Police Brutality Law Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Police Brutality Law - Research Paper Example This essay will explicate police brutality in United States and delve into records of frequency, severity and ramification of police brutality exacted against civilians. Brutality Police brutality is one of those alarming human rights violations done by person of authorities against civilians who are possible suspects or those already serving their sentences as adjudged criminals. Roberts (2011) pointed that in youtube alone, an e-site containing video records, produced about 497,000 results when "police brutality" is subjected into the search engine. Roberts (2011) described that these videos either depict beaten women, kids and the aged or violent and bloody exaction of testimonies from unwilling suspects. Some testimonies of victims who were able to undergo sad ordeal revealed electrocution; suffocation, psychological torment or threat; emotional shocks; direct physical assault, and the like done by police with psychopatic and sociopath tendencies. Skolnick and Fyfe (1993) explica ted that police brutality brought along with it such dehumanizing intent by treating the target with such concealed venality and such degrading impact of violent torture. Roberts (2011) attributed this inhuman way of managing suspects, civilians and victims to militarist treatment as abuse of power. Those who are involved in police brutality tactics are characterized with such nastiness as they were trained to view the public, the people whom they ought to secure, as their enemy. To some extent, some police officers have made policing activity leveled beyond preservation of order into cyclical patterns of injustice as commission of human rights. Often logged without witnesses to corroborate the conduct of brutalities, Bandes (1999) noted that authorities would just label this as an incident which is either isolated, systemic, or part of a larger pattern to suppress a movement. Bandes (1999) explicated that police brutality are often portrayed by court as something anecdotal, fragmen ted and isolated from institutional pattern (p. 1275) reinforced by causes that could be political, social, psychological and cultural (Bandes, 1999, p. 2). Experts opined that victims of police brutality would have difficulty expressing such unfair victimization because complaints about it are discouraged due to dearth of evidences, lack of corroborative testimonies, records are expunged, and police records are purposively made inaccessible. Victims are also doubly confronted with difficulty in baring experiences out of restrictive evidentiary rulings, of judicial insensitivity to police perjury, of the law of omerta or total silence, of assailant’s immunity from punitive actions (Bandes, 1999, p. 7). Thus, there is perceived failure to correct endemic system of police lawlessness and adherence to violence, often directed to powerless and marginalized members of specific communities. Police brutality is not simply a violent act. More often, these are kinds of security manage rs who are in collaboration with groups and decision-makers who lacked respect to procedures that are legally provided. The prevalence of these cases on police brutality simply depict the need to address the problem not only at the institutional level but must be comprehensively rectified by in-depth investigation; of brutality cases demystification, and strict enforcement of the administrative laws to hasten the professionalization of police forces. Empirical studies based on

Overview of Japanese Festivals and Matsuri

Overview of Japanese Festivals and Matsuri Japanese Festivals are the traditional occasions. They gather people to celebrate shrines deity, four seasons or historical events. People sing and dance to express their hopes and appreciation. Matsuri is the name of Japanese Festivals. The festival can be held for several days. There are lots of Japanese Festivals, but they usually have the traditional ways to celebrate. Procession is one of the most important things during those matsuri that celebrates shrines kami(deity). People carry deity and go around the town. It is the only period that deity leaves the temple in the year. There are entertainments during the festival. People wear specific traditional costume. They play music with Taiko(Japanese drum). Fireworks light up the matsuri too; there are always fireworks during the festival. The Japanese festivals are energetic and powerful. The Japanese Festivals are held also for the four seasons. In Spring, people celebrate for the rebirth and awakening of the new life. In summer, people thought its a bad season that brings humid weather with epidemic, so they hold festival to scare the evil spirit away. In autumn, people celebrate for the mellow foods from the farmer. The festivals of thanksgiving are held. In winter, people celebrate for the new year. Major Japanese Festivals In Japan, there are hundreds of matsuri. Some of them are local and unknown, and some of them are famous, which even foreigners come to Japan to feel these matsuri. In the following, the report will introduce several major Japanese Festivals. Gion Matsuri A living symbol of Kyotos 1,200 years of rich, colorful history the description of Kyoto Visitors guide. The Gion Matsuri is a festival in Kyoto. Its one of the best festival of Kyoto. Its in the top three matsuri in Japan. Japanese also put this matsuri into the top three prettiest matsuri in Japan. It is the most famous and biggest Japanese Festival, which is held for one month. The Gion Matsuri is from