Racial profiling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Racial profiling - Essay Example pend on philosophical and religious determinations of whether ends justify means in situations such as aviation terrorism, and whether certain means, such as racial profiling, can never be justified by ends† (Bloom 1). If racial profiling will continue giving accurate predictions about developing aviation terrorism, then the issue of stereotyping, by definition, does not occur. In other countries like Canada, racial profiling is not explicitly endorsed in the anti-terrorism legislation. However, this does not indicate that racial profiling does not happen in Canada. The Canadian law does not target individuals openly based on their race but it tends to keep out groups seeking equality through its application. There are a few indicators suggesting that Canadian Muslims and Arabs are subjected to racial profiling. For instance, several high profile cases indicate that racial profiling takes place in Canada in its fight against terrorism (Bahdi 297). In Canada, racial profiling is not giving any comfort or solutions to problems of security. It is only heightening the sense of vulnerability and disempowerment of racialized groups in Canada (Bahdi

Death Penalty Essay Example for Free

Death Penalty Essay Capital punishment or also known as death penalty is the killing of an individual by a state which serves as punishment for committing unlawful actions and retribution on behalf of the victims. Several countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, Japan and the United States have retained this process of executing criminal. Different views regarding this issue have arisen but most people especially those governed by religious sectors have went up against the idea of death penalty. Death penalty has already gained its popularity worldwide. In fact, it was often the theme in any debate or even the usual conversation, thus lead to the emergence of several arguments which are in favor and against death penalty.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Implementation of death penalty has several advantages. Death penalty provides closure to the victim’s families. It was very hard for family members of the victim to forget the traumatic experience and recover form the loss of a loved one. In fact there are cases that the relatives of the victim do not recover at all. This sort of closure is a great help for the recovery of the relatives. Life in prison is not enough punishment compare to death sentence which gives finality to the horrifying experience felt by the members of the family.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In death penalty, justice is better served. The primary principle of justice is that a crime deserves an equivalent punishment. Hence, when someone brutally murders another person, he deserves to be put into death. Just like what the code of Hammurabi have stated, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Implementation of death penalty prevents the crime from happening again. If criminals are not put into death, we are not assured that this kind of person would not do such crimes again. On the other hand, death penalty can execute all criminals but there are cases that implementation of death penalty may include execution of an innocent man. Do you mind an innocent individual will suffer from death? Implementation of death penalty is a good way of obtaining â€Å"justice† but can we call it justice—killing an innocent. Another argument against death penalty is that it is arbitrary and capricious. Implementation of death penalty often favours well-off individuals or people who have money. How about the poor ones? Only the rich are able to afford a highly competent lawyer, thus makes the process unfair. Those accused people who are struggling from poverty cannot pay good attorneys thus making their chances of being acquitted very little. See how unfair it was? Even appealing to court was not possible. There are even cases that convicted wealthy persons pay the judge with a very big amount of money in order to become free of death penalty. Death penalty is geographically contingent which that it depends on state to sate. Maybe for this place, death penalty is not implemented but on others it is strictly performed. Death penalty also is racist and classist in nature. Race really makes a big difference when it comes to the implementation of death execution. For an instance, a black murdered a white victim. The black will executed 4 times than any other races. Still racial discrimination is dominant. That becomes a big problem of implementation of death penalty. One cannot avoid looking at races. Everyone is created equally by a supreme being God; hence one must receive equal rights and equal opportunities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Some will surely say that implementation of death penalty can reduce crimes because of the fear of death. That belief is not true. It is not true due to the fact that some people commit crimes when they are not on the good state of mind. How can they think of fear of death if they cannot think rationally?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   We have presented both the pros and cons of death penalty. Death penalty is good in some ways but also awful in some other manner. Every human has different perspective regarding this social issue. Death penalty may be good for some but some would surely disagree with it. What is important is we respect everybody’s opinion. Work Cited Gregory, David L. â€Å"2000.Legal Arguments Against the Death Penalty. 2 April 2008   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.vincenter.org/95/gregory.html. Messerli, Joe. â€Å"November 11, 2007. Should the death penalty be banned as a form of punishment?†. 2 April 2008 http://www.balancedpolitics.org/death_penalty.htm.

