Essay on Kitty Genovese - 1247 Words

February 10th, 2011 Take-Home Midterm Intro to Legal Studies Chapter 1- Question One The Kitty Genovese story is a tragic one and is a controversial topic when ethics come into play. Though she screamed for help repeatedly while being stabbed the observers from the surrounding apartments did very little to assist the young woman. One observer in specific did shout â€Å"Leave the girl alone† and that deterred the assailant for a brief moment but whether or not he acted ethically is something of a different matter. According to Duty-Base Ethics which by definition states â€Å"the doctrine that actions are morally correct if they comply with existing obligations owed another and ourselves,† one could deduct that this observer did not act†¦show more content†¦So when asked to take the pro or con of this argument that prospective appointees to the U.S Supreme Court should publicly divulge their personal philosophies on the largest issues of modern society such as abortion rights, prayer in public school, etc. I say Pro. Not only should they speak of their beliefs about these controversial topics, they should do it openly and assertively. It is important for the people to know the people who are responsible for our government and what they stand for whether we agree or disagree. Sometimes and understandably public figures or potential public figures are hesitant to speak on such delicate matters because of the judgment and criticisms that they will have to endure once that information is out in the open but they must know that this is what comes with being a public government figure especially the prospective appointees for the U.S Supreme Court. It is their duty to serve the people and maintaining the integrity of the Constitution, which is what our country was built on. That is a great responsibility and a very public one so the prospective appointees should deem it necessary to let the people know who may be possibly carrying the weight of this responsibility and where they stand on these controversial issues that effect the people of this country. Chapter 3-Question Three In the civil trial cases to initiate it there first must be a complaint,Show MoreRelatedThe Death Of Kitty Genovese1493 Words   |  6 Pages The reason for this study was due to the death of Kitty Genovese in New York City. She was a young woman who was murdered by Winston Mosley in observance of many spectators who saw the incident from their bedroom windows of an apartment complex. Media went into a frenzy stating that 38 people witnessed the attack but did nothing to assist and did not call law enforcement, however, the story was misconstrued and it was later found that there were significantly less than 38 people observing and atRead MoreThe Kitty Genovese Murder790 Words   |  4 PagesKatie Wallace Psychology 2301 May 9, 2013 Mrs. Strickland Silent Witnesses: The Kitty Genovese Murder 1. After the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese, John Darley and Bibb Latane were in shock as the rest of the city/world that a 28 year old lady could be stabbed in a neighborhood with about 38 by standers or more and say or do nothing. Why didn’t anyone try and help her? How could people stand by and watch this go on? People speculated that the failure of people to get involved might be due moreRead MoreWhy Did Kitty Genovese s Neighbors Fail For Take Action Quickly? Essay1542 Words   |  7 PagesOn March 13, 1964, a woman named Kitty Genovese was stabbed repeatedly while several neighbors were vaguely aware of the unfolding events occurring outside. The lack of action on the neighbors’ part led to Genovese dying shortly after. Why did Kitty Genovese’s neighbors fail to take action quickly? The psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latanà © (1968) were interested in the Genovese incident and sought to find the answer to this psychological phenomenon. In their experiment, Darley and Latanà © hypothesizedRead MoreKitty Genovese1549 Words   |  7 PagesJihyun Yun ENG 101. 0795 Professor Kevin Lerner May 29, 2007 Research paper Selfish City’s Life Kitty Genovese was an ordinary woman. One day, she was going home in the early morning. When she arrived in her neighborhood at about 3:15 a.m. and parked her car about 100 feet from her apartments door, she was attacked by someone. She screamed out. Even though her screams were heard by several neighbors, nobody helped her. She was seriously injured, but the witnesses did not believe sheRead MoreCruelty, By Stanley Milgram1432 Words   |  6 Pagesand Bibb Latane, two young psychologists decided to create a study based on the Kitty Genovese case. This case was about Catherine Genovese or more commonly knows as Kitty, who was a female manager of a bar and was returning home after her shift at 3 A.M in Queens, New York. She stepped out of her car and noticed a suspiciously looking man in the distance and decided to make a move towards the police call box, sadly Kitty did not make it to box as before she knew it this man stabbed her from behindRead MoreWill You Practice What You Preach? Essay example1493 Words   |  6 Pagesthe resulting quandary is much more convoluted. The bystander effect is one tale as old as time; however, after the grim fate of Kitty Genovese, this subtle effect was forced into the limelight. Kitty Genovese was a twenty- eight-year-old girl who resided in the Queens of New York City until one dreadful night in 1964 when Winston Moseley brutally stabbed Genovese to death over the course of thirty minutes. Thirty-eight civilians witnessed the assail yet continued on with their nights (BystanderRead MoreThe Bystander Revolution : How Social Media Shapes And Effect On Bystander Effect911 Words   |  4 