Topic: Racial Identification of Suspects in Crime Stories and Potential Jurorsí  Guilt Determinations

Introduction

 Pre-trial publicity makes it difficult for a defendant to receive a fair trial. "Pre-trial publicity" is the kind of publicity which "tries" a defendant in print or over the air before the real courthouse trial  starts.

 The Constitution's First Amendment protects freedom of speech and guarantees the right of the press to present information before a trial, while at the same time the Fourth Amendment guarantees a defendant's right to due process and the Sixth Amendment guarantees a defendant the right to a fair trial. These three Constitutional protections clash because media coverage often influences opinions of potential jurors thereby compromising a defendant's right of due process and a fair trial.

 Many of the lawyers' arguments claimed that the media were destroying the rights of defendants by publicizing cases before they got to court. (footnote 3) They believed that such publicity prejudiced potential jurors to such extent that a fair trial was not possible.  Editors and publishers and some attorneys too retorted that the media were not harmful, and contended that the First Amendment's free press guarantees took precedence over other Constitutional provisions, including the Sixth Amendment (American Newspaper Publishers Association ____)

 Popular phrases frequently heard in the 1960s were "trial by newspaper" and "trial by mass media."  Some attorneys blame the mass media for many of the shortcomings of the American court system (__foot note 3). In reply, many journalists went to great lengths in trying to justify questionable actions of the news media in covering criminal trials. (footnote 4)

 When the free press?fair trial controversy is raised, the case most likely to be mentioned is Sheppard v. Maxwell.( footnote 83) The well known movie "The Fugitive" was based on this case.  It was one of the most notorious and most sensationally reported  trials in American history. (footnote __)

 This case begin on July 4, 1954 when Dr. Sheppardís pregnant wife was found dead in their bedroom.   She had been beaten to death.  Although Dr. Sheppard went through a series of interrogations, up until July 20, 1954,  he had been a suspect but had not been charged.  However, on that date, newspapers began a campaign of front-page editorials. Newspaper editorials appeared bearing titles such as "Why Donít Police Quiz Top Suspect? and "Why Isnít Sam Sheppard in Jail?" Another headline said: "Quit Stalling?Bring Him In." The night that headline appeared--July 30--Sheppard was arrested at 10 p.m. on a murder charge.  During the trial, the news media was relentless in publicizing the case.  Dr. Sheppard was convicted of murder, but the Supreme Court reversed his murder conviction on grounds that pre-trial and during-trial publicity had impaired his ability to get a fair trial. (footnote __)

 After this case, the American Bar Association instituted "remedies" which should ensure the defendant a fair trial once he has received an excessive amount of prejudicial publicity. Some of the most important remedies are listed below:

 1. Change of venue--moving the trial to another area

 2. Continuance or postponement--postponing a trial until the publicity or public uproar subsides.

 3. Voir dire examination of potential jurors--potential jurors are questioned by opposing attorneys and may be dismissed "for cause" if the juror is shown to be prejudiced.

 4. Sequestration--isolates the jury to make sure that community prejudices?either published or broadcast in the mass media do not infect a jury with information which might harm a defendantís chances for a fair trial.

 5. Contempt of court--Courts have the power to cite for contempt those actions?either in court or out of court?which interfere with the orderly administration of justice.

 Tans and Chaffee (1966) conducted a study to determine whether prejudice from crime-story information affects potential jurors and, if so, which information is most prejudicial. Their experiment revealed that 150 potential jurors, drawn from various vocational groups and social organizations, did prejudge guilt on the basis of news stories. Moreover, the study indicated that the more information the potential jurors received about the crime, the more willing they were to judge the suspect. In addition, they judged the suspect more guilty or less guilty according to how negative the information in the story was about the suspect.

 A study by Padawer-Singer and Barton (1975) found that 80 percent of jurors exposed to prejudicial articles returned verdicts of guilty, while only 39 percent of control jurors, those not exposed to articles, returned guilty verdicts. They suggest that unfavorable pretrial publicity can cause jurors  to return "guilty" verdicts in cases where jurors not exposed to such publicity are not predisposed to convict.

