Supervision and Management of police personnel

The police interact with the community and their major role is to enforce law, maintain order, detect crimes and apprehend criminals. The behavior of the police in this interaction is greatly influenced by their seniors in rank. Police expose different methodologies when it comes to arresting, community policing, citation issuing and use of force. Most of the time, the public has gauged the police behavior as wanting, leading to outcries for police reforms. Nevertheless, police reforms have been taking place from five decades back but there has never been a satisfactory level. In this article, common front styles supervision tactics are going to be discussed.

Supervision and Management Styles
Sergeants, inspectors or lieutenants are required to have management skills to efficiently supervise their subordinates. The factors considered include training, academic qualifications, age and experience in addition to having organizational knowledge. They impact different working strategies to the subordinate officers using supervisory styles such as active, traditional, innovative and supportive.

Active Supervision
Active supervision entails being in the patrol envoy with the junior officers and performing duties together such as attending to crime incidents. The supervisor demonstrates duty performance first hand in addition to immediate decision of matters. This kind of supervision ensures constant check of the officers behavior and way of working and also gives the supervisor a sense of power and control. Proponents of this method believe that it is the best way to manage officers and ensure that they report to duty constantly and maintain good conduct. However, critics maintain that it is more of over supervision than managing. Active supervisors discourage team building and can make the junior officers shy off from contributing ideas that can improve policing. The behavior of officers under this method include using force while arresting suspects and generating too many self initiated activities on community patrolling therefore reducing time for personal business and other administrative activities.  

Traditional Supervision
Patrol officers under a traditional supervisor are more instructed on law enforcement rather than activities that are community oriented and are always given instructions and their mistakes pointed rather than an achievement rewarded. The supervisor believes things have to be done in a particular order and officers will often be required to meet targets in the citations and arrests issued at a particular shift in addition to record keeping and documentation. Such officers are constantly looking for mistakes from the citizens leading to a clash.

Innovative Supervision
It is a hands-off style that encourages the officers to work on their own and come up with new ideas on matters of policing. The supervisor trusts the officers work. Critics of this method argue that it may lead to unwanted behavior like sneaking from duty or responding less quick to emergencies.

Supportive Supervision
The supervisor creates a great relationship with the subordinate and they discuss issue on work and personal life. Such supervisors are always quick to defend their subordinates from administrative punishment that may seem unfair. Critics oppose this method as one that can lead to misconduct among the officers.

Conclusion
It is evidently clear that there is no perfect method of supervision. In my view, a combination of active and innovative supervision can go a great length in making the officers work ethically as well as contributing to important decisions that can improve policing.

Criminological Theory

There are so many areas involving criminology.  Crimes, ages, strengths, strategies, and even capitalism are all a few of the key aspects related to criminology.  This paper will briefly discuss several of these topics as they relate to specific areas in criminology.  The first topic that will be discussed is the Marxist theories as they relate to crime.  Although some of his theories are questionable and not always agreed with, he did contribute a great deal to the field of criminology.
   
Marx believed that there were five main perspectives that related to crime and its make-up.  These topics were police and the judicial system, socialism and capitalism, legal matters, social class, and inequality.  A deeper look into these topics will show how they all tie in together to give a different perspective on the outlook of crime.  The police and the judicial system are often viewed as one in the same insofar as they are both on the same side of the fence.  Police officers and members of the judicial system have all been sworn by oath to uphold the law for which it stands.  There is the occasional officer who takes a bribe or a judge, who agrees to scratch someone s back in return for a future favor, but these instances are few and far between however, they do occur.  Marx believed that if the rules were upheld, this would automatically serve as deterrence to criminal behavior.  This means no bending of the rules for celebrities, friends, family, or anyone.  The law is the law. Sentences would be for a specified amount of time and there would be no time taken off of a sentence for good behavior.  If the criminal were capable of good behavior, then they would not have been incarcerated in the first place.
   
The second perspective in Marx s theory to crime is socialism and capitalism.  Capitalism, according to Marx, is an open door to crime.  Capitalism allows too much freedom of choice and not enough order within society.  Socialism provides boundaries and required conformity within society.  Crime and punishment may seem more harsh in a socialist government, but in comparison to a capitalist government, it would be an improvement and less costly.  Capitalism is feeding upon itself.  It has turned into nothing short of organized chaos.  The prison systems within the United States are overcrowded and costing the tax payers more and more to keep the re-offenders locked up.  If America were to incorporate a Marxist theory of crime, much money would be saved and prospective criminals would be deterred from committing any crime.
   
The third theory references the legal aspect of crime and the fourth theory of crime references the class of individuals as they relate to committing or having committed crimes.  In some ways, these theories are intermingled.  Depending on what social class the criminal or alleged criminal is from, it will have a great bearing on what type of legal representation he or she will have.  If someone is financially able to afford their own attorney, then their chances are greater that they will not serve any time in jail or their charges will be dismissed.  If someone cannot afford their own attorney and is appointed a public defender, then their chances are greater that they will serve time in jail, get community service, and get a hefty fine.  Unfortunately, that is how the judicial system works.  This is not to say that all public defenders are useless, but for the most part, the deals are made with the prosecutors over cocktails after work.
   
The fifth and final theory in Marx s perceptions of crime is inequality.  Not everyone is viewed nor are they treated the same.  Racism is still alive and well in many of America s courtrooms even though it is against the law. African-American males make up over 13 of America s prison population today.  Women are sentenced to prison far less than men are.  This is largely in part because so many women are single mothers, and it would cost the state more money to put the children in foster care.  No matter how it is sliced, the judicial system is becoming more along the value of a dollar than it is the actual law it represents.
   
As everyone gets older, their priorities change.  For instance, a six year old boy s top priority is either riding his bicycle or playing with a new Wii gaming system.  Now consider what the priorities are of a 60 year old man.  A sixty year old man s priorities may consist of being able to just get out of bed in the morning, taking medications, going for a walk, or having a visit with his grandchildren.  The priorities and acts of enjoyment are completely different but they both bring happiness to each one respectively.  Which individual would be most likely to steal from a store, the six year old boy or the sixty year old man  Most would agree by answering the six year old boy would be more likely to steal from a store.  Believe it or not, the sixty year old man is just a capable of stealing as the young boy.  Why  Well, look at the rising costs in health care.  Some elderly individuals have to choose between buying their medications, that are needed to survive, or paying for heat or for food.  Desperate times are calling for desperate measures.  It is a shame to think that some of the men that fought during WWI and WWII for this country have to steal loaves of bread or cans of soup from grocery stores just because they cannot afford to buy groceries after paying for their medications.  Who is robbing who here  The pharmaceutical companies are making a killing off of the illnesses and ailments of the elderly.  At some point in time, America should just give the elderly their medications at no cost considering it is them who helped get America where it is today.
 
Integrated theories are a combination of several criminology theories put together to form a more effective theory,  Social control, strain, and social learning can be combined to construct the pattern for deviance.  Crime and culture form an integrated theory.  Specific cultures react different ways to certain situations.  Structural conceptual assimilation provides the necessary model needed to understand how the integration of theories works.  Social learning and social control work together to better educate the community about laws and how they pertain to each individual.  Ignorance is no defense in a court of law, therefore community policing can be used to better inform the community of the laws and how to not only obey them, but also how to take an active role in making sure that the laws are enforced.  Neighborhood watch programs are an example of how integrated theories can work.
 
When a serial killer is being investigated, there are several methods used.  One method is criminal profiling.  Special forensics experts are used to make a composite of not only what the criminal may look like, but they also devise a psychological profile as well.  This is done in an attempt to predict the serial killer s next move.  Strong leadership is a necessity as the development of a Task Force Organization is needed once the identity of the serial killer becomes known.  Resource augmentation is another factor for organizing a Task Force Organization as the resource augmentation allows for the expansion of the unit if need be.  Communication is key during any investigation as this allows for officers and leaders to brief all involved officers, but it also allows officers to provide updates while out on the street.  Analytical tools utilizes the concepts of the crimes while a medical examiner or coroner relies on evidence produced from an autopsy in relation to any information that may provide leads to the investigative team.  The administrative team and the resource finance team work together to keep information up to date and logged into the database.  Finally, training is expected of every officer periodically.  This ensures the task force that everyone is physically up to carrying out their duties on the job.  Following an arrest of a serial killer, there are special processes that each member of the team and task force must undergo.  These include debriefing, counseling, a mental health evaluation, and time off from work.  A stressful investigation over a period of time requires one to take a step back in order to regain their composure and move forward.
   
Officers and members of law enforcement have many different jobs that protect and serve the community.  Officers work diligently with their superiors to create and enact programs that once implemented, better serve the community.  As a citizen, each community member has the job of following the law and helping law enforcement by reporting crimes when they occur.  If everyone would work harder to work together, then crime levels would drop, and it would become a safer place to live.

