Drug Dealer Liability Act Essay Example for Free

Drug Dealer Liability Act Essay Legislatures are passing a unique new statute that provides redress for those injured by illegal drugs. This new law has greatest impact on drug-crime relationship for the reason that, known as the Model Drug Dealer Liability Act (DDLA), makes drug dealers civilly liable to those injured by a driver under the influence of drugs, families who lose a child to illegal drugs and others injured by illegal drugs. It is essentially a products liability act for illegal drugs. According to Kevin G. Meeks (1998) that Michigan, Oklahoma, Illinois, Hawaii, Arkansas, California, South Dakota, Utah, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Colorado, South Carolina and the U. S. Virgin Islands have passed the Model Drug Dealer Liability Act. Existing law in the remaining 37 states does not clearly establish a means by which drug dealers can be made to pay damages for the injuries they cause. The Drug Dealer Liability Act fills that void. The first lawsuit brought under the Act resulted in a judgment on July 21, 1995 of $1 million in favor of a drug baby and more than $7 million to the city of Detroit’s expenses for providing drug treatment to inmates in Detroit jails. Two Detroit dealers were ordered to pay the damages to the drug baby’s siblings because the baby was born addicted to cocaine and was later bludgeoned to death by her mother while high on drugs. In Utah, the wife of a drug-using professional brought a Drug Dealer Liability Act case against her husband’s dealer of six years. The defendant in that case settled after losing his pretrial challenges to the Drug Dealer Liability Act. In South Dakota in April 2000 a jury returned a verdict under South Dakota’s Drug Dealer Liability Act in the amount of $268 Million in favor of a woman whose husband was killed in a head on collision with a driver under the influence of drugs. The defendant was not the driver of the car but the dealer who supplied drugs to the driver. Clinton W. Taylor (1999) said that the Drug Dealer Liability Act offers an added new approach to illegal drugs. Since it would be impossible to identify each person in a chain of illegal drug distribution, the Act establishes a form of â€Å"market liability† so a plaintiff need only prove that a defendant was distributing illegal drugs in the community of the user who caused the plaintiff’s injuries, that the distributor was distributing the same type of drug used by the user and that the defendant’s distribution in that community was during the period of time that the user was using. The plaintiff need not prove that the drug user received a specific defendant’s illegal drugs. Cases can be brought by guardians of drug babies, those injured by a drugged driver, families of adolescent users, employers and public hospitals that pay for treatment of drug babies and others. The principles of â€Å"market liability† or â€Å"market-share liability† in existing case law allow civil recovery from manufacturers of hazardous materials for injury caused by those materials that affect health, even if the source of the particular product that caused injury cannot be identified. The cases involving the pharmaceutical DES are examples. The DDLA is a legislatively created form of â€Å"market liability† to cause illegal drug dealers to pay damages for the injuries caused by their illegal drugs. According to Mark Hansen (1996) that the Act permits parents of children in drug treatment, those injured by drugged drivers, state and county public agencies that pay for drug treatment and/or illegal drug related medical care, hospitals caring for drug babies, insurers, employers and others who are injured because of illegal drugs to recover in a civil action any assets in the hands of drug dealers who have distributed drugs in their communities. Existing federal and state drug forfeiture laws require that the money seized from convicted drug dealers be returned to them unless it is directly connected to their drug crimes. In contrast, a dealer’s assets, income and future inheritance or other income are subject to payment to the plaintiff who successfully brings a lawsuit under the Drug Dealer Liability Act. As with any other civil tort liability, those assets do not have to be forfeitable in order for them to be recovered by a successful plaintiff. The Drug Dealer Liability Act is the first law of its kind to hold dealers who intentionally distribute illegal drugs liable for the injury they cause. It has received national attention on Larry King Live television program, CNN and the Wall Street Journal. The Act promises a new avenue for those who have suffered because of the sale of illegal drugs in their communities who just â€Å"don’t want to take it anymore! † The problem of illegal drugs merits attack from every source and with every available tool. The civil justice system is a powerful weapon. The approach outlined in the Drug Dealer Liability Act relies on the foundation of traditional tort law in a constrained and reasonable way to aim this weapon at one of the greatest challenges our society faces. The Act establishes reasonable limitations to balance the removal of practical obstacles to bringing a suit relying solely on traditional tort law. By enacting a specific cause of action against those who participate in the illegal drug market, the Drug Dealer Liability Act can work in tandem with the criminal justice system and drug education programs to help achieve drug free communities. Reference Kevin G. Meeks, Georgia Law Review, Fall, (1998), Note: FROM SINDELL TO STREET PUSHERS: IMPOSING MARKET SHARE TORT LIABILITY ON ILLEGAL DRUG DEALERS. Clinton W. Taylor, Oklahoma Law Review, Summer, (1999), THE OKLAHOMA DRUG DEALER LIABILITY ACT: A CIVIL REMEDY FOR A VICTIMLESS CRIME. Mark Hansen, (Dec. 1996) Just Say See You in Court: Drug Users Can Seek Dealers Cash Under New Liability Laws, A. B. A. J. , at 30.

