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Bloody Christmas (1951)
Bloody Christmas was the severe beating of seven civilians by members of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on December 25, 1951. The attacks, which left five Mexican American and two white young men with broken bones and ruptured organs, were only properly investigated after lobbying from the Mexican American community. The internal inquiry by Los Angeles Chief of Police William H. Parker resulted in eight police officers being indicted for the assaults, 54 being transferred, and 39 suspended. The event was fictionalized in the 1990 novel '' L.A. Confidential'' by James Ellroy, which was made into a film of the same name in 1997. Background In 1938, reforms of the LAPD were started by Mayor Frank Shaw. Throughout the 1940s, this led to the firing of corrupt officers, the raising of entrance standards, the creation of rigorous training programs, and better pay for officers. Police autonomy was already guaranteed in Section 202 of the Los Angeles city charter since ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Civilians
A civilian is a person who is not a member of an armed force. It is illegal under the law of armed conflict to target civilians with military attacks, along with numerous other considerations for civilians during times of war. If a civilian engages in hostilities, they are an unlawful combatant and temporarily lose their protection from attack. It is slightly different from a non-combatant, because some non-combatants are not civilians (for example, people who are not in a military but support war effort or military operations, military chaplains, or military personnel who are serving with a neutral country). Civilians in the territories of a party to an armed conflict are entitled to certain privileges under the customary laws of war and international treaties such as the Fourth Geneva Convention. The privileges that they enjoy under international law depends on whether the conflict is an internal one (a civil war) or an international one. In some nations, uniformed members ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blood Transfusions
Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used whole blood, but modern medical practice commonly uses only components of the blood, such as red blood cells, plasma, platelets, and other clotting factors. White blood cells are transfused only in very rare circumstances, since granulocyte transfusion has limited applications. Whole blood has come back into use in the trauma setting. Red blood cells (RBC) contain hemoglobin and supply the cells of the body with oxygen. White blood cells are not commonly used during transfusions, but they are part of the immune system and also fight infections. Plasma is the "yellowish" liquid part of blood, which acts as a buffer and contains proteins and other important substances needed for the body's overall health. Platelets are involved in blood clotting, prev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rodney King
Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965June 17, 2012) was a Black American victim of police brutality. On March 3, 1991, he was severely beaten by Police officer, officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) during his arrest after a high speed pursuit for driving while intoxicated on Foothill Freeway, Interstate 210. An uninvolved resident, George Holliday, saw and filmed the incident from his nearby balcony and sent the footage, which showed King on the ground being beaten, to a local news station KTLA. The incident was covered by news media around the world and caused a public uproar. At a press conference, Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates announced that the four officers who were involved would be disciplined for use of Force (law), excessive force and that three would face criminal charges. The LAPD initially charged King with "felony evading", but later dropped the charge. On his release, King spoke to reporters from his wheelchair, with his injuries evident: a broke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Wall Of Silence
The blue wall of silence, also blue code and blue shield, are terms used to denote an informal code of silence among police officers in the United States not to report on a colleague's errors, misconduct, or crimes, especially as related to police brutality in the United States. If questioned about an incident of alleged misconduct involving another officer (e.g., during the course of an official inquiry), when following the code, the officer being questioned will perjure themselves by feigning ignorance of another officer's wrongdoing. Police corruption The code is one example of police corruption and misconduct. Officers who engaged in discriminatory arrests, physical or verbal harassment, and selective enforcement of the law are considered to be corrupt, while officers who follow the code may participate in some of these acts during their careers for personal matters or in order to protect or support fellow officers. All of these are considered illegal offenses and are g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indicted
An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use that of an indictable offence, which is an offence that requires an indictment. Australia Section 80 of the Constitution of Australia provides that "the trial on indictment of any offence against any law of the Commonwealth shall be by jury". The High Court of Australia has consistently used a narrow interpretation of this clause, allowing the Parliament of Australia to define which offences proceed on indictment rather than conferring a universal right to a jury trial. Section 4G of the ''Crimes Act 1914'' provides that "offences against a law of the Commonwealth punishable by imprisonment for a period exceeding 12 months are indictable offences, unless the contrary intention appears". Canada A direct indictment is one in which the case is sent direct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Jury
