Climate change hastens population extinctions Essay

Climate change hastens population extinctions - Essay Example Literature review: The climate system is a complex, interactive system consisting of the atmosphere, land surface, snow and ice, oceans and other bodies of water, and living things. Climate is usually described in terms of the mean and variability of temperature, precipitation and wind over a period, ranging from months to millions of years (the classical period is 30 years). Global warming the most visible aspect of climate change affects our whole climate system including humans worldwide. In the past three decades the EL Nino effect in the Southern hemisphere has become more intense, causing greater variation in rainfall. . North America and Central Asia will warm more than the oceans or coastal regions. Precipitation will increase overall, but there will be sharp regional variations, with some areas that now receive adequate rainfall becoming arid. The consequences for non-human animals and bio-diversity will also be severe. In some regions plant and animal communities will gradually move further from the equator, or to higher altitudes, following climate patterns. Australia's unique alpine plants and animals already survive only on the country's highest alpine plains and peaks. If snow ceases to fall on their territory, they will become extinct. Similarly, many species are also shifting towards favorable climatic zones or facing threats of extinction. One such species is Checkerspot butterfly. Recent studies are pointing out that climate change may be one of the factors for extinction of species but not the sole reason. Therefore, the detection and attribution of climate change in natural system has been a challenge for climate change biologists. Assigning climate change as the cause of the observed biotic changes has often had a deeper basis, such as a known mechanistic link between climate variables and biology of the study of species (Parmesan et al. 2000). On a continental scale, movements of the entire species ranges have been found in butterflies in both north America and Europe, where two thirds of the 58 species studied have shifted their ranges northward (Parmesan, 1996; Parmesan et al. 1999). Seventy years of published studies document the limiting effects of temperature on butterfly population dynamics, particularly at northern range edges (Parmesan, 2003). The northern boundaries of many European butterflies are correlated with summertime isotherms (Thomas, 199 3). Montane studies are lesser in numbers and less documented but these shows upward movement of species in general. In one of the studies, Parmesan (1996) found that Edith's Checkerspot butterfly has shifted upwards by 105m in the Sieara Nevada Mountains of California. Now apart from warming impacts, the difference in rainfall has some impact on movement/extinction of species/plants. In one of the study, at sites in Alaska, more recent decades have been relatively dry, which is believed to have prevented trees from responding to current warming as they did before (Barber et al., 2000) Precipitation changes may also be the reason for shifting/extinction. Recent trends toward increased precipitation have seen to be driving vegetation compositions to be altering the relative abundances of species within Rodent, reptile and ant communities (Brown et al. 1997). Theory indicates that a

Dawn of the (Evil & Symbolic) Dead Essay Example for Free

Dawn of the (Evil Symbolic) Dead Essay Over the past decade, interest in zombies in pop culture has sky rocketed. There have been over 100 games and movies featuring the living dead. George Romero’s 1978 film Dawn of the Dead, sequel to Night of the Living Dead, gives its audience insight into these evil symbolic structures known today as zombies. In this film, there are four survivors that take refuge in a huge shopping mall, sealing the doors and creating a zombie-free hideout. This movie is often referred to as one the best horror films of its time and a door way to today’s interest in zombies. Throughout the film, the four survivors deal with hundreds of zombies and at the climax are also having to deal with a biker gang. Although not all four of these characters survived, the mall was a perfect spot for the movie to take place according to a review done by the Spinning Image Company. â€Å"The mall is a brilliant location, not just for the satirical possibilities it offers Romero, but also for creating some clever, unsettling imagery,† said Daniel Auty in his review. Auty is speaking of the several times throughout the film where Romero would cut to a scene of just zombies roaming random parts of the mall. These zombies were different than what we see today however. â€Å"[The zombies] look silly, they fall over a lot, and Romero mostly shoots them in either broad daylight or the stark fluorescence of the mall† (Auty). The zombies in Dawn of the Dead appeared from the first minute without Romero giving any sort of insight on how it happened. So in order to understand the body in its monstrous state, one must know the origins of the zombie. Many scholars agree that the term zombie originated from the voodoo religion in Haiti. In â€Å"Slaves, Cannibals, and Infected Hyper-Whites: The Race and Religion of Zombies†, writer Elizabeth McCalister discusses these origins in great detail. â€Å"The word zonbi appears in writing as far back as colonial Saint- Domingue, glossed by travel writer Moreau de Saint-Mà ©ry as the slaves’ belief in a returned soul, a revenant†(3). The Haitians still heavily believe that this is a part of the spiritual world. They say that these entities separate the body and the soul and compel one to work without the other, in this case the body without the soul. Over the years, however, these origins have begun to vanish due to new forms of the zombies. In the early 20th Century, films began to show Eurocentric ideas that created African-Americans to be viewed as these zombie creatures. Films such as White Zombie (1932) and I walked with a Zombie (1943) â€Å"invariably cast black sorcerers plotting for conquest of and control over white women, and blackness is unmistakably linked with primitive menace, superstition, and the diabolical† (5). These views began to change by the time Romero’s films came out. Now this monstrous creature is as simple as â€Å"a ghoul who lumbers around trying to eat people.