How can crime be a form of adaptation to ones environment Why would an individual choose such a form of adaptation over others that might be available Why not

I believe that ones environment has deep and heavy impacts on who a person is and how he acts in his everyday life. For example, if one grew up surrounded by terrible conditions and had never even experienced any other kind of world, one would learn to only think and act as a reaction to these conditions without ever knowing that there is a better way to live. Of course the opposite is also true if one has never been exposed to bad conditions, one would not be able to imagine a difficult life and would probably not be equipped with the tools to cope if forced into such a world. Its the age-old question of Nature vs. Nurture, and crime can be seen as an adaptive tool for people who have no choice but to use it.

Such an adaptive tool can be brought about by necessity whether as a means of survival or taking the initiative to become, thinking in the context of evolution, the strongest. Crime can be seen as a quick and easy solution at an entirely critical and desperate moment or just to get ahead in life, even though it has a multitude of consequences in the long run. For something important like the life of a family member being on the line, and money is needed, this is just one of the many reasons why a person would turn to crime when he has avoided it before. In a tough neighborhood, for example, one has to be even tougher to get ahead if youre seen as weak, you can be victimized. If one grows up in an environment where other opportunities do not exist, crime becomes a viable option. It is possible though that it is just the recourse they were taught, like when a mother teaches her child to steal for her, its not unheard-of. In this case its harder to leave that lifestyle because its not easy to leave ones comfort zone, especially if a respected loved one is involved.

I like to believe though, that no matter if crime is a means for survival or taught, once you learn that what youre doing is wrong, it becomes a choice. One can still choose to break away from this easy and ingrained solution and choose to adapt to hardships in positive (and not to mention legal) ways  like choosing to work harder when times get tougher or just being creative. Its not impossible, as there are so many stories of people coming from the worst circumstances, adapting in their own ways, and coming up on top in the end. The only problem is, choosing an alternative to crime in an environment that cultivates it as a primary option, may have a price or two that people are just not willing to pay. But again, its a choice, a difficult one, but still a choice.

Howard N. Snyders Is Suicide More Common Inside or Outside Juvenile Facilities An Article Critique

Howard N. Snyders article on criminal justice which specifically goes by the title Is Suicide More Common Inside or Outside Juvenile Facilities is a quantitative and comparative inquiry that seeks to shed light into the likelihood of youth offenders committing suicide under two distinct circumstances i.e., (a) while they are in the custody of juvenile detention facilities or (b) when they are left to be on their own, outside  as it were  of such detention facilities. Snyders inquiry, which straightforwardly asks Are suicides more common in juvenile facilities takes cue from a study generated a couple of decades back, claiming that youths in juvenile detention facilities were four to five times more likely to be the victim of suicide than were similarly aged youths in the general U.S. population (2005, p. 84). Upon presentation of the problem, it would be apparent, if not all together obvious, that the author takes the above-cited position in a critical fashion.

The study design is both discursive and survey-based interpretation. It is discursive for the reason that the chief thrust of the study is argumentative in nature. The manner by which the article has been done relies heavily on the articulation of the statistical data and the corollary qualification of the same. There is therefore a lot of discursive method employed in the research. On the other hand, the research is survey-based interpretation. This is for the obvious reason that the foundational discourse of the study takes cue from a survey, both previously done and just-recently conducted. In fact, there are reasons to think that Snyders inquiry is a critical assessment of an extant or previous study using recent surveys, in order to lend support to his own sets of arguments and conclusions.

Furthermore, the research study is quantitative in that it is comparable to construing general interpretation from available statistical data. Put in simpler terms, the study, since it takes cue from statistical data, aims at making conclusive qualifications without judging the motives, concerns or value and belief-systems of the sample. It would be apparent that Snyders concern is to reveal the why of his claims i.e., why juvenile suicide incidences do not occur more often within the jurisdictions of juvenile facilities, when compared to, say the general trend of suicide incidences happening in the entire country. No further conclusions can be made apart from the trend which the research wishes to zero in on.

The data, if only to mention, was obtained by the National Center for Health Statistics, under the umbrella authority of the U.S. Department of Justice. Therein, one can take close heed of the fact that the operational definitions of suicide, or the willful cessation of ones life (Barry, 1997, p. 9) and the circumstantial occurrence defining such suicide, i.e., the actual place where the suicide has been carried out, were assumed, and not anymore defined. By assumed, one takes the terms of suicide and circumstantial occurrence as semantically understood in plain and common terms. No other meanings of suicide can be deduced, inasmuch as no other meaning must be connoted of place where suicide has been committed (i.e., it is either inside or outside the four walls of juvenile facilities). Snyders research, one can readily say, does not require extensive definition of conventions, since most nomenclatures are understandable in laymans terms.

Inductive reasoning is, for most part, the general and recurring logic used in the study. The author used induction, or the process of gathering collective and particular information to create general assumptions or subsequent conclusions, as the main thrust of the logic of his study. One example of inductive reasoning used in the study lies in Snyders proposition that, during 2001, when there were approximately 104, 413 youth offenders who were placed under juvenile facilities, the number of those who committed suicide would not be greater than the number of those who did the same from the general demographic of the country (2005, p. 85). By using particular data to base conclusions, the author therefore engaged in inductive reasoning.

This inductive approach to the research material is even more highlighted by the fact that it used at least three (3) particular surveys, and the pertinent data found therein, to lend support to the authors conclusion. This is very classic of inductive methodology.  First, the author cited NCHS data for 1990 through 2001 as revelatory of the counts of suicides for each age, sex and raceethnicity group in the United States (Synder, 2005, p. 84). Second, the author quoted the findings of the survey sanctioned by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJD) in 2000, 2001 and 2004. Last but not least, Snyders research likewise used OJJDs Census of Juvenile Residential Placement to gather data in support of his main thesis.

Deductive reasoning was also used in the beginning of the study, when Snyder, after considering the conclusion developed in 1975, claiming that juvenile facilities have greater incidences of suicide, propounded that such findings may not sit well in contemporary research (Snyder, 2005, p. 84). By stating that the original report (in referring to the previous study) indicated that the available data were less than ideal and the research was forced to incorporate assumptions that are open to criticism, it can be argued that Snyder engaged in deductive reasoning to propose his educated hypothesis or to submit his already obvious conclusion, which is quite critical of above-mentioned study with which his own research begins.

The research methodology which the author used is more analogous to correlation analysis than observational or statistical work. While statistical data is of substantial importance to the study, the fact that Snyders concern is primarily to draw conclusions from the said data, it warranted the study use correlation or comparative analysis instead of observational or statistical method. The use of correlation and comparative analysis is, in many respects, viable ways by which the author can fully support his thesis, especially since he is motivated by the need to argue against the results of an old survey using the data from newer surveys.

By way of conclusion, the author asserts that the number of suicides of youth in juvenile custody is no greater than for a group of demographically similar youths in general U.S. population (2005, p. 86). It would be plain to see that the author has concluded in favor of his hypothesis which, as hinted hereinabove this paper, claims that it would be inconclusive for one to say that the suicide rate of those in custody of detention facilities is higher than those coming from the general demographic make-up of the United States.

The authors conclusion presents a rather critical view of the long-standing notion that youth offenders who were taken in the custody of juvenile facilities are more likely to commit suicide than their counterparts. Other than that, the study does not provide or add anything further. The fact that the study is highly quantitative and not qualitative renders it limited in many respects. For one, I am of the opinion that the study is just another form of information which can hardly be used to address problems sufficiently, or be quoted by legislators or researchers in drafting of appropriate approaches or policies. I believe that the study could have explored not only on the occurrence of suicides but also on the Psychological or Sociological underpinnings contributing to the commission of suicide. The study could have looked into the motivations in order to draw conclusions which would be relevant for policy making and further studies. This could have allowed end-users to utilize the study as data for preferential action. Of this much I can therefore say that any relevant study must contribute not only to the advance of knowledge but also to the general wellbeing and quality of human life. Thus, Snyders research, while highly informative, lacks the material capacity to inspire collective effort to reduce, if not prevent, suicides from all facets of societal life.

The origin and roles of the medical examiner

In the year 1949, the medical examiners assumed the obligation of investigating deaths of people whose corpses are to be burnt up (cremated). This role was assumed from Police Department. Through the years, the job description and roles of the medical examiner has greatly transformed to cope with the fast changing world and rapidly increasing level of criminal murder in the United States. Medical examiners are a very essential part of public health. This is because they are public health partners engaged in terrorism vigilance and response. They aide both public safety and public health functions through investigating deaths deemed to be a result of criminality. Medical examiners are usually trained and experienced forensic pathologists and they work along with the coroners in ensuring that the investigations are both thorough and satisfactory. Medical examiners work has been in operations for a long time but the position was not specific and defined as it has become in the recent generation. The need for the replacement of the coroners with the medical examiners came as a result of increasing and frequent suspicious deaths of people in the United States and the coroners could not properly handle the role. Currently in the United States, the medical examiners are among the most recognized and prominent professionals in medicine. They investigate the causes of suspicious and mysterious deaths of people by applying modern and efficient technology that conducts a series of tests on the dead body and produces results within a short period of time. In America, the department of deaths and criminal investigation not only uses the medical examiners in determining the cause of death, but also in the investigation of the manner of death.  In regard to this, this paper discusses the origin, roles and the responsibilities of the medical examiners in arriving to criminal scenes.

