Fourth Amendment Essay Example for Free

Fourth Amendment Essay Under the Fourth Amendment, a person has the right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures and warrants shall issue but upon probable cause. This also includes the search and seizure of vehicles. However, there are instances when the subsequent search and seizure of a home and vehicle is allowed. Under Caroll v United States, a vehicle may be searched without a warrant if the officer undertaking the search has probable cause to believe that the vehicle contains contraband. Such is allowed because of the mobility of vehicles that allow them to quickly move from the jurisdiction if the searching and arresting officers had to obtain a warrant first. But the court was also explicit in holding that it is impermissible to search and seize a parked vehicle on the basis that it is movable. Moreover, a warrantless search is permissible if it is incidental to a valid arrest such as when a person was actually committing a crime in the presence of the arresting officer, the subsequent search is valid as a way to locate and seize weapons that may harm the officer and prevent destruction of evidence. The searching officers could also just ask the consent of the target suspect and if he freely consents to the succeeding search of the house and car, then such is considered a valid search. On the other hand, under the Fifth Amendment, â€Å"no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself or be deprived of life, liberty and property without due process of law. † Hence, it is imperative that arresting officers must read the person’s rights and inform him of his right to remain silent that anything he says will be used against him. In Miranda v Arizona, the court was firm in its decision that while a suspect or defendant is in police custody, the prosecution may not use statements, whether exculpatory or stemming from questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way, unless it demonstrates the use of procedural safeguards effective to secure the Fifth Amendments privilege against self-incrimination.

Weight of Marijuana and Criminal and Tax Law :: social issues

Weight of Marijuana and Criminal and Tax Law Conclusive research has shown that wet (uncured) marijuana is not psychoactive. Before drying, decarboxylation of inactive THCA acid into THC has not yet occurred. During the curing (drying) process, the COOH bonded to the THC is released. The result is the psychoactive compound delta9 THC. The State of North Carolina’s laws do not distinguish between the uncured weight of marijuana from the cured (dry) weight, necessary for marijuana to be consumed or sold. No one purchases wet marijuana at a price comparable to suggested market value because approximately 80% of this weight consists of water, both in the plant tissue and chemically bonded by carbon to the THC molecule. No one smokes fresh, wet, uncured marijuana because it cannot produce a euphoric effect. Decarboxylation must occur by drying prior to it’s combustion that occurs with smoking (this does not occur when attempting to smoke uncured marijuana), drying must also occur before eating marijuana, if it is to produce a euphoric effect. . North Carolina’s G.S. 15A-903(a)(1) allows the State to retain only a small random sample of marijuana to be made available to prosecutors and notably the defendants for the discovery rights. This deprives the defense of having all the evidence available to them. The actual weight of marijuana is an essential element of the criminal statute. The marijuana’s weight is the primary factor in determining the NC unauthorized substance tax assessment. ‘Mature stalks’ are found on all mature marijuana plants. The percentage by weight of marijuana’s ‘mature stalks’ can vary widely by different cultivation methods and by genetic variation. NC G.S. 90-87(16) clearly exempts ‘mature stalks’ from being considered toward the weight of ‘marijuana’ for criminal sentencing purposes. ‘Mature stalks’ are exempt because the State has recognized that they have neither intrinsic value as an intoxicant, nor any noteworthy market value. Marijuana’s ‘shade leaves’ are a waste product for marijuana farmers. These leaves are not smoked, and are not psychoactive. Marijuana’s initial wet, uncured weight can be over 500% of the final, dried, consumable and marketable weight. Uncured marijuana cannot be bagged or jarred because without curing because it would mold, rot, and become valueless. The State’s weighing of water content in uncured marijuana has resulted in many citizens receiving far harsher imprisonment, taxes and fines. Marijuana trafficking in North Carolina carries a mandatory minimum 2-year sentence for anyone possessing 10 lbs.

