White collar crimes Essay Example for Free

White collar crimes Essay This paper provides a detailed understanding behind the motives of people committing crimes. Researchers have named ―the people committing crime, where the crimes were minimal and confined to a particular area of administrationâ€â€" as Grass Eaters. People involved in white collar crimes and which has spread in almost all fields of business are termed as Meat Eaters. With the advent of technology and growth of education, white collar crimes are on the rise, being protected by professionals finding loopholes in the judiciary and support from the government indirectly. This has created a nexus where people from almost all walks of life have started forming group to do white collar crimes and being protected by professionals in law. This has lead to a situation where the small timers have become white collar criminals. Talking about the prevalence of white collar crimes in India, they are spreading like a rapid fire in every sphere of society. Though corruption, one of the species of white collar crimes, has been the most talked about issue in all spheres-social, economic and political, not much stringent steps/actions have been taken to curb this menace. Therefore the concern of this paper is to define white collar crime, study its historical development and formulate tentative solutions for eradicating the problem. This thought evolved with the Criminologist and Sociologist Edwin H. Sutherland, in the year 1939, who popularised the term â€â€"white collar crimes‘ by defining such a crime as one ―committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.â€â€" Sutherland also included crimes committed by corporations and other legal entities within his definition. Sutherland‘s study of white collar crime was prompted by the view that criminology had incorrectly focused on social and economic determinants of crime, such as family background and level of wealth. It is true to the common knowledge that there are certain professions which offer lucrative opportunities for criminal acts and unethical practises which is very often overlooked by the general mass of the society. There have been crooks and unethical persons in business, various other professions, who tend to become unscrupulous because of no reason apart from the thirst of gaining more and more for themselves. These deviants have least regard for ethical and moral human values. Therefore, www.indianresearchjournals.com INTRODUCTION IRJC International Journal of Social Science Interdisciplinary Research Vol.1 Issue 9, September 2012, ISSN 2277 3630 they carry on their illegal activities with impunity without the fear of loss of respect and prestige. These crimes are of the nature of â€â€"white collar crimes‘ which is the essential outcome of the development of the competent economy of the twenty-first century. CHRONOLOGICAL MILIEU OF THE EMERGENCE OF WHITE COLLAR CRIMES The earliest documented case of white-collar crime law dates back to 15th century is England. There has been a case popularly known as the Carrier‘s case of 1473, where the agent was entrusted to transport wool and he attempted to steal some of it for him. Therefore the Star Chamber and Exchequer Chamber of the English Court of Law adopted the â€â€"breaking bulk‘ doctrine as it constituted the crime of larceny. However, the growth of industrial capitalism in the eighteenth century ushered a new history of crime and criminality. The very base of industrial capitalism is based on coercion and robbery. Now, before we discuss the topic let us understand the meaning of capitalism The street crime, especially snatching and motor vehicle theft, relatively down compared to 2010, the year 2011 truly belonged to the faceless white-collar criminals. The numbers of such criminals arrested by the crime branch this year saw a massive increase — 108 per cent — as 148 people were arrested for dabbling in white-collar crime as opposed to just 71 in 2010. ―In all, around 20 organised white-collar rackets were busted last year and cash and valuables, amounting to R4.5 crore, thousands of mobile phones used in the commission of criminal activity and three dozen vehicles were recovered,â€â€" said a senior police officer. The list includes perpetrators of lottery fraud, fake recruitment racketeers, ATM fraudsters, travel agents, property dealers, agents promising fake court affidavits and death certificates as well as both men and women operating fake friendship clubs. Meanwhile, the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of the Delhi Police arrested more than . WHITE COLLAR CRIMES IN INDIA www.indianresearchjournals.com The process of emergence of these conditioned was termed by Karl Marx as primitive accumulation‘ while in the words of Adam Smith, it was â€â€"previous accumulation.