Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Term Paper

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court - Term Paper Example On this day, there was a sitting of a full SJC bench at John Adams Courthouse, courtroom one. The bench sat in full, to hear the appeals, composed of an uneven number of judges, seven. There were two criminal cases that were listed, SJC-11164 Commonwealth vs Leslie Bertini, and SJC-11163 Commonwealth vs Eugene Bertini. The defendants had been indicted for an armed robbery, armed assault with intent to rob, assault, and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault with a dangerous weapon and larceny of over $250. The trial court had granted the Commonwealth orders to compel the accused to produce a buccal swab, allowing the commonwealth to employ reasonable force to ensure compliance with the said order. Subsequently, the defendants sought review of this order from a single judge. Moreover, Eugene Bertini filed a petition arguing that the Commonwealth had not discharged the burden to show that the evidence being sought was relevant to the matter in question and that use of force to extrac t his DNA sample while he had not been convicted, violated his search and seizure rights under the fourth amendment and article 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. Leslie Bertini also filed an application for leave to appeal to the mass. R.Crim.p.15 (a)(2). She also argued that the Commonwealth had failed to show that the evidence sought would go towards proving her guilt, and added that allowing the Commonwealth to obtain the evidence by force, violates her rights to due process and not to self-incriminate. incriminate. The petitions were denied by the single justice, prompting the appeal before the full bench. The appeal also raised matter of constitutional law. The appellants argued that the order was violating their constitutional rights to privacy and to be free from unlawful search and seizure. Consequently, the matter was listed for full briefing and oral arguments, touching on the merits of the trial court’

Sherlock Holmes Essay Example for Free

Sherlock Holmes Essay The use of clues and red herrings this way creates a sense of atmosphere and suspense which appeals to the modern day reader because it is what most modern day stories include and as this was written in the Victorian era it is still giving the reader the sense of uneasiness; for example, In The Speckled Band, the gypsies are red herrings because Conan Doyle writes about them in a way as to suggest they are to blame for the crime however this only makes the reader build up false accusations against them and they become oblivious to the real criminal. The use of language is very interesting in Conan Doyles stories because there are many variations compared to the language we use today. For example in the speckled band Holmes asks Helen Stoner to take a seat but instead of using the phrase have a seat which we would use in todays modern language, he says to Miss Stoner pray take a seat which is a polite way of asking the same thing of someone. In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries women were not treated with an equal amount of respect as men and so by Holmes addressing Miss Stoner in that way, it is an example of how he is unique and does not think less of women. The modern reader may struggle to understand some of the meanings of the phrases used because they have slightly different meanings to us now. For example, Holmes addresses Watson and says, I beg you will not disturb me, using I beg in todays society would have a different meaning altogether as it would seem as though you desperately want something. Also, the language tells us a lot about Victorian society, in the past people were addressed according to their class and this was determined from where you lived. The suspect in The Speckled Band is Dr. Grimsby Roylott; he commits the crime of murder because he wants to ensure he gains full entitlement to a large sum of money. Conan Doyle uses very powerful imagery to create the character of Dr. Roylott such as, He was a huge man.. face.. marked with every evil passion and also He strode out of the room. These two quotes are a few examples of the language the author uses to build up the readers accusations against Roylott and also to show how he placed himself above others and to show his importance. In the Red Headed League, the main suspect is John Clay; he works hard only for half-pay. This is similar to The Speckled Band because both crimes are money related. From the techniques Doyle uses, the reader is meant to think that Roylott and Clay are the villains but then he also uses other techniques to make the reader doubt their suspicion. This makes the story ending much more unexpected. The writer uses suspicion by making the suspects act in mysterious and different ways to everyone else. From the behavior of the suspects, you find out that back in Victorian Society many crimes were based on money and the belief that it was very important; this is a very big similarity between the two periods of time because in todays society the majority of crimes are still money related. The victim in The Red Headed League is Jabez Wilson; he is a shop owner who is being deceived by his employee, John Clay. He believes that John is doing photography down in the cellar, however he is digging a tunnel to the Bank. The victim in The Speckled Band is Helen Stoner; she comes home after questioning the mysterious death of her twin sister. The writer uses techniques to make the victims seem helpless in comparison to Holmes, such as making them seem desperate for his help as though they are incapable without him, which in effect emphasizes his great skills and capability at solving crimes. Also, Helen Stoner is made to seem weaker than Jabez which shows how women were given less opportunities than men and that men were thought to be more powerful and important. A motive is a reason for something and all suspects must have a motive in order to commit a crime. The motive for both The Speckled Band and The Red Headed League is money. In The Red Headed League, John Clay attempts to steal from the Bank of London and in The Speckled Band; Dr. Roylott attempts to stop his daughter from marrying in order to inherit money that they would be entitled from the will of a past relative. Holmes motive for solving crimes is for the excitement in each individual case not for actually solving the crime itself. He says to Watson that he suffers from ennuie meaning that he finds everyday life boring. The motives show how important money was in Victorian Society; the main reason for this is because it determines your class. All Sherlock Holmes stories have strong morals; these are serious messages that teach the reader something. Both The Speckled Band and The Red Headed League have the same moral and that is that money isnt everything. Money can get people into a lot of trouble, in these cases murder and robbery. This is important for Victorian readers because money is very much related to their lives and people were very discriminate about class back in those times; these morals can be seen as a warning to them. These morals would appeal to a modern reader because it is still valid for todays society. It is a way of distinguishing right from wrong and showing how crime results in punishment and that justice will be done. The morals dont seem harsh to me, I think they are fair. It is a strong message; however I think they can be interpreted differently in both the Victorian society and todays society. Back in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries money often determined peoples class which could affect their lifestyles however; many crimes are committed in order to gain money for different reasons. The key parts of the stories that I feel appeal to me, as a modern day reader, are the processes leading up to the crime being solved and the frequent use of red herrings. Also, the Short Stories of Sherlock Holmes would appeal to modern readers because they are of a detective genre which still relates to todays society. I would recommend these stories because they are very well written and are also educational and informative about Victorian Society. I preferred The Speckled Band because it had the most unexpected ending due to having so many red herrings in. I think that that makes the story more exciting and interesting to read. Adriana Romano 10N Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Conan Doyle section.

