1.
Johann Moritz Rugendas
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Johann Moritz Rugendas was a German painter, famous for his works depicting landscapes and ethnographic subjects in several countries in the Americas, in the first half of the 19th century. Rugendas is also the subject of César Airas 2000 novel, An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, from 1815-17, he studied with Albrecht Adam, and later in the Academy de Arts of Munich, with Lorenzo Quaglio II. There he was hired as an illustrator for Baron von Langsdorffs scientific expedition to Minas Gerais. Langsdorff was the consul-general of the Russian Empire in Brazil and had a farm in the region of Rio de Janeiro. In this capacity, Rugendas visited the Serra da Mantiqueira and the towns of Barbacena, São João del Rei, Mariana, Ouro Preto, Caeté, Sabará. Just before the phase of the expedition started, he became alienated from von Langsdorff, left the expedition and was replaced by the artists Adrien Taunay. He produced mostly drawings and watercolors, on his return to Europe between 1825 and 1828, Rugendas lived successively in Paris, Augsburg and Munich, with the aim of learning new art techniques, such as oil painting. In 1831 he travelled first to Haiti, and then to Mexico and he began to use oil painting there, with excellent results. Unfortunately, Rugendas was incarcerated and expelled from the country after he became involved in a coup against Mexicos president, Anastasio Bustamante. From 1834-44 he travelled to Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and Bolivia, well-accepted and feted by the court of Emperor Dom Pedro II, he executed portraits of several members of the royal court and participated in an artistic exposition. At the age of 44, in 1846, Rugendas departed to Europe and he died on 29 May 1858 in Weilheim an der Teck, Germany, King Maximilian II of Bavaria having acquired most of his works in exchange for a life pension. His painting Columbus taking Possession of the New World is on view at the Neue Pinakothek, ludwig Riedel Francis de Castelnau Sigismund Ernst Richard Krone Peter Claussen Diener, P. Rugendas, 1802-1858. Wissner, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Augsburg and Santiago de Chile,1997, a massive catalogue of works in Spanish and Portuguese. Media related to Johann Moritz Rugendas at Wikimedia Commons Rugendas
2.
Kidnapping
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In criminal law, kidnapping is the abduction or unlawful transportation of a person, usually to hold the person against his or her will. This may be done for ransom, wikipedia. org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome Kidnapping that does not result in a homicide is an offence that comes with a maximum possible penalty of life imprisonment. A murder that results from kidnapping is classified as 1st-degree, with a sentence of imprisonment that results from conviction. Part 1 allows sentencing kidnappers to maximum imprisonment of 8 years or a fine of the fifth category, part 2 allows maximum imprisonment of 9 years or a fine of the fifth category if there are serious injuries. Part 3 allows maximum imprisonment of 12 years or a fine of the fifth if the victim has been killed. Part 4 allows sentencing people that collaborate with kidnapping, part 1,2 and 3 will apply also to them. Kidnapping is an offence under the law of England and Wales. In R v D, Lord Brandon said, First, the nature of the offence is an attack on, and infringement of and this is the case regardless of the age of the child. A very small child will not have the understanding or intelligence to consent and this means that absence of consent will be a necessary inference from the age of the child. It is a question of fact for the jury whether a child has sufficient understanding. Lord Brandon said, I should not expect a jury to find at all frequently that a child under fourteen had sufficient understanding and intelligence to give its consent. If, on the hand, the child did not consent. Mode of trial Kidnapping is an indictable-only offence, sentence Kidnapping is punishable with imprisonment or fine at the discretion of the court. There is no limit on the fine or the term of imprisonment that may be imposed provided the sentence is not inordinate. The use of force to take and detain will also be regarded as an assault, law in the United States follows from English common law. The fact that a victim may have been taken across state lines brings the crime within the ambit of federal criminal law. Most states recognize different types of kidnapping and punish accordingly, New York bases its definition of first-degree kidnapping on the duration and purpose. There are several deterrents to kidnapping in the United States of America, among these are, The extreme logistical challenges involved in successfully exchanging the money for the return of the victim without being apprehended or surveiled
3.
Shanghaiing
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Shanghaiing or crimping is the practice of kidnapping people to serve as sailors by coercive techniques such as trickery, intimidation, or violence. Those engaged in this form of kidnapping were known as crimps, the related term press gang refers specifically to impressment practices in Great Britains Royal Navy. Crimps flourished in cities like London, Bristol and Hull in England and in San Francisco in California, Portland and Astoria in Oregon. On the West Coast, Portland eventually surpassed San Francisco for shanghaiing, on the East Coast, New York easily led the way, followed by Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. First, once a sailor signed on board a vessel for a voyage, the penalty was imprisonment, the result of federal legislation enacted in 1790. This factor was weakened by the Maguire Act of 1895 and the White Act of 1898, second, the practice was driven by a shortage of labor, particularly of skilled labor on ships on the West Coast. With crews abandoning ships en masse because of the California Gold Rush, finally, shanghaiing was made possible by the existence of boarding masters, whose job it was to find crews for ships. Boarding masters were paid by the body, and thus had an incentive to place as many seamen on ships as possible. This pay was called blood money, and was just one of the revenue streams available and these factors set the stage for the crimp, a boarding master who uses trickery, intimidation, or violence to put a sailor on a ship. The most straightforward method for a crimp to shanghai a sailor was to render him unconscious, forge his signature on the ships articles and this approach was widely used, but there were more profitable methods. In some situations, the master could receive the first two, three, or four months of wages of a man he shipped out. Instead, those to whom money was owed could claim it directly from the ships captain. An enterprising crimp, already dealing with a seaman, could supplement his income by supplying goods and services to the seaman at an inflated price, some crimps made as much as $9,500 per year in 1890s dollars, equivalent to about $260,000 in 2012 dollars. The crimps were well positioned politically to protect their lucrative trade, the keepers of boardinghouses for sailors supplied men on election day to go from one polling place to another, voting early and often for the candidate who would vote in their interest. Some examples included Jim Shanghai Kelly and Johnny Shanghai Chicken Devine of San Francisco, stories of their ruthlessness are innumerable, and some have survived into print. Before 1865, maritime labor laws primarily enforced stricter discipline onboard ships, however, after 1865, this began to change. In 1868, New York State started cracking down on sailors boardinghouses and they declined in number from 169 in 1863 to 90 in 1872. Then in 1871, Congress passed legislation to license of officers guilty of mistreating seamen
4.
