Certain Omissions Regarded As Criminal Conduct In Scotland Law Essay

Certain Omissions Regarded As Criminal Conduct In Scotland Law Essay There are certain restricted circumstances in Scots Law that an omission is regarded as criminal conduct. The key question to look at is do we have a positive duty to act? In Scots Common law there is no legal obligation if one individual finds another in peril to intervene and assist. However in some circumstances a situation will arise were failure to intervene will result in criminal liability  [3]  . So it is not what the accused did it is what they did not do. The situations were such intervention is legally required fall into three categories that have to be examined closely with particular reference to specific crucial cases. In addition looking at the significance of the actus reus and the mens rea in relation to appropriate cases. The actus reus has no official definition but it is the physical element of a crime, which includes conduct, omission or situation. The mens rea accompanied by the actus reus would result in criminal liability.  [4]  To illustrate both in t erms of omission I have highlighted specific cases that explain the significance of both The first circumstances that a failure to act can give rise to criminal liability is where a dangerous situation has been created by the accused or where the prior actions of the accused has created danger  [5]  This type of omission generally follows a positive act, this may be criminal or not. In HM Advocate v McPhee (1935) the accused was charged with murder. McPhee had carried out a violent serious assault on a woman, beating her, repeatedly kicking her, knocking her down and left her unconscious in an open field.  [6]  Lord Mackay upheld the murder conviction on the grounds that it could be asserted that the accused wickedly and feloniously exposed the woman regardless of consequences to the inclemency of the weather, and if she died in consequence both of the beating and exposure  [7]  This case found the accused guilty of culpable homicide. In cases similar to McPhees an omission will not arise if it can be proven that the accused initial criminal actions caused th e victims death. However because McPhees assault on the woman had weakened her he had a responsibility to remove her from that situation or aid her in the particular situation which the he had all ready created  [8]   An important case to highlight under this section is MacPhail v Clark (1983). This situation is a little more complicated as the actions of the accused are not criminal but instead his actions were negligent and reckless. However the actions that caused this situation may be regarded as criminal if they cause harm and in this case endanger lives.  [9]  The farmer in this case had set a fire to burn straw in a field that was upwind from a dual carriage way. The fire had spread causing the smoke to carry onto the road causing bad visibility. This resulted in two vehicles colliding causing injury.  [10]  The farmer was convicted of recklessly endangering the lieges.  [11]  It was highlighted that the farmer did nothing wrong in setting the fire in the field, it was the failure to ensure that the fire was safe and would not spread. Reports found that the burning of the straw continued for at least twenty minutes and the farmer continued to plough right up until the arrival of the emergency services.  [12]  The Farmer had done nothing to stop the fire spreading and continued to allow it to spread onto the road without taking any action to stop the dangerous situation that he had created. The second circumstances that can give rise to criminal liability are where the accused status or contractual obligation results in a duty to act.  [13]  This status or contractual obligation is when a person in a public office or position or responsibility has a duty to prevent the occurrence of harm, fails to do so.  [14]  This means that an onlooker is under a position and duties were they have a responsibility to prevent the offence. If the onlooker fails to do this it may result in criminal liability.  [15]  Bonar and Hogg v McLeod (1983) highlights a failure to prevent an offence. Mr Bonar was an older and more experienced senior officer who by being present at the scene of the crime and failure to intervene led to art and part guilt.  [16]  Hogg the officer who assaulted the prisoner, grabbed him by the throat and pushed his arm up his back, then quick marched him down the corridor. The excessiveness of the force was unnecessary as the prisoner was neither resi sting nor struggling with the officer.  [17]  During this offence Bonar did not only stand back and allow this to happen but was an active participant in the quick march down the corridor.  [18]  Bonar was regarded as art in part liable for the assault upon the prisoner.  [19]   The third and final situation that intervention is legally required is where a prior relationship between the accused and the victim which is such that there is a legal obligation to act.  [20]  An example of a special relationship would be a mother and child. In Bone v HM Advocate the mother was charged with culpable homicide of her daughter by witnessing and countenancing criminal conduct.  [21]  The allegations made against Bone were that she wilfully failed to protect her child and also to ensure that her wellbeing was intact or seek medical attention for her injuries. However Bones appealed the conviction and the appeal went in her favour and was quashed  [22]  . This was on the basis that the trial judge misdirected the jury by failing to give significant directions of the question of the assessment of whether the appellant had failed to take the reasonable steps to protect her child and ensure her wellbeing.  [23]  Due to this it was found that there was a misc arriage of justice and allowed the appeal against the conviction. Another case of relevance is to look at the relationship between a doctor and a patient. In this particular English case Adamako in 1993 was an anaesthetists in an eye operation were the tube from the ventilator had been detached. Adamako did not notice this for roughly six minutes when the patient went into cardiac arrest.  [24]  During the trial Adamako was charged with manslaughter by gross negligence, where the accused breached a duty of care towards the patient that resulted in death.  [25]  Adamako appealed to the House of Lords were the conviction was upheld. Lord Mackay stated that gross negligence depends on the seriousness of the breach of the duty committed by defendant in all circumstances in which he was placed when it occurs and whether, having regard to the risk of death involved, the conduct of the defendant was so bad in all circumstances as to amount in the jurys judgement to a criminal act or omission.  [26]  For an involuntary manslaughter by breach of duty to be proved firstly there has to be proof of the existence duty which was apparent in this case anaesthetists and patient. Secondly, a breach of duty resulting in death. This again occurred when the accused failed to see the detachment of the ventilator which led to cardiac arrest. Finally the jury must consider the gross negligence as justified for a criminal conviction.  [27]   In HM Advocate v McPhee a case mentioned earlier it is important to consider the significance of actus reus and mens rea. McPhee omits to the assault on the woman so therefore this can constitute to the actus reas of the crime. McPhee had severely beaten the woman and therefore weakening her putting her in a dangerous situation which lead to her death.  [28]  Paterson v Lees is a case of relevance that highlights the significance of the mens rea applied in a case of omission. Paterson was charged with inter alia, conducting himself in a shamelessly indecent manner. Paterson was babysitting his neighbours children a 9 year old little girl and an 11 year old boy. The original statement made was that the appellant did conduct [himself] is a shamelessly indecent manner towards [the female complainer aged 9 and the male complainer aged 11] and did show them a film of an obscene and indecent nature which depicted acts of human sexual intercourse.  [29]  What was illustrated in the case was that the appellant had allowed the children to continue watching the video he omitted to stop the children viewing the video. The Appeal Court was unanimous in the decision that the charge of shameless indecency could not be committed in this way. The issue here was that it was not a crime to permit children to view indecent material.  [30]  In common law shamelessly indecent conduct is an offence therefore it involves the element of mens rea. Therefore it must be proved that Paterson has the appropriate mens rea in this case it would be an intention to commit the offence this would involve switching on the material either intending to corrupt or deprave or knowledge that the material is liable to corrupt or deprave.  [31]  Due to this element of mens rea Patersons appeal was allowed. To conclude, the failure to act in some circumstances can under Scots law lead to criminal liability. When looking at omissions it is important to establish the requirements that lead to an omission and the elements of actus reus and mens rea. They all play vital roles in illustrating the complexity of being liable in certain circumstances and the wide variety of cases that involve omissions.