July 1st to 29th every year in Tasaka-jinja Shrine, Gion-cho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto City. The Gion Matsuri Festival is above 1100 years old. In the year 869 A.D., Kyoto was suffering from epidemics, floods, fires and earthquakes. To pray for the end of plaque and placate the gods, procession of the Yasaka shrine began. That was the first festival, the men carried numbers of wooden floats to please the gods. The plague soon ended, so the festival became popular. People did the procession every year. Soon, it became the festival with music, dance, comic plays, and artistic treasures. People started to make giant floats with beautiful decoration. The elaborate floats are the highlight of the Gion Matsuri. There are 32 floats, which are divided into two types, yama and hoko. Yama floats are about 6 meter and weight about 1400kg. It shows the scenes from Japanese history and mythology with bear pine trees, shrines, and mannequins. The hoko are massive 2-storied, nearly 10-ton combinations of music hall and museum that are hauled by teams of up to 50 men. Hoko are giant floats, which are about 25 meter and 12,000kg on large wooden wheels and pulled by 50 men. People describe them as a mobile art museums. During the parade, there are people wearing tradition costume and playing drums and bells. The are seated on the floats. Some dolls are put on the floats. The floats are displayed form the 14th to the 16th , the main event of the Gion Matsuri. The displays are full of food stands and drink vendors. Traditional Japanese Festival Music is played. The climax of the Gion Matsuri is that the boy, standing on the top of the floats, uses sword to cut the rope that represents bad luck. This event is the most important, so the boy cant mess up. He needs to practice for 3 months before this event. With the Gion Matsuri, the city is flourish. Today, Japanese is still using their traditional way to pray for a auspicious year. Sapporo Snow Festival The Sapporo Snow Festival is one of Japans largest winter events. It holds for 7 days, starting in the second week of February. It takes place in Odori Site, Susukino Site,and Satorando Site in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. About 2 millions of visitors come to this festival every winter. Hundreds of beautiful snow statues and ice sculptures that made by artists from around the world line up on the Odori Park, the community Dome Tsudome, and the main street in Suskino. The Snow Festival started in 1950 with six local high school students. They built six snow statues in Odori Park. In 1955, the Japan Self-Defense Forces built the first massive snow sculpture. This made the Snow Festival become famous. In 1974, there began to have the International Snow Statue Competition. Year by year, it became the Sapporo Snow Festival. Till today, It is the 62nd Sapporo Snow Festival. The main site of this festival is in Odori Park. It is 1.5 kilometer long. The snow statues and ice sculptures make this place a snow museum. There are about 400 statues in total every year. You can see many creative and realistic works. There are not just statues. Skating Rink, Snowboard Straight Jumping Platform,The Slide, and Bush-walking on Skis are also the events in Snow Festival. The snow festival light up Sapporo. The whole world can see Japaneses creativity. The art of snow and ice shows how Japanese appreciates this season. Tanabata Tanabata is known as the star festival. It is a nationwide festival in Japan. It takes place in the seventh day of the seventh month each year in Japan. It is originated from a Chinese legend in 2,000 years ago. There were two stars, Altair and Vega, the lovers. They were separated by the Milky Way and allowed to see each other in only the 7th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar, so every region will have different date of this festival. This story spread to Japan in the 8th centery. Tanabata is celebrated on July 7th or August 7th in Japan,which is around the seventh day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar. The most famous event in Japan for celebrating Tanabata is to write your wishes on a piece of paper, and hang that piece of paper on a bamboo tree. The reason Japanese does this is that they think the meeting of Altair and Vega will bring luck. In some place, people put lantern on the bamboo and let it float on the river. The Tanabata festival in Sendai is most famous in Japan, which is held from August 6th to 8th. People wear yukata(the Japanese garment) and watch the fireworks. They fireworks is about two hours non-stop. 12,000 of fireworks will be shot and light up Sendai. Aomori Nebuta Matsuri Aomori Nebuta Matsuri is known as one of the most famous matsuri in Japan. This is a summer festival held in Aomori City, Aomori Prefecture from August 2 to 7. The Aomori Nebuta Matsuri is one of the greatest three matsuri in the Tohoku region, which are the Sendai Tanabata Matsuri, the Akita Kanto Matsuri and the Aomori Nebuta matsuri. Every year, more than 3,000,000 people come to see this matsuti . Aomori Nebuta matsui is a parade of colorful float lanterns called Nebuta with Japanese drum and dancers called haneto from all over the world. Usually Nebutas are shape of samurai warriors, but is can be shape of any historical people and legend characters. Reasons that this msaturi is very popular are that rhyme of drums and sounds of bamboo flute make people to feel happy and this parade is free to join so anyone can go up there and join the parade and dance along with those music. No one knows the theory of the origin of