SafeTeam: Safety For All

Created by Lauren Jeu, Olivia Evans, and Michelle Gross

SafeTeam website

P.A.B.S. (Parents Alerted Before Suicide)

Members: Kenzie Jones, Kami Fox, and Rafaella Angelidou
P.A.B.S. PowerPoint

Description: Parents Alerted Before Suicide, also known as P.A.B.S. is an app that is used to lower the suicide rate in young adults. This app works by decoding key words and phrases on a child's phone and when suicidal thoughts are detected, an alert notification is sent out to their parents. Once the parent is notified by the app, they can explore different methods on how to approach their child with the topic. The app will have resources for not only the parents, but the kids as well. As users of the app as well, kids will be able to log on and given access to anonymous chat rooms, online psychologists, etc.

Reel in Support

Group members: Rebecca Jones, Josey Chumney, Blythe Clausen, Tyler Evans, Brittany Crawford

Reel In Support website

As our project, I came up with the idea to modernize the support group system that we have in America. With social media's continuous spread, I thought it would be a good idea to combine the two. Having a social media outlet that doubles as a support system will implement new ideas into the current way of doing things. On the site I made, there will be a chat feature for people to discuss the same things they would in a physical support group, a blog to share thoughts and tips on how to cope with life issues, inspirational quotes and emails that come along with your membership, and much more. Also, once you put your location into the site, other resources that are close to you appear, including group and private services, paid for or free. A great thing about the site is that it is completely free to the user, as many people cannot afford to pay for therapy sessions or support groups that cost. I believe that my idea can truly help others and with it will come the future of support groups for everyone.

SafeSip Testing Co.

Group Members:
Taylor Bing, Aylin Aguilar, Angie Brown, Rachel Joyner, and Kristine Truong

Description:

SafeSip is a microfluidic DNA & chemical testing system that calculates the compositional breakdown of any liquid. Whether you are at the bar, on a camping trip, or in a city with a notoriously unsafe drinking supply, SafeSip can help you. It will detect chemical substances and bacteria, as well as harmful metals such as lead, arsenic, etc.

Website:  SafeSip Testing Co.

Memphis Healthy Habits

Group: Michael Mendez, Clare Sauser, Nicholson Perkins
Memphis Healthy Habits Website     Memphis Healthy Habits PowerPoint

Description: Website designed to promote healthy living for the people of Memphis by putting a lot of information in one easy to find place. Posts published are related to workout routines, healthy recipes, and health-based events happening around Memphis. Many of the posts contain links to other pages for more information relating to it.

Punishment or entertainment?

Punishment is the greatest to way to Learn from your reactions which caused you to make mistakes. There is also a limit to where punishment can be took too far. In the film white bear, the young lady is put in situation where she wakes up daily frighten and confused. So as she wakes up she realizes that she doesn't know who she is but when she goes outside her doorstep she she's nothing but people recording her with there camera phones, instead of people helping her find herself again. Shortly after that the young lady finds out that there are people with out phones that just simply want to kill, and they chase her all through the streets until she get to a safe ground which is the gas station. At the gas station she meets a woman who also doesn't have a camera phone trying to record her nor is she trying to kill her.  To make the long story short, the woman helps and protects the young lady from death. Then finally takes her to a place where the confusion gets more hectic. Then the whole movie makes sense, the young lady named Victoria whose is a convict. She recorded her boyfriend kill or should I say burn a little girl whom they both kidnap. But the question you have to ask yourself is: is this morally right? Does this punishment fit the crime? Yes this does fit the punishment because it shows Victoria exactly how the little girl she helped kidnap felt. Is this morally just? No I feel as if this is the definition of cruel and unusual punishment because Victoria doesn't realize that she gets this punishment everyday, possibly for the rest of her life. At least with most punishments you are aware of what you done and can have reasoning on yourself. For example, if I murdered three and I sit in jail for 40 years and then finally they execute me. I would most feel like I deserve to die for the crime I done. As Victoria also realized after she found out about her wrongdoings. Does the punishment fit the crime? Yes the crime is the exact treatment that we assume the kidnap little girl felt. 

People actually go pay to Victoria go though the steps on daily of finding herself. But as we discussed in class paying to go an amusement park is no different than turning your channel to watch "cops". So we have to ask ourselves, " is it that punishment or entertainment?"

Just Why?

   If someone shoves you into a wall, whats your initial reaction?  Is it just a state of shock that they shoved you? Will it be to shove them back?  Maybe a little harder than you felt shoved. All options seem like normal reactions.  But what if someone was shoved, pretty hard, to the point that the other person was knocked out unconscious.  After waking up that person has no recollection of being shoved and is helped back up by the person who shoved them.  Later you see the same two people and that person is shoved yet again to unconsciousness and is helped once back in reality. Now it's happening over and over and over and over and over again to the point others have noticed and have taken part in spectating everyday.  Does this not seem weird, unreasonable, and twisted?  This same concept happened in the previous film we watched called White Bear.  A woman was put through this whole day of terror, confusion, and memory loss, while being recorded by everyone, all to "convict" her for filming a little girl who was kidnapped, tortured, and burned alive.  Yes her part in the devious act, was horrible.  But why zap her memory to put her through that turmoil if she's not going to remember?  Her prosecutors are claiming that she needs to feel what the girl felt, as in eye for an eye sort of thing.  But I can't get over the fact that she can't remember what she did so how can she help to fix the problem?  Also I can't get over how they made her misery a state park for families to come enjoy.  So not only are they being foolish with the punishment, but also they're looking foolish by the way the finessed some money out of this supposedly "judicial" situation.
     This whole film is supposed to be on the continuum of memory but this really makes me think about the thirteenth amendment in the constitution.  It states in paraphrase that no unruly punishment or slavery is tolerated, unless punishment for a crime.  This means that you can be a slave if it "fits" the crime committed.  So basically once you have been convicted of a felony you are now as low as a slave because you have lot your right to vote, and plus you now can't get a job to keep surviving in the real world.
     All in all White Bear was a very good eye opener and I really hope the world doesn't come to that extreme.

