Criminal Justice USA

Criminology Careers Still on the Rise

Posted by Site Administrator on 03/15/2009 | 0 Comments

Despite what you may have heard (or not have heard spoken) crime is not as down, as many politicians make it appear to be.  As Americans, we have literally “swept it under the rug” and no longer debate the rising criminal problems in our nation, many of which have resulted in prison wars, overcrowded prisons, and have even helped lead to drug violence across the border.  As a result of all of this, it is obvious that there is no shortage of criminology jobs on the market, despite what many political commentators maintain.  One of the most prevalent notices that we have stopped talking about crime is that the national government hardly recognizes it – only local and state governments seem to care about any rising numbers of crime, presumably because they are faced with it on a day-to-day basis.  However, the problem of rising crime remains an issue largely untackled and left to local governments to fix, causing a need for criminologists to understand the methodology and background of crime.

The nation stopped talking about crime as rates when drastically down throughout the 90s, up until 2004.  At this point, urban crime was at one of its lowest levels and the nation thought it had cracked down on crime to a good enough extent.  However, criminals began to venture out into the streets again, especially after the economic downturn, as they had little to lose economically.  National disasters like Hurricane Katrina also spiked an increase in crime rates throughout the South, as more disenfranchised citizens had nothing left to do than to steal for a living.  Major cities throughout the United States are on constant alert for criminal and gang-related activity, even cities that are not the common urban areas we think of when we hear about crimes.  The mayor of an Arkansas town initiated a 10-block 24-hour curfew in one extreme example because he described this section as “under siege by repeated gunfire, drug dealing, loitering, and general mayhem.”  This is in Arkansas, a state many of us presume to be as hunky-dory as the Duggar family on TLC maintains it to be.

If anything, this is a clear example that crime is on the rise in cities that do not make the national spotlight.  Despite the fact that national news networks are on the constant prowl for a newsworthy, sensational story, they have largely shied away from any constant worry of crime.  Major cities have it the worst, as cities like Detroit, Philadelphia, and Houston all experience several murders a week, if not a day.  This has yet to be firmly addressed by our nation as a whole, and until it is, criminologists have their work cut out for them.  Getting to the root of the problem is no easy task, but with decades of background work, criminologists are able to see recurring trends in major cities and can many times determine what has caused the recent spike in crime.  Until the nation takes notice, criminologists will continue working on preventing local crime throughout the inner-workings of the nation. 
 

25 Surprising Things That Google Knows About You

Posted by Site Administrator on 03/10/2009 | 0 Comments

By Courtney Phillips

Google is the go-to provider of many things online-search, email, maps, and more. But have you ever stopped to consider all of the information you’re sharing with Google? Read on, and find out all of the dirt that Google has on you.

1. What you’re searching for: Google is used by millions of people worldwide-and they know what every user is searching for, even if it’s not personally identifiable.
2. The web pages you visit: Google AdSense is used by many web pages for online advertising, and Google’s cookies record your visits to web pages with their ad program on them.
3. The blogs you read: If you use Google Reader, Google knows the blogs you subscribe to. Even if you’re not on Google Reader, Google knows all of the Blogger pages you visit.
4. Your financial information: Users of AdSense and/or Google Checkout share financial information, addresses, and other personal information with Google.
5. The strength and popularity of your website or blog: For users of Google Analytics, Google knows what sites you control, how they are doing, and their trends.
6. Who and what you’re emailing: GMail users, and those who send mail to GMail users share a variety of personal and business information with Google.
7. What’s on your PC: If you’re using Google Desktop, Google knows everything that you keep on your computer.
8. Your research paper, bills, upcoming blog post, etc.: Docs and Spreadsheets are great web-based office tools, but using them means exposing the information in your documents to Google.
9. Your schedule: Google Calendar opens your personal and business schedule up to the prying eyes of Google.
10. Your social network and interests: Google indexes sites like Orkut, Facebook, and Digg, and as such, has access to information about what you’re interested in online.
11. When you’re going to get the flu: Google can track flu related searches to find out where and when the flu happens.
12. Where you and your friends are: Using Google Latitude, cell phone users can share their location with others. Even if you’re not using Latitude, Google Maps for mobile can approximate your location.
13. What you’re watching on YouTube: Google owns YouTube, and knows about all the dirty videos you’ve been watching.
14. What and where you study: Google Books, Scholar, and University Search are tools that can reveal your academic life online.
15. Everything you’re looking at online: Users of the browser Google Chrome allow Google to see all of the web pages they are visiting.
16. Your problems: Asking a question or giving an answer on Google Answers will reveal your problems and personal life to Google.
17. Your medical issues: Do you use Google Health? If so, you’re sharing your entire medical history with Google.
18. Your home address: Use Google Maps, AdSense, or Checkout, and there’s a good chance Google has your home address.
19. Mobile number: On SMS, Google Mobile, and Gmail, you can reveal your mobile number to Google.
20. How your voice sounds: Using Google Talk will share the sound of your voice with Google.
21. What you, your friends and family look like and do: With the photo editor Picasa, you’re revealing your photographs, friends, and moments to Google.
22. Everything you do online: Google Secure Access encrypts your data, so everything you’re doing online for school or work is recordable.
23. What you want to buy and have bought: Product search and Catalog search can reveal what you’re buying and shopping for.
24. What your business is about: Keywords and purchasing patterns on Adwords share information about your business with Google.
25. What’s important to you: If you’ve set up Google Alerts, Google knows all of the things that are most important for you to know about online.