Pagesattempt to explain why it can help. The bystander effect was first observed by the media and social psychologists in 1964 through the case of Kitty Genovese, a 28-year old woman. On her way home from work, Genovese was stabbed multiple times over the course of 30 minutes. The murderer was able to leave the scene multiple times and come back to stab Genovese more. While this was happening, 38 people observed this from their window. Despite the number of people who viewed the incident, no one reportedRead MoreThe bystander effect Essay1223 Words   |  5 Pagestwenty-eight year old barmaid Catherine Kitty Genovese was murdered and raped on the street in Kew Gardens, New York. The incident did not initially receive much attention until Martin Gansbergs infamous article, Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder, Didnt Call the Police, was published in the New York Times two weeks later. In reality, only twelve people witnessed the event yet each did nothing to significantly help Genovese until it was too late. The Genovese mur der has become the definitive exampleRead MoreBystander Effect Essay1403 Words   |  6 Pagesas the Genovese Syndrome, was named after the infamous murder of â€Å"Kitty† Catherine Genovese in 1964, on the streets of New York in front of thirty-seven witnesses. After studying the Genovese syndrome and doing research on how this phenomenon occurs even today, it is clear The Bystander Effect is not just a theory, but actually fact. It wasn’t until Martin Gansberg wrote the article â€Å"37 Witnesses Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police† in The NewYork Times two weeks after Catherine â€Å"Kitty† GenoveseRead MoreExploring a Classic Case in Social Psychology Essay1058 Words   |  5 Pagesbut not helping. There are many reasons why individuals do not respond: diffusion of responsibility, not noticing or unsure if it is an emergency, and not wanting to be liable if the person still dies are a few. The Study Upon hearing of the Genovese murder John Darley and Bibb Latane conducted research and set up a study to determine why so many people failed to help before it was too late. Their study set three groups of students in sound proof booths. Group one believed that there was one

Jonathan Kozol has been around for quite some time writing Free Essays

Jonathan Kozol has been around for quite some time writing hard-hitting journalism about flaws in this country. His book Savage Inequities is more of the same with the focus on education. Kozol’s strength as a writer is being able to put a face on his topic, anywhere from education to homelessness, etc. We will write a custom essay sample on Jonathan Kozol has been around for quite some time writing or any similar topic only for you Order Now He makes the issue real and attaches human faces and real people that the reader can relate to.  In order to write this book, Kozol spent a lot of time traveling around visiting schools. To name a few, he visited schools in New York City, Chicago, St. Louis, Washington D.C. and many others. During his visits, he spent time observing in the classroom as well as interviewing teachers, students, parents, and administrators. What Kozol found out was that schools today are as separate and unequal as they were before the landmark decision of Brown vs. the Board of Education in 1954. he determines that the reason for these inequities lies in the way that American schools are funded. America funds its schools with property taxes. The problem with this is that rich suburban areas pay much more property taxes, which makes their schools unrivaled. While in inner city schools, the property tax base is much lower. Therefore, mostly minority kids attend schools without much money. Kozol takes the reader into these schools to make his point. In Chicago, there is a school with no library. They are overcrowded, understaffed, and lack even the basics of resources and equipments. He takes us to a high school in the Bronx where the rain pours in. For example, Kozol states, â€Å"The science labs at East St. Louis High are 30 to 50 years outdated†¦The six lab stations in the room have empty holes where pipes were once attached. ‘It would be great if we had water,’ says a physics teacher (Kozol 27). He later hits the reader hard questioning why our country allows this to happen.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Almost anyone who visits in the schools of East St. Louis†¦comes away profoundly shaken. These are innocent children, after all†¦One searches   fro some way to understand why a society as rich and, frequently, as      generous as ours would leave these children in their penury and squalor   for so long-and with so little public indignation. Is this just a strange    mistake of history?†¦why is it that we can’t at least pour vast amounts of      money, ingenuity, and talent into public education for these children? (140).  He literally bombards the reader with real horror stories of his visits and travels in order to put a face on the poor state of education.   It isn’t just about education and schools and teachers; there are real kids involved here who are not getting what they need. Of Patterson, New Jersey, he states, â€Å"The city is so short of space that four elementary schools now occupy   abandoned factories. Children at one wood-frame elementary school,   which has no cafeteria or indoor space for recreation, eat lunch in a section of the boiler room. A bathroom houses reading classes (Kozol 106).  