The History Of The Probation Process Criminology Essay

The History Of The Probation Process Criminology Essay There is not a single idea about what constitute probation, but there are clear indications about the idea that all probation practices and systems to match and adjust development of place and time in terms of economic, cultural, criminal justice and political philosophies while preserving some key elements of its origin and in virtually all cases, orientation and professional identity of probation officers. Across the world, probation is in a state of state of flux or a state of crisis, although to varying reasons and varying degrees in some cases. An introduction of probation and further development, criminal justice system should be developed on existing social structure and it must also be supported by working to enhance what is already there. It should not be taken as external solution to internal criminal justice problems, (Hink, 1961) governance or penology, but it must be taken as a possible framework into which locally feasible and desirable solutions may be fitted. For effective process of probation, there must be planned introduction of probation, as an effective, non custodial sanction and cost efficient, the following paper presents history of probation, in case of probation process, legal pre-conditions and legislative pre-conditions should either be established or exist either in law, procedure or policy in professional rules of practice, Process of probation, difference between formal, informal, misdemeanor and felony probation, and in the last it presents leading theories governing probation process and which alternatives can improve the process of probation. Probation process and historical roots: Origins of probation can be traced back to early English practices, and this practice gradually developed until 19th century. Several countries made significant contributions during 1880. Probation process began to receive acceptance in United States of America during 1870s. Essentially it developed from the beginning of twentieth century, while many reasons with varying degrees, throughout Europe and North America. The process of probation has its roots from two distinct origins, civil and common law, but the historical development of probation also influenced by the development of infantile justice system positivism in ideologies of control (Blumberg,1979) outside of criminal justice system and criminology. As opposed to repression, from historical perspective evolution of probation reflects tension between control, care and custody, individualism and discretion versus legalism and reintegration. From 1800s to present time, probation process officers have been trying in different w ays to remake, (Hink, 1961) reform, restructure and remould the lives of offenders into good, law bidding and honest citizens. After World War, II it was strides in majority that made that led to the development of modern and complex probation service structure that exist now. It was the optimistic views that exist at that time, in the efficiency of social work with offenders to achieve probation officers and perfectibility of man in 1960s that were part of a criminal justice system, which was moving toward the rehabilitative ideal. Method of social work, casework was used for rehabilitation of offenders was attempted. In the coming years, other techniques were used by probation officers, such as including group work, task centered work, community work, behavioral contracts, family therapy, behavior modification, reality therapy, and social skills etc. Probation service was standing at the very heart of penal practices and policy; twenty five years ago from now. The emphasis was on rehabilitation, resettlement, social case work and individualism, social work and reintegration approach to social problems. The prevailing problem of crime was understood as problem of families and individuals, and families in the need of help and support of communities that were disadvantaged and disorganized. The focus of intention was not only crime itself but the instant offence being a matter of mostly legal concern, instead the social and personal problems that underlay this criminal behavior. (Best, Birzon,1962). Crime was a trigger for intervention, a presenting symptom, rather than probation officers focal point action. It was the probation service that led agency carrying forward a progressive program for controlling the crime, through social intervention. It was the vanguard of effort to humanize and rationalize practices of penal to use expertise, social work techniques, trained clinical judgment, and criminological knowledge to deal with crime. For instance, it was dr ew support and part of the project of welfare state, with its concerns for solidarity through state inclusiveness, (Blumberg,1979) integration, provision etc. and with distinct rationality, a habit of thought that looked for social problems and solutions to deal with any emerging problem and a style of reasoning. The process of probation has also been a part of power relations and wider structure of organizations. This part of power relations gave the enormous prestige and authority to professional expertise. With the expansion of personalized social services, and creation of extensive social work, the professional society reached its halcyon days in 1960s. In the process of creation of extensive social work, network, probation service was featured as s long established and highly skilled agency, (Hink, 1961) deriving authority from the court-based functions as well as its credentials of social work. In professionalized context, social problems including family breakdown and resettl ement, crime and delinquency that required social solutions and trained professionals and social workers. At an accelerating pace over last five years and over last two decades, field of criminal justice and criminal control, has been reconfigured in important ways. Although its relation to process has been, problematic that transformation was deeply implicated by probation service. The philosophy and movement underpinning it that followed created a shift towards human containment and deterrence as motivation in sentencing. A justice model emerged in late 1970s and early 1980s, as did the concept of just deserts. (McEachern, Newman,1969) In 1990s deprivation or incapacitation of liberty became the methodology followed by alternatives of alternatives to imprisonment, another correctional philosophy evolved, a combination of all previous philosophies but on that relies greatly on risk control techniques within crime reduction activities. Process of Probation: In the probation process, if a defendant pleads guilty, no contest, or is found guilty, the judge may request investigation for pre-sentence probation department. In the process of compiling the investigation, an interview of defendant is conducted by probation officer, moreover reviews the criminal history and personal background information, (Hink, 1961) contacts the victims if institutions are involved, after this recommendations for sentencing are made to judge. On the basis of this information, defendant may be sentenced by judge for up to one year. It is the responsibility of probation officer to monitor and ensure the compliance with conditions orders by judge. If there is non-compliance with terms and conditions it will probably result in further actions by court. These actions may include imposition of suspended jail time or fines. Juveniles may be sentenced to detention for failing to comply with court orders. (McEachern, Newman,1969). Probation sentence may include following conditions: Costs of court or Fines: The person who is facing the probation will be responsible for payments of fees, fines, court costs imposed on that specific case. Judge can impose $999 as maximum fine, depending on the basis of type of offense. (Best, Birzon,1962) The probationers have the option of performing community service in lieu of payment of fine, fees and costs. Detention / Jail Judge has authority to order to probationer to serve a jail sentence, depending on the type of offence. Moreover probationers who failed to comply with terms or found in violation of probation terms and conditions of their sentence may found in contempt of court and sentenced to jail or detention. Home