The Death Penalty

Sorry if it sounded like I was disbelieving you. I am sure that you weren't make the number up. I just find that number hard to believe due to all the anaedoctal instances you hear of.

I was under the impression that required counseling was provided by the state and the now freed prisoner was not paying for the services. Does that vary by state? I know my sister's stepson was required to attend sessions when they released him and he didn't pay for them in NC. Of course, he is getting the counseling sessions right now because he is back in jail.

As far as parole violations, isn't that largely up to the parole officer? Once again, Chris is the only one I know that can really talk about. But he repeatedly broke parole and didn't get sent back to jail for it. He went back to jail this last time for stealing to get his fix.
 
In my county, the parolees have to pay for a lot. Not only do they have to pay for various conseling services, but they are also charged something along the lines of $35/month to be supervised. My county is also far too strict on violations. It's not uncommon for people to get tossed in jail for missing appointments and whatnot and sit for 2 to 3 months while waiting for their violation hearing. In the meantime, the lose jobs, lose spots in services, etc, because you don't get bail on violations. You sit in jail and wait for a court date.
 
GC, you and I are the opposite sides or LE/Judiciary spectrum. I used to (make sure it is past tense ) arrest them and I keep them locked up pending trial. So I was 'within' the system as well as a 'supplier' of material for attorneys (Prosecutors as well as Defense). I will give you that SOME can be rehabilitated. Most of the inmates or people I have arrested will tell you that crime is a "game". Sometimes they win, some times they lose. Some of my own "air tight" case were thrown out, some real shaky ones resulted in guilty verdicts. Some inmates will play the system and vie for treatment and pre-trial sentencing and half way houses. But once they are released back into society on parole, probation, or just plain free, we have NOT changed their view of how they are to survive. Some can be medicated, some can learn a skill or trade or get and education. Some can be given rehab, but they usually wind up right back in the "old neighborhood" with the old friends and living conditions and a mindset that has not been changed! I agree that IF a person is working, paying his fines, doing his aftercare, etc. that maybe you should not lock him up but extend his probation or parole. I know that the system has problems it has had for decades but until we can find a way to actually change peoples way of thinking we shall continue to rearrest, retry, and reconvict offenders. I truly respect your profession but we see it differently. Hence our wonderful debates!
 
As a matter of fact, I have that incident on a video clip I use to train new Sharpshooters as an example of what not to do. The sniper engaged from a distance of less than 50 meters with a weapon and ammunition that has a maximum range of well over 3000 meters. He shot a hardened metal object with a bullet that has the energy to travel over 3 kilometers. When the bullet richochets off the handgun, the sniper has no way of being able to predict where that round will go, which means anyone within a 3000 meter arc of that guy was put at risk unneccessarily. If I had been that sniper's boss, I'd have reprimanded him and taken him off the tactical team for putting the public in jeapordy. Would that sniper have been a media hero if the richochet had crashed thru a window and killed a sleeping child 3 blocks away?

Knowing what is behind your target and taking into account what might happen if you miss and your bullet goes skipping down the street is part of every officer's training. All decisions to fire are supposed to take those into account. It's one thing when a patrol officer in the heat of a deadly force encounter shoots and a richochet skips down the street; it's another matter entirely when a professional sniper, in the cold detachment of distance thru his scope fails to take into account where his bullet might come to rest. I won't tolerate that kind of cowboy amatuerism from any of my troops.

Your ranting about 'shoot in the leg', 'shoot to wound', shows that you know nothing about survival stress, the sympathetic nervous system, or the body's physiological response to a life or death situation. Under that kind of stress, the fine motor skills you suggest should be the rule, are all but impossible. This is why it's understandable for the patrol officer confronted with a gun wielding assailant to fail to consider where his richochet might go, while it is completely unacceptable for the sniper. The sniper is not under the effects of survival stress and therefore he has coofftopicnd of his fine motor skills. Arms and legs are significantly smaller targets for the patrol officer to hit which greatly increases the chance of having bullets skip down the street. Add to that the effects of sympathetic nervous system activation and you create a situation where the officer is set up for failure. What you advocate puts officers and the public at much greater risk of death or serious bodily harm.

