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How to minimize cross-border clinical trial mishaps? Conflicts of interest abound. Isn't an international forum the obvious answer? No, for the simple reason that international guidelines have existed for more than 50 years yet they haven't prevented clinical trial mishaps.In 1963 the World Medical Association (WMA) created and endorsed the Declaration of Helsinki (DoH). Purpose of the DoH is to guide the proper ethical conduct of human clinical trials, and to prevent clinical trial mishaps.Has the DoH prevented clinical trial mishaps? Obviously not if one goes by the high profile Phase 4* HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) Vaccine trial in India, a multinational endeavor stopped in 2010 by the Government of India, leading to an Indian Parliamentary inquiry as well as an ongoing PIL (Public Interest Litigation) at the Indian Supreme Court. Let's examine these issues in sequence and see where that leads us.First, let's examine the DoH, the WMA's explicitly drafted recommendations for the proper conduct of human clinical trials.Next, let's examine examine the history of informed consent, particularly how it came into existence. This history teaches us that informed consent can either promote or prevent clinical trial mishaps. Promote mishaps when trial administrators and funders pay lip service to it (tokenism) and aren't held accountable. Prevent them when used sincerely to promote and preserve patient autonomy.Since existing structures appear inadequate to the task, is there another way to prevent or minimize clinical trial mishaps? Yes, public pressure for stricter implementation of existing country-specific laws. Where existing country-specific laws prove inadequate, the citizenry need to push their government to enact clearer and more comprehensive laws. Two compelling reasons for this. For one, citizens of one country are unlikely to be as motivated in seeing justice done for clinical trial mishaps that happen in another country. For another, isn't it morale-boosting and integral to a citizen's identity to hold their government accountable rather than have some foreign entity step in and do so on their behalf? In fact, isn't the alternative shameful? Here, the history of the use of informed consent is a poignant guide, teaching us that the central problem is not absence of adequate laws but rather lack of accountability in the existing system.* A Phase 4 trial is a post-approval surveillance trial where effects are monitored on thousands of people to uncover unforeseen side-effects.The Declaration of Helsinki (DoH)The DoH was the WMA's declaration of ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects.From 1963 till 2013 it has undergone 7 revisions.The history of the DoH is pockmarked with controversy.For example, the 5th revision in 2000 was approved without consensus from national medical associations in the aftermath of the controversial sub-Saharan nevirapine studies on vertical HIV transmission. These studies revealed a blatant double standard in human clinical trial practice. A 1994 US study (1) showed that Zidovudine (AZT) given intravenously prenatally, during delivery and postpartum reduced perinatal (vertical) HIV transmission by ~2/3rds. It then became the standard of care in developed countries. However, when it came time to test whether the 2nd generation drug nevirapine could also minimize or prevent vertical transmission in the high-risk but much poorer sub-Saharan populations, the 1st world trial sponsors chose to give a single nevirapine dose to pregnant women during labor and once to their infants within 72 hours of birth (2). This when it was already known 'at the time that single-dose nevirapine would not be as effective as more comprehensive and much more expensive treatment regimens that also targeted transmission during pregnancy (3). Rationale of the trial sponsors? The needed infrastructure, comprehensive perinatal care and drug cost couldn't be adequately provisioned at the trial site. In other words, in a tussle between money and ethics, money won.The 7th revision of the DoH, adopted in October 2013 at the 64th WMA General Assembly in Fortaleza, Brazil, also has its share of controversy. In particular, it says 'placebos, no intervention or any intervention less effective than the best proven one may be used only when the patients who receive them will not be subject to additional risks of serious or irreversible harm as a result of not receiving the best proven intervention' (4). In response, the Latin American and Caribbean Medical Confederations refused to approve this wording of placebo use stating, 'the poor and vulnerable populations, discriminated by their lack of resources, cannot be subjected to biomedical research that have levels of safety less than those applied to more developed societies' (5, 6).Another ambiguity of the 7th DoH revision is 'risk of serious or irreversible harm'. Which is it, not treating a simple skin cut or not treating an HIV positive pregnant woman? After all, don't we live with a vast, unbridgeable chasm in health care access between the haves and have-nots so much so that even a simple skin cut could be construed as 'risk of serious or irreversible harm' in the 1st world even as an HIV positive pregnant woman is left untreated in the 3rd world?What is informed consent and why is it essential in human clinical trials?Informed consent stems from the need for patient autonomy.In a clinical trial, patient autonomy is the basic human right of a trial participant to not be subjected to medical research abuse.The egregious Nazi regime medical experiments on concentration camp inmates drove the need to prevent future outright medical research abuse so in 1947 the Nuremberg Code (Nuremberg Code) was created, i.e. research ethics guidelines for human experimentation.Article 1 of the Nuremberg Code explicitly identifies the need for consent, 'The duty and responsibility for ascertaining the quality of the consent rests upon each individual who initiates, directs or engages in the experiment. It is a personal duty and responsibility which may not be delegated to another with impunity' (See page 182 of 7).Did the 1947 Nuremberg Code prevent ongoing and future medical abuse?Obviously not since the Tuskegee syphilis experiment ran uninterrupted in the USA from 1932 until 1972. In this study, African-Americans diagnosed with syphilis were left untreated because the physicians wanted to follow the natural disease progression. This is a painfully compelling example that an international code alone is insufficient in and of itself in preventing future or ongoing outright medical practice abuse, let alone clinical trial mishap.Something more than an international agreement is needed to prevent medical research abuse of human trial participants. History teaches that this something more is lawsuits. In particular, today's informed consent is the legacy of two key US medical malpractice lawsuits.How did informed consent come into existence in human clinical trials? The two landmark US lawsuits that helped create it.The 1st lawsuitThe judge in the first case, Salgo v. Leland Stanford, Jr. University Board of Trustees (1957), coined the phrase 'informed consent' in his jury instruction.The plaintiff Mr. Salgo's now defunct treatment entailed 'puncturing the aorta through the back in order to inject a radio-opaque dye, and was left with permanent paralysis of the legs. According to the direction given to the jury: “The physician has . . . discretion [to withhold alarming information from the patient] consistent, of course, with the full disclosure of facts necessary to an informed consent” ([1957] 317 P.2d 170 (Cal. Ct. App.) at 181)' (8).'discretion to withhold alarming information' and 'full disclosure of facts necessary to an informed consent' are obviously contradictory in nature. Regardless, this was the first instance requiring that disclosure to patients needed to conform to 'professional practice standard', i.e. what is expected from a reasonable health-care practitioner (8).The 2nd lawsuitIn the second US case, Canterbury v. Spence ([1972] 464 F.2d 772 (D.C. Cir.), the patient fell out of his hospital bed after undergoing a spinal procedure and suffered major paralysis.Since the patient had not been warned about 'the possibility of this rare outcome', the 'professional practice standard' was deemed inadequate by failing to respect the patient's self-determination.Instead it gave way to the patient-centered 'reasonable person standard', i.e. what a reasonable patient considers necessary and sufficient to know rather than what health-care practitioners consider necessary to disclose (9).According to the philosopher Peter Singer and his colleague Helga Kuhse, 'this single move served to overcome three main weaknesses of the professional practice standard: first, that agreed professional standards of disclosure were typically set too low to satisfy patient demand for information; second, that there were no agreed standards for new procedures; and, third, that patients were put at a significant disadvantage in having to rely upon expert witnesses (usually other health-care practitioners) in disputes about standards of care' (8).With a 'reasonable person standard', health-care providers have to disclose to patients or clinical trial participants the four elements necessary for informed patient consent: the nature (therapeutic/not), risks, alternatives and benefits of the procedure and/or treatment. When the patients or clinical trial participants are below the age of consent, the disclosure is given to and consent sought from the parents or legal caregivers.A recent human clinical trial mishap: Phase 4 HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) Vaccine study in IndiaTo generate data to support inclusion of HPV vaccine in India's UIP (Universal Immunization Programme).Actual vaccinations started in 2009 in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.Girls aged 10 to 14 years of age, i.e. dependents so consent presumably sought and obtained from parents/caregivers.Two-component trial: Phase 4* HPV vaccine clinical trial and observational research on vaccine delivery.Designed and executed by PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health), a US-based NGO, in collaboration with the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) and the State Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.The vaccines: Merck's Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKilne's Cervarix.Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.Trial suspended by the Government of India in April 2010.After the reported post-vaccination deaths of 7 girls in the two states, the Indian Parliament's Standing Committee on Health investigated this study, and released its report in August, 2013 (10).Salient problems identified by the Committee (page 11 of the Committee report, see reference 10):'6.14 The Inquiry Committee, while going through the above report, noticed the following irregularities and discrepancies in the study:The warden/teachers/headmasters were not given written permission by the parents/guardians to sign on behalf of their girls.On many forms witness had not signed and of the forms which are signed, it is not clear whether they are signed by full time government employees, as per rules.Neither the photograph nor the photo ID card of parents/guardians/wardens is pasted in consent form.On many forms investigator has not signed.On some forms signature of parents/guardians is not matching with their names.The date of vaccination is much earlier than the date of signature of parents/guardian in the consent forms. Apparently they were obtained post-facto.In some forms, the name is of the father but signature is of probably mother (lady’s name).'Salient conclusions of the report (pages 14-15 of the Committee report, see reference 10):'(i) Irregularities in obtaining consent forms and actual implementation of the consent process;(ii) Lack of monitoring and preparedness to deal with serious adverse events;(iii) Inclusion of vulnerable and tribal population groups;(iv) Blurring of distinction between Universal Immunization Programme and PATH study;(v) Absence of insurance coverage for the study participants; and(vi) Inclusion of the statement in the consent form that “you will not be charged for your daughter to receive the vaccine” that could be construed as covert inducement.'News reports (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18) and sponsor comments (19, 20) about this trial.So whether or not the girls' deaths were attributable to the HPV vaccine, the resulting investigation revealed a thoroughly messed up informed consent process and seriously inadequate process for reporting adverse events. But wait a minute? Isn't all this thoroughly covered by the overarching DoH? Let's examine the relevant DoH provisions to make sure.In any case, so far the government actions have resulted in predictable shake-ups, committees, new procedures, even though existing procedures appear to be adequate on paper.What about accountability? Who is responsible? When human clinical trials are outsourced and off-shored, who bears responsibility for adverse events, especially for seemingly unanticipated adverse events, as happened in this Phase 4 Indian HPV vaccine trial? Let's examine a relevant landmark and precedent-setting judgment (18).In 2012, a judge in Argentina upheld fines against GlaxoSmithKline, the sponsor of an Argentinian clinical trial testing the safety of the vaccine Synflorix against pneumococcal disease in children.Issues of informed consent?In some