detention: In case of violation of probation, violating probationer may face home detention. He will wear electronic ankle bracelet that monitors and ensured the probationers whereabouts. Probation officer will be notified immediately if probationer moves outside the range of his home, in this case, probationer is subject to further court action. Community Service: For young and adult, probationers to comply with mandatory service hours of community and they must also have option to perform community services in lieu of payment of their fines, fees, and costs related to probation. This community service must be performed at charitable and non-profit agencies. All young probationers under age of 17, are required to perform related community service hours through department f probation that are supervising the community service program. Probationers with age of 18 years old, have option to select community service agency on their own. A list of city department and non-profit agencies that utilizes the community service work program is available online. Life Choices Educational Classes: Probationers are required to attend court mandated classes, who are under the age of 25, presented by Street Beat program and designed to help the adults and young people to set goals and gain success. These mandated classes encourage the probationers to examine decision-making process that led them to have positive life skills. Mandated classes are also offered in Spanish. Counseling: Probationers may be required to comply with court ordered treatment and counseling who are assessed to be experiencing substance abuse or mental health issues. Services of counseling are also available through county agencies or privately. Adult probationers who present substance abuse issues. These issues of substance abuse can be referred to weekly substance education group, with which department currently contracts. Restitution: In case of victims except traffic violations, probationer may be ordered by court to compensate the victims for out of pocket losses. A total of $8,805 was collected in the form of restitution in 2011. Breathalyzer Tests and Drug Urinalysis: Probationers with substance abuse may be required to submit random alcohol breathalyzer tests and drug urinalysis test. This testing procedure is administered by several local vendors in Longmont. Probation Officers: Role of supervision is to supervise defendants while remaining in the community. Standard size of caseload may vary from 45 to 300 individuals according to locale. Caseload sizes are increasing depending on financial considerations, as departments leave some probation officer position vacant. Some specific caseload sizes are legislated but cannot surpass those limits. Supervised Probation: Supervised probation is also known as formal probation. Supervised probation is granted to an offender who must report in a person to his or her probation officer. Formal probation is used in case of more serious offenses. Under the jurisdiction of probation department, all adults placed on formal probation. (Stalans, Yarnold, Seng, Olson, Repp, 2004) Probationers under supervised probation are required to check in with an officer, strict conditions of probation and subject to home visit. Supervised probation is also searchable type of probation. Non-supervised probation: Non-supervised probation also known as summary probation, court probation or called summary court probation. Both federal and state government place formal probation on individuals, to determine if a defendant will be placed on formal or informal probation, Sentencing guidelines may apply to some extent, the judge has some sentencing leeway. Offenders will receive informal probation on acts such as violation of traffic rules or certain misdemeanors. Traditionally, informal probation does not include searchable probation; the person having the condition of searchable probation may have their home, person and car searched by law enforcement. . (Best, Birzon,1962) People on non-supervised probation, do not assign with a probation officer and also they are not monitored. Probationers under informal probation are asked to report to judge periodically. Informal probation has terms such as attending any drug or alcohol treatment program, or to complete community service requirements. This type of probation is of short duration may be of one month. After the probation is over, it means that offender has fulfilled the terms of sentence. The differences between felony and misdemeanor probation: The difference always does not clear between felony and misdemeanor probation from state to state in different countries and U.S as well. If we wish to define the misdemeanor probation, it can be defined as maximum length of time a person can be imprisoned for the committed crime, this period usually no more than one year, whereas in case of felony, minimum time of imprisonment is one year. So it can be said that any crime that is not felony, is a misdemeanor by nature. (Stalans, Yarnold, Seng, Olson, Repp, 2004) In case, if property is stolen or purposeful damage has been done to property, charge of misdemeanor or felony will be decided on the basis on the basis of dollar amount of damage or missing property. For instance, if any person incurs purposeful damage in Arizona, that costs under $250 dollars or charged with misdemeanor. If however, the damage is between $250 $2000 USD, the charge is generally a  class 6 felony. Higher amounts of damage may up the class of the felony a nd result in more time in a penitentiary. Leading theories governing the probationary process: From the past three decades, the principal for effective application of parole and probation process have received favorable mention in practitioner circles. By zero tolerance for behaviors that are better characterized as nuisances than as precursors of criminal acts and desire to appear tough on crime via harsh punishment, implementation of probation and parole has been fragmented or nonexistent and also subject to political sentiments. Some practitioners and policy makers market increased violations as a public safety enhancement even though there is no evidence to support this belief. The role of probation officer is very critical in effective process of probation; he is the one who makes sure the successful implementation of policies, procedures and laws about probation. There are different categories of probation officers and have different duties according to their roles, but some general duties are commonly shared by all categories. From start till the end of process of probation, probation officer remains critical in the process. He must conclude the probation case while including all the key information and details of probation process, causes and implications on that case by law and their implementation in an effective way. Conclusion: Probation process is an effective element to reduce criminal activities in a society. Probation process aimed at not only punishing the offenders but it also delivers policies that are concerned about correction of society and individuals who are causing disturbance in the society. There are also different categories of penalties and imprisonment (Whitehead,1987) depending on the age of the offender, and this so good, as imprisonments have been decided about while keeping in view it psychological impact on the offender. Probation process is necessary for affective implementation of laws and policies about sound and safe functioning of societal process.

Bag of Bones CHAPTER FIFTEEN