 Following one year of newspaper coverage of a case involving distribution of marijuana, Moran and Cutler (1991) surveyed 604 potential jurors regarding their knowledge of the case, general attitudes toward crime, and attitudes toward the specific case. They found knowledge of the case to be positively and significantly correlated to willingness to judge the defendant guilty. They concluded that even modest pretrial publicity could prejudice potential jurors against a defendant.

 These studies suggest that pretrial publicity does have an effect on the outcome of trials.  Consequently, the effect of racial identification of suspects should be examined to determine to what extent media accounts of crime information may be prejudicial.  This literature provides support for the theory that potential jurors are influenced by information in news stories before a trial and that they may make guilt judgments of suspects based on this information.

 Previous research has suggested that race plays a part in juror determinations of guilt. In addition, studies have suggested that racial considerations have an impact throughout the judicial process.

 Gray and Ashmore (1976) found that after being convicted, black, lower-class defendants received longer prison sentences than white, upper-class defendants. They also suggest that juror decisions about convictions versus acquittals could be influenced by a defendant's race.

 Race of defendants has been shown to have an effect not only on decisions of jurors, but also on decisions of judges. In studies by Hagan (1974) and Kramer and Steffensmeir (1993), black and other typically minority and lower-class defendants received longer prison sentences than white, upper-class defendants found guilty of the same offenses.

 Foley and Chamberlin (1982) found that white jurors were most likely to find defendants guilty who were of a different  race than the jurors. Similarly, McGlynn, Megas, and Benson  (1976) found that white college students were more likely to find a black defendant guilty than a white defendant after reading a summary of a murder case and being asked to vote on guilt or insanity of the defendant.

  Own-race bias was also addressed by Bernard (1979).  Subjects were assigned to simulated juries with differing  percentages of white and black jurors, then asked to render  two verdicts on defendants, one without discussion among themselves and one with discussion. The only jury which  returned a unanimous "guilty" verdict was one composed entirely of white jurors judging a black defendant.

 Klein and Creech (1982) discovered similar findings concerning guilt attribution and race. In their study, white students read two transcripts of four possible crimes with the  race of the suspect and that of the victim systematically varied and asked to rate which defendant they felt was more likely to be guilty.  In seven out- of eight conditions, the subjects rated the probability that a black defendant was guilty higher than the probability a white defendant was guilty. Black defendants were perceived as guilty particularly when the crime they were suspected of was  committed against a white victim.

 These findings were further supported by Pfeifer and Ogloff (1991). They found that black defendants are overwhelmingly rated more guilty than white defendants, especially when the victim of the crime was white.

 Previous research and the positions taken by the courts encourage more investigation into prejudicial effects of media identification of a defendant's race on guilt determinations of jurors. As  the Rodney King, Reginald Denny, and other cases suggest, race of a defendant and juror racist attitudes are potentially critical variables for testing the Constitutional guarantees of a fair trial by a jury of one's peers, free speech, and a free press in the context of a multi-racial society. It is important to fully investigate the extent to which potential jurors can in fact be biased by crime suspects' race and  whether that bias may affect the ultimate verdicts rendered by jurors.

HYPOTHESES
 Previous research has suggested that race of a suspect  and/or defendant identified in media publicity concerning crimes can have an influence on potential jurors' decisions about the guilt of those suspects. The literature examined above suggests the following hypotheses:

H1: Respondents will be more willing to judge suspects guilty whose race is identified than suspects whose race is not identified.

H2: Respondents will be more willing to judge black suspects guilty than suspects whose race is  unidentified.

H3: Respondents will be more willing to judge black suspects guilty than white suspects.

H4: Respondents will be more willing to judge black suspects guilty when the suspect's race is identified in both a picture and in text than when the race is identified only in text.

A feral cat is often the result of an abandoned house pet that has been left in the wild to breed.  Nearly 13-15 million unwanted cats are euthanized each year in the United States, many of which are feral.  Due to their semi-wild existence, many are unadpotable and therefore live in an elusive existence feeding from dumpsters and hunting small prey.  They are often considered a "pest specie" because of their noisy courting, territorial behavior, fecundity, and urine spraying by toms.  Extermination via hunting, poisoning, or euthanasia have proved to be unsuccessful as the removal of existing cats usually results in an influx of new ones.  In fact, eradication of older cats often facilitates the survival of new kittens by reducing competition for resources.  Researchers such as Zaunbrecher, et. al. (1993) have investigated means to control the feral cat problem by stabilizing the population by reducing turnover instead of numbers.  Cats from a semi-isolated colony were trapped, spayed or neutered, and released back to their territory.  Three years later, 75% of the original colony remained and no new litters of kittens were discovered.  A similar program was adopted at Princeton University where concerned faculty and students organized a regular program to trap, alter, and release feral cats.  The program has since resulted in stabilization followed by reduction in numbers of the colony. (Feral Cat Coalition 1998)