Let me explain survival stress to you this way: putting a key in a lock is a fine motor skill. If I handed you the keys to my car, you'd have no trouble putting the key in and turning the lock even though my car is unfamiliar to you. If I do the same thing, but tell you you have three seconds to unlock the car before I release this rabid pit bull, go!, I guarantee you you'll never get that key in the lock. Your bodies response to the threat of the dog will render you incapable of performing that fine motor skill. You'll probably also get tunnel vision, and probably won't hear me laughing at you while the dog rips you apart.

Have you ever just narrowly avoided a car accident? Are you familiar with the nauseua that sweeps over you and the uncontrollable shaking of you hands for the couple minutes right after the near miss? Multiply those symptoms by 100 fold and you have the effects of survival stress on an officer during a deadly force encounter. And you want that guy to aim for the leg, a target that is 6-8 inches in diameter under those conditions?
 
Bump ^ DC! Although I use to use that as a training film on how to end standoffs without loss of life or casualties. I can see your point about the "sniper's shot and the mechnics there of" bullet, ammo type, range, etc. All officers are trained to consider the environment, the sight picture, and where your shot might end up. It all boils down to training, training, and more training. Heck, with paint balls, I can even simulate being shot at! With impact.
 
If I were still training I would! In fact, I have some friends that are professional paintball players that I used for CQB training for patrol officers. What fun to watch!
 
http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/top100.html

http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/newsprint.cgi?file=/news2005/0620-24.htm

White collar crime refers to crime committed by people in the course of their jobs. These crimes range in size from the small business to the huge bureaucracy and are often difficult to uncover. Often the victims of white collar crime do not even know that they have been victimized; therefore they do not call the police about it.

Yet white collar crime costs the public far more than any other type of offense, amounting to more than all other crimes put together. The size of the payoff in white collar crime is between 20 to 30 times higher than from street crime.

For example, the average robbery in 1993 netted $815 and the average theft netted $504. Compare this with the collapse of the savings and loan industry, which cost the taxpayer over $130 billion (of which roughly half or more was due to outright fraud).

Most people do not think of white collar crime as violent crime, but it can be. White collar criminals seldom set out to physically harm people, but their actions often do just that. For example, when tobacco companies lie about their studies on the effects of tobacco on cancer, they contribute to a high death rate from cigarette smoking. Similarly, the annual death toll from unsafe products, worker safety violations, illegal dumping of wastes, and other corporate crimes far surpasses the annual murder rate in this society.

White collar criminals threaten more than our lives - they threaten our way of life. Some unscrupulous American corporate executives have actually paid to have certain reformist leaders executed or eliminated from the political system because these leaders threaten the hegemony of their businesses. During the 1950s and 60s, this was a fairly common practice in central and South America. A case in point is Guatemala during the 1950s, when a giant American fruit processing company secured the cooperation of the CIA in destabilizing a freely elected leader who promised land reform to the peasants. Back then, this was business as usual. Similarly, the links between the mafia and big business are fairly well established. Finally, it is not beyond certain unscrupulous executives to cheat, bribe, or do whatever it takes - included bugging people - to secure higher profits.

As destructive as white collar criminals are to the social fabric of society, these criminals are more likely to get off either scott-free or with minimal punishment if they are caught. Numerous studies reveal that white collar criminals are less likely to (1) get caught; (2) if caught, get convicted (3) if convicted, get jail time. Moreover, if it involves Big Business the result is even more leniency still. Money talks, and the more powerful the corporation which engages in white collar crime, the more lenient the punishment tends to be if they are even bothered with arrest.