Will Reforms in Forensic Science Lead to Higher Salaries?

Posted by Site Administrator on 03/07/2009 | 0 Comments

Forensic Science has been badly in need of reforms for several years, even decades, as technology has advanced to such a point that we cannot afford to have mistakes that have occurred in past years.  Forensic Science is a complex subject, in that it involves many different realms of criminal justice and is the most important aspect of many criminal proceedings.  Without forensic analysis of hair particles and blood stains, many criminals would not be prosecuted or convicted.  However, the new procedures in forensic science has helped many in the field earn a better salary and will inevitably lead to a better organized criminal justice system.

Forensic Science has come under fire in recent years because of the mounting evidence of many criminals’ presumed innocence.  This has been a monumental development for forensics because it has meant that past law enforcement work has convicted innocent men and possibly even executed some of them.  This is a frightening thought, but has become a reality for our criminal justice system as many men have been pardoned in lieu of recent forensic evidence.  Along with these developments has come the new training recent graduates have received in school, which is vastly different from training of only a few decades ago.  Recent forensics graduates are trained in the most current realms of forensic science and deserve to be paid higher salaries because of this fact. 

Even today it is difficult to get accurate results from forensic tests, as many have an error rate around ten percent.  When you are dealing with someone’s future or even life, this is a huge margin of error, leading many courts to wonder whether Forensic Science is a discipline of the justice system that should be continued.  With many recent cases such as Todd Willingham in Texas (in which he was convicted and executed for the arson of his house and subsequent killing of his two daughters), courts have become increasingly hesitant to base an entire decision on forensic evidence.  We are a nation based on the most basic freedoms, and the error rate of forensics seems to strip this away from a sizeable percentage of our population.

While forensic science may continue to be a discipline that raises skepticism among many people, the technological advances has meant that the analytic methods have become more carefully constructed.  The error margin is down more than it ever has been, and recent graduates should look forward to a high paying salary as a result of these advances.  These reforms are ongoing, but hopefully the next few years will reveal a justice system that can trust the forensic system one hundred percent of the time. 

100 Essential Legal and Privacy Guides for Bloggers

Posted by Site Administrator on 03/05/2009 | 0 Comments

Blogging offers a great way to publish online, but many bloggers don’t quite know what they are getting into when they get started. The legal issues, privacy violations, safety concerns and other problems require lots of thought and often, action. In these guides, you’ll learn all about the legal and privacy issues that concern bloggers.

Legal

Get a lowdown on blog law through these resources.