Extraordinary rendition
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Extraordinary rendition, also called irregular rendition, or forced rendition, is the government-sponsored abduction and extrajudicial transfer of a person from one country to another. President Bill Clinton authorized extraordinary rendition to nations known to practice torture, the United Nations considers one nation abducting the citizens of another a crime against humanity. By 2004, critics alleged that torture was used against subjects with the knowledge or acquiescence of the United States, in addition, some former detainees claimed to have been transferred to other countries for interrogation under torture, such as the Australian citizen Mamdouh Habib. In December 2005 Condoleezza Rice stated that, the United States has not transported anyone, where appropriate, the United States seeks assurances that transferred persons will not be tortured. From 2001 to 2005 CIA officers captured an estimated 150 people, under the Bush administration, rendered persons were reported to have undergone torture by the receiving countries. The revelations about the US program prompted several official investigations in Europe into alleged secret detentions, while the Obama administration has distanced itself from some of the harshest counter-terrorism techniques, it has also said that at least some forms of renditions will continue. As of 2011, the administration allowed rendition only to a country with jurisdiction over that individual, Rendition, in law, is a transfer of persons from one jurisdiction to another, and the act of handing over, both after legal proceedings and according to law. Extraordinary rendition, however, is a rendition which is extralegal, in practice, the term is widely used to describe such practices, particularly the initial apprehension. This latter usage extends to the transfer of suspected terrorists by the US to countries known to torture prisoners or to employ harsh interrogation techniques that may rise to the level of torture. The Bush administration freely admitted to practice, stating, among other provisions. Torture can still occur, however, despite these provisions, in these instances, the initial captor allows the possibility of torture by releasing the prisoner into the custody of nations that practice torture. The next distinction of degree is that of intent, where much of the search for evidence continues and it has been alleged that some of those detainees have been tortured with the knowledge, acquiescence or even participation of US agencies. A transfer of anyone to anywhere for the purpose of torture would be a violation of US law, New York attorney Marc D. Falkoff stated that such evidence, i. e. transfer for the purposes of torture, was an operational practice. The US was trying to get them within reach of United States government representatives for transport to. In September 1987, during the Reagan administration, the United States executed an extraordinary rendition, code named Goldenrod, the Reagan administration did not undertake this kidnapping lightly. In 1984 and 1986, during a wave of terrorist attacks, Congress passed laws making air piracy, ronald Reagan added teeth to these laws by signing a secret covert-action directive in 1986 that authorized the CIA to kidnap, anywhere abroad, foreigners wanted for terrorism. A new word entered the dictionary of U. S. foreign relations, the American Civil Liberties Union alleges that extraordinary rendition was developed during the Clinton administration. CIA officials in the mid-1990s were trying to track down and dismantle militant Islamic organizations in the Middle East, particularly Al Qaeda
5.
Forced disappearance
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On 20 December 2006, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. The victim in such a case is abducted, illegally detained and often tortured during interrogation, typically, a murder will be surreptitious, with the corpse disposed of to escape discovery so that the person apparently vanishes. The party committing the murder has plausible deniability, as nobody can provide evidence of the victims death, disappearing political rivals is also a way for regimes to engender feelings of complicity in populations. The difficulty of fighting a government that murders in secret can result in widespread pretense that everything is normal. In international human rights law, disappearances at the hands of the state have been codified as enforced or forced disappearances since the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. There is also some authority indicating that enforced disappearances occurring during armed conflict, such as the Third Reichs Night and Fog program and its main task is to assist families in determining the fate or whereabouts of their family members who are reportedly disappeared. In August 2014, the Working Group reported 43,250 unresolved cases of disappearances in 88 different States and it gives victims families the right to seek reparations, and to demand the truth about the disappearance of their loved ones. The Convention provides for the not to be subjected to enforced disappearance. The Convention further sets forth the obligation of international co-operation, both in the suppression of the practice, and in dealing with aspects related to the crime. The Convention establishes a Committee on Enforced Disappearances, which will be charged with important and innovative functions of monitoring, currently, an international campaign of the International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances is working towards universal ratification of the Convention. Disappearances entail the violation of fundamental human rights. Their families, who spend the rest of their lives searching for information on the disappeared, are also victims. NGOs such as Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch record in their report the number of known cases of forced disappearance. Disappearances continued up to the late 1990s, but thereafter dropped off sharply with the decline in violence in 1997, some of the disappeared were kidnapped or killed by the guerrillas, but others are presumed to have been taken by state security services. This latter group has become the most controversial and their exact numbers remain disputed, but the government has acknowledged a figure of just over 6,000 disappeared, now presumed dead. Opposition sources claim the number is closer to 17,000. In 2005 a controversial amnesty law was approved in a referendum and it granted financial compensation to families of the disappeared, but also effectively ended the police investigations into the crimes. Other detention camps include those of Garaje Azopardo and Orletti, to name just a few and these places of torture, located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed over 6,000 desaparecidos, or disappeared persons, to the overall count in the Dirty War
6.
Criminal law
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Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It regulates social conduct and proscribes whatever is threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety and it includes the punishment of people who violate these laws. Criminal law varies according to jurisdiction, and differs from civil law, the first civilizations generally did not distinguish between civil law and criminal law. The first written codes of law were designed by the Sumerians, another important early code was the Code Hammurabi, which formed the core of Babylonian law. Only fragments of the criminal laws of Ancient Greece have survived, e. g. those of Solon. In Roman law, Gaiuss Commentaries on the Twelve Tables also conflated the civil and criminal aspects, assault and violent robbery were analogized to trespass as to property. Breach of such laws created an obligation of law or vinculum juris discharged by payment of compensation or damages. The criminal law of imperial Rome is collected in Books 47–48 of the Digest, the first signs of the modern distinction between crimes and civil matters emerged during the Norman Invasion of England. The development of the state dispensing justice in a court clearly emerged in the century when European countries began maintaining police services. From this point, criminal law had formalized the mechanisms for enforcement, Criminal law is distinctive for the uniquely serious potential consequences or sanctions for failure to abide by its rules. Every crime is composed of criminal elements, capital punishment may be imposed in some jurisdictions for the most serious crimes. Physical or corporal punishment may be imposed such as whipping or caning, individuals may be incarcerated in prison or jail in a variety of conditions depending on the jurisdiction. Length of incarceration may vary from a day to life, government supervision may be imposed, including house arrest, and convicts may be required to conform to particularized guidelines as part of a parole or probation regimen. Fines also may be imposed, seizing money or property from a convicted of a crime. Five objectives are widely accepted for enforcement of the law by punishments, retribution, deterrence. Jurisdictions differ on the value to be placed on each, retribution – Criminals ought to Be Punished in some way. This is the most widely seen goal, Criminals have taken improper advantage, or inflicted unfair detriment, upon others and consequently, the criminal law will put criminals at some unpleasant disadvantage to balance the scales. People submit to the law to receive the right not to be murdered and if people contravene these laws, thus, one who murders may be executed himself
7.
Larceny
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Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of England into their own law. However, larceny remains an offence in parts of the United States and in New South Wales, Australia, the word larceny is a late Middle English word, from the Anglo-Norman word larcin, or theft. Its probable Latin root is latrocinium, a derivative of latro, the common law offence of larceny was abolished on 1 August 2002. However, proceedings for larceny committed before its abolition are not affected by this, the common law offence of larceny was codified by the Larceny Act 1916. It was abolished on 1 January 1969, for all purposes not relating to offences committed before that date and it has been replaced by the broader offence of theft under section 1 of the Theft Act 1968. This offence did incorporate some of the terminology and substance of larceny, the common law offence of larceny was abolished on 1 August 1969, for all purposes not relating to offences committed before that date. It has been replaced by the offence of theft under section 1 of the Theft Act 1969. In the United States, larceny is a common law crime involving theft, under the common law, larceny is the trespassory taking and carrying away of the tangible personal property of another with the intent to deprive him or her of its possession permanently. In almost all states, it has become a crime through codification. In the state of New South Wales, the common law offence of larceny is punishable with up to 5 years imprisonment. Whilst section 117 of the New South Wales Crimes Act specifies the punishment for larceny, it is silent on the elements of the offence, the leading authority on larceny in NSW is the High Court case of Ilich. This case stipulates the mens rea and actus reas elements required to be proven by the prosecution for a successful conviction, Larceny is a crime against possession. Furthermore, it has two elements which must be met, the taking of the property, even if momentarily. Larceny involves the taking of property from possession of another. To understand larceny, one must understand the distinction between custody and possession, a person has possession of property when he has actual physical control over the property or he has the right to exercise considerable control over the disposition or use of the property. A person has custody if he has actual physical control of the property, examples of custody would be a store customer examining the goods of a merchant, or an employee who has been given the property of his employer to be used in his employment. This is to be contested to, for example, a person who has obtained possession of the property by fraud
8.