The New Standard: VoiceXML Essay -- Computer Programming Languages

VoiceXML the New Standard for Voice Applications From the initial introduction of VoiceXML in March of 2000, the world of customer service and voice applications have been turned upside down. Before VoiceXML, companies were complaining about the flexibility of their voice applications. Problems were arising because consumers were growing tired of using the touch-tone keypad on their telephones to select options and companies were losing more money than they would have liked. In order to increase the portability of their applications, companies decided to find a new way to standardize their interface. The solution that came about was VoiceXML, which was created by Motorola, AT&T, Lucent Technologies and IBM. The VoiceXML language is based on the World Wide Web Consortium's XML standard. Through the use of VoiceXML speech enabled applications have begun to help companies cut costs and deliver superior service. This standard has almost revolutionized the way that companies handle automated calls. This standard has started a competitive market for other platforms that enable businesses to improve all processes of their customer care and communication over the phone. VoiceXML or VXML is an open standard for building and controlling intelligent voice applications that incorporate speech recognition and text to speech technologies. According to Xiaole Song, VoiceXML is designed to be platform independent around the same server logic pull model used for HTML applications. Developers are able to create audio dialogs that have speech, audio, and the recognition of spoken and touch tone input and mixed conversations. Most of the existing automatic call handling systems lacked intelligence because they were built on menu st... ...2001, Aug 1) Let voice XML speak [Online] 2 pages; Available: http://www.wirelessreview.com Song, Xiaole. (2004, June 14) Implementing Speech-Enables Contact Center Applications [Online], 6 pages, Available: http://www.tmcnet.com/ Mitchell, Robert L. (2005, August 22) Smart Talk: Speech-enabled apps deliver bottom line benefits [Online] 5 pages, Available: http://www.computerworld.com Mitchell, Robert L. (2005, August 22) Smart Talk: Speech-enabled apps deliver bottom line benefits [Online] 5 pages, Available: http://www.computerworld.com Mitchell, Robert L. (2005, August 22) Smart Talk: Speech-enabled apps deliver bottom line benefits [Online] 5 pages, Available: http://www.computerworld.com SPEECHTEK (2005, Aug. 1) VoiceXML Platform Certification Program Gains Momentum [Online] 2 pages, Available: http://www.voicexml.org/press/press_releases The New Standard: VoiceXML Essay -- Computer Programming Languages VoiceXML the New Standard for Voice Applications From the initial introduction of VoiceXML in March of 2000, the world of customer service and voice applications have been turned upside down. Before VoiceXML, companies were complaining about the flexibility of their voice applications. Problems were arising because consumers were growing tired of using the touch-tone keypad on their telephones to select options and companies were losing more money than they would have liked. In order to increase the portability of their applications, companies decided to find a new way to standardize their interface. The solution that came about was VoiceXML, which was created by Motorola, AT&T, Lucent Technologies and IBM. The VoiceXML language is based on the World Wide Web Consortium's XML standard. Through the use of VoiceXML speech enabled applications have begun to help companies cut costs and deliver superior service. This standard has almost revolutionized the way that companies handle automated calls. This standard has started a competitive market for other platforms that enable businesses to improve all processes of their customer care and communication over the phone. VoiceXML or VXML is an open standard for building and controlling intelligent voice applications that incorporate speech recognition and text to speech technologies. According to Xiaole Song, VoiceXML is designed to be platform independent around the same server logic pull model used for HTML applications. Developers are able to create audio dialogs that have speech, audio, and the recognition of spoken and touch tone input and mixed conversations. Most of the existing automatic call handling systems lacked intelligence because they were built on menu st... ...2001, Aug 1) Let voice XML speak [Online] 2 pages; Available: http://www.wirelessreview.com Song, Xiaole. (2004, June 14) Implementing Speech-Enables Contact Center Applications [Online], 6 pages, Available: http://www.tmcnet.com/ Mitchell, Robert L. (2005, August 22) Smart Talk: Speech-enabled apps deliver bottom line benefits [Online] 5 pages, Available: http://www.computerworld.com Mitchell, Robert L. (2005, August 22) Smart Talk: Speech-enabled apps deliver bottom line benefits [Online] 5 pages, Available: http://www.computerworld.com Mitchell, Robert L. (2005, August 22) Smart Talk: Speech-enabled apps deliver bottom line benefits [Online] 5 pages, Available: http://www.computerworld.com SPEECHTEK (2005, Aug. 1) VoiceXML Platform Certification Program Gains Momentum [Online] 2 pages, Available: http://www.voicexml.org/press/press_releases