This is mainly because in our society, social status is closely linked to wealth. If a criminal is wealthy, they are stereotyped as a respected citizen, therefore juries and judges tend to go light on them. Furthermore, in the United States, money talks. When large corporations are charged with crimes - which is practically never - it is usually the case that the corporation has more resources, more lawyers, etc, than the government does. Consequently, to try a large corporation for a crime is extremely costly - as Janet Reno learned as the Justice Dept went after Microsoft on anti-trust violations.

On the other hand, street criminals tend to be associated with poverty, and, because the poor are stigmatized, when they are caught for their crimes they are much more likely to get jail sentences: long ones, too.

Our criminal justice system is clearly biased in favor of the wealthy at the expense of the poor. For example, only the wealthy and upper middle class can afford their attorney expenses. This is an example of the class bias which is built into our criminal justice system. (More on this double standard later).

The Enron scandal appears to be the tip of an iceberg of questionable corporate practices. These questionable policies are partly related to the prevailing economic policies of American Presidents since Eisenhower and particularly since the era of Ronald Reagan. President Reagan’s conservative economic policies gave the private sector a lot of room to move around - free from government regulation (especially anti-trust enforcement) under the banner of a “free” market. One should note what has become of the former Soviet Union’s economy under so-called “free market” (unregulated) capitalism. Rampant oligopoly and the capitalistic corruption of public officials characterizes the present Russia today. But is this just a Russian phenomenon? Modern Russia, and to a lesser extent America, resemble what was happening in the late 19th century American economy. Today, as in the late 19th century, oligopolies thrive in the United States - at the expense of Adam Smith (small business emphasis) capitalism. Many large corporations have established a de facto policy of setting unreasonable stockholder growth/profit expectations and some, aware that the government was not interested in policing activities, “cook the books.” Some media surveys suggest that roughly one-third of corporate accountants have been pressured to “stretch the truth” by executives and institutional corporate policies.

What is particularly worrisome is that the executives who made these unethical decisions did so at the expense of the rank and file worker. Oligopolies and “downsizing” go hand in hand. The wild economy of the 1990s gave the illusion (encouraged by a biased corporate news media) that everyone was benefiting from the relatively unrestricted economy. But roughly 80% of Americans saw no growth in their real wages during this so-called “good” period. This, coupled with a huge rise in specific living expenses, especially housing and medical expenses.

It is unlikely that many executives who are responsible for the recent damage of their corporations will actually go to jail. Indeed, present laws protect executives from many of their economic decisions. While a corporation can be brought down for misleading stockholders and consumers, the executives who profit from the corporation’s activities are generally allowed by law to keep their personal fortunes. Executives’ personal fortunes are protected by the laws of incorporation. Enron’s Kenneth Lay (a big donor and friend of President Bush) will likely remain wealthy, even though he oversaw his corporation during its scandalous behavior. It is noteworthy that even in the wake of these scandals the corporate media and most politicians continue to ignore the root of the problem: lack of meaningful strict enforcement of anti-trust and other economic laws coupled with political corruption in which politicians are indebted to corporations and their powerful lobbies in order to obtain the wealth necessary today to run for office.

Source: http://www.zaxistv.com/sociology/social%20problems/crime.htm

Did you know that Haliburton has created an offshore office and resubmitted as an international corporation to get out of paying U.S. taxes. As long as they have a mailbox in another country they can. Not very "patriotic" if you ask me.

A debt-consolidation company called Primerica targets the elderly and non-educated factory workers with their consolidation plan. I was invited to their business meeting. They refinance the person's debt for about 20,000.00 more dollars than they originally owed and stretch the payments out for x number more years. The client pays the same bill he always has but since the monthly rate is now a bit cheaper Primerica dumps the amount the client "saves" into the top 100 U.S. mutual fund. They wanted me to work for them and pay for all of my own licensing and work for 100% commission. My first task was to return with 100 names, addresses and telephone numbers of my closest friends and relatives they could harass. They make the deal and cut the money they screwed the person out of between each other.