Finding My Place Kiosk

Group Members
Dori Daniels
Maya Hill
Lakeva Johnson
Erica Ross
John Truitt


Description:
Finding My Place is a kiosk placed throughout the city to provide information including: shelter and food bank locations, mental and physical health facilities, job postings, and care packages that contains a few necessities for the homeless.

Website: Finding My Place

What is cruel and unusual punishment? When we think about “just” punishments we think of punishments that fit the crime that has been committed. You steal a candy bar, you must pay a fine. In the case of white bear though, the punishment literally fit the crime. This woman and her boyfriend kidnapped a young girl. The boyfriend tortured the young girl for weeks before finally killing her by burning her in a sleeping bag. What did the girlfriend do? She watched and recorded every gruesome detail as if it were entertaining. The couple was eventually arrested and the boyfriend killed himself in prison. The girlfriend, though, was not quite so fortunate.

Instead she went to White Bear park where she was forced every day to live through a horrendous experience. Every day she wakes up not knowing who she is or where she is, and she is chased throughout the city by hunters who are trying to kill her. She constantly asks from help from onlookers but to her dismay, none of them even so much as mutter a word. They just watch her as she struggles and deals with her apparent confusion. At the end of each day, she is recaptured, reminded of her crimes, and put on display so that all the onlookers can show their disgust for her and her late boyfriend. Then a device is placed around her temples, and she forgets everything just in time to start it all over again the next day.

Many would argue that the punishment is fitting to the crime. She watched a little girl be tortured so it is only right that all of these onlookers watch her as she struggles day after day. This though, in my opinion at least, is not actually a true exhibition of the punishment fitting the crime. I do believe that there are punishments worse than the ultimate punishment, death. Her boyfriend even escaped by taking his own life. He chose the lesser punishment. Meanwhile, she is left living day after day through an experience that makes death look like time out by comparison. I am in no way shape or form pleading the case for her to just be killed or even for her to suffer a less severe punishment. It is my intention to only show that the punishment is not equal to the crime. Every single day she lives through an experience that many would rather be dead than go through, and at the end of it all, her memories are erased and she has to do it all over again. Even with the crime that she committed, is this not considered if nothing else, cruel?. She begs for death, but her captors deny her, erase her memory, and put her through the torture all over again. So I ask you all. What is worse, her crime or her punishment?

In the film White Bear, a woman wakes up in an unfamiliar setting with all of her memory seemingly erased. She wakes up in a tub with pills around her and bandages around her risk, and has no idea how she wound up there. Inspecting the house only lets her find the picture of who she believes to be her daughter and the symbol played on the television. By leaving the house, she can see other people, yet the do nothing but watch and record her on their phones, ignoring her cries for help. A figure comes in a car with a gun and chases her, leading her into another group appearing to be hunted. Making it away with the another woman, she is headed towards White Bear, where the symbol she saw on the television is being broadcast. The other woman believes this to be what is zombifying the onlookers, leading to the hunters being able to hunt down others not affected by the images. She arrives there and attempts to shut down the broadcast, but is jumped by a group of hunters. Grabbing the gun she shoots an attacker, but only confetti comes out and suddenly the scene changes as if at a play. The head has her bound to a chair, and she watches her videos from a phone played that she is told she filmed. As it turns out, she was helping the man in the video kidnap and film the child, and then later she filmed him beating and then killing the girl. This event was all staged for the audience, who were the onlookers, as a sort of punishment for her watching the little girl and doing nothing to help her. the event is then restart with her memory being wiped and put back in the tub. 

This punishment follows a eye for an eye philosophy on an extreme scale, meant for punishing severe crimes. While the first time done would be very grey on how to view the punishment, the number of times she goes through this, as indicated by the calendar, suggests that this is less punishment for her and more for the entertainment of the audience at the park. This no longer would be a punishment also as she has no memory, is shown at the end, and the has her memory re-wiped. She would not have a chance to change how she acts or thinks, and is no longer the same person that committed the crime of watching. So, this as a punishment accomplishes nothing to do with a positive task, and would not be productive, or humane towards the woman. 

White Bear, Black Heart.

         
Cruel and unusual punishment is punishment prohibited under the 8th amendment of the Constitution. It prohibits punishment lie torture, deliberately degrading punishment or punishment too severe for the act. The reason cruel and unusual punishment is not accepted -apart from the Categorical Imperative that we would not be able to will the maxim of the actions as a universal law- is the fact that if it occurred then in the end we would become just as horrible as the people who committed the crimes. The Black Mirror episode we watched this past week in class explores the idea a new version of what some people, myself included, considered cruel and unusual punishment.
In this episode we are introduced to Victoria. She appears to be completely out of it, not remembering anything at all of where she was. She asks people for help and they ignore her and continue filming her. She quotes "Can you help me, I can't remember who I am." In the end we discover that she was a criminal and she is forced to relive the psychological torture or everything her boyfriend did to the poor little girl. Although some would agree that this torture is alright, I don't believe so because one, her memory is wiped every day, if this were not the case, and it was done one time then maybe people would say that "alright she deserved that and she lived through what the little girl did," but wiping her memory becomes too extreme in my opinion. 2, the people are becoming worse then she was because they are engaging in this act and becoming bystanders. They are trying to "will" the maxim, which should not occur. I guess part of the reason I empathise with Victoria is the fact that she no longer remembers what happened in the past, she is no longer that same person, so it is not fair to force her to go through that psychological torture. The fact that we saw the humanity in her in the beginning of the episode is what did it for me, and like Dr. J said, you don't get to see the humanity of the people in jail. I just did not find her punishment at all fair.

