I Was An Innocent Bystander..

Does being a bystander make you innocent? In my opinion, the phrase "innocent bystander" is an oxymoron. It's nearly impossible to have a bystander that is innocent. When you witness a crime, whether it's a stabbing, a burglary, or simple bullying, what would you do? Would you go for help? Would you get in the middle and attempt to stop it? Would you pretend you saw nothing and keep your head down? Though many of us would like to exclaim, "Oh, of course I'd help them," often times, that's not what would actually happen. We, as humans, don't know what to do. We'll take a look with the murder of Kitty Genovese..


Kitty Genovese was a young woman who was stabbed to death near her home in Brooklyn, New York. The public reaction was probably the most compelling aspect of this case - the most intriguing. However, because of the way the public reacted, the bystander effect was developed. Thirty-eight people watched and listened to her as her perpetrator knifed her to death though not one of them did anything about it. BUT WHY?? Following are the reasons why people do nothing when someone else is in need. (This is more likely to happen, interestingly enough, if there are more people around).

1. Because there are so many other people around, there is a diffusion of responsibility. Everyone believes that someone else will take care of the problem.
2. People need to behave in socially acceptable ways. When other people fail to react, they take that as a sign that they should also fail to react.

Don't be a bystander. They're not innocent. Be a hero. Beat the wretched bystander effect.

Striving to Succeed in Law!!

As I've mentioned in my "About Me" section, I plan on majoring in criminology/pre-law for undergrad and then advancing on to law school with hopes of eventually becoming a prosecutor. Although requirements will be different for all schools and all majors, I can share some of the requirements for the state school I plan on going to for majors like mine and ones similar to it.
For IUP (Indiana University of Pennsylvania):

1. Crimonology/Pre-law - This is said to be one of the most appropraite majors for a person pursuing criminal justice. By taking this major, you'd recieve the preperation needed for law school as well as the qualifications needed for a career in criminal justice. There are five required crimonology classes plus you'd have to choose two from the following categories: The Criminal Justice System, Critical Issues in Criminology, and Diverisity Issues in Criminology. The department also offers courses that focus on law, such as Survey of Courts and the Criminal Justice System, Law, Social Control and Society, and Criminal Law. For the Pre-Law track, courses would include seven that cover English, Business, Economics, History, Philosophy, and Political Science.
2. English/Pre-law - With this major, you'd be encouraged to design your own course of study including literature, lauguage, and writing. After the basics, you'd focus on a specific track (Film Studies; Language Studies; Literacy, Textual, and Cultural Studies, Writing Studies, or English Pre-law). If you choose to go the English Pre-law track, you'd be focusing primarily on persuasive communication, interpretation, relationships among language, and cultural power.
3. History/Pre-law - Here you would choose to study a broad range of topics such as colonial America, medieval Europe, ancient Greece, Native Americans, early China, the Civil War, Russia, and the Middle East. Because this is a pre-law course you would also take classes covering criminology, economics, history, philosophy, and political science.
4. Political Science/Pre-law - These classes will prepare you for a career in government. Several areas you'll choose from include American Studies, Political Theory, Public Policy and Administration, International Studies, and General Political Science. In addition, you'll take courses covering business, criminology, economics, English, history, and philosophy.

As you can see, there are tons of different majors you can choose for undergraduate school if you are planning to go into the criminal justice field. These are not all of the majors that include a pre-law track at IUP, but they are most of them. However, as I said, these are only the programs at IUP - a Pennsylvania state school. You can check out any other majors at any other schools by looking on their websites under "Academics."

As far as I'm concerned, I'm going to IUP for Criminology/Pre-law!! It's a good thing I like school. Sounds like I'm going to be there for quite a long time!! (:

info from iup.edu

Lucifer Effect Pt.2 (Stanford Prison Study)

The Standford Prison Experiment was conducted by Phillip Zimbardo and designed to test the Lucifer Effect which states that every person has to make a decision at some point between good and evil. In order to go through with this experiment, Zimbardo turned the basement of the Standford psychology department into a prison. Students volunteered to do the experiment and he informed them that if they quit at any time, the experiment would be ruined. All students, eager to participate, signed up and met for instruction.

Zimbardo randomly decided who would serve time as a prisioner and who would be "employed" as the guards. One split up, the guards were given a list of directions that they had to follow or the experiment would be terminated. These were the directions given to them:

1. Maintain law & order
2. Avoid physical violence
3. Prevent prisoner escapes

This was all they were given. How were they to maintain law and order and avoid physical violence at the same time when the prisoners get out of hand? How would YOU keep order? I suppose at first I would try talking to them. When that fails, I would probably threaten them, keeping it secret that I would not be allowed to use physical violence. After that, I suppose I would act as all the rest of the guards did - falling victim to the Lucifer Effect. Just like th majority of guards, once put in that place, I would end up believing that's who I am though it's not true.

The outcome of the Standford Prison Study? Well, as most psychology studies do, the experiment created more questions than it provided answers to. However, the study did show the "degeneration and breakdown of established rules and morals dictating exactly how people should behave towards others." It showed that, with the right conditions, people with abandon their values and morals, deindividualize others, and act out in pure cruelty.

This study is now becoming more popular due to the Abu Ghraib scandal and techniques used at Guantanamo Bay.

As a wise teacher of mine once said, "Psychology is interesting. Unfortunately, we only study the worst in human behavior."