April Post: Did he commit a crime?

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/dealership_technician_topped_95_mph_taking_customers_car_for_test_drive_did

In response to this short article, the question posed is whether or not the car maintenance person at the dealership committed a crime. 

The incriminating factor is that the dash cam picked up that the maintenance person achieved speeds of 96mph while doing a test drive. 

With short supply of evidence provided in the article, one can not be sure about the specific charges that would be brought up. But is it a crime to do this in a test drive?

I believe that some questions of background research should be done, 

Was there a necessity to achieve this speed to test the car? Although I have little knowledge about car maintenance, I highly doubt that it would be necessary.

Was this car being driven on a street with a set speed limit for safety reasons? If the car was breaching a speed limit then it is automatically considered breaking the law, which is a crime. 

Did this action breach some type of consumer contract of taking care of the car? If driving the car at that speed is detrimental to the vehicle, then it may cause a breach of contract which then raises legal concerns.

At this point, with such little information it is unknown whether this a crime or not. If it is not necessary to the testing of the car, then it should not be done. If it did not break any laws, it still should not be done. If it breached a consumer contract, it definitely should not be done. The pattern shows that even though the act is in question of being a crime, it is not in question of being something that should not have been committed. 

Skills for Presenting

Throughout my research, I found some skills to be helpful while giving speeches and arguments.

Many of the issues that come up throughout different speeches is that nervousness causes a involuntary change of breathing, rapidly increasing breath or lack of balance between each breath. When this occurs, it affects the speech making it seem unnatural due to pauses out of place to breathe.

In order to prevent this from happening, take calm monitored breaths before presenting. Then before starting breathe in, and exhale while speaking out. This will best apprehend uneasiness and unnatural breath.

Another issue that can be distracting while giving a speech is figiting and excess movement. This is caused by the adrenaline flow through the body and can be detrimental to the speech. Movements such as pacing or voice shakiness can distract the audience from the point of the speech.

The way to get rid of this to plant feet down and wiggle your toes to get the jitters out and then maintain a strong stance by having feet shoulder length apart and good posture. Having good posture shows that one has confidence in what they are saying and causes the audience to believe in more of what is being shared. Also an inviting posture attracts the audience to want to pay attention to the person speaking. When I gave a speech with a defensive commanding body structure, members of the audience picked up on that as a negative aspect of my presenting.

Nervous speakers often get tongue tied by saying the words too rapidly, which then confuses the audience and takes away from the argument at hand. In one debate, I spoke quickly giving off the sense of nervousness throughout. Although my arguments were stronger than those of my opponents, the audience still chose the winner to be my opponent due to the fact that I sounded weaker.

Apprehending this is simple, practice the speech. Learning the balance and importance of pauses throughout a speech can be greatly beneficial to persuading the audience. When writing a speech, put commas not only where it is grammatically correct but also when it is necessary for speaking as a reminder of when to pause. While reading a speech, try to maintain some type of balance throughout the flow of how you read each sentence, while still emphasizing on key words and phrases when necessary.

Altogether, these are the main concerns I found throughout my research and how to best overcome them.

They all are a part of maintaining my third answer which is having a clear and commanding presence while communicating.

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

LITERAL


(a) Include this statement: “I, Givanti C, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 32 hours of work.”


(b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component.
 Kuhn, Deanna, and Wadiya Udell. "The Development of Argument Skills." Education for Thinking. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.

(c) Update your Independent Component 2 Log (See Senior Project Hours link)


(d) Explain what you completed.    

For my independent component I studied skills toward persuasive argumentative techniques. I then used these techniques in debate throught the debate club at ipoly. I tried different forms of preparation, speaking tones, and body structure while giving speeches and debating. In debate, we do tournaments where a class of students vote and give feedback on the way both people argued and presented. Using the comments provided by the students,  I then came up with what I found to be successful and what did not work well. 


INTERPRETIVE 
Defend your work and explain the component's significance and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.  

The purpose of my work was focused on my last answer in relevance to success during trials. In trials, attorney's have to persuade the jury to decide in their favor. I wanted to focus this independent component on how to be successful in persuasion and presentation. My research was the foundation for the trial and error process of this component. In trying the different strategies I found in research, I found the most beneficial techniques. 


APPLIED
How did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped. 

This component specifically helped with my answer 3, which is having a clear and commanding presence while communicating. I found that I got the attention of more students when my body was positioned in an inviting manner rather than a defensive one. However, I needed to maintain confidence and strength in my position while still remaining to be inviting. Also, in accordance with being clear, no matter how great my evidence was, if I stuttered or faltered then I would immediately be seen as losing. Using both of those specific experiences, I found that my answer 3 remains with it's importance of specifying a clear and commanding presence. 