instances, consent was given by parents who were minors themselves.Grandparents who were not authorized to give consent for their grandchildren.A child vaccinated even after mother explicitly refused her consent.Signatures on consent forms not matching those of the individuals giving consent.GlaxoSmithKline appealed the fine using the defense that alleged errors and poor documentation in the informed consent process were a mere formality that didn't pose actual risks to trial participants.The judge rejected this defense and upheld the fine, against both the investigators and the sponsor.His rationale? Even minor deficiencies in trial procedure could later become relevant since adverse health effects might appear only in the future.This precedent-setting judgment bestows supervisory duty on the trial sponsor regarding informed consent. It also paves the way for hope. For example, the Indian Supreme Court is well-known to be highly responsive to PILs, using them as tools to demand improvements in state laws and regulations (Public interest litigation in India). Currently, it's considering one such PIL with respect to the Phase 4 HPV trial (18). In India, PILs arise when the State is perceived to have violated constitutional and/or statutory provisions, and they have served as indispensable bulwark protecting essential rights of Indian citizens.Further, since this case involved US and UK trial sponsors and manufacturing companies, this PIL includes an amicus brief (21) submitted by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights 'outlining the legal framework on clinical trials in the respective home countries' (18), in order to cover obvious gaps in judicial precedents.Finally, and more importantly, in our globalized age of cross-border, outsourced and off-shored clinical trials, an obvious and perhaps steep learning curve lies ahead for all entities involved in them, namely, government regulatory bodies, sponsors, investigators and other health-care staff. Especially these latter need to be rigorously trained in the ethical and legal aspects of human clinical trials. It then becomes a natural and necessary mandate for each and every national medical association and department of health to help ensure that such training becomes part and parcel of each country's health care practice (22), i.e. that it no longer remains the select purview of developed countries' health care infrastructure. Now, wouldn't that be leveling of a playing field that actually matters, one of autonomous life and death?BibliographyConnor, Edward M., et al. "Reduction of maternal-infant transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 with zidovudine treatment." New England Journal of Medicine 331.18 (1994): 1173-1180.Marseille, Elliot, et al. "Cost effectiveness of single-dose nevirapine regimen for mothers and babies to decrease vertical HIV-1 transmission in sub-Saharan Africa." The Lancet 354.9181 (1999): 803-809.Millum, Joseph, David Wendler, and Ezekiel J. Emanuel. "The 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Helsinki: progress but many remaining challenges." Jama 310.20 (2013): 2143-2144 Page on nih.govWorld Medical Association (WMA). Declaration of Helsinki. Amended by the 64th WMA General Assembly, Fortaleza, Brazil, October 2013. WMA Archives, Ferney-Voltaire, France. WMA Declaration of Helsinki - Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human SubjectsConfederacion Medica Latinoamericana y el Caribe (CONFEMEL). Declaracion de Pachuca Sobre la Revision de Helsinki. 22 and 23 November 2013. (Accessed May 5, 2014. Page on confemel.comHellmann, Fernando, et al. "50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Helsinki: The Double Standard Was Introduced." Archives of medical research 45.7 (2014): 600-601.http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/pdf/NT_war-criminals_Vol-II.pdfA Companion to Bioethics, Second Edition. Helga Kuhse, Peter Singer, editors. A Companion to Bioethics; A Companion to Bioethics, Second EditionFaden, Ruth R., Tom L. Beauchamp, and Nancy M. King. "A history and theory of informed consent." (1986).Page on 100.47.5Mudur, Ganapati. "Human papillomavirus vaccine project stirs controversy in India." BMJ 340 (2010).Mudur, Ganapati. "Row erupts over study of HPV vaccine in 23 000 girls in India." BMJ 345 (2012).Sharma, Dinesh C. "Rights violation found in HPV vaccine studies in India." The Lancet Oncology 14.11 (2013): e443. Page on thelancet.comSuba, Eric J., and Stephen S. Raab. "Cervical cancer mortality in India." The Lancet 383.9931 (2014): 1804. Page on thelancet.comCalls in India for legal action against US charityClinical trials in India: ethical concernsIndia Outlines Plans for Upgrading Clinical Trial ProceduresTerwindt, Carolijn. "Health Rights Litigation Pushes for Accountability in Clinical Trials in India." Health and human rights 16 (2014): 2. Health Rights Litigation Pushes for Accountability in Clinical Trials in IndiaLaMontagne, D. Scott, and Jacqueline D. Sherris. "Addressing questions about the HPV vaccine project in India." The Lancet Oncology 14.12 (2013): e492. Page on thelancet.comStatement from PATH: cervical cancer demonstration project in IndiaAmicus curiae brief concerning non-state actor responsibility in clinical trials, November 22, 2013, submitted to the Supreme Court of India by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights and the Essex Business and Human Rights Project in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 558 of 2012, on file with ECCHR.Poongothai, Subramani, et al. "Why are clinical trials necessary in India?." Perspectives in clinical research 5.2 (2014): 55. Why are clinical trials necessary in India?Thanks for the A2A, Kritika Gupta.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW …“Police Ethics encompass a broad range of behavior from interpersonal relations to outright criminal activity” (Hyams, 1990, pp. 40-41). As such, it is intertwined in the definition of corruption. This section will attempt to focus on philosophical aspects, while following sections discuss the specifics and ramifications of unethical acts.Kleinig (1990) stated, "Police ethics is characterized by a particular focus rather than a particular set of values" (p. 3). In other words, the situational context within law enforcement may differ, but the underlying philosophy, or decision-making process, cannot vary from the culture represented. He further cites John Stewart Mill's description of an ethical decision maker as using his senses and mental abilities to first collect the information necessary, then to make the decision, and further to stay the course once the decision is made.Spader (1994) paraphrased Plato: "All major legal issues are simultaneously ethical issues" (p. 100), and "justice" is "the act of giving each person his 'due'" (p. 83). Spader also stated, "[W]hether the ends justify the means is central to due process" (p. 83). This leads to the so-called “dirty hands” dilemma.That is, on some occasions a public official may find that the only way he can do his job successfully, meet his official obligations, is to do something that, from the perspective of private life, would be morally unacceptable. (French, 1983/1992, pp. 243-244)French (1983/1992) differentiates public obligations from private obligations by identifying the primary objective. Public obligations emphasize “the accomplishment of certain recognized ends, whereas ... private-sector obligations concern the way things are done and what particular things are done, and less with outcomes” (p. 251).Kleinig (1996) pointed out that this dilemma was discussed early on, from ancient Greek tragedies to The Prince, and includes Sartre more recently. Plato wrote, “[W]e must discover who are best guardians ..., that they must do whatever they think at any time best for the city” (1935/1992, p. 93). Modern advocates of this point of view still believe thatanyone who would act up to a perfect standard of goodness in everything, must be ruined among so many who are not good. It is essential, therefore, for a Prince who desires to maintain his position, to have learned how to be other than good, and to use or not use his goodness as necessity requires. (Machiavelli, 1910, p. 53)A social and ethical phenomenon described by Pollock (1994) is the glorification of "strong" criminals vs. ridicule of "weak" moralists (e.g., public acclaim for Bonnie and Clyde), the antithesis of morality. Popular culture seems to project a similar justification for police who exceed their authority in pursuit of justice, as portrayed by the “Dirty Harry” character and many of a similar nature.A scenario from a Dirty Harry screenplay has Harry forcibly extracting the location of a kidnap victim from the perpetrator by shooting him in the leg, only to have the case dropped when his tactics are exposed in court (Delattre, 1994; Kleinig, 1996). Barker (1996) highlighted this mixed message when he wrote that “’Dirty Harry’ may be a character we applaud on the screen, but” (p. 51) “[w]e, as a free society, will not tolerate a law enforcement agency staffed by Dirty Harry’s, who use illegal and unethical means to accomplish what they perceive as legitimate ends” (p. 12).Delattre (1994) indicated that “[e]nds do justify the means up to a point, and in certain ways, depending on what you mean, but not simply or unqualifiedly” (p. 193). Every person is significant and worthy, “even if that person appears without merit” (p. 193). Once prohibitions against cruel treatment are broached without recourse, even in the area of rights for innocent victims versus perpetrators, the implications are poor for all civil liberties.However, Delattre (1994) also added “that illegal conduct in a specific case may or may not be excusable—and I believe that it could be—depending on the particulars, and even the minute details, of the case” (p. 212-213).In The Ethics of Policing, Kleinig (1996), a recognized police ethics scholar, discussed the dirty hands concept at length. Two primary issues were raised by this concept. First, was the consideration that two alternative courses of action are in fact wrong. He argued that it would not be morally wrong to adhere to the law and therefore not seek a desirable outcome. And, secondly, if it is true that both actions are wrong, what should be done about the person who made a decision under those circumstances?Kleinig (1996) wrote that Machiavelli advocated resignation or punishment for officials caught in such a situation. Kleinig stated that he has sought not to accept the premise of the necessity to commit a crime to thwart a crime, while acknowledging that it is accepted by others. But he still raised the issue of the public being placed in the position of punishing a person who performed a service that could be identified with the preservation of social order, thereby raising the dirty hands question for those who would inflict the punishment.Skolnick and Leo (1992) pointed out that "the acceptability of deception seems to vary inversely with the level of the criminal process" (p. 3). It is legally acceptable to lie during the course of an investigation. Undercover investigations and "sting" operations are almost routine. Courts have upheld the authority of police to lie during interrogations under most circumstances. However, deception is supposed to stop when testimony is called for.Whether it does or not is questionable, for example, when investigations encompass the use of what is sometimes referred to as a "wall" between a confidential covert investigation and the parallel construction of a prosecutable case that has been creatively disengaged from the original source of information.In further exemplification, a confidential informant in a position to be of long-term use reports that he/she will be receiving money identifiable as narcotics proceeds. The investigation for record purposes, and future testimony, begins once the delivery has been made, without further reference to that event.Investigation from that point will focus on the person that made the delivery and subsequent activities and contacts, totally excluding the informant’s participation. The tainted money will be passed on within the criminal organization. This deception will help to ensure the safety of the informant and facilitate the detection of future crimes. However, it will also allow criminals to profit, even if only in the interest of potential neutralization of the organization in the future.In 1992, Skolnick and Leo warned that authorized deception "tends to encourage further deceit, undermining the general norm" (p. 10). Kleinig (1996) identified four negative aspects and consequences of lying: (a) it violates expectations of truthfulness in interpersonal relations; (b) it subverts the natural purpose of language; (c) it negates the concept of humans as worthy of dignity and respect by denying them an accurate reflection of reality; and, (d) it does not meet ethical requirements of universalizability.Universalizability has to do with the “fundamental requirement of morality, as the activity of a rational being, that we act only on maxims that we could, without ‘contradiction,’ will to be universal laws” (Kleinig, 1996, p. 125). It would be impossible to rely on untruth as a universal law. In consequence, “Not only does the liar violate another’s being, but also his own” (p. 126). …Fishman (1994) presented an analysis of two celebrated cases of police corruption involving Robert "Prince of the City" Leuci and Frank Serpico, which differed from the interpretation of the acts of these men by Pollock (1994). Pollock equates the two and failed to note, as Fishman did, that Leuci was a pragmatist. He