Main Cause Of Environmental Issues In China Environmental Sciences Essay

Main Cause Of Environmental Issues In China Environmental Sciences Essay Population problems are one of the worlds most important social problems, and they are the cores of many contemporary social problems. Also, population problems are closely connected to environmental issues, and the earth is threatened by them. There are different kinds of population problems which China is facing now, and the problems of Sole child policy have begun to show: First, the overpopulation problem; second, the population aging problem; third, the decline of population quality problem. The statistics show that China has the biggest population in the world, and there are probably 1.3 billion people in China. In addition, the speed of population growth is amazing that the average annual growth rate is up to 0.57%. Large population and weak carrying capacity are the basic national conditions of China at this stage, and it is difficult to change in a short time. The population problem is a long-term problem in the primary stage of socialism in China, and it may lead to limited resources, less sustainability of the earth, and the poorer population quality. These results are all main causes of environmental issues in China, and the Chinese government has paid attention on these problems. Why China has too much population? The first reason is that China has low cost of having children. The lower cost of having children in the place, there will be the higher density of population. The geographical feature in China is that the western part is high, and the eastern part is low. The highest Tibetan Plateau in the western region has average 4,000 meters of altitude above sea level, and to the eastern coastal areas, it is less than a few hundred meters. This terrain condition is affected by Pacisic monsoon, which makes the rains concentrate on May to December. Also, the growth of crops needs moisture and temperature, and May to December in China has both heat and rain in the same period, these make China suitable for food planting, especially for the cultivation of high-yielding rice. In such areas suitable for the cultivation of rice, there will be more grain output in the same proportion. Using food as a unit of account to calculate, China has a lower cost of dependents. Therefore, a larger number of depen dent will make the population density be larger. The secondly reason can be that China has different cultures and different religions. Ancient Chinese thought that no offspring was a big problem, and in order to carry on the family line, they needed early marriage and childbearing traditions. Also, they were desired for sons, and they would not stop having babies until a son was born because they thought sons could support the parents when they got old. In addition, there can be another religious factor such as the East Asian religions restrict abortion. These directly cause that each family has many children, which is a basis of overpopulation in China today. The third reason of why there are many people in China is that after the liberation, medical conditions greatly improved, and the survival rate of babies was highly improved. Also, Chairman Mao in that period suggested that more people would have more power because of the demand of labor for the technology backward and lack of military power that time. In brief, these three reasons show that China has a huge population base, and with the growth of the population every year, it leads to overpopulation in China, which results in a series of environmental issues now. Why overpopulation in China causes environmental issues? With the growth of population and the improvement of product tools, the depth and breadth of the usage of the nature are perpetually expanded, and humans interference on ecological environment is bigger and bigger. When peoples business activities reverse natural original balance and coordination, and the nature cannot make up itself for the damage by human activities, there will be a series of ecological environmental issues. It can be reflected through many aspects such as limited resources, serious pollution, and decease in biodiversity. Because the population is becoming bigger, the demand of industry for resources and economy in China is becoming bigger. However, the industry is like a double-edged sword, and at the same time it brings prosperity and civilization, it also brings negative effects. Due to various reasons, Chinas not very large industry destroys natural ecosystems, and increases environmental pollution. From a domestic perspective, as city as a center, the range of environmental degradation is still expanding; soil erosion and desertification degree aggravated; resource