The White Bear Punishment

The the Episode "White Bear" from the series Black Mirror, the main character of the episode, Victoria Skillane, is trapped in a cycle and must relive a terrifying series of events every day as punishment for assisting in the murder of a six year old girl, Jemima. The most controversial part of the episode occurs at the end of each day, when Victoria's memory is painfully electrocuted, and her memory is wiped clean.

In the show, the public seems to agree as a whole that this punishment is justice.  She sat by and filmed while her fiance torture and murdered a child.  When her fiance committed suicide before his trial, the public was still bloodthirsty and vengeful, leaving Victoria at the mercy of the "justice" system.  The elaborate punishment and demonstration put on by her captors makes sense, as it is basically "an eye for an eye", making Victoria feel the same fear that young Jemima felt.

In real life however, the justice in this punishment is harder to see.  There is no doubt that in real life, a crime as sadistic and cruel as the one portrayed would definitely call for an exceptionally cruel punishment. However, this punishment would never be allowed to happen in real life. First and foremost,  wiping the memory of someone while making them go through excruciating pain is clearly physical and psychological torture, both of which are extreme abuses of a person's human rights. Physical and psychological torture are also illegal by international law.  Also, a punishment as sophisticated and complex as the one in "White Bear" happening every day would consume a substantial amount of taxpayer dollars.  I seriously doubt that any government would be willing to spend large amounts of money every day on an elaborate torture method.

The infamous and controversial"White Bear"

"Justice" --> Death

I have been fortunate enough to have never had a family member or close friend murdered. Unfortunately, however, I have had some family members almost get murdered, all at once. I say almost, and there is an obvious distinction between getting murdered and almost getting murdered, but after learning about that terrifying night, I was ready to track down the man who threatened my family and kill him first. I wanted to watch him suffer and beg for mercy from me. I know that all sounds awful, but honestly, how many of us would instantly react in a similar way? How would we naturally react to a loved one actually being killed or tortured? Does that person even have to be related to us? Not at all. People watch the news every day and speak of what they think a murder or rapist deserves for his crime: “If I had my way I would (insert cruel and unusual punishment).”

The thing is it’s never just “a few years in jail,” or, “exile” (much less rehab and discipleship).  When we witness or hear about some awful crime someone has done, the dinner table turns into a medieval Europe judge panel. “He deserves the exact same thing, and then some.” Justice morphs into revenge, revenge into blood thirst. Today, in this country, we have “fair” and “speedy” trials. But is it only a matter of time until our society creates “justice parks” like in the film “White Bear”? Some may say no, and I personally hope we never reach that point, but one must remember that the people with power and authority in this country are human beings like us, which means that despite what they say and decide, they struggle with the similar natural thoughts we all have. If we do eventually end up like the society in “White Bear,” then it could only be expected for “ordinary” citizens to go and take part in the torture.

            The reason I say that is because, as I talked about in my very first blog post, we are so easily influenced. Some more than others, like the people depicted in the film, who were literally torturing a woman who was probably no longer human in their eyes. One need not go far back in history to support this (white supremacists, Nazi Germany, etc.). So would it be so wrong to go with your friends or family to a “justice park” and help do to a criminal the exact same thing she did to an innocent little girl? Absolutely. It might seem like justice, and perhaps in a crude, basic sense it really is. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” However, this accomplishes nothing except resentment on one side and a dangerous, blinding satisfaction on the other. Anger turns into revenge, revenge turns into “justice,” “justice” leads to retaliation from the other side, and before you know it you are at war. Remember that feeling you got growing up when someone you angered said “I forgive you,” or something similar, and you knew that person really meant it? That was the feeling of a bond being reattached, of love shoving guilt off your shoulders. Forgiveness is one of the most difficult things for us to give, but when it is real and given freely, it makes a bigger difference (on both sides) than pure justice. Please don’t get me wrong, people MUST learn the consequences of their actions. What I am saying though, is that just because you might not be the one carrying out justice that does NOT mean there is no justice. The society in “White Bear” seems like the consequence of a people who no longer believe in rehabilitation (which should lead to forgiveness).

I know there are horrible people in the world who commit atrocities. I’m not trying to make murder, rape, torture, and etc. seem trivial. However, except in the most extreme cases (which require great wisdom), I think it would be a good idea for us try to have a little more compassion. Instead of being so intent on ending a life with torture and death, like in “White Bear,” rehab and forgiveness can help us save one. That is justice.

(I could talk about how most people don’t see that as “politically correct”, and how our government is only getting more corrupt by the second, but that’s for another blog post.)    

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” – Ephesians 4:31,32

criminal justice and the aspects of the system

The questions that arise when deliberating over our criminal justice system are very complex and complicated, yet it's crucial for us to reach a conclusion as to what's best for our society.  The very essence of what we are concerned with as a nation are addressed in how we maintain our criminal justice system.  When the masses are polled the answers greatly vary about which issues are the concerns for our system.  People's ideals vary as greatly as their opinions on which aspects of the system need addressed.  What remains constant is the strong emotions that each feels for their ideas. This demonstrates what a volatile, heartfelt issue this is that we are discussing.

What is the purpose of the criminal justice system in relation to those found guilty of crimes?  Here are a few concepts.

Punishment
This idea supposes that criminals are "childlike" individuals whom can simply be punished into submission.  To some it seems absurd that hardened criminals who perpetrate atrocities such as rape or murder can be shamed into submission or even remission.  However, to someone who believes in second chances and forgiveness, this seems quite possible.  Under the assumption that punishment is the goal, these questions can arise.

• Does the purpose of punishment seek revenge?
• Should each punishment fit the crime, or is incarceration one size fits all?
• Should stiff, severe, drastic actions serve as a consequence for infractions?
• Is punishment a "learning tool" used as you would upon a child simply sent to his or her room for a duration of time intended to prevent future misbehavior?  