State your name for the record.' ‘Michael Noonan.' ‘Your address?' ‘Derry is my permanent address, 14 Benton Street, but I also maintain a home in TR-90, on Dark Score Lake. The mailing address is Box 832. The actual house is on Lane Forty-two, off Route 68.' Elmer Durgin, Kyra Devore's guardian ad litem, waved a pudgy hand in front of his face, either to shoo away some troublesome insect or to tell me that was enough. I agreed that it was. I felt rather like the little girl in Our Town, who gave her address as Grover's Corner, New Hampshire, America, the Northern Hemisphere, the World, the Solar System, the Milky Way Galaxy, the Mind of God. Mostly I was nervous. I'd reached the age of forty still a virgin in the area of court proceedings, and although we were in the conference room of Durgin, Peters, and Jarrette on Bridge Street in Castle Rock, this was still a court proceeding. There was one mentionably odd detail to these festivities. The stenographer wasn't using one of those keyboards-on-a-post that look like adding machines, but a Stenomask, a gadget which fit over the lower half of his face. I had seen them before, but only in old black-and-white crime movies, the ones where Dan Duryea or John Payne is always driving around in a Buick with portholes on the sides, looking grim and smoking a Camel. Glancing over into the corner and seeing a guy who looked like the world's oldest fighter-pilot was weird enough, but hearing everything you said immediately repeated in a muffled monotone was even weirder. ‘Thank you, Mr. Noonan. My wife has read all your books and says you are her favorite author. I just wanted to get that on the record.' Durgin chuckled fatly. Why not? He was a fat guy. Most fat people I like they have expansive natures to go with their expansive waistlines. But there is a subgroup which I think of as the Evil Little Fat Folks. You don't want to fuck with the ELFFS if you can help it; they will burn your house and rape your dog if you give them half an excuse and a quarter of an opportunity. Few of them stand over five-foot-two (Durgin's height, I estimated), and many are under five feet. They smile a lot, but their eyes don't smile. The Evil Little Fat Folks hate the whole world. Mostly they hate folks who can look down the length of their bodies and still see their own feet. This included me, although just barely. ‘Please thank your wife for me, Mr. Durgin. I'm sure she could recommend one for you to start on.' Durgin chuckled. On his right, Durgin's assistant a pretty young woman who looked approximately seventeen minutes out of law school chuckled. On my left, Romeo Bissonette chuckled. In the corner, the world's oldest F- 111 pilot only went on muttering into his Stenomask. ‘I'll wait for the big-screen version,' he said. His eyes gave an ugly little gleam, as if he knew a feature film had never been made from one of my books only a made-for-TV movie of Being Two that pulled ratings roughly equal to the National Sofa Refinishing Championships. I hoped that we'd completed this chubby little fuck's idea of the pleasantries. ‘I am Kyra Devore's guardian ad litem,' he said. ‘Do you know what that means, Mr. Noonan?' ‘I believe I do.' ‘It means,' Durgin rolled on, ‘that I've been appointed by Judge Rancourt to decide if I can where Kyra Devore's best interests lie, should a custody judgment become necessary. Judge Rancourt would not, in such an event, be required to base his decision on my conclusions, but in many cases that is what happens.' He looked at me with his hands folded on a blank legal pad. The pretty assistant, on the other hand, was scribbling madly. Perhaps she didn't trust the fighter-pilot. Durgin looked as if he expected a round of applause. ‘Was that a question, Mr. Durgin?' I asked and Romeo Bissonette delivered a light, practiced chip to my ankle. I didn't need to look at him to know it wasn't an accident. Durgin pursed lips so smooth and damp that he looked as if he were wearing a clear gloss on them. On his shining pate, roughly two dozen strands of hair were combed in smooth little arcs. He gave me a patient, measuring look. Behind it was all the intransigent ugliness of an Evil Little Fat Folk. The pleasantries were over, all right. I was sure of it. ‘No, Mr. Noonan, that was not a question. I simply thought you might like to know why we've had to ask you to come away from your lovely lake on such a pleasant morning. Perhaps I was wrong. Now, if ‘ There was a peremptory knock on the door, followed by your friend and his, George Footman. Today Cleveland Casual had been replaced by a khaki Deputy Sheriff's uniform, complete with Sam Browne belt and sidearm. He helped himself to a good look at the assistant's bustline, displayed in a blue silk blouse, then handed her a folder and a cassette tape recorder. He gave me one brief gander before leaving. I remember you, buddy, that glance said. The smartass writer, the cheap date. Romeo Bissonette tipped his head toward me. He used the side of his hand to bridge the gap between his mouth and my ear. ‘Devore's tape,' he said. I nodded to show I understood, then turned to Durgin again. ‘Mr. Noonan, you've met Kyra Devore and her mother, Mary Devore, haven't you?' How did you get Mattie out of Mary, I wondered . . . and then knew, just as I had known about the white shorts and halter top. Mattie was how Ki had first tried to say Mary. ‘Mr. Noonan, are we keeping you up?' ‘There's no need to be sarcastic, is there?' Bissonette asked. His tone was mild, but Elmer Durgin gave him a look which suggested that, should the ELFFS succeed in their goal of world domination, Bissonette would be aboard the first gulag-bound boxcar. ‘I'm sorry,' I said before Durgin could reply. ‘I just got derailed there for a second or two.' ‘New story idea?' Durgin asked, smiling his glossy smile. He looked like a swamp-toad in a sportcoat. He turned to the old jet pilot, told him to strike that last, then repeated his question about Kyra and Mattie. Yes, I said, I had met them. ‘Once or more than once?' ‘More than once.' ‘How many times have you met them?' ‘Twice.' ‘Have you also spoken to Mary Devore on the phone?' Already these questions were moving in a direction that made me uncomfortable. ‘Yes.' ‘How many times?' ‘Three times.' The third had come the day before, when she had asked if I would join her and John Storrow for a picnic lunch on the town common after my deposition. Lunch right there in the middle of town before God and everybody . . . although, with a New York lawyer to play chaperone, what harm in that? ‘Have you spoken to Kyra Devore on the telephone?' What an odd question! Not one anybody had prepared me for, either. I supposed that was at least partly why he had asked it. ‘Mr. Noonan?' ‘Yes, I've spoken to her once.' ‘Can you tell us the nature of that conversation?' ‘Well . . . ‘ I looked doubtfully at Bissonette, but there was no help there. He obviously didn't know, either. ‘Mattie ‘ ‘Pardon me?' Durgin leaned forward as much as he could. His eyes were intent in their pink pockets of flesh. ‘Mattie?' ‘Mattie Devore. Mary Devore.' ‘You call her Mattie?' ‘Yes,' I said, and had a wild impulse to add: In bed! In bed I call her that! ‘Oh Mattie, don't stop, don't stop,' I cry!' ‘It's the name she gave me when she introduced herself. I met her ‘ ‘We may get to that, but right now I'm interested in your telephone conversation with Kyra Devore. When was that?' ‘It was yesterday.' ‘July ninth, 1998.' ‘Yes.' ‘Who placed that call?' ‘Ma . . . Mary Devore.' Now he'll ask why she called, I thought, and I'll say she wanted to have yet another sex marathon, foreplay to consist of feeding each other chocolate-dipped strawberries while we look at pictures of naked malformed dwarves. ‘How did Kyra Devore happen to speak to you?' ‘She asked if she could. I heard her saying to her mother that she had to tell me something.' ‘What was it she had to tell you?' ‘That she had her first bubble bath.' ‘Did she also say she coughed?' I was quiet, looking at him. In that moment I understood why people hate lawyers, especially when they've been dusted over by one who's good at the job. ‘Mr. Noonan, would you like me to repeat the question?' ‘No,' I said, wondering where he'd gotten his information. Had these bastards tapped Mattie's phone? My phone? Both? Perhaps for the first time I understood on a gut level what it must be like to have half a billion dollars. With that much dough you could tap a lot of telephones. ‘She said her mother pushed bubbles in her face and she coughed. But she was ‘ ‘Thank you, Mr. Noonan, now let's turn to ‘ ‘Let him finish,' Bissonette said. I had an idea he had already taken a bigger part in the proceedings than he had expected to, but he didn't seem to mind. He was a sleepy-looking man with a bloodhound's mournful, trustworthy face. ‘This isn't a courtroom, and you're not cross-examining him.' ‘I have the little girl's welfare to think of,' Durgin said. He sounded both pompous and humble at the same time, a combination that went together like chocolate sauce on creamed corn. ‘It's a responsibility I take very seriously. If I seemed to be badgering you, Mr. Noonan, I apologize.' I