Ransom
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In typography, the ransom note effect is the result of using an excessive number of juxtaposed typefaces. Early versions of Macintosh system software, up through System 7, the font was not carried over into later versions of Mac OS. The ransom note effect may occur when a web browser uses different fonts to display parts of a web page in different languages or encodings. To avoid this, web browsers try to use the font for as much of the page as possible
9.
Bride kidnapping
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Bride kidnapping, also known as marriage by abduction or marriage by capture, is a practice in which a man abducts the woman he wishes to marry. Bride kidnapping has been practiced around the world and throughout history, in most nations, bride kidnapping is considered a sex crime rather than a valid form of marriage. Some types of it may also be seen as falling along the continuum between forced marriage and arranged marriage, however, even when the practice is against the law, judicial enforcement remains lax in some areas, such as Moldova, Kyrgyzstan and Chechnya. In some modern cases, the couple together to elope under the guise of a bride kidnapping, presenting their parents with a fait accompli. In most cases, however, the men who resort to capturing a wife are often of lower status, because of poverty, disease. They are sometimes deterred from seeking a wife because of the payment the womans family expects. In agricultural and patriarchal societies, where bride kidnapping is most common, a woman leaves her birth family, geographically and economically, when she marries, becoming instead a member of the grooms family. Due to this loss of labour, the families do not want their daughters to marry young. Depending on the system under which she lives, the consent of the woman may not be a factor in judging the validity of the marriage. In addition to the issue of forced marriage, bride kidnapping may have negative effects on the young women. For example, fear of kidnap is cited as a reason for the participation of girls in the education system. The mechanism of marriage by abduction varies by location and this article surveys the phenomenon by region, drawing on common cultural factors for patterns, but noting country-level distinctions. In three African countries, bride kidnapping often takes the form of abduction followed by rape, Bride-kidnapping is prevalent in areas of Rwanda. Often the abductor kidnaps the woman from her household or follows her outside and he and his companions may then rape the woman to ensure that she submits to the marriage. The family of the woman either then feels obliged to consent to the union, or is forced to when the kidnapper impregnates her, the marriage is confirmed with a ceremony that follows the abduction by several days. In such ceremonies, the abductor asks his brides parents to him for abducting their daughter. The man may offer a cow, money, or other goods as restitution to his brides family, bride-kidnap marriages in Rwanda often lead to poor outcomes. Human rights workers report that one third of men who abduct their wives abandon them, leaving the wife without support, additionally, with the growing frequency of bride-kidnapping, some men choose not to solemnize their marriage at all, keeping their bride as a concubine
10.
Nomad
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A nomad is a member of a community of people who live in different locations, moving from one place to another. Among the various ways nomads relate to their environment, one can distinguish the hunter-gatherer, as of 1995, there were an estimated 30–40 million nomads in the world. Nomadic hunting and gathering, following seasonally available wild plants and game, is by far the oldest human subsistence method, pastoralists raise herds, driving them, or moving with them, in patterns that normally avoid depleting pastures beyond their ability to recover. Nomadism is also a lifestyle adapted to regions such as steppe, tundra, or ice and sand. For example, many groups in the tundra are reindeer herders and are semi-nomadic and these nomads sometimes adapt the use of high technology such as solar photovoltaics to reduce their dependence on diesel fuel. These groups are known as peripatetic nomads, a nomad is a person with no settled home, moving from place to place as a way of obtaining food, finding pasture for livestock, or otherwise making a living. The word Nomad comes from a Greek word that one who wanders for pasture. Most nomadic groups follow an annual or seasonal pattern of movements and settlements. Nomadic peoples traditionally travel by animal or canoe or on foot, today, some nomads travel by motor vehicle. Most nomads live in tents or other portable shelters, Nomads keep moving for different reasons. Nomadic foragers move in search of game, edible plants, the Australian Aborigines, Negritos of Southeast Asia, and San of Africa, for example, traditionally move from camp to camp to hunt and to gather wild plants. Some tribes of the Americas followed this way of life, Pastoral nomads make their living raising livestock, such as camels, cattle, goats, horses, sheep, or yaks. These nomads travel to find more camels, goats, and sheep through the deserts of Arabia, the Fulani and their cattle travel through the grasslands of Niger in western Africa. Some nomadic peoples, especially herders, may move to raid settled communities or avoid enemies. Nomadic craftworkers and merchants travel to find and serve customers and they include the Lohar blacksmiths of India, the Romani traders, and the Irish Travellers. Most nomads travel in groups of families called bands or tribes and these groups are based on kinship and marriage ties or on formal agreements of cooperation. A council of adult males makes most of the decisions, though some tribes have chiefs, in the case of Mongolian nomads, a family moves twice a year. These two movements would generally occur during the summer and winter, the winter location is usually located near mountains in a valley and most families already have their fixed winter locations
11.
Central Asia
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Central Asia stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to China in the east and from Afghanistan in the south to Russia in the north. It is also referred to as the -stans as the five countries generally considered to be within the region all have names ending with the Persian suffix -stan. Central Asias five former Soviet republics are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Central Asia has historically been closely tied to its nomadic peoples and the Silk Road. It has acted as a crossroads for the movement of people, goods, the Silk Road connected Muslim lands with the people of Europe, India, and China. This crossroads position has intensified the conflict between tribalism and traditionalism and modernization, in pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, Central Asia was predominantly Iranian, peopled by Eastern Iranian-speaking Bactrians, Sogdians and Chorasmians and the semi-nomadic Scythians and Parthians. Central Asia is sometimes referred to as Turkestan, the idea of Central Asia as a distinct region of the world was introduced in 1843 by the geographer Alexander von Humboldt. The borders of Central Asia are subject to multiple definitions, historically built political geography and geoculture are two significant parameters widely used in the scholarly literature about the definitions of the Central Asia. The most limited definition was the one of the Soviet Union. This definition was also used outside the USSR during this period. However, the Russian culture has two terms, Средняя Азия and Центральная Азия. Since then, this has become the most common definition of Central Asia, the UNESCO general history of Central Asia, written just before the collapse of the USSR, defines the region based on climate and uses far larger borders. An alternative method is to define the region based on ethnicity and these areas include Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Turkic regions of southern Siberia, the five republics, and Afghan Turkestan. Afghanistan as a whole, the northern and western areas of Pakistan, the Tibetans and Ladakhi are also included. Insofar, most of the peoples are considered the indigenous peoples of the vast region. Central Asia is a large region of varied geography, including high passes and mountains, vast deserts. The vast steppe areas of Central Asia are considered together with the steppes of Eastern Europe as a geographical zone known as the Eurasian Steppe. Much of the land of Central Asia is too dry or too rugged for farming, the Gobi desert extends from the foot of the Pamirs, 77° E, to the Great Khingan Mountains, 116°–118° E. Central Asia has the following geographic extremes, The worlds northernmost desert, at Buurug Deliin Els, Mongolia, the Northern Hemispheres southernmost permafrost, at Erdenetsogt sum, Mongolia, 46°17′ N
12.