Restitution
This concept is quite easily rebutted.  There is no time length, time sentenced, or restitution disbursement that can compensate for the heinous behaviors of some of our criminal element.  It would seem preposterous even to try to assess monetary value to the pain, suffering or loss of life or sentimental property and trying to would constitute an insult to victims and their families.

Rehabilitation
The most argued point of the criminal justice system is the concept of rehabilitation and its achievability. This is because rehabilitation is hardly ever truly achieved.  Statistics show that the recidivism rate of criminals released from the justice system is astronomically high. Research suggests that the only time recidivism decreases is when two factors are simultaneously occurring; first time juvenile offenders who are also participating in the boot camp program.  When both of these factors work in unison, recidivism rates nearly disappear totally.  The reason cited for this is that the longer a person is incarcerated, the more accustomed he or she becomes to living in the lifestyle garnered by the system. Hence, the more impressionable, vulnerable, and younger the criminal is, the better his or her chances of being positively affected by the program become.  The extremeness of the program works favorably to produce the lasting effects of rehabilitation.

Conformist
The funniest thing about humanity is that although the criminals can't seem to conform in society, they conform quite easily to the brutality and structure of being incarcerated.  They have their own code of honor and guide rules that they implement and follow.

Corporal
Corporal punishment has been argued for years as to its necessity, excessiveness, cruelty, effectiveness and even its ultimate purpose.  Some say it serves as a deterrent to those criminally inclined, while others say its only purpose is vengence.  There has been instances where inmates have been exonerated of charges after having been executed. Some contend that if just one innocent life is lost then the system has failed because even one is too many lives lost, and therefore, we must eliminate this form of punishment completely.  Others totally support the death sentence and feel in certain circumstances, anything less than a death sentence is not justice.

Vengeance
Many feel vengeance should be the singular purpose of our criminal justice system and feel we fail greatly by not being more harsh in our punishment of criminals.  Some argue that enacting vengeance should be strict, severe, and dealt with no sympathy or considered with extenuating circumstance.

Deterrent
Some feel that the threat of being vulnerable to our criminal justice system should be enough in itself to prove as a deterrent to commit crime, but obviously this is a fallacy of reason.  There are so many individuals that have no fear of our system and so they never even question the consequences of their actions.  Some feel they will never be caught because we have an incompetent system. Others may believe they will never be charged because they possess an ability to outwit the system. Still more may even consider imprisonment a well played joke resulting in free room and board.  Whatever the case may be, it is obvious many aren't deterred, and it is not possible to determine how many are.  

With regard to "White Bear," I don't agree that anyone would ever be comfortable with the idea of a theme park-based prison designed with the purpose to torture individuals as a form of entertainment for others. It would raise the question, "Who is the real monster?" Would it be the criminal for his or her actions, or us for our reaction to his or her crime?

What is Today, but Yesterday's Tomorrow?

     In the film, White Bear, we are introduced to the main character, Victoria, who wakes up in a house that is unfamiliar to her as well as having no memory of anything about her. She continues on to find a photo of a little girl who she assumes is her daughter and soon finds out she is being watched by people staring through house windows. She makes her way outside to find that no one is responding to her. Afterwards she starts being hunted down by a person in a mask who proceeds to shoot at her and she runs away. Eventually she finds others who are willing to help her and she then makes her way through various escape attempts to get away from these "hunters." Once she makes it to the control room to destroy the technology that is making these unusual images appear on screens everywhere, she is then forced to shoot a hunter who tries to kill her. The gun instead shoots out confetti and then she is revealed to an audience who is cheering on the act. A confused Victoria is put into a chair and cuffed down and is then shown the violent acts she has actually committed in her life which involve abducting a child and then filming her significant other burn the child alive in a sleeping bag. Victoria shows signs of guilt and agony as she is wheeled off set and put into a cage in the bed of a truck as they drive her down a road to let the audience attending the event ridicule her and throw food at the cage. She is then taken to the room in the house she began her day in. Baxter, the ring leader of this performance, is then shown putting a device on her head which removes her memories of the day she lived through so she can wake up and restart again; the device also causes her enormous pain as we see her begin to scream in pain as we are left with that scene. After that shocking scene we find out that she is park of a park attraction as people can pay to see her go through the day over and over again.

     The issue of justice in society is kind of a tricky subject. The view of fairness might be a decent and reasonable suggestion for how to handle criminals, but that depends on what the criminal had done. In the case of "White Bear," the case of fairness played out as the people watching her go through a tortuous day and only watched her suffer without helping her. This is fair because the child she abducted had to live each day in fear as others watched her and did not help because they thought the child was theirs. I do believe that fairness is not the way to go about this issue. The whole idea of putting Victoria on display seems too much. While she is getting what she deserves, she is also not learning her lesson and being corrected because her memory becomes erased after each day. The point of justice is to be able to punish those who do evil in a way that corrects their behavior to help them understand the wrongs they have committed.

Cruel and Unusual

White Bear was a very cruel episode, the form of punishment was unspeakable. The fact that they would subject her to that punishment, or should I say torture, is uncalled for and wrong. No matter what she did, no one deserves that type of punishment. The question was brought up in class of what if it was her boyfriend, the man who killed the little girl, instead of her. That does not make a difference to me. It is wrong no matter how I look at it, how can a human subject another human to such torture. How are we any better than the murderer at this point? From my point of view, we’re not.

I asked my roommate to watch it with me so that the ideas would be fresh in my mind. She wanted to know if we had gone back to the medieval ages? In what world is that really justice? I understand that the little girl had to endure this day after day for months on end but Victoria has to suffer this fate every single day without the memories. That may be better for her to not remember but that is a lot of stress on her mind and body. From what I can gather her boyfriend’s trial pended for six months, does that mean that she has gone through the White Bear episode every day for the past six months or even longer?