didn't bother accepting his apology that would have made us both phonies. ‘All I was going to say is that Ki was laughing when she said it. She said she and her mother had a bubble-fight. When her mother came back on, she was laughing, too.' Durgin had opened the folder Footman had brought him and was paging rapidly through it while I spoke, as if he weren't hearing a word. ‘Her mother . . . Mattie, as you call her.' ‘Yes. Mattie as I call her. How do you know about our private telephone conversation in the first place?' ‘That's none of your business, Mr. Noonan.' He selected a single sheet of paper, then closed the folder. He held the paper up briefly, like a doctor studying an X-ray, and I could see it was covered with single-spaced typing. ‘Let's turn to your initial meeting with Mary and Kyra Devore. That was on the Fourth of July, wasn't it?' ‘Yes.' Durgin was nodding. ‘The morning of the Fourth. And you met Kyra Devore first.' ‘Yes.' ‘You met her first because her mother wasn't with her at that time, was she?' ‘That's a badly phrased question, Mr. Durgin, but I guess the answer is yes.' ‘I'm flattered to have my grammar corrected by a man who's been on the bestseller lists,' Durgin said, smiling. The smile suggested that he'd like to see me sitting next to Romeo Bissonette in that first gulag-bound boxcar. ‘Tell us about your meeting, first with Kyra Devore and then with Mary Devore. Or Mattie, if you like that better.' I told the story. When I was finished, Durgin centered the tape player in front of him. The nails of his pudgy fingers looked as glossy as his lips. ‘Mr. Noonan, you could have run Kyra over, isn't that true?' ‘Absolutely not. I was going thirty-five that's the speed limit there by the store. I saw her in plenty of time to stop.' ‘Suppose you had been coming the other way, though heading north instead of south. Would you still have seen her in plenty of time?' That was a fairer question than some of his others, actually. Someone coming the other way would have had a far shorter time to react. Still . . . ‘Yes,' I said. Durgin went up with the eyebrows. ‘You're sure of that?' ‘Yes, Mr. Durgin. I might have had to come down a little harder on the brakes, but ‘ ‘At thirty-five.' ‘Yes, at thirty-five. I told you, that's the speed limit ‘ ‘ -on that particular stretch of Route 68. Yes, you told me that. You did. Is it your experience that most people obey the speed limit on that part of the road?' ‘I haven't spent much time on the TR since 1993, so I can't ‘ ‘Come on, Mr. Noonan this isn't a scene from one of your books. Just answer my questions, or we'll be here all morning.' ‘I'm doing my best, Mr. Durgin.' He sighed, put-upon. ‘You've owned your place on Dark Score Lake since the eighties, haven't you? And the speed limit around the Lakeview General Store, the post office, and Dick Brooks's All-Purpose Garage what's called The North Village hasn't changed since then, has it?' ‘No,' I admitted. ‘Returning to my original question, then in your observation, do most people on that stretch of road obey the thirty-five-mile-an-hour limit?' ‘I can't say if it's most, because I've never done a traffic survey, but I guess a lot don't.' ‘Would you like to hear Castle County Sheriffs Deputy Footman testify on where the greatest number of speeding tickets are given out in TR-90, Mr. Noonan?' ‘No,' I said, quite honestly. ‘Did other vehicles pass you while you were speaking first with Kyra Devore and then with Mary Devore?' ‘Yes.' ‘How many?' ‘I don't know exactly. A couple.' ‘Could it have been three?' ‘I guess.' ‘Five?' ‘No, probably not so many.' ‘But you don't know, exactly, do you?' ‘Because Kyra Devore was upset.' ‘Actually she had it together pretty well for a ‘ ‘Did she cry in your presence?' ‘Well . . . yes.' ‘Did her mother make her cry?' ‘That's unfair.' ‘As unfair as allowing a three-year-old to go strolling down the middle of a busy highway on a holiday morning, in your opinion, or perhaps not quite as unfair as that?' ‘Jeepers, lay off,' Mr. Bissonette said mildly. There was distress on his bloodhound's face. ‘I withdraw the question,' Durgin said. ‘Which one?' I asked. He looked at me tiredly, as if to say he had to put up with assholes like me all the time and he was used to how we behaved. ‘How many cars went by from the time you picked the child up and carried her to safety to the time when you and the Devores parted company?' I hated that ‘carried her to safety' bit, but even as I formulated my answer, the old guy was muttering the question into his Stenomask. And it was in fact what I had done. There was no getting around it. ‘I told you, I don't know for sure.' ‘Well, give me a guesstimate.' Guesstimate. One of my all-time least favorite words. A Paul Harvey word. ‘There might have been three.' ‘Including Mary Devore herself?. Driving a ‘ He consulted the paper he'd taken from the folder. ‘ a 1982 Jeep Scout?' I thought of Ki saying Mattie go fast and understood where Durgin was heading now. And there was nothing I could do about it. ‘Yes, it was her and it was a Scout. I don't know what year.' ‘Was she driving below the posted speed limit, at the posted speed limit, or above the posted speed limit when she passed the place where you were standing with Kyra in your arms?' She'd been doing at least fifty, but I told Durgin I couldn't say for sure. He urged me to try I know you are unfamiliar with the hangman's knot, Mr. Noonan, but I'm sure you can make one if you really work at it and I declined as politely as I could. He picked up the paper again. ‘Mr. Noonan, would it surprise you to know that two witnesses Richard Brooks, Junior, the owner of Dick's All-Purpose Garage, and Royce Merrill, a retired carpenter claim that Mrs. Devore was doing well over thirty-five when she passed your location?' ‘I don't know,' I said. ‘I was concerned with the little girl.' ‘Would it surprise you to know that Royce Merrill estimated her speed at sixty miles an hour?' ‘That's ridiculous. When she hit the brakes she would have skidded sideways and landed upside down in the ditch.' ‘The skid-marks measured by Deputy Footman indicate a speed of at least fifty miles an hour,' Durgin said. It wasn't a question, but he looked at me almost roguishly, as if inviting me to struggle a little more and sink a little deeper into this nasty pit. I said nothing. Durgin folded his pudgy little hands and leaned over them toward me. The roguish look was gone. ‘Mr. Noonan, if you hadn't carried Kyra Devore to the side of the road if you hadn't rescued her mightn't her own mother have run her over?' Here was the really loaded question, and how should I answer it? Bissonette was certainly not flashing any helpful signals; he seemed to be trying to make meaningful eye-contact with the pretty assistant. I thought of the book Mattie was reading in tandem with ‘Bartleby' Silent Witness, by Richard North Patterson. Unlike the Grisham brand, Patterson's lawyers almost always seemed to know what they were doing. Objection, Your honor, calls for speculation on the part of the witness. I shrugged. ‘Sorry, counsellor, can't say left my crystal ball home.' Again I saw the ugly flash in Durgin's eyes. ‘Mr. Noonan, I can assure you that if you don't answer that question here, you are apt to be called back from Malibu or Fire Island or wherever it is you're going to write your next opus to answer it later on.' I shrugged. ‘I've already told you I was concerned with the child. I can't tell you how fast the mother was going, or how good Royce Merrill's vision is, or if Deputy Footman even measured the right set of skid-marks. There's a whole bunch of rubber on that part of the road, I can tell you. Suppose she was going fifty? Even fifty-five, let's say that. She's twenty-one years old, Durgin. At the age of twenty-one, a person's driving skills are at their peak. She probably would have swerved around the child, and easily.' ‘I think that's quite enough.' ‘Why? Because you're not getting what you wanted?' Bissonette's shoe clipped my ankle again, but I ignored it. ‘If you're on Kyra's side, why do you sound as though you're on her grandfather's?' A baleful little smile touched Durgin's lips. The kind that says Okay, smart guy, you want to play? He pulled the tape-recorder a little closer to him. ‘Since you have mentioned Kyra's grandfather, Mr. Maxwell Devore of Palm Springs, let's talk