destruction and waste is widespread, and some important resources gap gradually widened. Environmental pollution and degradation become one of the main factors restricting the sustainable development of Chinas economy and threatening the health of people. In 2002, the worlds forest coverage rate is 31.3%, but China is only 14%. Due to the irrational use of pasture, the grassland shows degradation, desertification, and salinization trends, and the average grass yield decreased by 30%-50%. In the arid and semi-arid areas, precipitation is far below evaporation, and vegetation is sparse and the ecology is fragile. The mild human activity is likely to lead to land degradation and desertification. China is one of the worlds most serious soil erosion countries, and serious soil erosion and desperate short of water resources eventually led to the devastating floods and Southwest drought in 2010. In northern China, the desert, Gobi, and desertified lands have reached 1.54 million square kilometers, accounting for 16% of the total land areas. Also, the biodiversity is continuously decreased. According to Stancheva, she said that: All of the previously described effects of overpopulation on the environment lead to the destruction of the natural habitat of many wildlife species (Stancheva). Chinas biodiversity is very rich, and higher plants and biological species account for 10% of the world. However, biodiversity is under a double threat from population growth and environmental degradation. Nearly half a century, China has more than 1,000 kinds of species extinction, which include about 200 species of higher plants. 15%-20% of plants and animal species are endangered, including about 4,600 species of higher plants and 400 kinds of wild animals. In addition, because of overpopulation, the industry activities become more important, which brings population. The air pollution is very serious, and the quality of atmospheric environmental in more than 500 cities cannot reach international standards. The pollution comes mainly from coal-fired release of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, smoke, dust pollution, and automobile exhaust pollution. In addition, the quality of water environment is deteriorating due to industrial wastewater discharge. The levels of pollutants in the water environment is far more than national quality standards, even infiltrating contaminated groundwater, which leads to the situation that local residents have no water to drink. Also, the emissions of solid waste are increasing, but the treatment rate and comprehensive utilization rate is not high. Finally, the noise pollution in the city becomes a major hazard. National regional environmental noise pollution rate is among the highest in the world. In general, higher demand for industry activities causes a series of environmental problems such as the lost of forest, the soil erosion, the decrease in biodiversity and pollution. Also, higher demand for industry activities is a result of overpopulation. Therefore, overpopulation is an indirect factor of environmental problems. The solutions for environmental problems caused by overpopulation The first solution is that accelerate the progress of science and technology to improve the sustainability. The government must enhance Chinas resources alternative capacity and ability to regenerate; the government also needs to enhance the assimilative capacity of the environment to reduce waste emissions. The second solution is improving education and health situation, and enhancing peoples quality. Environmental issues are very close to peoples quality problems, and sustainable development requires changing the traditional values of the environment to make everyone shoulder the responsibility to promote human harmony with the environment. The third solution is insisting on the national policy of family planning to reduce the burden on the environment. It is necessary to strict control of population growth, and to make the population growth rate in the level of which economic power and the supply of resources can withstand. The final solution can be improving resource utilization and reducing resources wasted. To conserve resources not only needs to reduce waste of resource consumption, but also must reduce the waste of resource development. At present, China has a serious waste in resource development. Also, strengthening the management of resources and improving resource utilization are an important part of the coordination of relations between people and lands. In conclusion, overpopulation is one of Chinas population problems, and if the government and people do not pay attention on it and do not have some solutions for it, there will be a huge damage to the environment.