Kyrgyzstan
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Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a country in Central Asia. Landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west and southwest, Tajikistan to the southwest and its capital and largest city is Bishkek. Kyrgyzstans recorded history spans over 2,000 years, encompassing a variety of cultures and empires, ethnic Kyrgyz make up the majority of the countrys 5.7 million people, followed by significant minorities of Uzbeks and Russians. Kyrgyz is closely related to other Turkic languages, although Russian remains widely spoken and is the official language, the majority of the population are non-denominational Muslims. In addition to its Turkic origins, Kyrgyz culture bears elements of Persian, Mongolian and Russian influence. Kyrgyz is believed to have derived from the Turkic word for forty, in reference to the forty clans of Manas. Literally, Kyrgyz means We are forty, at the time, in the early 9th century AD, the Uyghurs dominated much of Central Asia, Mongolia, and parts of Russia and China. King, Scythians were early settlers in present-day Kyrgyzstan, the Kyrgyz state reached its greatest expansion after defeating the Uyghur Khaganate in 840 A. D. From the 10th century the Kyrgyz migrated as far as the Tian Shan range, in the twelfth century the Kyrgyz dominion had shrunk to the Altay Range and Sayan Mountains as a result of the Mongol expansion. With the rise of the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth century, the Kyrgyz peacefully became a part of the Mongol Empire in 1207. The descent of the Kyrgyz from the autochthonous Siberian population is confirmed on the hand by the recent genetic studies. Issyk Kul Lake was a stopover on the Silk Road, a route for traders, merchants. Kyrgyz tribes were overrun in the 17th century by the Mongols, in the century by the Manchurian Qing Dynasty. In the late century, the majority part of what is today Kyrgyzstan was ceded to Russia through two treaties between China and Russia. The territory, then known in Russian as Kirghizia, was incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1876. The Russian takeover was met with numerous revolts against Tsarist authority, in addition, the suppression of the 1916 rebellion against Russian rule in Central Asia caused many Kyrgyz later to migrate to China. Soviet power was established in the region in 1919. On 5 December 1936, the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic was established as a republic of the Soviet Union
13.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
14.
Latin America
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Latin America is a group of countries and dependencies in the Americas where Romance languages are predominant. It is therefore broader than the terms Ibero-America or Hispanic America—though it usually excludes French Canada and it has an area of approximately 19,197,000 km2, almost 13% of the Earths land surface area. As of 2015, its population was estimated at more than 626 million and in 2014, Latin America had a combined nominal GDP of 5,573,397 million USD and a GDP PPP of 7,531,585 million USD. The term Latin America was first used in 1861 in La revue des races Latines, a further investigation of the concept of Latin America is by Michel Gobat in the American Historical Review. The term was first used in Paris in an 1856 conference by the Chilean politician Francisco Bilbao and this term was also used in 1861 by French scholars in La revue des races Latines, a magazine dedicated to the Pan-Latinism movement. Latin America is, therefore, defined as all parts of the Americas that were once part of the Spanish. By this definition, Latin America is coterminous with Ibero-America and this definition emphasizes a similar socioeconomic history of the region, which was characterized by formal or informal colonialism, rather than cultural aspects. As such, some sources avoid this oversimplification by using the phrase Latin America, the distinction between Latin America and Anglo-America is a convention based on the predominant languages in the Americas by which Romance-language and English-speaking cultures are distinguished. Latin America can be subdivided into several subregions based on geography, politics, demographics and it may be subdivided on linguistic grounds into Hispanic America, Portuguese America and French America. *, Not a sovereign state The concept of Latin America has been criticized by a number of intellectuals, the earliest known settlement was identified at Monte Verde, near Puerto Montt in Southern Chile. Its occupation dates to some 14,000 years ago and there is disputed evidence of even earlier occupation. Over the course of millennia, people spread to all parts of the continents, by the first millennium CE, South Americas vast rainforests, mountains, plains and coasts were the home of tens of millions of people. Some groups formed more permanent settlements such as the Chibcha and the Tairona groups and these groups are in the circum Caribbean region. The Chibchas of Colombia, the Quechuas and Aymaras of Bolivia, the region was home to many indigenous peoples and advanced civilizations, including the Aztecs, Toltecs, Maya, and Inca. The Aztec empire was ultimately the most powerful civilization known throughout the Americas, with the arrival of the Europeans following Christopher Columbus voyages, the indigenous elites, such as the Incas and Aztecs, lost power to the heavy European invasion. Hernándo Cortés seized the Aztec elites power with the help of local groups who had favored the Aztec elite, epidemics of diseases brought by the Europeans, such as smallpox and measles, wiped out a large portion of the indigenous population. Historians cannot determine the number of natives who died due to European diseases, due to the lack of written records, specific numbers are hard to verify. Many of the survivors were forced to work in European plantations, intermixing between the indigenous peoples and the European colonists was very common, and, by the end of the colonial period, people of mixed ancestry formed majorities in several colonies
15.
Hostage
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A hostage is a person or entity which is held by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against war. A person who seizes one or more hostages is known as a hostage-taker, if the hostages are present voluntarily, then the receiver is known as a host. These obligations would be in the form of signing of a peace treaty and this would eventually influence them culturally and open the way for an amicable political line if they ascended to power after release. This caused the element gīsl = hostage in many old Germanic personal names, the practice was also commonplace in the Imperial Chinese tributary system, especially between the Han and Tang dynasties. The practice continued through the early Middle Ages, the Irish High King Niall of the Nine Hostages got his epithet Noígiallach because, by taking nine petty kings hostage, he had subjected nine other principalities to his power. This practice was adopted in the early period of the British occupation of India. The practice of taking hostages as security for the out of a treaty between civilized states is now obsolete. In France, after the revolution of Prairial, the law of hostages was passed. Relatives of émigrés were taken from disturbed districts and imprisoned, and were liable to execution at any attempt to escape. Sequestration of their property and deportation from France followed on the murder of a republican, four to every such murder, the law only resulted in an increase in the insurrection. Napoleon in 1796 had used similar measures to deal with the insurrection in Lombardy, another case where hostages have been taken in modern warfare has been the subject of much discussion. The measure seems to have been effective, in 1900 during the Second Boer War, by a proclamation issued at Pretoria, Lord Roberts adopted the plan for a similar reason, but shortly afterwards it was abandoned. The Germans also, between the surrender of a town and its occupation, took hostages as security against outbreaks of violence by the inhabitants. It may be noticed, however, that the hostages would suffer should the acts aimed at be performed by the authorized belligerent forces of the enemy, the regulations, however do not allude to the practice of taking hostage. In May 1871, at the close of the Paris Commune and it was an act of maniacal despair, on the defeat at Mont Valrien on the 4 April and the entry of the army into Paris on the 21 May. Taking hostages is today considered a crime or an act of terrorism, the criminal activity is known as kidnapping. An acute situation where hostages are kept in a building or a vehicle that has taken over by armed terrorists or common criminals is often called a hostage crisis. Common Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions states that the taking of hostages during a conflict is a war crime and shall remain prohibited at any time
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Hybrid offence
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In the United States, an alternative misdemeanor/felony offense lists both county jail and state prison as possible punishment. The power to choose under which class a hybrid offence will be tried rests with the crown counsel, hybrid offences can either be summary offences or indictable offences. For most indictable offences, a person has the right to trial by jury, in English criminal law a hybrid offence is called a triable-either-way offence and can be heard at either the Magistrates Court or Crown Court. The decision as to which court will hear the case is determined at a Mode of Trial hearing, the magistrates decide if the case is suitable to be heard in the Magistrates Court. If they decide that the case is too serious or too complex. If the magistrates decide that the case is suitable to be heard by the then the defendant is asked for consent to do so. The defendant can then either consent to be tried by the magistrates or opt for trial by jury at the Crown Court provided that they have pleaded not guilty. If they have pleaded guilty then they have no say in the matter - thus there is no way for a defendant to agree to plead guilty in exchange for having a case dealt with by magistrates. The expression hybrid offence was applicable to an offence triable either on indictment or summarily and it was applicable to offences to which section 18 of the Magistrates Courts Act 1952 applied. See sections 14 and 64 of the Criminal Law Act 1977, for statutory offences, the statute will provide whether the offence is triable summarily, on indictment, or both. The choice of forum is a matter for the Lord Advocate and procurator fiscal, in U. S. states in which these offenses occur, the prosecuting attorney has discretion in deciding which category to charge the defendant. Prosecutors may strategically file such offenses as felonies, agreeing to refile the charge as a misdemeanor should the defendant consent to a guilty plea. After hearing evidence at a hearing, the judge or magistrate has discretion to reduce a felony wobbler to a misdemeanor charge. In juvenile court, after a minor is declared to be delinquent following a trial or open plea. In California, one example of an offense is grand theft