In the United States we believe that when people go to prison we are rehabilitating them but that is not the case. If we were we wouldn’t have as many repeat offenders. We need to rehabilitate prisoners so that when they reenter the world they are a new man or woman. Everyone makes mistakes, just some cost more than others.

Did Victoria murder the little girl, no. Did she stand idly by and watch as her boyfriend brutally murdered an innocent child, yes. Should she be punished is not the question. She should be, but to punish someone in such a way as to make an amusement park out of someone’s mistake is unjust and morally wrong.

Victoria said that she was under his, her boyfriend’s, spell. Maybe she was delusional or maybe she has a psychological problem. Did they run a psychological analysis on her? Maybe she was at her psychotic break and if not then, then after she definitely was. The White Bear is a very emotionally pulling episode and the director did a great job of pulling at your emotions, making you feel for Victoria.

The Joke in Punishment: It's Not the Pun.

Why are people sent to prisons or executed after committing certain crimes? Some people might argue that the reason for these things is to help people learn a lesson. However, in the instance of execution, the guilty people have no chance to right their wrongs or learn from their mistakes. The prisons aren’t that beneficial for this case either since many people who are released from prison often return for committing the same crime again. While in prison, criminals are surrounded by other criminals. Most likely, these people aren't going to give them good advice, or at least what we might consider good advice. They're more likely to learn ways of avoiding getting caught than they are likely to learn ways to be better people.

Time-Out Chairs

If one compares a prison to a time-out chair for a child, the similarities are obvious. As someone who has spent a large portion of life at a daycare center, I can attest for the fact that children behave this way. For the sake of anonymity, I'll refer to the child as Jessica. Jessica stole candy from the other kids' cubbies, but since the teacher witnessed this, Jessica was sent to time-out. She huffed and whines and cried and said she wouldn't do it again, simply stating these things in order to get out of the chair and go play with her friends. However, she was eventually allowed to leave time out since the teachers believed she had learned her lesson. Later on, while the rest of the kids were outside on the playground, Jessica said she had to use the restroom. She went back inside and stole from the cubbies yet again. Clearly, she had not learned her lesson, and while most prisoners understand the lesson they're supposed to learn, they often don't make the decision to stop their criminal activities.

White Bear

If prisons and executions aren't teaching criminals a lesson, what is the point of them? An episode of Black Mirror, called White Bear, seems to suggest that prisons and executions are not for the benefit of the criminal, but rather for the benefit of the victims and other observers. In the episode, a woman who filmed her boyfriend torturing a little girl has her memory wiped and placed into a sort of fake world where everyone watches while others are hunted and tortured. The point of this is supposedly so she can know how it felt to be on the victims side of what she did. However, everyone treats it like a form of entertainment, and one has to wonder if this is really the punishment she deserved. Executions are very similar to this in the real word since they are broadcast for everyone to watch. Is the real world all that different from that episode of Black Mirror then? Are we just imprisoning people and executing them for forms of entertainment or ways to feel better about ourselves? Perhaps we should look for new ways of punishing criminals, or at least some way to actually make criminals change their ways instead of just repeating crimes over and over again.

#FreeVictoria

This episode of Black Mirror,White Bear, poses questions about justice. Specifically, what is justice? What does the future hold for the criminal justice system? And what does justice look like when it has been taken too far? I shall tilt my hand a bit early by giving a brief answer to the third question: it would look a lot like White Bear.
            Before we can answer whether or not the punishment decided on for Victoria is appropriate, however, we must first establish what the goal is of the criminal justice system. As touched on in our in class discussion, there are many schools of thought on the role of the justice system in an industrialized nation: some believe the purpose of the justice system is to punish wrongdoers for their crimes, others believe it functions only to keep the criminal elements of society away from the law-abiding citizens. The two that have the most traction, however, are the theory that the justice system should strive to rehabilitate its prisoners, and the view that it should serve as a preventative measure by deterring potential misbehavior with the threat of punishment. From this latter viewpoint, I would say that the White Bear park is a complete success. The thought of potentially being subjected to extended periods of torture for being convicted of a crime would certainly make me stand a little straight a little bit straighter were I a member of this society. Though I can’t imagine an individual being subjected to this experience for possession or for speeding in a school zone, but someone convicted of a violent felony such as assault, murder, rape, or aggravated *blank* could very easily get a park of their own.
            However, from the perspective that holds the role of the judiciary system is to rehabilitate prisoners and reintroduce them in to society, the park simply cannot be a success. Victoria, as shown to us,has absolutely no chances to reflect on, regret, or even acknowledge her actions. If this whole production is a daily occurrence as implied and her memory being wiped nightly, she will spend the rest of her life completely unaware she has done anything wrong. Without knowing her role in the child’s gruesome fate, it is impossible for her to begin repenting for her actions. Even if this performance was a one-time event, it is still unlikely that she can been properly rehabilitated without her memories being restored. By wiping her memories of the crime, Victoria is now nothing but an outlet for the righteous fury of an outraged community.
            Of course, there has been very little discussion on whether or not Victoria deserves to be punished like this, or if they are even punishing the “right” Victoria. Though not much on the case or the relationship of the two kidnappers is known, I found it curious that her plea of coercion fell on such apparently utterly deaf ears. There are many instances in history of people who did things they did not want to under the instruction of someone of perceived authority. These range from members of cults mindlessly following their leader’s instructions to the atrocities committed by German Nazis in the 1930-40’s. But, ignoring all this and supposing she fully and willfully participated in the crime, this punishment is still inappropriate. Much of who we are is dictated by our memories, and without hers Victoria was as innocent of the crime as I am.
            In summary, this program of putting a woman’s suffering on display in the name of justice is a gross misuse of the word. Question for those who wish to comment: suppose the purpose of the criminal justice system was not to rehabilitate, but any of the other options presented above. Does this method of punishment become appropriate then? And does it become morally permissible?