† Today’s society is used to seeing these ghouls in pop culture. Because of the more than 100 shows, movies and video games on the market now, people are more accepting of this idea of a â€Å"zombie apocalypse.† In many places, they have held events, such as 5K races and obstacle courses, that center around a zombie theme. In Muskegon, Michigan they held a zombie apocalypse day where civilians dressed as zombies and chased after those that were dressed as civilians. â€Å"Zombie participants got creative and tore up and stained their clothing. They also added scars and bloody makeup,† said an article in the Muskegon Chronicle. This goes to show how immune today’s society has become to the idea of these flesh-eating monsters. Not everyone is taking it lightly though as some have plans set in stone for when the apocalypse may happen. The CDC, Center of Disease Control, has its own website dedicated to a zombie outbreak. The blog includes a brief history of the creatures, a list of survival tools for a kit and their own plan for survival if it would ever happen. â€Å"If zombies did start roaming the streets, CDC would conduct an investigation much like any other disease outbreak.† The CDC tells us that it would be taken just as seriously as any other disease, and thanks pop culture and today’s society in helping to prepare for that day. Christopher Moreman takes a look past the plan in his book Zombies Are Us: Essays on the Humanity of the Walking Dead. The author looks into a world that is already ruled by the dead and sees how society would have to live to survive. He speaks for society as a whole through one line by referencing the graphic novel The Walking Dead: â€Å"In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally start living† (5). The creatures in Romero’s Dawn of the Dead may not be the scariest or deadliest of monsters, but it is when they are in large numbers that they can cause havoc. It is hard to deal with hundreds of flesh eating monsters at once no matter how fast or intelligent they may be. Much of the films’ audience saw Romero’s zombie as a symbolic structure of other things that could take down America. McCalister analyzes all of Romero’s films on the living dead and the time frame that they were made. â€Å"Night of the Living Dead attacks the nuclear American family, patriarchy, and racism; Dawn of the Dead fastens its attention on the deadening effects of rampant consumerism; and Day of the Dead offers an indictment of militarism and American misuse of science and technology† (17). These things were on the minds of Americans in the time the movies were made. Now they can be related to something different such as the events going on in the Middle East. Stephen Asma takes a look into the torturing of Iraqi soldiers and how the Americans may be the ones viewed as the evil creatures. In his book On Monsters, Asma references Dr. Philip Zimbardo and his theory called The Lucifer Effect. This idea helps to explain how good people can become evil in specific ways. He focuses on the torture of Iraqi soldiers. â€Å"The fact that seemingly normal American soldiers engaged in torture and degradation techniques on Iraqi detainees offers more evidence, Zimbardo thinks, for his view t hat abuse and aggression are not the results of inner character flaws† (Asma 413). He goes on to explain how Zimbardo believes these soldiers were not just a case of just one spoiled apple, but a bad barrel that spoiled anything put into it. In the case of the zombies, one can make the case that everyone on this planet will eventually fall to the disease and it is not because of the one zombie who started it all, but because everyone is infected to begin. These kinds of ideas are what bring the monstrous view of zombies into society. Kyle Bishop writes in his book American Zombie Gothic about how the use of the zombies in Dawn of the Dead creates a connection with the audience. He says that because the zombies look very similar to just another regular human being, it can make the audience feel terrified of the creatures. However, the way that the zombies act can tell the audience obvious differences between one that is still human and one that has turned. â€Å"Romero’s monsters are primarily ‘othered’ creatures, possessing virtually no subject ive, human qualities and encouraging almost no psychological suture with the audience† (Bishop 159). The comparison of zombies to human qualities can go on forever. Asma continues to analyze the psyche of the monstrous through the Id. â€Å"Rage is a powerful force that, along with other socially deleterious impulses, lives like a frustrated virus in the dark cellars of the Id† (354). The Id is the part of the personality that can make decisions unconsciously based off of desire and instinct. In the case of the zombies, all they want and need is food and in this case, the flesh of the protagonists. The zombies in Romero’s film were often times the ones being killed, whether it is a gunshot to the head, a bat to the head, a car hood to the head or a screwdriver through the ear. However, Romero