Call of Duty: Black Cops Edition

            “I would expect that from a white officer, not from a brother.” Ten-year veteran of the Chicago police, Officer Isaac Lee, hears this statement all the time, and responds with, “Like what, I’m supposed to overlook your crime because we are both black” (Hill 1). However, Officer Lee is not alone in dealing with the internal struggle that arises when African American police officers must differentiate between their professional and personal duty when dealing with people of their own race. This “Call of Duty” holds black police officers to a higher standard, considering they are forced to choose between their department and the black community.
            African Americans have been oppressed by white police officers frequently and severely throughout history. Therefore, one major aspect experienced by black police officers is the expectation placed on them by black civilians to understand their dilemma and go easy on them. While, African American officers are often hired to make policing fairer for black communities, many citizens of these communities believe black police officers oppose their own race and even consider them traitors. However, as residents of black communities, and often as victims of police misconduct and brutality themselves, black police officers frequently understand the poor relationship between African American police officers and civilians. Consequently, because African American police officers recognize the rationale behind the poor relationship between cops and black citizens, they realize they must work extremely hard to convince the African American community that they are not a sellout, and instead are there to strictly do their job and help them.

            However, at times still despite their effort African American civilians continue to accuse black officers of being programmed instruments by white authority. African American Police officers not only experience tension from black civilians, but also face internal conflict concerning contributing to the stereotype or statistics in reference to arresting African Americans. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, African Americans account for 12.6% of the United States population, however in 2009 they made up nearly 39% of the jail inmate population. Therefore, some black police officers feel like a contributing factor to the statistics, that some believe have been majorly impacted by white officers, when arresting African Americans. Another aspect of the internal struggle black police officers often experience refers to feeling the need to fight for the injustice and brutality that African American citizens have dealt with from white police officers, and still continue to deal with today. For example, in 2010, a routine traffic stop turned into a nightmare for an African American male named Melvin Jones. After being pulled over by white police officer, Jeffry Asher, Jones ended up in the hospital with severe injuries to his face resulting from being beaten by a flashlight. This horrible occurrence left Jones with a broken finger, partial blindness in one eye, and fractures to the bones in his face, which required reconstructive surgery (Johnson 1). This situation also left Americans with the realization that African American brutality by white police officers is an incredibly serious issue that is still very existent. Incidents like these are a major factor in creating the internal struggle police officers often experience; as they realize they are in a position that has the opportunity to fight back for individuals like Melvin Jones.
            Another aspect of the difficulties concerns the racial barriers that exist inside the police department. Black police officers often experience pressure from white supervisors to not go easy on individuals of their own race. Marcus, an African American officer who preferred not to give his last name, states, “Your supervisors, who are mostly white, are watching you to make sure you are not just going easy on your own people, while your own people are looking at you to see if you are a sellout, doing the “white man's” will” (Hill 1). Therefore, in order to prove that they in fact are not going easy on African Americans, black police officers must force themselves to think and act as a white police officer would. They must develop a “go along, get along” attitude that matches white police officers in order to satisfy their supervisor and persuade their white colleagues that they valuable to the force.

           African American officers experience great difficulty when protecting and defending their community. African American citizens, Caucasian citizens, fellow officers, and supervisors bring on this difficulty resulting in black officers to choose between their professional and personal duty.


Links:
Hill: Chicago Tribune Article
Johnson: Melvin Jones case and video

The Dirty, "Harry" Truth

In Chapter 1 of the textbook, the “Dirty Harry Problem” was introduced. This problem poses an important question related to Kant’s deontology, “Do the ends justify the means?”

The phrase “Dirty Harry Problem” is a reference to a movie from the 1970’s about a police officer who turns his back on due process based on his hatred of the exclusionary rule, and breaks procedural law in order to enforce substantive law. In other words, he uses noble cause corruption to be sure to “get the job done” (Perez, 13).  

Here is an example of how Dirty Harry ignores procedural law to get the bad guys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnMLGkj91Og

A current drug investigation going on at the high school I used to attend, Adlai E. Stevenson High School, brings this “Dirty Harry Problem” to mind. The drug investigation began when one student, suspected of being a drug supplier, got his phone confiscated at the school. Upon confiscation, his text messages and e-mails were read. Contacts in his phone then had their phones confiscated, and it snowballed from there. It has been confirmed that due to this investigation, at least one student has been arrested and many more have been suspended for being involved in possessing, dealing, or attempting to deal marijuana and other drugs at school.