Unfair Dismissal Legislation

Unfair Dismissal Legislation In this paper we will examine the tension between unfair (employee) dismissal legislation and the autonomy of managers to run their departments as they see fit. Interestingly, the question refers to managers right to manage their employees: It should be stated at the outset, unlike the rights afforded to employees by legislation and the common law, which are enforceable rights per se; there is no such right enshrined in the law to protect the autonomy of managers. It is also interesting to note that the question does not ask us to d iscuss the degree to which unfair dismissal legislation takes away managers right to manage their employees effectively or well, or ask us to comment upon whether or not the suppression of managers autonomy is a good or a bad thing for the development of a healthy and effective commercial workplace. We will argue in this essay that such an assessment is central to the question of this paper. After all, for example, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which seeks (inter alia) to regulate the conduct of Police Officers, might well be seen to take away rights of the police to arrest citizens, but only does so to protect the citizen from unconstitutional and unacceptable authoritarian practices. Likewise, in the case of unfair dismissal legislation, if the effect is to prevent poor management practice, then this cannot be seen as a negative thing. The worry is that such legislation will interfere with good management, by creating expectations in the minds of employees regarding the standard acceptable processes which govern their employment and as such, might prevent managers from taking the initiative to be creative and progressive in their management approach. The question therefore boils down to whether or not the current unfair dismissal legislation in the UK is sufficiently flexible to allow management creativity to blossom to the advantage of all stakeholders in the employee-management-employer relationship. Unfair dismissal of employees is governed by Part X of the Employment Rights Act 1996, as amended by Part 3 of the Employment Act 2002. The right to not be unfairly dismissed is defined is s94 of the 1996 Act, and s95 of the same act outlines the circumstances which are capable of giving rise to a breach of this employment right. Hepple and Morris (2002) p255 comment upon the amendments to the unfair dismissal legislation introduced by the Employment Act 2002: â€Å"[T]he new statutory standard and modified disciplinary procedures, broad in conception but minimalist in their requirements, ‘are so rudimentary in nature that they afford little protection to employees[and] ‘fall significantly short of the requirements of the current ACAS Code and of the standards of reasonableness developed by tribunals†. This would seem to suggest that this legislation has had little impact upon curtailing the right of managers to manage their employees, especially in light of the fact that there is no significant deterrent effect arising from the remedy contained in s34(6) of the 2002 Act, which only entitles an unfairly dismissed employee to four weeks pay compensation. It also seems apparent that s34(2) of the Employment Act 2002 has reversed the case law decision of Polkey v A. E. Dayton Services [1988] in which it was decided that employers (and, more importantly, their managers) should be reasonable in their choice and use of employee dismissal procedures. S34(2) of the Employment Act 2002 introduced s98A into the Employment Act 1996, subsection 2 of which states: â€Å"[F]ailure by an employer to follow a procedure in relation to the dismissal of an employee shall not be regarded for the purposes of section 98(4)(a) as by itself making the employers action unreasonable if he shows that he would have decided to dismiss the employee if he had followed the procedure.† Again, there is nothing in this section which would suggest that managers rights to employ their own styles of disciplinary procedure have been curtailed: As long as the procedures employed lead to a decision identical to that which would have been generated through adherence to the standard dismissal procedures contained in the UK Employment Acts. It might be argued that that this procedural latitude will not be enforced to its full extent, and therefore that employers and their managers cannot rely upon its provisions to escape liability for nonprocedural conforman ce, but, as Collins (2004) reports: â€Å"The potential width of this exception should not be underestimated†. In regards to this amendment and also to the introduction of the ACAS code under the Employment Act 2002, Smith and Morton (2006) write: â€Å"In spite of government declarations, it is not clear how the ACAS Code and case law can impose a higher procedural standard than the statutory procedures in an unfair dismissal claim, although the test of a reasonable employer (whose action will fall within the range of reasonable responses) remains. Henceforth an employer defending a dismissal may argue that adherence to a procedure above the statutory minimum or the ACAS Code would not have led to a different outcome.† It would therefore seem that, under the new unfair dismissal regime, employers have even more latitude to escape liability for unfair dismissal by procedural unfairness and therefore, even less reason to reign in their managers by insisting on extra training or standard management practices. It should also be noted that under the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2001, the maximum award available to an employer from an employee who unsuccessfully brings a claim in the employment tribunal has been substantially increased as it now, by virtue of the Employment Tribunal Regulations 2004, can also include non-legal preparation costs. This must serve as a deterrent to employees from making frivolous and/or poorly constructed claims for unfair dismissal. Ans so, our analysis of the UK legislative framework on unfair dismissal all point to a conclusion that this regime does not have any significant effect upon the right of managers to manage their employees, so long as the procedures utilized are synonymous by result. However, there is often a big difference between the legal impact of legislation and its cultural effect. Let us now perform a literature review of several key sources in the field of employee management to see if the practical and real effect of the amended