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The Mock Trial program here at Penn State has certainly helped make my first year at college a success. As the season comes to a close and new executive board members are being chosen, I have begun to reflect on my experience as a whole and how it has continued to motivate in my pursuance of a career in the legal field. However, many of you reading this blog may be wondering what exactly Mock Trial is. Well, I would like to enlighten you as some people within our current RCL Class may look to join the organization next semester. Collegiate Mock Trial is a highly competitive program in which we receive a case, either civil or criminal, and conduct a simulation of an actual trial. This year’s case revolved around the death of a writer on the talk show Midland’s After Dark with Alex Grace who was brutally mauled by a chimpanzee named Elias on the show.

The prosecution in this trial, which consist of three attorneys and three witnesses, has the burden of proof to prove that the defendant was negligent for bringing an untrained and potentially murderous chimp on the show to perform on a show where people’s lives would be in danger. On the other hand, the defense’s burden of proof, in this case, lies in proving that the prosecution did not follow the guidelines highlighted for them by the chimp’s animal trainer Danny Kosack prior to the show. Civil cases function in a way in which each side has to work to prove which side is more at fault and from there damages can be awarded. The witnesses that are called by each side will provide evidence on the behalf of either the defense or prosecution as well as cross-examined on the information that they provide within their affidavit.

 

This year I played a character witness by the name of Remy Hollis. Remy works as a band manager for the band who also was planned to perform that day. My character works to prove that there was another animal on set as well as food which strictly goes against the guidelines established by Danny Kosack. My character always received rave reviews as I was able to score near perfect tens by both judges each round I performed. I played this character in a very stereotypical Californian rocker/surfer which paired nicely with my relaxed demeanor as I have no stakes in the case. I first performed this character at the Blue Jay invitation in January of this year at John Hopkins University in Baltimore Maryland. The judges loved my character as they felt that it really encompassed what they would expect from a band manager who manages a band called “ The Hound Dogs”. After the competition was over my mock trial team took third place with two of our members winning an honorable mention. This was very rewarding as we put many long nights as well as hours into performing our roles and were able to survive the competition with a record of 6-2.

Fast forward to February, and we are now competing at the happy valley regional here at Penn State. As a first-year mock trailer as well as a member of the D team, my team’s chance of earning a bid to The Opening Round Championships was predicted to be 4.5 % based on a poll of 200 individuals which was conducted by a website closely related to the competition. I am going to be honest going into this competition I was very exciting but also extremely nervous. We had very strong teams competing at this year’s regionals such as Cornel, NYU, Columbia, and The University of Miami. The team predicted to get a bid and win the entire competition was Columbia as they were ranked the highest amongst all the teams competing in this regional, however, that was not the case. After completing four tiresome rounds of competitive mock trial over the course of three days my team was able to earn ourselves a bid to nationals and on top of that first place with a record of 8-0. EIGHT AND ZERO! This had never been done in Penn State Mock Trial history!!! We as the D-Team had done something groundbreaking that not even other teams such as Columbia and NYU could believe. This victory was well earned and had given me a confidence in myself that I had never felt. I felt like all my hard work at practice definitely paid off and that my continuation in this organization is solidified for the next four years. This organization reminds that I am destined to one day to be a lawyer in the future and that organizations such as this will be pivotal to that goal. Therefore, I urge anyone interested in going to law school or looking to find a career in the legal field to join the Mock Trial Team here at Penn State as it will change your life the same way it did mine!  

 

After completing an issue brief concerning the epidemic of mass incarceration in America, I have decided to take the liberty to dedicate my next passion blog to this very same issue. The depressing nature of mass incarceration and the effect it has on the lives of many Americans is a concept I would like to discuss as it is an issue that still continues to plague our society. In fact, this topic is also very personal to me as I have a family member who fell victim to our corrupt justice system. My cousin Dennis, who had been convicted of a robbery in 2009, believed he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and claimed he was innocent. He believed he was not given his due process rights as the prosecution forced him to take a guilty plea. My cousin Dennis was more concerned about what would happen to him if he took his case to trial rather than attempting to maintain his innocence. He is currently out on probation after serving a total of seven years in prison. He to this day claims that he was not fairly granted his due process rights which are guaranteed to him under the constitution. He believes he was unfairly coerced into a guilty plea which has only made it harder for him to find work after his release. Unfortunately, my cousin Dennis is not the only one that has been affected by our unjust criminal justice system. Many Americans also share this very same story.  