 Sterilization of feral cats, however, creates a problem when considering the safety of the animals and the handlers.  Sedation is the easiest method to control wild cats, but the effects and administration of these anesthetic agents can also pose a problem.  Many anesthetic compounds have been evaluated for use in cats, both domestic and feral.  Feral cats present a special case due to the fact that they are often unhealthy and can react unfavorably to an otherwise harmless anesthetic.  The additional stress caused by trapping and removal from its surroundings can also facilitate harmful side effects.    Furthermore, the complexity of the clinics that sterilize feral cats does not allow for the use of additional machinery to maintain recumbency, such as the case with halothane or isoflurane gases.  An intramuscularly administered anesthetic would allow handlers to inject the compound while the animal remained in the trap, thus eliminating contact with an alert animal.

 Ketamine hydrochloride is a dissociative agent in that the anesthetic condition it produces is one of clinical unresponsiveness as a result of functional disorientation and not central nervous system depression.  Ketamineís advantages include intramuscular administration, small volume needed to produce a definite effect, and no additional equipment is required.  However, Ketamine also has many documented disadvantages.  The drug fails to create adequate muscle relaxation and muscle movements may occur.  The drug also causes excess salivation, which may easily be overcome by a dose of atropine.  Furthermore, it is a poor analgesic and is associated with post-operative pain.  Cases of hypothermia have also been documented in relation to its use which contributes to a prolonged recovery.  Many of these disadvantages have been overcome by combining Ketamine with other anesthetic agents.

Over the past 50 years, there has been an enormous increase in the amount of chemicals we use on a daily basis.  For example, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are manufactured in the United States for their use as fire retardants, plasticizers, and as dielectric fluids in capacitors and transformers.  It is estimated that 24 million pounds of PCBs have been released into the environment, with additional amounts being introduced from the 2.8 million capacitors and 150,000 transformers still in use today (Erickson, 1992). In addition to PCBs, chlorinated aliphatic compounds (such as trichloroethylene--TCE) are commonly used as insecticides, propellants, industrial degreasers, and dry cleaning solvents (Alvarez-Cohen et. al. 1992; Barhash and Roberts, 1986; Verschueren, 1983).  Both of these compounds, PCB and TCE, are problematic in the environment due to their ubiquitous nature and resistance to degradation.  One commonly contaminated source in the environment is groundwater aquifers.  This encompasses severe health problems, since many drinking water sources come directly from aquifers.  Hence, these poisonous chemicals are directly introduced into households.  Another concern arises from the fact that TCE (a suspected carcinogen) is capable of transforming to vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen (Maltoni et.al.1988; Storck, 1987).  Other carcinogenic compounds, such as PCBs, are also linked to liver toxicity (ATSDR, 1997).  These qualities (carcinogenicity, liver toxicity) are a potential threat to public health.  With this concern, a greater demand is stressed for the safe disposal or, preferably, destruction of these hazardous compounds.

Historically, managing industrial, municipal, and military waste contamination involved disposal instead of actual treatment of this waste (Colleran, ? ).  This has left many contaminated sites in need of remediation.  Nowadays, legislation emphasizes recycling, minimal waste production, and treatment.  Usually, disposal is the last alternative for waste management.  Over the years, PCB removal involved landfilling, incineration, or high efficiency boilers.  Some of these processes are still practiced today, but these methods are quite costly and sometimes involve further transformation of PCBs into more toxic chemicals (such as dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans). The need for a cost effective, environmentally friendly method for contaminant disposal is currently sought.