unfair dismissal legislation has been to curtail the creativity of managers or otherwise interfere with their right to manage their employees, effectively or otherwise. The first point which can be identified from the literature is that the legislation on unfair dismissal has had different effects on different sized of business. Whilst the research is relatively out of date, it seems clear that the small business sector has been the least affected by the formal dismissal regime. As Harrison et al (1998) write: â€Å"The major studies (e.g. Dickens et al., 1985) are now dated and there have been few attempts to up-date earlier assessments of the impact of unfair dismissal legislation on small firms (e.g. Clifton and Tatton-Brown, 1979; Daniel and Stilgoe, 1978; Evans et al., 1985). This research and the periodic WIRS surveys (Millward et al., 1992) indicated that small businesses were less likely to have formal disciplinary procedures than larger businesses. This would suggest that small business managers autonomy to manage in their own way has not been significantly ‘taken away by the UKs unfair dismissal legislation and its enshrined standar d procedures. This is confirmed by the findings of a case study analysis by Harrison et al (1998) who found that: â€Å"The presence of a formal written disciplinary procedure does not, of itself, ensure that it is applied/observed by all managers, nor that common disciplinary standards will be applied to all employees, or even to all employees in the same occupation, grade, etc. For example, two instances were found where the senior site manager in multi-site companies in the catering sector was not familiar with the requirements of their companies written procedures. Harrison et al (1998) also found, from their interviews, that managers in this sector took a flexible approach to disciplinary action. The problem with this is that the approach is likely to differ from manager to manager with the result that the only way companies can maintain consistency is not to change, remove or replace senior managers: â€Å"[T]here was evidence from many of the interviews of a â€Å"flexible approach† being taken to disciplinary actionThis â€Å"flexibility† plainly has its strengths, but it inevitably also raises issues of perceived consistency or inconsistency among employees of actions taken by different managers [I]ts potential effect on both employee morale and on potential unfair dismissal claims and outcomes, was a principal reason why many organizations have restricted the right to dismiss to senior managers.† Interestingly however, the interviews conducted across multi-site organizations revealed that â€Å"managers were able to draw on the wider resources of their organizations, including the advice and expertise of HR/personnel specialists. In some cases these specialists became involved in helping line managers to handle disciplinary cases, usually with the effect of avoiding major discrepancies.† This would suggest that the UK unfair dismissal legislation has had a noticeable impact upon the rights of managers in larger organizations to manage their employees, the procedures clearly being taken seriously if outside help is being drafted in regularly. In pages 457-458, Harrison et al (1998) discuss the effect of unfair dismissal legislation on ‘management style. They confirm our earlier conclusion that Managers are still acting autonomously despite the unfair dismissal legislation: â€Å"There are acknowledged difficulties in attempting to categorise management styles in organisations, not least because they may vary from one manager to another, and from one situation to another.† McCabe and Rabil (2001) write convincingly on the rights of employees and the impact of these rights on employers and their managers. At page 34 they write: â€Å"‘[T]he most critical right of employees is the right to due process (Velasquez, 1982, p. 327)[D]ue process involves a system of checks and balances, it increases the objectivity of decisions‘the topic of due process in work organizations calls for much greater conceptual development, practical experimentation, and systematic research (Aram and Salipante, Jr., 1981, p. 198). Prima facie, these respective statements seem to conflict with one another: On the one hand, McCabe and Rabil talk of ‘objective decision making, and yet on the other, they talk of the need for ‘practical experimentation. However, I would argue that, rather than being mutually exclusive, these observations demonstrate the ability for fair management autonomy to co-exist with principles of due process, if not necessarily consisten cy. Managers can implement their own style of disciplinary procedures into a workplace as long as these implementations are perceived as subscribing to the princinple of due process and the end effects of these implementations are consistent with the outcomes which would have been reached under the statutory procedures. This confirms what we postulated earlier in this essay; namely, that the unfair dismissal legislation does not significantly impede effective and fair management autonomy, but simply prevents managers from managing their employees in ways which are inappropriate or do not follow the principle of ‘due process. As McCabe and Rabil (2001) write: â€Å"Not all managers know how to manage their work force effectively, nor do they all treat their employees fairly. A good due process system cannot make managers manage more fairly. It may provide a strong incentive for them to do that, but if they don t know how, the process itself will not teach them. In conclusion, I would argue that since the inception of the Employment Act 2002, which amended the unfair dismissal legislation contained in the Employment Rights Act 1996, the UKs legislation on the unfair dismissal of employees is sufficiently flexible to allow employers and their managers the autonomy to create and implement their own employee management procedures, so long as these procedures are capable of yielding fair and equitable decisions. Thus, in response to the specific question, to what degree has the unfair dismissal legislation taken away managers right to manage their employees? I would argue that it has significantly taken away this ‘right. However, in relation to the more important question, to what degree has the unfair dismissal legislation taken away managers right to manage their employees fairly and effectively? I would argue that it has not taken away this right significantly.