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Common law offence
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Common law offences are crimes under English criminal law and the related criminal law of other Commonwealth countries. They are offences under the law, developed entirely by the courts. In Australia the Criminal Code Act 1995 abolished all common law offences at the federal level, in Canada the consolidation of criminal law in the Criminal Code, enacted in 1953, involved the abolition of all common law offences except contempt of court. Common law offences were seen as vague and open to development by the courts in ways that might offend the principle of certainty. However, neither the Law Commission nor Parliament have completed the revisions of the law. In England and Wales common law offences are punishable by unlimited fines, in New Zealand common law offence were abolished under the Crimes Act 1961, with the exception of contempt of court and of offences tried by courts martial. The notion that common law offenses could be enforced in courts was found to be unconstitutional by the U. S. Supreme Court in United States v. Hudson. Some have argued that they are inconsistent with the prohibition of ex post facto laws, at the state level, the situation varies. Some states, such as New Jersey, have abolished common law crimes, nullum crimen, nulla poena sine praevia lege poenali CASE LAW on free B. E. A. G. L. E. S
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England and Wales
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The devolved National Assembly for Wales was created in 1999 by the Parliament of the United Kingdom under the Government of Wales Act 1998 and provides a degree of self-government in Wales. The powers of the Assembly were expanded by the Government of Wales Act 2006, which allows it to pass its own laws, there is no equivalent body for England, which is directly governed by the Parliament and the government of the United Kingdom. During the Roman occupation of Britain, the area of present-day England and Wales was administered as a single unit, at that time, most of the native inhabitants of Roman Britain spoke Brythonic languages, and were all regarded as Britons, divided into numerous tribes. After the conquest, the Romans administered this region as a single unit and this aimed to replace Welsh criminal law with English law. Welsh law continued to be used for civil cases until the annexation of Wales to England in the 16th century, the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 then consolidated the administration of all the Welsh territories and incorporated them fully into the legal system of the Kingdom of England. Prior to 1746 it was not clear whether a reference to England in legislation included Wales and this specified that in all prior and future laws, references to England would by default include Wales. The Wales and Berwick Act was repealed in 1967, although the definition of England it created is preserved for acts passed prior to its repeal. Since the Acts repeal what was referred to as England is now England and Wales, while references to England, England and Wales are treated as a single unit, for most purposes, because the two form the constitutional successor to the former Kingdom of England. The continuance of Scots law was guaranteed under the 1706 Treaty of Union that led to the Acts of Union 1707, thus, most laws applicable to England also applied to Wales. However, Parliament now passes laws applicable to Wales and not to England, examples are the Welsh Language Acts 1967 and 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998. Measures and Acts of the National Assembly for Wales passed since the Government of Wales Act 2006 also apply in Wales, following the Government of Wales Act, effective since May 2007, the National Assembly for Wales can legislate on matters devolved to it. Following a referendum on 3 March 2011, the Welsh Assembly gained direct law-making powers and this was the first time in almost 500 years that Wales had its own powers to legislate. Each piece of Welsh legislation is known as an Act of the Assembly, outside of the legal system the position is mixed. Some organisations combine as England and Wales, others are separate, some religious denominations organise on the basis of England and Wales, most notably the Roman Catholic Church, but also small denominations, e. g. the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Prior to the disestablishment of the Church in Wales in 1920, the Electoral Commission maintains a register of political parties, organised according to where the party operates. The order of precedence in England and Wales is distinct from those of Northern Ireland and Scotland, the national parks of England and Wales have a distinctive legislative framework and history. Courts of England and Wales Judiciary of England and Wales Cultural relationship between the Welsh and the English Geography of Wales Geography of England British Isles
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Fraud
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In law, fraud is deliberate deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud itself can be a wrong, a criminal wrong or it may cause no loss of money, property or legal right. The purpose of fraud may be monetary gain or other benefits, a hoax is a distinct concept that involves deliberate deception without the intention of gain or of materially damaging or depriving a victim. In common law jurisdictions, as a wrong, fraud is a tort. Proving fraud in a court of law is said to be difficult. In cases of a fraudulently induced contract, fraud may serve as a defense in an action for breach of contract or specific performance of contract. Fraud may serve as a basis for a court to invoke its equitable jurisdiction, in common law jurisdictions, as a criminal offence, fraud takes many different forms, some general and some specific to particular categories of victims or misconduct. The elements of fraud as a crime similarly vary, section 380 of the Criminal Code provides the general definition for fraud in Canada,380. In addition to the penalties outlined above, the court can issue a prohibition order under s.380.2. It can also make an order under s.380.3. The Canadian courts have held that the offence consists of two elements, A prohibited act of deceit, falsehood or other fraudulent means. The Supreme Court of Canada has held that deprivation is satisfied on proof of detriment, prejudice or risk of prejudice, it is not essential that there be actual loss. Deprivation of confidential information, in the nature of a secret or copyrighted material that has commercial value, has also been held to fall within the scope of the offence. The BBC World Service reported in 2012 that the value lost through fraud in the UK was £66 billion a year. According to a review by the UK anti-fraud charity Fraud Advisory Panel business fraud accounted for £144bn, the FAP has been particularly critical of the support available from the police to victims of fraud in the UK outside of London. In July 2016 it was reported that fraudulent activity levels in the UK increased in the 10 years to 2016 from £52 billion to £193bn. This figure would be an estimate, since as the former commissioner of the City of London Police, Adrian Leppard, has said. Donald Toon, director of the NCAs economic crime command, stated in July 2016, Fraud affects one in ten people in the UK
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Criminal damage in English law
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In English law, causing criminal damage was originally a common law offence. The offence was largely concerned with the protection of dwellings and the food supply, liability was originally restricted to the payment of damages by way of compensation. The modern law of criminal damage is mostly contained in the Criminal Damage Act 1971, the Act provides a comprehensive structure covering merely preparatory acts to the most serious offences of arson and causing damage with intent to endanger life. As such, punishments vary from a penalty to life imprisonment. In fact, the law only intervened in the case of arson, defining it as the malicious. This protection extended to barns and even stacks of corn, arson traditionally attracted the death penalty, and had done so in Roman law. The reaction of Parliament to Luddism was to criminalise machine-breaking – the destruction of textile-making machinery – as early as 1721, initially the punishment was transportation to the Colonies but as a result of continued opposition to mechanisation the Frame-Breaking Act of 1812 made the death penalty available. A number of statutory provisions creating offences of damaging specific types of property were consolidated by 7 &8 Geo.4 c.30 which was one of Peels Acts and this Act and a number of subsequent statutes were consolidated by the Malicious Damage Act 1861. The Malicious Damage Act 1861 was a Victorian consolidation statute which set out detailed protections of property, most of which have now been superseded by the Criminal Damage Act 1971. The remaining provisions applicable in England and Wales