According to Hamer, bioremediation is defined as a "biological response to environmental abuse".  As a response to the influx of contaminants into the environment, microorganisms have adapted to this change by developing unique defense mechanisms.  One such mechanism, is the capability of transforming these organic contaminants into harmless by products (Alvarez-Cohen, 1992).  Using this concept, bioremediation is a recent addition to contamination clean up.  There are two broad techniques that bioremediation is classified under.  The first technique is in situ remediation.  This involves the "enhancement of the biodegradation rate of organic contaminants within affected soil, sediment, surface water, or ground water environments" (Colleran, ?).  The second technique, ex situ, involves the "physical removal of the contaminated material (usually soils or sediments) followed by treatment under contained conditions in bioreactors, biopiles, compost heaps, ponds, or lagoons" (Colleran, ?; Baker and Herson, 1994; Blackburn and Hafker, 1993). These two types of remediation are viewed as a cost effective and a "green" method that eliminates many of the problems encountered via historical disposal methods listed above.

One particular microorganism currently researched for bioremediation are methanotrophs.  These bacteria are a subset of another group of bacteria known as methylotrophs (Hanson and Hanson, 1996).  The difference between methanotrophs and methylotrophs lies in their ability to use methane as a carbon and energy source.  Methanotrophs use methane as their only carbon and energy source, whereas, methylotrophs utilize a variety of single carbon compounds such as methane, methanol, methylated amines etc. (Hanson and Hanson; 1996).  Methanotrophs thrive at the interface between anaerobic and aerobic zones, where there is available methane and air.  These bacteria represent nearly 8% of the total heterotrophic population and are instrumental in removing methane as a potential greenhouse gas before is escapes into the atmosphere.  Therefore, these bacteria have recently been researched and studied to understand their metabolic mechanisms.

One particular metabolic mechanism of interest is the enzyme found in all methanotrophic bacteria, methane monooxygenase (Hanson and Hanson, 1996). This enzyme, MMO, catalyzes the oxidation of methane to methanol.  There are two types of MMO, one is a particulate form (pMMO) the other is a soluble form (sMMO).  Both types demonstrate a lack of substrate specificity, allowing them to oxidize (degrade) a large number of aliphatic compounds.  The soluble form degrades a wider variety of compounds than its particulate counterpart.  Phelps et.al., demonstrated that sMMO can degrade TCE at a much faster rate than other mixed and pure cultures.  This implies that sMMO may be favored for bioremediation.

Our project will study the optimum growth conditions of two methanotrophic-heterotrophic cultures.  This project involves two phases, the first involves the enrichment, isolation, and characterization of methanotrophic-heterotrophic bacteria of two cultures.  The two samples used will come from different regions.  One is from a landfill, the other is from an uncontaminated groundwater aquifer.  Once a stable culture is maintained, varying pH, temperature, methane concentration, and growth medium will determine optimal growth conditions.  The second phase involves the transformation studies of the stable mixed cultures obtained in phase one.  The enriched cultures will be screened for their abilities to oxidize various substituted aromatic compounds (i.e. PCBs, TCE) using oxygen uptake methods.  By completing both phases of this project, we anticipate establishing optimum growth/transformation conditions that can be replicated in the field using a bioremediated system.  The hypotheses we aim to test involve:
 

• Mixed methanotrophic-heterotrophic cultures from two vastly different environmental origins exhibit different characteristics and varying abilities to transform representative environmental pollutants
• The environmental conditions at particular sites effect the particular characteristics and activity of microbial isolates

For future work in this area, the individual populations of the mixed cultures will be characterized and their roles in the overall transformation of environmental contaminants will be evaluated.

Isoprostanes as Oxidant Stress Indicators in Ischemia

A Review Article

Key words: Ischemia, Isoprostanes, Free-Radical, Lipid peroxidation

Ischemia is the deficiency of blood in a part of the body, due to functional constriction or actual obstruction of a blood vessel [1]. The frequent cause for ischemia is coronary artery disease. Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is a result of atherosclerosis, which is often referred to as "hardening of the arteries". CAD is actually a complex disease which involves tumor-like growths in the wall of arteries. These tumors accumulate high-cholesterol fat and grow to obstruct blood flow through the artery. As the fatty tumors age and grow, they become scarred and often calcified. Restricted bloodflow to any organ reduces its ability to function and obstruction leads to death of tissue. Sudden obstruction of a narrowed blood vessel is often caused by a clot forming in a narrowed region of the vessel (thrombosis). If the tissue is vital, such as heart or brain, arterial obstruction may be lethal or disabling, as in when a coronary artery becomes completely blocked, an area of the heart muscle will die causing a myocardial infarction. It is known that ischemia generates free radical-induced oxidative damage.