Cultural Anthropology Essay -- Marching Band Arts Music Dance Papers

Cultural Anthropology Almost all cultures world wide have highly developed traditions of music and dance. According to Mari Womack, author of Being Human: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, music and dance carry much importance within a culture. "As do other artistic forms, music and dance reflect cultural and social organization. Cultural values can be conveyed in the words of a song, and the performance of a song or a dance is dependent on the social context" (Womack 226). Music and instruments are of great significance in many places world wide. For example, the BaMbuti foragers from Africa's Ituri rain forest have an instrument which they call the molimo which looks like an extremely long pipe. The men of the BaMbuti culture are the owners of the molimo and behave as if it is alive. Women and young boys are forbidden any contact with the molimo, because of its importance in male initiation rites (Womack 226). In the United States, we also have extensive rituals involving music and dance. For ex ample, in wedding receptions, many rules prevail about who dances with who when. The father-daughter dance, the bride and groom's dance, the mother-son dance, and the dollar dance are just a few of these rituals. Marching Band is another form of the music and dance combination. Marching may not sound like dancing, but, in reality, the marchers move in their individual paths which create forms that are constantly blending into each other and creating new forms. According to Jordan, my informant, "To me, it really is kind of art, just seeing all these forms move and mesh, with music to go with them and flags and stuff. It is a type of art, I guess." Along with just basic marching, the band adds choreography which produces wonde... ...s A. Sectionals B. Districts C. Regionals D. State VI. Football Games A. Home Componential Analysis of Band Activities Characteristics 1.0 1.1 Performing 1.2 Being Judged 1.3 Show on Field 1.4 Marching in Forms 1.5 Practicing Timing 2.0 2.1 Summer 2.2 During School Year 2.3 Sequential 2.4 Non-sequential Types of Activities Characteristics 1.0 Timing 2.0 Parades 1, 5 1, 4 Band Camps 5 1 Rehearsals 3, 4, 5 2 Invitationals 1, 2*, 3, 4 2, 4 Competitions 1, 2, 3, 4 2, 3 Football Games 1, 3, 4, 5 2, 4 *Marching Bands are judged at all invitationals, but their scores are not publicly announced when they are the hosting school. Works Cited Womack, Mari. Being Human: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1998.

The Return: Nightfall Chapter 25

Matt lunged at Damon in a rush that clearly demonstrated the skills that had gotten him a college football scholarship. He accelerated from utter stillness to a blur of motion, trying to tackle Damon, to bring him down. â€Å"Run,† he shouted, at the same instant.†Run!† Elena stood still, trying to come up with Plan A after this disaster. She had been forced to watch Stefan's humiliation at Damon's hands at the boardinghouse, but she didn't think she could stand to see this. But when she looked again, Matt was standing about a dozen yards from Damon, white-faced and grim, but alive and on his feet. He was preparing to rush Damon again. And Elena†¦couldn't run. She knew that it would probably be the best thing – Damon might punish Matt briefly but most of his attention would be turned to hunting her down. But she couldn't be sure. And she couldn't be sure that the punishment wouldn't kill Matt, or that he would be able to get away before Damon found her and had leisure time to think of him again. No, notthis Damon, pitiless and remorseless as he was. There must be some way – she could almost feel wheels spinning in her own head. And then she saw it. No, not that†¦ But what else was there to do? Matt was, indeed, rushing Damon again, and this time as he went for him, lithe and unstoppable and fast as a darting snake, she saw what Damon did. He simply sidestepped at the last moment, just when Matt was about to ram him with a shoulder. Matt's momentum kept him going, but Damon simply turned in place and faced him again. Then he picked up his damned pine branch. It was broken at the end where Matt had trampled it. Damon frowned at the stick, then shrugged, lifting it – and then both he and Matt stopped frozen. Something came sailing in from the sidelines to settle on the ground between them. It lay there, stirring in the breeze. It was a maroon and navy Pendleton shirt. Both of the boys turned slowly toward Elena, who was wearing a white lacy camisole. She shivered slightly and wrapped her arms around herself. It seemed unusually cold for this time of evening. Very slowly, Damon lowered the pine branch. â€Å"Saved by yourinamorata ,† he said to Matt. â€Å"I know what that means and it's not true,† Matt said. â€Å"She's my friend, not my girlfriend.