was caught "red handed" and acted in his own self interest when he cooperated with a corruption investigation (Fishman, 1994).Serpico was apparently honest in his personal acts but prudently silent about the corruption swirling around him until it reached a level he found to be overly destructive. He had at first known that it was unlikely that he could change the system, so he worked within it, thereby remaining employed.When a parolee convicted of killing a police officer was released on a subsequent charge due to graft, he was overcome by what can be characterized as a violation of natural law and became the first New York City officer to testify against his own on corruption charges. "In short, Serpico practiced prudential realism because his fight against lawlessness was based on moral ideals, but he did not ignore material circumstances" (Fishman, 1994, p. 201). …Chief G. S. Kniffen (1996) cited a lack of ethics as a cause for numerous problems in law enforcement within recent years, from Rodney King, to O. J. Simpson, to the federal shoot-out in Idaho. Kniffen laid these problems at the feet of leadership, and more specifically a lack of ethical leadership. He quoted the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Law Enforcement Code of Ethics from 1957, and decried a lack of compliance. He also cast aspersions on suggestions that it be "updated to reflect the changes in this postindustrial age" (p. 9). However, there has been a change. In 1992, the IACP added a line to the code addressing cooperation in internal investigations (Pollock, 1994)(see Appendix C).Barker’s (1996) Police Ethics: Crisis in Law Enforcement examined the four questions:(1) Is law enforcement a profession? (2) Can law enforcement officers be professional? (3) What forms of behavior are the major law enforcement ethical violations? and (4) Can we control police ethical violations? (Barker, 1996, p. v)Barker (1996) addressed each of these questions as they relate to and are exemplified by the IACP’s Law Enforcement Code of Ethics. He concluded that law enforcement falls short of professional standards on several counts. It is deficient on admission standards based upon educational achievement, and also with regard to standardized certification and decertification.Both Delattre (1994) and Kleinig (1996) agree with this assessment. Failure to reach professional status has at least in part been attributed to internal organized bargaining pressures. Representatives of organized bargaining entities have displayed interest in preserving the status quo in the interest of their membership, who may be negatively affected by increased requirements (Barker, 1996).Inasmuch as the term “professional” refers to behavior, Barker (1996) is convinced that officers can be professional. Common forms of corruption (addressed in following sections of this chapter) can be controlled, according to Barker, through reducing opportunity, eliminating peer support for unethical behavior, and increasing the likelihood of punishment for such behavior.Delattre (1994) stated that codes of ethics may be useful, but they “do not motivate people to behave well. They assist only people who want to do so” (p. 33). If an organization’s leaders do not take seriously failure to live up to the codes, they “will be treated as worthless platitudes” (p. 33). Sherman (1991) stated that "[s]uch codes provide useful frameworks ... but are usually too general to provide guidance" within the "complex circumstances" of law enforcement (p. 10).According to Pollock-Byrne (1989), calls for codes of ethics may be missing the point, and the codes themselves may be counter-productive. "Since they are so far removed from reality, they are worse than ignored since they in fact encourage officers to believe there are no relevant ethical guides to behavior" (p. 96).Felkenes (1984) conducted a study in several police agencies to determine how officers view professional ethics outlined in the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics and the Canons of Police Ethics. The results indicated that a majority of the respondents clearly understood the requirements for honesty and self-restraint under provocation, although more than 20% were unclear about “obligations to colleagues, the profession of law enforcement, other officials, and criminal subjects” (p. 215).About 60% of the respondents were neutral, unclear, or very unclear about “[o]bligations in relation to confidentiality, enforcement of the law without fear, and engaging in appropriate private conduct” (Felkenes, 1984, p. 215). Thirty-eight percent responded “that it was not wrong to accept small gifts from the public” (p. 215), in spite of explicit identification of this behavior as unethical in the Code.Twenty-nine percent agreed that “[l]aw enforcement’s professional ethics serve primarily as a pledge rather than as a guide to action” (Felkenes, 1984, p. 215). And 97% of the respondents indicated that they rely on personal ethical beliefs in professional matters.Another attempt at developing ethical law enforcement personnel, with similar inherent problems, involves specific written organizational policy. Murphy and Caplan (1989) state that policy manuals normally contain "provisions so unrealistic that no officer, however dedicated, can obey all of them all the time" (p. 317). They cite the all-pervasive specter of punishment induced by policy manuals as a cause for people to conceal unintentional and minor violations, which in turn creates the environment that could stimulate corruption. Pollock-Byrne (1989) stated that studies suggested "extensive rules seem to be present in inverse proportion to high ethical standards" (p. 96). …Another reason Kleinig (1990) believes that collegiate ethics training is necessary is the partisanship of academies brought on by "social isolation" and organizational identity (p. 7). Kleinig further stated that the fact that law enforcement recruits do not come morally prepared for the decisions they must make and argued for inclusion of ethics in basic training.In 1997, the IACP conducted the “most extensive ethics training survey ever conducted by law enforcement” (International Association of Chiefs of Police, 1998, p. 2), with over 900 responses. Over 80% of the responding agencies reported providing ethics training for new officers, and over 70% provided some type of in-service ethics training. For more than 70% of these agencies, ethics training consisted of 4 hours or less in the classroom. Just over 50% of these agencies sought outside assistance in course design.“One major finding was that the amount of time devoted to ethics training did not appear to be consistent with how important the needs were, based on the responses” (International Association of Chiefs of Police, 1998, p. 5). One of the survey questions requested participants to “provide us with any ‘working definition of ethics’ your organization uses” (p. 8). “[O]nly a handful [of respondents] provided any ‘working definition’” (p. 8).Recommendations of the IACP Committee on Police Image and Ethics arising from this study (International Association of Chiefs of Police, 1998) included (a) adoption of a law enforcement oath; (b) job specific ethics training; (c) an enhanced curriculum and training style; and (d) insistence on recruit ethics training that incorporates ethics training by field training officers.As suggested at the beginning of this section, any discussion of ethics is simultaneously a discussion of corruption.Corruption DefinedThe definition of corruption may be limited by some to receipt of financial or other considerations in exchange for overlooking crime in some manner. Corruption can include "those activities regarded by society as illegitimate or seen by the power elite as contradictory to the logic of the system" (Jacek Tarkowski cited in Johnston, 1992, p. 160). Police corruption is an occupational crime within the institutions responsible for control of crime, and a form of "elite" deviance (Henderson & Simon, 1994).Punch (1985) provided a four-element definition of police corruption. With an added a fifth element, this definition guided the present study.I Straitforward Corruption: something is done or not done for some form of reward....II Predatory (Strategic) Corruption: the police stimulate crime, extort money and actively organize graft ...III Combative (Strategic) Corruption: 'flaking', 'padding', falsifying testimony, 'verbals', intimidating witnesses, buying and selling drugs, 'scoring' or 'burning' informants, and paying informants with illegally obtained drugs. ('Flaking' refers to 'planting' evidence on a suspect; 'padding' means to add to drugs or evidence to strengthen a case; 'verbals' is used in Britain to indicate where words attributed to a suspect are invented by a policeman to help incriminate him; 'scoring' concerns shakedowns where police take money, drugs or goods from suspects or prisoners, and 'burning' means revealing the identity of an informant). Most of these practices are involved in 'building a case' ... in which the major goal is to make arrests, obtain convictions, confiscate drugs, and get long sentences for criminals. It may involve accommodations with some criminals and certain informants but it is posited on using illicit means for organizationally and socially approved ends....IV Corruption as Perversion of Justice: lying under oath, intimidating witnesses, planting evidence on a suspect, etc.... It involves the perversion of justice largely in order to avoid the consequences of serious deviant behavior. (Punch, 1985, pp. 13-14)The fifth element is any abuse of power or authority—such as excessive force, theft while on duty, or other acts under color of law. The Knapp Commission (1974) (or the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Police Corruption and the City's Anti-Corruption Procedures, instituted in 1971) added other offenses to the list of corrupt practices, such as illegal wiretaps, financing of drug transactions, soliciting customers for drug traffickers, kidnapping witnesses, providing security for drug dealers, and offering to assist in murder of witnesses.The fifth element was added as a personal evaluation and in consideration of a dictionary definition of corruption that includes the following: "1. a changing or being changed for the worse; making, becoming, or being corrupt. 2. evil or wicked behavior; depravity" (Guralnik & Friend, 1968, p. 332). This definition is consistent with a statement by Jacek Tarkowski (cited in Johnston, 1992): "Also 'corrupt' are those activities regarded by society as illegitimate or seen by the power elite as contradictory to the logic of the system" (p. 160).The Mollen Commission (The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Police Corruption and the Anti-Corruption Procedures of the New York City Police Department), formed in 1992, seems to support this expanded definition of corruption by stating that "twenty years ago police officers took bribes to accommodate criminals ... today's corrupt cop often is the criminal" (Commission to Investigate Allegations, 1993/1995, p. 31).This is also consistent with the assumption of the researcher that acts of criminal justice personnel leading to their own incarceration are an aberration from the state of their moral and ethical behavior at the commencement of their criminal justice career, in other words, a change for the worse.The Mollen Commission described brutality and corruption as being on a continuum, “with brutality against citizens serving as a sort of ‘rite of passage’ toward corruption” (cited in Human Rights Watch, 1998, p. 46). Commission interviews indicated that brutality was often the first deviant act, and when officers were not subjected to negative consequences as a result of this deviance, it became easier for them to progress to other abuses of authority.This seems consistent with self-reports of criminal involvement in a sample of the general population that “suggest a clear escalation in the seriousness of criminal behavior over time” (Elliott, 1994, p. 12). “[T]he behavioral repertoire was [found to be] accompanied by an increase in offending rates for all types of offenses” (p. 13).Public definitions of police brutality can include perceptions of verbal abuse, unnecessary stops for questioning, display of weapons, or physical contact short of levels that could cause physical harm (Klockars, 1996). Current legal definitions hinge upon the finding in Graham v. Connor [490 U.S. 386 (1989)].In accordance with the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, “’[O]bjective reasonableness’ of a police officer’s use of force would be ‘judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight’” (cited in Klockars, 1996, p. 6). A single punch, or anything short of that, is not generally considered excessive.Worden (1996) differentiated between “excessive force” and “unnecessary force,” the former being more than reasonable force, and the later being where no force is reasonable. James Fyfe (1996) also subdivided excessive force.Extralegal violence—brutality—is “the willful and wrongful use of force by officers who knowingly exceed the bounds of their office.” Unnecessary force, by contrast, is the result of ineptitude or carelessness and “occurs when well-meaning officers prove incapable of dealing with the situations they encounter without needless or too hasty resort to force.” (Fyfe, 1996, p. 165)The IACP defines "excessive use of force" as "the application of an amount and/or frequency of force greater than what is required to compel compliance from a willing or unwilling subject" (Neubauer, 1999, p. 6). …Criminological TheoryIn