are, Section 35 - Placing wood, &c. on railway, with intent to obstruct or overthrow any engine, believed to be entitled to consent to the destruction or damage. Had so consented, or would have consented had they known, was in immediate need of protection, and that the means of protection. Reasonable having regard to all the circumstances, in Chamberlain v. Lindon, Lindon demolished a wall to protect a right of way, honestly believing that it was a reasonable means of avoiding litigation. However, in R v. Hill and Hall, the Court of Appeal introduced an element to part of the defence. The defendants had been convicted of possession of a hacksaw blade outside a US naval base in Wales, the case of Jaggard v. Dickinson held that even a drunken belief will support the defence even though this allows drunkenness to negate basic intent, and Lloyd v. The courts have said that a defendant relying upon lawful excuse as a defence need not necessarily seek to put himself within section 5, in R v. Denton, the defendant had been asked by his employer to set fire to the employers factory to facilitate an insurance claim. Despite this, it was held that the owner of the factory was entitled to have it burned down – as the Lord Chief Justice put it, property – and therefore Denton, knowing this, had a lawful excuse independent of section 5. Whether destruction or damage has occurred is an issue of fact, in A v. R, the defendant spat on a police officers raincoat, which was easily wiped clean, it was held that this did not amount to damage within the 1971 Act. Similarly, in Morphitis v. Salmon, a scratch to a scaffolding pole did not affect its value or usefulness, a different conclusion was reached in Hardman v
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Gillick competence
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The standard is based on the decision of the House of Lords in Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority. The case is binding in England and Wales, and has adopted to varying extents in Australia, Canada. Similar provision is made in Scotland by the Age of Legal Capacity Act 1991, the Gillick case involved a health departmental circular advising doctors on the contraception of minors. The circular stated that the prescription of contraception was a matter for the doctors discretion and this matter was litigated because an activist, Mrs. Victoria Gillick, ran an active campaign against the policy. The issue before the House of Lords was only whether the minor involved could give consent, consent here was considered in the broad sense of consent to battery or assault, in the absence of patient consent to treatment, a doctor, even if well-intentioned, might be sued/charged. The House of Lords focused on the issue of consent rather than a notion of rights or parental powers. In fact, the court held that parental rights did not exist, the majority held that in some circumstances a minor could consent to treatment, and that in these circumstances a parent had no power to veto treatment. Lord Scarman and Lord Fraser proposed slightly different tests, Lord Scarmans test is generally considered to be the test of Gillick competency. The ruling holds particularly significant implications for the rights of minor children in England in that it is broader in scope than merely medical consent. It lays down that the authority of parents to make decisions for their children is not absolute. The decisions in Re R and Re W contradict the Gillick decision somewhat, from these, and subsequent cases, it is suggested that although the parental right to veto treatment ends, parental powers do not ‘terminate’ as suggested by Lord Scarman in Gillick. However, these are only obiter statements and were made by a court, therefore. However, the parens patriae jurisdiction of the court remains available allowing a court order to force treatment against a childs wishes, a child who is deemed Gillick competent is able to prevent their parents viewing their medical records. As such, medical staff will not make a disclosure of records of a child who is deemed Gillick competent unless consent is manifest. In most jurisdictions the parent of a minor does not have the ability to consent to therapy. Typical positions of emancipation arise when the minor is married or in the military, the nature of the standard remains uncertain. Some recent legislation appears to restrict the ability of Gillick competent children to consent to medical treatment outside of clinical settings. For example, parental consent is required for the treatment of children with asthma using standby salbutamol inhalers in schools and these restrictions have yet to be tested in court
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Child Abduction Act 1984
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The Child Abduction Act 1984 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It creates offences that replace, in England and Wales, the offence of child stealing under section 56 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. The following cases are relevant to section, R v C2 FLR252, Fam Law 522, CA R v Sherry and El Yamani Crim LR536. See the Crown Prosecution Service sentencing manual, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse. This section is disapplied by section 51 of the Children Act 1989, the following cases are relevant, R v Leather,98 Cr App R179, CA R v Berry Crim LR574, The Times,29 January 1996, CA Sentence See section 4. See the Crown Prosecution Service sentencing manual, the word months means calendar months. The day on which the Act was passed is included in the period of three months and this means that the Act came into force on 12 October 1984. Halsburys Statutes, The Child Abduction Act 1984, as amended from the National Archives, the Child Abduction Act 1984, as originally enacted from the National Archives. Crown Prosecution Service guidance - prosecuting cases of child abuse
23.
Indictable-only offence
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In the United States, a crime of similar severity and rules is called a felony, which also requires an indictment. An either way offence allows the defendant to elect between trial by jury on indictment in the Crown Court and summary trial in a magistrates court. However, the election may be overruled by the court if the facts suggest that the sentencing powers of a magistrates court would be inadequate to reflect the seriousness of the offence. In relation to some indictable offences, for criminal damage. See section 64 of the Criminal Law Act 1977, grand juries were abolished in 1933. Some offences such as murder and rape are considered so serious that they can only be tried on indictment at the Crown Court where the widest range of sentencing powers is available to the judge, in United States, gross negligence can be counted as a indictable offence. The expression indictable-only offence was defined by section 51 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, as originally enacted, sections 51 and 52 of, and Schedule 3 to, that Act abolished committal proceedings for such offences and made other provisions in relation to them. When the accused is charged with an indictable offence, he or she will be tried in the Crown Court. The rules are different in England and Wales in respect of those under 18 years of age, see also section 14 of the Criminal Law Act 1977. Similarly in New Zealand, a rape or murder charge will be tried at the High Court, while less serious offences such as theft, however, the District Court can hold both jury and summary trials. For differences between indictable offences and summary offences see summary offences, in United States penal law, other than a felony, court findings of, or an act of gross negligence can be counted as a indictable offence. Federal crime Felony Indictment Summary offence
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Lindbergh kidnapping
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On the evening of March 1,1932 Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. the eldest son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was abducted from the family home in Highfields, New Jersey. On May 12 the body of the 20-month-old boy, killed by a skull fracture, was discovered nearby. In September 1934 Richard Hauptmann was arrested and, in a trial lasting from January 2 to February 13,1935, found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to death. He was executed by electric chair at the New Jersey State Prison on April 3,1936, newspaper writer H. L. Mencken called the kidnapping and trial the biggest story since the Resurrection. Legal scholars have referred to the trial as one of the trials of the century, the crime spurred Congress to pass the Federal Kidnapping Act, commonly called the Lindbergh Law, which made transporting a kidnapping victim across state lines a federal crime. At 7,30 p. m. on March 1,1932, around 9,30 pm Charles Lindbergh, who was in the library just below the babys room, heard a noise which he imagined to be slats breaking off a full crate in the kitchen. At 10,00 pm Gow discovered the crib empty, within twenty minutes police were en route to the home, along with reporters and the family lawyer. Later that night a tire print was discovered in the mud and, in a bush, Hopewell Borough police and New Jersey State Police officers searched the home and its surrounding area for miles. No adult fingerprints were found in the room, including in areas witnesses admitted to touching, such as the window. Word of the spread quickly, and, along with police. There were military colonels offering their aid, though one had law enforcement expertise, Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf. The other colonels were Henry Skillman Breckinridge, a Wall Street lawyer, Lindbergh and these men believed that the kidnapping was perpetrated by organized crime figures. The letter, they thought, seemed written by someone who spoke German as his native language, Charles Lindbergh, at this time, used his influence to control the direction of the investigation. They contacted Mickey Rosner, a Broadway hanger-on rumored to know mobsters, Rosner, in turn, brought in two speakeasy owners, Salvatore Salvy Spitale and Irving Bitz. Lindbergh quickly endorsed the duo and appointed them his intermediaries to deal with the mob. Several organized crime figures – notably Al Capone, Willie Moretti, Joe Adonis and Longy Zwillman — spoke from prison, specifically, Capone offered assistance in return for being released from prison under the pretense that his assistance would be more effective. This was quickly denied by the authorities, the morning after the kidnapping, U. S. President Herbert Hoover was notified of the crime. New Jersey officials announced a $25,000 reward for the return of Little Lindy