I'm dealing with a multimillionare pizza-chain owner right now that decided to get into commercial real estate. I laid a deposit on an office space and signed a lease for a new martial arts studio. He broke the contract by not meeting my specifications, deadline and cheated me out of about 50 square feet because the financial institution next door wanted a wider hallway. We have already ended the contract and he is giving me problems with returning my 1,200.00 deposit now.
 
Sifu, you have a guy reporting stuff that is bs. Paying a civil fine for an EPA violation or agreeing to a lawsuit because the amount was too small to worry about is hardly the world's worst thing. Saying that because there are on the job deaths makes the employer guilty is bs.

The guy is posting the same list on his website, distributing it to alternative media of a very leftist nature, and posting it on newsgroups. Yet, he charges $750 to get his newsletter with the same info. Me thinks the guy has a problem with reality.



So we finally get to the issue. I assume you were wise enough to have a lawyer? If he broke the terms of the contract, sue him. Somehow, I gather that he didn't really break the contract but that you thought the agreement was one thing and it turned out that it was something else. You will learn that often happens to the best of us and only experience or very good lawyers prevent it. They didn't get their wealth by being stupid or by losing lawsuits for breaking contracts nor by being known for cheating their customers. If it is a disagreement, then handle it appropriately. If they really cheated you, take it to court.

Btw, was it Monahagn or Ilitch? I imagine that you would have a lot of problems with Monahagn on a philisophical point of view issue.
 
Nope neither of those two..

I don't have a lawyer for this. I was introduced to him by a friend of the family and he seemed trustworthy. I asked around about him and people said he was a great family guy.

What do you think about some of the underhanded things Wal-mart has tried?

I'm not against big business or capitalism, we were taught the info about white collar crime vs. street crime in soc class. I'm trying to get some things going for myself business-wise. The bad part I don't like is that corporate crime isn't caught very often and when it is they are casually dismissed. Also that a corporation can get away with so much more than an individual.
 
You should get a lawyer. Chances are you both think the other messed up the deal. Getting a lawyer on both sides allows you to both walk out winning by taking the personal out of the situation.

Which underhanded things that Wal-Mart has tried? Personally, I can't stand Wal-Mart because they have terrible service. However, a lot of the complaints that I have heard about them have been pretty much bogus. An employer doesn't have to provide insurance, or benefits, or pay the best, or a lot of other things. However, they have a long line up of people applying for every job they post.

If you think that employers are corrupt, how about unions? Didn't the claim to fame for the Teamsters used to be that they had never had a president that had not been indicted for a federal crime? Hoffa's ties to organized crime ring any bells?

The thing that you have to remember is to look at people's bias. It is generally accepted that the vast majority of people in this country who are in education, whether college or public school systems, are of a liberal bent. Most are Democrats. Likewise, most unions are of a liberal bent. When you took your Soc. class, would describe the instructor as liberal or conservative? Pro business or pro labor? You can be assured that their views are making it into their class and what "facts" they feel relevant to provide and teach you.
 
hehe, he was a hippy that wore a fanny pack.


Apparently Wal-Mart tried getting life insurance on their older employees, when they croaked they tried to collect the money and got nailed.

I don't think I could get a lawyer that would be worth it for me to get 1,200.00 bucks back, right?
 
"As you train, so shall you fight". If I can make things as close to a 'real' situation, I feel I owe it to the officers to provide them the most intense training I can. If nothing else, it allows them to confront fear. They can work through it, analyze, and learn how to avoid or deescalate situations before they go bad. If I have saved one life then my training has been worth it.
 
Absolutly, 100% against the death penalty. No exceptions. Killing someone who kills someone to show someone that killing is wrong just plain makes no sense.And it is definatly NOT a deterant to crime. If it was, why are our death rows full? And, Vengeance is God's, not mans. But this is not the place for religious dabtes.
 
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