You can read more about the Adlai E. Stevenson High School Drug Investigation here:

http://www.wgntv.com/news/wgntv-stevenson-high-school-students-accused-of-dealing-drugs-jan31,0,4188593.story

or

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/stevenson-high-school-lincolnshire-drug-investigation-138504659.html

or

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120201/news/702019812/

Although I believe it is important to prevent drug use and dealing at a high school, I feel that the way officials are going about this investigation is a classic case of the Dirty Harry problem. Although there is no case law directly discussing student rights to cell phone privacy at school, a similar case from a Pennsylvania high school is a good example of why students’ cell phones should not be confiscated and searched through without their own or their parents’ permission, as due process permits.

In the Pennsylvania case, a minor student was caught making a call on her cell phone during school, her phone was confiscated and excessively searched through, and nude photos were found. Feeling that her constitutional rights were violated, the student filed a complaint when she was threatened of having child pornography charges brought against her. Instead of going to trial, the school settled for $33,000 to resolve the dispute. If it is okay for the school to go through students cell phones like that, why did they pay her all that money to end the case instead of going to trial?

As for the current investigation taking place at Adlai E. Stevenson High School, parents and students are outraged. All of the cell phone searches are being conducted without warrants, and none of the communication they are investigating took place on the school’s email system or computers. One thing I found very interesting is that the school refuses to reveal the specific number of students who have been suspended so far because of the student confidentiality policy. If that is so, what does the student confidentiality policy have to say about the privacy their text messages and emails?

In my mind, the ‘Dirty, Harry Truth’ is that the way police officers and school officials are retrieving this incriminating information against students is a violation of the students’ First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights as guaranteed to them by the United States Constitution.

And for those of you who think that high school students aren’t owed the same rights when they are in school, here are some direct quotes that prove otherwise:

According to the Adlai E. Stevenson High School Student Guidebook section “Vision and Values;” “II.G. All members of the Stevenson learning community will conduct themselves in a way that contributes to a safe and orderly environment that respects the rights of others.”

In the section “Uniform Grievance Procedure” in the District 125 Board Policy Manual, it is stated that “a student, parent/guardian, employee, or community member should notify any District Complaint Manager if he or she believes that the Board of Education, its employees, or agents have violated his or her rights guaranteed by the State or federal Constitution.”

This is clarified once again in the section “Students Rights and Responsibilities,” where it says, “All students are entitled to enjoy the rights protected by the U.S. and Illinois Constitutions.”

Rumors are circulating of students already contacting lawyers to attempt to take this case to trial. The overwhelming question is, “Do the ends justify the means?”

Other links:

http://www.aclu.org/free-speech/aclu-settles-student-cell-phone-search-lawsuit-northeast-pennsylvania-school-district

http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2010/09/teen-settles-in-school-cell-phone-privacy-case.html

Adlai E. Stevenson High School Board Policy Manual: http://www.d125.org/assets/1/workflow_staging/Documents/132.PDF

Adlai E. Stevenson High School Student Guidebook:

http://www.d125.org/assets/1/documents/2011-12_student_guidebook.pdf

Sports Logos and Gangs

There are many problems that are associated with gangs. One of the main problems is people are often victims of violence because they are mistaken for gang members. Many gang members wear sports team apparel to represent their gangs for one reason or another. The gangs adopt this clothing because the logos or colors relate to their gangs. There are many gangs in Chicago that adopt sports logos as symbols for their gangs.

This practice by gangs first came to my attention after reading a short article in ESPN magazine called “Capology”, which highlighted some of most popular sports caps that are used for gang affiliation. I found it to be very interesting but alarming because many of the gangs mentioned were out of Chicago which completely surrounds the town I live in. I decided to research some of the gangs that are in Chicago and which sports logos that each gang adopted.

One of the first gangs I looked at was the Maniac Latin Disciples which is sprinkled throughout the city. They use logos from the Minnesota Twins, Miami Marlins, and Michigan Wolverines because of the “M” used in each teams’ logo. The next gang I looked into was the Simon City Royals which was established in the Humboldt Park area (which I used to drive through). (Source 4) Some of the logos they use include the Kansas City Royals for the name and their colors. They wear Colorado Rockies gear because gang members draw an “S” in front of the “CR” logo. They also wear Detroit Lions clothing due to the coloring and symbol of a lion. The Satan Disciples wear gear from San Diego Padres for the “S&D” logo. This gang also wears Indiana University and Arizona State University gear due to fact that the IU logo resembles a pitchfork and ASU has a pitchfork logo.

