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Short Assignment #4
I do believe that banning traffic stops will bring positive changes to justice due to the fact that police may stop people on their way to work can it can create frustration for people on their way to work that don’t seem to be a threat to their job or community they drive through, many people go through stop and frisks already and already dealing with it in their car on their way to some place can seem like an issue. Even though it’s a smart thing to stop someone during a traffic stop and search if they have any weapons, it can seem repetitive to stop plenty of cars when they could possibility have nothing, it just shows how much the police want to be sure nothing happens, but for me, I do think banning traffic stops can be a good thing but also a small bad thing if the person plans to commit a crime with something bad in their car.
Short Assignment #1
N.Y. Man Is Accused of 3 Shootings, 2 Fatal, in 24-Hour Crime Spree
Sundance Oliver is charged with murder of 2 innocent people 21 year old Kevon Langston, and 17 year old Keyaira Rattray. He is also being charged with the murder of these two victims and also the attempted murder of a 96 year old bystander. These shootings happened in both Brooklyn and Manhattan for attempted robberies. It was found out that Sundance was already a convicted felon. The day after the shootings he turned himself in.
Taliban Bar Women From College Classes, in a Stark Reversal of Rights
Recently, the Afghan government has rebounded back to their restrictive stance on women’s rights. On Tuesday, women were stricken by a severe uphold in their rights as Afghan citizens by being restricted from attending private and public universities. Since the Taliban regime has taken over the Afghan government there is no sign that they have any intent on giving women their respective freedom. In recent weeks the new government reinstated the “Shariah law” which allows them to carry out public executions to anyone who violates their religious beliefs. With the new government in place, women cannot do anything in their society without being tortured or killed.
Latest on Idaho Killings: Police Looking for Driver of Car Seen Near Crime
Four Students were killed at the University of Idaho. In the house while they were murdered, the other two housemates were sound asleep and were not harmed. Police are nowhere near finding out the truth. They have interviewed many suspects, taken many photographs, and have got over five thousand tips. There are some suspicions about a white car with no license plate that was around the location of the incident on that date. Even if whoever was in that car wouldn’t have been responsible for the murder maybe they knew some information. Another thing that was suspicious was that one of the victims made many calls to a friend that night, and that friend did not pick up. Police have not found anyone who may have had a motive to kill.
In Capitol Attack, Over 900 People Have Been Criminally Charged
Over 900 people have been criminally charged making it the largest criminal investigation in department history and it is still growing as we speak. Most of the cases are petty offenses such as disorderly conduct. 280 people have been accused of assaulting or resisting police and around 100 of them are accused of assaulting cops with a dangerous or deadly weapon or inflicting bodily injuries to officers. 290 people have been charged with obstructing an official proceeding in front of Congress which is what the courts are using to describe how the mob has to disturb the certification of the election. Despite an appeal being made to toss the charges in all cases with the federal courts where the defense lawyer claims improper use.Out of the 40 defendants who have gone to trial, only one of them has managed to be fully acquitted of all charges Extremes still exist such as the longest sentence of 10 years given to a former NYPD officer who swung a metal flagpole at a Washington state officer during the riots.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/us/politics/jan-6-capitol-attack-charges.html
Short Assignment #3
The theory that I would choose to explain Tommy Shakur Ross’s involvement in gangs and crime would be the social disorganization theory. The social disorganization theory is the theory that individuals commit crimes based on their environments and the people that they are surrounded with. This theory goes against the theory that people are born with deviance and choose to commit crimes willingly. A factor of the social disorganization theory would be that there are not enough social interactions between people in these neighborhoods. This can cause them to turn their backs on each other because they won’t know or trust each other. Another factor could be poverty. When neighborhoods are more poor it can cause people to commit crimes like stealing for their necessities. Another factor could also be that if a neighborhood is already full of crime, more people will be influenced to do the same, increasing the amount of criminals. In the case of Tommy Shakur Ross, he did not feel like he belonged in the church where his father wanted him to be. When he joined a gang at 13 is when he finally felt like he belonged somewhere and felt proud of what he was doing. Even though he was involved in illegal activities, the other gang members would be proud of him too, causing him to commit more crime. The people around him were committing crimes so he did too. This shows how the social disorganization theory ties into this cause because Tommy was influenced by his environment and the disorganization in his neighborhood and life.
Assignment #4
I don’t believe bannaning traffic will help us to get a safe ride in NYC like other states because NYC has a lot of cars and too much traffic also at the same time everyday increases the violation. I want to share one of my experiences of having a law that helps us to be more safe everyday in Philadelphia. There is no law if your car doesn’t have a headlight on in front it can cause a serious accident which we never know how big it could be at night. Without a headlight it is not possible for a person to see clearly at night. There are many laws that go against my opinion. If there is no police for checking then there will be more crimes because we never know who will carry a gun inside of their car. People can drive who don’t even have a license and could make other people’s lives dangerous.
