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“law,crime and punishment in the US”
Matthias Herzog
Law, crime and punishment in the U.S.
State Law and Federal Law:
Law and order is becoming an increasingly big issue in the United States, and politicans are being perusaded by anxious voters to put it at the top of the political agenda, alongside docial welfare, jobs and the economy. Dispite a drop percentage of most crimes, violent and gun-related crimes seems to be rising. It´s all very well, say some, talking of peace in the Middle-East, but what about the Middle West? Americans are keen that their house, too, should be put in order.
Ferderal Law:
In the USA, there are two main types of law: ferderal law and state law.
Ferderal laws apply to all citizens living within the the national territory and are made by the national government in Washington, D.C.. Ferderal government controls laws concerned with ferderal or national interests. The Federal Bureau of Investigations(FBI) is responsible for conducting investigation into infrigements of these laws.
State Law:
The vast majority of laws relating to the ordinary citizens (e.
g. laws concering divorce, speed limits,alcohol consumption, gambling and education) are made by individual states. There are many variations in state laws, and this may sometimes appear contradictory: the death penalty is applicable in 36 of the 50 states, so it can be very important where you decide to murder someone. Similary, speed limits and acohol age limits will vary from state to state.
Ferderal law has to be put in gerneral terms. The separate states decide local and state laws for themselves.
Because of the existence of the state laws together with feral laws, in the US each state has its own legal system. In some states, for example, the death penalty has been abolished, in others muderers can be executed.
The courts:
There are two parallel types of court in the Amercican system: State courts and ferderal courts.
State courts:
The lowest courts deal with minor criminal offences, matters such as traffic violations and legal quarrels in which other states are not involved. They are presided over by Justices of Peace in rual communities, and by Magistrates in urban communities. Both have no legal training, and the trials don’t involve a jury.
Appeals from these courts are sent to municipal courts. The cases are tried to trained local professional judges whoses powers are consideralble. In less important case there is a summary trial, in others there is a jury. A jury doesn’t have to reach a unanimous verdict-if no more than two of the jurors disagree with the others, the verdict goes according to the majority. If fewer than ten of the twelve jurors can come to an agreement, there must be arterial under a different judge in a different court, and usually in a different city.
A grand jury of 16 to 23 unqualified and anonymous layman may be called in by state or ferderal court when required.
Its purpose is to make proceedings possible against groups of people suspected of major crimes. The grand jury system in America is because district attorneys or private prosecutors are liable to be murdered.
Appeals from municipal courts are submitted to state circuit courts. These deal with important criminals cases and complicated civil cases. Presiding is a circuit judge, who travels from city to city within the particular state and trial is by jury. Appeals from lower courts within the state will also be heard by state circuit judges.
If there is an appeal from the state cicuit court the case goes to the state supreme sourt. Even here a citizen who believes he has been wronged has a further course. He can appeal to the highest court in the land: the United States Supreme Court, which is the final judicary.
Ferderal courts:
Are running parallel to the state court system and they are only involved in matters outside the jurisdiction of the individual states, such as difficulties of law arising between states, ferderal income tax, the FBI, etc. .
Ferderal district courts are the lowest ferderal courts, which have jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases where two states have concern with the matter, and which can’t be settled with either of the states alone.
Matters that can’t be settled here are sent for judgement to ferderal circuit courts of appeal, which have jurisdiction over any case presenting of state or ferderal law. If the circuit judges find themselves unable to agree on or feel that the case is too important the matter has to be decided by higher court. The ferderal circuit court of appeal may decide to pass it to the United States Supreme Court.
The United States Supreme Court:
This is the highest court in the US and has an essential role in Constitution.
The court can refuse to accept a case on the grounds that it is below their jurisdiction. Only 5% are judged to be cases on which the Supreme Court needs to deliberate.
They are nine Justices: the Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. Each has the right to the services of four law clerks to examine the case submitted for consderation. Six justices make up a quorum for ruling on a case and at least four must agree.
Crimes:
Urban crime rates vary greatly from city to city in the US.
Drugs and Substances:
An horrible fact is that the authorities have spent more than $100 billion on the drug war since 1981, drugs, substances and drug-relatedd crimes remain a familiar feature of everyday ife in America. About 50% of Americans aged 26 and over were estimated to be alcohol drinkers, 3.
9% smoked marijuana and cocaine was consumed by about 1%(i.e. about 2,5 million people) of the population. Drugs remain remain readily available: worldwide gluts and the porous of America’s borders have meant that heroin and cocaine continue to flood the market. Prices have dropped and consumption is on the up and up. It is estimated that al least 60% of violent crime is who are drug-related: addicts commit 15 times as many robberies and 20 times as many burglaries as criminals not on drugs.