We're not too far from White Bear

Crime and punishment have always come hand in hand. It is almost impossible to have society without some kind of system to punish those who commit crime. But when is this punishment too much? And how do we determine if the person has faced justice? These questions aren't easy ones, but every society has had a way to deal with it. The Romans would crucify criminals in public and line them up along the roads to intimidate those visiting their city and to serve as an example for other people. Cruel and unusual ? We could say so now, but our system isn't perfect either. We think that people like the Romans were barbaric and cruel, but to what extents would we go now? Our modern technology makes us think that we wouldn't go to the verge of such atrocities, but I think we all have thought of some pretty cruel punishments for people who commit crimes in our heads. If no one has thought of what they wouldn't do to a rapist or a murderer well then they're just lying. But when the time comes we can all see that barbarian inside us that would allow a gruesome punishment at least for some of the criminals we see on TV.
On first reaction watching White Bear I couldn't comprehend why all of those people would take part in a public spectacle of human ridicule and torture, but further analyzing the situation I think that at least some part of that punishment was deserved for the woman who participated in the abduction and torturing of a little girl. Because the story is introduced backwards we get to experience the story through the eyes of the "victim" thinking this society is backwards and wicked. If the story were told starting off with the little girl getting kidnapped maybe we would have had a different reaction at first.
I do think that at some point the punishment for the woman became no longer focused on punishment for her, but in entertaining the public. At that point the punishment became a modern day Colosseum and could be considered torture. We do not indeed have all of the facts of the crime or of the punishment, which would fill the void of many questions that would clear the blurry line of making this punishment just.
Crime and punishment is and will always continue to be a  hard thing to figure out, and no matter how much we advance someone will always be unhappy and think that the set punishment is unfair or not just. Even so, justice has to be served somehow, probably not to the extent of White Bear, but it is still possible. Although we all want to think we would never take part in that or support it, if the crime was something that resonated with us I think most of us would get on board with the punishment.

Who Is "Justice" Actually For?

In Black Mirror's "White Bear", we are first introduced to a young woman in a mysterious room. She has no recollection of who she is or what occurred before she awoke. She sets out to learn more about how her setting and, with any luck, who she is. She is then led by a guide claiming to know where they need to go to be "safe". This journey takes her through much anguish and legitimate torture, with an uncountable number of bystanders merely filming her ordeal, before finally reaching her destination. Once she reaches the titular "White Bear" facility, all is revealed. We learn that she and her now-deceased fiance kidnapped a young girl. After torturing the young girl, the two eventually killed her, with Victoria (the main character of the episode) filming the entirety of the proceedings. At this point, the viewer understands that she is being made to relive her sins, though on the receiving end of the unquestionably cruel actions. She will have to live with the full knowledge of her guild, while now having a heightened understanding of what the young girl suffered in her final moments.

That is, she lives with this knowledge for a few hours, until her short-term memory is wiped, rendering her incapable of remembering the ordeal she just endured. Immediately after seeing this, my first response was a simple question: what was the point? If the entire ordeal is structured around making her relive her past crime as the victim in order to understand its full severity, why would you then make her forget it entirely? Only a few minutes later (if that), we see a new scene with a sign that reads, “White Bear Justice Park”. It continues to reveal that is a theme park in the vein of “justice”. Park visitors are able to participate in the day’s proceedings as one of many nameless watchers, who do nothing but record the events on their phones.

It is this transformation of the crime into an entertainment event that most bothered me about the episode. The punishment fails at making Victoria empathize with the victim, as she never remembers what she experienced. Where the punishment does succeed is in making Victoria repeatedly suffer great trauma, with it being entirely plausible that she will eventually break. As the inter-credits scenes continued, it became more and more clear. The only ones benefitting from this punishment were those enjoying the park. I think this is a perfect example of how “justice” isn’t necessarily for the guilty.

However, I also wonder how this compares to our current system. Though we don’t currently do anything quite like this, is our system better? We do not parade our criminals on this scale (i.e., beyond the initial media coverage a select few cases receive), instead opting for what feels more like an “out of sight, out of mind” approach. I don’t think we should even begin to approach what is portrayed in “White Bear”, but is our approach actually “justice”? I know it’s been discussed at length, but I believe that, once again, we need to revisit our concept of “justice”, and ask ourselves what we are truly accomplishing.

Justice and Fairness

In the “White Bear”, a criminal whose husband tortured and murdered a little girl while she videotaped it is subjected to a punishment that is worse than death itself.  She was forced to wake up in an apartment, dazed and confused, and hunted down for the amusement of a live studio audience.  She would be hunted down by “actors” while many people just watched and videotaped it. 

She would go around, dazed and confused asking people for help.  They would just stand back and watch.  They would then reveal that she was a criminal, who watched as her husband tortured and murdered a confused girl for months.  At the end of the day, her memory would be wiped, to repeat it again.

A majority of people would say that this was what she deserved.  It’s only fair, right?  Well, yes.  Fairness is one of those things that is hard to define.  The most common definition is getting done to you exactly what you did to them.  She just stood back and watched as a dazed and confused girl tries to figure out what is going on.  The girl was confused for months, wondering why exactly somebody was taping instead of helping. 

The video never elaborated about how long her punishment would last.  It would be fair if she repeated it for the same amount of time as when she had the girl. 

While it was “fair”, I don’t want to call it “just”.  The girl who taped the torture and murder of a girl was not the same person who went through this unauthorized play.   the one thing that I noted during the actual video was towards the end, when she got her hands on a shotgun.  She hesitated. 

I believe that if she was the “menace to society” that she was made out to be, she would shoot without question.  The evil girl who committed the crime would happily shoot.  But the criminal is no longer the same as the confused person in front of the audience.  She has no memory of the crime. 