The origin of medical officers
Medical Officers role initially developed from the coroners in England during the 9th and the 10th centuries. The job of a coroner is an ancient post which dates approximately back in the eleventh century. By the beginning of the twelfth century, the office of the coroner was officially formalized by King Richard I, in the Erye Articles. This office had a local official who was responsible for the inquests for confirming the deceaseds identity, determining the manner and cause of death, collecting the death duties, confiscating property and investigating the treasure troves (OCME, 2010). Through the adoption of the British Common Law, the North America settlers came with the coroner laws and roles to early colonies. The early states constitutions would often place the position of the coroner, without defining its role. The first one was Georgia. The post was initiated shortly, after Norman Conquest of England in the year 1066. Initially, the work of a medical officer was done by public officials who used to be referred as crowers. The crowner together with several knights used to go out in an attempt to ensure that when somebody died, the king was informed, who in turn would in turn ask for the body of the person and perform the rituals they believed in on the dead body. The coroners office was first launched in England (and later the United States of American). The role offered a local county with an official whose core duty and responsibility was to protect crowns financial interest in any criminal proceedings. The position of the coroner was found useful by many other countries and thus, it was also established in America (OCME, 2010).

When Oklahoma was declared an independent state in the year 1907, their constitution was ratified, and the office of the corner was missing. The laws were thus revised in 1910 to recognize the position of a coroner through the Justice of Peace. Justice of the peace coroner system continued in Oklahoma until 1962. During this period of time, this part of justice was also conducted in the majority of the countries in an inefficient and haphazard manner. For example, inquests were mostly not held the very time violent death cases occurred. In many occasions, the undertaker just picked up the corpse, took it to a funeral home and then embalmed it. A doctor could be contacted afterward to sign out the death certificate using the information that he would be provided with. Efforts were made to transform the system but due to the ignorance and lack of interest on the importance of such changes, the attempts never bore any fruits. A number of consequential events occurred in mid 1950s which transformed the coroners office in the entire US forever (Sanchez, 2004).

The most contributing factor to the changes that were effected in the criminal deaths investigation was a woman from Oklahoma who had the habit of marrying and then poisoning husbands so as to take off the social security and the insurance benefits of the diseased estate. The case became too suspicious when she once poisoned a state highway department employee who had previously lost his first wife and children in Arkansas tornado. He then found the new wife through the lonely hearts club and moved in with her after two days and within two months he was also dead. Investigations showed that she had been poisoning her husbands with rat poison to benefit front their social security and insurance benefits. With the passing of the years and as the population of the entire US Increased, this case gained national popularity, necessitating a need for changes in the criminal murder investigations. Eventually, in 1961, a bill was effected and signed as law that begun the modern US medical examiner system. 1962, the medical examiner agency was formally launched. It was then called the board of unexplained deaths. It was only in recent years that the name was changed to the medical examiner description.

The first official acknowledgement for the medical examiners need through the training of the coroners was in 1860 a time when Maryland enacted a legislation that allowed the coroners to seek qualified physicians in an inquest, and in 1877, Massachusetts was the first state in US to substitute coroners with medical examiners by clearly differentiating and separating the duties, roles, responsibilities and authorities of both. A coroner was to work under the guidance of the medical officer as an assistant. However, for certain cases whereby the prosecuted was medical officer, the coroner was then expected to take the roles of the medical examiner for that particular situation only.

Practically, today, each of the territory, state and the Columbian district has an act which establishes the medical examiner or the coroner office and in some occasions both offices. The coroners office is a very ancient office which was established in the United States through the English Common Law Tradition. Initially an English coroner was the representative of the king who would be elected into the position or at times appointed by the king into the county. Originally, this coroner looked into many things over and above the suspicious death investigations. However, the duty and the roles of the coroner has evolved over the years and today greater development have been made to expand the effectiveness of the coroners by putting into place a more comprehensive and sophisticated office the Medical Examiner. On the other hand, coroners today need not be physicians or trained forensic pathologists---they are lay officials.

The office of the medical officer came from the Scottish and the European civil law practice of the inquest idea. The Scottish law system was very influential in the adoption of the medical examiner system in the whole of United States of America. In the year 1955, Texas legislature endorsed a statute which ruled out that the bigger counties ought to launch a medical examiners office and the medical examiner was required to be a qualified and trained physician. The other states in the US slowly followed the trends and the laws that had been set by these states Texas, Massachusetts, Georgia and Oklahoma. Eventually every state had a medical examiners office in its constitution which was well defined and separated from that of the district coroner. Today, the medical examiners office is well established and recognized in the autopsy and other related functions.

Definition of a medical examiner
A medical examiner is a public official who is charged with all the investigations of sudden, suspicious, mysterious and unnatural deaths in the region of his or her assigned jurisdiction. He is a physician trained in medicine and appointed by a county or a city to carry out autopsies on corpses of people believed to have died out of unnatural causes, in addition to investigating the circumstances and causes of such deaths. Medical examiners usually determine things such as positive corpse identification, the specific time of the death, whether death took place at the same place where the body was first found and the cause and manner of such deaths. In so doing they carry out autopsies and other medical tests which enable them to come up with accurate and precise details about these issues. A medical examiner is thus a doctor in possession of specific professional training in forensic pathology. Pathologists usually study diseases by examining the organs, tissues, body fluids as well as the cells. For the medical examiner, the examination usually occurs after the person has died.

There is a difference between a medical examiner and a coroner the work and duties of a medical examiner are more detailed as compared to those of a coroner although they operate in the same field. Therefore a medical examiner can be simply described as a doctor who has specialized training and skills in forensics whilst a coroner is an elected post that does not call for any medical background a coroner mostly subcontracts majority of the forensic duties and their roles and responsibilities are more of administration than medical. However, in most cases, a coroner is required to be in possession of at least a degree in law.

What should a medical examiner have
Medical examiners learn about cadavers in order to gain knowledge of diseases and to establish the cause of someones death. They are expected by law to have at least a Doctor of Medicine degree and a certificate in Pathology. This takes a total of eight years in learning the profession before on can start to practice. A degree in law is useful to many medical examiners especially those who regularly testify in court or who desire to work as professional witnesses in criminal trials in addition to civil trials. These requirements make the medical officers profession not only challenging but also competitive to achieve. The law imposed this law on the minimum qualifications for the medical examiners due to complains by the general public about the standard of investigations on the causes of suspicious deaths that were being conducted by the coroners coroners are not medical physicians and they work currently to assist he medical offices.

Responsibilities of the medical examiner in arriving at the criminal scenes
Traditionally, the importance of role performed by medical examiners the death investigation community and, coroners, has been seen as helping the criminal justice system. For the duration of the last number of decades, however, an imperative role for the three groups has arisen in public health. They have a critical role in epidemiologic research, the surveillance, and present public health activities and programs.

The role and responsibility of the of medical examiners in arriving at the crime sites has greatly evolved from a criminal justice service view to a larger involvement which now extensively benefits public safety, , public health and medical communities. It is predictable that public health responsibility of medical examiners may keep on growing and perhaps in the near future public health effect will outshine criminal justice as a chief focus of the medical legal death examination in United States.

The principal role of a medical examiner is to establish the cause of the death of a person whether by injury or disease. By law, they are supposed to determine the manner and cause of death which happens by accident, criminal violence, suicide, abruptly after a person was in good health, in prison, unattended by the practicing physician, in the police custody, by poison, by criminal abortion, disease that is threat to the general public health and injury or any toxin in workplace (Jordan, 1999). All the above cases must portray an element of suspicion making the deaths unnatural or mysterious. In instances where sudden death takes place but there is no evidence of possible mystery, the medical examiner will automatically decline the offer of investigating the deaths since it will be against his code of ethics and professionalism.

For the deaths which are as a result of accidents, the responsibility of the medical examiner at the scene is to examine whether the accident happened due to a natural cause or was planned with the intention of killing or permanently harming the victims. In criminal violence, medical officers use their skills and professionalism to come up with the concrete findings on the nature of the violence which resulted to death. In such cases, the aim is to establish the manner rather than the cause of death of the person. The most crucial cases in the establishment of death causes involve the cases of mysterious deaths of prisoners in the jails or in police custody, the abrupt death of a person who had been health and death due to poisoning. These three cases in most cases are spot highlighters of the element of criminal activity in the manner and causes of the deaths. It is for this reason that medical examiners are finding themselves in court rooms to testify on their findings although it is not an explicit part of their duty.

Medical examiners are usually tasked with the responsibility of establishing the cause of death but the American medical examiners are faced with an added role of establishing the manner of the deaths when arriving at the crime scenes. They thus determine the circumstances that led to the deceaseds path in demise. For example, if the diseased died as a result of drowning, did they willingly get into the water with stones in the pockets Which translates to suicide were they unwillingly held under water (Homicide) or did the deceased accidentally slip and were unable to swim out (accidental death) However in certain cases it becomes hard to determine the criminality in the action because the manner of death cannot be properly established. Such are the heroin overdose cases whereby the manner of death is usually unclear.