this matsuri, but there are two possible theories about the origin of this festival. One of the theories is that in the 8th Century in Aomori, there was one Shogun called Sakanoue no Tamuramaro. He wanted to expand his territory so he ordered his army to create something large and that looks like human to scare his enemy. Those large creatures called Nebuta. Place where he used Nebuta to scare people is now called Aomori city and thats why some people believe this can be one of the theories. Next theory is that development from Tanabata festival of China. During the Tanabata festival people light up a candle inside of toro that made by wooden frame and paper and float it on the water. As time passed, this toro became bigger and bigger and it became the unique shape like today. Today, the Nebuta can be 9 meter wide, 5 meters high and more than four tons of weight. It is not easy to make because it needs more than three months to create it and some of the Nebuta cost even more than $200,000. Hakata Dontaku Festival Hakata Dontaku Festival is one of the most famous and well known festivals and also one of the largest festivals in Japan. Every year, more than 2,000,000 people came to see this festival from all over the world. This festival takes place only for two day on May 3 and 4 in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture. Hakata Dontaku Festival used to call as Matsubayashi Festival that started in Kyoto in the time of Muromachi period (1333-1568). During that time this festival is for only farmers and people in towns to greet their landowner and leader as a New Years greeting. Name of the festival changed to Dontaku from Matsubayashi during the Edo period (1603-1868). During Edo period Japan let people trade with all other countries because of this many people from other countries came to Japan and gave Japanese people to culture of other countries. Many culture from different counties mixed with former Japanese culture. Word Dontaku came from Dutch word zondag, which means holiday. Main event of this festival is Dontaku parade which is 1230 meter long. Any one can join to this parade and dance freely. This festival is very closely related with Japaneses three good fortune gods called Fukurokujyu, Ebisu and Daikokuten. During parade of time festival people need to wear custom as those gods. Conclusion Festivals and matsuri are very important things for Japanese and those are part of their culture that has been passed so many years. Japanese festivals affect Japanese life a lot because many people will back to their home to see their regions festivals even they are busy and thats time to see their parents. So festivals for Japanese are not only time to enjoy, but also backing to their home place and good time to spend time with their parents. For the worldwide, Japanese Festival is unique to every other countries festival. The Japanese Festivals usually have long history. And they are held every year. Form this part, we can see how Japanese organizes well in these things. Japanese concentrate on every little part on the festival, from music, clothes, decorations, to foods. Thats why they can attract that much foreigners to visit their country. Words: 2,369

Life The Courage To Change :: essays research papers

Cruel Intentions, is a film about a young man, Sebastian, and his stepsister, Kathryn, who together do everything in their power, sexual or not, to better their own reputation. They try everything, even if it means ruining someone else’s life, reputation or well being, just to better themselves. They manipulate, use, and belittle every human being possible that comes in the way of their perfect life. Cruel Intentions, a film that uses the setting to produce the irony portrayed at the hand of the characters, also uses this irony and characters actions to contribute to the theme.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The setting of the film in a high-class society, a society in which only the high-ranking members live. A society in which as you drive down the road each house is bigger than the first. These people live in a society where each child has their own car and not to mention bank account. The people in this society crave competition and seek to be better. This particular setting shows forth the attitudes the characters uphold, that make them believe they upscore others around them. This too in fact portrays the irony of the film. For example, Kathryn believes that if a certain man cannot hold a relationship with her he cannot involve himself with anyone at all. Kathryn sets out to ruin his life and ruin the life of his significant other, getting her to fall in love with her music instructor rather than following her heart. This type of behavior leads the audience to believe that Kathryn uses her ranking and her setting in life to achieve personal happiness. In this fi lm come two morals, first you may not always be set in your ways something good can happen in life something that can change everything. Sebastian, the type of person who sleeps with anyone, does not have the best reputation among the ladies. Although in the plot to ruin the young man’s life Sebastian meets a young girl named Annette and slowly falls in love with her. Not for her body or for his sexual pleasure but for how she made him feel loved and wanted he enjoyed this feeling. Albeit a feeling that makes him confused it turns into a feeling he decides will make his life better. Proving that your are not always set in your ways, good or bad ways. Change occurs with life. The second moral state that what goes around comes around.

