The person that I am going to focus on is Rod Blagojevich. He is the former governor of Illinois. He was born on December 10th 1956. He was the younger of two boys. His father Radisa Blagojevich, was an immigrant steel plant laborer from Serbia who was also a former Nazi prisoner. His mother, Millie was a ticket taker for the Chicago Transit authority. Rod grew up in a working class immigrant neighborhood in Chicago. His parents never let him forget about his heritage and culture. Besides English, Rod spoke fluent Serbo-Croatian. His college education started at the University of Tampa. He later enrolled at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He had to wash dishes at the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline to support himself during college. After graduating undergrad, he entered Pepperdine University Law School in Malibu California. Some of his friends and acquaintances remember Blagojevich as a private person that did not socialize or drink.
After graduation, he worked as a lawyer in the private sector in Chicago, Illinois. A few years later, started working under Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s legal team. This mayor had some controversy of his own; he had to deal with a truck hiring scandal that brought a lot of negativity to his office. Since 1972 in Chicago, over 79 current or former Chicago politicians have been found guilty or have pleaded guilty of crimes by judges, juries or their own pleas Chicago-Sun Times (2006 p 7). I will later explain how the Socio-Cultural Perspective will relate to his behavior. This perspective states that abnormal behavior is based on broad influences of that person’s society and culture.
In 1992, Blagojevich started his political career by beating and incumbent to become a mem...
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...he Celebrity Apprentice. His actions have caught up to him in a very harsh manner. His almost God-like self image will eventually be his total downfall. His lawyers now try to prevent him from sinking further.
Treatment for Blagojevich would first require him to tell all of his crimes while he was in office, in detail. He must make amends to everyone that he wronged. I would also sentence him to a long prison sentence and require him to attend group and personal counseling. He first needs to realize the depths of his behavior and the damage that he has caused his office and city. He also needs to realize how he will be viewed long after he is alive.
He needs to be brought back to earth with a real reality check on his behavior. He may need to be on some type of drug also. He needs to see a psychiatrist to determine if he has a serious mental issue.
Harrison, L. H. (Ed.). (2004). Kentucky Governors (Updated ed., pp. 217-220). Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky.
“Corruption is like a ball of snow, once it’s set a rolling it must increase (Charles Caleb Colton).” Colton describes that once corruption has begun, it is difficult to stop. Corruption has existed in this country, let alone this very planet, since the beginning of time. With corruption involves: money, power, and favoritism. Many people argue today that racism is still a major problem to overcome in today’s legal system. American author (and local Chicago resident) Steve Bogira jumps into the center of the United States justice system and tells the story of what happens in a typical year for the Cook Country Criminal Courthouse, which has been noted as one of the most hectic and busiest felony courthouses in the entire country. After getting permission from one of the courthouse judges’ (Judge Locallo) he was allowed to venture in and get eyewitness accounts of what the American Legal System is and how it operates. Not only did he get access to the courtroom but: Locallo’s chambers, staff, even his own home. In this book we get to read first hand account of how America handles issues like: how money and power play in the court, the favoritism towards certain ethnic groups, and the façade that has to be put on by both the defendants and Cook County Workers,
Before I signed up to take the Principles of Sociology class, I had no idea I would have to change the way I view the world. In order to make sense of a case like Hernando Washington, it is essential to view the world with what Max Weber describes as verstehen. In other words, you need to stay objective and not allow your own values affect how you perceive a situation. Instead, I have learned how to look at the world with a sociological imagination, which is exactly how Lisa J. McIntyre looked at Hernando’s case. Instead of studying Hernando Washington as an individual, Lisa studied his surroundings, culture, and interactions in order to get a better understanding of why Hernando could commit a crime
Al Capone’s family came with a wave of other Italian immigrants that migrated to the United States in the 1800’s. Most immigrants in that time were living in poverty and in very urban areas. Capone’s family lived in the heart of Brooklyn, but his father was a successful barber which allowed them a slightly better lifestyle than most. Al Capone was the fourth of nine children and grew up with a very tight-knit Italian family who were trying to succeed in their new country”. Capone attended public school in the city and had a natural brightness by keeping a “B average” despite playing hooky on many occasions. The sixth grade showcased Capone’s short temper when he hit a female teacher who was lecturing him. This incident reveals the beginning of who Al Capone would come to be. After being suspended for his violence, he never officially furthered his education. He began his life of crime by joining the kid gangs that existed all over Brooklyn. These “gangs” were nothing more than children being hoodlums and participating in petty crimes, although they would be the ...
