Chicago Gun Laws and its effect on the Criminal Justice System Research Paper

Chicago Gun Laws and its effect on the Criminal Justice System - Research Paper Example In fact, perhaps Chicago is a case study in which we see quite clearly that strict gun controls harm the public rather than protect it, by removing legitimate access to firearms and leaving the illegal arms trade to those who have less legitimate purposes for those guns. The legal climate of Chicago’s gun control policies is complex and confusing to most who try to follow it, especially with the constitutional challenges even new laws are facing. A detailed study of these laws, and their respective effects on the criminal justice system, should provide a useful perspective on whether their existence is warranted given Chicago’s crime rates. Chicago’s reputation for strict gun control laws started in the 1980s when the city passed, along with Washington D.C., tighter restrictions on who can legally acquire and use firearms within the city limits. However, despite these laws being in place in both Washington D.C. and Chicago, neither city enjoyed a reduced crime ra te (Levitt 174). Although Chicago never received a careful analysis at this time, it was known that Chicago lagged behind the nationwide homicide decline during the 1990s. This had led those familiar with the Chicago legal situation to suggest that policies raising the cost of using guns as opposed to targeting ownership is the most effective strategy for reducing gun-related crime. Although Chicago’s policies against guns were well known even in the 1970s, some authors have remarked that enforcement of those laws is the weak link connecting gun control laws to reduced crime (Bendis and Balkin). Because gun laws vary by state to state and, in some cases, from city to city, the best strategy for understanding the impact of Chicago’s gun control laws is to examine those laws in the context of state laws related to guns. In Illinois, firearms are not required to be registered nor are carry permits issued. However, individuals need a state permit to purchase a firearm and an owner license is issued to every firearm owner. Part of this process is the Firearm Owner’s Identification (or FOID) card, which owners acquire from the Illinois state police (Illinois General Assembly). An individual must present a valid FOID card whenever he or she attempts to purchase firearms or ammunition. This allows the state to monitor the purchasing of firearms (1) to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of dangerous people and (2) to assist in investigations in gun-related crime. Additionally, the use of FOID cards screens out and prevents individuals who have been convicted of a felony from acquiring firearms from a licensed vendor. The FOID card is difficult to acquire for individuals under 21 years (Illinois General Assembly). As the most populated and crime-ridden city in Illinois, Chicago has in place its own level of restrictions on gun ownership. For instance, the municipality has an ordinance in place that requires all firearm owners not only to have p ossession of a FOID card, but also that firearms are registered with the Chicago Police Department, in addition to the Illinois State Police. This policy did not include handguns up until June 2010, when new registrations of pistols were unfrozen by law after thirty years (AP). The effect of not allowing handguns was negative in the view of many city officials, who began to recognize the need for conceal-and-carry

The effect of reverberation and amplification on sound localisation Thesis

The effect of reverberation and amplification on sound localisation - Thesis Example In reverberant environments, most hearing impaired listeners are aware to the disturbance of the signals caused by the reverberation. However, when reverberation is minimum, the actual cause of disturbance is not clear to them and hence can be very frustrating. Localising a sound source in the horizontal plane relies mainly on two different sources of information: The differences in time of arrival of the sound at the two ears, and the level differences at the two ears. These time and level differences are called interaural time differences (ITD) cues and interaural level differences (ILD) cues. Recent improvements in hearing aids, such as compression and filtering, can significantly alter ITDs and ILDs. The digital processing to input signals tend to restrict the availability of fine timing cues, forcing the listener to rely on level cues. The effect of digital processing in hearing aids on the hearing aid wearers use of localisation cues in different listening environments is not well understood. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the effect of reverberation on the localisation abilities of normal hearing and hearing impaired listeners. Moreover, to investigate the effect of Siemens Prisma 2M hearing aids utilizing the localisation cues. Two main sets of experiments were conducted, The first set (4 experiments) were performed on normal hearing listeners to study the effect of reverberation and signal onset/offset times on their localisation abilities for different stimuli signals (i.e. Speech, high-pass speech-low-pass speech, pink noise, 4 KHz pure tone, and 500 Hz pure tone and under different reverberant environments. The second set of experiments was conducted on twenty eight Bilateral Siemense Prisma 2M wearers. They were tested under both reverberant and anechoic conditions, with and without the hearing aids. Signals used were speech stimulus, pink noise, high-pass pink noise and low-pass pink