Alicia Martinez Murder Essay Example for Free

Alicia Martinez Murder Essay Alicia Martinez murder: Did Edward Romero chop up some body parts in a blender? Denver Westword, Thursday, Mar. 8 2012 Alicia Martinez disappeared on October 24, 2010, and shortly thereafter, Denver Police arrested Edward Romero for first degree murder. According to police Romero allegedly killed Martinez by shooting her twice in the head, then dismembering her body even going so far as to put some small pieces in a blender. Some parts were never found and others missing skin. Martinez was ultimately identified through the use of dental records. Francesca Pagliasotti, Romero’s girlfriend was accused of being an accessory to first-degree murder. Pagliasotti wasnt home when Romero allegedly killed Martinez, but upon her arrival, she found him in the garage, chopping up the girls body. The morning after, Pagliasotti, who has two small children with Romero, got out a mop and a bucket and started cleaning up Martinezs blood. (Roberts, 2012) The actus reus or criminal act of this crime has to be Romero shooting Martinez twice in the head and murdering her. Romero must have had a reason, in his mind, to kill Martinez. Maybe she saw him do something or he sexually assaulted her and didn’t want any witnesses. Either way the act of killing her was the actus reus. After Romero shot her and realized what he had done was not only wrong but could land him in prison for the rest of his life, he had to dispose of the body. No body, no crime. Romero decides the best course of action is to dismember the body in the garage. Not only dismember the body but put some smaller pieces in a blender. Romero had the knowledge that he had committed a crime or mens rea. Romero’s girlfriend Pagliasotta caught him in the act of dismembering a human body in his garage. Clearly what he had done in killing the girl and what he was doing with getting rid of the body was illegal. Yet Pagliasotta did not call the police or run and get help. She instead helps Romero clean up the crime scene and act like nothing happened. Pagliasotta has knowledge or mens rea of the crime. After having knowledge of the crime she did not report the crime to the authorities, this is actus reus or the criminal act. If Romero would have shot the victim and not have known that it would harm her then there would have not been a crime. There has to be the concurrence of actus reus and mens rea together for a crime to occur. The fact that he knew he was hurting Martinez when he shot her is the concurrence and ultimately the crime. Romero’s girlfriend knew that he had committed a crime. She knew that he had killed someone and that he had dismembered a body to try to cover up a crime scene. Pagliasotta knowingly helped him cover up that crime scene without alerting the authorities. This is the concurrence and ultimately her crime. This is why she is accused of accessory to first-degree murder (Roberts, 2012).

Islamic Criminal Justice Essay -- Religion Criminal Law

Comparative Criminal Justice System Criminal Law has and will continue to be a fluid and ever-changing aspect of humanity, and yet the distinctive base of religious belief is still a foundation for a variety of laws today. While the separation of church and state is in effect, history states a wide range of laws have been established based on religious beliefs and ideals, the Bible for one, and currently the Qur’an, which is the basis for Islamic Law. It is the only true form of law in the present time that is not backed by a Government because it is a form of law based completely on religion. The two primary sources of the Islamic Law stem from the Shari’s and the Sunnah, the Shari is the law defined by God, or Allah, and told directly to Gods’ prophet on Earth, Muhammad. The Sunnah, the second factor in Islamic Law deals with the issues not addressed in the Qur’an, yet is still in the word of the Prophet. â€Å"In a few Islamic countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Sudan, it is proclaimed as the basis for all law, including the harsh Islamic criminal law based on the ideal of retribution† (Fairchild & Dammer 2001 P. 61). Also stated in the text Comparative Criminal Justice Systems by Fairchild and Danner is the four distinct types of schools in the belief of Islamic Law: â€Å"There are four major schools of Islamic Law, derived from religious leaders living in different areas and facing different problems in the two centuries following the death of Muhammad. These schools are Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki, and Shafi’i. The main differences between these schools are in matters of emphasis, whether on tradition, judicial reasoning, or the elaboration of the Qur’an† (2001 P.62). Therefore in the following paper the obj... ...w, but in Afghanistan it is just the opposite it is difficult to try to change Islamic Law especially in a country where many individuals truly believe in Islamic Law. Islamic law does not exist in very many countries but in Afghanistan those who follow the Islamic laws keep it alive and well which will make it difficult for the government if they wish to change anything within the Islamic laws of Afghanistan. References Dammer,Harry R. & Fairrchild, Erika. (2001). Comparative Criminal Justice Systems. (2nd Ed.) Wadsworth/Thomson. Lau, Martin. (2008). Islamic Law and the Afghan legal System. Retrieved on December 12, 2008 From: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN018244.pdf Reiber, Ney. (2008). Islamic Law, Shariah. Retrieved on December 12, 2008 from: http://www.bible.ca/islam/islam-kills-islamic-law-shariah.htm