...embly found this out, he was kicked off and was no longer politically involved in anything.
Trait Theory suggests that the criminal behavior that one may partake in is related to personality traits inherited at birth. “Psychological traits are stable personality patterns that tend to endure throughout the life course and across social and cultural contexts.” (Schmalleger, 2016) This theory also suggests that these traits give criminals “predispositions to respond to a given situation in
When Lowell Weicker, Jr. took office, doing the “right thing” was the way he planned to navigate his political career. Many politicians, even to this day, lose sight of doing what is right, as what is right may not be what is always politically popular. But for Weicker, doing the “right thing” was the only way. Weicker was a man of honor, an advocator for human rights, an 18-year Congressman/Senator for the United States, and a four-year governor for the State of Connecticut. During his tenure in office, he fought for doing the “right thing”, even if it challenged his political appeal. During his journey throughout the White House and the state capital building, and for that matter any political stop in between, the public might not have always believed in Weicker’s political stance, but he knew his agenda would benefit the majority in the long run. Weicker was a man of principle who fought for what was right, in an arena where many others fight for what favors re-election. Weicker was an unorthodox man, an independent minded person, a man who, when in office, sought for the betterment of Connecticut and for the betterment of the US. He was a man who often was viewed as rebellious, or potentially disruptive to policies and/or ideas, in order to push his political agenda. Weicker was a game changer. Weicker was a maverick.
The New York Times bestseller book titled Reasonable Doubts: The Criminal Justice System and the O.J. Simpson Case examines the O.J. Simpson criminal trial of the mid-1990s. The author, Alan M. Dershowitz, relates the Simpson case to the broad functions and perspectives of the American criminal justice system as a whole. A Harvard law school teacher at the time and one of the most renowned legal minds in the country, Dershowitz served as one of O.J. Simpson’s twelve defense lawyers during the trial. Dershowitz utilizes the Simpson case to illustrate how today’s criminal justice system operates and relates it to the misperceptions of the public. Many outside spectators of the case firmly believed that Simpson committed the crimes for which he was charged for. Therefore, much of the public was simply dumbfounded when Simpson was acquitted. Dershowitz attempts to explain why the jury acquitted Simpson by examining the entire American criminal justice system as a whole.
Gillespie, Andra. The New Black Politician: Cory Booker, Newark, and Post-racial America. New York: New York UP, 2012. Print.
Varying theories such as rational choice theory, trait theory, and social structure theory are commonly used to explain why crime happens. Application of these three theories in discussing the crimes of Richard Speck can help us to better understand which of the theories may apply and perhaps help give us insight into why he committed his crimes. But they are more beneficial when not looking at a single specific crime, but the person and all the crimes they may have committed throughout their criminal careers.
Richard Joseph Daley, the grandson of Irish immigrants, was born in the Bridgeport area of Chicago on May 15, 1902. He was graduated from De La Salle Institute in 1918 and worked in the stockyards for several years before studying law. While studying, he worked as a clerk in the Cook County Controller's office. In 1936 Daley married Eleanor Guilfoyle, and the couple had three daughters and four sons. One son, Richard M. Daley, served in the Illinois Senate and as Cook County state's attorney before being elected mayor of Chicago in 1989.
Israel Keyes was a very organized conventional criminal that was always thinking ahead of how he could benefit himself for future crimes. According to many posts in discussion week 6, students seemed to agree that conventional criminals are much more hands on and appear more threatening. Keyes fits this description ve...
He grew up in a poor family. Thus, the man was known as a self-educated person. Despite his living condition, he then became a lawyer, a state legislator in Illinois, and a House of Representatives’ one-term member.
One thing that Donald Trump used to be known for was that he was the host of The Celebrity Apprentice. When his political career started, it was revealed that Donald would not be the host for the next season. Now it turns out that Donald Trump won't be coming back to the show at all. E! shared that Donald Trump won't even be welcome back to the show at all according to NBC. Trump is going to have to find something else to fill his time if he doesn't become President. If he wins President, Donald will be busy for a while, and it won't be an issue for him anyway.
SANDU, A., & NIŢU, M. (2013). CORRUPTION AND ORGANIZED CRIME. Contemporary Readings In Law & Social Justice, 5(2), 454-460.