about him a little, shall we?' ‘It's your show.' ‘Have you ever spoken with Maxwell Devore?' ‘Yes.' ‘In person or on the phone?' ‘Phone.' I thought about adding that he had somehow gotten hold of my unlisted number, then remembered that Mattie had, too, and decided to keep my mouth shut on that subject. ‘When was this?' ‘Last Saturday night. The night of the Fourth. He called while I was watching the fireworks.' ‘And was the subject of your conversation that morning's little adventure?' As he asked, Durgin reached into his pocket and brought out a cassette tape. There was an ostentatious quality to this gesture; in that moment he looked like a parlor magician showing you both sides of a silk handkerchief. And he was bluffing. I couldn't be sure of that . . . and yet I was. Devore had taped our conversation, all right that underhum really had been too loud, and on some level I'd been aware of that fact even while I was talking to him and I thought it really was on the cassette Durgin was now slotting into the cassette player . . . but it was a bluff. ‘I don't recall,' I said. Durgin's hand froze in the act of snapping the cassette's transparent loading panel shut. He looked at me with frank disbelief . . . and something else. I thought the something else was surprised anger. ‘You don't recall? Come now, Mr. Noonan. Surely writers train themselves to recall conversations, and this one was only a week ago. Tell me what you talked about.' ‘I really can't say,' I told him in a stolid, colorless voice. For a moment Durgin looked almost panicky. Then his features smoothed. One polished fingernail slipped back and forth over keys marked REW, FF, PLAY, and REC. ‘How did Mr. Devore begin the conversation?' he asked. ‘He said hello,' I said mildly, and there was a short muffled sound from behind the Stenomask. It could have been the old guy clearing his throat; it could have been a suppressed laugh. Spots of color were blooming in Durgin's cheeks. ‘After hello? What then?' ‘I don't recall.' ‘Did he ask you about that morning?' ‘I don't recall.' ‘Didn't you tell him that Mary Devore and her daughter were together, Mr. Noonan? That they were together picking flowers? Isn't that what you told this worried grandfather when he inquired about the incident which was the talk of the township that Fourth of July?' ‘Oh boy,' Bissonette said. He raised one hand over the table, then touched the palm with the fingers of the other, making a ref's T. ‘Time out.' Durgin looked at him. The flush in his cheeks was more pronounced now, and his lips had pulled back enough to show the tips of small, neatly capped teeth. ‘What do you want?' he almost snarled, as if Bissonette had just dropped by to tell him about the Mormon Way or perhaps the Rosicrucians. ‘I want you to stop leading this guy, and I want that whole thing about picking flowers stricken from the record,' Bissonette said. ‘Why?' Durgin snapped. ‘Because you're trying to get stuff on the record that this witness won't say. If you want to break here for awhile so we can make a conference call to Judge Rancourt, get his opinion ‘ ‘I withdraw the question,' Durgin said. He looked at me with a kind of helpless, surly rage. ‘Mr. Noonan, do you want to help me do my job?' ‘I want to help Kyra Devore if I can,' I said. ‘Very well.' He nodded as if no distinction had been made. ‘Then please tell me what you and Maxwell Devore talked about.' ‘I can't recall.' I caught his eyes and held them. ‘Perhaps,' I said, ‘you can refresh my recollection.' There was a moment of silence, like that which sometimes strikes a high-stakes poker game just after the last of the bets have been made and just before the players show their hands. Even the old fighter-pilot was quiet, his eyes unblinking above the mask. Then Durgin pushed the cassette player aside with the heel of his hand (the set of his mouth said he felt about it just then as I often felt about the telephone) and went back to the morning of July Fourth. He never asked about my dinner with Mattie and Ki on Tuesday night, and never returned to my telephone conversation with Devore the one where I had said all those awkward and easily disprovable things. I went on answering questions until eleven-thirty, but the interview really ended when Durgin pushed the tape-player away with the heel of his hand. I knew it, and I'm pretty sure he did, too. ‘Mike! Mike, over here!' Mattie was waving from one of the tables in the picnic area behind the town common's bandstand. She looked vibrant and happy. I waved back and made my way in that direction, weaving between little kids playing tag, skirting a couple of teenagers making out on the grass, and ducking a Frisbee which a leaping German shepherd caught smartly. There was a tall, skinny redhead with her, but I barely got a chance to notice him. Mattie met me while I was still on the gravel path, put her arms around me, hugged me it was no prudey little ass-poking-out hug, either and then kissed me on the mouth hard enough to push my lips against my teeth. There was a hearty smack when she disengaged. She pulled back and looked at me with undisguised delight. ‘Was it the biggest kiss you've ever had?' ‘The biggest in at least four years,' I said. ‘Will you settle for that?' And if she didn't step away from me in the next few seconds, she was going to have physical proof of how much I had enjoyed it. ‘I guess I'll have to.' She turned to the redheaded guy with a funny kind of defiance. ‘Was that all right?' ‘Probably not,' he said, ‘but at least you're not currently in view of those old boys at the All-Purpose Garage. Mike, I'm John Storrow. Nice to meet you in person.' I liked him at once, maybe because I'd come upon him dressed in his three-piece New York suit and primly setting out paper plates on a picnic table while his curly red hair blew around his head like kelp. His skin was fair and freckled, the kind which would never tan, only burn and then peel in great eczema-like patches. When we shook, his hand seemed to be all knuckles. He had to be at least thirty, but he looked Mattie's age, and I guessed it would be another five years before he was able to get a drink without showing his driver's license. ‘Sit down,' he said. ‘We've got a five-course lunch, courtesy of Castle Rock Variety grinders, which are for some strange reason called ‘Italian sandwiches' up here . . . mozzarella sticks . . . garlic fries . . . Twinkies.' ‘That's only four,' I said. ‘I forgot the soft-drink course,' he said, and pulled three long-neck bottles of S'OK birch beer out of a brown bag. ‘Let's eat. Mattie runs the library from two to eight on Fridays and Saturdays, and this would be a bad time for her to be missing work.' ‘How did the readers' circle go last night?' I asked. ‘Lindy Briggs didn't eat you alive, I see.' She laughed, clasped her hands, and shook them over her head. ‘I was a hit! An absolute smashola! I didn't dare tell them I got all my best insights from you ‘ ‘Thank God for small favors,' Storrow said. He was freeing his own sandwich from its string and butcher-paper wrapping, doing it carefully and a little dubiously, using just the tips of his fingers. ‘ so I said I looked in a couple of books and found some leads there. It was sort of wonderful. I felt like a college kid.' ‘Good.' ‘Bissonette?' John Storrow asked. ‘Where's he? I never met a guy named Romeo before.' ‘Said he had to go right back to Lewiston. Sorry.' ‘Actually it's best we stay small, at least to begin with.' He bit into his sandwich they come tucked into long sub rolls and looked at me, surprised. ‘This isn't bad.' ‘Eat more than three and you're hooked for life,' Mattie said, and chomped heartily into her own. ‘Tell us about the depo,' John said, and while they ate, I talked. When I finished, I picked up my own sandwich and played a little catch-up. I'd forgotten how good an Italian can be sweet, sour, and oily all at the same time. Of course nothing that tastes that good can be healthy; that's a given. I suppose one could formulate a similar postulate about full-body hugs from young girls in legal trouble. ‘Very interesting,' John said. ‘Very interesting indeed.' He took a mozzarella stick from its grease-stained bag, broke it open, and looked with a kind of fascinated horror at the clotted white gunk inside. ‘People up here eat this?' he asked. ‘People in New York eat fish-bladders,' I