ltheodoropoulos20ahsgov-blog

[ltheodoropoulos20ahsgov-blog]

Civic Action Assessment of Issue

1. I see myself as a citizen who should be involved in social events that are helping make change to my community, and also to be voting for cannidates that are running to make changes to my city.

2. I have learned that there are many ways that i can add to our community and help out. I have also learned that our government is not always in the correct and with my public issue police are in the wrong alot of the time.

3. I feel it is my obligation to attend and help out if there events or protests happening for Police Brutality. I decided on this topic since it interested me alot and i would like to make actual changes in our community following my issue.

4. I volenteered my time at the Contra Costa Food Bank on Novemeber 2nd  with my fellow classmates. It was really cool to help put together food bags and to help the homeless. 

[ltheodoropoulos20ahsgov-blog]

BLOG POST #7 EXECUTIVE ACTION

.1.  Trump wants safe communities and low crime rates. He has taken steps to restore the rule of law and create new aggressive strategies to tackle gang and drug related crimes. He believes that the more work is put into law enforcement the lower the crime rates wil be.

2. I agree with Trump because his views are sensible and include all aspects of society.

3. The U.S. department of justice.

4. The Department of Justice enforces federal laws, seeks just punishment for the guilty, and ensures the fair and impartial administration of justice.

5. N/A

6. There is only one program in this department which is the Privacy Program

7. This is not a department that the president will likely cut funding to, this involves public safety and to Trump this is one of th emost important things for this country.

https://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/reforming-police-practices/being-black-not-crime-yuneks-story-police

8. The subject of the article is police brutality and the fight against it. Written by Yunek Moore. This is told as a story from a young black woman who is a survivor of police brutality. The intended audience could pertain to whoever reads the news or, it could also be whoever is interested in this topic. The author is a journalist for ACLU so obviously the bias would be inclined against police brutality. The article is told from the victim’s perspective and highlights all aspects of the encounter. I do, I agree with the significance of the article because it is touching and eye-opening.

[ltheodoropoulos20ahsgov-blog]

State And Legislative Action

1.

a) Rebecca Kahan: The issue of police brutality is a nationwide issue and falls under federal authority.

    Steve Glazer: The issue of police brutality is a nationwide issue and falls under federal authority.

b) N/A

c) They have not sponsored any bills related to police brutality.

2. 

a) The bill number is AB-392

b) It was introduced on August 19th 2019

c) The bill was introduced and it prohibits the use of deadly force by peace officers

d) This is a good bill but rather vague, I believe it is well-intended but there are many gray areas and loopholes that haven’t been accounted for.

3.

a) Dianne Feinstein is working on areas of police reform and working against police brutality.

b) There are no clear bills that Feinstein has sponsored that relate to the issue of police brutality.

Email #1 

The Honorable Mark DeSaulnier

The issue I am concerned about is police brutality. I am concerned about this issue because I take a lot of interest in criminal justice. I am currenlty a senior at Acalanes High School and I am researching this issue for my senior Government class. Please clarify your stance on this issue. Thank you so much for your time.

Sincerely, 

Lauren Theodoropous

lauren.theodoropoulos20@auhsdschools.org

Email #2

The Honorable Kamala D. Harris

The issue I am concerned about is police brutality. I am concerned about this issue because I take a lot of interest in criminal justice. I am currenlty a senior at Acalanes High School and I am researching this issue for my senior Government class. Please clarify your stance on this issue. Thank you so much for your time.

Sincerely,

Lauren Theodoropous

lauren.theodoropoulos20@auhsdschools.org

4.

a) There is one bill remotely close to the issue of police brutality. It’s “Should the federal government be banned from using death penalty?”

b) House Bill H.R. 4052

c) The bill is deemed to remove death row, executions, and death penalty from criminal sentencing nationwide. A number of states have already banned death penalty but there are still quite a few who haven’t banned it.

d) It should completely eliminate the loss of someone who was wrongfully convicted.

e) I would vote “YEA”, because death penalty and execution is considered premature death and has a stronger moral impact on the family members of the incarcerated due to be executed rather than serving a life sentence and the family knowing they died of natural causes and weren’t executed.

f) This bill originated in the House. The committees who have reviewed this bill are the Committee on the Judiciary Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. This bill is currently under review and many protests still occur across the states where the death penalty is still legal.