I also believe that this punishment is not justice as it makes the others no better.  She was being punished for observing a confused girl who was obviously in danger.  The observers did the same thing as she did.  They observed a confused girl who was obviously in danger.  They are no better than she was.

When is Too Far

In the episode white bear of black mirror is a good example of how far punishment can go if you remove the establish rules that we have now. The concept behind correctional facilities was to help the person rethink the behavior that they did to get them in that situation but the idea has been twisted and you choose the people on the outside benefit. If jails and prisons were solely meant to help these individuals come out as better people that wouldn't be so much corruption. My cousin's experience resulted in mixed results. He was in and out a couple of times and it mess with him mentally. In a way it did help him come back more sober minded because of the experience but you being put in that situation actually words he wouldn't have ended up going back. The main character that was being taken through the process of being confused and afraid throughout the whole process symbolizes this mentality of that in and out of the same situation. Even though her memory was wiped before each time they always are so good her instincts will kick in where she would do harm to others. There was never a defined in point for the treatment she was going through. So in this set of circumstances what would this aside he deemed to be enough for them to stop putting her through the same Stead of events each day.

How do you decide which people would be treated like this and which crimes are severe enough for the criminals to have to relive the act actually committed towards someone else? Also since the crime she committed was towards a child why would you have children participating in the reenactment? I understand having children know about the dangers of crimes like the one that the main character committed but it the justice park could potentially promote a torture mentality towards all criminals in the long run. I feel like the extent they took her punishment to was unnecessary. Positive treatment should be used instead. There needs to be a redesign of the organization of the system. Criminals should be separated based on the severity of their crime. People with minor drug possession charges shouldn’t be held in the same facility as serial killers. It would give people with minor charges a greater chance of coming out a better citizen.

Red Rover, Red Rover, Send Victoria Over

In Black Mirror's "White Bear," the line between justice and entertainment becomes blurred, as the actors of White Bear Justice Park profit of off the "criminal."

In “White Bear” the guilty party is punished in an unconventional way and every aspect of her punishment is meant to mirror the crime committed. This is because the actors and participants are trying to place Victoria in the shoes of her victim. For instance, Victoria herself is meant to represent the little girl, as her memory is artificially reset each day, making her innocent in a way; she is forced to wonder why she has to endure such hell when she wakes up, what she has done to deserve it, and why no one is helping her. The audience represents Victoria, not the Victoria we see in the episode, but Victoria who filmed and acted as an accomplice to the crime, claiming that she was under her boyfriend’s spell. The mentally incapacitating signal represents Victoria’s dead boyfriend, who, as Victoria says, entranced her and encouraged her to film such a heinous crime. Because Victoria’s boyfriend hangs himself before being put on trial, all of the blame for the little girl’s death falls on Victoria.

Leaving out the crime in the beginning of the episode allows the viewers to sympathize with Victoria, painting her solely as a victim, rather than a criminal as well. Though I disagree with the crime that she helped commit, and though I think that a punishment of some sort was appropriate, I find it disturbing that the participants of this simulation walked in with the impression that she deserved to be physically and mentally tortured every day for a crime that she did not even remember committing. The rules of this “park,” revealed at the episode’s end, are also disturbing, one in particular which instructed the audience to enjoy themselves, which is odd considering that the entire purpose of a park is to have fun; I find this rule to be disturbing because it implies that any feelings towards Victoria’s punishment other than joy, relief, or others along those lines are taboo and out of place and that to reject this extreme punishment is to advocate for a pardon of her actions to an extent.

   

My problem with this episode is that I never saw any substantial evidence that the claims made against Victoria’s character are true, but instead they are made and perpetuated by people who were not initially involved with the crime. The tourists in the justice park are much like a jury, who rely on a set of facts given to them to form their own opinions of a given situation. Not to mention that the guilty party is having her memory wiped clean every day, so she does not even have the opportunity to defend herself or provide the audience with her side of the story because she has zero memory of what happened. I do not find this punishment to be fitting to the crime at all, seeing as how she is not only tortured and publicly humiliated every day until her trial, but also how she still has to be officially sentenced by a judge. Punishments/sentences are meant to rehabilitate, not just humiliate. By forcing Victoria to relive this experience every day, she does not have the opportunity to reflect upon her actions and consider her role in this whole ordeal, nor does she have an opportunity to become a better person, because in her mind she was innocent to begin with. Without her memory, the Victoria being punished in the episode may as well be a different person from the one who had all her faculties, filming and participating in a crime..

The most frightening and disturbing aspect of this episode is how closely it (among others) resembles real life in the west and the way that we profit off of this sort of treatment, ignoring the humanity of others. I suppose that is why the show is titled Black Mirror, because it is supposed to reflect the worst, darkest parts of our society.   

Not the same as Yesterday, Just for Today

The question of right now is can forgiveness ever be a true result of justice? is it ever possible for someone to be forgiven and have justice be served to them coequally ?

In my opinion I honestly believe that if you are to serve someone justice that you have not forgiven them and if you have forgiven them justice has not been served. Think about this scenario in which someone accidently runs over their neighbors dog and kills it. The person starts crying and pleading that it was an accident and that they are sorry. The neighbors are distraught and disgusted but out of mercy decides to forgive them of their actions and not call the police. Has justice been served? Especially considering the fact that many people are in jail behind the accidental killing of a dog?

Justice is just as hard to define as love is. It has a continuity of connotations that allows for it to be misinterpreted at times. As we struggle to understand exactly what the components of justice are we are still forced to impose laws that we believe helps us to shape our beliefs of what the justice system may seem like.

As we all may have heard forgiveness is just a way of cancelling debt. we believe that whenever we forgive someone they are changing the person that they used to be and becoming someone better. we believe that they are "not the same as yesterday". However, we notice many instances of "cancelled debts" that have happened in the justice system depending on the person and the crime. Is it justice? and if so, when are we to dictate whether or not the crime is forgivable?