said. ‘Raw.' ‘Touch? ¦' He dipped a piece into the plastic container of spaghetti sauce (in this context it is called ‘cheese-dip' in western Maine), then ate it. ‘Well?' I asked. ‘Not bad. They ought to be a lot hotter, though.' Yes, he was right about that. Eating cold mozzarella sticks is a little like eating cold snot, an observation I thought I would keep to myself on this beautiful midsummer Friday. ‘If Durgin had the tape, why wouldn't he play it?' Mattie asked. ‘I don't understand.' John stretched his arms out, cracked his knuckles, and looked at her benignly. ‘We'll probably never know for sure,' he said. He thought Devore was going to drop the suit it was in every line of his body-language and every inflection of his voice. That was hopeful, but it would be good if Mattie didn't allow herself to become too hopeful. John Storrow wasn't as young as he looked, and probably not as guileless, either (or so I fervently hoped), but he was young. And neither he nor Mattie knew the story of Scooter Larribee's sled. Or had seen Bill Dean's face when he told it. ‘Want to hear some possibilities?' ‘Sure,' I said. John put down his sandwich, wiped his fingers, and then began to tick off points. ‘First, he made the call. Taped conversations have a highly dubious value under those circumstances. Second, he didn't exactly come off like Captain Kangaroo, did he?' ‘No.' ‘Third, your fabrication impugns you, Mike, but not really very much, and it doesn't impugn Mattie at all. And by the way, that thing about Mattie pushing bubbles in Kyra's face, I love that. If that's the best they can do, they better give it up right now. Last and this is where the truth probably lies I think Devore's got Nixon's Disease.' ‘Nixon's Disease?' Mattie asked. ‘The tape Durgin had isn't the only tape. Can't be. And your father-in-law is afraid that if he introduces one tape made by whatever system he's got in Warrington's, we might subpoena all of them. And I'd damn well try.' She looked bewildered. ‘What could be on them? And if it's bad, why not just destroy them?' ‘Maybe he can't,' I said. ‘Maybe he needs them for other reasons.' ‘It doesn't really matter,' John said. ‘Durgin was bluffing, and that's what matters.' He hit the heel of his hand lightly against the picnic table. ‘I think he's going to drop it. I really do.' ‘It's too early to start thinking like that,' I said at once, but I could tell by Mattie's face shining more brightly than ever that the damage was done. ‘Fill him in on what else you've been doing,' Mattie told John. ‘Then I've got to get to the library.' ‘Where do you send Kyra on your workdays?' I asked. ‘Mrs. Cullum's. She lives two miles up the Wasp Hill Road. Also in July there's VBS from ten until three. That's Vacation Bible School. Ki loves it, especially the singing and the flannel-board stories about Noah and Moses. The bus drops her off at Arlene's, and I pick her up around quarter of nine.' She smiled a little wistfully. ‘By then she's usually fast asleep on the couch.' John held forth for the next ten minutes or so. He hadn't been on the case long, but had already started a lot of balls rolling. A fellow in California was gathering facts about Roger Devore and Morris Ridding (‘gathering facts' sounded so much better than ‘snooping'). John was particularly interested in learning about the quality of Roger Devore's relations with his father, and if Roger was on record concerning his little niece from Maine. John had also mapped out a campaign to learn as much as possible about Max Devore's movements and activities since he'd come back to TR-90. To that end he had the name of a private investigator, one recommended by Romeo Bissonette, my rent-a-lawyer. As he spoke, paging rapidly through a little notebook he drew from the inside pocket of his suitcoat, I remembered what he'd said about Lady Justice during our telephone conversation: Slap some handcuffs on that broad's wrists and some tape over her mouth to go along with the blindfold, rape her and roll her in the mud. That was maybe a bit too strong for what we were doing, but I thought at the very least we were shoving her around a little. I imagined poor Roger Devore up on the stand, having flown three thousand miles in order to be questioned about his sexual preferences. I had to keep reminding myself that his father had put him in that position, not Mattie or me or John Storrow. ‘Have you gotten any closer to a meeting with Devore and his chief legal advisor?' I asked. ‘Don't know for sure. The line is in the water, the offer is on the table, the puck's on the ice, pick your favorite metaphor, mix em and match em if you desire.' ‘Got your irons in the fire,' Mattie said. ‘Your checkers on the board,' I added. We looked at each other and laughed. John regarded us sadly, then sighed, picked up his sandwich, and began to eat again. ‘You really have to meet him with his lawyer more or less dancing attendance?' I asked. ‘Would you like to win this thing, then discover Devore can do it all again based on unethical behavior by Mary Devore's legal resource?' John returned. ‘Don't even joke about it!' Mattie cried. ‘I wasn't joking,' John said. ‘It has to be with his lawyer, yes. I don't think it's going to happen, not on this trip. I haven't even got a look at the old cockuh, and I have to tell you my curiosity is killing me.' ‘If that's all it takes to make you happy, show up behind the backstop at the softball field next Tuesday evening,' Mattie said. ‘He'll be there in his fancy wheelchair, laughing and clapping and sucking his damned old oxygen every fifteen minutes or so.' ‘Not a bad idea,' John said. ‘I have to go back to New York for the weekend I'm leaving aprs Osgood but maybe I'll show up on Tuesday. I might even bring my glove.' He began clearing up our litter, and once again I thought he looked both prissy and endearing at the same time, like Stan Laurel wearing an apron. Mattie eased him aside and took over. ‘No one ate any Twinkles,' she said, a little sadly. ‘Take them home to your daughter,' John said. ‘No way. I don't let her eat stuff like this. What kind of mother do you think I am?' She saw our expressions, replayed what she'd just said, then burst out laughing. We joined her. Mattie's old Scout was parked in one of the slant spaces behind the war memorial, which in Castle Rock is a World War I soldier with a generous helping of birdshit on his pie-dish helmet. A brand-new Taurus with a Hertz decal above the inspection sticker was parked next to it. John tossed his briefcase reassuringly thin and not very ostentatious into the back seat. ‘If I can make it back on Tuesday, I'll call you,' he told Mattie. ‘If I'm able to get an appointment with your father-in-law through this man Osgood, I will also call you.' ‘I'll buy the Italian sandwiches,' Mattie said. He smiled, then grasped her arm in one hand and mine in the other. He looked like a newly ordained minister getting ready to marry his first couple. ‘You two talk on the telephone if you need to,' he said, ‘always remembering that one or both lines may be tapped. Meet in the market if you happen to. Mike, you might feel a need to drop by the local library and check out a book.' ‘Not until you renew your card, though,' Mattie said, giving me a demure glance. ‘But no more visits to Mattie's trailer. Is that understood?' I said yes; she said yes; John Storrow looked unconvinced. It made me wonder if he was seeing something in our faces or bodies that shouldn't be there. ‘They are committed to a line of attack which probably isn't going to work,' he said. ‘We can't risk giving them the chance to change course. That means innuendos about the two of you; it also means innuendos about Mike and Kyra.' Mattie's shocked expression made her look twelve again. ‘Mike and Kyra! What are you talking about?' ‘Allegations of child molestation thrown up by people so desperate they'll try anything.' ‘That's ridiculous,' she said. ‘And if my father-in-law wanted to sling that kind of mud ‘ John nodded. ‘Yes, we'd be obligated to sling it right back. Newspaper coverage from coast to coast would follow, maybe even Court TV, God bless and save us. We want none of that if we can avoid it. It's not good for the grownups, and it's not good for the child. Now or later.' He bent and kissed Mattie's cheek. ‘I'm sorry about all this,' he said, and he did sound genuinely