the late 19th century, Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) (cited in Cohen & Machalek, 1994/1997) proposed “that crime is ‘normal’ behavior performed by normal individuals living in unexceptional social systems” (p. 113). Durkheim’s theory, in summary, consists of the contention that, since crime is known in all societies, it is therefore a fundamental element of societies.He [Durkheim] reasoned that a certain level of crime is both necessary and beneficial to society because (1) individual deviation from the social norm is a primary source of innovative social change; (2) increases in crime rates can warn or alert officials to damaging problems existing within social systems that give rise to such crimes; (3) crime enforcement helps to establish and to maintain behavioral boundaries within communities; and finally, (4) crime provokes punishment that in turn enhances solidarity within communities. (Cohen & Machalek, 1994/1997, p. 113)Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) were dismissive of the assertion that crime is “normal learned behavior” (p. xv). Cohen and Machalek (1994/1997) theorized that evolutionary and ecological explanations should be incorporated within Durkheim’s theory in order to make it viable. Ecology was incorporated in the form of availability of resources. …Criminological theories on crime causation supported by research include opportunity theories and rational choice theories. Opportunity theories generally state that three elements must coexist: (a) motivation, (b) an appropriate target, and (c) lack of deterrence. Rational choice theories assume a relatively constant level of criminal activity, with crime rates fluctuating due to increased or decreased opportunity (Cohen & Machalek, 1994/1997).Intrinsic to the perceptions of risks and rewards involved in rational choice theory is the thought that if one was a police officer, a lessened fear of the police might be assumed. In addition, the common presence of the code of silence, loyalty to other officers, and cynicism could be inferred to reinforce the perception of lessened risk.Conflict theory looks at crime as a "label produced by social values and political power" (Maxfield & Babbie, 1998, p. 40). Marxism is a macro level form of conflict theory. Conflict theory holds that prosecution is most likely when the violator lacks power and the public is aroused due to the nature of the violation (Henderson & Simon, 1994).Strain theory shares a similar outlook, in that it asserts that we are socialized to seek rewards (in effect positing of goals), and when the rewards are blocked strain is created that can be relieved by law breaking (Henderson & Simon, 1994). Burton et al. (1994/1997) conducted an empirical assessment of strain theory on three levels: strain created by the difference between aspirations and expectations, blocked opportunity, and relative deprivation.Burton et al. (1994/1997) found that only blocked opportunity and relative deprivation have a significant effect on adult deviance, with relative deprivation having the greatest correlation. However, they also measured self-control as a variable and found that it had a greater effect than any other variable. …Self-Control TheorySelf-control, an ability to control one’s emotions, desires, and actions (Guralnik & Friend, 1968), is considered an enduring individual difference, a personality trait that remains relatively consistent throughout life (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990). Nagin and Paternoster (1993/1997) identify six elements of self-control: impulsiveness, desire for simple tasks, preference for risk, preference for physical activity, self-centeredness (selfism), and temper. Those “who lack self-control will tend to be impulsive, insensitive, physical (as opposed to mental), risk-taking, short-sighted, and nonverbal” (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990, p. 90).In 1990, Gottfredson and Hirschi published A General Theory of Crime, in which they suggested that crime results from the sum of opportunity and low self-control, and stated that “people ... differ in the extent to which they are vulnerable to the temptations of the moment” (p. 87). The theory assumed that parental monitoring of childhood behavior, recognizing deviance, and consistently and appropriately punishing such deviance within a child’s first 8 years establishes self-control that leads to socially appropriate responses throughout life. Failure in this area leads to low self-control.Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) intended for their theory “to explain all crime, at all times, and, for that matter, many forms of behavior that are not sanctioned by the state” (p. 117), to include juvenile delinquency, sex-based differences, cross-culture comparisons, street crime, and occupational crime. A later publication elaborates upon the above statement:Our theory does not claim that self-control (or self-control and opportunity) is the only cause of crime. On the contrary, we explicitly mention important causes of crime that self-control cannot explain (e.g., age). To invoke an analogy we have used before ... : Trees and tides have gravity in common but more than gravity is required to account for their peculiar features. To admit this in no way limits the generality of the theory of gravity. (Hirschi & Gottfredson, 1993, p. 50) …Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) theory posited that opportunity and self-control standing alone have little meaning, and that "[f]raud and force occur primarily when individuals with low self-control encounter opportunities to engage in fraud or force," according to Grasmick, Tittle, Bursik, and Arneklev (1993/1997, p. 180). Grasmick et al. cited and concurred with Gottfredson and Hirschi’s claim that "low self-control is a personality trait established early in life, which remains relatively stable over the life course" (p. 188), which was also accepted by and Nagin and Paternoster (1993/1997). …Gottfredson and Hirschi have credited individual motivation with too much influence, according to Henderson and Simon (1994). Henderson and Simon also took exception to the contention fostered by Gottfredson and Hirschi that white-collar criminals (to include corrupt police) share the same primary causative factor (i.e., self-interest) as other criminals. One particular factor noted is that recognizing that they hold jobs makes them less likely to commit crimes, which seems somewhat spurious in light of the known existence of criminal justice corruption.Hirschi and Gottfredson (1993) addressed this area of criticism, as exemplified by Henderson and Simon above.In the context of discussion of white collar crime, we have argued that position in the occupational structure is in part caused by self-control. Thus white-collar workers should on the whole have higher levels of self-control than those outside the labor force. White-collar offenders should therefore have higher levels of self-control on the average than offenders among the unemployed. It seems obvious to us that their criminal records should therefore show fewer offenses and “offense types,” a result that white-collar researchers … take to be actually contrary to our theory! Our theory is also said to be called into question by the finding that white-collar offenders start “later … in life than common offenders”.... In fact, a decade ago we pointed out that the connection between frequency and age of onset is a statistical necessity. (Hirschi & Gottfredson, 1993, pp. 53-54) …Corruption TheoryCorruption has been conceptualized as having been based upon either affinity or affiliation. Affinity represents the predisposition of individuals to commit crime that exists prior to their being hired as police officers. Affiliation refers to the subjecting "of the honest police recruit ... [to] a dishonest police subculture" (Sherman, 1974, p. 192).A more common label for affinity has been the “rotten apple” theory, wherein the rotten apple taints the barrel of apples. Conversely, the affiliation theory is commonly referred to as the “rotten barrel” theory. The barrel is responsible for making the apples rot.The affinity/affiliation question points out the different levels of inquiry and theorization. Macro level examination focuses upon entire societies. Middle level, or intermediate, inquiry focuses upon organizations, and micro level involves individuals (Sherman, 1974). One example of macro-level impact is described as follows:Richardson put the police graft system in its proper perspective: the political and ethnic conflicts of a fast-growing pluralist society. On the ethnic level New York was a classic case of culture conflict, where the puritan morality of the original settlers was intolerable to the new immigrants. Laws prohibiting liquor sales, gambling, and prostitution were focal points for this conflict.Seen from the functionalist perspective, corruption was a means of easing the conflict and satisfying both sides. Politicians won the support of Yankee groups with rhetoric against vice, while maintaining immigrant support by giving the police a free hand to permit vice—in exchange for a price. But the police hand was so free that graft grew to be intolerable, although the Lexow commission [of 1894] was the first indication ... of how large it really was. After Lexow, police graft became more sophisticated and centralized, surviving investigations right up to the present. (Sherman, 1974a, p. 45)In 2000, Klockars, Ivkovich, Harver, and Hagerfeld published research based upon an organizational theory of police corruption “which emphasizes the importance of organizational and occupational culture” (p. 1). They presented officers from 30 different departments with 11 hypothetical situations and asked them to rate the levels of seriousness, whether they would report these incidents, and their support for punishment for each situation. In the more serious scenarios (e.g., stealing from a crime scene, bribery, or excessive force), most officers indicated that they would report violations by a fellow officer. However, “substantial differences in the environment of integrity” (p. 2) were observed among the different departments.In comparing one high-scoring department (all scenarios were considered to be more serious violations relative to other agencies) to one low scoring department, it was found that the high-scoring department’s officers expected more severe discipline and would be much more likely to report violations by fellow officers. These characteristics of a department’s officers are said to provide a description of a department’s “culture that encourage its employees to resist or tolerate certain types of misconduct” (Klockars et al., 2000, p. 7).In 1997, a survey was administered to criminal justice students at Florida State University oriented toward determining values and expectations (Brand, 1999). Thirty-one percent said that they would not leave a party where marijuana was in use, 28% believed that a person with a felony arrest record should not be excluded from being hired as an officer, and about 18% believed that it may be acceptable for an officer to lie. Police will undoubtedly reflect the culture that surrounds them, as suggested by the writings of C. Wright Mills (cited in Henderson & Simon, 1994).Causes of corruption can best be described as being the result of an intricate matrix of potential actions and interactions impacted by numerous inputs (societal, organizational, biosociological, and psychological). Both middle-level and micro level aspects of corruption will be examined for cause-and-effect clues in the following review, in recognition of their apparent interrelatedness. In particular, the elements of conflict, control, differential association, interactional, neutralization, opportunity, rational choice, strain, symbolic interaction theories, and stress will be examined with sufficient depth that the criminality causation elements they propose can be inferred to exist for the purpose of this study.Ideology figures into criminological theory and corruption theory, from Marxism on the left to Lombrosians on the right, particularly when politicians attempt to establish policy (Henderson & Simon, 1994). Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a classical conflict theorist who deplored exploitation of the masses by a limited number of power-wielding elites. Classical criminological theory began with Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909), an Italian physician apparently influenced by Darwinism, who theorized that criminals were evolutional throwbacks, and who believed in biological determinism (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990).Henderson and Simon (1994) stated that conservatives generally embrace anomie and liberals generally embrace affiliation causation. A dichotomy generally equivalent to the affinity/affiliation theory described above.Henderson and Simon (1994) characterized the Christopher Commission as "liberal" based upon the suggested improvements in minority concerns. Conservative and liberal perspectives both lack sociological perspective, according to Henderson and Simon. Also lacking is an attempt to show the interconnection among macro, intermediate, and micro levels.Theories of occupational crime may have some relevance, but police corruption is a unique subcategory—crime within the institutions responsible for control of crime—and a form of "elite" deviance. Henderson and Simon (1994) proposed a synthesis of theoretical perspectives to account for this subcategory based for the most part upon the theory of C. Wright Mills (1917-1962).Mills stressed social structure (macro level composition, interrelationships, significance of the parts, etc.), historical epoch (cultural ascendancy or decline, what is considered historically significant, characteristics of change, etc.), and biography (roles of the individual, impacts of family, culture, and institutions, etc.).One important attribute of Mill's model is that institutions actually select and shape social character. This is because success in institutional settings ... requires that people, as role players, accept (internalize) the “expectations of institutional leaders” (elites). (Henderson & Simon, 1994, p. 34)Alienation was an important concept to Mills for understanding the structure of behavior; and it can occur at macro, intermediate, and micro levels (Henderson & Simon, 1994). Two types of alienation were identified: inauthenticity and dehumanization. Inauthenticity exists when outward or acknowledged appearances are stated in a positive manner, while the known situation is negative. A macro example would be the coupling of sexual images in advertising with alcohol or cigarettes.In a police department, alienation could be characterized by the Mollen Commission finding that anticorruption efforts were focused more on preventing disclosure than identifying and eliminating corruption (Commission to Investigate Allegations, 1993/1995). The consequence of this form of alienation is dehumanization (Henderson & Simon, 1994).Victor Bernard (cited in Henderson & Simon, 1994) argues that dehumanization is the result of a disconnection of mental concepts from one another and "unconscious denial, repression, depersonalization, isolation of effect, and compartmentalization" (p. 36). Dehumanization is a defense mechanism to internal and external stressors achieved through blinding oneself to the humanity of another.There are two types of dehumanization. The first is self-directed, wherein one mutes emotion and becomes robot-like. This can be a response to anxiety caused by being a powerless part of a bureaucracy. The second is object-directed, wherein one lessens the humanness of another through negative labeling and stereotyping, a self-protection against feelings of guilt and shame. "These two types of dehumanization are mutually reinforcing; reducing one's feelings for other people lessens one's feelings for the self, and lessening the humanness of one's self-image limits one's capacity to relate to others" (Henderson & Simon, 1994, p. 36).Consistent with alienation theorization is neutralization theory (Henderson & Simon, 1994). Guilt feelings that tend to prevent crime can be minimized by rationalizations learned previous to crime commission. Deviant groups commonly construct guilt neutralizing terminology and strategies, such as shifting blame to the victim, dehumanizing the victim, professing loyalty to the group that sanctions or condones the crime (following orders), and condemning the condemners (soft on crime).Henderson and Simon (1994) criticized neutralization theory as deficient because of an intentional disregard for the effects of cultural and societal norms. They pointed out that cultural patterns of crime have been shown to exist.Drawing from Mills and control, differential association, and neutralization theories, Henderson and Simon (1994) made the following theoretical statements:1.Criminal behavior is widespread in American society, including within the criminal justice system. It is widespread because it is often learned, tolerated and/or encouraged within the organizational contexts that make up criminal justice agencies....2.Only a tiny percentage of such crimes are explained by extreme behaviors of abnormal personalities.... The behavior and the ideologies that justify and excuse them are part of an organization's cultural value system.3.Crime as caused by the inability of immature individuals to delay gratification is a widespread occurrence, so widespread that it is part of the American character....We are not saying that human nature is evil.... We are saying that people are born innocent and relatively "blank" concerning their criminal propensities, and that criminal behavior is a socially acquired attribute. (Henderson & Simon, 1994, pp. 34-35)Sherman (1974c) wrote that it is appropriate to begin corruption causes and effects theorization with a simple model. He chose to "treat police corruption simply as a dependent variable—as effect not cause" (p. 2). However, he pointed out the complexity of the issue by asking: "Why are there different kinds and extents of police corruption in different communities, and in the same communities at different points in their history?" (p. 3). Sherman proposed a sociological theory of police corruption containing the following propositions that are identified as independent variables, or more likely, interdependent or covariant:COMMUNITY STRUCTURE1. There will be less police corruption in a community with little anomie, in terms of corrupters and corruptees.2. There will be less police corruption in communities with a more public-regarding ethos.3. There will be less police corruption in a community with less culture conflict.ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS4. A punishment-centered police bureaucracy will have the least corruption, a representative pattern will have more, and a mock pattern will have the most. [In a representative pattern there is enforcement of and obedience to rules to which workers can contribute. A mock pattern exists when action is only taken due to bad publicity.]5. There will be less corruption in a police agency having leadership highly reputed for integrity.6. There will be less organized police corruption when there is less work group solidarity.7. The less gradual the probable steps in a corrupt policeman's moral career, the less the ultimate 'seriousness' (self-defined) of the grafting.8. The greater the policeman's perception of legitimate advancement opportunities, the less likelihood there will be of their accepting corruption opportunities.LEGAL OPPORTUNITIES9. A decrease in either the scope of morals laws or the demand for the services they proscribe, while holding the other constant, will reduce police corruption opportunities (also the converse).10. An increase in either the scope of the regulative law or the economic incentive to violate it, while holding the other constant, will increase corruption opportunities (also the converse).CORRUPTION CONTROLS11. There will be a greater perceived risk of apprehension for corruption in police agencies that have an internal investigation unit.12. There will be proportionately less undiscovered corruption in police agencies that have an internal investigation unit using proactive methods.13. Controls will decrease corruption only when they can avoid amplifying the corruption's extent or methods.14. Less corruption will go undiscovered in a police agency watched by a vigorous and uncensored news media. (Sherman, 1974c, pp. 31-32)A study conducted by Herbert W. Eber, presented in 1991 at the annual meeting of Multivariate Experimental Psychology, as reported by Lorr and Strack (1994), administered a Clinical Analysis Questionnaire to about 15,000 police officer candidates to determine personality characteristics. The most distinctive finding was that personality profiles “were characterized by a strong pattern of self-discipline or Control, Tough Poise, and low Anxiety” (p. 200).Hyams (1990) conducted a study in which he hypothesized that police officers having unethical attitudes would be found to have higher narcissism (or selfism), and have a perception of their policing role as being more oriented toward arrest than service. In this study involving police officers from one West Coast agency, this hypothesis was confirmed; in addition, he found that[t]hose who are officers out of the academy, with higher levels of narcissism, a role perception oriented more toward arrest and apprehension and higher levels of dedication were found to have less ethical attitudes. (Hyams, 1990, p. 89)In 1998, Chamberlin, using Hyams’ police ethical attitudes instrument, conducted an experiment wherein this instrument was administered to treatment and control groups (pretest), followed by an 8-hour in-service training session on ethics for the treatment group. Six to eight weeks later, the instrument was again administered (posttest).The treatment group was found to show no difference in ethical attitudes between the pretest and the posttest. However, the control group was found to have “significantly increased their scores in the ethics, selfism, and role scales,” an indication of a tendency to have a more positive view of unethical behavior (Chamberlin, 1998, p. 82). Chamberlin does make a cautionary statement that because of the necessity of an “extended training effort and repeated testing, the probability of threats to the internal validity of the study due to history [outside influences such as the known focus of the testing] and maturation [gaining in knowledge over time] were significant” (p. 54).Sherman (1974b) used symbolic interationist theory to explain the existence of police corruption. The corrupt cop appears to have a moral view that differs from the view held prior to becoming an officer, and differs from the morality of his family, thus showing divergence and conflict of views.The school stems from the early work of George Herbert Meade, who saw life as a “conversation of significant symbols,” a process in which one continually defines and redefines one's self as a result of interacting with others. In this school of thought, police bribe-taking is to be explained as an individual process of becoming for each policeman, not as a static or “pressured” result of larger community structure. (Sherman, 1974b, p. 172)Consistent with the findings of the Mollen Commission cited earlier, wherein it is stated that unchecked excessive force is a precursor to corruption, Sherman (1974) indicated that corruption of a police officer is gradual and is characterized by the stages of contingencies, moral experiences, and apologia.Contingencies are circumstances or problems which a person must face, often for purely accidental reasons. The moral experience is a reaction to contingencies, often involving decision of action, that alters the "framework of imagery" in which a person evaluates himself and others. The moral experience is a benchmark between the stages in a moral career, which usually culminate (for the deviant) in an apologia: a distorted image of one's life course that brings it into alignment with the basic values of his society. (Sherman, 1974, p. 194)"Mills argued that people often experience their everyday, private lives as 'a series of traps'" (Henderson & Simon, 1994, p. 35). By this, he meant that people are unaware of how their behavior is unavoidably shaped by their immediate environment. Empirical evidence indicates that as violence-prone officers engage in subsequent confrontations, those confrontations are of increasing intensity (Babcock, 1998).Taylor and Braswell (1978) stated, "All police officers violate departmental rules and regulations and sometimes criminal statutes; it is inherent in their discretionary powers" (p. 177). They quoted a former officer as saying, "It's like a spider web, you're drawn in toward the center" (p. 177), with the center being the point where you have engaged in enough corrupt behavior that you must look the other way when a fellow officer takes another step outside the boundaries.In a similar vein, M. David Ermann (cited in Henderson & Simon, 1994) believed “that white-collar deviance takes place incrementally by merging normal administrative behavior with wrongdoing" (p. 28). In addition, new employees go along with behavior they find present upon their arrival, particularly in organizations that are results oriented. "Organizational crime also frequently occurs in instances where corporate employees are socially and spatially mobile, where they do not consider themselves part of the community in which they live" (p. 29).Biosociology/DemographicsOne consistent finding of research is that males are responsible for substantially more crime than females, “and this conclusion does not depend on the method of measurement (official or self-report), or time period and it seems to hold wherever the matter has been studied by criminologists” (Gottfredson & Polakowski, 1995, p. 68).Both Walsh (1995) and Goldsmith (1991) reported that physiological differences between male and female brains result from differences attributed to hormones and hormone ratios. Increasing testosterone levels in either sex increases assaultive behavior and decreases nurturing behavior, while estradiol decreases assaultive behavior and increases nurturing behavior. Progesterone also increases nurturing behavior, indicating more than mere coincidence regarding the differences of these hormones in males and females (Walsh, 1995). …Analysis yields good evidence that higher levels of testosterone are associated with adult deviance largely because they predispose an individual toward weak social integration and toward juvenile delinquency, and those are factors that considerably increase the likelihood of adult deviance. (Booth & Osgood, 1993, p. 105)Primate studies have shown that “testosterone increases to meet demand” and decreases “when submissiveness is deemed the path of least resistance” (Walsh, 1995, p. 86). It could be inferred that those assuming the role of law enforcer, who must also adopt the trappings (i.e., gun, badge, power to arrest, etc.), will show increased testosterone production. It is also known that as males age the production of