March Post

Testifying toward the Insanity Defense

    In my debate elective, we had to write and give a speech on anything we want as long as it is persuasive. I decided I wanted to persuade to my audience, the class, that a psychiatrist/psychologist should always testify in both legal and psychological terms the mental health of the defendant when the "not guilty by reason of insanity" defense is used.

Here are some important parts of my speech:

The insanity defense is one of the most well known forms of defense used in entertainment. In actuality,"Not guilty by reason of insanity" is a special verdict of acquittal in a criminal trial. The verdict grants that, although the accused committed the act in question, he cannot be held legally responsible because he was not sane at the time of the crime. Defendants thus acquitted are then usually committed to a mental institution for an indeterminate period and released upon the recommendation of institution psychiatrists at such time the psychiatrists consider the person "sane." Since the insanity defense originated almost 200 years ago, definitions used to describe insanity have broadened, and new variations of the defense have been developed, giving criminals ever-increasing chances of escaping the legal consequences of their acts.

The "not guilty by reason of insanity" (NGRI) verdict rests in part on two assumptions: that some mentally ill people cannot be deterred by the threat of punishment, and that treatment for the defendant is more likely to protect society than a jail term without treatment. It is important to note that "insanity" is a legal term, not a psychological one, and experts disagree whether it has valid psychological meaning.

Blog 18: Interview 4 Questions

1.) What strategies do you use when dealing with a client?

2.) What strategies do you find to be most helpful and why?

3.) How often do you speak directly with clients?

4.) What are some of the major concerns that occur when having client meetings?

5.) Do you try to use plea bargains as an efficient form of resolving a case? Why or why not?

6.) What are the top skills necessary to successfully work with a client? and why?

7.) Effective communication is something I found to be important, do you agree and how do you practice that skill?

8.) Looking back in time, what is one thing you wish you had done to prepare yourself for this job?

9.) How do you deal with problem clients?

10.) In trial cases how do you prepare yourself for speaking your case?

11.) What are some tactics you use while picking jurors?

12.) How do you know if a case is worth going to trial?

13.) In a scenario where a client wants to go to trial, and it seems unnecessary, do you still have to proceed regardless?

14.) Can u tell me about a situation where a case was handled successfully due to communication and why?

15.) What aspect of Criminal law do you use the most, and why?

16.) What do you think I should look into more for my research as it relates to my EQ?

17.) Do you have any ideas of activities that might explain/entertain a classroom about my topic?

18.) Currently, my most important form of research are my CalCrim and Penal Code books, do you have any others to suggest and why?

19.) If you had to answer my EQ what would your answer be and why?

20.) Moving on towards my 2 hour presentation, what are some key parts of Criminal Law that I need to make sure I cover?

Blog 17: Answer 3

Content:

• EQ: What strategy is most beneficial to defend a client in a misdemeanor case?
• Answer #3 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement)*

The strategy that is most beneficial to defend a client in a misdemeanor case is to have confidence and a commanding presence while communicating.

• 3 details to support the answer (a detail is a fact and an example)

In trials, a defense attorney has to convince a jury that the client is not guilty of the charges brought up by the prosecution. If the attorney is unable to speak with confidence and communicate his/her case then they will significantly lose the jurors.

This also happens during arraignments, a defense lawyer must speak with each of the clients and speak with the judge. They must communicate to the judge that the client understands the charges as well as represent their client. 

Lawyers spend almost the entirety of the day speaking with witnesses, translators, judges, and other people who work in the courthouse. In order to successfully defend a client, especially through the trial process, they must be able to take command of the courtroom and present the information necessary.

• The research source (s) to support your details and answer

Alot of my "research" for this came through being at my mentorship and witnessing what each lawyer had to do throughout the day. So I would cite my mentorship, the Public Defender's Office at the West Covina Courthouse.

• Concluding Sentence

In summation, my third and final strategy I to be found beneficial to defend a client in a misdemeanor case is to be able to communicate with a clear and commanding presence. I found this by spending time at my mentorship and witnessing what the lawyers had to do the most, which was communicate. 

February Post: Extending the Presidential Term

       One thing I found interesting while reading a Carribbean newspaper was that a country, called Guyana, had numerous people, including politicians, who wanted to extend the presidential term limt for previous president Bharrat Jagdeo. Due to the high popularity of Jadgeo, this became a huge controversial topic. Although many supported this, it was deemed unconstitutional to remove the term limit and thus a new president was elected, Donald Ramotar. Ramotar has been in presidency for 3 years and 87 days. I found this all very interesting because this is a place that I have family connections to as well I have been there before. It's also very intriguing to read about political issues of another country.

Donald Ramotar, President of Guyana