[ltheodoropoulos20ahsgov-blog]

Political Interest Groups, and PACs Assessment

1. Group: ACLU

a. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

b. ACLU believes police excessive force is disturbing given the disproportionate impact it has on people of color. They want to collaborate with police to practice transparency for race and prejudice. The group is looking to work with CLRP (a division of the ACLU) to improve training, polices, and practices to reduce the use of excessive force during criminal and law enforcement encounters. CLRP is striving towards reducing over-incarceration and over-incriminalization. Their job is not to persuade judges but to work with communities affected by police brutalities to achieve their goal or reducing these unnecessary and violent acts.

c. The fourth amendment is being sought to be more enforced, which includes prohibition of unauthorized searches and seizures of property/vehicles. 

d. ACLU is based in Manhattan, New York. There is an ACLU office in San Francisco, any upcoming meetings are on Thursday November 7th in SF.

e. There is an option to donate on the website, send messages, sign petitions, and attend meetings.

2. Group: ACLU of Northern California

a. American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California

b. The ACLU of NorCal advocates criminal justice system that enforces public safety and full human rights to the (potential) criminals being treated unfairly by law enforcement and police of the kind. They push the idea that all police are to treat the public fairly and evenly regardless of race, ethnicity, age, and gender. They challenge illegal police practices, such as traffic stops gone wrong and others of the kind.

c. Since this is the same organization, and one of the only that specializes on police brutality, they also institute the 4th Amendment and enforce the prohibition of illegal police activity and excessive force.

d. This group is a State centered of the national ACLU organization. This division is based in San Francisco. Upcoming meetings include Thursday Nov 7th, Nov 11th and 12th.

e. There is an option to donate on the website, send messages, sign petitions, and attend meetings.

3. Group: Gifford’s PAC

a. This PAC/SuperPAC is a funding the industry of gun control and anti-gun laws.

b. In total they have raised $17,055,843, and total spent comes to $17,965,201. The amount of cash they have on hand is $924,528.

c. 95% of this has been spent on Democrats, and 4% on Republicans

d. Some of their donors include: University of Arizona, Wright World Industries, The Hanley Foundation

[ltheodoropoulos20ahsgov-blog]

Political Party Action

Democrats:

A. The Democrats think the police are too harsh and think that they should have the power of police weakened.

B. I agree with this platform because I don’t think people should be attacked specifically because of their race.

Republicans:

A. The Republicans believe that the police are necessary and should be supported by the government because their job is dangerous

B. I also agree with this because a lot of police get hurt or killed while working, so we should support them if they  do a good job. But if they support police brutality then I don’t support it. 

Libertarian:

A. The Libertarian party doesn’t mention police brutality in their platform, but they are probably against it. I think this is because they don’t want the government messing with people’s individual rights and the police are part of the government. I’m not sure why they don’t include it when most of the other parties at least mention it a bit, but they probably think its easy to tell what they think from their other policies.

B. I don’t know because they don’t say specifically, but it seems like they’d be against it, so i guess I agree with it.

Green

A. The Green party says they support policy that combats police brutality and racism against people of color.

B. I think I agree with this but I think they should just say they support policy that is against police brutality and racism in general because even if someone isn’t a person of color police brutality is still wrong.

Peace and Freedom:

A. The Peace and Freedom party believes and prosecuting and punishing police brutality in all forms.

B. I think in general I agree with the idea but most of the P and F party platforms are too aggressive and extreme.

C. I think I identify most with the democratic party platform. I don’t think its surprising. I think I just liked their policy better. I think if the candidate was running on this I’d vote for them most likely.

[ltheodoropoulos20ahsgov-blog]

Constitution Issues

 1. Graham v. Connor

2. Rehnquist court decided on May 15,1989

3. Dethorne Graham, had an insulin reaction and had a friend (William berry)  drive him to the store to get some orange juice to counter his reaction. Graham ended up running into the store and did not pay for the orange juice and continued to leave the car with Berry. Officer Ms. Connor ended up pulling them over half a mile and graham ran out of the car running around it twice(still suffering his insulin reaction) until the officer and Berry stopped them and handcuffed him on the ground and graham passed out. When graham was revived he tried reaching into his wallet to show his diabetic verification, the officer shoved his head onto the hood of Berrys car and told him to shut up. Struggling to place Graham in the car, the police later discovered that he was innocent at the convenience store. Having multiple injuries including a broken foot, the police returned him home.