In fact, as of today we currently have over 2.3 individuals being held in both jails and prisons across the United States. This epidemic is recognized by many as well as scholars of criminal justice as mass incarceration. The issue of mass incarceration in America is not a new one. It actually all began after Nixon took office in 1969 and ran his presidency on a campaign focused on law and order. This was apart of Former President Richard Nixon’s elaborate scheme to get “tough on crime” as a response to the protest that resulted in response to the deaths of Martin Luther King and former President John F Kennedy. In order to combat these violent protest, Nixon put harsher sentences on illegal substances such as crack cocaine and marijuana to put those involved in these protest in prison. This predominantly affected minority communities, more specifically African American communities, as crack cocaine was more abundant and available to those in lower class urban communities. However, sentences given to those in the possession of pure cocaine were very different. Affluent neighborhoods, which contained predominantly white constituents at the time, had it much easier when it came to sentencing for this illegal substance. They received a lower sentence when it came to the possession of the powered form of this very same drug. This only worked to put hundreds of thousands of black individuals in prison leaving them with criminal records. This only made it harder for many black to find employment after being released.

That was only a short summary of some of the history behind what has lead us to the current state of the corrupt criminal justice system that we are currently working to improve. Later in my issue brief, I also discussed unemployment and how this leads ex-offenders back into a life of crime. I also went on to highlight some of the inequalities faced my ex-convicts through the utilization of Ava DuVernay’s documentary 13th. She illustrates in this documentary how benefits which most Americans often take for granted such as food stamps, jobs licenses, housing opportunities, and financial aid are limited once someone is convicted of a felony. The fact that this occurs only makes it harder for a felon to become a productive member of society.

In the conclusion of my issue brief, I offered solutions to this issue. I suggest that the government make it easier for non violent offenders to receive job licenses by getting rid of restrictions for non violent ex-offenders, making legislation such as the First Step Act apply both to state and federal prisons, banning “the box” from all applications on the national level, and creating a criminal justice system that focuses itself on due process rather than the crime control model. As an aspiring district attorney, I look to put an end to this epidemic through my work. I want to ensure every individual I look to prosecute in the future has their due process rights not only acknowledged but guaranteed.

As I was reflecting on my high school experience over the weekend, I began reminiscing about some of the students I went to high school with. I realized that each year there managed to always be a small portion of kids who would either barely show up to school or who would almost never show up at all. For example, there was one girl named Ceara who was in my history class in ninth grade who would never show up for class. She would miss all of our class’s lectures, quizzes, tests, and was also known for never turning in her homework assignments on time.

One day when our teacher was taking role, she as expected was not there to answer as her seat was empty. This is when I became extremely curious about her daily whereabouts and what she was doing throughout most of her day. I was able to find out, from a close friend of Ceara’s, that when she was not at school she would be either relaxing at home or hanging out at the park for hours on end. In fact, she would sometimes leave her house pretending to go to her bus stop but would actually head to the end of her cul de sac to smoke weed. The unfortunate part about this entire story is that Ceara’s mother knew nothing about this until she found out months later when she finally checked the long list of voicemails left by the school. These voicemails were sent to inform Ceara that she would have to complete four weeks of the extended school day program if she wanted to graduate from high school on time.

After hearing the truth behind her absence, I wondered how her mom could allow this to happen and not feel any form of guilt for her poor parenting. However, it made me think about what are parents supposed to do if their child is delinquent and it has become virtually impossible to get them to attend school. Should parents of delinquent children really be held legally responsible for their child’s defiant behavior if their child strictly refuses to go to school? Are there any ways for parents of delinquent children to relinquish their responsibilities?

Well, the answer is yes! With the help of programs like CHINS, which stands for Children in Need of Services, parents can take their child to court and make their case in front of a judge that their child is so defiant that they should not be held responsible for their refusal to attend school. In these proceedings, the child is entitled to a lawyer who works in their defense to also help them plead their case and throw the blame back on their parent. The result of these cases can end in numerous ways and can often make the relationship between the child and the parent worse. The delinquent child can either remain with their parent or close relative, be placed in a foster home, be assigned a probation officer, or be placed in the hands of agencies such as the Department of Children and Families that takes in at-risk children. The child is then put in the custody of one of these authoritative figures for a total of six months. In these six months, these individuals will work to reform the child’s negative behavior and promote them to conform to positive behavior such as attending school. I believe that programs like these are necessary to get at-risk children the help they need to ensure they are still able to have a promising future.