Students Should Study Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay

Mark Twain published what scholars still consider one of the greatest American literary works in 1885, and in that same year it suffered its first banning (Zwick). â€Å"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is essential to the understanding of the American soul,† Victor Doyno states on the jacket of Random House’s comprehensive edition of the novel. If Huckleberry Finn is so indispensable, then its having been opposed from the beginning of its life seems more than a little surprising. At first, the strife was caused by many objecting to the friendship between Huckleberry Finn, the white protagonist, and Jim, an escaped African American slave, in addition to the grammar upon which many critics of the time frowned. As our society experiences changes in priorities, taboos, and social trends, the points of concern shift, and no longer do critics grimace at an interracial friendship; instead, they attack the racism supposedly present (Chadwick). A number of students, parents, and, on less frequent occasions, teachers claim that Huckleberry Finn possesses racist overtones and try to have it removed from school libraries and the curriculum. Despite the controversy, Huckleberry Finn, in which Twain delivers an honest depiction of the 1800’s, maintains its stance as a classic piece of literature beneficial to a student’s education (Chadwick). The shallowest and most prevalent argument involves the repeated, some attackers say excessive, use of the word â€Å"nigger,† which appears over two hundred times (Zwick). Today, the word is unquestionably one of the most offensive expletives in use; the book, however, was not written for this decade, or even this century, and it certainly was not intended to be a written prediction of the future. Huck... ...nd hopefully in another century, his writing will continue to enlighten future students. WORKS CITED â€Å"Blackface: The Minstrel Tradition.† Louisville University. 12 March 2003 http://www.louisville.edu/~afcren01/blackface.html>. Chadwick, Jocelyn. â€Å"Why Huck Finn Belongs in Classrooms.† Harvard Education Research Letter Online. November 2000. 10 February 2003 http://www.edletter.org/past/issues/2000-nd/huckfinn.shtml>. Gregory Leslie. â€Å"Finding Jim Behind the Mask: The Revelation of African American Humanity in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.† Ampersand. 13 July 1998. 12 March 2003 http://itech.fgcu.edu/&/issues/vol1/huckfinn.htm>. Salwen, Peter. â€Å"Is Huck Finn a Racist Book?† Salwen Business Communications. 1996. 10 February 2003 http://salwen.com/mtrace.html>. â€Å"Stereotype.† Def. 2. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary. 1997.

Bridget Jones Diary Essay

In the novel Bridget Jones Diary, author Helen Fielding portrays men and women as superficial observers who act on their superficial judgment and are mentally affected by this. There are many different social messages being conveyed but they all seem to be of some superficial nature. They mostly express a man or a woman’s sexual lust or interest to some extent, and are shown as superficial. One of the gestures of superficiality is Bridget’s constant documentation of her weight. It shows how her weight directly affects her appearance towards men which affects her mood from happy to sad vice versa. Bridget states â€Å"Today is a historic and joyous day. After eighteen years of trying to get down to 119 lbs. I have finally achieved it. †(90) and then goes on to argue how if it’s a tapeworm then its staying which shows how she’s content with whatever makes he make her attractive no matter the cost towards health. Bridget then says â€Å"I am not in love with Daniel anymore. I am free. †(91) Which conveys how Bridget’s loss in weight made her instantly feel more confident. This shows her superficiality because she lets her weight become a gauge for how she should feel about herself which leads to her more positive thoughts. Bridget would change her personality to adapt to situations and cause certain reactions from people like Daniel. When Daniel attempted to undo Bridget’s skirt for the first time Bridget reacted to his brash actions by denying him saying she isn’t interested. After a few weeks however, Bridget said â€Å"Still no word from Daniel. Cannot face thought of entire Sunday stretching ahead with everyone else in the world except me in bed with someone giggling and having sex. †(37) which shows her fickleness after denying Daniel which I believe started with her talk with Sharon when she says â€Å"†¦ Emotional fuckwittage, which is spreading like a wildfire among men over thirty. As women glide from their twenties to thirties, Shazzer argues, the balance of power suddenly shifts. Even the most outrageous minxes lose their nerve. †(17) This was the introduction of â€Å"Emotional fuckwittage† which was the reason that Bridget denied Daniel. This depicts that women can see through men for their desire to mess with women’s emotion by their lust. The social message being conveyed about men shows that men are only interested in sex with no regards to collateral damage to women’s emotions. Thus Bridget let her view of men affect her emotionally. There were many portrayals of what women and men wanted out of relationships and were also based off of superficial judgments of men and women, where men wanted sex, and women wanted marriage. Throughout the book Bridget is pressured to get married by her family and acts as if there is some sort of obligation at her age to be married which is conveyed when she responds to her mom’s pressure by saying â€Å"Mum, I’ve told you. I don’t need to be fixed up with. †(9)