The Gangster disciples are a bigger gang spread through most of the city. They wear Georgetown gear for the “G” symbolizing gangster, also worn for the colors. Georgetown gear is also worn because Hoya (team name) is an acronym for “Hoovers on your ass” in honor of the gangs founder Larry Hoover. (Source2)This gang also wears gear from the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Dodgers for their “D” emblems and their blue color scheme. Members of this gang can also be seen wearing Houston Astros and Dallas Cowboys gear to honor their alliance to the Folk Nation.

The Latin Kings wear gear from the Los Angeles and Sacramento Kings due to the name and the black in the colors of both teams. They also wear gear from the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers because of the black and yellow colors. The Vice Lords an alliance to the Latin Kings wear gear from several sports teams. The Vice Lords wear gear from the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks for their colors. They also wear St. Louis Cardinals gear for the colors and the “SL” stands for Spanish lord. University of Nevada Las Vegas is also popular with the vice lords not only for the colors but UNLV backwards is an acronym “Vice Lords Nation United”. (Source 2)

 Many sports teams if not all are adopted by gangs for some reason or another. Not everyone who wears sports apparel is a gang member. However if you are going through the city and a person is wear a certain teams gear and is in fact part of a gang you can now identify which gang he/she may be a part of. Many people are not aware of gang symbols and how they may adopt sports logos as their own. It is nice to be aware of things that are going on around you.  In an article I read, one Chicago cop that worked in the gang enforcement unit was upset about Arizona State’s new logo, a pitchfork. He stated that because of the resemblance to the Satan Disciples existing pitchfork logo the gang was most likely going to adopt the logo as its own. (Source 1) 

Source 1

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/asu/articles/2011/04/19/20110419asu-chicago-cop-gang-likely-use-logo.html

           Source 2

http://www.ncgangcops.org/archives/Team%20Logos.pdf

           Source 3

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?id=6201169&sportCat=mlb

           Source 4

http://chicagogangs.org/

           Source 5 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UePtoxDhJSw&ob=av3e

h

PlayStation hacked!

Have you ever wondered about your game console ever being hacked?  Well Sony PlayStation suffered a massive breach in April 2011.  The online network led to a theft of names, credit card data and addresses, belonging to 77million users.  It was one of the largest security break-ins ever.

         The unauthorized person obtained people’s names, email addresses, usernames, passwords, birth dates, security questions and more.  It took Sony seven days after the information was stolen to tell the public what was going on.  After the public was notified the PlayStation network was shutdown, preventing owners from buying, downloading games and playing with others online.  Not playing online for a week was very tough for some users, especially playing games like modern warfare when interacting with others was more enjoyable then playing by your self.  Parents that had established accounts for their children might also had their data exposed.  How could something like this happen?  Its crazy to think that our personal information is not safe anymore and anybody can take and abuse it.  After Sony alerted the public they never mentioned how the data was compromised, so you could wonder how the hacker used all the information that he or she received.  Sony hired a security firm to investigate to see what really happened.  The company suspects that the data was hacked between April 17^th and April 19^th.  Sony thinks the hacker probably hacked into an administrator’s computer who had contact with all the personal information and put a virus into their email message.  The person clicked on the message and the virus went into the message and got downloaded into that person’s computer.  Then they started taking files of costumer’s information.  For a precaution Sony told its users to place fraud alerts on their credit card accounts just to be safe.  Honesty the credit cards are not the most valuable information the hackers could of took because you can easily replace your card with another.  John Abell, New York bureau chief of wired.com has said the most valuable information that the hacker could take is e-mail addresses.  Have you ever received those emails where you won a prize or somebody offers you a job, or a bank you never heard of claiming somebody has taken money out of your account? And when you click on it, it shows random stuff like a different language or tries to get information out of you? These emails are tricking you and only putting viruses on your computer.  Those who had their information exposed to the hackers are probably getting emails from them claiming to be Sony, always be cautious when looking through emails.  If something looks suspicious don’t open it. 

