In the movie “A Few Good Men” we learn the struggles that private Santiago is facing. We hear in the beginning of the movie the letter Santiago wrote to request a transfer from his current base. Santiago was never granted his transfer and later was found dead. Lance Corporal Dawson and private Downey are accused of murdering Santiago, Dawson and Downey want to plead not guilty to murder because they state that they were ordered by Lieutenant Kendrick to give Santiago a code red. A code red is putting a recruit in physical or emotional harm due to their actions or if they don’t follow the Marine code. As the judge I find the defendants not guilty of the murder of private Santiago, I find the defendants guilty of conduct unbecoming on officer. …show more content…
I would although charge Dawson and Downey with manslaughter. Manslaughter is a crime somewhat like murder but with having no intentions of killing. I believe that the men had no intentions on killing Santiago, they were only following orders. Lieutenant Daniel and Lieutenant Galloway who are Dawson and Downey lawyers express that when the two men issued the code red they stuffed a rag in Santiago mouth and proceed to shave his hair. Earlier on in the movie I become aware that Santiago has several health conditions such as passing out but the Lieutenants ignored his conditions and thought it was lazy behavior. There was no poison found on the rag that was stuffed into Santiago’s mouth. When Dawson and Downey found out that Santiago was dead they immediately called an ambulance, which shows me that they didn’t intend on killing him. I do however believe that Dawson and Downey are indeed guilty of the charge of conduct unbecoming an officer. “Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”(Powers) I feel this way because even though I don’t believe that they had intentions on killing Santiago, he still ended up deceased and the two men should be held accountable. They shouldn’t have the title as an officer after killing one of their own men. This record will stay with these men for life and it will be very difficult trying to get a
And I followed it.” (A Few…) From which Downey explains that Dawson told him about their order to perform the code red, and Downey willingly followed Dawson with no hesitation as he worships Dawson for his actions. Dawson however, does not feel this way about Kendrick as Dawson has had the unlucky displeasure to experience Kendrick’s leadership Kendrick, after learning about the incident, ordered a code red to be set for barracks restriction, and the denial of food for a week. Dawson, after personally questioning the morality of the order, disobeyed and tried to assist Lt. Barnes by sneaking him food, an action that displeased Kendrick.
In conclusion, police corruption was and still is a major problem in the united states. Police are placed into society to serve and protect, but the New Orleans Police Department was infested with corruption from murder to drugs. Len Davis was the first police officer in history to ever receive to death penalty because of his unspeakable crimes that he had committed. Unfortunately, Kim Groves life was taken because she filed a complaint on Len Davis. The individuals that had really suffered were her children and family. Len Davis had no morals or value for life nor did he have any remorse for this unspeakable crime that he had committed. There should be mandatory laws put in place to recruit police officers, more psychological testing and major background checks so this won’t ever happen to no one
The motion picture A Few Good Men challenges the question of why Marines obey their superiors’ orders without hesitation. The film illustrates a story about two Marines, Lance Corporal Harold W. Dawson and Private First Class Louden Downey charged for the murder of Private First Class William T. Santiago. Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, who is known to be lackadaisical and originally considers offering a plea bargain in order to curtail Dawson’s and Downey’s sentence, finds himself fighting for the freedom of the Marines; their argument: they simply followed the orders given for a “Code Red”. The question of why people follow any order given has attracted much speculation from the world of psychology. Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist, conducted an experiment in which randomly selected students were asked to deliver “shocks” to an unknown subject when he or she answered a question wrong. In his article, “The Perils of Obedience”, Milgram concludes anyone will follow an order with the proviso that it is given by an authoritative figure. Two more psychologists that have been attracted to the question of obedience are Herbert C. Kelman, a professor at Harvard University, and V. Lee Hamilton, a professor at the University of Maryland. In their piece, Kelman and Hamilton discuss the possibilities of why the soldiers of Charlie Company slaughtered innocent old men, women, and children. The Marines from the film obeyed the ordered “Code Red” because of how they were trained, the circumstances that were presented in Guantanamo Bay, and they were simply performing their job.
I think they did the right thing by charging him with manslaughter. His actions on the fire were not acceptable, he was not acting like a IC and was not doing his job at all. He killed four people because his actions and most likely his low level of training. If they had the correct PPE and working Equipment and Knew to follow the ten standard firefighting orders and the eighteen watch out situations they most likely would of all survived and never been in that situation of deploying there shelters.
In CrimJ 100 we were talking a lot about how to court system works and the different severities of sentences. I was asked to watch the movie A Few Good Men, I was able to watch it on Popcorn time. The purpose of watching this movie was so I could relate what I was learning in class to this movie. The movie is about two marines; LCcl Harold and PFC Downie were ordered a code red on a fellow marine that was requesting to leave his company. The Commanding Officer Nathan Jessep ordered the code red to “train” the marine to get use to the conditions in Cuba. The code red back fired on the commander when Santiago died from the code red. The commander tried to stay under the radar and erase his name from getting tracked back to him. The protagonist Lt. Daniel Kaffee has to prove the Lt. Kendrick called the code red on Santiago. Another main character in this film is Lt. Cdr. Galloway, she is PFC Downie’s attorney for this case. There are many themes that we have covered in class that occur in the movie. This is great representation of how a real court case would play out. The movie showcase key themes, such as Plea bargains, Responsibilities of the Criminal Defence Attorneys, Responsibilities of the Procsector, Bringing in a witness, and also showcases judges in a courtroom scenario.