1. Legal Guide for Bloggers: Read this guide for a comprehensive look at important legal issues for bloggers.
2. Citizen Media Law Project’s Legal Guide: Know your legal rights and responsibilities as an online publisher by following this guide.
3. Guia Legal del Blogger: This resource offers a Chilean legal guide for bloggers.
4. The [Linknotated] Law of the Blogger: Check out this artfully crafted piece to learn about blogger laws.
5. No Safety in Numbers: Read this resource to learn about the liabilities of coblogging relationships.
6. Online Defamation Law: Get an overview to online libel law and how it relates to bloggers.
7. Podcasting Legal Guide: Read this guide to learn about legal issues for podcasters.
8. Virginia Blogger Targeted with Outrageous Subpoena: Learn about the misuse of subpoena power against a Virginia blogger here.
9. 10 Things You Need to Know Before You Blog: Read this guide to get a quick look at important issues bloggers need to know about.
10. Bloggers beware: You’re liable to commit libel: Find out about your responsibilities under defamation law from this resource.
11. Election Law: In this guide, you’ll learn about the legal issues that relate to blogging about political campaigns.
12. Lawsuits Against Bloggers: Read about the legal issues that some bloggers have faced through this guide.
13. 12 Important US Laws Every Blog Needs to Know: This post explains 12 laws that are important to bloggers.
14. Adult Material: Read this FAQ to find out about the legal issues surrounding publishing adult oriented content online.
15. Blogging Can Get You Sued: On this post, you’ll learn about a blogger who got into legal trouble.
16. Blogging Threatened by Impending Legislation: Find out how legislation has attacked blogging from this post.
17. Dutch Legal Guide: Dutch bloggers can benefit from this legal resource.
18. Blog, Interrupted: Find out what can happen when you put your dirty secrets online.

Blogging Rights

Follow these guides to learn about your rights as a blogger.

19. Reporters’ Privilege: Find out how you’re protected when you report news from confidential sources from this guide.
20. Blogging Rights and Obligations: Read Ivan Hoffman’s guide to learn about the important rights dealing with blogging.
21. Freedom of Information Act: This guide covers the Freedom of Information Act that gives you the right to request information that is kept by federal government agencies.
22. Bloggers’ Rights: Get a basic guide to the legal issues you may run into as a blogger here.
23. Blogger rights hazy: This quick snippet offers a look at the problem with blog rights protections.
24. The Bloggers Rights: Read this post to learn about some of the rights bloggers have.
25. Fenwick & West Defends Blogger’s Free Speech Rights to Parody: This post shares the story of a blogger who was targeted for using parody.
26. Section 230 Protections: This guide provides information on Section 230 protections that apply to bloggers.
27. Libel: Blogging Rights and Wrongs: In this guide, you’ll learn about some of the rights and responsibilities of blogging.
28. The Net Democracy Guide: Questions & Answers on Blogging: This guide offers a look at campaign blogging laws.
29. The Blogger Rights: This post follows the story of a young blogger that is being targeted for starting an Orkut community.
30. Just a Reminder About Freedom: Blogging Comes With a Price: Check out this article to learn about the problems bloggers in China face.
31. Media Access: You can find out about getting access to public records, government meetings, and press passes for newsgathering from this guide.
32. Know Your (Blogging) Rights: This post encourages readers to get educated about blogging rights.
33. Blogger Rights: Find out how an Illinois newspaper is trying to protect confidential bloggers, while ignoring the rights of commenters.

Privacy

Find out how to protect your privacy with the help of these guides.

34. Sharing Yourself Online: Privacy While Blogging: This essay will tell you how to be more private while sharing your thoughts online.
35. Writing FAQ: Blogging Privacy: Learn how to make a healthy separation on your blog.
36. Big Brother is Reading Your Blog: Business Week explains how your blog is not as private as you may think.
37. Blogging privacy and liability: This guide asks you to consider your privacy and liability when blogging.
38. How to blog anonymously: Through this guide, you will quickly learn how to blog anonymously to protect your safety.
39. Blogging in the USA: Defamation and Privacy/Anonymity: Learn about cases and privacy issues for bloggers in this guide.
40. Privacy, Blogging, and Conflict of Interest: This post considers memory, technology, and more in private blogging.
41. Bloggers’ Expectations of Privacy and Accountability: An Initial Survey: Find out more about bloggers’ sense of privacy and perceptions of liability from this survey.
42. Blogging & Your Privacy: Read this guide to learn about some of the things you can do to protect your privacy.
43. Privacy FAQ: Find a discussion on the privacy of the people you blog about from this FAQ.
44. Blogging and privacy: are any expectations reasonable ones?: This blogger writes about privacy expectations while blogging.
45. Private Blogs: Read this WordPress guide to learn how to make your blog more private.
46. A technical guide to anonymous blogging-a very early draft: In this guide, you’ll learn about the technical details of anonymous blogging.
47. Blogging Privacy and Safety: This guide encourages parents to be thoughtful about the information you share about your family on your blog.

