The United States Justice Department is now reviewing inmate abuse at Attica Correctional Facility, the upstate New York prison the at employed three officers who pleaded guilty in March to state charges stemming from the beating of a 29-year-old inmate, according to the local district attorney and lawyers for the officers. This article reference about what we spoke about in class. This matter is becoming serious due to this system is suppose to correct the inmates not abuse them.
This article was very interesting and spoke about a very important issue in our society today. Many people believe that inmates do not deserve the same care as everyone else because of the crimes they committed. Mr. Meggings was sent to Rikers Island for stealing a cellphone. He has been in and out of mental institutions since he was 6 years old. While at Rikers his condition has gotten worse and he has became the most violent criminal at Rikers due to not receiving the proper medication and treatment for his condition. I believe that all inmates should have be treated for any medical condition they have. Just because they are in prison does not mean they should not receive health care.
Hi guys I was reading those two articles, and I was intrigued by the justice department findings in Ferguson; and now so many officials are resigning their position and the media was wondering why the people in that town was rioting after Michael Brown died.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. described the Justice Departmentâs âsearingâ report on Ferguson, Mo., which found deep distrust between police officers and residents.
Video by AP on Publish Date March 4, 2015. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
WASHINGTON â The Justice Department on Wednesday called on Ferguson, Mo., to overhaul its criminal justice system, declaring that the city had engaged in so many constitutional violations that they could be corrected only through better training, new policies and outside oversight.
The recommendations were contained in a scathing department report that described a city where police officers singled out blacks for petty crimes, even while fixing tickets for their friends. City officials sent racist jokes from their government email addresses while at work without fear of being punished because their colleagues forwarded them to others. Complaints of police abuses, overwhelmingly against African-Americans, were rarely investigated or punished.
The findings will force Ferguson, a working-class city that is about two-thirds black, to either make changes or face a civil rights lawsuit. Justice Department officials said it appeared that city officials were open to making changes that would head off a court battle.
Report: What Is Wrong With the Ferguson Police Department?
In a scathing report released Wednesday, the Justice Department concluded that the Ferguson Police Department had been routinely violating the constitutional rights of its black residents.
âThe findings in Ferguson are very serious, and the list of needed changes is long,â Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a statement Wednesday.
It is rare for the Justice Department to bring the weight of the federal government down on a small city. Normally it targets large police forces. But last summerâs fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, by a white police officer prompted a broader investigation, and federal authorities were shocked by what they uncovered.
For example, the report described how one police officer pulled up behind a 32-year-old black man who was cooling off in his car after a basketball game. Without cause, the officer demanded the manâs identification, ordered him out of his car, patted him down and asked to search the car. âThe man objected, citing his constitutional rights,â the Justice Department wrote. âIn response, the officer arrested the man, reportedly at gunpoint, charging him with eight violations of Fergusonâs municipal code.â
The report found that Ferguson, a city of about 21,000, had abandoned any attempt at establishing relations with the community in favor of a strategy of making money through law enforcement. Fines are a major revenue source for the city, and the local courts were used to extract money. âEverythingâs about the courts,â one Ferguson officer told federal investigators. âThe courtâs enforcement priorities are money.â
The Justice Department called for an entirely new approach, one built upon community policing. That will require new work schedules and a focus on crime prevention and community outreach. Federal authorities said that Ferguson must change the way it stops, searches and arrests people. Over the past two years, blacks accounted for 85 percent of all traffic stops, 90 percent of tickets and 93 percent of arrests. In cases like jaywalking, which often hinge on police discretion, blacks accounted for 95 percent of all arrests.
The Justice Department also called for closer scrutiny when the police use force, for better training of officers and for closer supervision.
One Ferguson resident who has organized protests, Alexis Templeton, said the Justice Departmentâs report confirmed her belief that the city needed to clean house. âI think a lot of people need to lose their jobs,â she said. âWhen you have people sending certain emails and saying certain things, and then they go out and police the community, which happens to be predominantly black, those stereotypes play into the work.â
Ms. Templeton said she thought Fergusonâs police department should be disbanded. Her distrust runs deep. Late last year, when her grandmotherâs home in Ferguson was broken into, Ms. Templeton said she told her not to call the police, because âI donât trust them to do their jobs at all.â
This is a case brought against a Cecily McMillan, 25, she was charged with hitting an officer in Zuccotti Park in Manhattan in 2012.
Ms. McMillan’s lawyer stated, “You touch a police officer and get the hell beat out of you. Thatâs what happened to her. Thatâs enough of a deterrent. Stolar told the judge that the bruises and mental trauma that Ms. McMillan had suffered during her arrest were punishment enough.”
I am not asking about this trial, as to her guilt or innocence. What I am asking about is police brutality. It is not denied that she was beaten badly after hitting the officer, but my question is why must this happen. When arrested it appeared she had seizures, must a person be beaten that badly before being arrested by several officers? As human service professional what thought patterns do we see emerging here? How can we bring about change to police brutality? If they was not officers, and we saw a group of people hitting one individual, what would they be considered? and would this be considered a crime?
“The amount of heroin seized in investigations involving the cityâs special narcotics prosecutor has already surpassed last yearâs totals, and is higher than any year going back to 1991.” There was 288 pounds of heroin seized in the first four months of 2014, up 61 percent compared with 2013.”
We have discussed in class the effects that drugs has on the criminal mind, we have also learned in other human service classes of the effects of drugs on the individual. This article is highly disturbing to me that the demand for this drug is on the rise, and it appears there has been an increase in the availability of this drug. As professionals, what do you think we can do to bring about a change, or awareness to this ongoing and growing issue? Also how do you think this increase in heroin will effect the crime rate, or individuals who are currently in treatment or recovery?
Please read this article, the facts and numbers affect us all.
I am disgusted. The murder chop off the elderly man’s head and left the body outside of the home. Do you think the murder did it in purpose to get attention from us? What is he or she trying to tell us?  According to the news, the head is  missing as well as his wife, 87 years old. Do you think the murder will repeat the same action to the lady? If he is a psycho, he may attempt to repeats the same action because he or she enjoys killing people (?).  I have a feeling that the murder planned out what to do.  I wonder if there is a special meaning to chop off the head than other body parts. Also, What did he or she do with the head? As a human service students, do you think this person can receive treatments for his or her mental illness?