kept scenes where humans were eaten by these creatures to give the audience a clear understanding of what to expect from the movie and who would be the good guys. In David Gilmore’s Monsters, the author discusses of ways on how to approach the monster. â€Å"Mythologistsâ € ¦ have written much about the theme of the Epic Hero who goes out to fight monsters in order to rescue maidens or to save society as a whole† (12). The monster is obvious in film but no Epic Hero is there to save the day. Taken this perspective into Dawn of the Dead, the audience can tell that it is society as a whole trying to fight the monsters to save the world from the dead. There are several ways to see why Romero’s Dawn of the Dead was up for awards. Much of it was not based off the effects and acting but what thought and background was put into the project. The study behind the zombies was thorough and began giving more meaning to the story. The symbolism of these creatures and how the good human being became an evil, flesh-seeking monster were just two of the things to write about. When all is said and done, the zombies may never come, but if they do, it is because of films like this that could help with survival. Works Cited Asma, Stephen T. On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print. Auty, Daniel. Dawn of the Dead. Rev. of Dawn of the Dead. n.d.: n. pag. The Spinning Image. Web. Bishop, Kyle William. American Zombie Gothic: The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Walking Dead in Popular Culture. Jefferson, NC: McFarland , 2010. Print. Gilmore, David D. Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2003. Print. Haiti and the Truth about Zombies. Www.umich.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. http://www.umich.edu/~uncanny/zombies.html. McCalister, Elizabeth. Slaves, Cannibals, and Infected Hyper-Whites: The Race and Religion of Zombies. Anthropological Quarterly 85.2 (n.d.): 457-86. Web. Public Health Matters Blog. Public Health Matters Blog RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2011/05/preparedness-101-zombie-apocalypse/.

cold war Essay -- essays research papers

World War II divided Korea into a Communist, northern half and an American-occupied southern half, divided at the 38th parallel. The Korean War began when the North Korean Communist army crossed invaded non-Communist South Korea. As North Korean army, armed with Soviet tanks, quickly overran South Korea, the United States came to South Korea's aid. General Douglas MacArthur, who had been overseeing the post World War II affair of Japan, sent the US forces, which began to hold off the North Koreans at Pusan, at the southernmost tip of Korea. Although Korea was not strategically important to the United States, the political environment at this stage of the Cold War was such that policymakers did not want to appear soft on Communism. The US step in as part of a "police action" run by a UN international peace- keeping force. With the US, UN, and South Korean forces pinned against the sea at Pusan, MacArthur orchestrated a daring amphibious attack on Inchon a port on the western coast of Korea. Having made this landing, MacArthur defeated the North Korean army and recaptured Seoul, the capital of South Korea. Instead of being satisfied with his defeat of South Korea, MacArthur crossed the 38TH Parallel and pursued the North Korean army all the way to the northernmost provinces of North Korea. Afraid that the US was interested in taking North Korea as a base for operations against Manchuria, the People's Republic of China secretly sent an army across the Yalu River. This Chinese army attacked the US/UN/ROK forces. Only after the appointment of Lt. General Matthew Ridgway as commander of ground forces did American the motivation begin to swing against the Chinese Communists. Although President Truman hoped to end the war quickly and pressed MacArthur to be more tactful, the brilliant strategist went against presidential orders and continued spouting incendiary lines about his hopes to reunify Korea. After gaining the support of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Truman relieved MacArthur of command. The move was extremely unpopular in America MacArthur was perceived as a popular war hero. Only the support of the Joint Chiefs of Staff saved Truman from impeachment after the firing. Ridgway took MacArthur's command and held off the Communists with strong forts and entrenchment’s just north of the 38TH Parallel, sending occasional offensives against the Iron Tria... ... terms. Although the United States attempted to keep the war on a very small scale, it quickly snowballed out of proportion, involving China, at times seeming as if it might become a World War III. Looked at another way, though, the Korean War can be considered a success: although the war did at times get out of hand, the US and the USSR were able to avoid direct confrontation, especially since the USSR fought mainly by proxy. Perhaps most importantly of all, though it was fought just five years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, the Korean War was not an atomic war, avoiding both the possibility of immediate nuclear and setting a pattern that would continue throughout the Cold War. The Korean War had a huge effect on the US government. One of the main reasons that the war was fought was to stop communism from taking over the world. The war strengthened our relationship with Britain. This war also let the US avoid a confrontation with the USSR, which would have hurt the economy drastically. If this war would not have happen I believe that the world would have been conquered by communism. Instead of living our lavish US life I believe that we would be living like Russia.