† Damon just smiled distantly. Elena could feel his eyes on her bare arms. â€Å"So†¦on to the next step,† he said. Elena wasn't surprised. Heartsick but not surprised. Neither was she surprised to see, when Damon turned to look from her to Matt and back, a flash of red. It seemed to be reflected on the inside of his sunglasses. â€Å"Now,† he said to Elena. â€Å"I think we'll put you over there on that rock, sort of half reclining. But first – another kiss.† He looked back at Matt. â€Å"Get with the program, Matt; you're wasting time. First, maybe you kiss her hair, then she throws her head back and you kiss her neck, while she puts her arms around your shoulders†¦.† Matt,thought Elena. Damon had saidMatt . It had slipped out so easily, so innocently. Suddenly her entire brain, and her body, too, seemed to be vibrating as if to a single note of music, seemed to be flooded by an icy shower-bath. And what the note was saying was not shocking, because it was something that somehow, at a subliminal level, she already knew†¦. That's not Damon. This wasn't the person she had known for – was it really only nine or ten months? She had seen him when she was a human girl, and she had defied him and desired him in equal measure – and he had seemed to love her best when she was defying him. She had seen him when she was a vampire and had been drawn to him with all her being, and he had cared for her as if she were a child. She had seen him when she was a spirit, and from the afterlife she had learned a great deal. He was a womanizer, he could be callous, he drifted through his victims' lives like a chimera, like a catalyst, changing other people while he himself remained unchanging and unchanged. He mystified humans, confused them, used them – leaving them bewildered, because he had the charm of the devil. And never once had she seen him break his word. She had a rock-bottom feeling that this wasn't something that was a decision, it was so much a part of Damon, lodged so deep in his subconscious, that even he couldn't do anything to change it. He couldn't break his word. He'd starve first. Damon was still talking to Matt, giving him orders. â€Å"†¦and then take off her†¦Ã¢â‚¬  So what about his word to be her bodyguard, to keep her from harm? He was talking to her now. â€Å"So you know when to throw your head back? After he – â€Å" â€Å"Who are you?† â€Å"What?† â€Å"You heard me.Who are you? If you had really seen Stefan off and promised him to take care of me, none of this would have happened. Oh, you might be messing with Matt, but not in front of me. You're not – Damon's not stupid. He knows what a bodyguard is. He knows that watching Matt in pain hurts me as well. You're not Damon. Who†¦are†¦you?† Matt's strength and fast-as-a-rattlesnake speed hadn't done any good. Maybe a different approach would work. As Elena spoke, she had been very slowly reaching up to Damon's face. Now, with one motion, she pulled his sunglasses off. Eyes red as fresh new blood shone out at her. â€Å"What have you done?†she whispered. â€Å"What have you done to Damon?† Matt was out of the range of her voice but had been inching around, trying to get her attention. She wished fervently that Matt would just make a run for it himself. Here, he was just another way for this creature to blackmail her. Without seeming to move quickly, the Damon-thing reached down and snatched the sunglasses from her hand. It was too fast for her to resist. Then he seized her wrist in a painful grip. â€Å"This would be a lot easier on both of you if you'd cooperate,† he said casually. â€Å"You don't seem to realize what might happen if you make me angry.† His grip was forcing her down, forcing her to kneel. Elena decided not to let it. But unfortunately her body didn't want to cooperate; it sent urgent messages of pain to her mind, of agony, of burning, searing agony. She had thought that she could ignore it, could stand to let him break her wrist. She was wrong. At some point something in her brain blacked out completely, and the next thing she knew she was on her knees with a wrist that felt three times the right size and burned fiercely. â€Å"Human weakness,† Damon said scornfully. â€Å"It will get you every time†¦. You should know better than to disobey me, by now.† Not Damon,Elena thought, so vehemently that she was surprised the imposter didn't hear her. â€Å"All right,† Damon's voice continued above her as cheerfully as if he'd simply given her a suggestion. â€Å"You go sit on that rock, leaning backward, and Matt, if you'll just come over here, facing her.† The tone was of polite command, but Matt ignored it and was beside her already, looking at the finger marks on Elena's wrist as if he didn't believe them. â€Å"Matt stands up, Elena sits, or the opposite one gets the full treatment. Have fun, kiddies.† Damon had the palm-camera out again. Matt consulted Elena with his eyes. She looked at the imposter and said, enunciating carefully, â€Å"Go to hell, whoever you are.† â€Å"Been there, done that, bought the brimstone,† the not-Damon creature rattled off. He gave Matt a smile that was both luminescent and terrifying. Then he waggled the pine branch. Matt ignored it. He waited, his face stoic, for the pain to hit. Elena struggled up to stand by him. Side by side, they could defy Damon. Who seemed for a moment to be out of his mind. â€Å"You're trying to pretend you're not afraid of me. But you will be. If you had any sense, you would be now.