He compares these schools to suburban ones where conditions are much better. Teachers are paid much more, libraries are stocked, and technology abounds. He does a fantastic job at showing the contrasts between the wealthy schools and the poor schools. With the pictures he paints for the reader, the reader cannot argue with him. He also makes a plea for America to value equality and fix its schools. â€Å"And yet we stop to tell ourselves: These are Americans. Why do we       reduce them to this beggary – and why, particularly, in public education?      Why not spend on children here at least what we would be investing in   their education if they lived within a wealthy district like Winnetka, Illinois, or Cherry Hill, New Jersey, or Manhasset, Rye, or Great Neck in   New York? Wouldn’t this be natural behavior in an affluent society that      seems to value fairness in so many other areas of life? Is fairness less    important to Americans today than in some earlier times? Is it viewed as    slightly tiresome and incompatible with hardnosed values? What do   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Americans believe about equality? (Kozol 41) Kozol ends the book with a vivid picture of an elementary school in a neighborhood of Cincinnati. He tells the reader that atmosphere was polluted with factories, prostitutes were near, and â€Å"Bleakness was the order of the day.† Kozol said he â€Å"rarely saw a child with a good big smile (Kozol 230-31). He leaves the reader with a bad taste in his/her mouth at the state of schools. This he does in hopes of spurring his readers to action. His research methods would be described as informal because his analysis comes from observations and interviews. There is no standard form that he uses, but he gets the material nonetheless. He devotes a chapter to teach area he discusses and gives the reader a description of the city as to understand why the schools are the way they are.  His findings are extremely significant to America as he clearly delineates the problems of American schools. With the images he creates, no one can argue with him. The pictures of these inner city schools are bleak. A criticism for Kozol is that he does not concentrate on any other problems in education besides inequality. Not that the inequality of schools is not a huge problem, but there are other problems that lead to poor achievement as well. No Child Left Behind plays a role. If those kids don’t do well on the tests, more funding can be cut. Inner city schools do not tend to keep their teachers, With high teacher turnover, it is even harder for students to learn, and there may be large gaps in curriculum. There are also many forces at play outside the school, such as the home lives and parental involvement of these students. Probably the biggest criticism of Kozol is that he offers no solutions; he only identifies problems. He would probably say that solutions aren’t his job, and he would leave that to the educational theorists. But after reading his condemnations, it would be nice to hear some of his ideas for solutions. Kozol doesn’t tell the reader this, but The relationship between funding and academic achievement is unclear. However, it does not take a genius to figure this out. Will more money alone solve the problems in schools? Of course, it won’t. However, more money will help. Money will help schools fix dilapidated buildings, buy equipment and resources, hire more teachers and aides to promote lower class sizes, attract better teachers who are more qualified, and a myriad of other things. But throwing money at the problem is only a start. These schools need help. They need more community and parental involvement. They need after school programs and tutoring programs and teachers with the knowledge and compassion to continue in the profession. Kozol doesn’t mention other solutions except to give the schools more money, but there are many other things needed. Even money will not solve the problems of segregation. Inner city schools are made up mostly of minority students. How is that problem solved? Yes, more whites who fled to the suburbs are finding their way back to the inner city, but this is not always a good thing either. They are uprooting established communities in the process of gentrification and displacing people who may have nowhere else to go. This is why Kozol focuses on the money, because as difficult as it will be to change the way we fund schools, it will be harder to desegregate communities. Kozol makes good sense when he speaks of getting rid of the property tax funding for schools and finding a new way to fund them. If education is supposed to be democratic, and it is, America cannot continue to fund schools this way. The system America has virtually guarantees that parents who can afford to buy big houses in the suburbs will send their children to better schools. For school administrators and all personnel in schools, there are many things to be learned from this book. the most important one is that as educators, we should be fighting for democratic schools. Administrators should be out there fighting the property tax system and leading the charge to find other, more equitable ways to fund schools. Administrators also ought to be required to take a look around at the world. They should be required to visit inner city schools to truly understand what other educators go through on a daily basis. Administrators should value quality teachers all the more after reading this book, and go out of their way to keep their quality teachers. Truly, everyone even thinking about becoming an educator should read a book like this, and visit these schools.   Most of us do not even know what a crisis we are in, right now in America.   And hopefully, future educators will be the ones to fix this crisis. Work Cited Kozol, Jonathan, Savage Inequities, Harper Perennial, 1992. How to cite Jonathan Kozol has been around for quite some time writing, Essay examples