Duckett family Essay

The current trend of journalism organizations to hire â€Å"screaming journalists† like Nancy Grace and others is a disservice to the Fourth Estate and threatens the very notion of a free press. Grace and others of her ilk are not reporters seeking the news for its value to the general public nor are they attempting to inform. These confrontational entertainers are more interested in high ratings and controversary than in the news. Furthermore, their lack of general human compassion is endangering the entire profession. Never is this more clear than in the case of the family of Melinda Duckett vs. CNN and Nancy Grace. In September, 2006, Melinda Duckett’s two-year-old son was reported missing and Duckett agreed to appeared on Grace’s show in an effort to promote the manhunt for her missing child. Grace was belligerent and in the woman’s face, screaming at her because she would not discuss her whereabouts when the child disappeared and accusing the woman of having something to do with her child’s disappearance. (Smoking Gun, 2006). Duckett’s son has still not been found, but a day after the interview with Grace, the woman shot and killed herself with a shotgun. In the days following Duckett’s death, Grace not only aired the original interview berating the distraught woman, but she went on the nightly news herself, defending her interviewing techniques. â€Å"Former prosecutor turned talk show host Nancy Grace is unapologetic about her aggressive approach to a mother who committed suicide after an interview about the woman’s missing son,† ABC News reported (â€Å"Nancy Grace says ‘Guilt’). Grace showed no human compassion for the mother in the interview or in the days after her death. Drawing on her history as a criminal prosecutor, Grace attacked in a manner more appropriate for a courtroom than a newsroom. That is not to say that reporters should not ask tough questions, but they should not browbeat an interviewee and speak over them as is reported Grace did. Reporters have a responsibility to seek out the news not make it. In her attacks on Melinda Duckett, Nancy Grace went beyond the level and stepped back into her prosecutorial role, attempting to find the criminal. â€Å"†How is that questioning doing anything but making a person in a desperate situation feeling even more desperate? † said Hub Brown, a professor at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. â€Å" (ABC News) Grace defended her unrelenting questioning as a serach for truth and said police later agreed with her that Melinda Duckett is a suspect in her son’s disappearance. What police actually said was that in a child disappearance, the parents are always the initial suspect. Almost a year later, Duckett’s son has still not been found. What has happened, however, is that Grace has put all legitimate journalists in danger of having their rights revoked due to her drive for ratings. In November, 2006, the parents of Melinda Duckett filed a lawsuit against Grace, CNN and Duckett’s estranged husband who helped arrange the Grace interview (Smoking Gun). And, in June, 2007, a Florida court ruled that the case had merit and would be tried in federal court because the participants reside in multiple jurisdictions (â€Å"Ruling in†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). By bringing this kind of unwanted spectacle to the media, Grace is causing a chilling effect that will lead to fewer people wanting to cooperate with the media and could ultimately lead to a restriction in the rights of journalists. Her lack of basic human compassion is more relevant than whether Melinda Duckett killed or abducted her own son. The role of the media is not to determine the truth, but to report that truth after it has been exhibited by others. While some investigative journalists might argue this point, the reality is that even investigative journalists do not draw their own conclusions about the news. They search for facts and report them. Nancy Grace took facts not in evidence and applied them to the Duckett case, making herself judge, jury and prosecutor of Melinda Duckett without giving Duckett the benefit of a defense attorney. Grace, however, insists her line of questioning was reasonable. â€Å"In an exclusive interview with â€Å"Good Morning America† today, Grace said that she takes no responsibility for Duckett’s suicide. â€Å"If anything, I would suggest that guilt made her commit suicide,† Grace told ABC News’ Chris Cuomo. â€Å"To suggest that a 15 or 20 minute interview can cause someone to commit suicide is focusing on the wrong thing,† she said. â€Å" (ABC NEWS) Grace’s attitude in the wake of Duckett’s suicide is another black eye for the face of journalism. Her unapologetic accusations against the dead woman seemed to indicate that she believes her questioning was appropriate even if it did contribute to Duckett’s death. Her claim that â€Å"even the police agree with me† (ABC News), does little to redeem Grace in the eyes of the general public. Instead, she is seen as so concerned about her ratings that she would put them above human safety. That attitude seems to be in evidence on her webpage. Grace actually advertises for crime victims to call her show and become