What Is the Legal Rationale for Accepted Legal Defenses Against or Excuses for Criminal Responsibility - Assignment Example

Criminal Justice Answering Questions What is the legal rationale for accepted legal defenses against or excuses for criminal responsibility? In law, a rationale is an explanation of the various fundamental reasons for one’s actions. The legal rationale in place states that every individual suspected of a crime is innocent often unless proven extremely guilty in a court of law. Twinkie defense is often applied to defend the accused individual. In the case study for example, White evidently shot the mayor and the city supervisor, Mr. Moscone. However, when he was taken to the court, all the judges had to listen and put into consideration the side of view of his defense. He brought to the court several psychologists for his defense team, who said that his behavior was because of his depression. In addition, the psychologists pointed out that he failed to have a control of himself because of his craving for junk food. He was said to have consumed a large amount of sugar a night before the killings (Akers, 1999; Paul, 2007). Do you agree with the rationale? No. I do not agree with the rationale at all. This is because some accused individuals are usually guilty. However, once they are taken into the courts with the help of a strong defense team, their cases are often done away with, or their sentences reduced beyond the ones they deserve (Alexander, 2005). Moreover, individuals who are not able to hire a strong defense team may find themselves rotting in jail. Some of these individuals might not be necessarily guilty of those crimes. Therefore, I do not agree with this rationale. Which theory, theories, or crime causation described is this chapter best explain the behavior of intentional speeders? Some of the theories that explain the behavior of intentional speeders are the classical and the neoclassical theories. This is because the individual is speeding at her own will. In other words, she is intentionally speeding. What crime prevention and correctional policies described in this chapter should be used with intentional speeders? The most common prevention policy is establishing some speed management policies (Athanasopulos, 2000). For instance, law should be enforced that all vehicles be installed with speed governors. Therefore, even if the driver in question intends to over speed, then he or she will not be in a position to. In addition, those found over speeding willingly should be highly fined. Moreover, laws should be implemented to make sure that those found over speeding serve a particular jail term without being sentenced (Carrabine, 2009; Walkate, 2005). Criminology theories One of the criminology theories is the Choice theory, which states that an individual chooses to commit a crime by comparing the advantages and the punishment or consequences involved. The second theory is the Classical theory, which states that a person thinks before proceeding with a crime. The third theory is the Conflict theory, which suggests that a crime arises because of conflicts from the different social classes in the society. The fourth theory is the Critical theory, which suggests that few people who are the elite in the society come up with laws and the definition of crime. However, those who are caught in the wrong do not agree with the laws that were created to control them. The fifth theory is the Labeling theory, which stipulates that one will become what he or she is labeled, in addition to what others expect of him. The sixth theory is the Positivist theory, which does not agree with the idea that every individual commits a crime willingly (Yar, 2008). Is Megan law a good law? Yes, I believe this law is incredible. In fact, it should be incorporated in all the states in the globe (Edward, 2008). This is because people will be informed and take necessary precautions if they happen to encounter the ex convict. This is because the law requires the sex offenders to register their details with the law enforcement authorities in New Jersey once they are released from prison. The authorities on the other hand, were to notify the public that the sex offender is out of prison. The public is provided with a photograph, offenders name and the physical information of the offender in question. A list of the crimes that the offender has committed is also included. Is Megan’s law fair to the sex offenders who have already served their prison sentence? No, I believe this is not fair to these individuals. This is because some of them after being convicted, are able to change their character. Some even change for the better. What rights have a sex offender after being released from prison? This individual after being released from prison has rights of a normal human being. This means that they are entitled to the right of keeping their private life secret. Their past life should also be kept private because some of them are changed persons after their lives in prison. What right does a community have to protect itself from known sex offenders who have been released from prison? The community has the right to take precautions incase the sex offender is not yet reformed. They should protect themselves in case the offender decides to attack again. When the rights of an individual and the rights of a community conflict, whose rights should take precedence? Why? In this case, the rights of a community should proceed. This is because the community carries the greatest number of individuals. Therefore, it is better to violate the rights of a single individual than of the whole community (Ellis, 2007). I do not agree with what the police officer did. This is because even if he was off duty, the fact remained that he was still a police officer. A police officer is bound by law to be in control twenty four hours a day. Being off duty only means that the officer is not working on the regular schedule, but that does not mean that he should