Organized Crime Essay Example for Free

Organized Crime Essay Two thirds of all homicides in Omaha, NE are gang related. With an average of 40 homicides per year, without the gang activity in this city, 26 of them could be avoided. Founded in 1990 the 40th Street Crips are the oldest, most established gang in Omaha at this time. They are involved in every type of crime that is prevalent in Omaha from identity theft to homicides. This gangs has a negative effect on the people, businesses, and properties in their area. The 40th Street Crips qualify as an organized crime organization by displaying some of the attributes assigned to identify organized crime groups. This gang is the most active, dangerous, organized crime group in Omaha at this time their negative effects on the people and neighborhoods they prey on is felt throughout the whole community. The 40th Street Crips work out of an area in North Omaha near 40th and Bedford streets. Like the Crips in Los Angeles, CA, they can be identified by their blue handkerchief and athletic wear, they prefer BK tennis shoes as in the gang culture it stands for blood killer. (http://midwestgangs. tripod. com/id3. html) The Bloods are their rival gang. They are involved in several different types of crime in Omaha. In a personal phone interview with Bruce Ferrell, former Omaha Police Officer and current President of the Midwest Gang Investigators Association, he stated â€Å"they are involved in drive-bys, felony assaults, homicides, narcotic distribution, robberies, home invasions, identity theft, and auto theft. † (B. Ferrell, personal communication, March 13, 2013) Because of this gang, people in North Omaha live with fear and intimidation at all times. The businesses have a harder time being successful because people do not want to shop in North Omaha, as they are frightened. The property values are substantially lower in this area due to the 40th Street Crips activities. There are several attributes of organized crime that fit this group. (Abadinsky, 2009, p. 3-4) I have chosen the three most closely related to this gang. 1. Has no political goals. – This group’s main objective is money and power they are not motivated by any ideology.  Their goals are too make money through the commission of crimes and if they spread intimidation and fear in the commission of these crimes so much the better. 2. Exhibits a willingness to use illegal violence. – 40th Street Crips are the number one gang right now in Omaha for drive by shootings. Most of the members will kill someone for any slight perceived or real. 3. Perpetuates itself. – This gang has been active since 1990 and long ago cut its ties with the Los Angeles Crips. New gang members are often recruited from family and friends of current members. (Abadinsky, 2009, p. -4) There are several reasons to analyze and research this group, the number one reason is they are the most active and violent gang in Omaha at this time, conducting by far the most drive-bys and felony assaults. (B. Ferrell, personal communication, March 13, 2013) They are doing the most damage to the north Omaha youth by destroying their futures by bringing them into gangs. The actions they take are directly destructive to businesses and housing in North Omaha as they are lowering property values and making it hard to conduct business in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. http://www. nationalgangcenter. gov/content/Impact-of-gangs-on-communities. pdf) The 40th Street Crips are a dangerous, violent well established gang in Omaha. Their actions are having negative effects on the communities and neighborhood that they are active in. The law enforcement officers in this city are taking every action possible to eliminate organized crime activity all over Omaha not just in north â€Å"O†. â€Å"We recognize there is too much violence in this town,† said 2010 Omaha Police Chief Alex Hayes. â€Å"It’s never going to be good (here) until it’s gone. † (Perez Jr. , 2010, para. 3)

Pass The Opium, Please Essay example -- essays research papers

Religion is said to be the opiate of the masses, and it is definitely a point of interest in George Orwell's famous novel Animal Farm. In it, Orwell pointedly attacks religion in general and Christianity in particular through the use of a well placed symbolic bird by the name of Moses. Orwell's stance is rather apparent as Moses darts about the farm scene conveying the duality of Christianity quite superbly. At the first mention of the raven Moses, one immediately gets the impression that he stands for something quite larger than just a simple bird that lives on the Manor Farm. Firstly his name, Moses, is an obvious biblical reference conveying the idea that he may stand for religion or Christianity. It is not a subtle point that Orwell is trying to make with Moses. From the beginning of his involvement in the plot of Animal Farm, Moses is painted as a very special pet of Mr. Jones, the keeper of Manor Farm before the animal revolution. Mr. Jones in himself stands for something larger than just himself, he represents the old government, the government that the animals have pointed their military coup towards. In this case the most obvious connection can be made to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917. In this vein of comparison, Mr. Jones represents the government under the ruling power of the czar. And if Moses is the especial bird of Mr. Jones, this means that religion was under the wing so to say of the czar (pun intended). After we learn this quality of Moses, we ...