part of the entertainment value of the news (CNN. com) Though she places her calls for tips in the framework of helping crime victims seek justice, her show advocates her â€Å"Cross Exam† and her prosecutorial drive to find the answers to crime. If Ms. Grace believed that rooting out crime was her calling, she should not have left the prosecutors office for the media. Her style of â€Å"journalism† is an insult to those who attempt to keep the Fourth Estate free of bias and predetermined opinions. Instead, based on her experience, Grace makes judgments calls about people’s guilt as she did with Melinda Duckett and â€Å"reports† the news based on her interpretation of events. She had an exclusive interview with the mother of a missing child, a child police still presume to be alive. Instead of carefully crafter questions designed to help authorities and the general public find the missing boy, Grace decided that badgering Melinda Duckett would mean better ratings. For the sake of the industry, one can only hope that the Duckett family attorneys cannot prove that greed and not news was Grace’s motivation. If they prove that she sought ratings over the truth and therefore did contribute to the death of Melinda Duckett, the chilling effect on all media will be extreme. Her unreasonably harsh questioning methods place all media attempts to get to the truth in danger and violates the most basic tenet of the Fourth Estate: to inform. Nancy Grace has no intention to inform the general public of anything the day she interviewed Melinda Duckett except for her own conviction that Duckett was responsible for her son’s disappearance. This kind of action has no role in journalism, but belongs in editorial and opinion pages, not disguised as news. WORKS CITED ABCNews. com. Nancy Grace says ‘Guilt’ Likely Made Mother Commit Suicide† , June 24, 2007. Nancy Grace Homepage. http://www. cnn. com/CNN/Programs/nancy. grace/, June 24, 2007. â€Å"Ruling Made in Duckett-Grace Case† , June 24, 2007. The Smoking Gun, â€Å"Nancy Grace Sued for Wrongful Death† , June 24, 2007.

Race Based Jury Nullification Essay

Jury nullification can generally be termed as the act by a jury who even though is convinced that a defendant is guilty of the charges he or she is accused of, decides to give out or acquit him or her of the charges for the jury’s own reasons (Brandy R. 2006). Jury nullification or for that matter can be defined as a process whereby the jury(s) nullifies â€Å"unfair laws by declaring guilty defendants not guilty†. On the other hand race based jury nullification involves the process of a jury acquitting an individual based on his or her race. This kind of cases is usually found in homogenous cases where the diversity of the jury is nil or very little. Earlier cases that include runaway slave laws as well as the present day cases like police shootings indicate that race based nullification is still a modern day courtroom issue. The nullification process usually takes place in the event that a criminal trial decides not to convict a defendant in spite of full proof of guilt due to the belief and view by jurors that the law is unfair or at certain times that there is an unjustly application of the said law. The basis of the nullification can be said, thus, to be â€Å"the unjustness of the law†, the application of the same law on the basis of race of a party. Additionally there are instances where cases that involve the terminally ill persons in the society are often given leniency by the jurors, when they do drugs due to their condition. The issue often is not just about nullification per se but at times is based and as such has brought a lot o debate on its essence in view of the law as well as ethics. In this paper, I will discuss the issue of race based jury nullification, its limitations as well as its merits. Finally I will evaluate the relevance of race based jury nullification in our present day society. Race based jury nullification Race based jury nullification involves the process of a jury knowingly acquitting a defendant based on his or her race and with the full knowledge that the defendant is guilty. There are empirical studies, which have shown that about 3 to 4 percent of jury criminal trails have been connected to jury nullification. The dilemma that the situation presents is overwhelming, considering that there exists no chance to stop the process of jury nullification as jurors and are never ordered or forced to convict defendants and also there is also no clause in law that makes it punishable for the juror to acquit someone. The overlying principle function of the jury is that it should complete the law, if necessary through the recognition of fundamentals of justification that traverses beyond the written laws of the land and not to â€Å"nullify† the instructions given by the judge. The focal point of reference when the jurors give the â€Å"not guilty† verdict and in the process is the issue of unjust nature of the law. Pros and cons Depending on which side of the debate you are on, this issue has both the ugly and the good side. There are various reasons why race based jury nullification has encountered criticisms even by its ardent supporters. One, the case can