† Belligerently, he took a step toward Elena.†Why aren't you afraid of me?† â€Å"Whoever you are, you're just an oversized bully. You've hurt Matt. You've hurt me. I'm sure you can kill us. But we're not afraid of bullies.† â€Å"You will be afraid.† Now Damon's voice had dropped to a menacing whisper. â€Å"Just wait.† Even as something was ringing in Elena's ears, telling her to listen to those last words, to make a connection – who did that sound like? – the pain hit. Her knees were knocked out by it. But she wasn't just kneeling now. She was trying to roll into a ball, trying to curl around the agony. All rational thought was swept from her head. She sensed Matt beside her, trying to hold her, but she could no more communicate with him than she could fly. She shuddered and fell to her side, as if having a seizure. Her entire universe was pain, and she only heard voices as if they came from far away. â€Å"Stop it!† Matt sounded frantic.†Stop it! Are you crazy? That'sElena , for God's sake! Do you want to kill her ?† And then the not-Damon-thing advising him mildly, â€Å"I wouldn't try that again,† but the only sound Matt made was a scream of primal rage. â€Å"Caroline!† Bonnie was raging, pacing back and forth in Stefan's room while Meredith did something else with the computer. â€Å"Howdare she?† â€Å"She doesn't dare try to attack Stefan or Elena outright – there's the oath,† Meredith said. â€Å"So she's thought this up to get at all of us.† â€Å"But Matt – â€Å" â€Å"Oh, Matt's handy,† Meredith said grimly. â€Å"And unfortunately there's the matter of the physical evidence on both of them.† â€Å"What do you mean? Matt doesn't – â€Å" â€Å"The scratches, my dear,† put in Mrs. Flowers, looking sad, â€Å"from your razor-toothed bug. The poultice I put on will have healed them so that they'll look like a girl's fingernail scratches – about now. And the mark it left on your neck†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Mrs. Flowers coughed delicately. â€Å"It looks like what in my day was called a  ¡Ã‚ ®love bite.' Perhaps a sign of a tryst that ended in force? Not that your friend would ever do anything like that.† â€Å"And remember how Caroline looked when we saw her, Bonnie?† Meredith said dryly. â€Å"Not the crawling around – I'll bet anything she's walking just fine now. But her face. She had a black eye coming in and a swollen cheek. Perfect for the time frame.† Bonnie felt as if everyone was two steps ahead of her. â€Å"Whattime frame?† â€Å"The night the bug attacked Matt. It was the morning after that that the sheriff called and talked to him. Matt admitted that his mother hadn't seen him all night, and that Neighborhood Watch guy saw Matt drive up to his house and, basically, pass out.† â€Å"That was from the bug poison. He'd just been fighting the malach!† â€Å"We know that. But they'll say he'd just come back from attacking Caroline. Caroline's mother will hardly be fit to testify – you saw how she was. So who's to say that Matt wasn't over at Caroline's? Especially if he was planning assault.† â€Å"We are! We can vouch for him – † Bonnie suddenly stumbled to a halt. â€Å"No, I guess it was after he left that this was supposed to have happened. But, no, this is all wrong!† She took up pacing again. â€Å"I saw one of those bugs up close and it was exactly the way Matt described†¦.† â€Å"And what's left of it now? Nothing. Besides, they'll say that you would sayanything for him.† Bonnie couldn't stand just walking aimlessly around anymore. She had to get to Matt, had to warn him – if they could even find him or Elena. â€Å"I thoughtyou were the one who couldn't wait a minute to find them,† she said accusingly to Meredith. â€Å"I know; I was. But I had to look something up – and besides I wanted one more try at that page only vampires are supposed to read. TheShi no Shi one. But I've tweaked the screen in all the ways I can think of, and if there's something written here, I certainly can't find it.† â€Å"Best not to waste more time on it, then,† Mrs. Flowers said. â€Å"Come get into your jacket, my dear. Shall we take the Yellow Wheeler or not?† For just a moment Bonnie had a wild vision of a horse-drawn vehicle, a sort of Cinderella carriage but not pumpkin-shaped. Then she remembered seeing Mrs. Flowers' ancient Model T – painted yellow – parked inside what must be the old stables that belonged to the boardinghouse. â€Å"We did better when we were on foot than weor Matt did in a car,† said Meredith, giving the computer monitor controls a final vicious click. â€Å"We're more mobile than – oh, my God!I did it! â€Å" â€Å"Did what?† â€Å"The website. Come look at this.† Both Bonnie and Mrs. Flowers came over to the computer. The screen was bright green with thin, faint, dark green writing. â€Å"Howdid you do it?