A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand jury is separate from the courts, which do not preside over its functioning. Originating in England during the Middle Ages, modern examples include grand juries in the United States, and to a lesser extent, Liberia. In Japan, there are citizen Prosecutorial Review Committees which review cases that have been dropped by the prosecution, but they are not required for an indictment like in the previous two. Grand juries perform both accusatory and investigatory functions. The investigatory functions of grand juries include obtaining and reviewing documents and other evidence, and hearing sworn testimonies of witnesses who appear before it; the accusatory function determines whether there is probable cause to believe that one or more persons co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perjury
Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an instance of a person’s deliberately making material false or misleading statements while under oath. – Also termed false swearing; false oath; (archaically forswearing." Like most other crimes in the common law system, to be convicted of perjury one must have had the ''intention'' (''mens rea'') to commit the act and have ''actually committed'' the act (''actus reus''). Further, statements that ''are facts'' cannot be considered perjury, even if they might arguably constitute an omission, and it is not perjury to lie about matters that are immaterial to the legal proceeding. Statements that entail an ''interpretation'' of fact are not perjury because people often draw inaccurate conclusions unwittingly or make honest mistakes without the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crime In Los Angeles
Crime in Los Angeles has varied throughout time, reaching peaks between the 1970s and 1990s. In 2012, the Los Angeles Police Department reported that crime had declined in the city for the 10th consecutive year. In 2013, Los Angeles reported 296 homicides in the city proper, which corresponds to a rate of 6.3 per 100,000 population—a notable decrease from 1980, when the all time homicide rate of 34.2 per 100,000 population was reported for the year. In 2014, there were 260 homicides, at a rate of 6.7 per 100,000 people. In 2015, it was revealed that the LAPD had been under-reporting crime for eight years, making the crime rate in the city appear much lower than it really is. Approximately 14,000 assaults went unreported as "minor offenses" rather than violent crimes. Additionally, recent years have seen more crime in the increasingly gentrified downtown area. However, these inaccuracies do not affect the general downward trend in crime in Los Angeles. The city is patrolled ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Police Brutality
Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to, asphyxiation, beatings, shootings, improper takedowns, Racism, racially-motivated violence and unwarranted use of Electroshock weapon, tasers. History The first modern police force is widely regarded to be the Metropolitan Police Service in London, established in 1829. However, some scholars argue that early forms of policing began in the Americas as early as the 1500s on plantation colonies in the Caribbean. These slave patrols quickly spread across other regions and contributed to the development of the earliest examples of modern police forces. Early records suggest that labor strikes were the first large-scale incidents of police brutality in the United States, including events like the Great Railroad Strike ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baton (law Enforcement)
A baton (also truncheon, nightstick, billy club, billystick, cosh, ''lathi'', or simply stick) is a roughly cylindrical Club (weapon), club made of wood, rubber, plastic, or metal. It is carried as a Use of force, compliance tool and self-defense, defensive weapon by Law enforcement officer, law-enforcement officers, Prison officer, correctional staff, Security guard, security guards and military personnel. The name baton comes from the French ''bâton'' (stick), derived from Old French ''Baston'', from Latin ''bastum''. As a weapon a baton may be used defensively (to Blocking (martial arts), block) or offensively (to Strike (attack), strike, jab, or bludgeon), and it can aid in the application of armlocks. The usual striking or bludgeoning action is not produced by a simple and direct hit, as with an ordinary blunt object, but rather by bringing the arm down sharply while allowing the truncheon to pivot nearly freely forward and downward, so moving its tip much faster than it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breach Of The Peace
Breach of the peace or disturbing the peace is a legal term used in constitutional law in English-speaking countries and in a public order sense in the United Kingdom. It is a form of disorderly conduct. Public order England, Wales and Northern Ireland In England and Wales, theoretically all criminal offences cognizable by English law involve "a breach of the King's peace", and all indictments formerly concluded "against the peace of our Lord the King, his crown and dignity" before the passage of the Indictments Act 1915 and the Rules that formed that Act's first schedule. The conclusion has also found its way into constitutional law in many United States state constitutions, which mandate that indictments within the state end in a similar manner to the above, usually omitting the "crown" part or substituting "government". For example, New Jersey's is "against the peace of this State, the government and dignity of the same". Historically that concluding phrase, now legally s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battery (crime)
Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault, which is the act of creating reasonable fear or apprehension of such contact. Battery is a specific common law offense, although the term is used more generally to refer to any unlawful offensive physical contact with another person. Battery is defined by American common law as "any unlawful and/or unwanted touching of the person of another by the aggressor, or by a substance put in motion by them". In more severe cases, and for all types in some jurisdictions, it is chiefly defined by statutory wording. Assessment of the severity of a battery is determined by local law. Generally Specific rules regarding battery vary among different jurisdictions, but some elements remain constant across jurisdictions. Battery generally requires that: # an offensive touch or contact is made upon the victim, instigated by the actor; and # the actor intends or knows that their action will cause the offen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