‘ Therefore, the Dutch Marxist, William Bonger contended that criminal attitude develops among the working class under capitalism due to conditions of misery and at the same time the criminal attitude develops among the bourgeoisie from the avarice fostered when capitalism strives.It succeeded in United States of America in 1890, when Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act which took the initiative to make the monopolistic trade illegal. Other industrialized countries like Great Britain had a history of penalties involving whitecollar crime by that time, but it was not as sweeping as the Sherman Act. Some nations implemented a smattering of these laws, known as competition or antitrust law, but did not have a strong binding force for a long time. But more anti-white-collar crime sentiment rose in the late 19th century and early 20th century in the United States as a result of a group of journalists known as muckrakers. They laid much focus on the prevalent stock fraud, insurance fraud and underhanded practices of monopolistic companies that had grabbed under the Sherman Act. The muckrakers‘ exposes gave rise to public resentment and thereby called for in some reform. By 1914, Congress attempted to solidify and strengthen the sentiment laid down by the Sherman Act, which was used against labour unions, with the Clayton Antitrust Act. This Act was much stricter and went much further than the Sherman Act in making particular monopolistic practices illegal. IRJC International Journal of Social Science Interdisciplinary Research Vol.1 Issue 9, September 2012, ISSN 2277 3630 criminals in 1,358 cases ranging from those of land grabbing to fake job rackets and attached property valued at amounts estimated to be between Rs. 350 to Rs. 500 crore. ―This year, we focused more on individual cases as opposed to those in which several persons were victimised. We got more manpower,â€â€" said Vivek Gogia, joint CP (EoW). White collar crimes are to be considered as a global phenomenon to which India is no exception. As discussed earlier, white collar crimes emerged in India with the advent of the British colonisation during the period of industrial capitalism. Prior to that, instances of men working with the District treasury embezzling with the money kept under his safe custody or bribing practiced among the officials were found. Therefore, the white collar crimes were confined to this limit. Thus, the people indulging in the white collar crimes then can to said to be mere â€â€"grass eaters‘ the people in the modern times have reached the stage of â€â€"meat-eaters‘. WHITE COLLAR -LEGAL PROFESSION WHITE COLLAR – MEDICAL In India, the white collar crimes are so wide spread that it does not confine itself in the legal arena. Similar unfortunate instances can be drawn from other professions too, like that of medical practitioners, engineers, educationalists, businessmen, politicians and the list goes on. The medical practitioners are often found involved in issuance of false certificates, carrying out illegal abortions, selling out sample drugs and medicine, even in some cases adulterated drugs and medicines to the patients. Dilatory tactics are often adopted by them in providing treatment to their patients with a menswear to extract huge amount of money, no matter the person has good practice. Some of the notorious instances are like that of Nithari 159 The instances of white collar crimes committed in the Indian society by the lawyers, there lie the shameful illustrations of Magistrates and judges involved in committing crimes. They in the name of interpreting the laws often act as the protective shield for the goons having or not-having any political colour and allow them to go free whereas they should have been subjected to deterrence. It is the most unfortunate situation at the same time devastating, because here the crimes are committed by those individuals who are being given by the State the responsibility to ensure justice. www.indianresearchjournals.com The white collar crimes became a phenomenon to be reckoned with industrial revolution. Modern industrial capitalist economy which evolved with time became complex in nature as it developed a growing commercial nexus among insurance, banking, stocks and related corporate matters. This in turn, gave rise to critical legal intricacies relating to property rights and other legal matters which paved the way for the birth of a new class of professionals of advocates who in the name of providing justice started abetting in the wrong and thereby pursued their own narrow interest. A large number of advocates evolved, who forget the pious oath of serving the society and started looking for the legal loopholes and concentrated mainly in helping out the rich entrepreneurs to grow richer. They made extensive study to try out ways for maximum tax evasion for these rich corporate personalities as well as for themselves. The white collar crimes committed by these legal practitioners only confines in sorting out illegal methods of tax-evasion. There are very frequent instances of unscrupulous and unethical practices like that of fabricating false evidence, engaging professional witnesses, thereby violating ethical standards of legal profession and dilatory tactics in collusion with the ministerial staff of the courts. IRJC International Journal of Social Science Interdisciplinary Research Vol.1 Issue 9, September 2012, ISSN 2277 3630 case, where the medical professionals put up before the society the optimum level of brutal character they can reach for the crave of making money. Misleading and fake advertisement claiming absolute cure is also one of the frequent malpractices being carried out in the medical profession. The problem lies in the fact that, they often escape punishment, since they cannot be said to have violated the letter of law, but, by violating the spirit of law, they commit crimes which are truly anti-social and creates enormous damage to the public health and safety at large. WHITE COLLAR-ENGINEERING Speaking of the engineers‘ role in having their role to play in white collar crimes, we often find instances of underhand dealing with contractors, suppliers, passing of sub-standard works and maintenance of bogus reports of the labour works. They financially earn more for their low grade works from the contractors, than they can earn for the genuine work. Therefore, many of them, out of the greed of earning more and more, play dangerously with thousands of lives of the individuals. WHITE COLLAR-EDUCATION The matter comes to the white collar crimes educational institutions do come in the league to operate with impunity. A nastier role is played by the private institutions that are least bothered in providing the education, but only concentrate of making business at the cost of the children‘s future. Even rackets operate in these institutions for procuring students to appear in the examinations on the basis of manipulated eligibility certificates, thereby damaging the standard of education in India. When it comes to the Governmental institutions, the teachers and staffs of the institutions are often found to be involved in unscrupulous practices, since they can hardly make fortune from the inadequate salary they receive from the government. Teachers often drag the students for taking private tuitions and even go to the extent of blackmailing them of ruining their future, if they deny doing so. These are only a handful of instances of white collar crimes practiced in day to day life by certain professionals in the course of their profession. The major role in committing white collar crimes are played by the business tycoons and politicians, whose greed and wants multiply with the more they acquire. In India, whenever any major scandal comes to the media focus, a through investigation always finds an unlawful involvement of political parties in it. So far as the businessmen are concerned, their acts of white collar crimes go beyond count. They are termed as the corporate criminals who more often than not,are involved in illegal contracts, combination and conspiracies of trade restraints, unfair labour practices, selling of adulterated foods and drugs, bribing of public officials so on and so forth. They take advantage of the corporate veil and indulged in a number of crimes. The recent Satyam scam case is one of the worth-mentioning illustrations, where it was seen how an individual, hiding himself in the veil of incorporation, indulge in defrauding crores of money. WHITE COLLAR- UNIVERSAL www.indianresearchjournals.com WHITE COLLAR-CORPORATE 160 The white collar crimes are often master minded and are carried out in a planned manner by technocrats in the form of scams, frauds, etc. facilitated by technological advancements. In IRJC International Journal of Social Science Interdisciplinary Research Vol.1 Issue 9, September 2012, ISSN 2277 3630 these types of offences not only the individual is being with pecuniary loss but also, such offences like peddling drugs and narcotic substances, counterfeiting of currency, financial scams are some of the crimes which evoke serious concern and impact to the national security and governance. Violation of foreign exchange regulations and import and export laws are frequently resorted to for the sake of huge profits. WHITE COLLAR- SOCIETY The major white collar crime very common among the individuals, no matter he/she belongs to the middle or upper strata of the society is that of evading taxes. The complexity of the taxation laws provided a number of loopholes through which many individuals tried to escape. A tax-evasion has known no professional or class boundary in our country. Be it an engineer, doctor, advocate, a business tycoon or a simple small industry trader-all have learnt the trick of evading taxes. The main difficulty posed before the Income Tax Department is to acquire true information of the real and exact income of these professionals. It is often alleged that only an insignificant amount of their total income is posed a income before the Income Tax Department and the rest therefore goes into the circulation as black money. The frequent modifications in the tax-laws of the country has been able to add very little to put a check on this continuing menace which is throwing a great negative impact in the Governmental revenue and thereby the growth of the country. INDIA CRIME AND FRAUD IN WHITE COLLAR 2010-2011 Annual Global Fraud Survey report of Kroll conducted by Economist Intelligence Unit gives expected results. Fraud continues to be a big problem worldwide and more so in India. Of the companies surveyed, globally 75% reported experiencing fraud during the year. Though the figure has reduced in comparison to previous year‘s 88%, the situation is still dismal. The chart below compares the top six fraud categories at global level with India. In most of the cases, India is doing much worse than its global counterparts are. Worldwide management conflict of interest, internal financial fraud, corruption and bribery and vendor procurement related frauds have increased. Physical theft of assets and information theft decreased. Indian business crucial pain points are corruption and bribery, information theft, internal financial fraud, financial mismanagement and vendor procurement. www.indianresearchjournals.com In India, the situation is disastrous, with 84% organizations reporting that they suffered from fraud during the year. It is wake-up call for