Comparison of Discipline Models Essay

EDU-450 Classroom Management A Comparison of Discipline Models A Comparison of Discipline Models In comparing Wong’s theory and Kagan, Kyle, and Scott’s theory, they both give pupils the independence to do what they think is appropriate for them, and the educators and parents incorporate them in making the rules. The Win-Win approach fixes the situation by allowing the students to choose a better approach to the issue. Morrish’s Real- Discipline approach believes that students do not know how to behave properly and responsible when they begin school. This theory believes that students only learn self-discipline through experience. This theory requires assistance in the required behavior. Wong’s Theory: I do agree with Wong’s theory. I agree with it because it is a great idea to give students independence in making choices in the way they are disciplined for breaking the rules. Students need to know that they have a say in how they will be disciplined for their actions. This will give the students a sense of how you must follow the rules or be reprimanded for them. Morrish’s Theory: I believe in Morrish’s behavior theory because the student is given a chance to correct their misbehavior. This theory allows the students to see that they have a chance to correct their behavior before disciplinary action is taken. This gives the students a sense of responsibility to choose to do the right thing. Kagan, Kyle, and Scott’s Theory: I agree with Kagan, Kyle, and Scott’s theory in the aspect that it is beneficial for teachers to develop ways that will disengage disruptive behavior in the classroom. Teachers must be able to distinguish which behaviors the students are engaged in and be able to appropriately correct the situation because the student’s behavior will escalate if not handled correctly. Strengths Weaknesses Advantages Disadvantages Wong’s Pragmatic Classroom: Ensures that all students understand their duties and learn to follow all class procedures automatically. (Charles, 2008). >This theory sets clear and concise procedures on what the students must know and do on a daily basis > This theory allows teachers to stay consistent with the procedures in her classroom. > The students are learning how to be responsible. > Wong’s theory gives the teacher a format in which to follow in order to be able to manage her classroom. > When rules are broken, the teacher has no alternative but to discipline the student. >Wong’s theory provides the students with a safe environment. > The students know what to expect on a daily basis with no surprises. > This theory gives the students a since of importance in helping solving discipline issues. > The teacher may have trouble anticipating the individual students’ needs and behaviors. >The teacher may fall short of recognizing the student’s potential growth. Morrish’s Real- Discipline Theory: Teach students how to behave properly and insist they comply with directions. (Charles 2008). >This theory gives courage for student to persevere as well as work through tasks which are not particularly pleasing (Charles, 2008). > This theory makes the students alert of their surroundings and what is happening. >Morrish’s overemphasis’ the disciplinary power of the teacher. >Morrish’s theory places assumptions that low self-esteem students are subject to getting in trouble in school. > Places assumption that teachers  who spend time to motivate students are wasting time. >This theory teaches students how to behave in the correct manner. > This theory teaches students to be courtesy and considerate of others. > The students will learn to follow a set of rules and limitations before being disciplined. > Personal discipline is the focus of this theory. >Morrish’s discipline theories purpose is to make students do what they do not want to do. >Morrish believes students should not be praised or rewarded in a continuous manner. Kagan, Kyle, and Scott’s Win- Win Discipline: Establish same- side cooperation with students and use â€Å"structure† to prevent and address student misbehavior (Charles, 2008). >Teachers and students work together to decide on behavior issues. > This theory is to help teachers recognize the seven positions in which discipline arises. >This goal helps students learn a lifelong responsible behavior. >The teacher must first recognize the student’s behavior and apply the appropriate disciplinary action. >This theory allows the teacher to help the student understand their behavior and help them determine a better avenue to handle the situation. >This theory allows the students to achieve goals they set for themselves. > This theory, if not used properly, can cause serious altercations in the classroom between teacher and student. References: Charles, C.M. (2008). Building Classroom Discipline. Boston. Pearson.

Free Essays on Debating Safety In Education

in order to express opinions or doubts in situations. Thus developing language and communication skills. Taking risks encourages a child to explore limits, experience new situations and develop their capacities, from a young age. Gaining new experiences extends problem solving, planning and reflection skills, which are essential to life. Children would never learn activities such as walking or climbing stairs unless they were motivated to respond to risk. Risk taking is often found in play situations where a child will learn through the play activities they partic... Free Essays on Debating Safety In Education Free Essays on Debating Safety In Education Childhood is the period of life that enables children to become competent and develop into confident adults. The role of an adult will influence the child significantly and during childhood, a child relies on the adult to care, protect and support whilst they learn and gain knowledge of the world. Part of the role and adult plays in a young child’s life is that of looking out for risks that a child may not anticipate. This is a natural instinct but can be taken to extremes by restricting a child from certain things. Restricting activities or disallowing a child from doing something because of fears about what might happen, blocks the development of a child intellectually which in turn causes social, emotional and physical deteriation. An adult needs to understand that it is impossible to shield a child from all risk whether it is part of their development, physically, emotionally or intellectually. All children need and want to take risks. A child will learn through risk and the ‘’learning has to be grounded in their own personal, social and emotional development.’’ (Jennie Lindon 2003). The lessons they need to learn focuses on confidence and ability. They need to feel confident enough to deal with mistakes and to take risks with the confidence that it is all right not to know something. Confidence is also needed to learn new words in order to express opinions or doubts in situations. Thus developing language and communication skills. Taking risks encourages a child to explore limits, experience new situations and develop their capacities, from a young age. Gaining new experiences extends problem solving, planning and reflection skills, which are essential to life. Children would never learn activities such as walking or climbing stairs unless they were motivated to respond to risk. Risk taking is often found in play situations where a child will learn through the play activities they partic...