Form and Structure of ‘Abigail’s Party’ Emily Huntley Essay

Mike Leigh’s ‘Abigail’s Party’ was primarily shown on television and wasn’t initially meant for the stage, until it was realised how successful it was. The plot is based around a mirror of two party’s, one involving 5 adults all living in the same estate but of very contrasting backgrounds and classes which Mike Leigh also depicts, and the other of the sixteen year old daughter of Sue, who’s organised a typical teenage ‘rave’. The essence of the play is that generally speaking the younger generations should be observed at parties but in Mike Leigh’s example the irony is that the adult’s seem just as drunk and obscene as what is imagined next door. This is where the comedy arises and is developed throughout the play as the adults keep a close eye on the teenagers but there is no one to observe the adults. Mike Leigh has also drawn the attention of the audience by focusing on class by contrasting the classes of the characters, Beverly and Lawrence who are aspiring for true middle class, a poor newly married couple and a middle class divorcee. This situation in itself is controversial due to Sue not being nearly as wealthy as Beverly and Lawrence but being by far the most cultured of the group. Another example of this would be shown in Ang, her occupation as a nurse can actually be called a well known and accepted profession, although she has little money and isn’t well cultured or travelled, as an outsider you can see the intelligence that Mike Leigh has tried to depict over the other characters. The play is composed of two acts, both of which surprisingly end with the focus on Sue, the most timid character. I think this was purposeful on Leigh’s behalf as although she seems to be a pretty insignificant character she holds a lot of unknown power over the people in her company. Especially Lawrence who realises her class is above his and he aspires to be like her by seeking her approval. As the play develops so does the amount of alcohol consumed and the tension between the two married couples. Especially from Beverly and Lawrence’s points of view as they start verbally abusing each other in the presence of their guests, which I believe would not occur otherwise as Ang, Tony and Sue would realise their true characters. Therefore I could also state that the play is structured around class, parties and also alcohol. Everything in the play including props, lighting and sound effects is ultra realistic. The set includes real food and drink with a working record player and lamps, which provide the naturalistic lighting throughout the whole play, and the constant thumping from next door really makes the situation believable. To enhance the realism, Mike Leigh also wrote the play in ‘real time’, this means that the duration of the play is natural over the period of an evening, with no days or hours skipped. Another tool used by Mike Leigh to develop true realism is the use of colloquial dialect. There is no stylised or poetic language and also no imagery used. It is written so the audience can easily place themselves in the character’s positions. Discussing the structure of the play is hard considering the definitions of ‘A Well Made Play’ 1.) Exposition (introduction of characters and situations) 2.) Conflict (a huge problem is bought to the surface) 3.) Complications (the problem develops) 4.) Climax (the most dramatic, and tension filled part of the play) 5.) Dà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½nouement (the resolution) The exposition occurs between pages 1 and 13 when the characters are introduced to each other and also the audience. This is the period when the audience makes their own assumptions of the characters, and they can recognise different relationships and tensions. This is when we also realise about Lawrence’s hectic lifestyle and frequent suffering of heartburn so that his heart attack doesn’t come as a complete shock and the audience understand and sympathise more. The conflict is primarily to do with Beverly and Lawrence’s relationship and the strain that it is clearly under. But we also see the stress between Angela and Tony periodically. The complication is when the tension builds as more and more alcohol is consumed predominantly between Lawrence and Beverly. The climax is clearly Lawrence’s heart attack, which is the outcome, of a stressful job, a nagging wife, being polite to unwelcome guests the consumption of alcohol and the constant ‘thumping’ of the party next door. This is when the focus and drive of the play changes completely from the future life these characters have built themselves to the present situation. Lastly the dà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½nouement. In ‘Abigail’s Party’ there doesn’t seem to be a definite resolution, the play is left on a cliff hanger as the audience is ‘left in the dark’ as to whether the conflicts have been resolved and if not the final outcome of the situation. ‘Abigail’s Party’ is referred to as a comedy, but of various types, it contains a slight element of black comedy in the fact that Lawrence has a heart attack. But throughout the play, Leigh develops another form of comedy, not through one-liners, but due to the characters’ dialogue and movement etc. For example, Tony’s monosyllabic answers, Angela’s lack of social etiquette, Sue’s shyness and total dislike of the situation, Lawrence’s frequent cultural references even though everyone can see he is uneducated in Shakespeare and Beethoven and is simply attempting and failing to reach a higher social class (nouveaux riches). And Beverly’s clear lack of self-control concerning Tony and insulting Angela’s lipstick. ‘Abigail’s Party’ is essentially written as a comedy, until the end, which presents more opportunities, and shows a more tragic and retrospective feel. This play is unique in that it is completely down to the director as to how they depict it as it can be of two extremes tragic or comic, excluding Lawrence’s death, which is clearly comic with the reference to Ang’s cramp etc. In the production I saw, it was comic and I thought this worked well but having considered it to be a tragic play I think this could be just as effective.