Cathedral of Marble Strands :: Creative Writing Examples

   Cathedral of Marble Strands    Richard Stewart lay stretched out on the cool stone. His handsome, youthful face was relaxed into a slight smile, eyes closed lazily. Richard's hand played unconsciously with his long black hair lying on the reddish surface . . . "Four slices of lemon . . . four cubes of sugar. . . and a straw," thought Richard, and pictured the glass in his mind. Without opening his eyes, he reached out and felt it in his hand. It was cool, and the droplets that condensed from the morning mist made it slippery. He raised his head off the ground and brought the straw to his lips. He took a long, slow draft, letting the taste settle in. It was slightly too sour to be perfect, but Richard didn't mind. One day he would discover the ultimate lemonade, but he was in no hurry. He lay there drinking it for a long time. Lemonade doesn't have to run out in heaven. Richard lay on a narrow ledge about five hundred feet up the face of a cliff. Above him, just under the low hanging clouds, a pair of eagles circled, wings motionless. Beneath, a green valley lay shrouded in the morning fog. The clouds concealed the sun and gave the valley the cool gray feel Richard wanted. Near the foot of the cliff, the valley was grassy, with an occasional shrub clinging to the rocky soil here and there. Blue flowers growing in sparse islands shone dimly where the easy wind blew away patches of fog. A wide stream slid from around the base of the cliff. It began somewhere in the mountains behind Richard and disappeared in the denser fog at the deeper part of the valley. There, where not even the tops of the trees were visible, an airy structure of white marble stretched its spires almost as high as the cliff Richard lay on. Four great arches rose, flanked a spiderweb of smaller ones, and met in a cluster of domes, towers and spires. Richard liked to call it the Cat hedral. Beyond, the valley lost itself where the whiteness of the sky met the fog on the ground. Richard stretched the hand that held the glass of lemonade over the edge and let it slip away. He listened for it's fall, but it went too far down to hear. He relaxed his mind, waiting for some idea to come to him.