The essence of involving the services of a medical examiner is to ensure that the parties concerned with the diseased get to understand the ultimate cause of death of their deceased, after which legal suits may follow where evidence of death out of a criminal activity is provided alongside the parties involved.  Criminal scenes are the places where either the death occurred or any proximal scenes that come as a result of the death under investigation. Medical examiners have one goal in the whole process of investigating and determining the causes and the manner of death to prove that there was an element of crime in the occasioning of the death and that under natural circumstances, the individual would still be alive. Unnatural deaths are here deemed to be the deaths that occur out of the ordinary. For example, the sudden death of a person after serious contentions with an enemy or a rival is likely to be unnatural and an act of vengeance from the rival. At the scene of crime in such a situation it is expected of the medical examiner to perform autopsy and other professional tests on the body of the deceased to establish whether the suspicion hold water or the death was just out of a natural cause.

At the crime site, the medical examiner is responsible for taking into possession such items as suicide writings and notes as well as portable objects. The importance of these items is not to perform the autopsy but to act as sources of evidence in the event that a law suit is involved or the family of the diseased protests against the results provided by the medical examiner as being the cause of death of their person. Mostly, protests happen when the cause of death is determined to be something embarrassing to the society or the family itself. In addition, the items such as the suicide notes or any indicative writings automatically eliminates the reason for involving a medical examiner unless those concerned with the death of the deceased want to be absolutely sure that the person really committed suicide or otherwise. The medical examiner also uses these items for records maintenance of all the deaths investigated. It is important that they maintain a record of all the investigated cases because these data are later used by the National Statistics Bureau for assessing both the level of criminal deaths as well as the effectiveness of the medical examiners in performing their roles in the society and specific appointed jurisdiction. Copies of the records concerning every death where there is a signal of criminality are sent from the medical examiners office to the relevant District Attorney as is required by the law.

Furthermore, in deaths with criminal implications, the medical examiners have the responsibility not only to the deceased but also to the community at large. The responsibility to the deceased entails establishing a true and valid course of the unnatural death which paves way for any consequential action against the offender, whilst the responsibility to the community at large is in ensuring that criminal deaths are reported and the possible legal action taken so that the security of the entire community is well guarded.

It is also the role of medical examiners to counter and avoid any form of phone notifications about deaths and criminal murders so that they do not get involved in the criminal activity while trying to solve the problem. This role was imposed after one incidence in Texas State where a medical examiner was notified about the death of a person over the phone. The person was a close acquaintance to the medical examiner and therefore he placed a top priority in investigating the cause of the death of the person. Little did he know that it was a set up by the local gang to stop the work of investigation he was doing in the jurisdiction. He was later found dead by the roadside and the case had also to be investigated. It became complex to identify the cause of death because the gang used his tools and phone to avoid any possible recognition from the murder site. They rely on the agreements with the police chaplains or the volunteer agencies to make death notifications.

In arriving at the crime scenes the medical examiner works most closely with the risk manager because this ensures that deaths which contain an element of criminality have been promptly presented to the medical examiners office for the autopsy tests and any other tests which may be necessary in determining the manner and cause of the criminal deaths. The risk manager gives the medical officer the absolute and accurate information at the site so as enable the latter to make appropriate decisions concerning the jurisdiction. Failure to give complete and accurate information makes the medical examiner to decline such jurisdiction on a death case that ought to have been examined. Although unintentional misrepresentation is not entirely a criminal offense, it causes delays in the examiners execution of the duties and this could mask or prevent accurate final judgment regarding the deaths.

Medical examiners also have forensic authority which is conferred on their role by the virtue of experience and training. The forensic authority allows the medical officer to decline from performing any tests on any dead body which is presented to them without sufficient litigation process that shows that the person died and no reasonable method could be used to determine the cause of their death apart from the use of the medical examiners services. The medical examiner is always at freedom to suggest that an autopsy be done on a death case in which, according to his reasoning and skills seems to be criminal. The law allows him to carry out such a test even against the will of the deceased family members, provided that it will serve the general good of the public at large (Randy, 2007).
In addition, the criminal death scenes also places on them some form of cultural authority because the family members of the deceased can only remain hopeful and believe that they are not biased and only rely on purely the information provided to them by their professional tests. Developments in the modern technology pose questions on the jurisdiction on the reliance of medical autopsy as well as organ removal in identifying the cause of death. This question automatically paces the accuracy and authority of the medical examiners in a serious threat.

 Common misconceptions about the role of the medical examiner
In the course of their duty, the medical examiner have been mistaken a fact which jeopardizes their responsibility in the criminals deaths and murder investigations. There are three basic misconceptions about the purpose of medical examiner in the criminal murder analysis. To begin with, the medical examiner carries out autopsies which are meant for medical purposes such as research and education while at the same time for the hospital. This misconception misguides their role because the purpose of the tests performed on the dead bodies is meant for pure legal purposes. It is for this reason that the medical examiners are not employees of the private medical sector but are essentially the employees of the public health with is a governmentally controlled department. The second misconception about the medical officers regards the assumption by majority of the public that the medical examiner mutilates and disfigures the body. Medical officers are not only extremely professional besides being respectful, but are also skillful in the preservation and original appearance of the dead body. They ensure that all the organs of the body remain intact and in place at the time of burial.

The last misconception about the role of the medical examiner relates to their relationship with the coroners. To many people, a coroner is as good as the medical examiner. However, the responsibility of the medical examiner in arriving at the criminal scene goes far beyond the testing of the corpse and determining the reason as to why the death occurred in a non natural setting. Over and above this, the medical examiner carries the responsibility of reporting to the district attorney all the cases within the agreed duration of time that he or she has examined and proved the death to be as result of criminal death. The attorney relies on the information provided by the medical examiner to make recommendations and proposals to the states government on the methods that should be used to curb alarming criminal death rates. For example, in 1999, it was found out that many people had committed suicide due to depression and stress. The district attorney therefore collaborated with the county medical examiner to analyze the possible causes of these deaths and it was found out that the many of these people contemplated to suicide after failing to succeed in the millennium that was approaching, either financially or in career and thus they found it meaningless to crossover to a new millennium with the same fears and state of mind since the financiers has predicted that the economy was likely to experience even tougher economic times in the twenty first century than was in the twentieth century. Therefore it calls for the results of the medical examiner to be so accurate such that they can be used to draw up a general conclusion on the state of mind of the person committing suicide or intentionally getting themselves in extremely risky conditions.

The challenges faced by the medical examiners in arriving at the crime scene
In the process of executing their duties and responsibilities, medical examiners face many different challenges and managing these challenges becomes part of their responsibility in arriving at the crime scenes. The first and most challenge that they encounter involves the separation of their role from the medical duties. This is because although they are trained doctors in the field of pathology and forensic studies, their duty is based and accountability to the legal department. However, most people expect the medical examiner to not only determine the cause and manner of death, but also the responsibility of the practicing physician in preventing or cautioning on the risk of their patient in the case of a suspicious death from quick illness. In addition, the examiners are any times unable to determine the manner of death especially on the cases of suspicious deaths out of overdose. This is because it is difficult to tell the intention of the person who overdosed. At times, overdosing could be due to a suicidal intention or lack of understanding of prescription given by a physician. In such cases, the family members of the diseased do not get satisfied by the judgment made by the medical examiners which in some cases causes the examiner to be sued of inaccurate determination of deaths.

Furthermore, the medical examiners are faced by cultural limitations in performing autopsy on a body. Cultural problems are mostly present when handling cases that involve some families opposing autopsy on the basis of religious or cultural background. In other cultural challenges, the family members literally come to the medical examiners office prepared to carry out ceremonial washing of their dead and the medical examiners have found themselves allowing such families to go ahead, although the frequency and numbers in which they turn up is what becomes a challenge since they disrupt the daily routine of the professionals. However, this problem is not very common among the Americans but among the settlers and immigrants in the country.

In some of the death cases presented to them, the corpse could be burnt or damaged to an extent that any examination on it would not be able to produce accurate results or would mask the final determination of the cause of death. In such circumstances, it is upon the medical examiner to decline conducting tests on the body before the case is recorded as being under investigation because the results would become misrepresentative of the manner or cause of death. Once a case is recorded as being under investigation, there is a direct role tied to the medical examiner to complete the examination and deliver the results. Many, of the times the failure to properly determine causes of death is not blamed on the condition of the corpse or the remains but on the incompetence of the medical examiner.