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United States Congress
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The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States consisting of two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the Capitol in Washington, D. C, both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election, though vacancies in the Senate may be filled by a gubernatorial appointment. Members are usually affiliated to the Republican Party or to the Democratic Party, Congress has 535 voting members,435 Representatives and 100 Senators. The House of Representatives has six non-voting members in addition to its 435 voting members and these members can, however, sit on congressional committees and introduce legislation. Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms representing the people of a single constituency, known as a district. Congressional districts are apportioned to states by using the United States Census results. Each state, regardless of population or size, has two senators, currently, there are 100 senators representing the 50 states. Each senator is elected at-large in their state for a term, with terms staggered. The House and Senate are equal partners in the legislative process—legislation cannot be enacted without the consent of both chambers, however, the Constitution grants each chamber some unique powers. The Senate ratifies treaties and approves presidential appointments while the House initiates revenue-raising bills, the House initiates impeachment cases, while the Senate decides impeachment cases. A two-thirds vote of the Senate is required before a person can be forcibly removed from office. The term Congress can also refer to a meeting of the legislature. A Congress covers two years, the current one, the 115th Congress, began on January 3,2017, the Congress starts and ends on the third day of January of every odd-numbered year. Members of the Senate are referred to as senators, members of the House of Representatives are referred to as representatives, congressmen, or congresswomen. One analyst argues that it is not a solely reactive institution but has played a role in shaping government policy and is extraordinarily sensitive to public pressure. Several academics described Congress, Congress reflects us in all our strengths, Congress is the governments most representative body. Congress is essentially charged with reconciling our many points of view on the public policy issues of the day. —Smith, Roberts, and Wielen Congress is constantly changing and is constantly in flux, most incumbents seek re-election, and their historical likelihood of winning subsequent elections exceeds 90 percent
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Federal Kidnapping Act
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The Act became law in 1932. Several states implemented their own versions of this law, known as Little Lindbergh laws, in some states, if the victim was physically harmed in any manner, the crime qualified for capital punishment. This was what occurred in the Caryl Chessman case in California, following the death penalty law revisions by the United States Supreme Court during the 1970s, kidnapping alone no longer constitutes a capital offense. A provision of the law provides exception for parents who abduct their own minor children, peters, Gerhard, Woolley, John T. Herbert Hoover, Statement on the Lindbergh Kidnaping. University of California - Santa Barbara
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Federal Bureau of Investigation
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States, which simultaneously serves as the nations prime federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the U. S. Department of Justice, Intelligence Community and reports to both the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence. A leading U. S. counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and criminal investigative organization, although many of the FBIs functions are unique, its activities in support of national security are comparable to those of the British MI5 and the Russian FSB. At an FBI field office, a senior-level FBI officer concurrently serves as the representative of the Director of National Intelligence. Despite its domestic focus, the FBI also maintains a significant international footprint and these overseas offices exist primarily for the purpose of coordination with foreign security services and do not usually conduct unilateral operations in the host countries. The FBI can and does at times carry out secret activities overseas, just as the CIA has a domestic function. The FBI was established in 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation and its name was changed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935. The FBI headquarters is the J. Edgar Hoover Building, located in Washington, in the fiscal year 2012, the Bureaus total budget was approximately $8.12 billion. In 1896, the National Bureau of Criminal Identification was founded, the 1901 assassination of President William McKinley created an urgent perception that America was under threat from anarchists. The Departments of Justice and Labor had been keeping records on anarchists for years, the Justice Department had been tasked with the regulation of interstate commerce since 1887, though it lacked the staff to do so. It had made little effort to relieve its staff shortage until the breakage of the Oregon land fraud scandal at approximately the turn of the 20th Century, President Roosevelt instructed Attorney General Charles Bonaparte to organize an autonomous investigative service that would report only to the Attorney General. Bonaparte reached out to other agencies, including the Secret Service, for personnel, on May 27,1908, the Congress forbade this use of Treasury employees by the Justice Department, citing fears that the new agency would serve as a secret police department. Again at Roosevelts urging, Bonaparte moved to organize a formal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Investigation was created on July 26,1908, after the Congress had adjourned for the summer. Attorney General Bonaparte, using Department of Justice expense funds, hired thirty-four people, including veterans of the Secret Service. Its first Chief was Stanley Finch, Bonaparte notified the Congress of these actions in December 1908. The bureaus first official task was visiting and making surveys of the houses of prostitution in preparation for enforcing the White Slave Traffic Act, or Mann Act, in 1932, the bureau was renamed the United States Bureau of Investigation. The following year it was linked to the Bureau of Prohibition, in the same year, its name was officially changed from the Division of Investigation to the present-day Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI. J. Edgar Hoover served as Director from 1924 to 1972, a combined 48 years with the BOI, DOI, Hoover was substantially involved in most major cases and projects that the FBI handled during his tenure
28.
AMBER Alert
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An AMBER Alert or a Child Abduction Emergency is a child abduction alert system. It originated in the United States in 1996, AMBER is officially a backronym for Americas Missing, Broadcast Emergency Response, but was named after Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old abducted and murdered in Arlington, Texas, in 1996. Alternate regional alert names were used, in Georgia, Levis Call, in Hawaii, Maile Amber Alert. The alerts are also issued via e-mail, electronic signs, commercial electronic billboards. With the Google Child Alert, citizens see an AMBER Alert if they search for related information in a location where a child has recently been abducted. This is a component of the AMBER Alert system that is active in the US. Those interested in subscribing to receive AMBER Alerts in their area via SMS messages can visit Wireless Amber Alerts, in some states, the display scrollboards in front of lottery terminals are also used. The decision to declare an AMBER Alert is made by each organization that investigates each of the abductions. It is also used on stolen vehicles. The alerts are broadcast using the Emergency Alert System, which had previously been used primarily for weather bulletins, civil emergencies, Alerts usually contain a description of the child and of the likely abductor. To avoid both false alarms and having alerts ignored as a cry, the criteria for issuing an alert are rather strict. However, the U. S. Department of Justice issues the following guidance, the child must be at risk of serious injury or death. There must be sufficient descriptive information of child, captor, or captors vehicle to issue an alert, the child must be under 18 years of age. In 2013, West Virginia passed Skylars Law to eliminate #1 as a criterion for triggering an Amber Alert and it is recommended that AMBER Alert data immediately be entered into the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Crime Information Center. Text information describing the surrounding the abduction of the child should be entered. The Royal Canadian Mounted Polices requirements in Canada are nearly identical to the above list, one organization might notify the other if there is reason to suspect that the border may be crossed. If the child is suspected to be taken to Canada, a Canadian Amber Alert can also be issued, for incidents which do not meet AMBER Alert criteria, the United States Department of Justice developed the Child Abduction Response Teams program to assist local agencies. This program can be used in all missing childrens cases and can be used as part of an AMBER alert or when an abduction or disappearance does not meet AMBER Alert criteria
29.