In the past, it has been very difficult to measure these free radicals and the damage they cause in vivo. Free radicals have a life span of nanoseconds. Traditional approaches have involved the use of spin adduct formation, lipoprotein oxidizability or measurement of unstable analytes [4].

These measurements prove to be accurate measurements of lipid peroxidation in vitro; however, these measurements fail to provide reliable information about oxidant stress in vivo and may be reflecting something else in vitro other than free radicals.
In 1990, prostaglandin (PG) F2-like compounds were discovered to be produced in abundance in vivo by peroxidation of arachidonic acid catalyzed by free radicals independent of the cyclooxygenase enzyme. These compounds are isomeric to cyclooxygenase-derived PG F2 a, and named F2-isoprostanes (F2-IsoP's). These are stable compounds, capable of being measured, and increase significantly during oxidant injury. Two other stable compounds known as D2-IsoP's (PGD2-like compounds) and E2-IsoP's (PGE2-like compounds) were also determined to be produced as products of this pathway and are isometric to the F2-isoprostanes [3]. However, in contrast to F2 Isoprostanes, E2/D2 - IsoP's can not be detected in the circulation of humans or rats under normal circumstances, although they can be detected in the circulation of rats that have been administered CCl4 to induce severe lipid peroxidation. The reason for the inability to locate the E2/D2 - IsoP's is unclear, but might be due to differences in the rate of metabolic clearances of E2/D2 - IsoP's and F2 IsoP's [2]. In particular, to the discovery of these free radicals, 8-epi-isoprostane prostaglandin F2 a, a specific type of F2-IsoP's has been found to be a potent vasoconstrictor.

The discovery of the F2-isoprostanes provides an accurate way to measure oxidant stress in vivo, actually studying the substance of the cell membrane attacked by the free radical. F2 IsoP's can be detected in every normal biological fluid including plasma, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, bile and gastric juices [2]. The method for analyzing the isoprostanes is currently gas chromatography (GC)/mass spectrometry (MS) assay. This method involves measuring esterified levels of F2 IsoP's in tissues accomplished by measurement of free compounds following alkaline hydrolysis of lipid extract of tissue [2]. GC/MS proves to be an accurate assessment; however, the method is labor intensive and mass spectrometers are very expensive to buy and maintain.

The first case of isoprostanes as measurements of lipid peroxidation and oxidant stress in vivo was obtained through studies of cigarette smokers. Cigarette smoke contains numerous oxidants, and it is believed that smoking might possibly cause oxidant injury. In human studies of cigarette smokers vs. non-smokers, a higher amount of F2-isoprostanes were found in smokers' urine and plasma.

Reilley's 1995 case measured the modulation of oxidant stress in vivo in chronic cigarette smokers. The approach taken was a cross-sectional comparison of smokers and control subjects, examining the dose-response relationship, exploring the effect of smoking cessation after 3 weeks along with nicotine patch supplementation, measuring the effect of aspirin consumption, and measuring the effects of 5 days' dosing with vitamin E, a known antioxidant [11]. Reilley found urinary levels of isoprostanes to fall with cessation of smoking, that aspirin did not suppress levels of isoprostanes, and vitamin E alone had no effect on counteracting the oxidant injury, however, when combined with vitamin C, levels of 8-epi-PGF2a were suppressed. Limitations of this experiment may have been taking into account that the urine will be diluted after the first sample, providing inaccurate results after consecutive sampling [11].

Another case study of smokers vs. non-smokers by Morrow (1995) also tested urine for increased amounts of isoprostanes, and also further tested his subjects' plasma. Examining 10 smokers and 10 nonsmokers matched for age and sex, smoking three cigarettes over thirty minutes, and abstaining for two weeks resulted in parallel findings to Reilley's. Plasma levels of free and esterified F2 IsoP's were significantly higher in the smokers than the non-smokers, cessation of smoking had no short term effects on the circulating levels of F2 IsoP's, yet abstaining from smoking showed a significant decrease in levels of free and esterified F2 IsoP's [7].