The PlayStation franchise has been a steady enterprise even though video games and hardware sales have declined around the world but it is still a great product for Sony especially when they are coming up with new technically each year.  They had a downfall, but it only made the company much stronger.  Other companies in the world can learn from them and see the mistakes they did, to make their companies more secure.

more information, check out this article a guy in Alabama is suing Sony.http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20057921-260.html

sources:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/27/earlyshow/leisure/gamesgadgetsgizmos/main20057816.shtml

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/26/us-sony-stoldendata-idUSTRE73P6WB20110426

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2011/may/03/sony-data-breach-online-entertainment

Extreme overpopulation in U.S prisons

There is a continuous growth in our prisons each year and this is due to the mandatory sentencing guidelines and continuous growth in drug convictions each year. Our prison systems are very overcrowded even though it says they are operating under the state capacities, but really some prisons are operating at 33% or higher then their official capacities. This is a huge problem in the criminal justice system because not only are we running out of room for these offenders, but it is costing us a pretty penny to keep them locked up. It is estimated that states spent a record $51.7 billion dollars in the fiscal year of 2008 in the prison system. To me that number is just outrageous and something needs to be done soon to bring that number down. On average each year the cost to keep a prisoner locked up is around $29,000 dollars. What troubles me is how many people are locked up for what seems to me as harmless and victim less crimes. What makes much more sense to me is instead of sending these offenders to jail more people should be allowed to participate in probation programs or even drug programs to keep them out of prison. This would cost much less money then locking them up. On average the annul cost to send someone through probation is around $1,250 and through parole is $2,750 dollars. Now, I am not saying lets send murders or child molesters free. I am only saying that some people in the prison system should not be there and it is actually costing us taxpayers more harm then good. Specially since over the last 25 years prison and jail population has grown 274% that number is just staggering.

Now this insane increase in population has serious effects on the people being imprisoned, specially if they really should not be there in the first place. Incarceration impacts the lives of families in a few different ways. First off and most obviously it strains them financially. This is a huge problem not only for the person being locked up, but for the possible family they have now left behind. It also disrupts parental bonds which has a major effect on the possible child growing up without a father or mother. Also being locked up can cause marriages to fail and end in divorce. These are just some negative consequences for people being imprisoned. For the people that deserve to be in prison these are the consequences that they deserve and have to deal with and handle, but to people who are locked up for non serious offenses it really causes more harm to taxpayers, the person, and their family then helps.

We really need to change the way we go about locking people up, in many ways. I by no means have the answers to this extremely difficult problem, but the first step is to make people aware to this problem. Hopefully  by raising awareness ideas and solutions will also arise. The main reason nothing is being done is due to the amount of money being made when prisoners are shipped off to private prisons. Here is a video showing some of the major problems with our current prison system VIDEO. This is a very serious situation and if nothing is done soon we wont have anywhere to put all these prisoners.



Resources
http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/03/02/us-usa-prisons-idUSTRE5215TW20090302

http://www.vera.org/download?file=3410/the-price-of-prisons.pdf

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/americas/23iht-23prison.12253738.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21WVwmHzSbs

Wrongful Convictions

While the United States may have one of the better criminal justice systems in the world, it is nowhere near perfect. As the years pass, more and more cases are arising from the past that are proving to have originally convicted the wrong person. While, at the time, all of the evidence seemed to have pointed to one individual, it turns out completely innocent people are being imprisoned by mistake. 

In United States history, there are 289 DNA exonerations alone, and 222 of those have taken place since the year 2000 (1). This is not the number of exonerations overall, just the ones due to DNA evidence. One may think that this does not sound like a very large number, but this can be looked at as the number of guilty people that are roaming the streets. Innocent people that are being put behind bars for murder and rape are taking the place of the people that have actually committed these heinous crimes. From 1989 to 2010 alone, “85 people were wrongfully incarcerated, and the actual perpetrators were on a collective crime spree that included 14 murders, 11 sexual assaults, 10 kidnappings and at least 59 other felonies” (3). These mistakes that the criminal justice system is making are putting other peoples lives in danger, while taking away people’s lives when they don’t deserve to be punished. As many as 200,000 innocent people are imprisoned right now, and they are wrongfully convicted for many different reasons (2). Some of the leading causes for wrongful convictions include false eyewitness testimony, false confessions, the use of informants, and improper forensic science (1). It is very hard to believe that our criminal justice system imprisons innocent people because the techniques used to gain proper evidence are not used correctly.