United States Department of Justice
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The department was formed in 1870 during the Ulysses S. Grant administration. In its early years, the DOJ vigorously prosecuted Ku Klux Klan members, the Department of Justice administers several federal law enforcement agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The department has responsibility to investigate instances of fraud, to represent the United States in legal matters such as in the Supreme Court. The department also has responsibilities to review actions of law enforcement conduct by the Violent Crime Control. The Department is headed by the United States Attorney General, who is nominated by the President, the current Attorney General is Jeff Sessions. The U. S. Attorney General was initially a one-person and it was established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, but this grew with the bureaucracy. At one time the Attorney General gave legal advice to the U. S. Congress as well as the President, until March 3,1853, the salary of the Attorney General was set by statute at less than the amount paid to other Cabinet members. Early Attorneys General supplemented their salary by engaging in private practice of law. Following unsuccessful efforts to put the Attorney Generals Office on a footing, in 1869. On February 19,1868, Lawrence introduced a bill in Congress to create the Department of Justice, President Ulysses S. Grant then signed the bill into law on June 22,1870. The Department of Justice officially began operations on July 1,1870, just prior to the Civil War, in February 1861, the Confederate States of America established a Department of Justice. Grant appointed Amos T. Akerman as Attorney General and Benjamin H. Bristow as Americas first Solicitor General, both Akerman and Bristow used the Department of Justice to vigorously prosecute Ku Klux Klan members in the early 1870s. In the first few years of Grants first term in there were 1000 indictments against Klan members with over 550 convictions from the Department of Justice. The result was a decrease in violence in the South. Akerman gave credit to Grant and told a friend that no one was better or stronger then Grant when it came to prosecuting terrorists. Akermans successor, George H. Williams, in December 1871, the law did create a new office, that of Solicitor General, to supervise and conduct government litigation in the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1884, control of federal prisons was transferred to the new department, new facilities were built, including the penitentiary at Leavenworth in 1895, and a facility for women located in West Virginia, at Alderson was established in 1924. The U. S. Department of Justice building was completed in 1935 from a design by Milton Bennett Medary, upon Medarys death in 1929, the other partners of his Philadelphia firm Zantzinger, Borie and Medary took over the project
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New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
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New Jersey
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New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania, New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state but the 11th-most populous and the most densely populated of the 50 United States. New Jersey lies entirely within the statistical areas of New York City. New Jersey was inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, in the early 17th century, the Dutch and the Swedes made the first European settlements. New Jersey was the site of decisive battles during the American Revolutionary War in the 18th century. In the 19th century, factories in cities such as Camden, Paterson, Newark, Trenton, around 180 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period, New Jersey bordered North Africa. The pressure of the collision between North America and Africa gave rise to the Appalachian Mountains, around 18,000 years ago, the Ice Age resulted in glaciers that reached New Jersey. As the glaciers retreated, they left behind Lake Passaic, as well as rivers, swamps. New Jersey was originally settled by Native Americans, with the Lenni-Lenape being dominant at the time of contact, scheyichbi is the Lenape name for the land that is now New Jersey. The Lenape society was divided into clans that were based upon common female ancestors. These clans were organized into three distinct phratries identified by their animal sign, Turtle, Turkey, and Wolf and they first encountered the Dutch in the early 17th century, and their primary relationship with the Europeans was through fur trade. The Dutch became the first Europeans to lay claim to lands in New Jersey, the Dutch colony of New Netherland consisted of parts of modern Middle Atlantic states. Although the European principle of ownership was not recognized by the Lenape. The first to do so was Michiel Pauw who established a patronship called Pavonia in 1630 along the North River which eventually became the Bergen, peter Minuits purchase of lands along the Delaware River established the colony of New Sweden. During the English Civil War, the Channel Island of Jersey remained loyal to the British Crown and it was from the Royal Square in St. Helier that Charles II of England was proclaimed King in 1649, following the execution of his father, Charles I. The North American lands were divided by Charles II, who gave his brother, the Duke of York, the region between New England and Maryland as a proprietary colony. James then granted the land between the Hudson River and the Delaware River to two friends who had remained loyal through the English Civil War, Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley of Stratton, the area was named the Province of New Jersey. Since the states inception, New Jersey has been characterized by ethnic, New England Congregationalists settled alongside Scots Presbyterians and Dutch Reformed migrants
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Jews
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The Jews, also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Israelites, or Hebrews, of the Ancient Near East. Jews originated as a national and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE, the Merneptah Stele appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel, associated with the god El, somewhere in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE. The Israelites, as an outgrowth of the Canaanite population, consolidated their hold with the emergence of the Kingdom of Israel, some consider that these Canaanite sedentary Israelites melded with incoming nomadic groups known as Hebrews. The worldwide Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million prior to World War II, but approximately 6 million Jews were systematically murdered during the Holocaust. Since then the population has risen again, and as of 2015 was estimated at 14.3 million by the Berman Jewish DataBank. According to the report, about 43% of all Jews reside in Israel and these numbers include all those who self-identified as Jews in a socio-demographic study or were identified as such by a respondent in the same household. The exact world Jewish population, however, is difficult to measure, Israel is the only country where Jews form a majority of the population. The modern State of Israel was established as a Jewish state and defines itself as such in its Declaration of Independence and its Law of Return grants the right of citizenship to any Jew who requests it. The English word Jew continues Middle English Gyw, Iewe, according to the Hebrew Bible, the name of both the tribe and kingdom derive from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. The Hebrew word for Jew, יְהוּדִי ISO 259-3 Yhudi, is pronounced, with the stress on the syllable, in Israeli Hebrew. The Ladino name is ג׳ודיו, Djudio, ג׳ודיוס, Djudios, Yiddish, ייִד Yid, ייִדן, Yidn. The etymological equivalent is in use in languages, e. g. but derivations of the word Hebrew are also in use to describe a Jew, e. g. in Italian. The German word Jude is pronounced, the corresponding adjective jüdisch is the origin of the word Yiddish, in such contexts Jewish is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of Jew as a noun, a factual reconstruction for the origin of the Jews is a difficult and complex endeavor. It requires examining at least 3,000 years of ancient human history using documents in vast quantities, as archaeological discovery relies upon researchers and scholars from diverse disciplines, the goal is to interpret all of the factual data, focusing on the most consistent theory. In this case, it is complicated by long standing politics and religious, Jacob and his family migrated to Ancient Egypt after being invited to live with Jacobs son Joseph by the Pharaoh himself. The patriarchs descendants were later enslaved until the Exodus led by Moses, traditionally dated to the 13th century BCE, Modern archaeology has largely discarded the historicity of the Patriarchs and of the Exodus story, with it being reframed as constituting the Israelites inspiring national myth narrative. The growth of Yahweh-centric belief, along with a number of practices, gradually gave rise to a distinct Israelite ethnic group