Causes of Civil War Essay

You hear the word civil in such terms as civil rights, civilian, civilization and civil liberty. All are related to the concept of a common citizen and a member of society. So, a civil war is a war between citizens representing different groups or sections of the same country. That is how the Civil War in the United States between 1850-1860 started. The distinction of ideas about slavery between the South and the North was pretty much the main cause of the war. However if we look at the details carefully, the economic forces in the South combined with the cotton plantations and the reactions to abolitionism in the South were the main factors that caused the Civil War. Economics was an important cause of the Civil War. Economic reasons affected and still affect almost everyone around the world. The economy, simply money gives people a lot of power, which causes a lot of problems between people, and makes everything more complicated. That’s pretty much why it was a big deal with the starting of the Civil War. It started around early 1800s with the harvesting of cotton in the South (Holland, â€Å"The North-South Divide†). Harvesting of cotton required the labor of many people with the invention of cotton gin. So, the way of making a lot of money out of cotton was to find enough laborers to work with. That’s how slavery became essential for the South’s economic future because it was a great source of laborers. In this way slave and cotton plantation owners were making a lot of money and expanding their plantations and of course the number of slaves they owned, which made slavery expand in the South pretty quickly. Also, people who owned slaves and the cotton plantations were mostly the men of social and political power, and of course they didn’t want to lose their power. They were getting richer and richer every day with the expanding plantations with the invention of the cotton gin. For example, Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee were some of the most powerful slave owners of that time. Davis had a great political career, and Lee was an important commander and general in the army. They and the other slave owners got their power from slavery and didn’t want to lose that power. While slavery kept expanding in the South, the North didn’t like that. The North was against the expansion of slavery, an opposition captured by Free Soil Ideology. Their main purpose was opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories, because they saw it as a corrupt economic system. This made the South see the Free Soil movement as a threat of making slavery totally disappear. The South was threatened because they thought this ideology in the North would keep expanding and finally free all the slaves they owned, and ruining the Southern economy (Brinkley). While this happened in the South, the idea of abolitionism kept spreading through the North. Another cause of divisions between the North and the South was the abolitionist movement. The South saw this movement as a threat from the North, and becoming suspicious of them. John Brown was clearly the most significant radical abolitionist at that time. He fought slavery for years but his most significant action took place at Harper Ferry, Virginia. Brown seized federal arsenal, and he hoped the slaves would come to Harpers Ferry and march through the South, fighting slavery. This way he scared the South, because a slave rebellion had always been the region’s main fear, and therefore the South formed militias. Most Southerners were convinced Brown had done what a lot of Northerners wanted to do, which threatened them (â€Å"John Brown Farm, North Elba, New York – New York History Net†). In other wards, Brown’s raid at Harpers Ferry 1859 fed fear of slave uprising. Southerners basically thought the Republican Party supported John Brown’s Raid and what he had done (Holland, â€Å"Abolitionism†). This was a big issue for them, because the sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, was elected the next year and he was a member of the Republican Party. The South thought that being a member of the Republican Party meant being an abolitionist. This worried them, because abolitionists wanted to make slavery disappear, and they thought that’s exactly what the new president of the whole country, Lincoln wanted to do. So, the South saw the election of Abraham Lincoln as a threat. On the other hand, Abraham Lincoln was not an abolitionist, and he didn’t think what John Brown did was good and ethical. He didn’t want to make the South be against him. He was just supporting the Free Soil Ideology. So Lincoln just didn’t want slavery to expand. However the South didn’t see this distinction. Even before Lincoln was inaugurated, Southern states began to secede from the Union (â€Å"Abraham Lincoln†). So that was pretty much how the conflict first started, and caused the Civil War to begin. The Civil War ended in 1865 and slavery was finally abolished. Slavery had been the main reason for its start, because of the economic divisions it sparked along with abolitionism. The harvesting of cotton was a big source of money at that time, especially after the invention of the cotton gin and needed a great source of slaves as laborers. The abolitionist movement added more to this conflict with the misunderstandings about Lincoln’s political views in the South. At the end, the price for the war was pretty high. Lincoln, a visionary president, was assassinated, and it was the bloodiest and the saddest war in American history. It has a valuable part in American history and worth remembering a clear example of what’s right and what’s wrong.