Bystander Behaviour Research Paper

Bystander Behaviour Research Paper Free Online Research Papers This essay will give examples and discuss the factors which can affect bystander behaviour in various situations. Models explaining theories will be looked at along with various studies, as well as looking at the three social cognitive processes by Latane and Darley and explain how these were put together to propose a complex cognitive model. The essay will explain the Arousal cost reward model by Piliavin and Piliavin. After the murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964, bystander behaviour was first looked at by Latane and Darley in 1970. Kitty was repeatedly stabbed by a stalker on three separate attacks. During the first two attempts, voices and the sight of lights going on interrupted him and frightened him off but seeing as nobody was coming to her rescue, he went back the third time which consequently led to her death. During the police investigation it emerged that 38 of her neighbours had separately witnessed the attack and yet no-one had intervened or called the police. It was through kitty Genovese murder and early laboratory studies that led Latane and Darley to introduce the concept of unresponsive bystander and bystander apathy and according to Latane and Darley decision model, a bystander will pass through a logical series of steps before actually offering any help. Therefore a negative decision at any step will lead to non- intervention. The three social cognitive processes towards the behaviour of bystanders by Latane and Darley that were involved in the passive behaviour of bystanders and these are, Diffusion of responsibility is where there is a tendency that the individual will assume that someone else has taken control of the situation when in fact as a result no one actually does. Audience inhibition is where an individual is concerned with what others might think of them and not want to react to what may be a false alarm as they could feel embarrassed. Pluralistic ignorance which means that an individual will observe the behaviour from other onlookers and take his cue from their behaviour before actually helping and Latane and Darley put these ideas together to form a complex model and it was suggested that there were five steps necessary in order for an individual to take positive action. Step one is that an individual must notice that something is happening. A study by Darley and Batson (1973) is an example of this, whereby seminary students had to give a talk in a nearby building on the Good Samaritan. Each group were given different levels of urgency. Group one were told they had plenty of time to get to the other building, group two were told they had a few minutes but it is best to head over now whereas The third group was told they were already late. In an alleyway they passed a man slumped on the ground in pain. It was unclear whether the man was ill or drunk. 70% of students who believed they were ahead of schedule stopped to help the man, 45% of people who were on time stopped to help whereas only 10% of the students who believed they were late stopped to help. However many students actually stepped over the man needing help. It is thought that the students with more time took more notice of their surroundings whereas the students who believed they were late kept their heads down and noticed hardly anything of their surroundings. Step two of the cognitive model is do we interpret the situation as an emergency. Step three of the model is to take responsibility for helping. Step four refers to if a bystander decides to help and this will be influenced by how competent they feel. Step five will be to give the help needed provided the other four steps have been gone through first. Darley and Latane’s conclusions were expanded into a cost-reward arousal model by Piliavin et al in the early 1980’s. This model suggests that the potential rewards and costs of intervention and non-intervention are weighed up by the bystander. The cost-reward arousal model consists of two factors that are interdependent in order to explain whether or not a bystander will help. Arousal in response to the need of others is an emotional response which is distressing to the helper, thus motivating the helper to help in reducing their own distress. Cost-reward factor involves the bystander weighing up the situation in terms of costs and rewards to themselves. Costs and rewards may be seen in terms of those received for helping the victim , for example the amount of physical danger involved or fame and monetary rewards and as the costs for helping increase so does the probability of intervention. In conclusion this essay has shown that the cost of helping and not helping differ according to the type of help that is required, which could include personality of the bystander, the gender of either, and furthermore the bystander – victim relationship. Helping can be called altruism but only if the motive is to benefit the victim which is empathic concern. All human beings are capable of altruistic acts, and according to universal egoism, helping is always motivated by personal distress. Humans are capable of biological altruism whereby it is triggered within emergency situations, especially where their friends or relatives are concerned. Research Papers on Bystander Behaviour Research PaperThree Concepts of PsychodynamicIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalThe Fifth HorsemanEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenResearch Process Part OneBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseCapital PunishmentBringing Democracy to AfricaInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married Males