† Bonnie demanded as Meredith bent to get a notebook and pen to copy down what they saw. â€Å"I don't know. I just tweaked the color settings one last time – I'd already tried it for Power Saver, Low Battery, High Resolution, High Contrast, and every combination I could think of.† They stared at the words. Tired of that lapis lazuli? Want to take a vacation in Hawaii? Sick of that same old liquid cuisine? Come and visit Shi no Shi. After that came an ad for the â€Å"Death of Death,† a place where vampires could be cured of their cursed state and become human again. And then there was an address. Just a city road, no mention of what state, or, for that matter, what city. But it was a Clue. â€Å"Stefan didn't mention a road address,† Bonnie said. â€Å"Maybe he didn't want to scare Elena,† Meredith said grimly. â€Å"Or maybe, when he looked at the page, the address wasn't there.† Bonnie shivered. â€Å"Shi no Shi – I don't like the sound of it. And don't laugh at me,† she added to Meredith defensively. â€Å"Remember what Stefan said about trusting my intuition?† â€Å"Nobody's laughing, Bonnie. We need to get to Elena and Matt. What does your intuition tell you about that?† â€Å"It says that we're going to get into trouble, and that Matt and Elena are in trouble already.† â€Å"Funny, because that's just what my judgment tells me.† â€Å"Are we ready, now?† Mrs. Flowers handed out flashlights. Meredith tried hers and found it had a strong, steady beam. â€Å"Let's do it,† she said, automatically flipping off Stefan's lamp again. Bonnie and Mrs. Flowers followed her down the stairs, out of the house, and onto the street they had run from not so long ago. Bonnie's pulse was racing, her ears ready for the slightestwhipwhip sound. But except for the beams of their flashlights, the Old Wood was completely dark and eerily silent. Not even the sound of birdsong broke the moonless night. They plunged in, and in minutes they were lost. Matt woke up on his side and for a moment didn't know where he was. Outdoors. Ground. Picnic? Hiking? Fell asleep? And then he tried to move and agony flared like a geyser of flame, and he remembered everything. That bastard , torturing Elena, he thought. Torturing Elena. It didn't go together, not withDamon . What was it Elena had been saying to him at the end that had made him so angry? The thought nagged at him, but it was just another unanswered question, like Stefan's note in Elena's diary. Matt realized that he could move, if very slowly. He looked around, moving his head by careful increments until he saw Elena, lying near him like a broken doll. He hurt and he was desperately thirsty. She would feel the same way. The first thing was to get her to a hospital; the kind of muscular contractions brought on by that degree of pain could break an arm or even a leg. They were certainly strong enough to cause a sprain or dislocation. Not to mention Damon spraining her wrist. That was what the practical, sensible part of him was thinking. But the question that kept going around in his mind still made him reel in complete astonishment. Hehurt Elena? The way he hurt me? I don't believe it. I knew he was sick, twisted, but I never heard of him hurting the girls. And never, never Elena.Never . But me – if he treats me the way he treats Stefan, he'll kill me. I don't have a vampire's resilience. I have to get Elena out of this before he kills me. I can't leave her alone with him. Instinctively, somehow, he knew that Damon was still around. This was confirmed when he heard some little noise, turned his head too fast, and found himself staring at a blurred and wobbling black boot. The blur and wobble were the result of turning too quickly, but as quickly as he'd turned, he'd suddenly felt his face pressed into the dirt and pine needles on the ground of the clearing. By The Boot. It was on his neck, grinding his face into the dirt now. Matt made a wordless sound of pure fury and grabbed at the leg above the boot with both hands, trying to get a purchase and throw Damon off. But while he could grasp the smooth leather of the boot, moving it in any direction was impossible. It was as if the vampire in the boot could turn himself to iron. Matt could feel the tendons in his throat stand out, his face turn red, and his muscles bunch under his shirt as he made a violent effort to heave Damon off. At last, exhausted, chest heaving, he lay still. In that very same instant, The Boot was lifted. Exactly, he realized, at the moment when he was too tired to lift his head himself. He made a supreme effort and lifted it a few inches. And The Boot caught him under the chin and lifted his face a little higher. â€Å"What a pity,† Damon said with infuriating contempt. â€Å"You humans are so weak. It's no fun to play with you at all.† â€Å"Stefan†¦will come back,† Matt got out, looking up at Damon from where he was unintentionally groveling on the ground. â€Å"Stefan will kill you.† â€Å"Guess what?† Damon said conversationally. â€Å"Your face is all messed up on one side – scratches, you know. You've got sort of a Phantom of the Opera thing going on.† â€Å"If he doesn't, I will. I don't know how, but I will. I swear it.† â€Å"Careful what you promise.