be used for majority cases, that is in instances where the jury consists largely of persons from the same race can effectively acquit one of their â€Å"own† (defendant from the same race). For instance, a largely constituted black jury would free a black American even tough she or he has committed a severe crime. Thus in view of the law, when a dangerous individual is acquitted on the basis of his or her race sets a bad precedence (Jemal, 1997). There are instances when white jurors have acquitted fellow whites through the process of jury nullification while in the face of it the said defendants actually engaged in an illegality that either harmed black or brown people in America. There are also instances when black jurors have freed fellow blacks on the basis of their races while they committed either a racial act or a severe crime. This has not helped the just course of the due process, blacks, whites as well as other races have engaged in the race based jury nullification, something that does not portend well for rules of the law. The nature with which the voting is normally done by the jurors is usually that of conscience, to an extent this is a total disrespect if not abuse of the laws of this land. When someone who is supposedly guilty is acquitted, this is tantamount to nullification of the very law. They are supposed to protect and on whose basis the jury even came into existence. Jury nullification has the potential to turn an otherwise coherent and cohesive society or state into some hostile, incoherent or even lead to civil strife. This is because when serious acts are committed, and rulings are based on races, the respective races may gang up against each other. It seems to be a defeat process in the face of the law that should be the guardian and protector of all. The most often conclusion drawn is usually that nullification is an integral part of power, which is essential for the checks and balances of the judicial system. Jury nullification has and will continue to play a dual role in the history of our country. There are certain instances in our history that jury nullification has proved to be a useful tool. For instance, in those cases that involved slavery or differential prosecution at certain instances let racist to go unabated. There is the possibility that over use of this power together with other real or imagined risks that it possess would be enormous if everyone were to understand and be aware of it. However, the absence of it would put and vest too much power with the executive and surely everyone else understands the consequences of excessive unbalanced power exercised by the government versus the power of the common citizens. Conclusion Overall, the race based jury nullification has been, still is and would always be a very highly debatable topic, whether one supports it or he or she is against it. In each and every argument put forward by anyone in the society for or against jury nullification process, there are strong, valid opinions and facts in support of the various respective reasons that cannot just be wished away. Having evaluated the situation, and with a critical analysis of the basis of the law of our great country, I came to a conclusion that with due respect the good job the jurors have done so far, the race based jury nullification should not be conducted or at least cordoned by the jurors. This does not mean that I am in anyway opposing or rejecting the whole idea of jury nullification. However, if the element of race becomes apart of the whole equation, then I strongly call for its ban. In my opinion and understanding of our history I believe jury nullification based on a defendant’s race does not promote unity within communities at any level. Considering the tremendous efforts our country has made towards a harmonious community and with the effort various personalities have put in educating and sensitizing people on how negative race based ideas has and can be. I believe the whole process is discriminatory and basically racial to the people in our society. This does not in any way mean that individuals should be ashamed of their races and promotes the values and ideals they stand for, but when a defendant is found guilty or innocent on the basis of the law by the jurors based on his or her race alone then there is a problem. Either the problem is with the law or our society but none of us wants either of these two scenarios. The basis for any juror’s decision should be facts, information as well as evidence that they receive throughout the trail. Jurors prejudices be it racial or otherwise should be left at their door steps before they get into the streets leave alone the courtrooms. Reference: Brandy Rivera, 2006, Race based jury nullification. Associated Content Cato Books 1999: Jurors Should Know Their Rights: A historical look at jury independence Jemal, 1997, Race Based Jury Nullification: A Path To Equality! http://www. geocities. com/athens/olympus/1320/nullification. htm Scheflin, Alan W. , (1999) California Bar Journal, Point Counter Point – Is it ever proper for juries to ignore or reinterpret the law? , Retrieved September 28, 2007 from http://www. calbar. ca. gov/calbar/2cbj/99mar/page14-1. htm