Homelessness Causes Essay Example For Students

Homelessness Causes Essay Being homeless is often defined as sleeping on the streets. Although thisis the most visible and severe form of homelessness, there are many other typesof acute housing need. These include living in temporary accommodation, poor orovercrowded conditions, or being in mortgage arrears and under threat ofre-possession. (Hope 1986) It is a symptom of many complex problems:mental illness, emotional instability, illiteracy, chronic substance abuse,unemployment, and, most basic of all, breakdown of the family structure. Anyonecan become homeless and the reasons that force people into homelessness are manyand varied. The leading cause, however, of homelessness in the United States isthe inability of poor people to afford housing. Housing costs have risensignificantly over the last decade, while the incomes of poor and middle-classAmericans have stagnated. (Erickson 1991) The millions of Americans whoare unemployed or work in low-paying jobs are among the most vulnerable tobecoming homeless. Therefore, homelessness, housing and income are inextricablylinked. Low-income people are frequently unable to pay for housing, food,child-care, health care, and education. Difficult choices must be made whenlimited resources cover only some of these necessities. Often it is housing,which takes a high proportion of income that must be dropped. Two major sourcesof income are from employment and public assistance. A decrease in either one ofthem would certainly put poor people at risk of homelessness. Additionally,minimum wage earnings no longer lift families above the poverty line. Morethan 3 million poor Americans spend more than half of their total income onhousing, yet the Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates familiesshould spend no more than 30%. (Gilbert 1993) Although many homelessadults are employed, they work in day-labor jobs that do not meet basic needs,while technological acceleration excludes others from a competitive job market. Many factors have contributed to declining work opportunities for large segmentsof the workforce, including the loss of well-paying manufacturing jobs. Thedecline in relatively secure and well-paying jobs in manufacturing, which havebeen replaced by less secure and poorly-paid jobs in the service sector, hasgreatly limited the opportunities for poorly-educated and low-skilled segmentsof the population. This transformation has led to an unprecedented incidence ofchronic unemployment and underemployment. (Hardin 1996) Underemployment isan especially useful measure of the decline in secure jobs since, unlike theunemployment rate, measures of underemployment reflect not only individuals whoare unemployed, but also involuntary part-timers and those who have given upseeking work. (Hardin 1996) In addition to increasing underemployment,an estimated 29.4% of the workforce are employed in nonstandard workarrangements (Economic Policy Institute, 1997) for example, independentcontracting, work ing for a temporary help agency, day labor, and regularpart-time employment. These kinds of work arrangements typically offer lowerwages, fewer benefits, and less job security. As recently as 1967, ayear-round worker earning the minimum wage was paid enough to raise a family ofthree above the poverty line (Sklar, 1995). From 1981-1990, however,the minimum wage was frozen at $3.35 an hour, while the cost of livingincreased 48% over the same period. Congress raised the minimum wage to $5.15per hour in 1996. This increase made up only slightly more than half of theground lost to inflation in the 1980s (Shapiro, 1995b). Thus, full-timeyear-round minimum-wage earnings currently not equal to the estimated povertyline for a family of three. Unsurprisingly, the decline in the value of theminimum wage has been accompanied by an increase in the number of people earningpoverty-level wages and the declining wages have put housing out of reach formany workers: in every state. Slashed public assi stance has also left manypeople homeless or at risk of homelessness. Replacement of the Aid toFamilies with Dependent Children (AFDC) entitlement program a program that wasalready inadequate in meeting the needs of families with the non-entitlementblock rant program will significantly increased the risk of homelessness formany Americans. (Foscarinas 1996) Furthermore, earned income and assetlimitations discourage individuals and families from breaking the cycle ofhomelessness and extreme poverty. Several states have terminated or reducedpublic assistance and food stamps for individuals, while Social SecurityIncome (SSI) is inadequate and sometimes impossible to obtain for disabledindividuals. (Foscarinas 1996) As a result, the number of poor Americansis growing and the poor are getting poorer. Across America, there has been asubstantial decline in the number of housing units that low-income people andthose in need of shelter assistance can afford. Those losses have resultedprimar ily from downtown urban renewal, gentrification, abandonment, and suburbanland use controls. The elimination and reduction of federal low income housingprograms has also dramatically reduced the supply of affordable shelter. the imortance of diversity in an organization Essay Several states have terminated or reduced public assistance and food stamps for individuals, while Social Security Income (SSI) is inadequate and sometimes impossible to obtain for disabled individuals. (Foscarinas 1996) As a result, the number of poor Americans is growing and the poor are getting poorer. Across America, there has been a substantial decline in the number of housing units that low-income people and those in need of shelter assistance can afford. Those losses have .