Impact of Computers on Society Essay

Everyone knows that this is the age of computer and vast majority of people are using computer. Development of science and technology has direct effect on our daily life as well as in our social life. Computer technology has made communication possible from one part of the world to the other in seconds. They can see the transactions in one part of the world while staying in the other part. Computer development is one of the greatest scientific achievements of the 20th century. Computers are used in various fields as well as in teaching and learning. Computers are complex electronic devices. They can perform many operations at once, and make our daily lives easier. Almost every home, office, or school has a computer of some kind these days. It may seem at first that having a computer brings only benefits, but further consideration shows that it also has disadvantages. There are many pros and cons about computers (and technology in general). First of all computers are very useful at school. It helps students study for upcoming tests and makes subjects more interesting to learn about. Students can also learn new vocabulary and grammar. Furthermore it allows students to become familiar with operating a computer and gain basic computer skills. Many modern day jobs involve using a computer in one way or another. Also more people can save their valuable time by using computers. This is especially beneficial in the workplace where employees can do their work faster than they ever could before. In addition, storing information on a computer is one of the most efficient ways of keeping data. One flash drive, for example, can hold the same amount of information as numerous books. People can also communicate with other computer owners through the internet, which now offers everything from shopping to â€Å"video chatting† with a person in another country. On the other hand many jobs have been lost due to the fact that a single computer can do a lot of tasks more efficiently and cheaper than humans. This has led to high unemployment rates in many countries. The internet is also full of harmful materials; especially for kids. Some websites are not designed for educational purposes but for profit-gaining aims. There are even children who are so â€Å"addicted† to online gaming that they spend almost all day sitting before in front of a computer screen. As a result they do poorly at school. Also, a computer is just a machine; it can’t completely replace humans so you are unlikely to find ‘moral support’ from chatting with strang people on the net. Besides, people tend to tell lies to their chatter. Also, if kids are left unsupervised they would spend all of their time playing games on the computer rather than using it for educational purposes. Furthermore computer usage can also take an emotional toll on people. When some people work from home on the computer are far more likely to feel cut off from the rest of the world. If children are sitting in front of the screen all day, they do not learn to share, wait their turn, or even something as simple as manners. Moreover children might be using the internet to access pornographic material. Children are also easy targets for sexual offenders who chat online with them and then make plans to meet them or slowly obtain information about them. Also frequent and prolonged computer session may pose physical health. One example of a health hazard could be a bad back. Pretty much everyone relies on a computer one way or another nowadays. These complex electronic devices can help us throughout our daily lives†¦.but they can also hurt. They pose physical and mental/emotional threats if you spend too much time glued to your computer or similar device. There are pros and cons of computer usage. You can communicate with someone in England while you’re laying in bed on your laptop in your pajamas. It can also hurt us just as much as it helps. If you go on one â€Å"suspicious† website and your computer could be infected with a deadly virus and mess up your computer or you could lose all of your personal data, like financial information. What you see depends on who you are and exactly how you see it. Works Cited Anil, Aakar. â€Å"Aakar Tech.† IMPACT OF COMPUTER ON SOCIETY. N.p., 12 Nov. 2007. Web. 05 Feb. 2013. Dutta, Pallab. â€Å"What Are the Benefits of Computers in Society?† EHow. Demand Media, 08 July 2009. Web. 05 Feb. 2013. Frisicaro, Adrian. â€Å"Cs4fn : Computer Science for Fun.† Computer Science for Fun. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2013. â€Å"The Impact of Computers on Society.† The Impact of Computers on Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2013. Joseph, Chris. â€Å"The Disadvantages of Computers in the Workforce.† Small Business. Demand Media, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2013.