Conclusion
In the current century, medical examiner offices are gradually replacing coroner systems. Although the medical examiner position is an evolution of the coroner system, the coroner is now seen as a less contributory factor in the field of investigations of criminal deaths. The roles and the responsibility played by the medical examiner are diverse since they cut across medicine and law. As a member of the public health, the medical examiner always aims at protecting the society assigned by the state or county constitution but eventually, medical examiners end in a thankless role nobody wants to come into contact with them because they all hope and wish that the deaths of the loved ones will ultimately come out to be natural and peaceful, reflecting a fulfilled lifetime. However, the role of the medical examiner will most often than not rule out that certain mysterious, malicious and personal reason caused the deaths. The medical officer role will give answers to questions like how, when and where but never will they explain to us the why which everybody would want to be the first question answered. Medical examiners have experienced difficulties in arriving at the conclusion of the cause and manner of death because many people tend to doubt based on either religious or cultural difficulties. In overcoming these difficulties and making their intention and purpose in the society more clear, the responsibility of the medical examiner continues to widen and probably, a more advanced individual will be required to work with the medical officer since criminal death rates are seriously escalating not only in the United States of America but in the world at large.

Inside Criminal Law

I. Describe the purposes of criminal law
There are some criminologists who believe that criminal law functions in relation to the legal requirements that the society has and also because it needs maintenance and promotion of social values (Gaines and Miller, 2010).

Describe the two main functions of criminal law
Criminal law has a legal and a social function. Its legal function is to maintain an orderly society by safeguarding its citizens from criminal harm. On the other hand the social function of the law is to mirror the values and norms that a society must have(Gaines and Miller, 2010).

Describe the written sources of American criminal law and their purposes.
The sources of American criminal law are the Unites States Constitution and the constitutions of different states the statutes and laws passed by Congress the state legislatures and the local ordinances the regulations created by the different regulatory agencies like the federal Food and Drug Administration and the case laws (Gaines and Miller, 2010).

The United States Constitution is the fundamental law of the land and as such, it embodies the very foundation of all laws existing in America. Any law that contradicts the Constitution will be pronounced as unconstitutional and it will not be enforced. The primary purpose of the Constitution is to give a sense of direction to the three main branches of the government, to limit and restrict the powers of the state to safeguard the rights and liberties of the citizens (Gaines and Miller, 2010).

The Statutes and laws passed by Congress consists are classified as federal, state and local laws. Federal laws are those enacted by Congress and as such, it applies to all states. State laws are enacted by the legislatures of the states such as the city ordinances and counties and as such, it applies only to the state where it is enacted (Gaines and Miller, 2010).

II. Describe how criminal responsibility may be limited
The notion of responsibility plays a critical role in criminal law. Criminal responsibility may be limited by using justification and excuse defenses. To say that an action is justified is tantamount to saying that even though such action is one that is usually wrong in other circumstances, it was not a wrong in this one because under the circumstances, the criminal act was justified. Duress, self-defense, necessity and entrapment are some of the justifying circumstances. On the other hand, an action is said to be excused when the action is indeed wrong, however, the one who committed it cannot be blameworthy for lack of criminal intent. Some examples of excuse defenses are infancy, insanity, intoxication, and mistake. For instance, many jurisdictions recognize the principle that kids below a certain age are incapable of committing crimes because their minds are too young or too  infant  to comprehend the consequences of their actions.

Identify one justification and excuse defense and explain why they are used

One of the commonly used excuse defense to limit the criminal responsibility is insanity. The law provides that a person does not have a requisite frame of mind to perpetuate a crime if the said person does not know the nature, quality and wrongness of the act at the time of the commission of the said act.

Self-Defense is the most popular justification in criminal law because one who believes that he or she is in grave danger of being harmed by another person is justified in using any amount of force to defend himself. Self-Defense is defined as a legally recognized privilege used for the protection of ones self or property from injury inflicted by another. However, the use of this defense is not absolute because the privilege only extends to those who act in a reasonable fashion that is necessary to protect ones person or property.

The very logical and fundamental reason why justification and excuse defenses are used is to escape criminal liability because using these two defenses, an accused may be held faultless in the eyes of the law.

Describe the procedural safeguards that protect American Constitutional rights
Aside from the substantive criminal laws, there also exists a procedural criminal law which is a set of rules that define the manner in which the duties and rights of persons may be enforced. These criminal procedures drawn from the Bill of rights are mainly designed for the protection of the constitutional rights of persons and for the prevention of the arbitrary and oppressive use of powers by the state.

Include the Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights of the American Constitution served as the primary basis for the procedural safeguards that an accused has. These safeguards include the following
The Fourth Amendment for the protection from unreasonable searches and seizures
The Fourth Amendment requirement that no search warrant or warrant of arrest may be issued in the absence of any probable cause
The Fourth Amendment requirement that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty and property without  due process  of the law
The Fifth Amendment prohibition against double jeopardy
The Fifth Amendment guarantee that no person may be compelled to be a witness against himself
The Sixth Amendment guarantees of a speedy and impartial trial via trial by a jury and a public trial with a right to confront the witnesses and a right to counsel at different stages of the criminal proceedings
The Eight Amendment prohibition against excessive bails and fines.

Include Due Process
The Due Process Clause stated in the Fifth and the Fourteenth Amendment provides that no person can be deprived of life, liberty and property without due process of law. This clause requires that the government must not act in an unfair and arbitrary manner. The state must not rely on their individual judgments and impulses every time they make decisions, they must stay within the lines of reason and law.

Due process has two types, procedural and substantive. The procedural due process requires that laws must be carried out by a fair and orderly manner. There are some procedures that must be followed when it comes to administering and executing the laws of the land in order for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the persons to be safeguarded. On the other hand, substantive due process requires that the laws must be reasonable themselves because if laws are unfair or arbitrary, it must be declared unconstitutional and void.

Interview Analysis

Introduction
This interviews major themes are victims rights, victim assistance, mental health issues, substance useabuse, and Rape in America. The interview is with Dr. Dean Kilpatrick who is an authority on these subjects.

Analyzing the Interview
This interview starts primarily with a discussion about PAR, People Against War, with the founding member Dr. Dean Kilpatrick explaining how and why it started and how it contributed overall to the benefit of the rape victims.

Dr. Dean in this article explains the struggle he and other members of the PAR had to undergo to bring to the masses the importance of counseling for Rape Victims. For example he elaborates that how PAR utilized media and news paper to spread awareness about victims of War. He also elaborates how he collaborated with others to get the research grant from the National Institute of Mental Health and how they collected the funds to support the research. Hence this part serves the purpose of introducing and discussing the initial problems faced by the organization

Towards the end of the first part of the interview he has also been able to tell what the failures of the organization are one failure that he pointed out turns out to be the involvement of several groups of people with completely different focus and hence having a divided vision.

Dr. Dean also commented on PAR success that how it was able to successfully affect in bringing the constitutional amendments related to the victims but also mentioned about the failure of the organization was in the enforcement of these laws as laws were never enforced completely.

Dr. Dean has claimed that one of the great accomplishments so far of the PAR is the recognition that there are many victims of rape. Dr. Dean further claims that stable funding is needed for promoting the program to improve upon the services provided to the victims.

The interviews also suggests that to further help and support the victims and the rape victims constitutional amendments need to be done at the Federal level because this would in turn cause the state laws to change quickly and affect the masses big time.

In the second part of the interview Dr. Dean has emphasized the role that National Victim Assistance Academy victim service field has played by imparting knowledge and researching.

Dr. Dean advocates the goals such as academic victim advocacy partnership and the development of educational research and development tools for the whole victim assistance field. Although this part is suppose to be very strong but not much information is provided here.

Dr.  Dean said that National Victim Assistance Academy focus is on research because he thinks thats the way victims can be provided better care and this would help enhance the system. What I think he is trying to tell is that its about evaluating the old system continuously and introducing new stuff in order to make improvements and making the victims recover quickly.

I clearly can make out that after the struggle of several years there are a lot of things that need to be done and every other day bring new challenges to the academy as new events keep on occurring and hence a lot of things need to be done, maybe this is the way he might be able to secure more funding for the program.

In the last part of the interview the motives of mentoring the interns has been explained that how and why do they go for the training at one of the centers to get to know more about the affected people and get a personal touch so that they can easily incorporate that learning.

Conclusion
The research area of Dr. Dean is crime victims mental health and according to him even after 20 years have passed a lot needs to be done to improve the system. In this interview the programs that he had been involved has been discussed

Merits of Community Policing and Organizational Changes involved

Community policing is an organizational tactic and the individual attitude that enhances collaboration between law enforcers and members of the society and furthers practical crime solving in conjunction with public sector agencies and local organizations. The goal is to minimize crime and fear of crime, ensure development in the neighborhoods and develop good public attitude towards the police. It therefore, requires great accountability by law enforcers, involving community members in making decisions and watching individual rights.

For community policing to be effective, there are organizational structure changes that occur within the police department. Police departments ought to be open to the public through decentralization and deployment of law enforcers at community level so as to further relationship between police and members of the public. Communication between police officers should be simplified and done at a lower rank to avoid victimization. Law enforcers should be diplomatic and their supervision ought to promote relations in all ranks. Police should be assigned duties at community level at all times but not only in times of crime. Hiring new officers should focus on the highly learned individuals and those committed to working for the community. Recruits should immensely be taught on public relations and those who are community-oriented be thanked. Cooperation is also a must for public regencies and local organizations so as to acknowledge community desires and use the available resources to cater for the needs thus avoiding conflicts with the people. We should understand the communities in details so as to know the origin of criminal actions. Data on crime and community characteristics should be well documented. Social amenities such as churches and schools should be taken at community level since they campaign against crime.