Not only are wrongful convictions damaging to those that are imprisoned, but it costs everyday citizens money as well. The Center on Wrongful Convictions demonstrates that, “wrongful convictions of men and women for violent crimes in Illinois have cost taxpayers $214 million” (3). Why should the people of the U.S. have to pay for mistakes that our criminal justice system is making?

Luckily, some of the people that have been wrongfully convicted have been exonerated. One of these people includes Herman Atkins, who was sentenced to 47 years in prison for rape and robbery. After 12 years in prison, he was exonerated and able to regain his life back by going back to school for psychology (4) (VIDEO). Unfortunately, not all who are wrongfully convicted are that lucky. Some may never be able to be released due to lack of evidence pointing towards others. Others may have already finished their sentence, or been wrongfully put to death. There are at least 39 executions that have been carried out in the United States where the inmate’s guilt was being questioned (5). How can this possibly continue to happen?

While I may not have any suggestions at this time as to what to do to help solve this problem, I believe that the more this information is shared the more ideas will arise. Although there is no such thing as a perfect criminal justice system, there is no excuse for incarcerating innocent people and letting the guilty go free. The sooner this problem is resolved, the sooner those that deserve to be punished will be.

Sources

1.  http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Facts_on_PostConviction_DNA_Exonerations.php

2.  http://www.slideshare.net/Sheila.Berry/the-truth-about-wrongful-conviction

3.  http://hypervocal.com/news/2011/the-high-cost-of-wrongful-convictions/

4.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd-5HFipAqI

5.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_execution

SOPA.

Ever downloaded a free song? Streamed a movie without paying? Listened to a song off of youtube? Probably should read this.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/19/what-is-sopa_n_1216725.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/opinion/sunday/beyond-sopa.html

As technology improves so must the laws that govern the people who use them. Stealing is a physical law as well as an ethical law. There is no way to argue that. The information that is available on the internet is growing at a rate which lawmakers have struggled to deal with. Recently congress failed to pass a law entitled “SOPA” or Stop online piracy act. The bill was an attempt to ban and eradicate websites that would leak or allow the downloading of copyrighted material. A main problem with the bill was the ability for the government to silence any website that was deemed illegal without court appearance. Although this was immediately stricken its implications of government control were outlined immediately.  A frequent argument against the bill was whether or not the government had the right to shut down websites on the premise of piracy. Many websites that qualify may not necessarily have pirated material; however they may have the ability to hold that material.

How does this act deal with ethical policies in criminal justice someone may ask? Many people who oppose online information sharing equate “torrenting” or downloading music or videos on the internet to walking into the store and taking the video off the shelf without paying for it. On the other side the argument states that information sharing only duplicates the video. Since the person who shares it still owns it, nothing has been stolen. Either way it is viewed, duplicating any copywrited material without consent is breaking the law. This brings me to my next point.

Does a website have rights for free speech? According to SOPA, the Justice Department would have the right to shut down a website as if they did not have rights. According to The Huffington Post the SOPA bill before it was rejected by congress had the ability to be shut down with a court order before the website prepared or had a chance to present a defense. What rights should be given to websites? Is a website an extension of a person like a corporation can be?  This is something that would have to be carefully decided. The Justice Department would not be the only one who had this power. Copy right holders have the ability to shut down websites with information they believe violates their material.

The only rights websites would have is to be able to protest their websites with a legitimate defense appealed to the courts.  The main problem with this would be the amount of time and effort defending a website may takes especially when the language used to create the SOPA bill is so broad. Vague wording in this bill allows for courts to rule with wide margins of error and inconsistency. The punishment of breaking copyright laws on these websites can range as far as the blocking and disappearance of the website, to fines, to even time served in prison. The Huffington Post uses an example of a website streaming a movie. That website would be shut down and prosecuted, however the search engine used like Google would have to remove that website from searching as well.  Websites that allows users to post links to pirated material may be forced to shut down too depending on the prosecution. An example would be videos, pictures, or music links posted on Facebook, twitter, or youtube.

As a normal college student I could live without these websites, but I would rather not have it come to that. Fortunately this bill did not pass, but a new draft of this has already been made, under the disguise of targeting foreign websites. Thoughts?