Death Penalty

Looking at the states in which believe in the death penalty, I noticed that many of of those states have large cities, and have a main population of Americans, Hispanics, and Blacks. I feel that states in which contain large cities should enforce the death penalty because the there is often more crime, and simply act as a consequent for a crime. In 1999, 98 executions occurred in the United States, and since the numbers of executions have dropped. I feel that in the near future the number of executions will continue to decrease because new laws may be imposed stating that the death penalty is against ones constitutional rights. I shocks me that the majority of defendants executed was Whites and yet Whites are typically the victims to a defendant on death row. I feel that a state may impose certain regulations such as the death penalty based on what they have previously experienced as a community, and nationally as well. Each state is different from the other, so each state should be able to impose regulations with in reason. These consequences must be reasonable and fair, based on the crimes the defendant caused. I feel that there should be more than one review to a death penalty case because evidence is not often false, wrongly accusing an innocent man. Multiple trials are needed to prove a defendant guilty, and I feel that some of the trials need to be held in higher courts than a state court; and for at least one of the cases the Supreme Court should examine the case to ensures that the defendant is guilty based on the information provided at the time. 

Death Penalty:Innocent Until Proven Guilty

The post-conviction review, is when the jury and other officials get together and review the case to make a final decision, in which they believe the defendant is either guilty or innocent. This a time where issues are brought up, which are not on record giving the court new information to work with hoping to reduce the sentence, and give other information that might influence the jury to think differently about the case. A individual is innocent until he or she is proven guilty, protecting an individual’s constitutional rights, until the court has made a decision. I do not believe that this system is sufficient to guarantee that only the guilty are convicted because the information at the time in which the court has, might not be completely true, therefore falsely accusing a defendant in court. There have been cases in which the defendant has been proven guilty, when actually they truly innocent. Years later when specific evidence is revealed the court may realize that an individual was actually innocent from the crime in which the court believed that individual committed. Firing Squad is a cruel and unusual punishment, in which the states should not be allowed to execute an individual because it inflicts pain, and is mentally disturbing for the defendant who is guilty, and the riflemen. Even though death penalty itself does not violate ones Eighths Amendment rights, some of the ways in which the court decides to kill a person is inhumane and in my opinion tortures. I feel that if a person is sentenced to the death penalty, they should have the option to decide which way they want to die. The states data tells me a lot about how the death penalty is used, because depending of the severity of the crime; one can be sentenced to death, or simply sentenced to life in prison. Looking at some of the data shocks me because depending on the state in which one lives, can determine how he or she will be prosecuted. It is interesting to see how different states and have different rules in which they obey by, which may lead to harsher sentences depending in which state one lives in. the data shows how depending on where an individual lives, different death sentences come into play, which each states decides is responsible or not. I personally am in favor of the death penalty, but am not in favor in some of the methods, in which some states use because some of the methods are cruel to an individual even if that person is a mass murder, because that person is still human. Taking a life is the most severe punishment one can face, so the court must be one hundred percent certain that the defendant is guilty before they sentence a man to the death penalty.

Clifford Boggess: Death Penalty

Clifford Boggess had an extremely had childhood, having been adopted, and then having his adoptive parents get divorced, and having to move in with his grandparents in a new town. Questioning whether Clifford should be sentenced the death penalty; I feel that the jury should look into Clifford’s past life, and get a better understanding what Clifford experienced. Clifford mother was a drug addict, and was also an alcoholic, while she was pregnant with Clifford. Clifford was most likely suffered from some kind of sickness because of his mothers drug habits , not allowing him to mature and grow up in a healthy environment. Clifford stated, that he decided to kill Frank Collier because he needed money  to fix his car, and didn’t want to have to take his own money out of the bank, in which he was saving to in role back into college. Clifford brutally killed Frank by slitting his throat, and then stomped on his face, throat, and lungs. Clifford planned the murder of Frank Collier, because before he went into the store he went to the park, and super glued his finger tips, so that there would be no trace of finger prints. Clifford should be sentenced to the death penalty because he killed a innocent man, simply to get money in order to fix his car instead of using his own money. Clifford told his girl friend that he liked the feeling of the warm blood while he was killing Frank, which is a clear sign that Clifford in mentally unstable and out of control. Clifford then killed another man, Mr. Hazelwood for money again by shooting him in the back with a 12 gage shotgun, and shot him again in the chest. Once the police arrested him they claimed that he acted as if he did not care, and acted as if he was proud to have killed these innocent people, like a John Dillinger. Clifford clearly cannot control himself, and if he is let loose in society, others may potentially be in harm’s way. Clifford should be sentenced the death penalty, because he killed two innocent people, and has a family background that shows plenty violence. Clifford Uncle was arrested and in jail for killing a police officer, and has other members of his family who are in jail for committing other violent crimes.