Socratic Seminar Questions Tkam

Period 6 Nieto Socratic Seminar Questions TKAM1) Discuss Atticus’s parenting style. What is his relationship to his children like? How does he seek to instill conscience in them? a. Atticus is a wise man, committed to justice and equality, and his parenting style is based on fostering these virtues in his children—he even encourages Jem and Scout to call him â€Å"Atticus† so that they can interact on terms as equal as possible. Throughout the novel, Atticus works to develop Scout’s and Jem’s respective consciences, through both teaching, as when he tells Scout to put herself in a person’s shoes before she judges them. 2) Analyze the trial scene and its relationship to the rest of the novel. b. To Kill a Mockingbird explores the questions of innocence and harsh experience, good and evil, from several different angles. Tom Robinson’s trial explores these ideas by examining the evil of racial prejudice, its ability to poison an otherwise admirable Southern town and destroy an innocent man, and its effect on young Jem and Scout. 3) Discuss the author’s portrayal of the black community and the characters of Calpurnia and Tom Robinson. Are they realistic or idealized? c. The black community in Maycomb is quite idealized, especially in the scenes at the black church and in the â€Å"colored balcony† during the trial. Lee’s portrayal of the black community isn’t unrealistic or unbelievable; it is important to point out, however, that she emphasizes all of the good qualities of the community without ever pointing out any of the bad ones. The black community is shown to be loving, affectionate, welcoming, pious, honest, hardworking, and close-knit. Calpurnia and Tom, members of this community, possess remarkable dignity and moral courage. 4) Explain why Jem crys when the hole in the tree is filled with cement? d. Boo Radley uses the knothole in the tree to leave gifts for Jem and his sister Scout. This is his only way to connect with them as he keeps himself isolated in the house. Seeing Mr Radley fill the hole with cement is like filling in the hole between their two worlds and Jem is sad to lose this link. 5) When is Scout first exposed to â€Å"the real world† of racism and inequality? e. Chapter 10 when Cecil Jacobs talks about niggers and when she gets in the fight with fransis 6) Although Atticus did not want his children in court, he defends Jem's right to know what has happened. Explain, in your own words, Atticus's reasons for this f. Atticus feels that the adults have made the world the way that it is and the children have to learn to live in that world. They can’t hide from it and need to be exposed to it as early as possible. 7) Miss Maudie tells Jem that â€Å"things are never as bad as they seem. † What reasons does she give for this view? g. She names all of the people who helped Tom Robinson, such as the black community, Atticus, and Judge Taylor. 8) Why does Bob Ewell feel so angry with Atticus? Do you think his threat is a real one, and how might he try to â€Å"get† Atticus? h. He feels Atticus made him look bad in front of the entire town. This threat was meant to get a reaction from Atticus; however, Atticus just kept his head up. 9) What do you think of Atticus's reaction to Bob Ewell's challenge? Should he have ignored Bob, retaliated or done something else? i. He did the right thing by walking away. Bob was looking for a fight and Atticus wouldn’t give it to him. 10) What does Atticus tell Scout about why the jury took so long to convict Tom? j. He tells her that a Cunningham was on the jury and didn’t want to convict. The jury actually had to think about the conviction before they did it because the case was based on purely circumstantial evidence. 11) Why does Aunt Alexandra accept that the Cunninghams may be good but are not â€Å"our kind of folks†? Do you think that people should mix only with others of the same social class? k. She tells Scout that they are not people that the Finch family should associate with because they are lower class. People should be able to socialize with whoever they want, even if they are in a different social class. 12) Compare the reactions of Miss Maudie and the other ladies when Scout says she is wearing her â€Å"britches† under her dress. l. Miss Maudie takes Scout seriously and only laughs at Scout when she intends to be funny. The other ladies choose to make fun of Scout. 13) How, in this chapter, do we see Aunt Alexandra in a new light? How does Miss Maudie support her? m. Aunt Alexandra shows concern for Atticus and Tom. Miss Maudie gives her a pep talk and gets her to go back to the meeting. 14) Explain the contrast Scout draws between the court where Tom was tried and â€Å"the secret courts of men's hearts†. In what way are hearts like courts? n. In a true court of law everyone should receive a fair trial, but people’s hearts are not dictated by law; they are dictated by feeling. 15) In her lesson on Hitler, Miss Gates says that â€Å"we (American people) don't believe in persecuting anyone†. What seems odd to the reader about this claim? o. The town just persecuted a black man for being black. He was convicted and sentenced to death with no real evidence.