Further investigations of F2 IsoP's have been made in animal studies as well as human studies. Rats and pigs are among the most experimented on. Ischemia which generates these free radicals has multiple effects on different organs in the body. Some of the organs previously studied for the effects of isoprostanes are the heart, the brain, the liver, and of course the first studies previously mentioned on the kidney.

Measurement of IsoP's in Different Organs after Ischemia Cardiac Ischemia:

When a coronary artery becomes completely blocked, an area of the heart muscle will die causing a myocardial infarction, also known as cardiac ischemia or cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest in humans is a syndrome involving the sudden loss of a detectable pulse, quickly followed by cessation of spontaneous breathing. The occurrence of sudden death by out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is approximately 350,000 persons per year; still, when hospitalized only 2-5% of cardiac arrest patients survive till hospital discharge. [22] Factors shown to affect survival include race, age, gender, and initial rhythm, rapid defibrillation, and time until treatment with CPR. Recent studies have also shown that oxidant injury levels may also be another factor that can affect survival rates.

5
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

    The Information Revolution is changing the way companies do business with
one another and with consumers.  The primary reason for these changes is the
advent of the Internet.  The Internet provides consumers with a wealth of
information about products, services, and their availability.  The Internet
has made it possible for a small start-up that provides an exclusive good or
service to be an international supplier of that good or service.  The main
advantages that major corporations might have is brand name reputation, a
glamorous web site, an ample advertising budget, and the personnel needed to
provide post-purchase service.  A small startup may remain competitive with a
corporation if it provides four key components; namely, an intuitive and
thoughtfully designed web site, secure transactions, a personalized
relationship with the customer, and product/service variety.  These four
components are necessary for any company to attract new customers and induce
return visits, or hits, from current customers to their web site.  However if
a company is financially limited then a study that ranked the importance of
the four components to the consumer would provide pertinent information
regarding the implementation of those four components on their web site.

STATEMENT OF NEED

    The Internet is by far the fastest medium of information dissemination
ever created and the direction, that businesses are going to be moving in to
increase their sales.  According to the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB),
online advertising expenditure reached $900,000,000 in 1997 and they project
that the online advertising expenditure will reach $8,000,000,000 in 2002.
Although companys' advertising expenditures may be poor indicators of their
actual perception of importance of the Internet, the advertising expenditures
do suggest where their attention is directed.  Company attentions should be
focused on the Internet.  According to the Texas Business Review, the
Internet reached 50,000,000 people in five years while it took television 13
years and radio 38 years to reach the same number of people.
    The Internet is going to succeed where the Home Shopping Network, radio
advertising, and store shopping failed.  The Home Shopping Network expanded
the consumer base, but consumers were limited by HSN's choice of products to
offer at any given time.  Radio advertising does not offer the consumer
anything except the product maker's description.  Store shopping gives
consumers what they want, namely personal attention and tangibility, but
lacks in offering variety and supply.  The Internet can provide consumers
with a web site that assists them in finding the products that interest them,
secure transactions, customer service, and a wide variety either
products/services or product/service manufacturers.

METHODS

    This research will attempt to quantify the inherent value in each of the
five key components for online companies to remain competitive.  The study
will proceed by creating six web sites.  Four web sites will be specifically
designed so that each web site does not have one of the four key components.
One web site will be specifically designed so that it does not include any of
the four key components and one web site will have all four key components.
A random selection of email addresses will be requested to participate in the
study and instructed to visit one of the six web sites.  After a person has
visited one of the six they will be asked to submit answers quantifying their
web experience and provide comments and/or suggestions.  They will be asked
questions about the four key components and to quantify how disinclined or
inclined they would be to do business with such a web site.  The responses
will be tabulated, comments and suggestions read, and the results will give a
 

INTRODUCTION

The debate over the effects media has on children is very complex. There are many aspects to take into account when determining the role television has on decisions made by children twelve and under. Instead of assuming that all actions performed by children similar to ones seen on television are to blame on television, additional factors need to be studied, before assigning a causal relationship. The key aspects of the dilemma are understanding is clearly related to age and experience with the medium, other variables such as amount of effort invested, reason for viewing, input from others, and socioeconomic levels also affect how much and which content a child can grasp and master.