Besides, his actions continued to be abusive when Claudio’s sister, Isabella, comes to beg for her brother’s life. He proposes Isabella to sleep with him and only then he would agree not to sentence Claudio to death. In this case, he also uses his authority to gain what he wants, which is obviously an abuse of power. Another example of the abuse of power is in “A Few Good Men.” In the movie two U.S. Marines, Dawson, and Downey, are judged in a court-martial for killing their colleague, Private Santiago and are defended by LT Kaffee with the assistance of Cmdr. Galloway. The defenders are suspicious about the details of the murder and the storyline about Santiago. According to it, Santiago was not respecting commands, requiring to be transferred and his fellow Marines decided to train him into a better Marine. They suspect that the “Code Red,” which is an extrajudicial punishment, was ordered and carried out by two Marines. De facto, “Code Red” was ordered by Colonel Jessep, and LT Kaffee can make him confess it under pressure in the court-martial. Thus, Colonel’s example also shows abusive behavior as he used his power to achieve what he wanted bearing in mind the fact that U.S. Marines could not disobey orders. Therefore, it could be seen that law enforcement does not always mean applying the letter of the law and following the rule
...of two marines, to perform a code red on Santiago, the learner. Although no harm was intended, the life of an ailing soldier was brutally taken due to the respect of an order. From Fromm’s outlook on the situation, obedience may sometimes be right, but unfortunately might lead to an unwanted outcome, similar to the circumstances portrayed in A Few Good Men. A person with hateful and self conceited characteristics is someone that most people don’t want to be around. This can impact society by causing less appreciation among people.
In society, fear is a very prevalent reality. Everyone is fearful of something or someone. Day to day something terrible happens causing people to become more cautious and distressed. The real difference in people’s fear, is what stimulates it. It could be insects, heights, small spaces, war or even a certain someone. In the movie A Few Good Men directed by Rob Reiner one can see the pattern of how rank can trigger fear throughout the unfolding of the story. Lt. Daniel Kaffee defends two U.S Marines who are charged with the killing of a fellow marine. Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway convinces Kaffee that there is a case to be told. She believes the accused marines were ordered to give a Code Red to Pfc. William T. Santiago. Throughout the movie,
“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” says Margret White in the movie Carrie directed by De Palma. The witch in question is Carrie White, played by Sissy Spacek, a repressed teenager with telekinetic powers. The film is filled with motifs of blood, fire, religion, and the color red and the themes of sexual repression and bullying.
Although Santiago Nasar is murdered at the hands of the Vicario brothers, the entire town shares a role in his death. On the morning that Santiago Nasar is to be killed, Pablo and Pedro Vicario tell everyone they see that they are going to "cut his
In the film A Few Good Men this is found in the way that Lieutenant Corporal Harold W. Dawson did not salute Lieutenant Commander Kaffee as he left the room. This is a sign of disrespect and defiance toward Kaffee. Dawson also defied orders when he brought food to a fellow comrade when he was restricted to barracks only. He could not leave the barracks at all, including getting food. Dawson defied the orders and brought him food anyway. Does that mean that not all orders given need to be followed? Are the officers orders only followed to a point? If that is true why did Dawson and Downey administer the “code red” to
At a young age, children are taught to obey their parents and students are taught to obey their teachers. As a race, humans are naturally inclined to obey. Obedience is an attribute numerous people strive to achieve; however, the possibility of a negative outcome from blindly obeying orders is prominent in life and in the movie A Few Good Men. In the movie, Private Louden Downey and Lance Corporal Harold Dawson are charged with murder, conspiracy, and conduct unbecoming of a U.S Marine. These charges stem from the marines completing a “Code Red”—a punishment for misconduct or fallacy—on a fellow marine, which was issued by the greatest authority in their unit. As seen throughout A Few Good Men, and according to authors Kelman, Hamilton,
First, people do not like getting or being involved in Santiago Nasar’s death. On page fourteen of ‘chronicle of the death foretold’, it says “Many of those who were on the docks knew that they were going to kill Santiago Nasar.” This shows the diffusion of responsibility because they knew that Santiago was going to get killed and they didn’t even warn him. If Santiago had been warned, then he would have been cautious. It is better to be involved if you know something because it could possibly save a life.
...lice or lawyers used their integrity. The police skirted around the law and use evidence that the witnesses said was not correct. They had a description of the suspect that did not match Bloodsworth but, they went after him as well. They also used eyewitness testimony that could have been contaminated.
Just as Santiago gave into his assailants the biblical Christ never fought against the will of the people in Jerusalem and in the end, all the people of Jerusalem came to see Jesus on the cross for they knew that they were at fault. Also like Christ, Santiago received stabbings “through the palm of his right hand” (Márquez 117) as well as “a horizontal slash across the stomach” (Márquez 119). Santiago wore white linen at the time of his death, to symbolize the innocence and purity o...