4.Must Graham’s claim that law enforcement officials used excessive force be examined under the Fourth Amendment’s “objective reasonableness” standard?

5.The 4th, 8th and ,14 amendments 

6. Claims of exessive force used by government officials are properly analyzed under the 4th amendments “reasonable doubt” standard

7. the beyond a reasonable doubt precedent

8. I disagree with the courts decision because, the force used towards graham even if he had committed the crime was still excessive and brutal.

SACAPS -The Police Can’t Solve The Probem. They Are The Problem

Police brutality, Derecka Purnell, The context is that police aren’t solving crime, the intended audience is whoever has interest in police brutality, the author believes police brutality is unnecessary and bad, the significance of the article is that this is a rising school, I do agree with the article because police brutality is causing a lot of injustice and legal corruption.

[ltheodoropoulos20ahsgov-blog]

MEDIA ASSESSMENT OF ISSUE

1. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/us/houston-police-drug-raid.html?searchResultPosition=9

This article is about a police raid on a civilian home that ended in the loss of 2 civilian lives. This was written by Neil Vigdor. The context of this article has to do with police raids and police brutality. The intended audience of this article is to basically anyone who reads this paper/website publications. The author believes the police have no right to hurt anyone during lawful processes such as raids and arrests. The significance of the article is that poliec brutality is getting more and more common and many want to put an end to it. I agree with this significance since police brutality is very important and dangerous.

2. https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/cardi-b-donald-trump-police-brutality

The article from Fox News by Jessica Sager is about an Instagram video female rapper Cardi B made bashing Donald Trump on ignoring police brutality. The article’s cotext is still police brutality and misconduct. The intended audience could be Donald Trump supporters and Cardi B fans. The author is lenient towards Cardi B’s side, which s against police brutality, including harsh quotes from Cardi’s instagram video. The article has significance because Cardi B is well known and the fact she is also pointing out police brutality shows the importance of this issue. I agree with the article and there should be an end to misconduct and police brutality.

3. https://www.apnews.com/3c72405c9f874844a84b0ca658402078

The article by Michael Balsamo is about the death of Mr. Garner after he exclaimed “I Can’t Breathe” while being arrested by an officer. In 2014 a man was being held in a chokehold to calm down while resisting arrest, the man exclaimed that he couldn’t breathe but the officer kept him in the chokehold and killed him by suffocation. Now this is an unresolved case relating to the topic of police brutality. The intended audience of this article is just anyone who has been interested in this case, and/or knows about this incident. The article is unbiased about the topic of police brutality. I can’t agree with an unbiased article but I do agree that police brutality should be put to an end and that there needs to be more justice in the streets.

4. 

The similarities between all three of these articles is the common view on police brutality as a topic. Although some stand up for the police officers in wrong there is still the common understanding that its wrong and a serious issue in the US. 5. I identify the most with the last source the most because it gives a neutral opinion on the topic with both sides included as evidence and both sides contradicting each other.

[ltheodoropoulos20ahsgov-blog]

CONCEPTUALIZING THE ISSUE AND ASSESSING TYPES OF ACTION

1. I chose police brutality and corruption for my civic action. On all platforms of social media, I've seen a lot of incidents happen with our law enforcement with police brutality and it seems like an interesting topic I want to learn more about.

2.I think that this is an issue since the law enforcement believes that they can get away with what they want, and not have any consequences on their actions since they are the law. 

3.I think that the law enforcement should treat people who are homeless or under the influence more as trying to get help, rather than sending them straight  to jail. I also believe that cops should be better trained and watched more closely during training to make sure that citizens aren't treated badly because of the color of their skin or race.

4. I am following the  anonymous cop watch, DTES cop watch,Andrew C Laufer, @Nick_Blm, and @CUAPB. I found an interesting post on @CUAPB that they have a petition to help get money for Philando Castile. He was shot 5 times after being pulled over for a broken tail light. I agree that we should have a petition about this man who was killed just for having a tail light out... A lot of the accounts I'm following are against police brutality and I agree with most of their tweets.