A majority of the previous research I studied constantly provides contradictory results. Of course there are exceptions to every rule and circumstance. However, in this research I will be providing information based on constants in the field. This research discusses exceptional children, which include kids with learning disabilities, and gifted children, as well as nonlabeled kids, for compare and contrasting purposes. Along with exceptional children, this study includes pre-pubescent people, and kids living in lower socioeconomic environments. By focusing on this controlled group, there is an elimination of contradictory, "what if" scenarios. Through my research I plan to inform people on how to determine how active or passive the television viewing experience is.

Young children appear unable to integrate, comprehend, and remember much of what they see (Van Evra 12). Studies suggest that young children do not understand causal sequences very well, do not make inferences, and do not understand implicit content. However, in certain circumstances children are in an environment inductive for absorbing television content. Adolescents, for instance, may often rely on mass-media models for sexual learning. Learning about interpersonal relationships from television circumvents the embarrassment of direct questioning (Bandura & Walters 7). Later, there will be further discussion of early adolescence.

Television is also highly influential on the category of exceptional children. Disabled children, emotionally disturbed children, mentally retarded children, and intellectually gifted children are exposed to two unique viewing situations. All the labeled children, apart from gifted, are watching more television, or watching more television at a vulnerable age than the average. These children also usually go unmonitored when viewing programs, which could cause problems, because of their choice of shows (Abelman, et al 113). Children with learning and behavioral disabilities seem more likely to identify with their favorite television characters (Baran & Meyer 36). They perceive their own behavior to be similar to that of their favorite television characters, and they frequently report pretending to be those characters (36). It is not the inclination of these children to imitate their idols that cause dilemmas, but the fact that physical and nonphysical aggression is frequent components of their preferred shows. By watching these shows these viewers learn to solve conflicts with aggressive tactics.

Intellectually gifted children are classified as exceptional children, also. These children have unique viewing habits from the other exceptional children and nonlabeled children. Intellectually gifted children watch far less television than disabled children, and for the most part nonlabeled children (Abelman, et al 36). The exception to this pattern, is gifted children watch more programs during preschool years and during early adolescence (36). During preschool years, television programs consist of educational shows, which explains gifted children's fascination during that time period. However, during early adolescence the reasoning is much more complex. Intellectually gifted individuals tend to exaggerate emotional and social experiences (Cohn, et al 38). These children experience isolation and loneliness, and use television as a substitute for social interaction. These types of situations tend to draw the most media attention, for instance in the Columbine High School incident, when they feel television is the root of the problem. According to Liebert and Sprafkin, there are dramatic and tragic real life incidents that suggest television may have played a role in instigating antisocial and sometimes fatal acts (Abelman 98). The development of the cultivation theory gives people reason to believe television is an extremely influential force on children (53). The theory predicts that the heavy viewer is exposed to frequent portrayals of violence and develops a "mean world" outlook on life, and cynical and suspicious attitudes of people, which would also contribute to a more violent person (53). However, the exception to this rule is that intellectually gifted children are 90 percent more likely than disabled people, to be able to differentiate between real people and fictional television characters (52).

Socioeconomically, exceptional children, excluding gifted, are in a nonadvantatous position again. They are less able intellectually and more likely to come form lower socioeconomic backgrounds and dysfunctional families, and experience interpersonal conflict, all things that may cause children to use television as an outlet from their situations (38). Not only are intellectually disabled children extremely susceptible to television, but so are early adolescents in a low economical class. These children also perceive fictional characters as the norm. Most children in this stage of life, like stated earlier, use television to determine what they "should" be like, to avoid asking questions that are embarrassing to them (DeMaio, et al 98). The problem facing this group is that the images these kids are seeing on television are not positive. Drama and passion prevail over the integration of crucial factual information about safer sex.

Television portrays unmarried couples as the most sexually active. In a country where more than fifty percent of people under 17 are having or have had sexual intercourse, program's unrealistic focuses could encourage these kids with a blurred self image to have unprotected sex (7).