Differentiate between grievance and discipline Essay

Organization’s effectiveness is based on its culture and management practice structure that lead towards maintaining the harmony of organizational performance and regulating the behavior and attitude of its employees. Managers are required to maintain the workplace environment through identifying the potential weak areas that lead towards in-disciplinary behaviors of employees. Discipline at workplace helps control and normalize the behavior of employees through various procedures. Company may use strict disciplinary actions to make employees conform their actions to the expectations of management or may go for group norm pressure to standardize employees’ behavior. Manager’s role is critical in such situation as it places great responsibility on him for leading the employees for subsequent higher performance. Manager may exercise strict rules to align the behavior of employees that are accompanied by penalties/punishment sanctions on employees. Corporate culture understanding needs to clearly convey towards employees for productive group behavior. However, it has been observed that sometimes strict discipline also leads towards lower performance affecting the organizational effectiveness. Inequality among employees concerning rewards and treatment b management result in great dissatisfaction; discipline actions when over exhibited on some people, it lead towards discriminatory behavior. Grievance is therefore a mechanism to present the viewpoint to senior management concerning the inequality and inappropriateness of disciplinary actions of organization. Discipline is thus a set of actions to regulate and standardize the employee attitude & behavior, whereas grievance is a procedure to report the injustice and inequality being faced by employees to higher decision making authority. Organizational justice framework is based on these two components that enable managers to figure out the sources that lead towards grievance in employees. Discipline helps organizations maintain the harmony and effectiveness of workplace environment; rules, policies and standard procedures enables regulate the employee behavior and maintain organization culture. Inequality in organizational culture and inability of management to provide diverse workplace environment either due to stereotypical response towards a particular group or restricting the decisions only to a particular group referring to nepotism. Incompetence of organizational framework to manage the situations and employees behavior results in discrimination and group based structure in employees for the protection of their rights. Union based culture is more common in government managed organization where employees have joined separate unions for the protection of their workplace rights. Discipline requires adjustments in rules and workplace policies addressing the dimensional aspects of negligence, employee safety, incompetency, rights protection, workplace norms, and organizational culture expectations. Rules relating to employee behavior, punishment and penalties, warnings, and other organizational aspects present a clear expectation to employees related to workplace environment and operational management style. Induction of rules is necessary to be conveyed to new comers in organization so that procedural mechanism becomes clear related to employee actions, group norms, and managerial actions pertaining to employee behavior. Managers must provide employees clear insight about the work setting and organizational culture through their actions and responses towards managing the equality at workplace. Stereotypical responses by employees, and group formation based on race/ethnic rights protection in workplace that are depicted as discrimination in employee treatment, rewards and pay scale offering, and career growth opportunities restrictions to a particular group result in job dissatisfaction and reduction in organizational commitment. In such case, if an employee wants to present his viewpoints concerning inequality at workplace manager must assess the situation sensitivity and factors that lead towards grievance filing. Senior management must form a clear objective grievance channel in order to address such issues raised in organization. Management must place emphasis on fairness of decision by providing equal representation rights to employees. Procedural steps for grievance hearing and decisions must be limited to certain extent of hierarchy for increasing the response time to resolve grievance issues. Senior management can form a committee addressing grievance issues of employee having representation of lower level manager and at least one member representation from senior management holding decision making power. This leads towards maintaining organization justice and shows effectiveness of organizations structure for formalizing the framework. This way, discipline and grievance in combine are very essential component of strategic organization’s framework for justice. Manager need to maintain the discipline of employee and must equalize the grievance procedure to maintain the organizational effectiveness by providing equal opportunity to all employees to report any factors that lead towards job dissatisfaction. Complaint filing procedure formalization simplifies the ambiguity concerning the management perspective and ability of employees to report any injustice. Manipulation of rules and disciplinary actions restrict the opportunities for equality at workplace. Biased behavior results in violating the principles of flexibility and freedom of voice representation by employees. Formalizing the rules and written policy procedure strengthen the discipline at workplace that supports the organizational justice framework. Grievance procedural steps must be defined in policy structure to reduce ambiguity and providing employees opportunity to exercise their rights in situation when the confront discrimination at workplace; manager must provide support in assessing the factors viability and prospective role to minimize the arousal of such grievance factor again.

Autism Spectrum Disorder ( Asd ) - 1948 Words

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects individuals whose brain development is outside of the norm. ASD is a complex disorder and each individual that suffers from has a unique set of conditions. The symptoms of individuals with ASD vary in severity. That is, the disorder is characterized, in varying degrees, based on how difficult social interactions and communicating are for the person. Before, all types of autism were considered as distinct and subtypes of autism. Each type of autism was termed as a unique disorder. For example, there was Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Asperger syndrome etc.†¦ (Autism Speaks, 2016). However, the DSM-5 diagnostic manual merged all degrees of autism disorders into†¦show more content†¦In an investigation, completed by Takahashi et al. (2016), MEG was used to measure signal variation during free watching of videos, without sound, in younger and older children with ASD and without ASD. The childre n were in the age group where neural network maturation is critical. Results from their study revealed an expected age-related increase of brain signal variability children that weren’t on the autism spectrum, whereas atypical age-related brain signals were observed in the ASD group. Additionally, brain signals deviated from the norm a lot more in children with ASD, particularly for younger children. These results are in line with a recently reported theory of increased brain signal variability during development and abnormal neural connectivity in persons with ASD, especially during early childhood (Takahashi et al., 2016). Additionally, these deviations of brain signaling and neural connectivity from the norm the basis of the numerous complex sign and symptoms that is associated with ASD. Considering Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, parents and caregivers can detect signs of autism very early on in children by monitoring their children’s developmental milestones. According to Autism Speaks Canada (2016), some red flags that may be indicative of children being at risk for an autism spectrum disorder