fail to undertake any duty that arise just because he is off duty. Some of the duties in question include maintaining law and order at any time, controlling traffic, keeping records and many others. Neighborhood residents, neighborhood business owners, and community leaders disagree about the most fundamental problems of the neighborhood and what to do about them. What should you and your fellow officers do? In this case, my fellow officers and I should always support the right side. This means that we should look at the problem at hand critically, and come up with the best possible solution. Then, we should gather all these neighborhood residents, and discuss these matters and come up with unbiased solutions. One should organize and heavily publicize a meeting to discuss neighborhood problems and their solutions. However, only about 10% to 20% of the neighborhood residents attend, and most of them are whites and more affluent homeowners who live in the better parts of the neighborhood. Few minorities or renters attend (Florin, 2006). What should you and your fellow officers do? In this case, we would organize some door-to-door meetings. Thus, we would be in a position to reach the minorities and discuss the solutions with them. Your precinct captain disagrees with neighborhood residents about the most significant problems in the neighborhood. Your precinct captain’s top priority is abandoned cars used for drug dealing. The top priority of neighborhood residents is the overall appearance of the neighborhood. What should you and your fellow officers do? In this case, my fellow officers and I would just deal with the priority of the neighborhood first. Later on, we would then deal with the priority of the captain. Community policing is known to be a philosophy that helps to promote strategies of an organization. This is by combining the efforts of problem solving to address the issue at hand to enable the safety of the public. It is composed of three strategies, including community partnerships, transformation of the organization, and the aspect of problem solving (Ingrama, 1995). What would you do if several officers from each of the sections came to you and said that they believed that job stress was hindering officer performance and endangering the health of several officers in each of the units? One of the actions I would take was to designate some psychologists to talk to these police officers on stress management. I would also ensure that this police bass works within a stress free environment. How would you go about validating their claims of job stress in the work environment? To validate whether their claims of stress in their job was true, I would do the investigation myself. I would join them in all their endeavors in their jobs and experience whatever they were experiencing. If it was determined that stressors such as shift changes that were too frequent poor communication among the various ranks, and a lack of sufficient safety equipment were present, what would be your plan to improve working conditions and reduce job stress? I would ensure that their shifts are not that tight, improve their communication channels, and install various safety equipments throughout the police base. In addition, I would ensure that each police officer was entitled to off duties at least occasionally. Provide a systematic summary of what you would do. First, I would investigate whether the claims were true (Johnson, 1998). Secondly, I would determine all the causes of stress and finally provide measures to evaluate all these stress causers. It will cost the taxpayers of California about $26000 a year to incarcerate the man. Is it worth it? Is it a wise expenditure of tax dollars? No, it is not worth it. In addition, it is not a wise expenditure of the tax dollars. Moreover, the punishment is not proportional to the crime. It is extremely petty for that kind of punishment. This petty theft with a prior conviction is not a legitimate trigger of a three strikes law. Therefore, despite the offender being a bully, three strikes is not the appropriate way to deal with them (Marsh, 2006). How can ex-offenders shed the ex-con status? Should they be allowed to shed it? Why or why not? Yes, they should be allowed to shed this status because most of them are reformed after their encounter in prison. This should regard the offences they had committed. Should prison inmates be eligible for organ transplants? Yes, because they are normal. This does not matter whether they can pay for them or not. On the other hand, the law requires the prison officials to take care of the patients, well before and after the transplant. In addition, there should be no medical limits to medical services provided to inmates (Vitto, 2011). References Akers, R. (1999). Criminology Theories. Melbourne: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Alexander, K. (2005). American Public School Law. Melbourne: Cencage Learning. Athanasopulos, H. (2000). Nuclear Disarmament in International Law. New Jersey: McFarland Publishers. Carrabine, E. (2009). Criminology : A Sociological Introduction. Esex: Taylor & Francis. Edward, A. (2008). The Economics of Regulation. Melbourne: MIT Press. Ellis, W. (2007). Criminology :An Interdisciplinary Approach. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publishers. Florin, K. (2006). Criminalization of Competition Law Enforcement. Melbourne: Edward Elgar Publishers. Ingrama, D. (1995). Reason, History and Politics. New York: SUNY Press. Johnson, P. (1998). Reason In Balance. New York: InterVarsity Press. Marsh, I. (2006). Theories of Crime. New York: Taylor & Francis Publishers. Paul, R. (2007). An Analysis of Statutory Laws. New Jersey: Ayer Publishers. Vitto, G. (2011). Criminology: Theory, Research and Policy. Essex: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Walkate, S. (2005). Criminolgy: The Basics. New York: Taylor & Francis. Yar, M. (2008). Criminology : The Key Concepts. New York: Taylor & Francis. Read More