In the film, White bear, we see a woman who has committed a crime in which she'll never be forgiven for, but is justice actually being served to her?

 

Her form of punishment is for her to relive the crime she committed over and over again while at the same time having her memory swiped...is this torture imposed entertainment or justice?

It almost passed as a form of justice until someone decided to swipe her memory allowing for her to just be a pawn. Is the purpose of punishment not to allow for the person to become aware of the wrong that they have committed and continue to be conscious of it, thus promoting rehabilitation? I honestly believe in this film the lady has honestly become a subject of revenge and revenge in itself because swiping her memory defeats the purpose of the justice system and conflicts any morals the prosecutors and whatever that society may possess.

Is White Bear Justice?

Victoria awakes dazed and confused on a chair in front of a television with a weird sign, pills spilled on the floor and bandage around her wrists. She walks around the house with amnesia and glimpses of a girl. She sees a picture of her, a man and the girl on a fireplace and she figures that she might be her daughter. She leaves the house and sees people watching and filming her passively. Out of the blue, a man with a rifle hunts her down and she runs under the view of the people around constantly recording her. She meets a young woman called Jem that explains to her that most of the population is controlled by a signal from the White Bear transmitted that transforms them into voyeurs. They run to a convenience store in a gas station and the hunter shots and kills Jem's friend Damien. They run to escape and a man called Baxter stops a van and saves them from hunters. But the guy is a hunter himself but they end up being able to flee from him. Jem explains that she intends to burn the White Bear to the ground and they drive to the facility, even though Victoria keeps getting a bad feeling and random flash backs when White Bear is mentioned. When they reach the place, Victoria learns secrets about her and the place where nothing is what seems to be. Victoria ends up finding out that her ex boyfriend killed her daughter in White Bear while she was present recording the whole thing. She finds out that this is her punishment and she has to live with it everyday even though she will forget by morning and will continue to suffer. I believe that what happened to Victoria's daughter was brutal and disheartening. Making her go through what her daughter felt emotionally at the time is what she deserves. But she will never feel what her daughter felt in her last moments. Even though Victoria is suffering for what she did, she gets to forget about what happened and only has glimpses of her memory. She gets reminded at the end of everyday of what she did. I feel like if should be held in her memory of what she did to her little daughter instead of making her forget everyday. There is also no telling how long this experiment/punishment will continue to be effective and serve its purpose for what the people consider justice for the death of her daughter. I do not see how people come to White Bear everyday to see the torment of the woman everyday for their own amusement. It is like the people look forward to seeing someone suffer for their crimes.

Is White Bear Considered Justice?

After watching White Bear, I’ve come to the realization that people have misused the word justice. Justice is fair, neutral, and moral. It is not one sided. You would have to figure out what is right or what is wrong in the situation before you could make a just decision. In most cases, when someone does any harm to a child or family member, they would want to seek for revenge to see that person hurt just as bad as the victim have. Depending on the situation, people tend to not think about morality. They would also contradict their original feelings of a subject when it affects them. For instance, you might feel negatively towards a person who has committed a horrendous crime such as murder, but if you have a personal connection with the murderer, then you are likely to be more forgiving than if it was a complete stranger. This would be called acting in favor of the suspect instead of acting in a just way.

In White Bear, I wouldn’t say that what they did to Victoria would be considered as a justifiable punishment because it is neither moral, or rational. Of course they didn’t think about how Victoria would feel because of what she had done. The people were thinking one sided when it came to punishing Victoria. She didn’t actually commit the crime, but she recorded it and that is just as bad as committing the crime according to others because she could have stopped it from happening. It was right to punish her, but being torturing her would be worse than punishing her. A person who believes in morality wouldn’t want to torture another human being because they know that it’s wrong no matter what the person had done. In this case, Victoria didn’t know what she had done. Everyday, they erased her memory. Before they would erase her memory, she would state that she wanted to die, but they still forced her to endure torture which is also not just. How could this be called justice? When you take every detail of the episode and think about it, it can be concluded that this scenario is called revenge, not justice. A just person would look at the whole situation and consider how it would affect both sides. I believe that Victoria shouldn’t have been tortured not only because it wasn’t just, but also because she wasn’t aware of the actions that she took part in.

White Bear

"White Bear" is about a woman named Victoria Skillane who can not remember anything and thinks she tried to commit suicide. She then finds her way outside with a picture of what she believes to be her daughter. Victoria then is attacked while she was watched by people with their phones. She finds two people and they help her escape, one dying in the process. The girl she is now with is named Jem. She is trying to reach White Bear and shut down the transmitters to be in a safe place against the attacks. They run into Baxter who seems to be helpful, but then turns on them. After their escape, they make their way to White Bear and Skillane is then put into restraints and it is found out this was all a show. Skillane is then shown she is a criminal who filmed the murder of a child (who she thought was her kid). You find out this is what the criminal justice system decided was a fair punishment: everyday removing her memories and having her live through what she did to the child.

I would say this is not justice. Most people would consider justice punishment to a person who committed a crime. But justice to me is to rehabilitate people to rejoin society so they can be productive again. I would argue this is not justice just on that basis, but if you believe in punishment for the people who commit a crime is justice, then I would say you are still wrong because of the issue of her memory.

Skillane does not know who she is therefore she is nobody. As you see in the film, when they show snippets of her past and the video of the child, you can tell this is a completely different personality than the Skillane we saw during the first part of the film. I would argue this memory wiped person is completely different. This Skillane's personality is made up of her new memories just being created, making her a new person everyday. Since everyday is played out in the same way, this makes a branch of new people being identical every time the show is played out. I would argue they are now punishing the wrong person for the crime and they already killed the one who committed it when they wiped her memory away. I think we would all agree that punishing someone on purpose who did not commit a crime would be an unethical and just a plain stupid way to have a justice system.