Criminal charges are classified in two categories; felonies and misdemeanors. In reference to Laws (2006) misdemeanors are crimes that are less serious than felonies and they carry punishments that are less severe. A misdemeanor, according to Laws (2006) is punished by less that one year arrest in a jail facility. On the other hand, felonies are more serious offenses with imprisonment ranging from one year to life sentence. Notably, all the cases that Mary Jones had previously been charged i.e. resisting arrest, public drunkenness, possession of uncontrolled substance, prostitution and felony larceny are misdemeanor. In this case study, we focus on possession of uncontrolled substance as one of the misdemeanor Jones had been charged with.
Possession of uncontrolled substance has been influenced by several societal factors today. Disintegration of family and marital ties for various reasons, and the life situations encountered by members of the society may themselves create a process of anchorlessness. More so, possession of uncontrolled substance may result from, poverty and peer influence which are key factors why people who have lacked of family support and lack of ability may opt to use drugs. Community morals and beliefs on how law should regulate morality affect how any community addresses this misdemeanor.
The purpose of the social contract and government might protect people in possession of uncontrolled substances through security and safety of Mary Jones. In reference to Social Contract Theory (SCT), ethics and moral values consists in set rules that govern behavior acceptable by rational people on a condition that other people accept these rules as well. To protect Mary Jones the government and the social contract must guarantee that (1) the society will not harm her and (2) that people must be in a position to depend on each other to keep their agreements. It is only the government that can ensure (1) and (2) above are followed (Walker 2009). As such the government is critical in maintaining law and order and those who are under the government are parties to social contract. On such a situation all people are subject to the law of state on condition that all people are under the same. From this point of view, the whole community is relatively safe from each other and all become beneficiaries to social goods that result from governance.
There are various roles played by Officer Marconi in this case. To begin with Marconi must enforce law and at the same time protect Mary Jones (suspect) from harm. In the current situation the suspect it depicted to resist arrest. It is the responsibility of the officer to make sure the law is followed and through us of force the suspect is arrested. It is also the responsibility of the officer to ensure that all the evidence remains intact and that the woman receives good treatment that will diffuse the content she had consumed. The safety of the suspect from the public and the health of the suspect are paramount.
The law enforcement officer’s actions might influence the unsympathetic suspect in various ways. To begin with, unsympathetic suspect are suspect who deliberately break law and are often antithesis of heroic character on what is wrong (O’Connell 2004). In this case Mary Jones is the unsympathetic suspect and she seem have been arrested severally with misdemeanor crimes. The amount of force used by the officer may influence the arrest of the suspect. In the case of Marconi and Mary Jones, the officer used acted accordingly since the suspect behaved inappropriately. The criminal justice professional maintain ethic al standards when working with diverse population by being aware and sensitive to ethic al dilemmas that confront them in the course of their duties. Once charge, Mary Jones has the right to medical treatment, to fair trial, and right to privacy.
References
Laws R. (2006). Net Crimes and Misdemeanors: Outmaneuvering Web Spammers, Stalkers, and Con Artists, by J.A. Hitchcock. Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc. 480p.
O’Connell B. (2004). Crimes and misdemeanors: the death of Arthur Andersen Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Volume 15, Issue 3, Pages 333-334
Walker P. (2009). Felony and misdemeanor defendants filed in the U.S. district courts during fiscal years 2000–05: An analysis of the filings of each offense level Original Research Article. Journal of Criminal Justice, Volume 26, Issue 6, Pages 503-511
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