As of today, I recently have talked to Ceara and she is now doing very well for herself as she is attending Rowan University in hopes of becoming a nurse. When I had talked to Ceara before senior year had ended, she told me since ninth grade she had been apart of a mentoring program that offered similar services like that of CHINS. Through this program, Ceara was able to graduate high school and is on the road to becoming a successful individual one day. This truly goes to show that at-risk teens can be helped through the efforts of their community and in the CHINS program the help of the legal system.

 

 

With sophomore year approaching, thoughts about applying to law school have crossed my mind and lately they have been bringing me loads of anxiety. However, I understand thousands of college students just like myself are in the same predicament. Therefore, to hopefully assist another fellow classmate thinking about becoming an attorney, I would like to dedicate my next passion blog to the process of applying to law school.

In order for law schools to gauge your abilities in the realm of logical reasoning, analytical reasoning, and reading comprehension, prospective law students must first take the LSAT. This four letter abbreviation, LSAT, stands for Law School Admission Test. This test is out of 180 possible points and takes place over the course of a four to five hour time period. This test consists of five sections of multiple choice which is then followed by an essay portion. Between the time you are waiting to get your scores back, you should register with LSDAS. Registering with LSDAS is a must as it functions as one of the main systems in which application materials are collected by law schools across America. This will allow graduates to submit application materials after they have completed each step of the application process.

The next step and also the most important step in this process is deciding where to apply. In the United States, there are a little over two hundred law schools available to graduate students. This includes law schools such as Harvard Law, Charleston School of Law, Penn State law, Villanova University School of Law, and Stanford Law. Some graduates may be under the impression that where you attend law school may not be important but this is certainly not the case. In fact, the law school that you attend can greatly affect the law firm which you work for and the salary you receive. Some employers argue that receiving a degree from a prestigious law school such as Harvard or Yale Law School increases your chances of getting employment rather than graduating at the top of your class from a lesser known law school such as Vermont Law School.

 

The third step is writing your personal statement. Yes, while college GPA and LSAT scores are important a strong personal statement can be a deal breaker for some law schools. Your personal statement helps law schools get a better idea of who you are as a person and if you will be a valuable addition to their law program.

Lastly, most law schools require at least two letters of recommendation as part of your application. These letters of recommendation should be from either professors or close mentors that have watched you grow over the course of your academic career. Letters of recommendation are meant to be an accurate as well as an honest reflection of your work ethic and potential as a prospective law student.

This may seem like a difficult process, but honestly the earlier you start with it the less stressful it should be in the end. I personally plan on starting this process towards the end of my sophomore year so I can give myself somewhat of a head start. Hopefully, the information within this passion blog was helpful to anyone thinking about applying to law school in the future or anyone that may be curious about the general process as it a very common career path for students.

 

 

As you may have noticed, I have never really gone into great detail about what it means for one to study crime. Therefore, I would like to dedicate this next passion blog to discussing criminology, the study of crime. Criminology, by definition, is a scientific study of crime that works to explain how factors such as one’s biology, financial circumstances, ethnic background, and contextual environment can play a role in one’s involvement in deviant behavior. This science, referred to as criminology, dates all the way back to the early 1800s to “ the father of criminology” Cesare Lombroso. His work became pivotal to the current state of modern criminology as he proposed that criminals were produced by inherent factors such as physical traits rather than any other factor alone. Lombroso would classify individuals as criminals by observing the size of their head, the width of their nose, the position of their cheekbones and brown line, and the length of their fingers. He would compare these individuals measurements to the measurements of convicted criminals and if their features were to match then they were to a criminal. Many scholars after Lombroso found this logic to be flawed as they realized that one’s physical traits had absolutely nothing to with whether or not they would be more or less likely to commit a crime. Furthermore, 20th century sociologist such as Edwin Sutherland continued the development of what we currently know as modern criminology by introducing a theory known as the differential association theory of crime. This term invented by Sutherland explained why one’s social interactions within society such as with peer groups and family members influenced their involvement in crime. For example, Sutherland found that boys who associated themselves with other deviant male peers were more likely to commit deviant behavior. Another theory that helped revolutionize criminology was the concept of strain theory proposed by Robert K. Merton. He proposed that the reason why people commit crime was a result of the “strain” or stress that one experiences in their everyday life. This theory more solely focuses on financial strain more than anything else. In fact, this supports the idea why most impoverished areas have the most crime. This is because the majority of the people who live in these impoverished environments are constantly under some form of strain or stress. Therefore, more robberies, burglaries, and acts of petty theft take place in these areas. Unfortunately, many of these impoverished communities are made up of people of minority. This is why most people have the impression that crime is committed by people of minority rather than white people, however, in reality it is committed by people in impoverished communities and race plays no significant role. In the end, the study of criminology continues to develop each day with advancements in technology, unfortunately creating a new form of crime called cyber crime. This scientific study of crime continues to fascinate me as it has helped me find my passion of study and has lead me to confidently pursue a career as an attorney.