testosterone decreases and hormonal ratios favoring nurturant behavior increase. …Gottfredson and Polakowski (1995) related that “[t]he relationship between age and crime is one of the most significant and well established general correlates in the field of criminology” (p. 68). Late adolescence and early adulthood stages account for a "vastly disproportionate amount of crime" (p. 69).The Christopher Commission found that just over 2% of Los Angeles police officers accounted for a disproportionately large number of citizen complaints (Independent Commission, 1991/1995). Lersch and Mieczkowski (1996) conducted a study to test this phenomenon and to determine if there are characteristics shared between officers with higher numbers of complaints, in effect testing the rotten apple theory (affinity theory). They also examined characteristics of complainants and complaints to determine if patterns existed.Lersch and Mieczkowski (1996) reviewed 682 allegations against 274 officers. "A small group of 37 officers, or about 7 percent of the sworn personnel, accounted for over one-third of the total number of complaints filed over the three-year period of analysis" (p. 37). The repeat offenders were all male, and "significantly younger and less experienced than their peers," and they were "more likely to be accused of violent and non-violent harassment resulting from a proactive contact" (p. 37).Babcock (1998) examined "the relationship between individual police officer characteristics, situational factors and the incidence of violent police-citizen encounters" (p. iv). He studied 117 officers in a department numbering about 350. Babcock also found that younger and less experienced officers had a significantly larger number of use-of-force incidents. "The group data suggested that as the number of use-of-force incidents per officer increased, so did the level and severity of violence inflicted by the officer" (p. 246).The age related findings of Lersch and Mieczkowski (1996) and Babcock (1998) were consistent with the findings of Burton et al. (1994/1997), who also reported that age was significantly related to nonutilitarian crime (not providing economic reward).Girodo (1991) conducted a psychological assessment of 271 undercover drug agents, with the purpose of correlating deviant behavior with personality dimensions. Among other findings, he determined that drug and alcohol abuse and disciplinary problems increased as undercover experience increased, somewhat contrary to the age-related findings cited earlier in this paper.Disinhibition was the significant predictor of risk for corruption in nearly half the agents … Disinhibition, however, did not predict risk for corruption among the best ... [person-environment] fit notwithstanding their obtaining the highest ... [disinhibition] scores of all. Their risk for corruption, while not particularly high, was best accounted for inversely by scores on the trait of Disciplined Self-Image. Finally, the High Extraversion-High Neuroticism agents produced the largest risk for corruption index; their higher scores on Experience Seeking and Neuroticism, would appear to be a poor combination.... The personality traits associated with corruption risk were impulsivity, emotionality, and undisciplined self-image. When these were found together, as in the Extraverted-Neurotic, we also found an increased risk for drug/alcohol abuse and disciplinary problems. (Girodo, 1991, pp. 368-369)Psychological theory has been unable to shed much light on the actions of individual officers, according to Worden (1996). Attitudinal studies, including Worden’s work, have indicated only a weak correlation between use of force and outlooks on human nature and “moral attitudes toward coercive authority” (p. 26). Organizational and social factors were shown to have a greater impact upon behavior. However,A larger body of evidence has accumulated on the relationship of officer’s behavior to their background and characteristics—race, gender, length of police service, and especially education. Officer’s educational backgrounds have been the subject of a number of studies, and although this research has shown that education bears no more than a weak relationship to officer’s attitudes ... and no relationship to the use of deadly force ..., it also indicates that college-educated officers generate fewer citizen complaints.... [O]n most behavioral dimensions the differences [between men and women] are negligible.... [B]lack officers ... are more likely to use deadly force ..., but these differences can be attributed to ... duty assignments.... Finally, analyses of officer’s length of service indicate that less experienced officers ... patrol more aggressively, ... are more likely to make arrests, ... and use deadly force. (Worden, 1996, p. 27)In research by Robert Friedrich (cited in Worden, 1996), published in 1980, the explanations of the use of force were characterized as having three contributory aspects—individual, situational, and organizational—were subjected to analysis. Friedrich found marginal correlation only regarding situational aspects. Provocative acts of a low-class, intoxicated, felon were most likely to evoke the use of force. Officer characteristics were not found to be significant.The GAO noted that police officers “lacking in experience and some higher education were considered to be more susceptible to involvement in illicit drug-related activities" (United States General Accounting Office, 1998, p. 4). Brown and Campbell (1994) concluded that response to stress is related to “personality, and life experiences, as well as variables such as age, gender and family history” (p. 19).StressGary Hankins (cited in Sulc, 1995), an official with the Fraternal Order of Police, related that "[p]olice officers die younger, suffer more injuries and stress-related disabilities than the average American ... [and] have high rates of alcoholism, divorce and suicide" (pp. 80-81). Hankins contended that stress inherent to criminal justice positions exceeds that of most other occupational groups. Corruption has been identified as a reaction to stress (Winter, 1993).In 1973, Haney, Banks, and Zimbardo (1973/1981), psychologists at Stanford University, conducted an experiment wherein “normal” college students were randomly selected as either guards or prisoners for a prison simulation. The planned 2-week experiment was terminated after less than half that time due to unexpectedly high levels of stress, and even distress in some cases, on the part of prisoners.Interactions between guards and prisoners were typically hostile and negative, with guards displaying increasing levels of aggression and authoritarianism. Haney et al. (cited in Maxfield & Babbie, 1998) concluded that their "results are ... congruent with Milgram who most convincingly demonstrated the proposition that evil acts are not necessarily the deeds of evil men, but may be attributable to the operation of powerful social forces" (p. 191). "Moreover, since both prisoners and guards are locked into a dynamic, symbiotic relationship which is destructive to their human nature, guards are also society's prisoners" (Haney et al., 1973/1981, p. 68).The reference to Milgram above concerns an experiment wherein subjects were directed to administer what were in fact simulated electrical shocks to an experimenter's confederate. The device manipulated by the subject was marked to purportedly indicate severity of the shock up to “severe,” while no shock was actually administered.The level of shock the subject was willing to give upon command of the experimenter was the primary dependent variable. Unexpected findings included "the sheer strength of obedient tendencies manifested" and "the extraordinary tension and emotional strain" on the subjects when they complied with orders to inflict high shock levels (Milgram, 1963/1981, pp. 33-34).This reference to stress induced by inflicting punishment is significant to the researcher, and is a stressor not specifically listed as applicable to police in relevant literature. "As former Chief Justice Earl Warren has said, the policeman is more powerful than the President. Only the policeman has the power to deprive an American of his liberty" (Sherman, 1974c, p. vii).Shooting, even shooting at, someone in the line of duty can readily be identified as a traumatic event. Arresting a father and mother while restraining their grieving 4 year-old, particularly when the crime involved is mala prohibida versus mala in se (prohibited by law versus a crime such as murder that is bad in and of itself), can also be an enduringly stressful event, as the researcher can personally attest.This is stress of punishment infliction as opposed to stress from the potential of personal injury at the hands of an arrestee. It would seem easily verifiable that most arrests are for transgressions of the former (mala prohibida). For more than one reason, an arrest—even if one does not fear for one’s own safety—can be stressful.Moreover, “ever-present danger lies in taking an action that is judged improper” (Waddington, 1999, p. 14). A judgment made in haste will be reviewed at leisure though official channels, as well as by a society as a whole.Brown and Campbell (1994) reported that it is “well documented that high levels of stress among employees, whether induced at work or by personal problems, can reduce productivity” (p. 1). Selye (cited in Winter, 1993), a stress research pioneer, stated that law enforcement is "one of the most hazardous professions, even exceeding the formidable stresses and strains of air traffic control" (p. 253). However, Brown and Campbell relate that empirical support for this position is not consistent.Winter (1993) defined stress as "the awareness of potential threat, or in other words [in the context of police corruption], awareness of the potential for a comprehensive change in one's core structures," such as experienced by a newly hired police officer (p. 254). Brown and Campbell (1994) offered three definitions of stress. The first was a model wherein an external factor causes “some degree of physical or psychological discomfort” (pp. 14-15).The second was a process that relies upon Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome. This included:·The initial alarm reaction. The “fight or flight” response [from exposure to a threat] ... which ... includes physiological changes preparing the body for “fight or flight.”·The stage of resistance. The period during which the person adapts to external stressors and symptoms of stress improve or disappear.·The stage of exhaustion. [I]f the stressor is sufficiently severe or prolonged ... symptoms reappear and the end result is death. (Brown & Campbell, 1994, p. 15) …“The accumulation of evidence ... does indicate that stress levels within the police do play a significant role in absenteeism and wastage through early retirement” (p. 10), and “some research has indeed shown that the police tend to exhibit higher rates of stress-related disease, higher suicide rates and higher divorce rates” (p. 13).United States and British police “listed poor and insensitive supervision, unreasonable workload, shift work, personal safety and volume of paperwork as the most significant sources of stress at work” (Brown & Campbell, 1994, p. 14). However, “police work” being somewhat non-specific, it must be noted that “[r]ank, role, gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation result in some distinctive patterns of stress experiences” (p. 167).For Winter (1993), police stress lies in problems encountered with administrative procedures and legal proceedings that lead torole ambiguity and role conflict (e.g., between the roles of community servant, as exemplified in the stereotype of the general British Bobby, and crime fighter and between the requirement to enforce the law and the procedural constraints imposed on the officer by that same law). (Winter, 1993, p. 254)Kirkcaldy (1993) conducted a study of police stress involving 42 officers from several countries attending a stress. The police officers studied showed a higher level of internal control than the general population, and they "were more likely to be stressed in terms of organizational structure and climate ..., home and work interface ..., and relationships with other people" when compared to the general British population (p. 386). Though not stated in the article, it may be fair to assume that these were not run-of-the-mill patrol officers on this junket to Germany. Whether or not the sample population is representative of the population of street-level officers could be questioned.Violanti and Aron (1993) found that police organizational stressors (court decisions, regulations, nonparticipation in job decisions, disagreeable duties, discipline matters, etc.) were 6.3 times more likely to cause distress than was "police work." This study was conducted in a large New York department and consisted of 103 respondents who submitted a self-report survey.Similarly, Kirkcaldy, Cooper, and Ruffalo (1995) conducted a study of 49 officers in one Illinois town (the size of the department is unknown), and determined that these officers found "factors intrinsic to the job" to be lesser stress producers than "organizational structure and climate" (p. 700). Kirkcaldy et al. observed positive correlation between both psychological and physical illness and stress. In addition, they observed a significant negative correlation between perceived stress and job satisfaction. They recommended providing counseling and coping strategies to enhance self-control.Carona (1998) conducted a study having as its hypothesis the expectation that police