History of football Essay

Football (as well as rugby and soccer) are believed to have descended from the ancient Greek game of harpaston. Harpaston is mentioned frequently in classical literature, where it is often referred to as a â€Å"very rough and brutal gameâ€Å". The rules of this ancient sport were quite simple: Points were awarded when a player would cross a goal line by either kicking the ball, running with it across the goal line, or throwing it across the line to another player. The other team’s objective was simply to stop them by any means possible. There was no specific field length, no side line boundaries, no specified number of players per team, only a glaring lack of rules. Harpaston: Luckily (for everyone) uniforms & equipment have improved dramatically. Most modern versions of football are believed to have originated from England in the twelfth century. The game became so popular in England that the kings of that time (Henry II and Henry IV) actually banned football. They believed that football was taking away interest from the traditional sports of England, such as fencing and archery. Evolution and the Beginnings of Standardization. Football didn’t really begin to take on any consistency of rules and boundaries until it was picked up as a sport in the seven major public schools of England in the early 1800’s. Six of the seven schools were largely playing the same game (including Eton, Harrow and Winchester) – while the seventh, Rugby School (founded in 1567) was playing a markedly different version of football. The other schools moved ahead refining their rules and eventually their game became known as â€Å"association football† – or soccer, which was played back then much as it is today. Rugby School went in a different direction. How and why the game developed differently at Rugby School appears to have been lost in history, but what is known is that by the 1830’s, running with the ball at Rugby School was in common use and 18 foot goal posts had been added with a cross-bar at 10 feet above the ground. The inclusion of the cross-bar was accompanied by a rule that a goal could only be scored by the ball passing over the bar from a place kick or drop kick. Apparently this was done to make scoring easier from further out and also to avoid the horde of defenders standing in and blocking the mouth of the goal. Players who were able to â€Å"touch down† the ball behind the opponents goal line were awarded a â€Å"try-at-goal† – the player would make a mark on the goal line and then walk back onto the field of play to a point where a place kick at the goal was possible (a conversion). There was also an â€Å"off-your-side† rule used to keep the teams apart. Passing the ball forward was not allowed. By the mid-1860s British schools and universities had taken up Rugby’s game and honored the school by giving the â€Å"new football† the name of rugby. The game soon went trans-Atlantic to America and landed on fertile soil. Roots of American Football The birth date of football in the United States is generally regarded by football historians as November 6, 1869, when teams from Rutgers and Princeton Universities met for the first intercollegiate football game. In those early games, there were 20 players to a team and football still more closely resembled rugby than modern football. The game of football has a history of constant rule changes. Rule changes have been implemented to bolster the excitement of the game of football and  to increase the game’s safety. In 1873, representatives from Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton, and Yale Universities met in New York City to formulate the first intercollegiate football rules for the increasingly popular game. These four teams established the Intercollegiate Football Association (IFA) and set 15 as the number of players allowed on each team. Walter Camp, the coach at Yale and a dissenter from the IFA over his desire for an eleven man team, helped begin the final step in the evolution from rugby-style play to the modern game of American football. The IFA’s rules committee, led by Camp, soon cut the number of players from fifteen to eleven, and also instituted the size of the playing field, at one hundred ten yards. In 1882 Camp also introduced the system of downs. After first allowing three attempts to advance the ball five yards, in 1906 the distance was changed to ten yards. The fourth down was added in 1912. Within a decade, concern over the increasing brutality of the game led to its ban by some colleges. Nearly 180 players had suffered serious injuries, and eighteen deaths had been reported from the brutal mass plays that had become common practice. So in 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt called upon Harvard, Princeton, and Yale to help save the sport from demise. At a meeting between the schools, reform was agreed upon, and at a second meeting, attended by more than sixty other schools, the group appointed a seven member Rules Committee and set up what would later become known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or the NCAA. From this committee came the legalization of the forward pass, which resulted in a redesign of the ball and a more open style of play on the field. The rough mass plays, which once caused so many serious injuries, were prohibited by the committee. Also prohibited was the locking of arms by teammates in an effort to clear the way for their ball carriers. The length of the game was shortened, from seventy to sixty minutes, and the neutral zone, which separates the teams by the length of the ball before each play begins, was also established. Though refinements to the game would continue to the present day, the modern game of American football had arrived.   

Essay on Atheism, the Hidden Prejudice - 1362 Words

Atheism, the Hidden Prejudice Prejudice has plagued our society since its conception. There have been great strides taken in educating people to the ignorance of racism, hatred, and bigotry. The majority people feel that it is wrong to judge someone based on their race, sexual preference, or sex. Mention to people that you do not believe in a god, and you will often find hate-filled stares, ignorant remarks, and judgments made. To better understand this, we will discuss the following in this paper: the history of Atheism, religious freedom in the United States, examples of religious prejudice, and some reasoning why religious discrimination occurs. Many people feel that Atheism is a â€Å"new age† trend; this is incorrect. The term†¦show more content†¦It also states that no law should be made against religious establishments, practices, or beliefs. It is probably not a coincidence that this is the first amendment to the Constitution. The founding fathers new t he importance of religious tolerance and the separation of church and state. They did not want the new America to become a religious government, like the English monarchy. Every person wants their rights protected and upheld; unfortunately, this is not occurring for those of non-secular beliefs. Race, sexual preference, and religious beliefs are the most common forms of prejudice. As a society we have made great progress against racial and sexual bigotry. What seems to be without thought, religious discriminations have been left by the wayside. From 1930 to 2007, polls conducted by the Gallup Organization asked people if they would vote for the best qualified person for president who happened to be â€Å"X†. â€Å"X† represented Atheist, Baptist, Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, Black, Hispanic, homosexual, married 3 times, and 72 years of age. Out of all the categories Atheist showed the least amount of improvement. The 2007 results show that only 45% would have voted yes. That is only a 5% increase from 1978 and a 4% decrease from 1999. In 1978, homosexuals had the lowest at 26%, but in 2007 55% said they would vote yes for a homosexual candidate (Robinson). This study shows that there have been vast improvements in all areas of discrimination exceptShow MoreRelatedAtheism Essay1443 Words   |  6 PagesAtheism People in our society today who have the atheist point of view on religion, which is the belief that there is no god, are going against the so-called norms of society, and therefor are seen as deviant. Deviance is just an idea. Society determines what is deviant by the ideas they hold of what should be the norm. Atheism is seen as a negative deviance, or below the norm. They have a status that is placed on them in society. 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