Safety

Keep yourself safe by following these guides.

48. Tips on Keeping Your Blog from Being Hacked: Read this post to learn how to help prevent keeping your blog from being hacked.
49. Be a Safe Blogger: Read this post to consider who exactly is reading about your daily life.
50. What to Do When Your Blog is Attacked: Find out how to deal with attacks on your blog from this guide.
51. When Blogging Can Get You Locked Up: Learn about bloggers who landed in trouble for their writings here.
52. How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else): The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s guide reminds bloggers of simple precautions to take for your personal privacy.
53. Egypt police beat, detain blogger: This post shares the story of a blogger that was attacked for his writing.
54. Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents: Find out how to stay anonymous and safe while blogging from this handbook.
55. Teens’ Guide to Safe Blogging: This guide encourages teen bloggers to be careful about what they share online.
56. The Committee to Protect Bloggers-Risking Your Life for Your Words: Learn about the risks of blogging through this resource.
57. Blog Stalkers-Personal Safety for Bloggers: Learn about blog stalkers and how to deal with them from this post.
58. A common sense approach to Internet safety: This resource from Google shares information about online safety.
59. Blog Sites, Profile Sites, Diary Sites or Social Networking Sites: This post dicusses some of the parental concerns on blog and diary sites.
60. Childnet Blogsafety: This site offers information about blogging and social networking for parents.

Blogging & Your Life

These resources will show you how blogging can affect your career, education, and more.

61. Blogging Consequences: Get an overview of some of the legal liabilities and unforeseen consequences of blogging here.
62. C|Net’s Guide to Workplace Blogging: Follow this FAQ to learn about the repercussions of workplace blogging.
63. Google blogger: ‘I was terminated’: Check out this post to learn about how one blogger got fired for writing about Google on his blog.
64. Blogging and Privacy: This post offers tips for corporate blogs, and employees who blog.
65. Labor Law: Read about the laws that surround workplace blogging from this guide.
66. Employers, employees should understand blog rights: Get an overview of the rights that employers and employees need to know about when it comes to blogging.
67. I was fired for blogging: Here you can read the story of a woman who was fired for blogging.
68. The beginning of Blog Rights?: Read this post to find out about a Court of Appeals decision that could signal the beginning of blog rights for employees.
69. Employee Blogs Pose Potential Problems for Businesses: Read this post to learn about the harm employee blogs can bring.
70. Asserting Your Workplace Rights: Find out about your rights in the workplace from this guide.
71. Corporate Violation of Employee Blogging Rights: This post explains how some companies have peeped into personal online journals.
72. Fighting for Blogging Rights: Watch this video, and you’ll learn about the push for better workplace blogging rights.
73. FAQ: Blogging on the job: Read this FAQ for a good guide to blogging without losing your job.
74. Friendster fires developer for blog: Check out this post to learn about a Friendster employee who was fired for blogging.
75. Corporate Blogging: Seize the Opportunity, but Control the Risks: Learn about the legal issues involved in blogging for companies.
76. FIRE’s Guide to Free Speech on Campus: School bloggers should follow this guide to free speech.
77. Blogging Rights: Learn about some of the issues surrounding student and faculty bloggers from this guide.
78. Northern Illinois University’s Guide for High School Journalists: Check out this guide to learn about libel, copyright, obscenity, and privacy.
79. Student Bloggers: Find out about some of the legal issues in student blogging from this guide.
80. Dating a Blogger, Reading All About It: The New York Times explores what can happen when the people in your life find your blog.
81. Privacy and Blogging: This blogger shares a strategy for identifying friends on a blog.