departments having high-quality stress-relief programs would have fewer losses to sick leave, fewer resignations, fewer vehicle accidents, and fewer sustained excessive force complaints. Carona discovered no significant correlations in this research. However, it was determined that departments with longer running stress programs had "fewer sustained excessive force complaints" (p. 27).One possibly confounding variable that was apparently not addressed by these studies of stress in police (Kirkcaldy, 1993; Kirkcaldy et al., 1995; Violanti & Aron, 1993) could be the traditional stoicism expected of authority figures, and how this could be affected by self-reporting of police officers through under reporting perceptions of stress caused by intrinsic factors.As stated by Brown and Grover (1998), "Police officers are taught to respond personably rather than personally to their operational duties, to project strength and authority, to deal with events without displaying emotion and put the requirements of the work before their own emotional needs" (p. 181). This phenomenon has also been described as the “cult of masculinity” (Waddington, 1999, p. 11).Brown and Grover (1998) studied police officers and the role moderating factors have on coping and distress when stressors are present. One finding was that those exposed to both high and low levels of stress show the greatest levels of psychological distress when they lack social support, have high negative attitudes concerning emotional expression, and low just world beliefs. Those with low just world beliefs "perceive the threats as being in excess of their capacity to cope," making them unable to assimilate and integrate stressful experiences (p. 181). Also assumed in the definition of low just world beliefs was a feeling of low control on the part of the officer.A Gallup survey of randomly selected workers indicated that "the most common cause of workplace anger ... [is] the actions of supervisors or managers" (Wuensche, 1999, p. 1D). The next most anger-producing circumstances were, respectively, "irritating co-workers" and "dealing with the public" (p. 1D). Donald Gibson (cited in Wuensche, 1999), a Yale University School of Management professor, stated, "In an environment where you think people are satisfied with their jobs, there is a sort of undercurrent of anger and resentment aimed at the workplace that could potentially lead to the kinds of explosions or rage we have seen" (p. 1D). The rage Gibson refers to was that found in "normal" jobs, as opposed to police work.PrejudiceResearch on prejudice disclosed that those who perceive that they have been subjected to prejudice "reported more aggression, sadness, anxiety, and egotism" than those not perceiving such prejudice (Dion & Earn, 1975/1981, p. 281). Winter (1993) reported what appears to be an analogous perception of prejudice when he related that "there is evidence that police officers perceive the public and the press as construing them more negatively than is in fact the case," citing five studies (p. 254). The GAO (1998) also reported that “officers’ dissatisfaction with how they were viewed and treated by the people of the community” has been cited as a factor contributing to corruption (p. 9).The 1968 Kerner Commission examination of the New York police indicated that minorities perceived the police to "symbolize white power, white racism and white repression" (cited in Human Rights Watch, 1998, p. 40). The Christopher Commission surveyed a sample of Los Angeles police officers and found that about 25% of them believed that racial prejudice toward minorities exists and negatively impacts police community relations (Independent Commission, 1991/1995).In 1992, the St. Clair Commission examined excessive force complaints against the Boston Police Department and found that "50 percent of complainants in the sample group were African-American, while 26 percent of Boston's population was African-American" (Human Rights Watch, 1998, p. 41). Worden (1996) related that “empirical evidence confirms that minorities are in fact, overrepresented among the human targets at which police shoot …, but it also indicates that minorities are overrepresented among those whose actions precipitate the use of deadly force by police” (p. 25).The results of a reciprocal negative interchange between police who perceive prejudice from minorities and minorities who perceive prejudice from police, each feeding the negative spiral of the other, should not be overlooked in the search for corruption causes.The Mollen Commission reported in 1993 that the "us versus them" police attitude was particularly strong in minority neighborhoods and contributed to a divisiveness that "makes many police officers feel isolated from, and often hostile toward, the community they are meant to serve" (Commission to Investigate Allegations of Police Corruption, 1993/1995, p. 33). The Mollen Commission further reported that the us versus them attitude was "present wherever we found corruption" (p. 33).The GAO (1998) determined that a “commonly identified factor associated with drug-related corruption was a police culture that was characterized by a code of silence, unquestioned loyalty to other officers, and cynicism about the criminal justice system” (p. 4). These characteristics reportedly promote corruption while impeding its detection and control.Paradoxically, the structures of occupation that Durkheim predicted would function to strengthen them as autonomous, professional associations working for the common good (helping to clarify and maintain the value system of the broader society) are often "turned inward." That is, in criminal justice agencies (for several historic, political, economic, and social reasons) professional particularity, the cult of the individual, and extreme social solidarity reflected in a quasi-unification of all authority levels generates the unanticipated consequences of a high degree of corruption and graft in all components of the criminal justice system in virtually every region of the United States. (Henderson & Simon, 1994, p. 102)One aspect of neutralization theory, consistent with the us versus them characteristic, states that "subgroups take on a culture of their own that has been termed 'groupthink'" (Henderson & Simon, 1994, p. 30). One groupthink outcome is that prerationalized criminal acts are agreed upon before their commission. "Those objecting to the proposed ‘policies’ are often criticized by other group members, and, if they persist in their criticism, are threatened with ostracism from the group or firing" (p. 30).Reference:Robb, D. L. (2002). An investigation of self-control and its relationship to ethical attitudes in criminal justice personnel. Dissertation Abstracts International, 62 (12), 4343. (UMI No. 3036984)

let me just comment what i have as my opinionof india’s depicted by western world all overi recall my part of days in 1980, when i was in lybya through a joint company- deseindassac consortium, indo canadian join venture for operation of 480 mw thermal power plant with 1800 t/hr potable water treatment plant from desalinated water.the technology was complex with germans, and europeans- german, building the megaplant with british company as consultants and erection carried out by indians, russians, and polish .i stayed there for a year and had interaction with each of them including lybians- head of power plant.there were pakistnis too as sweepers there.canadians occupied top positions in our joint company with second feedle by we- indians.politics in work still existed as in india as canadian plant manager’s deputy was a bengali from d v c- calcatta.cutting short the story, i had to interact with polish secretary for relacing my spectacles as my only piece broke while playing foot ball and volleyball.she was amazed to knw f my fluency then and she had a different opinions of indians.later i interacted with each nationals there and i found that there were diverse opinions of indians of each community- though libyans appreciated indians- and in one case helped me in an impossible situation .-even when i did not know a word of undu and interacted with him on sign language.india lis in villages nd tribl areas - not in slums and high rise buildings and middle class and farmers with tribls remain a soul of idia.the hollywood would never know where lies the soul of india- kumbhamelas, dargas, budhist gaya or jain temples or surya temple in orissa or sabartala temple ot dagdusheth halvay ganapati temple in pune.who will bell the cat ??who knows that in tiny state of goa the hindu culture has survived portuguese on slaught for 450 years ??Whenever there's a Hollywood film with an Indian character in it, it's exciting to watch – you finally have a character you can relate to. But when you finally watch it, you realise that they're not actually relatable – because Indian characters are mostly uni-dimensional and stereotypical. They are usually minor characters, who are cab drivers, shop owners, or Indian restaurant owners, with unrealistic and exaggerated Indian accents and stupid catchphrases. The lack of diversity in Hollywood is not new, and has been discussed at length. But the problem of how films portray people of colour still persists.Deadpool | Image sourceTo begin with, there is a severe scarcity of Indian or Indian origin actors in Hollywood. They are an under-represented community in real life, which seems to be translating onto the screen. Actors like Aziz Ansari have spoken out, at length, about the lack of diversity in Hollywood films and how Indians always have set roles. Never mind being lead characters, Indians are rarely shown as confident or ambitious. They don't form integral parts of the plot, with fleshed-out back stories.A still from The Big Sick | Image sourceAlthough recent films like The Big Sick have finally begun to accurately depict the lives of brown-skinned people, the majority of films remain woefully ignorant of the stereotypes they propagate. Films like The 100 Foot Journey, Slumdog Millionaire, Life of Pi, and The Mistress of Spices were great to watch, but they still had protagonists who stuck to the stereotypes that the west has about Indians – curry-eating, poor, and mystical (because India is the land of the mystics, right?).Life of Pi | Image sourceFrom Octopussy to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, India, as a country, is also shown in a particular light – roads filled with poor people, selling 'exotic and mystical' spices, snake charmers and Godmen. Indians in a white man's India are very traditional and proud of it, they are God-fearing, and if they happen to be parents – they are extremely strict, always forcing the idea of arranged marriage and sanskaar down the kids' throats (Bend It Like Beckham, anyone?).Image sourceOf course, Hollywood, just like Bollywood, has a long way to go before it becomes free of stereotypes and other problematic issues. And these changes don't happen overnight. But the initial steps need to be taken. Shows like Master of None have managed to bring relatable and realistic Indian characters – and that's because there is an Indian (Ansari) who has helped write and direct the show. We need more Indians taking part in the storytelling process, so that we can have more relatable characters. After all, we have reached a point where Indians make up a healthy portion of the American population. So why not give audiences stories that actually mirror their lives, instead of just giving them the white-washed version of it?When confronted with creating an Indian character, Hollywood leans towards the many stereotypes that have been so tragically established over the years. The result?