sorry. ‘Custody's just this way.' ‘I think you warned me. It's just that . . . the idea someone might make a thing like that up just because there was no other way for them to win . . . ‘ ‘Let me warn you again,' he said. His face came as close to grim as its young and good-natured features would probably allow. ‘What we have is a very rich man with a very shaky case. The combination could be like working with old dynamite.' I turned to Mattie. ‘Are you still worried about Ki? Still feel she's in danger?' I saw her think about hedging her response out of plain old Yankee reserve, quite likely and then deciding not to. Deciding, perhaps, that hedging was a luxury she couldn't afford. ‘Yes. But it's just a feeling, you know.' John was frowning. I supposed the idea that Devore might resort to extralegal means of obtaining what he wanted had occurred to him, as well. ‘Keep your eye on her as much as you can,' he said. ‘I respect intuition. Is yours based on anything concrete?' ‘No,' Mattie answered, and her quick glance in my direction asked me to keep my mouth shut. ‘Not really.' She opened the Scout's door and tossed in the little brown bag with the Twinkies in it she had decided to keep them after all. Then she turned to John and me with an expression that was close to anger. ‘I'm not sure how to follow that advice, anyway. I work five days a week, and in August, when we do the microfiche update, it'll be six. Right now Ki gets her lunch at Vacation Bible School and her dinner from Arlene Cullum. I see her in the mornings. The rest of the time . . . ‘ I knew what she was going to say before she said it; the expression was an old one. ‘ . . . she's on the TR.' ‘I could help you find an au pair,' I said, thinking it would be a hell of a lot cheaper than John Storrow. ‘No,' they said in such perfect unison that they glanced at each other and laughed. But even while she was laughing, Mattie looked tense and unhappy. ‘We're not going to leave a paper trail for Durgin or Devore's custody team to exploit,' John said. ‘Who pays me is one thing. Who pays Mattie's child-care help is another.' ‘Besides, I've taken enough from you,' Mattie said. ‘More than I can sleep easy on. I'm not going to get in any deeper just because I've been having megrims.' She climbed into the Scout and closed the door. I rested my hands on her open window. Now we were on the same level, and the eye-contact was so strong it was disconcerting. ‘Mattie, I don't have anything else to spend it on. Really.' ‘When it comes to John's fee, I accept that. Because John's fee is about Ki.' She put her hand over mine and squeezed briefly. ‘This other is about me. All right?' ‘Yeah. But you need to tell your babysitter and the people who run this Bible thing that you've got a custody case on your hands, a potentially bitter one, and Kyra's not to go anywhere with anyone, even someone they know, without your say-so.' She smiled. ‘It's already been done. On John's advice. Stay in touch, Mike.' She lifted my hand, gave it a hearty smack, and drove away. ‘What do you think?' I asked John as we watched the Scout blow oil on its way to the new Prouty Bridge, which spans Castle Street and spills outbound traffic onto Highway 68. ‘I think it's grand she has a well-heeled benefactor and a smart lawyer,' John said. He paused, then added: ‘But I'll tell you some-thing she somehow doesn't feel lucky to me at all. There's a feeling I get . . . I don't know . . . ‘ ‘That there's a cloud around her you can't quite see.' ‘Maybe. Maybe that's it.' He raked his hands through the restless mass of his red hair. ‘I just know it's something sad.' I knew exactly what he meant . . . except for me there was more. I wanted to be in bed with her, sad or not, right or not. I wanted to feel her hands on me, tugging and pressing, patting and stroking. I wanted to be able to smell her skin and taste her hair. I wanted to have her lips against my ear, her breath tickling the fine hairs within its cup as she told me to do what I wanted, whatever I wanted. I got back to Sara Laughs shortly before two o'clock and let myself in, thinking about nothing but my study and the IBM with the Courier ball. I was writing again writing. I could still hardly believe it. I'd work (not that it felt much like work after a four-year layoff) until maybe six o'clock, swim, then go down to the Village Cafe for one of Buddy's cholesterol-rich specialties. The moment I stepped through the door, Bunter's bell began to ring stridently. I stopped in the foyer, my hand frozen on the knob. The house was hot and bright, not a shadow anywhere, but the gooseflesh forming on my arms felt like midnight. ‘Who's here?' I called. The bell stopped ringing. There was a moment of silence, and then a woman shrieked. It came from everywhere, pouring out of the sunny, mote-laden air like sweat out of hot skin. It was a scream of outrage, anger, grief . . . but mostly, I think, of horror. And I screamed in response. I couldn't help it. I had been frightened standing in the dark cellar stairwell, listening to the unseen fist thump on the insulation, but this was far worse. It never stopped, that scream. It faded, as the child's sobs had faded; faded as if the person screaming was being carried rapidly down a long corridor and away from me. At last it was gone. I leaned against the bookcase, my palm pressed against my tee-shirt, my heart galloping beneath it. I was gasping for breath, and my muscles had that queer exploded feel they get after you've had a bad scare. A minute passed. My heartbeat gradually slowed, and my breathing slowed with it. I straightened up, took a tottery step, and when my legs held me, took two more. I stood in the kitchen doorway, looking across to the living room. Above the fireplace, Bunter the moose looked glassily back at me. The bell around his neck hung still and chimeless. A hot sunpoint glowed on its side. The only sound was that stupid Felix the Cat clock in the kitchen. The thought nagging at me, even then, was that the screaming woman had been Jo, that Sara Laughs was being haunted by my wife, and that she was in pain. Dead or not, she was in pain. ‘Jo?' I asked quietly. ‘Jo, are you ‘ The sobbing began again the sound of a terrified child. At the same moment my mouth and nose once more filled with the iron taste of the lake. I put one hand to my throat, gagging and frightened, then leaned over the sink and spat. It was as it had been before instead of voiding a gush of water, nothing came out but a little spit. The waterlogged feeling was gone as if it had never been there. I stayed where I was, grasping the counter and bent over the sink, probably looking like a drunk who has finished the party by upchucking most of the night's bottled cheer. I felt like that, too stunned and bleary, too overloaded to really understand what was going on. At last I straightened up again, took the towel folded over the dishwasher's handle, and wiped my face with it. There was tea in the fridge, and I wanted a tall, ice-choked glass of it in the worst way. I reached for the doorhandle and froze. The fruit and vegetable magnets were drawn into a circle again. In the center was this: help im drown That's it, I thought. I'm getting out of here. Right now. Today. Yet an hour later I was up in my stifling study with a glass of tea on the desk beside me (the cubes in it long since melted), dressed only in my bathing trunks and lost in the world I was making the one where a private detective named Andy Drake was trying to prove that John Shackleford was not the serial killer nicknamed Baseball Cap. This is how we go on: one day at a time, one meal at a time, one pain at a time, one breath at a time. Dentists go on one root-canal at a time; boat-builders go on one hull at a time. If you write books, you go on one page at a time. We turn from all we know and all we fear. We study catalogues, watch football games, choose Sprint over AT. We count the birds in the sky and will not turn from the window when we hear the footsteps behind us as something comes up the hall; we say yes, I agree that clouds often look like other things fish and unicorns and men on horseback but they are really only clouds. Even when the lightning flashes inside them we say they are only clouds and turn our attention to the next meal, the next pain, the next breath, the next page. This is how we go on.