Community policing has many merits to the community. It has led to improved attitude towards the law enforcers, engaged community members to understand and solve their problems, and it has increased social relations between people and police. In addition, it has minimized fear of crime (Anderson, 2005). Again, it has increased the friendship between police and the public, helped the members of society to understand the authority of policemen and officers can now feel comfortable with their work. There are shared benefits of community policing. These include reduced chances of clash between public members and law enforcers, crime rate has lowered and enabled better communication between the police and the members of the society.

Community policing is however facing some challenges. Merging of problem- oriented and intelligence-oriented policing has not been easy. More research ought to be done to find out the effectiveness of tactics currently used as a way to combat crime. Due to increased contact between the police and community members, law enforcers may end up being litigated (Murray, 2002).

People and Deeds

Since centuries, experts have been putting efforts to propose the factors of devilish behaviors of individuals that resulted in the development of the field of criminology. In this field, two different groups of people propose diverse causes of occurrences of crimes in the society. In specific, it is observation that one group advocates the notion that people are themselves the cause of evil actions and crimes in the society, and they (Twiss, pp. 23-25) take the example of Hitler and several others that were not confronting any crucial circumstances that enforce them to commit crimes in the society. On the other hand, some theorists and criminologists (Wolfgang  Johnston, pp. 23-25) have argued that social circumstances are the foremost causes of devilish deeds in the society, and humans cannot be the causes. From such aspect, some of the social issues such as poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, etc are some of the reasons that incline individuals toward dark side of the life. However, analysis has indicated that a huge number of people confront similar social hardships in their lives however, they do not decide to become criminals or carry out evil actions in the society.

Thus, circumstances or deedsactions cannot be the cause, and people seem the evident cause. Moreover, although Hitler was an evil person who brought adverse effects on millions of people globally however, studies have indicated that he was involved in certain activities that were not evil. Hence, specific deeds make one evil rather than the person who is the creation of God, and cannot be completely devil or evil in his own self. Conclusively, one can identify different viewpoints related to this topic that offers huge debate, and it seems that world will continue to debate on it until the last day of this world.

Terrorism

Department of defense remains the greatest repository of federal resources for responding to the terrorist attack. The Department of defense has the capability to collect and analyze intelligence. Homeland security department has two central objectives. These objectives are, to assess knowledge in homeland defense domains which are critical (homeland security technology, mass destruction weapons, terrorism, security and intelligence) and to expand participants ways of thinking by analyzing and communicating about homeland agencies. It provides information on multinational coordination, command control and interagency.

Literature Review
Since the terrorist attack in 2001 on the World Trade Center in United States, large amount of literature has been published on terrorism. The Department of Homeland Security was created by President George Bush to coordinate various organizations dealing with the security of United States. The mission of Department of Homeland Security is to have unified national effort towards securing and preserving United States. Homeland was created to secure United States against terrorism. Homeland security has unified national mission to safeguard America by preventing terrorist attacks at federal, state and local levels.

National security and Homeland security
The values of the Federal, state and local agencies lead to faithful execution of duties and maintenance of highest professional standards and building relationship with the citizens thus honoring liberty, diversity and democracy. Unified core values also lead to creation of employment and safeguarding America by identifying, and mitigating threats to the safety of Americans. Saint Louis University (SLU) like the federal, state and local agencies share unified values that are implemented for the benefit of the individual and the community at large.

The mission and the core values of Saint Louis aim at excellence of a person academically and professionally in the University and the community however the aim of the unified mission and values at the Federal, State and local agencies is to safeguard America and the people of America from terrorist attack, from discrimination ensuring equal access to the public services and protection (Richard and David, 2008). There are various federal agencies these include, central intelligence agency, defense intelligence agency and federal bureau of investigation. Other examples of federal agencies include department of homeland security agency which deals with the security of United States, national geospatial intelligence agency and the other agency that deals with information in the United States is national security agency. Other agencies are office of the naval intelligence, national reconnaissance office and office of the director of national intelligence (Robert, 1989).

Central Intelligence Agency
It is a federal agency that is located in United States and it is a civilian intelligence agency. Central Intelligence Agency deals with the security of United States by providing  security intelligence to policy makers who are senior in United States. At the request of the President of United states, Central Intelligence Agency can engage in covert activities. According to Robert (1989) the purpose of the central intelligence agency is to collect foreign corporations, individuals and governments information. Central Intelligence Agency performs the role of advising public policy makers. Central Intelligence Agency collects information that reveals intentions and plans that provides basis for the action and decision. Central Intelligence Agency produces analysis on time to the decision makers charged with the advancing interests of the Americans and protecting them.

Central Intelligence Agency conducts the covert action to the United States president so as to preempt threats thus achieve policy objectives of United States (Robert, 1989). The core values of central intelligence agency include, excellence whereby the staff reflects on the performance thus embracing personal accountability by holding each other to high standards and commitment to the service of the customers through quiet patriotism whereby they put the country and the customers needs first. The last core value of the federal agency is integrity whereby the agency upholds the standards of highest degree by speaking the truth to the customers and colleagues (Robert, 1989).

Central Intelligence Agency works with the Homeland Agency to respond to the terrorist attack, to voice concerns about the defense budget adequacy and answering questions voiced out by the congress. The current president of United States questions the integrity, management skills and experience of some public servants. The president also named some Central Intelligence Agency official for counter terrorism The official is therefore faced with the task of whether the Homeland Security Council should be made the National security after it was formed in the 2001 on September 11 or it should remain a separate unit in the white house. The official stated that the task of the team was to protect the Americans and to integrate efforts thus protecting America security and safeguard values of the America people.

National Guard
Washington National Guard has about 8500 employees who are airmen and civilian employees. The aim of the Washington state Guards is to serve Washington State. The guards federal mission is to provide trained military units for the defense of the nation and to augment federal military operations voluntarily and continuously. National guards ensure Protection of the citizens from the state Emergency Operations Center (EOC) which helps responders of the local emergency.

National Guards assist local responders by coordinating rescue and search operations in the area and other environmental emergencies (Macauley, 2003). Some 100,000 soldiers who are citizens and airmen are deployed in 44 countries. National Guard aids the local, state and federal law enforcement to reduce crimes that are related to drugs. National guards promote the state economic vitality by been involved in countering drug, been involved in business thus generating taxes for the state and the community.  Guards protect environment and state properties and they are customer friendly.

Role of the National Guard
Guards support war on the terrorism in homeland security. National Guard provides situational awareness, information and intelligence feeds and weapons for mass destruction if needed. Guards have a joint force head quarters in the every state thus coordinate response and plans to terrorist attack. These joint headquarters help in detection and defeat of the terrorists. National Guard transforms itself for the better to meet the countrys homeland defense requirements. National Guard is the first military responder to any emergency.

Much as the state Guards are positioned for emergency operations, the Guards are not usually available in large numbers in federal operations.  In addition to the forces that are provided by the National Guard, state defense forces are created and controlled by a state and are integrated in the emergency management operations (Eastman, 2002). State defense forces are a state agency that assumes homeland defense responsibility for the homeland and defense missions of the homeland. The National Guard is not always available in the federal duty in large numbers. Georgia state defense force consists of uniformed, all volunteer and unpaid branch of the state forces defense in Georgia. State defense force includes. Air National Guard and Arm. State defense gives an opportunity to the fellow citizens who have never served in the army.

State force defense replaces the National Guard to the federal service. Thus expanding its ranks and prepare to carry out tasks as required by the governor in the state. State defense force assists Guardsmen families who are ordered into the federal service. State defense force performs community tasks thus supporting the National Guard mission. States force defense performs ceremonial occasions like the parade color guards and they also support local events held in public in aid of natural disaster. National Guard defense volunteers work together with the community in search and rescue operations. National Guard has proven to be the first in any emergency they have built a very strong legacy.

Seattle police Department
Seattle police department is a local agency that deals with the law and its enforcement and is found in Washington in the Seattle city. It is the principal law enforcement agency in Washington and it is accredited nationally by Commission of Accreditation for the law and Enforcement Agencies. The mission of this local agency is to ensure that law is enforced, prevent crime and to support public safety that is quality by delivering police service s that are respectful, dependable and professional. Seattle police department uses good practices to offer accountability based on the performance to the community in general and to offer security to the officers.

The organization foster values based on integrity and values that respect both constitutional and civil rights. Seattle police agency identifies, prioritizes challenges associated with law enforcement and prevention of crime using an approach of problem solving that is flexible (Ernest, 2005). Seattle police organization strengthens associations with the community through mutual responsibility, communications and strengthening links through commitment to the customer service. Specialty units in the Seattle police departments include harbor, motorcycles, mounted patrols and SWAT. Seattle police organization employs about five hundred employees who are civilians and one thousand two hundred and fifty sworn law enforcement officers.