4 way crossove and ADR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

4 way crossove and ADR - Essay Example The rates paid to the lawyer are also usually high but in a civil case, payment may be made on a contingent fee basis where Bob will pay the lawyer a certain agreed upon percentage of the damages. He has the options of seeking state-provided lawyers who work on a pro-bono basis but this may take a long time for his case to be heard. The decision of the plant shop owners will be determined by Bob’s decision. If Bob decides to press charges and go to court, then the shop owners will have no alternative but to seek the services of a lawyer as well, but if Bob wants an out of court settlement, then the plant shop owners and Bob can chose and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) which may involve a lawyer (s) or not. This is a pre-trial process where one party obtains evidence of what the other party has concerning a case. It can be done using several ways like depositions or interrogations and in the presence of lawyers. This can lead to avoid necessary court processes and the case can be resolved by the parties after the discovery. There can be production of documents or things like cameras (if any) showing evidence of the fall, the witnesses can be subpoenaed with requests to admit or deny the fall happening and Bob getting injured and also depositions where Bob can under oath affirm the plant shop incident. The different forms of discovery mentioned above are significant if evidence of the fall and the injury is to be found and be strong enough to warrant payment to Bob. Production of documents provides physical evidence, subpoenas also provides eye-witness evidence which is necessary to back Bob’s claims or refute them and finally depositions just like court testimony will ensure Bob is not lying when he tells the account of what happened and how much he used in hospital or the emotional pain he has undergone as a result of the fall. Yes. As mentioned above, the witnesses can be subpoenaed (which is a writ

Ryanair Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Ryanair - Essay Example Porter suggests that a firm should follow either differentiation strategy or cost-leadership. They do not submit a mission or vision but they continue to be the largest low-cost leader in the European air industry (Box and Byus 2007). This requires an absolute dedication to low-cost performance in every element of the value chain. Thus, they have quick gate turnarounds, non-union operations, their compensation plans are in the form of performance-based incentives, and they fly to secondary airports which too results in cost savings. They have been successful so far because they could compete against the tradition carriers as consumers have become price-conscious. They are able to maintain price advantage and they get most of their bookings online. They replicated the South West Airline model of offering â€Å"no frills† services and focused on the most price-sensitive segment (Leavy 2003). Is Ryanair’s strategy sustainable? Ryanair’s strategy has become questiona ble due to the impact of cost savings in every function. This can be better understood through environmental analysis. Michael Porter has developed a set of tools and framework for environmental analysis. ... Economical The economy of Europe as a whole is stable and the domination of Euro as the common currency adds to stability. The consumers in Europe too are stable so overall the economical factor has low impact on the industry. However, outside Europe the market is undeveloped and these economies are unstable. Moreover, the economic crisis has impacted all low-cost carriers since 2008 which ash prompted stringent actions from the low-cost carriers (Dunn 2009). Social The airline industry depends on the changing consumer demand. Ryanair could succeed so far because of the price-consciousness of the consumers. However, consumer demographics keep changing and the airline has to be cognizant of the changing consumer preference. Even a small price difference can change the mindset of the most loyal consumer. Thus the social factor has a high impact. Technological The technological factor has a low impact because Ryanair has invested in standardized but latest aircrafts. However, they do no t use technology in employee relations or in customer relationship management. Legal This has a high impact as they have been charged by the EU for receiving illegal subsidies for its base airport (O’Higgins 2005). Its website also had several consumer complaints which prompted the airline to shut down the website (O’Higgins 2005). The airline was also in a dispute against the British Airports Authority (BAA) for alleged monopoly abuse over fuel levies. Environmental This has a high impact because ‘climate protection charge’ has been levied against the airline. Frequent landings and take-off on short-haul flights have high impact on the environment (O’Leary 2007). PESTLE Evaluation The external environmental analysis suggests low impact