Short Assignment 4
I do believe that banning traffic stops in places like Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Seattle,etc will bring positive changes to the justice system and the affected communities. This is because most of the time these traffic stops are because of cops racially profiling so it usually affects people of color. According to The New York Time’s article “Cities Try to Turn the Tide on Police Traffic Stops” it says “Officials pushing the new rules cite data showing that minor stops not only disproportionately snare Black drivers but also do little to combat serious crime or improve public safety, and some escalate into avoidable violence, even killing officers or drivers”. There are other worst crimes going on in these cities, but instead these police officers are stopping these cars for minor things. Usually they are looking for something more like drugs, or a weapon, and most of the time there is nothing found. A lot of the times these people of color end up hurt or killed by the police. The Article says ““There is a trust factor,” Mayor Andy Schor of Lansing said in an interview last month, “that if you get pulled over — whether it’s a moving violation, or pretextual, or whatever — you’re not going to end up dead.”. This shows that people who get pulled over don’t have the certainty that something bad won’t happen to them. I believe that if there starts to be little to no traffic stops, then it can stop some of the endless racial profiling and violence towards these affected communities.
assignment 4
Traffic stops don’t accomplish their task of deterring unsafe driving. I know multiple people who have gotten stopped because of tinted windows, or because of the type of car they were driving in certain neighborhoods. Theres a lot of racial profiling that happens when a traffic stop is made. According to The Guardian US police have killed nearly 600 people in traffic stops. Its safe to say that traffic stops don’t deter unsafe driving. I don’t believe completely banning traffic stops is the answer either I believe they just need better protocol, and when to actually make traffic stops.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/21/us-police-violence-traffic-stop-data
Assignment #3
Sofia D. Avila
11/25/22
After listening to the “Ear hustle: Episode 2: Misguided loyalty” podcast, the theory that would apply to explain Tommy Shakur Ross’s involvement in gangs and crime would be Merton’s Strain theory. This theory explains how societal structures can pressure individuals into committing crimes, Merton proposed a typology of deviant behavior defined by culturally defined goals and the institutionalized means available to achieve these goals. There are 5 categories in total, and 4 remain within a system which are conformity, ritualism, innovation, and retreatism. The 5th category falls outside of the system which is rebellion, this is the category which Shakur falls under. Rebellion in Merton’s Strain theory is when an individual rejects culturally and society-defined goals and actively replaces them with unacceptable ones.
To start, as Shakur was explaining early childhood life, he had both parents growing up and was one of the middle children among 5 siblings. His mother was a nurse and his father was a Baptist minister, so he grew up going to church. His parents wanted him to become a minister to follow in his father’s footsteps, but he wanted to do other things which eventually led him to resent going to church. Here we can see that Shakur is being presented to institutionalize cultural goals placed by his parents to follow his dad’s footsteps in church. As he started to resent the church and misbehave, his father would discipline him which resulted in him to further resent church and authority. One day when Shakur was ordering food from a taco stand, he was approached by three gang members who attacked him and took his food. Shakur felt humiliated and powerless, this encounter was what drew his attention to gangs.
At the young age of 13, Shakur started becoming close with one particular person who was affiliated with a gang called Eight Tray. With more exposure to gang culture, Shakur became more and more interested in joining. Applying Merton’s Strain theory, Shakur was becoming more interested in the societal structure of “togetherness” and culture in gangs. He rejected acceptable cultural and societal defined goals placed by his parents and replaces them with the cultural and societal goals in gangs, which are seen as unacceptable to overall society. Shakur would be exposed to more delinquent activities when he joined Eight Tray such as selling drugs or driving lowriders, this exposure would result in Shakur engaging in school fights, stealing cars, and snatching purses. His established goal in Eight Tray was “ghetto fame” where he wanted to establish his position in Eight Tray by doing the same level of crimes or beyond. He earned his name “Joker” and wanted to represent them by protecting the name of Eight Tray and upholding his reputation as Joker. These were the true societal structure of gangs, the pressure would result in Shakur committing crimes in order to achieve his new goal of representing Eight Tray.
In the year 1992, at the age of 19, Shakur would shoot Standford Bursey who was a part of an enemy gang of Eight Tray. This encounter would forever change Shakur’s life as his mother and younger brother were shot and killed as a form of retaliation for killing Bursey. He would be arrested and convicted for the murder of Standford Bursey only 4 days after hearing the news of his mother and younger brother, he served 31 years in prison.
Merton’s Strain theory properly explains Shakur’s involvement in gangs and crime. In the beginning, Shakur was conflicted with his own personal goals matching up to the goals his parents wanted him to follow. Applying the rebellion category of this theory suggests how an individual will tend to rebel if they undergo stress caused by inconsistency between their culturally defined goals and accessibility to the means required in achieving those personal goals. Shakur did not have the accessibility to establish his own personal goal because his parents wanted him to follow a goal they already established for him. When he would misbehave, his father would discipline him as a means to straighten him out to follow the set path they had for him. This influenced his rebellious behavior as he would reject these culturally and society-defined goals and actively replaces them with unacceptable ones by joining a gang. The true societal structure of Eight Tray would put pressure on Shakur in order to represent and withhold his reputation by committing crimes.
The Ban of Minor Vehicle Stops
The ban of traffic stops can put a stop to officers abusing authority and targeting people of color or of a “certain demographic.” Sandra Bland was pulled over for failing to signal during a lane change and after an argument with the officer, she was arrested. Sandra Bland later died in the cell. Traffic stops unfortunately for people of color is a traumatic experience and can result in death like Jenoah Donald and so many others. I don’t believe that traffic stops are solely for safety of the community. It does more harm than good.
Do you believe banning traffic stops like in Philadephia, Los Angeles, Seattle, etc, will bring positive changes to the justice system and the affected communities? Write your thoughts on this question.
Banning traffic stops in general is a really bad idea. Traffic stops are probably the most important thing in the law enforcement community, some traffic stops help solve murders, sometimes they even discover a dead body, or they can tell when a driver is in need of desperate help. The only positive change that’ll help the justice system is to not abuse the power they have, and in fact listen to the community. Enforcing a traffic stop has to have a good reason like a broken tail light or flat tire. These things can help the community out and not worsen the state for the police department.
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