Teen-Bullying

In Jamie Nabozny case the rash amount of bullying made him want to take his own life. Jamie decided in seventh grade, that only way to escape the bullying, was to kill himself by taking a number of different pills. After rethinking what he had done, he told his mother, who then rushed him to the hospital and had Jamie’s stomach pumped. Still in High School, Jamie was being bullied because he was gay, and the started to become physical. On day while Jamie was doing his homework he was beaten so badly that he needed to be rushed to the hospital, and have surgery. One of the students stated that he would kill Jamie if, he were to tell who beat him up. In Jamie’s case the court held that the school district did not do enough, or anything at all to stop the bullying. The school district was found guilty, and Jamie was awarded 900,000 dollars from the case, which in reality is not enough for what Jamie had experience on a day to day basis. At Deerfield, there does not seem to be a bullying problem because, our school has enforced many rules that cover harassment, and bullying. Due to the numerous rules and restrictions, I feel students do not bully others because they realize that the consequences are severe for simply saying something inappropriate or beating another student up.  I do not think bullying is a problem a Deerfield High School, but it does occur here in smaller cases. Bullying can occur in many different ways, such as physical abuse, verbal abuse, cyber bullying, and texting, which my make a student feel that he or she cannot escape the abuse no matter where they go. At Deerfield there are some traditions like homecoming week, in which the senior class hazes the underclass men, which to supervisors and deans at the school may seem like bullying, but in reality it is nothing more than some harsh verbal exchanges, and maybe some physical abuse if things get out of hand. Truly these are the only time where Deerfield may consider bullying as a problem, because otherwise I feel that the students have respect for each other, and know their limits in certain situations. For other schools around the country and world that experiences sever cases of bullying, new programs and ideas should be considered in order to stop bullying. In the television show If You Really Knew me, I felt by taking the students out of school and exploiting them to the program, it made the students more aware of the problem, and made the students more aware of what they were doing to one another.

Purple Heart

Matt who is suffering from traumatic brain injury, is having trouble remembering specific events from the past, but is able to remember certain details. Typically when someone has traumatic brain injury, they have trouble remembering specific events, have trouble remembering certain words, have trouble understanding certain gestures, and facial expressions, so the nurse is not allowing Matt to join his troops in combat until she has decided that he is well. In war there are many different types of injuries besides the physical wounds, which may also be permanent depending on how bad the case may be. Matt has experienced sharp pains running to his skull, which causes him to cry out in agony, and yet he does not know what he has, which is driving him insane. New tactics are being developed in the Iraqi war, because searches are being performed allowing, “Their squad to conduct searches of females after the army found out that some of the enemy soldiers were dressing as women to avoid being searched” (Purple Heart 30). In war people will do anything to survive and make it back home to their loved ones. Each individual soldiers’ has their own life, that may not appear on the battle field but shows in their facial expressions and in their heart. These soldiers are fighting for their country so that their family can be safe, and so that their children do not have to face the tragic event in which they have faced. Every soldier out there has different cooping mechanisms to deal with the emotional and physical aspects of war. Some soldiers take pills such as oxy cotton in order to block out the pain. There is a pain that every soldiers has in common which is the longing for their loved ones, which in some cases is the worst pain. When Matt began thinking about how he got to Iraq, and why he was there in the first place, he began thinking about why counties go to war. “It wasn’t about fighting the enemy. It wasn’t about politics or oil or even about terrorists. It was about your buddies; it was about fighting for the guy next to you. And knowing he was fighting for you” (Purple Heart). The soldiers didn’t know why or what they were fighting for, all they knew was that the members in my troop are protecting me so I have to protect them. War is about protecting ones countries interests, and making sure that good is safe. It didn’t matter who the enemy was, or what the enemy was doing, if he or she was threatening American troops he or she would be under fire and wounded or killed for no reason. Innocent people are dying for their country, and yet what do they get in return a badge that reminds one of all the horrible event and actions he or she once experienced.

Students and the Fourth Amendment

I am completely against student drug testing in school, because it completely violates a student’s constitutional rights. Once you enter a school facility you surrounded certain right on order to abide by the school rules, so there aren’t many more rights that a school can legally take from the student body. Random drug is unconstitutional because a school administrator cannot force a student to take a drug test just because he or she looks or acts suspicious. If a student is a member of a sports team for a school, then the student might have to take a drug test, because the school is now responsible for the student and the students’ health. I feel that only students who are evolved in school activities may have to take a drug test, in order to prove to prove that the student is health and obeying the school rules. School administrators cannot force students who don’t participate in school activities to take a drug test because those students are not involved in any activity outside of school. “respondents argue that because children participating in nonathletic extracurricular activities are not subject to regular physicals and communal undress, they have a stronger expectation of privacy than the athletes tested in Vernonia.” If a student is not active in a school activity then the school has no rights to invade that specific student’s privacy. Unless a administrator has suspicion to believe that a student has drugs, weapons, or anything that will seriously harm the student body or the school, the school has no legal rights to search a persons’ personal belongings. I feel that students who participate in activities sponsored by the school will either decide to stop doing drugs and focus on his or her sport, or will decide to drop the sport because they realized that the sport didn’t mean that much to him or her, and it isn’t worth getting drug tested and getting caught by the school for using drugs. It has been proven that schools forcing drug tests on all students in school’s where drugs have been a problem in the past has improved students’ grade, reduced the amount of violence in a school, and has increased the amount of student athletes.  

Purple Heart Chapters 1-4

Matt Duffy an eighteen year old boy who is in the Iraq war, woke up to a throbbing pain in his foot in the Green Zone which was now a medical center. "The famous Green Zone. The walled compounded inside Baghdad where Saddam Hussein had once lived. Now it was occupied by the central Provisional Authority. The brass" (pg11).  It is ironic that a medical center for America is in Saddam Husseins' old house. The doctor said that Matt has TBI, or Traumatic brain injury, which he should recover from over time. The last thing that Matt saw was a young Iraqi boy at the end on an alley way before the blast hit. The blast threw the boy into the air like a rag doll, far above the burning city. Matt awoke again in the medical hospital, to a officer and a lieutenant colonel who awarded him the Purple  Heart, which is a medal that soldiers are awarded for wounds sustained in combat. At first Matt did not want the medal, he just wanted to know what was wrong with him, and what had happened to the Iraqi boy. Many soldiers die for the Purple Heart, and yet Matt did not seem to care about the award. Matt is recovering from a battle wound, which was bigger than himself. Matt was trying to figure out what had happened to his troops, as well as himself because everything was now a blur to him. These battle wounds have shaped Matt into a different person, which will change his perspective on the war as he continues to recover from his injury.