India, as it is ranked second worldwide after Africa and shares the position with China. The report answers the most relevant question relating to fraud – what is the loss caused by fraud? The estimated figure given in the report is that globally organizations suffered 2.1% revenue loss due to fraud. For India, the percentage is higher at 2.4%. Further analysis available in the report says that 18% of the companies reported an earnings loss of more than 4%. A quarter of these most affected companies suffered losses more than 10%. These companies are reporting corruption, bribery, money laundering and regulatory breaches frequently. However, they are doing nothing about it. The lack of fraud prevention and investigation measures is causing huge losses in these companies. Indian companies are ill prepared to the fight fraud menace. Just 50% companies have background screening, third-party due diligence and other fraud prevention measures in place. In my view, India does not have adequately trained fraud investigators as part of the risk management teams. Overall, the focus is on financial statements audits and internal audits. These audits are not done to detect frauds. Management finds it hard to accept this fact that internal employees and related parties conduct most frauds. The report mentions that insiders conducted 60% of the frauds globally. That is, 28% junior employees, 21% senior employees and 11% third-party agents conducted frauds. In India, 59% of the frauds were conducted by internal sources. The frauds conducted by senior employees cause more damage to the company. Not only are the financial figures larger, the reputation damage is huge. However, the companies in India still do not have adequate focus on internal controls and management controls. However, government has initiated some steps to address the high level of frauds in Indian private sector. In my view, the Indian government‘s decision to give more power to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) in the new Companies Bill is a step in the right direction. SFIO will be in a position to conduct more investigations, arrests, raids and seizures. This would put some brakes on the escalating financial fraud cases in India. Therefore, Indian government must improve governance and take strict action against the offenders. Comptroller Auditor General is showing the way forward, the need of the hour is for political parties to have the spirit to clean up the mess. The private sector must implement fraud prevention measures and focus on ethics to reduce frauds. Both sectors have to collaborate to minimize fraud risks in India. The reasons of justifications are there for the methods used for the control of white collar crimes, the ambivalence of the social response to this sort is so related to wider social factors which have both objective and subjective dimensions. As has been so mentioned a more subjective source of ambivalence in the social response to white collar crimes is the assumption that there is less public concern about these behaviours so termed as white collar crimes, and therefore there is a less support for severe sanctions than in the cases of crimes which are traditional street crimes. But even if there was greater public ambivalence towards white collar crimes in comparison to the traditional crimes, writers such as Box has regarded this as a further challenge â€â€"to sensitize people to not seeing processes in which they are victimised disasters or accidents.‘ Therefore, the motto should always be prevention is better than cure. Since the acts involved defrauding public faith and belief, public as a whole mass should come forward to protect the whole society from these greedy people who are destroying the ethics and morality of the society slowly and slowly for their sole aim of pursuing narrow self 2. †¢ Williams Frank. P., â€â€"Criminology Theory‘, Andersen Publication 3. †¢ Mishra R., â€â€"Criminal Psychology‘, Sunit Enterprises, 2006 4. †¢ â€â€"Criminal liability of corporate bodies‘ by Vikas Garg 5. †¢ â€â€"Conference report on white collar crimes‘, by Godwin Kunda 6. †¢ â€â€"Report on White-collar Crimes‘ by International Monetary Fund 7. †¢ â€â€"White-collar crimes- (Talk delivered in the DST Programme on Forensic 8. Laboratories on 02.05.99)‘ by N. Vittal, Central Vigilance Commissioner 9. http://www.businessinsider.com/four-shocking-misconceptions-about-whitecollared-crime-2012-3 164 1. †¢ Ratanlal Dhirajlal, â€â€"The Indian Penal Code‘, 30th edition 2006,Wadhwa www.indianresearchjournals.com

grendelbeo Epic of Beowulf Essay - The Evil of Grendel -- Epic Beowul

The Evil of Grendel in Beowulf The story of Beowulf, written during Anglo-Saxon times, is a classic epic tale between good versus evil.   It is a story that gives us insight into the values of the Anglo-Saxon people.   The Anglo-Saxons glorified heroism and the conquering of evil.   In the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, the character of Grendel symbolically represents evil through his setting and heritage, his hateful attitude toward men, and his vicious acts of murder. Grendel's heritage and setting are two things that attribute to Grendel's evilness.   In the story the author tells us that Grendel was a descendant of Cain(the son of Adam and Eve, who was cursed by God for killing his brother Abel).   The poet writes, "Conceived by a pair of those monsters born of Cain"(line 42-43).   