The Life Of A Civil War Nurse - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 1988 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2019/05/18 Category History Essay Level High school Tags: Civil War Essay War Essay Did you like this example? Women nurses, though small, impacted the civil war greatly. The small quantity of women in the nursing role is solely a repercussion of the views society had on women. They were seen as working women viewed as objects of pity. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Life Of A Civil War Nurse" essay for you Create order Due to the domestic roles women filled in their homes they were seen as inadequate to serve in the medical field. At the beginning of The Civil War males were the only ones allowed to fill the nursing position. These men were recruited to serve as temporary nurses having no concrete medical training. Until an early nursing pioneer, Dorothea Lynde Dix endorsed nurses who were middle-aged females. Breaking the what once was the ideals of a womans place in society. Regardless of the views society had on women during The Civil War without their care for wounded servicemen the outcome of this four year war would be completely different. On April 1861, there was no organized medical corps let alone trained nurses for the United States. The term nurse was used very loosely during the war. An officers wife who accompanied her husband to the battlefield, or a mother who came to care for her wounded husband or son and stayed behind to care for others. At the time the term nurse carried no real weight behind it. As a result, when the war broke out, women volunteered with little to no experience.the only sort of healthcare they experienced was from a home setting, rather than in any hospital. Women from the catholic religious community had training that consist of apprenticeships with more experienced nursing sisters. However, when the Union army put out a newspaper ad looking for medical assistance. Women responded to this ad with quickness. Despite their lack of experience, they volunteered to care for the sick and wounded. Looking for away to put their knowledge to good use. Doctors in the Union Army did not agree with the acceptance of women nurses. They believed their were undisplined and amateur. These were not completely empty accusations due to women having minimal experience. Acceptance from medical officials was hard to come by for a woman nurse. Even after becoming proficient in their nursing skills women still were seen as incompetent. Any mistake made by a female nurse was magnified. Making it hard for women to do their jobs without being ridiculed daily bases. Jane Hoge, a leader in the Northwestern Sanitary Commissions, said the opposition of female nurses stemmed from the lack of organization among the physicians. She wroteThe system [of nurses] was an untried experiment, and was suspiciously watched and severely criticized. Unfortunate failures were magnified and widely circulated. The misguided zeal of s ome benevolent individuals thrust large numbers of women into hospitals, without organization or consultation with surgeons. As a consequence, they were summarily dismissed by the surgeons. By the end of the war, the untrained nurses who had volunteered to serve in the Union Army won the respect of the Army physicians as well as the soldiers they cared for. Amanda Akin Stearns a nurse during the war reportedly said: We pass up and down among these rough men without fear of the slightest word of disrespect. They feel their dependence upon us for comfort and entertainment, and the difference in the wards where there in no ?lady shows how much can be done for them The Union Army acquired all these nurses through the appointed Dorothea L Dix Superintendent of the Female Nurses of the Army. Dix had no prior knowledge of nursing, but her acquired organizational skills from her previous work with asylums and prisons allowed her to be seen as a force. Dix was determined to provide the necessary aid the military hospitals needed. Women who applied for her program had a standard to meet before being endorsed by Dix. The applicants were required to be older than thirty-five, plain-looking and have habits of neatness,order and sobriety. These requirements ruled out many women who yearned to be nurses. Resulting in women disobeying the requirements and working in the war without appointments. They received no government payment for their service during The Civil War. Physicians and volunteer nurses did not see eye to eye. Nurses actions were seen as impulsive and subordinate. Questioning the practices the doctors performed on patients. They were criticized for attending to the needs of their patients, disregarding doctors orders. Sometimes nurses would completely throw out prescription and use homemade treatments. Women were labeled as disruptive when they attempted to prevent amputations. Soon their actions were marked as independent, at times, seemed naive, saved thousands lives. The more experience the nurses acquired the more medical norms they established. Nurses had no set routine during the battles. There days started at 6 a.m and ended at 9 p.m. official duties included administering medicines and distributing prescriptions to injured and ill soldiers. Much of their time consist of nonmedical tasks, writing letters for the men in battle and attending to the hospital visitors. They spent a lot of time entertaining the patients, by singing and playing music. After major battles the demand for nurses sky rocked. On June 14, 1863, Amanda Akin wrote several entries to her sister back home as the soldiers flooded the hospital after fighting at Chancellorsville, Virginia. She wrote: It seemed to me this evening, as I sat at my table adding to the list of medicines writing down name, regiment, list of clothing, etc., of the new arrivals, calmly looking at the poor maimed sufferers carried by, some without limbs, on a ?stretcher that I had forgotten how to feel, it seemed as if I were entirely separated from the world I had left behind. Soldiers poured into Armory Square Hospital with no