Compare Ch 1 & 2 of Hard Times to Ch 6 of Jane Eyre

Both authors Charlotte Bronte and Charles Dickens give determined attention to the bleak and hard aspects of life and, specifically, to the life of children. In the Chapters 1 & 2 of Hard Times to Chapter 6 of Jane Eyre, they vividly portray difficulties and hardship faced by many poor children at school. Thesis The chapters under analysis are based on similar settings and themes portraying educational system of the Victorian era, attitude towards children and their role in society.In the chapters under analysis, the authors portray school life of the protagonists and their grievances. ‘Fact and Figures’ dominate in the chapters underlining the role of cramming in education. In Hard Times, in the opening scene in ‘a plain, bare, monotonous vault of a schoolroom', the dominant adjectives are ‘square, hard, dry’, and the first paragraph of Chapter 2 emphasizes this theme by using many of the declaratory titles which Dickens had contemplated giving to thi s novel. T.Gradgrind teaches children:‘A man who proceeds upon the principle that two and two are four, and nothing over, and who is not to be talked into allowing for anything over† (Dickens). In Jane Eyre, girls follow strict rules during classes: â€Å"there were sundry questions about tonnage and poundage and ship-money, which most of them appeared unable to answer† (Bronte). Another important detail is that girls should read the Bible every morning which dictated social norms and social order.In the chapters under analysis, the authors create a similar prototypes of teachers and educational systems typical for their times. As the first passage makes clear, the Gradgrind educational system and the ethos of the industrial town are at one in being designedly quite rightly if ‘The Gradgrind Philosophy' is accepted – monotonous, and in embodying an aridly limited sense of life's possibilities and priorities. But already one challenge to that ‘Ph ilo ¬sophy' has appeared the circus at which the Gradgrind children are caught peeping.The same philosophy is followed by Miss Scatcherd who supposes that a teacher should be severe and irreconcilable to pupils’ faults. Jane comments: â€Å"it seems disgraceful to be flogged, and to be sent to stand in the middle of a room full of people† (Bronte). A doctrine of Christian endurance is similar in the chapters. Both authors pay a special attention to the process itself and organization of education. They underline that educational process should be based on daily activities and planning process.The chapters though starting in a schoolroom are concerned with more than education but growing up and new perception of the world. Success for the protagonists means fight in whatever direc ¬tion. To the attainment of any end worth living for, a symmetrical sacrifice of their nature is compulsory upon children. Jane comments: â€Å"I could not comprehend this doctrine of end urance; and still less could I understand or sympathize with the forbearance she expressed for her chastiser† (Bronte).Pressure of schooling and severe attitude of their tutors forces the children to mature and understand the role of religion and schooling in their life. The children speak as mature adults which unveils their independent thinking and mature personalities. Readers quickly sense the inevitability of the children's movement towards savagery, though the authors relate the novels with such economy and intensity that its predictability does not become monotonous. In these chapters, both children assume leadership for their calm rationality.â€Å"Only a few feeble stragglers said Yes: among them Sissy Jupe† (Dickens). In the chapters, both authors use characters of children in opposition to the main characters. This technique helps them to underline the importance of liberation in the world of cruelty and misunderstanding. In sum, Charlotte Bronte and Charles Dickens portray that suffering is undergone in order to expand the human spirit, to delve into matters previously kept hidden, to grow through pain. They grow up into small adults emulating the ‘real' world they have left behind and to which eventually they return.

Diversity in American Colonies - 3399 Words

Diversity in the American Colonies: The Formation of English, Native American, African and German Identities Colonial North America was a multifaceted melting pot of diversities. The amalgamation of different ethnicities, races, cultures and religious organizations created a circumstance in which the identities of the English, Native Americans, Africans and Germans were far from static. The interactions between these four groups helped to build the history of North America, and as such it is pertinent to understand the evolution of their identities. While old world traditions and increased interaction with cultural outsiders predominantly shaped the identities of English colonizers, religious appropriation and reinterpretation†¦show more content†¦10 This plan was exclusive and thus provoked English backlash, which fortified their sense of sodality. English colonizers brought old world traditions into the new world and strengthened their respective communities in order to pr otect their cultural identity in the colonies. For the English, immigration into the colonies meant facing one’s inessentiality; the colonies had high rates of mortality and weakly structured economies.11 Faced with their dispensability, settlers discovered new means to retain their cultural identities. For example, Quakers â€Å"rejected institutions of high culture and made virtues of simplicity and hard work in a hostile environment.† 12 They transplanted their theological cultural inheritances into colonial society and were able to perpetuate that facet of their identity in the colonies. The solidification of their communities was vital to the survival of their identities. For Scots, maintaining close relationships with prominent Scots in other colonies emphasized a Scottish identity, even across colonial borders.13 Maintaining relationships equated sustenance of old world culture through social interactions. Additionally, English colonizers solidified their commu nity by placing a strong importance on trust. â€Å"Among persons for whom doubt replaced basic trust in the way of one’s social group, such doubt may undermine theShow MoreRelatedThe Identity Of The American Revolution1527 Words   |  7 PagesThe identity of the American colonists prior to the American Revolution was still work in progress because there were certain events that helped shape their identity and led to the American Revolution. The American colonies were trying to break away from the British control because they wanted to become independent and be their own nation. 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