Sworn officers are ranked in ascending order as follows officers, sergeant, captain, deputy chief and chief of police.  Other officers that are sworn include Lieutenants and assistant chief in the Seattle police. Employees who are civilians work in administration sector in areas such as the information technology, dispatching 911, personnel and in records and evidence area. Some officers take test to become detectives. Those officers can keep the detective rank together with other promotions. The management and the structure of the organization uses well trained unsworn and sworn employees who use research and training equipment strategically and effectively.

Role of Seattle police department
Seattle police department have policies that protect the immigrants from accessing protection of the police and public services (Richard and David, 2008). Seattle police department is committed to the civil rights and provide accessing of the city services like police protection equally to all people without considering their immigration status. Seattle police organization strictly states that there should not be law enforcement that can discriminate any person on the basis of their ace, color, age, sex, marital status, religion solely and the organization does not assist agencies that violate those policies. Homeland security enacted law stating that there should be enforcement of the civil federal immigration laws by the state and the local police officers failure to which they will lose the federal funding. The above laws were enacted after Homeland laws were rejected.

Summary
Terrorism is complex and varied. Dealing with the terrorist organizations requires knowledge of the structure of the organization of the terrorists and terrorists potential plans and its members. Different levels of the government must direct their resources and power to curb terrorism Homeland security coordinates activities of state, federal and local organizations. Federal, state and local organizations working together is proven to be a good mode of law enforcement. Defending Unites States from the international terrorists is the work of federal, state and local agencies. In United States federal law enforcement and the national security agencies have the greatest role in the terrorism control.
Federal agencies gather intelligence that is raw from human resource and technical resources both abroad and at home. Federal agencies are charged with the terrorist attack prevention. Justice department prosecute individuals involved in attack while the state and the local government provide emergency response to the terrorist attack by providing man power, identify target facility and plan long term solution. Homeland security enacted law stating that there should be enforcement of the civil federal immigration laws by the state and the local police officers failure to which they will lose the federal funding.

Homeland security enforced law stating that local police should operate as immigration agents this law was opposed because the police would be overburdened with the immigration statutes enforcement diverting the police tasks (Ernest, 2005). Homeland security proposed that it should receive reimbursement for hosting non United States citizens and require the immigrants to obtain immigration enforcement funds for the immigrants to gain access to police protection and public services. The funds would be used to enforce immigration laws, help local and state jurisdictions to start authorizing policies to the police to enforce immigration laws.

Homeland security require the police to act as immigration agents and this would discourage the immigrants from reporting crimes to the police making Seattle less safe, having less police officers and less equipments in public organizations . Homeland security act would represent mandate that are unsafe that imposed by the local police in the city. Homeland security failed to disburse funds to aid state and local organizations. Sources state the agency that is in charge of the dispensing and coordinating assistance in federal to the local and state is undistinguished and inexperienced.

During the 911 attacks, National guard was very fast in responding to the terrorist attack, as the New York National guards responded without military orders to the trade center site within twenty four hours of the September 11 in the year 2001. National Guards went straight to the problem and together with the local agencies they saved lives, helped to restore confidence and helped to restore security in the area. At pentagon, the National Guard was the first to respond to the emergency. Air National Guard flew 90 percent in defense of Homeland of the first air patrols that are flown in the major city in United States.

Immigration and Naturalization Service, border patrol, customs, U S coast guards efforts to examine the visitors closely, cargo entering United States and illegal immigrants are successful. However INS suggests that the local authorities should arrest illegal immigrants instead of leaving that responsibility to the federal government and the congress. Local government should supply needed resources in order for the situation to be in control.  Intelligence agencies and the treasury Department use electronic and economic measures against Al Qaeda and they are effective in their work. In Afghanistan, destruction of Al Qaeda organizations has been successful due to the Military actions.

Aligning efforts of federal, state and local for homeland security is a hard task. The framework should ensure that the citizens are protected, by challenging the status quo, breaking down barriers that divide the citizens and returning network from other networks.

Tyranny of the Majority and the Concept of Justice

In the treatise On Liberty, Mill opens his essay with a critique against the tyranny of the majority. According to him, the authority of the government must be controlled by the liberty of the citizens. If the government authority is without limit, then it is a breeding ground for tyranny. To prevent his, Mill proposes two mechanisms of control 1) to define the rights belonging to citizens, and 2) the creation of constitutional checks by which the assent of the community would represent its interests. Democracy seems to be a safe form of political association. But, as Mill notes, the interests of the majority are often prioritized rather than the common good. It is possible that those who exercise power are not the same people over whom it is exercised. Now, the majority are always capable of overposing its interests  institutionalizing them into political policies at the cost of the minority. Hence, in a democracy, the tyranny of the majority is always a plausible scenario.

For Mill, the tyranny of the majority is worse than the tyranny of government or of a dictator because it is not limited in the political arena. It is possible to be protected against a tyrant but almost impossible against prevailing public opinion. Society determines interests  as such people will be subject to prevailing conditions. The general opinion will become the basis of all rules of conduct within society. In short, it is very hard to establish safeguards in law against the tyranny of the majority.

Referring to Rousseaus concept of general will, Mill argues that the majority opinion may not be the rational or correct opinion. Naturally, individuals will align themselves with the side with the greatest number. This is a source of security and power. When individuals coalesce, they form an almost unstoppable conglomerate of subgovernment. The majority becomes, in essence, the controlling power of the state. Individuals, whether from the majority or the minority, can never be totally free because of the perpetuation of this action. As Mills argues
Society can and does execute its own mandates and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle, it practises a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. Protection, therefore, against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough there needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling (Mill, 18591993).

The tyranny of the majority has its modern version. Public opinion  conducted through surveys and sporadic interviews  often determines public preferences. Over the past 50 years, the US Congress has had been tuned to the voice of public polls. Because polls express the sentiment of the majority, their interests become the prevailing bases of policy making.

The term justice has many meanings. According to Robinson, justice, in nominal terms is conformity to truth, reason or fact (Robinson, 2003329). However, this definition is overtly broad in application. Justice in its narrow sense is 1) punishment of individuals guilty of crimes (justice as an outcome), 2) protection of individual rights to prevent innocent individuals from being wrongfully subjected to punishments (justice as process), and 3) equal treatment of individuals under the law without reference to race, creed, political affiliation, and status (social justice) (Robinson, 2003330).

In nominal terms, justice should accomplish impartial equity. Based on the principles of freedom, fairness, compassion, and utilitarianism, social justice should be the basis of criminal justice. Destructive criminal justice policies based on vengeance should be replaced with restorative justice practices based on social compassion and forgiveness. Rather than bathing on the generalistic principle of equality, justice must also be distributive.

Robinson (2003) fails to discuss or even mention the necessity of divine justice. Divine justice is derived from the intricate application of divine law. Divine law is a general law established by God  or at least assumed to have general application. Divine law is the basis of all rules of conduct within society. In addition, it also has a metaphysical application  it extends beyond the faculty of the human mind. This is in contrast with natural law. Natural law is a law set by nature. It has universal validity  although within the confines of the natural world.

Suppose that there is an individual accused of killing another individual. The accused pleads not guilty. The prosecution offers weak evidences against the accused. In reality, the accused committed the atrocity. Following the rules of court, the judge dismisses the case for lack of evidence. An appeal is made to higher courts of law but the case is summarily dismissed. Procedural justice is followed  the same case can be said of criminal justice. But, one issue remains, If the accused is not punished in this lifetime, then justice is not attained.

In divine justice, the accused will still face punishment in the afterlife. Rather than a consortium of human judges, it will be God presiding in the heavenly courtroom. This is not an idiosyncratic view of reality. This is a definitive exhaustion of non-conventional justice. The accused is punished for his crimes on earth and is sentenced for damnation (or if you are a Catholic, perhaps in the purgatory).

This scenario is a simplistic view of justice. Every wrongdoing done on earth is also punished in heaven. Because morality is derived from divine law, then punishment must also be based from divine law. By transitivity, an individual guilty of crime must also be punished based on divine law. This is not double-jeopardy. This is merely an excitation of divine justice. This view of justice completes Robinsons model of justice.

Death Penalty

Death penalty is a social justice issue and has remained one for over 4000 years. Today, some countries oppose it while others use it to deter criminal activities in the society. Whether it is a deterrent or not will be studied by the paper. This paper examines death penalty as a social justice issue. Moreover, it applies Immanuel Kants theory of ethics to explain capital punishment in the light of value judgment. It also gives a review of studies relevant to death penalty and Kants theory respectively. Finally, the paper hypothesizes that death penalty is not an effective deterrent and presents arguments for this.

1. Introduction
1.1 Death Penalty
Death Penalty, or Capital Punishment, is the process in which a person is executed through judicial orders as punishment for a crime. Over the years, this issue has evolved to become an extremely controversial subject. There are strong points in support, as well as, against capital punishment.

The people who support the policy of capital punishment say that the criminals deserve it. It keeps the society clean of dangerous criminals and the threat of death penalty keeps the felons from getting involved in such criminal activities (Montaldo).