order. Nurses were to drop the task at hand and attend to the injured soldiers. These once untrained nurses were the ones who knew how to care for a hurting servicemen. These volunteers had become accustomed to the norm of seeing men with one arm or no legs. Working as a nurse had not yet been established prior to the civil war. The civil war revolutionized nursing and allowed women the opportunity to contribute to the war. The lack of medical care for the wounded and ill soldier inspired women across the country to help out and save lives. But this opportunity did not go smoothly. Due to the lack of healthcare, women used inadequate equipment and homemade supplies. Relying on remedies they heard of from Florence Nightingale.Her 1860 book Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not became an undisputed guide for nursing care.Nightingales notes were essential to the success of a nurse during the civil war. Nightingale was the first women to be appointed to lay a foundation for nursing in England. Nightingales work helped pave the way for middle and upper class women to seek a nursing career. For the first few years allowing women into the workplace with the male medical system was war of its own. The establishment of the nursing healthcare unit provided help to those who seeked medical attention. Also benefiting the community as a whole. The building of hospitals opened up job opportunities to those seeking jobs. A prime example of job opportunity was exhibited when the Confederate Congress passed legislation in 1862. This legislation granted positions to women in the military hospitals and paying monthly wages. The increase in job opportunities was not only an economic growth, it increased a demand for education and training. More schools were developed the focused solely on medicine. These were all positive changes for the women who risk their lives to help the medical system during the war. In 1868, the American Medical Association recommended that general hospitals be used to train nurses. The AMA acknowledged the value of having skilled nursing in hospitals and hoped to avoid the use of untrained and uncontrollable volunteers. By 1880, there was a total of 15 nursing schools in the United States: by 1900, there was 432. Nursing began to receive recognition as a highly skilled profession. A profession requiring experience and knowledge. The experience for many women during The Civil War was pivotal. For many it was the first time they were away from their family and what society expected of them. From this experience they learned confidence and skills they would carry for the rest of their lives. Nurses during this time wrote many letters expressing their deep satisfaction with their new way of life. Katherine Prescott Wormeley, who served as a matron for a hospital convalescent soldiers in Rhode Island, said she spoke for the army nurses as a whole when she said (PamelaToler, Wonders Marvels, 2016): We all know in our hearts that it is thorough enjoyment to be here, it is life, in short; and we wouldnt be anywhere else for anything in the world.. Wormeley, like most women returned home after the war. Nursing was only a temporary part of their lives. Many went back to their old lives as if it was just another day. Others capitalized on the buzz of having a women in the workplace. Making their lives a little bigger than what they were before the war started. Writing was a profession that many nurses took to after the war. The most famous among these would be Louisa May Alcott, whose account of her Civil War experience, Hospital Sketches, inspired women across the country. Alcott wasnt the only nurse to keep account of her time as a nurse. During the war many women carried journals to keep track of the things they encountered. Writing letters to their families shedding light on the horrors that was a day to day life . Another nurse that became famous for her entries about the war was Amanda Akin. Nurses like Akin were eyewitnesses to the brutality of the war. Seeing the amount of soldiers brought into the hospitals after battles can leave a tremendous toll on a women who had never seen anything comparing to death. Writing was not the only profession women went into after the war. Many went on to earn their medical degrees. Vesta Swarts, for example, worked as a high school principal before the war. When she was honorably discharged from h er duties as a nurse in Louisville, Kentucky, she became a physician. This was a challenging position to go for as a women. Despite it being challenging she returned to Auburn, where she practiced medicine for the next thirty years. Going for a medical degree wasnt something many women felt was necessary to make their mark. Helping The Civil War was validation enough that they had accomplished something many thought to be unreasonable. Middle class women who served as nurses during the war were expected to return and work on charity events. This was not the case, women used their newly discovered confidence and experience to organize political activist movements, manipulating their way through a male dominated society. Taking leadership roles at local levels to start their influence bases. For instance, Emily Parsons, a nurse who served in the war for two years at many hospitals, organized a campaign supporting the opening of a charity hospital for women and children in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts. Others went for national roles, founding groups such as the Womens Christian Temperance Union, the Womens E ducational and Industrial Union and American Red Cross (PamelaToler, Wonders Marvels, 2016). These women became active in the womens right movement which allowed them to expand on all the emotion that lingered from the war. They wanted to tag on womens right to the Abolition Movement that was plaguing the country. They saw much success with this approach to spreading the word about womens rights. The life of a Civil War nurse took many different turns after the battles were over. Weather they choose to go back to having a plain life or seek more from their community was completely up to them.