This field has too many variables to reach one single conclusion. By approaching this as a simple issue, I believe methodological errors have caused this topic's problems to remain inconclusive. By focusing on distinctive groups of individuals who television influences more than others, I have been able to discuss problems and circumstances related solely to television viewing, without having results being affected by the people who do not fit into any of these categories.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall and its subsequent unification in 1990, Germany effectively concluded what had been a troubling and often turbulent chapter in its history.  In the wake of profound social and political change, Germans everywhere were initially swept up in the euphoria of a unified Germany.  Coming 40 years after the establishment of the German Democratic Republic as a Soviet Axis state, diese deutsch-deutsche Vereinigung[1]  was in principle the merging of two states that shared a linguistic, cultural and historical background.  Yet, in the midst of it all, die Wende[2]  proved to be eine ausschliessende Einheit [3], intended for a few but not all.  Despite assertions by several Bundestag Abgeordnete[4]  that under unification, "brother and brother" would be reunited, black Germans were effectively eliminated from the equation.  In reality, it was an event to which oneís birthright secured admission.  With the enactment of legislation that effectively cracked down on the number of asylum seekers and other immigrants and with tensions between these immigrants and Germans rising to alarming levels, many African Germans were apprehensive about and uncertain of a future in dem neuen Deutschland[5] .  If past events are any indication of what is to come, then there is great cause for concern.

Since 1990 the number of attacks against immigrants and other non-ethnic Germans has risen drastically.  Between 1990 and 1992[6]  alone the number of reported attacks on foreigners soared by an astonishing 800%.  While there was a moderate decline between 1992 and 1994[7] , the constant climate of fear and intimidation, coupled with serious failings by the government to protect its own citizens, have shattered the idea that Deutschland auch ihr Zuhause ist [8].  While talks of creating a auslaenderfreundliches Germany[9]  were encouraging, Kohlís impassioned statement that "der Missbrauch des Asylrechts endlich geloest werden muss"[10]  pointed to an underlying disdain and aversion towards Germanyís minority population.  The governmentís continuous denial of the severity of these problems has compounded the situation even further.  When the opportunity to address issues of race and racism arose in 1991 and 1992, it "subtly shifted the blame and focus to the foreigners themselves"[11]  by effectively restricting the number of asylum seekers and amending the law (May 26, 1993), thereby raising the qualifying standards for refugees seeking asylum.

The associated proliferation of right-wing extremist and Neo-Nazi organizations is testament to the growing discontent and radicalism that are prevalent in this new Germany.  While high rates of unemployment, dwindling educational opportunities and inflationary conditions, in particular, in the economically depressed industrial towns of the new Bundesländer[12] , have exacerbated what is an already volatile situation, they do not adequately address the issues germane to the present climate of hate and intolerance.  While discrimination, anti-Semitism and xenophobic tendencies have become more widespread, government officials have been slow to react to reports of violence against Africans and African Germans and on several occasions deliberately incited violence themselves.

African Germans like many immigrants in Germany today suffer grave injustices under a system that is unresponsive to the needs of its own people and reluctant to confront gross violations of their civil rights.  By not addressing issues of anti-Semitism and racism, the Christian Democrats under Chancellor Kohl and the Social Democrats under the present Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, have essentially given potency to those who fervently believe in a "Deutschland für Deutsche" [13].  In a society that continues to view notions of color and culture as badges of Otherness, black Germans constantly struggle to elude "the external imposition of what seems to be a contradiction, that of being both African and German"[14] .  Each day is an uphill battle to carve out some semblance of an existence in a land to which they will forever be das Ausländer [15].  As Africans they bear the reality of a marginalized existence under an oppressive system that perpetuates negative stereotypes and as Germans they also shoulder feelings of shame and guilt as do many Germans for a past inextricably rooted in an ideologically corrupt nationalsocialistic regime.  What seems to be a crisis of dual identities, that of being African and German, farbig und weiss[16] , have made for an increasingly delicate situation in which they are torn between the desire to be accepted as German while also preserving vestiges of their African heritage.  "Bound and constrained by various expectations that are decidedly paradoxical"[17] , they are often disappointed by what they view as personal failings.

1990 was indeed a year of profound change.  Unification brought with it many unforeseen consequences.  While the federal republic of Germany celebrated its "rebirth", African Germans and other minorities; however, grew increasingly uneasy with and disillusioned by their ambiguous role within society.  In an environment subsumed by nationalistic fervor and replete with talk of Heimat, Volk and Vaterland[18] , African Germans will be especially challenged to reclaim both their African and German heritage.