Crowd Disasters as Systemic Failures Analysis of the Love Parade Disaster - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 585 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2019/03/18 Category Analytics Essay Level High school Tags: Failure Essay Did you like this example? In a hot summer of July 24th, 2010, a crowd disaster took place in the annual Love Parade event in the Duisburg City of Germany. The disaster had killed 21 people and left 500 people injured. Authors purpose of this paper is not just to describe about the incident, how it took place instead authors have made explicit analytical description about its safety and prearrangement for possible disasters, for all event organizers. Authors have made study of the Love Parade disaster on the base of different eyewitnesses, close circuit camera records, and YouTube video footages. The Love Parade was first organized in 1989 in Berlin and continued till 2003 in same city. It was interrupted till 2007 in reason of permit by city, lack of budget and security concerns. In 2007 The Love Parade restarted in Essen City gathering 1.2 million visitors. In 2008 it was organized in Dortmund city. In 2009 again, it was cancelled in security concern. Thus, the love parade came up to Duisburg City in 2010, which turned as unforgettable sorrow and pain. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Crowd Disasters as Systemic Failures: Analysis of the Love Parade Disaster" essay for you Create order There are couples of factors that led the love parade festivals to horrible and panic ending. One most important factor was the space of the festival. In fact, the event space was supposed to choose on the base of the expected visitors not on the base of the capacity of space. However, the space chosen was squeezed in 100,000 square meters, between train track on the east and freeway on the west, which was too small for the expected visitors of 1.4 million. On the top of that, the geographic structure of the space compounded to the reason of disaster. The entrance ramp to the event location and exit ramp were next to each other making the route U-turn. When a sea of human with giant floats entering to the event location and exiting, made intersect in a narrow ramp, the crowd became uncontrollable and people ran over stepping on each other and piled up with injured and dead bodies. One of the notable, additional reason for this disaster was the failure to start the event on time. The organizer started the event with one-hour delay. However, people were already gathered in the open area of the event. When entrance was opened, the inflow interrupted the line and became uncontrollable. This situation accumulated the crowd unrest and contributed to the disaster. Additionally, organizers failed to predict the future possible incidents. The possible nature and behavior of the event could not be observed in advance. Even, the communication gap between the member of organizers and hearing interruption in phone calls were also the cause to push the event into tragic ending. Because of the crowd, people could not get the right information about what is happening in another corner or another side of the crowd. False rumor made people pandemonium and ran over pushing and stepping and on each other. Another important factor that caused to disaster is the generation of a collective force from the crowd. When a crowd goes beyond control, one force gets multiplied into multiple forces. In the love parade disaster, this physical idea worked, and the crowd became unrest. Right after the disaster, the staircase and the crowd movement were indicated as the reason for the incident. However, this study shows that the staircase was just a cause not the effect to contribute the disaster. The crucial reasons are the existence of narrow ramp, organizational failure to predict the possible dark side of the event, and accumulation of unrest force by pushing each other in the crowd.

Energy Drinks - 1798 Words

Keeping tabs on your competition is one thing. Decorating an entire wall of your office with their products is quite another. For Tyler Benedict, it s a way to remember how hard he s worked and how quickly it could all slip away. His display of more than 200 energy drinks represents the success he s earned in an industry that s more likely to send intrepid entrepreneurs into bankruptcy than into Donald Trump s tax bracket. About 80 percent of these are gone, he says proudly. Most energy drinks fail in six months. Benedict is the founder, owner and CEO of Greensboro-based Source Beverages, a thriving energy drink company with expected revenues of $2 million this year and distribution in more than 20 states.†¦show more content†¦We d give people samples, and they d say it was awful. I d be thinking to myself, ‘We re eating Taco Bell just to get by, and they don t even like it, Kristi Benedict recalls. Even when the money from Quaker Oats was nearly exhausted, Benedict wouldn t give up. The couple moved to Greensboro, and Benedict started over in late 2001, working from home and borrowing money from family and friends. His new product was a ready-to-drink beverage called Burn. We wanted to make something that was different than anything else out there, he says. Creating the basic components of Burn wasn t difficult. At his father s agency, Benedict had worked on accounts for vitamins and nutritional supplements. I knew the basic ingredients that needed to be in there, so I just had to find a way to make the drink taste good, he says. So many energy drinks taste like medicine. Benedict talked family and friends into sampling his home-brewed concoctions to get an honest opinion. You find yourself having to rely on friends and family, and I lost a few friends in the process, he says. Benedict found that some beverage distributors tried to take advantage of him, and he dealt with a few unsavory characters while figuring out how to sell the drink. He also had a tough time convincing people to take him seriously. My dad always said once you hit 30, people start respecting you, Benedict says. AndShow MoreRelatedEnergy Drinks : The Energy Drink1548 Words   |  7 PagesMonster Energy Drink Over the years, energy drinks have been a phenomenon. Since 1997, when Red Bull became a sensation, the consumption of energy drinks has been at an all-time high. Currently, the energy drinks is a billion dollar market, with the U.S sales of Red Bull and Monster beverages totaling 4.5 billion dollars in 2016 (Statista, 2017). Other energy drinks in the market include Rock Star, Cocaine, Amp, Full Throttle, and Rip It. Generally, Malinauskas, Aeby, Overton, Carpenter-Aeby, andRead MoreEnergy Drinks2397 Words   |  10 PagesISLS 4301 - Section 5 Energy Drinks Research By: Maram Balubaid, Rahmah Bukhary, Sara Al Akel, Haifa Al Akel and Basma Salah Energy drinks Energy drinks are drinks that don’t contain alcohol, and often lightly carbonated. 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Energy drinks have many untested contents within the drink that aren’t tested or regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, deeming it unsafe for consumption. The FDA needs to test the effects of the combined contents of an energy drink and draft regulations so that the public can make more informed decisions about its consumption. Energy drinks have undeniably meshed into the subculture of any US college campus. College students who consume copious amounts of energy drinks claimRead MoreEffects of Energy Drinks1114 Words   |  5 PagesAre Energy Drinks Safe? Whether it is a long night studying or just not ready for the day, college students choose to drink energy drinks to get full energy. These highly caffeinated drinks come with stimulating names such as Red Bull, Monster, Full Throttle, or Rockstar. Although these drinks are marketed as a healthful stimulant, consumers should be aware of the potential side effects, as they can be very harmful to one’s health. Energy drinks are beverages whose producers advertise thatRead MoreEnergy Drinks Market1705 Words   |  7 Pageshow the Energy Drink market is segmented according to demographic, geographic, psychographic and behavioral variables. The Energy Drink industry which is dominated by Red Bull and V energy drinks is worth 151 million dollars and is growing by 47% per year. Energy drinks is the fastest growing category in the soft drink market. I have chosen three different companies in this report to analysis which segments they target, Powerade, Red Bull and Coca Cola. Red Bull is the market leader in energy drinksRead MoreThe Market For Energy Drink950 Words   |  4 Pagesfor energy drink has continually been questioned about it health concern. A company can benefit by introducing a healthier option to get energy and have a more active day. When energy drinks first came on the scene they exploded like a new phenomenon, which made consumer feel like new-elevated being. Companies like r ed bull and rock star brought slogan that increased the energy drinks popularity and made it into a billion dollar industry. With all the scrutiny that has been attacking energy drinksRead MoreEnergy Drinks Market1259 Words   |  6 PagesEnergy Drinks - Red Bull What are energy drinks? Cola and coffee drinks have long been promoted and known as energy drinks - meant to give you a little pick me up, mostly in the form of caffeine and sugar. Jolt Cola in the 80s was one of the early entries in the energy drink market, with double the caffeine of normal colas, it was marketed towards teens and college students as a way to get an energy edge and keep you awake and energized. Their slogan, in fact, was twice the caffeine. JoltRead MoreEnergy Consumption Patterns Of Energy Drinks Essay1563 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract Background: Energy drink consumption has continued to grow and gain popularity since the release of Red Bull (the current leader in the energy drink market) in 1997. While energy drinks are generally targeted to young adult consumers there has been minimum research regarding energy drink consumption patterns in New Zealand. The aim of this study therefore is to determine consumption patterns of energy drinks as well as perceived benefits and side effects amongst students at Ara InstituteRead MoreConsumption of Energy Drinks521 Words   |  2 PagesConsumption of Energy Drinks Throughout the last several centuries, many beverages have been utilized to produce energy to boost the body and its ability, such as tea and coffee. However, the first beverage considered to be an â€Å"energy† drink was Coca-Cola due to the fact that ingredients of the drink included both caffeine and cocaine (Lile). Since the introduction of Coke products in the late 1800’s, products full of sugar and caffeine have been available to the public and have exploded in