity Product/Service Description Current Business Position Financial Potential The Request 2. Company Background Business Description Company History Current Position and Business Objectives Ownership 3. The PalmPal Product Product Overview Competitive Analysis Suppliers and Inventory Research and Development 4. The Industry,...
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...the death penalty. II. How do you got put on the death row “death penalty” A. What state uses what method? B. What states don’t use any method? III. What do the people think about the death penalty in the U.S.? A. Why are people for the death penalty? B. Why are people against the death penalty? Conclulusion-The death penalty isn’t the right way to go for punishment after a crime it just as worse as the person that committed the crime. Fighting Crime with Murder The death penalty is a common topic and one of the major’s topics today. This research paper as you can already see is about the death penalty and it will show and tell what it is, how it works also how it is wrong because, two wrongs do not make a right even though two negatives make positive. I have learned many of things about the death penalty more than what I expected to learn. I hope by you reading my research paper you will learn how the death penalty isn’t the right way to go just like abortions some people say abortions are right but not the death penalty or the other way around it does not make any sense they both are murdering someone. Yes, the person on the death penalty did something wrong to get there but like I said before two wrongs does not make a right. Make them suffer in the prisons for what they have done instead of dying painless. Also now days you never can tell if that person truly committed that crime unless you were there or not. The death penalty has been around...
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...par. 3) Reducing crime must be a community effort. It requires the work of not only law enforcement but also the community itself. Crime prevention programs can be instituted, but until everyone decides to work together on the effort, they can be futile. In this paper I will be discussing the jurisdiction of Oklahoma City, the portion of the criminal justice system my proposal addresses, an analysis of crime statistics in Tallahassee, Florida, San Francisco, California, and Cleveland, Ohio, and how they compare to the national average, what the SARA model and the Problem Analysis Triangle are, the crime prevention strategy I have chosen, my recommendations, and my anticipated outcomes. According to the Lectric Law Library it states that, “the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the deprivation of liberty or property without due process of law and the Sixth Amendment, which is applicable to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, guarantees a criminal defendant a fundamental right to be clearly informed of the nature and cause of the charges against him” (Lectric, n.d) par. 1). The Fourth Amendment protects every individual from being wronged by the police and the government. Every court in the United States must always be fair to every individual without causing harm, or unfair trials and sentences to be brought to the defendant. Due process is considered to be, “the idea that laws and legal proceedings must be fair and the Constitution guarantees...
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...age of ten they are as exposed and liable to the full weight of the law the same as any adult. The UK currently has the lowest minimum age of criminal responsibility (except Scotland at 8 but cannot be prosecuted until 12) within the European Union. This places the UK significantly below the average of 14 years old. There seems to be little justification for this deviance from the norm in regards to the minimum age of responsibility in the UK and there have been considerable publications pushing for the UK to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility in the last decade, providing substantial evidence in favour of doing so. The evidence supporting the need to raise this minimum age can be found not only in psychology and scientific research regarding the brain development of youth and autonomy of children at this age, but also the severe social implications of criminalizing our youth. In order to argue that the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) should be raised it will be necessary to identify and evaluate this evidence, as well as identifying the issues that having a low MACR brings. This essay will first review the history of the MACR and discuss the effect of abolishing the doctrine of Doli Incapax on youth offenders, before presenting the neurological evidence regarding the lack of development that has taken place in a child’s brain by the age of ten. The severely detrimental social, psychological and physiological effects of...
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