Copyright & Intellectual Property

Learn about copyright, intellectual property, and related issues for bloggers from these resources.

82. 10 Big Myths About Copyright Explained: Brad Templeton explains copyright myths in plain words.
83. A Practical Guide to GPL Compliance: Learn about effective compliance with the GNU General Public License from this guide.
84. Do You Know Your Garden Blogging Rights: Copyright Infringement: Read this post to learn about copyright infringement as it relates to your blog.
85. Crash Course in Copyright: Get a quick look into copyright from this course.
86. What Do You Do When Someone Steals Your Content: Here you’ll find an excellent resource for protecting your content.
87. A brief intro to copyright: Learn the essentials of copyright from this introduction.
88. Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States: Check out this guide to learn about the terms for copyright and public domain.
89. Fair Use: Wikipedia offers a guide to fair use here.
90. The Growing Trends in Content Theft: Find out about image theft, feed scraping, and website hijacking here.
91. How to Attribute a Creative Commons Licensed Work: Follow this guide to learn how to give proper attribution to Creative Commons licensed works.
92. Copyright: Read this guide to get an in-depth look at copyright.
93. Stolen Content: A How To Guide: Find out what to do when someone steals your content by following this guide.
94. Intellectual Property: Follow this guide to find out about some of the issues that arise when you use materials created by others on your blog.
95. Copyfraud: Find out what copyfraud is from this guide.
96. What to do when someone steals your original content: This detailed guide will help you stop a content thief.
97. Finding Stolen Content and Copyright Infringements: In this guide, you will learn about how you can protect your content.
98. How to Use a Work with a NonCommercial License: Find out about non commercial use from this guide.
99. Intellectual property: This Wikipedia guide explains the legal concept of intellectual property.
100. Biggest Copyright Infringement in the World But Nobody Cares Enough: This blogger writes about the apathy of copyright enforcement.

The Changing Tide of Criminal Justice Jobs

Posted by Site Administrator on 03/01/2009 | 0 Comments

The Criminal Justice System was implemented hundreds of years ago to protect the innocent from persecution and to ensure criminals were appropriately punished.  Since this point in time, our ideals have become somewhat warped (as many states continue to execute seemingly innocent criminals) and the criminal justice system has become almost a joke, with overcrowded prisons and biased judges presiding over criminal courts.  It takes an idealist to look at the system and maintain that it can be corrected.  However, until this point, we are stuck with questions such as “what age is too young?”

This recent question plaguing criminal courts stems from the rise in youth violence as juveniles have overrun many communities throughout the United States and have since become a major problem for the judicial system.  With crimes rivaling that of the Melendez brothers, judges are hesitant to impose too light a sentence on children, but are equally hesitant to send them to prison where they may be further corrupted into a life of crime.  Arizona recently confronted such a quandary when debated where to send an eight-year old boy who calmly admitted how he shot his father and his father’s roommate to death.  Arizona prosecutors sought to charge the child as an adult, adding to the handful of states that have considered such options, North Carolina prosecuting a child as young as six for murder. 

Franklin Zimring, a professor at the University of California Berkeley School of Law has commented on this type of situation, noting that the murder policy for most states and the nation was not predicated with images of eight-year olds going on shooting sprees.  However, the modern trend in crime has led to younger criminal offenders and younger murderers; children who may not have the knowledge that what they have done is a moral and judicial crime.  While prosecutors maintain that children are aware of the difference between right and wrong, it is a difficult question to answer, especially when it involves a child’s future in the penal system.  Many judicial systems are facing the task of implementing new reforms for their juvenile systems, revamping them to deal with more severe offenses, rather than simple teenage misdemeanors. 

Policymakers continue to struggle with the notion of criminal intent in a child, as states continue to drop the age in which a juvenile can be tried as an adult.  Criminal intent is one of the essential parts of a crime, and the lack to form such intent can be vital to the defense’s case, causing an ongoing debate.  The criminal justice system is an ever-changing entity and jobs in this sector continue to be current and exciting, as so many policy changes continue to be made every day.  Having the ability to witness this change first-hand through a career in criminal justice is a welcome future for any current student of criminal justice.