Briefly summarize the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment. Are the implications of the results still current today? Should they be relied on to make patrol allocation and distribution decisions in modern cities and communities? Why or why not? Fully explain your position.
Sample solution
Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell.
In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.
God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.
Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.
To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.
References
Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.
Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.
Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.
Sample Answer
Sample Answer
The Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment: An Evaluation of Police Patrol Strategies
The Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment was a landmark study conducted in the 1970s that aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of different police patrol strategies on crime prevention and public safety. The experiment, which began in 1972 and lasted for over a year, divided the city into three groups: one with traditional reactive policing, one with increased police presence through preventive patrols, and one with limited police presence.
The results of the experiment were surprising. Researchers found that the level of reported crime and the public’s perception of safety remained relatively unchanged across all three groups. This challenged the conventional wisdom that more police presence and preventive patrols would lead to lower crime rates and increased public satisfaction.
Implications of the Results
The implications of the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment are still relevant today, as they shed light on the complex relationship between police presence and crime prevention. The findings suggest that simply increasing the number of patrol officers may not necessarily result in reduced crime rates or improved public safety.
While the study was conducted several decades ago, its lessons are still valuable for modern cities and communities. Police departments should consider a more nuanced approach to patrol allocation and distribution, focusing on data-driven strategies, community policing, and targeted interventions in high-crime areas.
Should the Results Be Relied on for Modern Decisions?
While the results of the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment provide valuable insights, they should not be relied upon as the sole basis for making patrol allocation decisions in modern cities and communities. Policing strategies have evolved significantly since the 1970s, with advancements in technology, community engagement, and data analysis.
Modern police departments face diverse challenges such as cybercrime, terrorism, and social unrest, which require a multifaceted approach to law enforcement. While preventive patrols may not be the panacea for reducing crime rates, they can still have a deterrent effect and contribute to building trust between law enforcement agencies and the community.
Therefore, while the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment serves as a cautionary tale against blindly increasing police presence without clear objectives, it should be complemented by contemporary research, best practices, and community input when making patrol allocation decisions in modern cities and communities. A balanced approach that combines preventive patrols with community engagement, data analysis, and targeted interventions is crucial for effective policing in the 21st century.