The author makes the connection between the murderous Cain and the evil Grendel.   Even Grendel's lair is a pit of slime and filth.   "Grendel, who haunted the moors, the wild marshes, and made his home in a hell not hell but Earth.   He was spawned in that slime"(lines 39-41).   When the author uses lines like, "in a hell not hell but Earth"(line 40), it really helps to create this vivid image in your mind of this terrible lair that Grendel lives in.   He not only lives in the swamp, but also thrives in the darkness of the night.   "Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty hills and bogs, bearing God's hatred, Grendel came, ...He moved quickly through the cloudy night, ...his eyes gleamed in the darkness, burned with a gruesome light"(lines 363-367;378-380).   The poet shows how Grendel travels in the darkness of the night.   The night is used to symbolically represent evil.   The poet's descriptions of Grendel's evil and dark enviro... ...out legends, and that is why the story has survived through the ages.   It tells us of a powerful, terribly evil monster.   The descriptions of Grendel are so scary and evil that we can all draw our own vivid picture of him in our mind.   This monster represents all of the evil in the world, and the hero of the story represents everything good in the world. The story has survived because it is a story about good versus evil.   It is a story that we can relate to even now in modern times. Sources Clark, George. Beowulf. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1990. Fry, Donald K. "Introduction: The Artistry of Beowulf." In TheBeowulf Poet, edited by Donald K. fry. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Robinson, Fred C. "Grendel's Evil." In Beowulf - Modern Critical Interpretations, edited by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.

Legal Aid

â€Å"It is difficult to judge the success of reforms in legal aid provision as we lack agreement on the aims and objectives of a legal aid system†. Discuss. INTRODUCTION Legal aid helps with the costs of legal advice for people who can’t afford it. If anyone needs help with the costs of legal advice, he can apply for legal aid. Whether he   will receive it depends on: the type of legal problem he has; his income (how much he earn) and how much capital (money, property, belongings) he has; whether there is a reasonable chance of winning his case and whether it is worth the time and money needed to win.The legal aid scheme was set up after World War 2 by the  Legal Aid and Advice Act 1949[1]  in UK. The Legal Aid system was mainly introduced to help people who otherwise would not be able to afford it, to gain access the courts. It therefore enabled them to get a fair hearing and resolve legal problems. Legal Aid is central to a society based on social justice. It i s there to help everyone who really needs it. And by reducing discrimination based on a person’s financial standing, it enables fair access for all to the courts.We have to remember that before Legal Aid was introduced, many people could not afford to get the protection of our legal system due to the high costs involved. Thus, the aim of the Legal Services Commission[2]  is to make quality legal aid accessible to everyone thereby ensuring effective delivery of justice and legal advice. The aims and objectives of it are, * help people to resolve their legal problems as soon as possible * make it easier for people to get legal help especially if they belong to a disadvantaged group * help people find alternatives to going to court Provide a high quality legal service. HISTORY OF LEGAL AID SYSTEM Prior to  Access to Justice Act (AJA) – 1999[3]  in UK, legal aid service was based upon demand laid system. The system became increasingly expensive to run while catering for fewer and fewer people. In 1950, 80% of the community was covered by legal aid provision. In 1998, the provision of legal aid had fallen to less than 40%[4]. From the mid 1980s, various Lord Chancellor tried to reform the system. Their task was made acute by the fact that expenditure on legal aid doubled to ? 1. 4 billion over a four year period to 1995.A variety of reforms were attempted. Payment systems were changed, eligibility criteria revised and control shifted from the Law Society to the Legal Aid Board (Legal Aid Act 1998)[5]. In 1997, Labour government suggested that there might be a change in the direction of legal aid policy[6]. A number of the changes have been made by the  Children Act – 1989[7]  and the  Courts and Legal Services Act – 1990[8]. In 1993, two significant changes were made. Standard fees for criminal legal aid in the Magistrates Courts were introduced and the practice of franchising was initiated.However, over the past seven years, the cost of civil and family legal aid had tripled which meant; the taxpayers were paying more and getting less in return. The problem was not simply the rising costs. As fewer people were becoming eligible for legal aid, it would appear that expenditure was not accompanied by an increase in value for money. Therefore, in 1996, Lord Mackay capped the legal aid budget[9]. CHANGES AND ADVANTAGES IN LEGAL AID SYSTEM Following the  Access to Justice (AJA) Act – 1999, there had been many changes in legal aid system in UK.Access to Justice (AJA) Act – 1999  established a Legal Service Commission[10](LSC) to maintain and develop the Community Legal Service[11]  (CLS), replaced of