 

Growing up in Mickleton, a small town in South Jersey, I always wanted more for myself. I knew my journey for success was not limited to the tall grass field that surrounded me so I began to explore my options. Therefore, I told my mother, at eleven years old, that I wanted to be a child actor and from there my acting career began. Over the course of my four-year acting career, I was able to earn over $100,000. Yes, the money was great, but after a few years I was I was not as passionate about it as I was before. Even at the end of my acting career, my love for filmmaking and movies did not stop. Horrors, thrillers, and murder mysteries, to this day continue to amaze me. With the release of recent thrillers such as Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” and his newly anticipated monster-thriller “US”, my hunger for these genres only continues to grow. In the movie “Get Out”, written and directed by Jordan Peele, the main character “Chris” is invited to meet his girlfriend Rose’s parents on a weekend getaway somewhere upstate. Chris, however, is nervous to meet her parents due to the stereotypes put on interracial couples. When he arrives, he slowly begins to feel out of place and soon starts to learn that things are not as they seem. The movie then ends with a twist that will leave you speechless. I would like to tell you the ending to Get Out, but I do not want to spoil the movie for people who might have not seen it yet. In essence, “Get Out” succeeds in being a piece that is not only full of twist and psychological turns but a piece that addresses real-world social issues in America such as race. I personally liked this movie because it gives those who are not African American the opportunity to see race from a different perspective. I think this is important as we live in a society with people of different races, religions, traditions, and ethnic backgrounds. Furthermore, Jordan Peele’s second installment in this franchise of socially conscious string of movies is titled “US”. After almost an hour of breaking down the trailer to this movie, and watching numerous conspiracy videos on Youtube, I was able to draw the conclusion that “US” will look to achieve a similar socially conscious goal, self-love within the black community. The message I received from this trailer about loving one’s self I believe goes beyond the movie itself and into real-world issues and for that reason Jordan Peele continues to be one of my favorite directors. Being able to explore fantasies of crime through movies in the horror genre, such as this one, has attributed strongly to my strong fascination with crime and its effects on society.

I am proud to say that I am a criminology major and my fascination with crime and the criminal justice system only continues to grow each and every day. Therefore when time allows, I often take some time out to explore the world of crime even further and learn more about what makes criminals tick. More specifically, what allows someone to take another’s person’s life without feeling any sense of remorse or guilt. In my search in answering this question, I decided to focus mainly on why serial killers kill and how would you be able to spot one if you saw one in public. After countless hours of watching crime documentaries and looking through multiple cases and trials pertaining to serial killers, I still found parts of this answer to very unclear. I learned through my research that serial killers are able to kill their victims without remorse or guilt by looking at their victims as objects instead of human beings. This helps serial killers dissociate themselves from the heinous act and allows them to seek pleasure through their actions. However, the part of the question that I found that it was somewhat hard to answer revolved mainly around recognizing the signs of a serial killer and what the average serial killer would look like. The harsh reality is that in most cases there are no signs and the person you may have just opened the door for or had a friendly and engaging conversation with could this form of murderous killer. I think some would agree with me when I say that serial killers over last century have become a fascination in American pop culture as their portrayal in cult classics such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), and have also helped bring the idea of the possible existence of serial killers to fruition.

The overall impression of what we as Americans think the average serial killer would look like has been highly influenced by popular stereotypes and characteristics associated with serial killers such as being a loner, a white male, and almost half of the time mentally ill. However, even with these often true stereotypes in mind, this is not always the case as serial killers can look just like you and me and blend into society with raising any red flags. Take infamous serial killer Gary Ridgway for example, also known as the “Green River Killer”. Gary Ridgway from 1982 to 1984, managed to kill over seventy teenage girls in the city of Tacoma, Washington making him one of the most prolific serial killers in American history.