Violent crime in the US:
Violent crime has become a serious issue in contemporary American society and it seems that the reason for this is the fact that guns can still be easily purchased in any city, town or village. Difficult on this topic is that the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights reads as follows: “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, theright of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be fringed.” And this privilege remains still today. Only 40% of the population is in favour of a total ba on hand guns although the FBI’s crime reports show that handguns are used in more than 10.000 murders, 170.000 heavy assaults, and 180.
000 robberies every year. There are two main reasons fot this opinion about a ban: firstly, it would represent a violation of the Constitution. Secondly many people still feel that a gun servers a personal deterrent against potential criminals.
Capital punishment in the US:
This issue is very controversial around the world because on the one hand people say nobody is allowed to claim the right to determine whether another person should die or not. On the other hand some people think murderers and violent rapists should be sentenced to death when it’s obviously the case the inmate has commited the crime. So there are many opposing and also supporting views.
Many of the 39 death penalty jurisdictions in the US employ alternative executions methods, giving the condemned men and women in their state several options to choose from. In the United States of America there exist five different manners of execution: electrocution, the gas chamber, lethal injection, hanging, and the firing squad;
Electrocution:
In a typical execution using the electric chair, the prisoner is strapped to a specially built chair. The head and body are shaved to provide better contact with the electrodes that the executioners attaches. Usually three or more people push buttons, but only one is connected to the actual electrical source. That’s why the real executioner is unknown.
In three steps they apply 2,000 volts for the first four seconds, then 1,000 volts for the next seven seconds and finally the last step 208 volts for two minutes.
Electrocution produces visibly destructive effects on the body, as the internal organs are burned. The convict usually leaps forward against the restraints when the switch is thrown. The body changes color, swells, and may even catch fire. The prisoner may also defecate, urinate, and vomit blood.
Today the electric chair is used in 11 states. So far, 144 people have died by this method.
Gas Chamber:
The use of a gas chamber for execution was inspired by the use of poisonous gas in World War I.
In an execution using lethal gas, the prisoner is restrained and locked in an airtight chamber. When given the signal the executioner opens a valve so that poisonous gas can flow into the chamber.
It destroys the body’s ability to process blood hemoglobin. Unconsciousness can be the result within a few seconds if the prisoner takes a deep breath. However, if he or she holds their breath death can take much longer and the convict goes into wild convulsions.
Death usually occurs within six to 18 minutes.
After the pronouncement of death the chamber has to be evacuated. Crews wearing gas masks decontamine the body before being released. If this process wasn’t done, the undertaker or anyone handling the body would be killed.
The gas chamber is legal in five states and used as an alternative to lethal injection. Eleven people have been executed by lethal gas in the US since 1976.
Lethal Injection:
This is the most common used means of execution in the USA. It is employed in 34 states.
Death by lethal injection involves the continuous intravenous injection of a lethal quantity of three different drugs which are administered one after another in both arms of the prisoner. The first injection causes unconsciousness. The second drug stops respiration and leads to paralysis. And finally the last chemical agent which is injected stops the heart.
During the execution the convict is secured on a gurney and covered with a sheet.
Some think that lethal injection is the most humane form of execution but actually it’s proved that the injections can be difficult to administer because most prisoners have scarred veins due to drug use or diabetes so that the veins are often hard to reach and it might be necessary to find a deeper one and this procedure is very painful.
Up to now, 406 inmates have died by lethal injection in the United States.
Hanging:
It is one of the oldest methods of execution. However, Delaware, New Hampshire and Washington authorize hanging as a form of capital punishment. Depending on the convict’s sentencing date he or she may be allowed to choose between hanging and lethal injection.
Prior to the execution the prisoner must be weighed in order to calculate the length of the rope. The noose is then placed around the inmate’s neck behind his or her left ear which will cause to snap the neck. The trap door then opens and the convict drops.
If properly done, death is caused by dislocation of the vertebraes, or by asphyxiation. If careful calculation is not done, strangulation, obstructed blood flow, or beheading could result.
Since 1976, three people have been hanged in the USA.
Firing Squad:
There is no exact procedure when it comes to execution by firing squad. In most cases, a team of five takes aim at the convict’s trunk and some of the shooters fire blank bullets so that the true killer is not known.
Firing Squad is employed in only three states: Oklahoma, Idaho and Utah.
So far two people have been killed by this method.
Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, more than 650 people have been executed in the United States, most in Texas. At the moment, approximately 3530 inmates are waiting for their execution, nearly the half are whites.
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