On the other hand, those against the policy argue that death penalty does not bring back the victim. Also, the murderer is usually unaware or is not thinking about the consequences of his actions when he commits the crime. Morever, the punishment assumes that the criminal is not going to improve himself which is unjust.

Therefore, the strong points, both, against and for the policy, are very strong and they must be analysed using ethical theories in order to understand the issue more clearly.

1.2 Existing State of Public Policy regarding Death Penalty
Death Penalty had been practiced in the United States from as early as 1608 (Montaldo). The policy implementation was only paused in 1967 but was resumed from 1976 and until December 2008, a total of 1,136 executions have taken place (Gill).

As of 2004, China, Iran, Vietnam and United States were responsible for 97 of the total exectutions in the world (Gill). However, European Union is against death penalty and has chalked out policy guidelines against it.

Most of the American people support the capital punishment policy. However, according to a survey, its support has dropped down from a peak of 80 percent in 1994, to 60 percent today.

1.3 Applicable theory of ethics
The theory of ethics that I would relate the death penalty issue to is Immanuel Kants Categorical Imperative Theory.

2. Statement of Objectives 2.1 Purpose of this paper.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the death penalty issue that has become one of the most controversial topics today. The paper would provide a detailed insight of the issue and would draw out a conclusion of the debate based on Kants ethical theory.

3. Review of Death Penalty
3.1 Historical perspective of the phenomenon
Judicial process of execution has been observed in the past in almost all societies. Death penalty had been used for punishment of crime, as well as for political gains. Different societies have had death penalty reserved for different kinds of criminal acts. For instance, most places had the policy implemented for murder, treason, military justice and so on. Even some religions, such as Islam, introduced more than 1400 years ago, orders death penalty for sexual acts such as rape and adultery.

Kathy Gill, in her article Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty discusses the history of the phenomenon in America. Capital punishments in America date back to as early as the 18th century BC when Captain George Kendall was accused of being a secret spy for Spain and was executed. By 1612, the phenomenon was observed to be practiced very widely when people were being executed for minor crimes such as stealing, killing chickens, and even trading with Indians  (Gill).

The author then discusses how the capital punishment phenomenon changed and increased during the 1800s and the early 1900s. In the 1800s, abolitionism became the cause of capital punishment and in the early 1900s, its popularity was only seen to grow. In the 1930s, executions were at their maximum.

It was not until the middle of the 20th century when the public sentiment rose. People started discussing the ethical issues arising from the policy and developed dislike for it. So much so that according to Gallup, in 1966, the support for capital punishment had dropped down to 42 percent. In 1968, People experienced and observed the hint of injustice in the U.S. v. Jackson and the Witherspoon v. Illinois cases and caused them to think about the policy from other angles. (Gill)

The twist in the policy of death penalty happened in the year 1972 when Supreme Court annulled the death penalty ruling in 40 states and 629 criminals awaiting death penalty were commuted. The Supreme Court said that the death sentence ruling was very cruel for the modern society and was in violation with the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. (Gill)

The court ruled in 1976 that capital punishment was, indeed, constitutional, and new penalty laws in Florida Georgia and Texas were introduced. Thus, in 1977, the ten-year pause on the policy was ended when Gary Gilmore was executed in Utah by a firing squad.

3.2 A survey of the relevant literature that includes a balanced presentation of the classical and modern studies in the field, establishing what is known, what types of studies (if any) have been undertaken, and the conceptualization of key concepts.

Since the social justice issue of death penalty is a big one and one that is a reason for concern for many people, many relevant studies have been undertaken. Many studies depict death penalty as a deterrent, while others oppose this. Some studies show how death penalty is costly while others bring up the issue of racial bias in death penalty.

Numerous modern studies have been carried out on the financial facts of death penalty. These include Report of the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, Report to Washington State Bar Association regarding cost and many others (Death Penalty Information Center, 2010). Studies have been carried out in a number of states such as California where reports suggest that for 670 death rows, it costs California 63.3 million annually (Death Penalty Information Center, 2010). Moreover, studies in Maryland reveal that it takes 37 million for one execution. A study in Kansas shows that death penalty cases are 70 more expensive than non-capital penalty cases (DPIC, 2010). Many other such studies suggest that death penalty is costly.

Furthermore, a comprehensive study carried out by Sharp (1997) indicates that the anti-death penalty movement is a way of removing truth from the society. He focuses on issues such as the risk of executing the innocent, the effects of deterrence in regard to death penalty, racial bias and death penalty sentences, the cost of paroling in life imprisonment versus the death of cost penalty, the death penalty procedures and death penalty ad the Christianity.

Finally, a book Determinants of the Death Penalty explains death penalty in the light of those factors that countries have that give capital punishment against those countries that do not. This widespread study employs statistical analysis to link capital punishment to physical, socio cultural and economical, institutional and actor oriented and past factors.

4. Review of Kants Categorical Imperative
4.1 Historical Perspective
The categorical imperative is Immanuel Kants most renowned work in moral philosophy.

Kant was not pleased with the moral philosophy of his time. For a utilitarian, the act of murder is wrong because it is not beneficial for the maximum number of people. This concept was wrong because it does not take into consideration those people who are only concerned with maximizing their own positive gains. The argument that Kant gave was that moral actions cannot be persuaded by hypothetical moral systems. Also, the hypothetical moral systems cannot be used to pass moral judgments because there is a great deal of subjective considerations that are involved. Therefore, Kant introduced his own moral system incorporating the categorical imperative.

4.2 Literature Review and Explanation of Kants theory
Author Lisa Keele in her article The Categorical Imperative of Immanuel Kant discusses Kants ethical theory. His theory revolves around Categorical Imperative. The first part of the theory suggests that one should fulfill his duty for the sake of duty itself instead of just acting in agreement with it (Keele, 2008). This means that consequences are not directly related to morality. Even if a good act is harmful for other people, it should be done. Its the intentions that are more important than the consequences.

The categorical imperative is the process through which an individual determines his or her duty. It states Act only on that maxim whereby though canst at the same time will it should become universal law (Keele, 2008), where a maxim is defined as the principle that governs the moral element of the action. This means that when a person is trying to figure out if he should or should not do something, he or she must imagine a world where that action is practiced as universal law. If he or she is able to picture such a world and would want to be a part of it, then it is moral to act on that principle.

Lisa Keele further explains that Kants Categorical Imperative says that one should not treat himself as an exception. Therefore, if you want people around you to do act and behave in a particular way, it is important to come down on the same level and standards first.

5. Hypothesis
Death Penalty is not a deterrent.

6. Argument
Death Penalty is believed to serve as a deterrent for the criminals for indulging into criminal activities. It is human nature to refrain from doing something that has negative effects tied to it. When a criminal sees death penalty at the other end of the crime, he is likely to refrain from doing it. But is that really how it works

There has been no study that has proven that death penalty has been any more effective than other punishments. If the argument to execute the murderer is that removing the murderer from the society will eliminate such criminal activities, then the same can be done through imprisonment for life. As long as the criminal is behind bars, he will not be able to commit crimes in the society. Moreover, if death penalties were to eradicate criminal activities, then the centuries in which this policy was freely practiced in America should have reaped some benefits. However, studies show that America is still one of the leading countries for criminal activities.

If you look at Kants Categorical Imperative from the point of view of the criminal, then it is easy to see why the criminals, even with the most harsh punishment as a consequence, commits the crime. Most of the criminals who commit crimes such as murders are not thinking about the consequences. They are blinded by passion and emotions. These emotions over shadow their cognition and get them to commit the crimes. Moreover, some murderers are mentally impaired. They could actually perceive the act of murder to be as a positive thing which, according to categorical imperative, is not immoral.

 It could even be said, keeping categorical imperative in mind, that some murders are actually beneficial for the society. Consider the case of freedom fighters. The same group of fighters could be labeled as freedom fighters by one nation and terrorists by another. For the nation that considers the fighters as having moral principles, they are national heroes and would definitely not want capital punishment to be imposed on them for the killings that they do. On the other hand, the nation that considers them as terrorists perceives their killings as an immoral act and would consider capital punishment to be implemented for them.

Capital Punishment policy also has the potential to have opposite effects. If a criminal is aware of the consequences of his actions, that might provide him the motivation to kill the witnesses as well.

7. Conclusion and Discussion of Implications
It can be clearly seen that death penalty policy does not have the effects that were expected from it. Even though United States, as well as many other countries, have had the phenomenon implemented in the country for centuries, it still ranks in the countries with one of the highest criminal activities such as rapes, murders, and so on.

The idea, therefore, is not to increase the severity of the punishment, but to carry out a detailed analysis of the crime and find out the real motivation of the criminal behind the act as discussed by Kants categorical imperative. Increasing the severity of the punishment will only cause the criminal to commit more crimes in order to hide the original one. Instead, the judicial process should carefully examine the case and use categorical imperative to punish him or her morally.

The punisher should come on the same level and standards as the criminal. He should picture himself in his situation. If the punisher thinks that being in the criminals position, he would have done the same and, knowing the consequences, would have accept the punishment, only then he should carry out with the punishment. He should not treat himself as an exception and must be on the same level as the criminal.