civil legal aid and Criminal Defense Service, replaced of criminal legal aid. Section 5 of Access to Justice Act (AJA) – 1999[12]  provides the budget for the Legal Service Commission (LSC) to maintain the Community Legal Service (CLS) fund. The Legal service Commission (LSC) funds th ese services by entering into contracts with solicitors by way of a franchise. The main aim for introducing the franchise scheme was to secure value for money.Therefore, if solicitors feel that there are few chances of success in a case, they are deterred from expending money given to them by the Legal Service Commission (LSC). Thus, this leads to effective fund management on the part of the solicitors. Those who are ineligible for public funding, have to pay privately for legal services and this can be expensive. For this reason, the Lord Chancellor has developed the Conditional Fee Arrangement (CFA), which is a no win, no fee basis[13]. It was introduced by the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 and was extended recently by the  Access to Justice Act (AJA) – 1999.However, it does not apply in criminal case, family case etc. Under the  Access to Justice Act (AJA) – 1999, not only the court can order a losing party to pay the costs and success fee to the winning pa rty, but it is also possible, by virtue of  Section 29, Access to Justice Act (AJA) – 1999[14], to ensure against losing a case, which if won, the court may order the losing party to pay the cost of the insurance premiums. The Criminal Defense Service[15]  (CDS) was established under  Section 12 Access to Justice Act (AJA) – 1999[16]  for the purpose of securing those individuals who are involved in criminal investigations or criminal proceedings.They have access to ‘such advice, assistance and representation as the interests of justice require’. It is funded in a similar way as Community Legal Service (CLS), by the issue of franchise contracts, grants or loans or through the establishing and maintaining of advice and assistance bodies. Moreover, a duty solicitor scheme, which is free, is available to those people who are arrested and held in custody at a police station. LIMITATIONS OF ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT (AJA) – 1999 However, despite the above, the legal aid service is still not very effective. There are lack of commitment and poor communication from the lawyers.Community centers and Law centers are more effective in providing help and assistance. There are lack of advisers in areas like social security, housing, disability discrimination, employment and immigration. There is a distinct problem of ‘Access to Justice’ in certain where there are no solicitors who do publicly-funded work. Even, those solicitors who do publicly-funded work cut back on the number of cases they take on due to low rates of pay. Beside, the statutory charge may mean that a claimant may have nothing left even though he/she has won the case. CARTER REVIEWIn 2006, Lord Carter, in his review, drew attention to the need to continue reforming legal aid[17]. The review was concerned with the design of an efficient procurement system that also contained quality guarantees. Thus, it was based on the notion of an open and responsive mark et. The review argued that cost increases because of systematic weakness in the way legal aid services are procured and therefore, inefficiencies increases in the way the services are delivered. The Carter review recommended that fees should be paid on a fixed or graduated scale. However, fixed fees will impact negatively on advice, particularly in more complex cases.This will eventually result into work being done by para-legals and less qualified advice workers. Some research available to Carter Review suggested that whereas small firms could provide criminal legal aid in an efficient manner, larger firms were not able to do the same. This would suggest that further research would be required on the impact of reform as it might drive out of the market those very firms that were best suited to provide value for money in provision of legal service. CONCLUSION Implementation of legal aid act in both developed and underdeveloped countries indicates government’s willingness to s erve the poor.However, the government must also ensure that the act is regularly reviewed to address loopholes. The Government should follow a strategy of continuous improvement. In order to judge the success of reforms in legal aid provision, it is necessary to first establish a set of criteria against which it will be evaluated. These criteria should be set by the Government officials, Judges, and Legal Aid experts. Few criteria that could be used to evaluate the system are given below. * Administrative efficiency with focus on the procedural aspects of legal aid applications. Easy access to the courts irrespective of claimant’s or defendant’s financial means. * Initiative to create awareness in rural areas, especially in under-developed countries. * Effect of legal aid on tax payers. It is also essential to have accessible legal aid services beyond the government organizations. An active partnership between and NGO and a government agency can play a very significant role in social service delivery. They compensate for each other’s weaknesses and deficiencies. However, the government has to balance the needs for legal aid with the pressuring needs of other social services such as healthcare and education.