He was given the name “The Green River Killer” because after killing his victims he would later dump their bodies in the now infamous Green River located south of Interstate 90. Ridgway targeted prostitutes as they were easy for him to get alone and take advantage of. He also chose prostitutes as suitable victims because they closely reminded him of his mother who once worked as a prostitute and who sexually abused him as a child. From the manner in which Ridgway killed his victims, which was through strangulation with a ligature, one would expect Ridgway to be a social outcast and stand out amongst the rest when it came to what society deems as “normal” behavior for the average individual. Although, he was very much the opposite as Ridgway was happily married with kids, owned two successful businesses of his own, and was often known by his friends as a social butterfly. When police arrested Ridgway in 2001, they were alarmed to discover how well he was able hold a friendly conversation, how intelligently he spoke, and how well he dressed and groomed himself. Ridgway presented himself in such a conventional manner that it virtually made the heinous crimes that he was being accused of almost unfathomable. Ridgway appeared to be as normal as could be, but sometimes evil has no face and therefore identifying it can be very challenging. Even Ridgway’s wife of thirteen years, Judith Lorraine Lynch, also never expected that the person that she had married and had kids with was the Green River Killer.  Particularly, someone with the ability to take human life without remorse and possessed the ability to stay under the radar for almost a decade. Stories like Ridgway’s are real life examples of how these murderous beings, known as serial killers, can live among us with no notable signs. Therefore, from the people we pass down the street to the person we politely open the door for we can never be too sure what people are capable of as the most dangerous killers are the ones that hide in plain sight.

 

I would like to dedicate my last blog post to an ongoing case that I have been following regularly for the past month now. The man pictured above is twenty-two-year-old Brooklyn native and American rapper, Daniel Hernandez, also known as Tekashi 6ix9ine. This American rapper is currently facing racketeering and firearm charges brought up upon him by the Federal government. He is currently facing life in prison for multiple counts of racketeering charges that date all the way back to 2013. Tekashi 6ix9ine’s recent rise to fame in 2017 came from his frequent promotion of the Nine Trey Bloods, a Blood affiliated gang in New York City, in his music videos and in the music video for his first hit single “Gummo” which helped make him a household name in the Hip-Hop community. Hernandez, just months before being arrested on these federal charges, had just finished pleading guilty to charges including the use of a child in a sexual performance and exposing himself to a minor. He was handed four years of probation and one thousand hours of community service for this guilty plea. Certainly, this was a slap on the wrist for Hernandez as the average individual brought up on these charges, in the state of New York, would be looking at about one to three years in prison for these two offenses. The judge presiding over this case, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Felicia Menni, promised Hernandez if he stayed out of trouble over the course of his probation he would not have to register as sex-offender. This decision by Menni was one she would soon learn to regret as a few weeks later federal agents had overheard 6ix9ine’s close friend and manager “Shotti” over a wiretap stating that he wanted to kill 6ix9ine. This happened right after Tekashi 6ix9ine had fired his whole management company after they allegedly robbed him of over $350,000 in finances that was supposed to be guaranteed to him for the completion of fifteen live performances. However, once this threat to Hernandez’s life was made the FBI, by law, were required to notify 6ix9ine that his life was in danger and had offered him government protection. He declined their offer and wanted to be released immediately, however, the FBI declined this request. The FBI believed that since his life was already in danger and they had already planned on arresting him in a few months on racketeering charges it was best to arrest him then. Hernandez went to his arraignment hearing days later and was denied bail even after offering all the money he had in his bank account which totaled $1.7 million. He pleaded not guilty to the racketeering and firearm charges and is set to stand trial on September 4, 2019. Until then, Tekashi 6ix9ine will be held in The Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center in New York City in general population for the next ten months.

I personally worry for Tekashi 6ix9ine as he is one of my favorite new rappers out today. I have followed all his music since his big break in 2017 and have attend two of his concerts. I also followed him on social media where he had gone viral for his wild antics and run-ins with law enforcement in the past year. In the end, I hope that he does not get life in prison, however, I do think he deserves some form of punishment for what he has done. Since his trial begins ten months from now and he was denied bail, fans like myself will not be hearing any new music from 6ix9ine for a while. Hopefully, he will only receive two years in prison for these crimes and will try to separate himself from his current gang affiliations once he is released in the future.

 

Works Cited:

Mojica, Nick. “New Details in 6ix9ine’s Sexual Misconduct Case – XXL.” XXL Mag, 14 Dec. 2017, www.xxlmag.com/news/2017/12/tekashi-6ix9ine-child-sex-complaint-details/.

Staff, TMZ. “Judge Who Sentenced Tekashi 6ix9ine to Probation Says Recent Violence Is Not on Her.” TMZ, TMZ.com, 12 Nov. 2018, www.tmz.com/2018/11/11/tekashi69-sentencing-child-sex-case-probation-judge/.