† Just as Matt got his arm working enough to prop him up – exactly then, to the millisecond – Damon reached out and grabbed him painfully by a handful of hair, yanking his head up. â€Å"Stefan,† Damon said, looking straight down into Matt's face and forcing Matt to look up at him, no matter how Matt tried to turn his face away, â€Å"was only powerful for a few days because he was drinking the blood of a very powerful spirit who hadn't yet adapted to Earth yet. But look at her now.† He twisted his grip on Matt's hair again, more painfully. â€Å"Some spirit. Lying there in the dirt. Now the Power is back where it should be. Do you understand?Do you – boy?† Matt just stared at Elena. â€Å"How could you do that?† he whispered finally. â€Å"An object lesson in what it means to defy me. And surely you wouldn't want me to be sexist and leave her out?† Damontched . â€Å"You have to keep up with the times.† Matt said nothing. He had to get Elena out of this. â€Å"Worrying about the girl? She's just playing possum now. Hoping I'll ignore her and concentrate on you.† â€Å"You're a liar.† â€Å"So I'll concentrate on you. Speaking of keeping up with the times, you know – except for the scratches and things, you're a fine-looking young man.† At first the words meant nothing to Matt. When he understood them, Matt could feel his blood freeze in his body. â€Å"As a vampire, I can give you an informed and honest opinion. And as a vampire, I'm getting very thirsty. There's you. And then there's the girl who's still pretending to be asleep. I'm sure you can see what I'm getting at.† I believe in you, Elena, Matt thought. He's a liar, and he'll always be a liar. â€Å"Take my blood,† he said wearily. â€Å"Are you sure?† Now Damon sounded solicitous. â€Å"If you resist, the pain is horrible.† â€Å"Just get it over with.† â€Å"Whatever you like.† Damon knelt fluidly on one knee, at the same time twisting his grip on Matt's hair, making Matt wince. The new grip dragged Matt's upper body across Damon's knee, so that his head was thrown back, his neck arched and exposed. In fact Matt had never felt so exposed, so helpless, so vulnerable in his life. â€Å"You can always change your mind,† Damon taunted him. Matt shut his eyes, stubbornly saying nothing. At the last moment, though, as Damon bent with fangs exposed, Matt's fingers almost involuntarily, almost as if it were something his body was doingapart from his mind, clenched themselves into a fist and he suddenly, unpredictably, brought the fist swinging up to deal a violent blow to Damon's temple. But – serpent-quick – Damon reached up and caught the blow almost nonchalantly in an open hand, and held Matt's fingers in a crushing grip – just as razor-sharp fangs opened a vein in Matt's throat and an open mouth fastened on his exposed throat, sucking and drinking the blood that sprayed upward. Elena – awake but unable to move from where she had fallen, unable to make a sound or turn her head – was forced to listen to the entire exchange, forced to hear Matt's groan as his blood was taken against his will, as he resisted to the last. And then she thought of something that, as dizzy and frightened as she was, almost made her pass out in fear.

juries essays

juries essays Beginning with the drafting and ratification of the United States Constitution, the sixth amendment right, right to trial by peers or jury, has been enforced. Throughout history, the jury process has been used in various cases, whether a high-profile case or a state or local criminal case, juries have been the fundamental factors in considering whether or not a defendant is to be freed or sent for punishment. As time has progressed, however, the jury process has complicated, and juries have become more and more susceptible to coercion and corruption in the courtrooms, thus causing glitches and oftentimes costly errors in the United States courts of law. From jury selection to juror lack of knowledge or even motivation, corruption and confusion has been present and has caused problems which can be avoidable and treated. Should the United States continue to exercise their right to trial by peers, or should they reconsider the proven mishaps and errors juries often make and eliminate the jury process altogether? As proven in the United States Constitution, a trial by jury is a given and required right to Americans encountering the law. As an amendment, Americans should then maintain that right as they do with other amendments, and should not necessarily be stripped from this right. As easily proven throughout various court cases, juries have proven to be successful in punishing the guilty and freeing the innocent, and have effectively exercised their right of trial by jury. In this regard, juries should thus be allowed to continue in courtrooms and made even more readily available for those who Although oftentimes proven accurate and successful, juries are faced with corruption and mistakes just as often. Cases where jurors have proven innocent and defendants have later plead guilty have occurred numerously, ...