African American History and Women Timeline 1970-1979

[Previous] [Next] 1970 Cheryl Adrienne Brown, Miss New York, became the first African American contestant in the Miss America pageant(January 14) Diana Ross performs for the last time with the Supremes, and introduces Jean Terrell as her replacement with the group(August 7) Angela Davis, radical black activist and philosopher, was arrested as a suspected conspirator in the abortive attempt to free George Jackson from a courtroom in Marin County, Californiafirst issue of  Essence  published, a magazine targeted at black women 1971 (January 11) Mary J. Blige born (singer)Beverly Johnson appears on the cover of  Glamour, the first African American woman to be featured that way by a major fashion magazineThe Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) founded, an evolution from the Democratic Select Committee founded in 1969. Shirley Chisholm  was the only woman among the first 13 members. 1972 Mahalia Jackson died (gospel singer)Shirley Chisholm became the first African American woman candidate for President, with more than 150 delegate votes at the 1972 Democratic conventionBarbara Jordan elected to Congress, the first African American woman from a former Confederate state to be elected to the HouseYvonne Braithwaite Burke elected to Congress, the first black woman elected to the House from CaliforniaPatricia Roberts Harris became chair of the Democratic National Convention; Yvonne Braithwaite Burke was co-chair of the conventionHaitian boat people begin arriving in FloridaAngela Davis acquitted in California by an all-white jury  of charges from a 1970 shootout(January 27) Mahalia Jackson died (singer)(July 7) Lisa Leslie born (basketball player) 1973 Eleanor Holmes Norton and others found the National Black Feminist Organization.Marion Wright Edelson creates the Childrens Defense Fund.Cardiss Collins elected to Congress from a Chicago district, succeeding her husband 1974 Shirley Chisholm became the first African American woman elected to Congress  Alberta Williams King, Martin Luther King, Jr.s mother, and a deacon, were killed during services at Ebenezer Baptist Church 1975 Mary Bush Wilson becomes first African American woman board chair of the NAACP (the first chair, Mary White Ovington, was a white woman)Joanne Little acquitted of murder charges - she had stabbed a jailer with an ice pick to avoid sexual assaultLeontyne Price awarded Italys Order of Merit(April 12) Josephine Baker died of a stroke 1976 Barbara Jordan was the first woman and the first African American to give the keynote address at a national convention of the Democratic PartyJanie L. Mines becomes the first African  American woman to enter the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis.Clara Stanton Jones becomes the first African Amerian elected as President of the American Library AssociationPresident Jimmy Carter appoints Patricia Harris as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the first African American woman selected for the cabinet.Unita Blackwell elected mayor of Mayersville, becoming the first black woman mayor in Mississippigymnast Dominque Dawes born (won three Olympic medals)(February 26) Florence Ballard dies of a heart attack, age 32.  She was one of the original Supremes. 1977 first African American woman ordained as an Episcopal priest: Pauli Murraythe Daughters of the American Revolution admitted the first African American member, Karen Farmer, who traced her ancestry back to William HoodMabel Murphy Smythe appointed as ambassador to Cameroon(September 1) Ethel Waters died, age 80 (singer, actress) 1978 Faye Wattleton became president of the Planned Parenthood Federation -- the first woman and the first African American to hold that positionUnited States Postal Service issued a stamp honoring Harriet Tubman.Toni Morrison received the National Book Critics AwardJill Brown, flying for Texas International Airlines, is the first black female pilot for any commercial airline(March 29) Tina Turner divorces Ike Turner(June 28) in University of California v. Backke, Supreme Court limits federal affirmative action 1979 Hazel Winifred Johnson became the first African American woman appointed as a general in the US ArmyPatricia Harris, who had served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, was appointed by President Carter as secretary of health, education and welfareBethune Museum and Archives established in Washington, DCLois Alexander opens the Black Fashion Museum in Harlem [Previous] [Next] [1492-1699] [1700-1799] [1800-1859] [1860-1869] [1870-1899] [1900-1919] [1920-1929] [1930-1939] [1940-1949] [1950-1959] [1960-1969] [1970-1979] [1980-1989] [1990-1999] [2000-] Janie L. Mines becomes the first African  American woman to enter the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis.