Assignment #5


Source: http://thefreshscent.com/tag/hawaii/

Statistically there are many disparities among genders in police departments. Some things that might be of interest are:

1. How many females do male police officers let go for speeding as opposed to female police officers?

Male police officers may feel some kind of attraction to female people they pull over and thus give them less of a hard time for speeding whereas most likely a female officer will not harbor such an attraction and evaluate the situation accordingly.

2. What percentage of female officers do field work as opposed to men and how effective is it?

There is a stigma that women cannot do field work as well as men because they are not as physically capable. It would be nice to see if gender even matters in how well field work is accomplished.

3. What is the percentage of male police officers compared to female police officers?

It isn’t good to have a very homogenized pool of police officers. Diversity makes everyone better and more able to understand and interact with other demographics and cultures. If there is a noticeably uneven balance among officers maybe police departments should look into diversifying.

4. What is the percentage of male officers who quit in comparison to the percentage of female officers who quit?

Male police officers have an easier time becoming a part of the police force and women aren’t accepted as quickly or easily. Does this have an effect on the dropout rate of in training police or newly hired police and is there a fix that can be implemented?

5. How quickly do promotions occur for male officers in comparison to female officers?

Are promotions being given fairly in the police workforce and is there bias being shown in who gets promotions without regards to work ethic and accomplishments? In a more fair work environment more officers will be encouraged to do their best and stay a part of the team.

We believe that the officer in the video is The Law Enforcer. The Law Enforcer follows and enforces the laws. He plays it “by the book” and does what he can to make sure the laws are upheld. They work on all types of crimes with no bias. The officer is the video fits this category because he follows all the proper procedures. He pulls the man over for suspected drunk driving and is nice about the situation. After a fight with the suspect the officer was forced to take his life. Once he secured the passenger in the car, he still did his duty and tried to save the suspects life. During the whole confrontation the officer did everything how he was supposed to.

An account of police brutality by Honolulu Police went unreported and the account ended up in a Honolulu newspaper. A local man named Roger Tansley witnessed a number of police officers using excessive force to detain a prisoner.
Outside of a mini mart in Kaneohe two cop cars pulled up into the parking lot. A handcuffed man fell out of the back seat of one car and hit the pavement screaming for help. One police officer slammed him into the back bumper of his car, while the other cop put the prisoner in a chokehold. He also stuck his knee into the back of the convict so hard his eyes were bulging.
After the man was in a chokehold, other patrol cars pulled up. There were now 6 officers present holding the man down while one put leg shackles on the prisoner who was bleeding. Once the man was shackled 5 squad cars left and one drove up to question the witnesses. He did not explain his reasons for the excessive force. He just said the suspect kicked out his back window and was being arrested for kidnapping.
The force used in the assault was deadly force. The man was put in a situation where significant bodily harm occurred. The police officers did not need to use such force for a man who was already in handcuffs. If the man had been trying to escape standard police procedures taught in the academy could have been used to detain the subject further.
Instead of using deadly force to detain a defenseless criminal they could acted civilly and just did their job and take him in. If a criminal is already in handcuffs brutally beating him is not necessary. We believe that by the police officers actions it reduces the severity of the criminal act because now people will be more concerned about how the cops handled the situation, thus, possibly letting go the real criminal that was suppose to and should be punished.


References:

Tansley, Roger. (2002). Police Brutality in Subduing a Prisoner. Police Brutality in Honolulu Goes
Unreported. Retrieved from: http://archives.lists.indymedia.org/imc-hawaii/2002-September/000514.html.

YouTube - Police fights for his life. (n.d.). Retrieved October 3, 2009, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81RIZephDfM

Assignment #3

(Credit to Rutgers School Of Law)

HAWAII LAW

The definition of a felony according to dictionary.com is an offense, as murder or burglary, of graver character than those called misdemeanors. Felonies are subjective and vary accordingly for every state. Some examples of a felony in the state of Hawaii are tethering a dog or confining it to an inhumane place. (Hanabusa, 2009. http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2009/CommReports/SB1222_SD1_SSCR590_.HTM) When convicted with a felony, it will make a persons life very difficult to survive outside of prison. They would have hard times finding jobs, lose certain civil rights and licensing. On the other hand, a misdemeanor is a criminal offense less serious than a felony. Like felonies, misdemeanors vary from state to state. An example of a misdemeanor in Hawaii would be if a person were to be found in possession with a concealed weapon. Any such person concealing a dangerous weapon can be arrested on the spot without a warrant and jailed immediately.
It seems like common law crimes are serious crimes a person has committed or intends to commit. On the other hand, felonies and misdemeanors seem to considered more like minor crimes that have been committed or the person may or may not have intended to commit a crime.

In Hawaii, when a person pleads insanity, the courts use the American Law Institute standard to determine if the insanity plea is liable. It is also known as the Substantial Capacity Test (ALI). The ALI was designed to soften the M’naghten rule, which states if at the time of the criminal act, the perpetrator was suffering from a disease of the mind that they did not know the nature of the act, or didn’t know what they were doing was wrong. The Substantial Capacity Test states insanity should be defined as an impairment to control one’s behavior. This test is a combination of the M’naghten rule and the irresistible pulse which says a person is insane if they did know their actions were illegal, but had a disorder where they couldn’t control their actions. The main difference is the Substantial Capacity Test allows for more medical evidence to be present.
If an offender in Hawaii meets the requirements for the ALI, they are acquitted for a physical or mental disorder. This would mean they are formally innocent in the terms of the courts. However, the perpetrator will most likely go through treatment at the discretion of the courts ruling. Treatments are not required all the time, but it is up to the Hawaii justice system to determine if the offender needs hospitalization or not.

PBS Frontline. (1995-2005).State Insanity Defense Laws. Retrieved September20, 2009, from Frontline: Official website Website:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/crime/trial/states.html

Siegel, L. (2008). Introduction to Criminal Justice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

In 2007 IC3 received at total of 810 complaints from the state of Hawaii. Auction fraud and Non-delivery of merchandise/payment made up 69% of the complaints. The others were made up of: Confidence fraud, Check fraud, Credit Card fraud, Computer fraud, Financial Institutions fraud, Identity theft, and Nigerian Letter fraud. The amount of money loss was between $100-$4999.99, although the highest amount taken was $75,000 involving confidence fraud. The total losses reported exceeded $1 million dollars. Out of the top 9 categories 5 of them who reported the loss, lost 100% of it. 3 out of the remaining 4 lost over 93% and the least being 31% lost. The total median dollar loss for all complaints reporting a dollar loss was $750.00. In Hawaii, 78.2% of the perpetrators were male and only 21.8% were female. The complaints consisted of 58.6% reported by males and 41.4% reported by females, but the ages varied a lot. Most of the complaints were reported by people between the ages of 20 and 59. This group made up 90.4% of the complaints. The rest being from either under 20 or over 60 years of age. Even though 7% of the complaints were from people over the age of 60, the average loss from the age group was the highest at $1350. Hawaii as a whole only makes up of .5% of the total complaints in the U.S.

Internet Crime Complain Center. (2007). Hawaii’s IC3 2007 Internet Crime Report. Retrieved September 19, 2009, from IC3Web site:

http://www.ic3.gov/media/annualreport/2007/Hawaii%202007%20Report.pdf