–International audiences have come to associate all Indian people with these stereotypes. This daily stereotyping does not stem from social interaction, but rather from what they see of Indian characters on the big screen and on television.When they think of Indian people, most people seem to think of curry-eating, sex-deprived hairy nerds with a penchant for speaking with heavy, almost unintelligible accents. The store owner with a big family also comes to mind quite often, as does the sari-clad helicopter mother. Due to the widespread acceptance of these stereotypes, Indians have, in a way, lost their true identity in most places around the world.Raj and Apu do not define Indian people, just as Sheldon and Homer do not define white people. This false depiction of Indian people is incredibly insulting, and it is about time that people learn that these stereotypes are wrong.The exaggerated accent, accompanied with the head bobble, seems to be one of the most common stereotypes. Understand this- every person who speaks English as a second language would have an accent. There’s nothing wrong with that. The Indian accent is certainly not embarrassing and funny, even though western media often try to portray it that way. The exaggeration of an accent for comedic purposes is actually quite insulting.Due to the widespread acceptance of these stereotypes, Indians have, in a way, lost their true identity in most places around the world.Indian characters on television are often portrayed as awkward, timid geeks who find it hard to handle social interactions. They’re almost always doctors, engineers or someone within the IT industry. Is it fair to force one personality type on an entire race? No, it certainly isn’t. Just as every race, Indian people are diverse in personality types and personal traits. Forcing a single personality type on us is extremely dehumanizing.The stereotype that all Indian people are awkward and timid enforces and supports the idea that the only way we can establish a romantic relationship is through arranged marriages. While some people do adhere to the concept, it is not a true representation of Indian culture today. The constructs of relationships are the same for us, as it is for the rest of the world.Hollywood does have a few moments in which Indian people are represented accurately, but this doesn’t occur often enough. The stereotypes that have already been established require much more to break, and we can only hope that Hollywood starts to look beyond Apu as the Indian character mold.Nandita Das's second directorial venture may be set in the 1940s and steeped in nostalgia of a bygone era but it constantly seeks to remind the audience that it's contemporarily relevant. That's because its titular character is the singular Saadat Hasan Manto - a writer so wilful and fearless that you wonder what his fate would be today. Would his books be burnt? Would he be behind bars? Would he stop writing altogether? What Das is certain of is that the last was never an option for Manto.Manto died in 1955 at 42, not long after India and Pakistan were divided and declared independent nations. Manto is a film of two halves: Manto's struggling but colourful life in pre-independence Bombay followed by a fraught, alcohol-laden one in Lahore post-azaadi. Only Manto hardly feels the freedom, describing his state as one of a bird with clipped wings. The physical dislocation here becomes a tool to look at the emotional breakdown of an artist.Manto is at its evocative best when it looks at the writer's relationship with its muse, in this case, Bombay. Distanced from it, Manto is bitter and forlorn, wandering the streets of Lahore with alcohol to soothe him. "This city doesn't ask questions," he says of Bombay. In one of the more memorable scenes when he bids farewell to Bombay, Manto recalls that he owes Re 1 to a shopkeeper. An actor friend (Tahir Raj Bhasin) suggests he'd pay on his behalf. Manto though doesn't want the favour. "I want to be indebted to this city."As much as Manto is a portrait of a self-destructive creator, it's also scenes from a troubled marriage. Rasika Dugal plays Safiya, the compassionate and dutiful wife and mother who accepted Manto with his many imperfections. Dugal pulls in a quiet and graceful performance without the melodramatic theatrics; her Safiya is a reminder that Manto the writer was better than Manto the family man, that while confronting his own reality, his empathy was strangely amiss.The film struggles as it turns to showcase the downfall of an artist. The legal quagmire that consumes Manto in Lahore for his story, Thanda Gosht, comes across as fleeting proceedings with more cameos with few substantial ideas. As Manto becomes isolated, the film too begins to lose connection with the viewers as Das tries to pack in more of his writings and historical moments in the running time.What's commendable is that Das's approach is not merely to appease Manto fans but also to build a new fanbase by acquainting readers with some of his finest stories. Understandably then, the devastating "Khol Do", the controversial "Thanda Gosht" and the all-time classic "Toba Tek Singh", all looking at the devastating repercussions of Partition, are aesthetically woven into the narrative. They reveal not only the scars of bruised characters but that of Manto himself. What's sorely missed though are a few stories which demonstrated Manto's wit, an essential attribute of his writing.Siddiqui looks the part and for the most part, feels it too. But the real joy of Das's film is to see its supporting characters, most of them based on real-life stars, make brief appearances. From Rajshri Deshpande as the teasing and vibrant Ismat Chugtai and Bhanu Uday as the suave Ashok Kumar, the film thrives in the moments these colourful characters occupy the Manto landscape.Das's script is rich with details which offer a glimpse of why Manto was and continues to be a lodestar for writers till date. His hunger to bring those on the fringes into the spotlight and his struggle to make the society be aware and considerate to their plight is what's needed today too. "Why can't reality be shown as it is?" he questions and demands simultaneously. It's a question to ask the media too. In a time when the past is being manufactured to present an alternate reality, perhaps revisiting Manto's unflinching prose is what we direly need. That's the biggest takeaway from Das's biopic.Slumdog Millionaire“You wanted to see the real India? Here it is,” the young Indian hero of Slumdog Millionaire tells an American couple, right after they find that their rental car has been stripped for parts. The winking come-on of Danny Boyle’s Oscar-nominated hit is precisely that—see the real India—but this is a movie with a conveniently fluid notion of reality. In this fairytale vision of squalid poverty, the slums of Mumbai are bathed in golden light, and hardscrabble lives are energized by jacked-up camerawork and the cool, cosmopolitan pop of M.I.A. on the soundtrack. We see the real-world horrors that might befall a kid from these parts—begging syndicates, religious violence, abusive cops—but experience them simply as plot contrivances, hurdles to be cleared as we wait for him to get the girl and go from rags to riches while he’s at it.Slumdog is nothing if not a transglobal movie—funded with British and American money, shot entirely in India by a British director with a largely Indian cast and crew, from a script by a British writer adapting a novel by a London-born Indian author—and it’s instructive to compare the reactions from around the world.Premiering at the big North American film festivals at Telluride and Toronto last fall, Slumdog was crowned an underdog Oscar contender, a film that could go from barely getting a release (its original distributor, Warner Independent, folded last year) to the ultimate Hollywood jackpot, just as its hero, Jamal, makes his way from the slums to the biggest prize on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire.While the film won near-unanimous praise when it opened here in November, in the United Kingdom, thanks perhaps to residual colonial guilt, there were a few more dissenting voices. A columnist at the London Times called it “poverty porn,” bringing up the question of exploitation that has largely been elided in stateside discussions.And in India, where Slumdog opened last week, the debate has been vigorous. Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, the focal point of a key scene in Slumdog (he doesn’t actually appear), wondered on his blog if the film would have received as much attention had it been made by an Indian director. Some locals have questioned its selective portrait of Mumbai, which ignores the middle class. Some slum residents, meanwhile, have taken exception to being called “slumdogs” (a term invented by screenwriter Simon Beaufoy; the original novel, by Vikas Swarup, is called Q&A). Despite all this pre-release publicity and mostly positive reviews, Indian audiences have so far stayed away.It is understandable that the conversation has taken on a more serious tone in India, which has long been sensitive to depictions, by Indians and outsiders alike, of its lower socioeconomic classes. The great Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray was criticized in Parliament for “exporting poverty.” When the BBC aired French director Louis Malle’s Phantom India, an epic travelogue that sought to capture the contradictions and complexities of Indian society, it led to a minor international incident, culminating in the expulsion of the BBC’s New Delhi bureau.The slums in Slumdog Millionaire are brighter and livelier than any we’ve seen before. Boyle is a gifted stylist and, for better or worse, an indiscriminate sensualist, the kind of filmmaker capable of finding tactile pleasure wherever he looks, from the junkie deliriums of Trainspotting to the cosmic reveries of Sunshine. For Boyle the director, the slums are above all an endless source of motion and color. The scene that best sums up his attitude comes early in the film, when young Jamal, stuck in an outhouse but determined to obtain Amitabh Bachchan’s autograph, holds his nose and (in a nod to the famous toilet-bowl interlude in Trainspotting) gleefully dives into the outdoor latrine.Some would argue that Boyle is guilty of aestheticizing poverty. That’s a loaded charge, with its own problematic assumption about what poverty should look like. I would contend that the movie’s real sin is not its surfeit of style but the fact that its style is in service of so very little. The flimsiness of Beaufoy’s scenario, a jumble of one-note characterizations and rank implausibility, makes Boyle’s exertions seem ornamental, even decadent. Beaufoy has suggested that Mumbai itself inspired this narrative sloppiness: “Tonally it shouldn’t really work,” he wrote in the Guardian. “But in Mumbai, not for nothing known as Maximum City, I get away with it.” This is a corollary to the all-too-easy defense that Slumdog is awash in clichés because it is an homage to Bollywood movies. The resemblance, in any case, is superficial. Some of Slumdog’s melodramatic tropes are Bollywood (and Old Hollywood) staples, but the limp dance number that closes the film lacks both the technique and the energy of vintage Bollywood.If Slumdog has struck a chord, and it certainly seems to have done so in the West, it is not because the film is some newfangled post-globalization hybrid but precisely because there is nothing new about it. It traffics in some of the oldest stereotypes of the exoticized Other: the streetwise urchin in the teeming Oriental city. (The success of Slumdog has apparently given a boost to the dubious pastime of slum tourism—or “poorism,” as it’s also known.) And not least for American audiences, it offers the age-old fantasy of class and economic mobility, at a safe remove that for now may be the best way to indulge in it.Eager to crank up the zeitgeist-y significance, the marketing machine at Fox Searchlight, which ended up buying Slumdog, toldNew York magazine that “the film is Obama-like,” for its “message of hope in the face of difficulty.” (Other journalists have since picked up on the meme.) Slumdog has been so insistently hyped as an uplifting experience (“the feel-good film of the decade!” screams the British poster) that it is also, by now, a movie that pre-empts debate. It comes with a built-in, catchall defense—it’s a fairy tale, and any attempt to engage with it in terms of, say, its ethics or politics gets written off as political correctness.A slippery and self-conscious concoction, Slumdog has it both ways. It makes a show of being anchored in a real-world social context, then asks to be read as a fantasy. It ladles on brutality only to dispel it with frivolity. The film’s evasiveness is especially dismaying when compared with the purpose and clarity of urban-poverty fables like Luis Bunuel’s Los Olvidados, set among Mexico City street kids, or Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep, set in inner-city Los Angeles. It’s hard to fault Slumdog for what it is not and never tries to be. But what it is—a simulation of “the real India,” which it hasn’t bothered to populate with real people—is dissonant to the point of incoherenceCATASTROPHE AND CONTROL:HOW TECHNOLOGICAL DISASTERSENHANCE DEMOCRACYbyWADE EDMUND ROUSHSubmittedto the Program in Science, Technology, and Society on July 26, 1994,in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History and Social Study of Science and Technologyat the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyABSTRACTAs occasions whe ther It large, complex, well-entrenched technologicalsystems have gone catastrophically "out of control," disasters suchas the Bhopal gas leak and the Three Mile Island and Chernobylmeltdowns have been moments of both technological and political instabilityin industrialized societies.Through the enormous media attention they generate,control breakdownslike these have taught lay citizens how complex technologies work andhow technological and political control are distributed at the local andnational levels. Citizens have used this information to press for safetyimprovements and for more participatory ways of choosing,building,and managing large technological systems.The study culls newspaper records, accident reports, social sciencedata,and other sources to reconstruct the origins and outcomes of fiveserious technological disasters of recent decades:the 1965 power failure in the Northeastern United States, the 1977blackout in New York City, the 1979 meltdown at the Three Mile Islandnuclear plant in Pennsylvania, the 1984 methylisocyanate leak at a UnionCarbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India, and the 1986 explosion andmeltdown at the Chernobyl atomic energy station in Ukraine. Each ofthese disasters led to the public disclosure of previously unavailable informationabout the technical,organizational,and political nature of the systems in question.Analysis focuses on the ways in which this information shaped citizens' movementsfor technological change and for greater citizen participation in decision-makingabout hazardous technologies.The study concludes that control breakdowns in large technological systemshave educated and radicalized many lay citizens,enabling them to challengeboth existing technological plans and the expertise and authority of the peoplewho carry them out.The author detects in this development a new cultural undercurrent of "technologicalcitizenship" characterized by greater knowledge of, and skepticism toward,the complex systems that permeate modern societies .