Citizen's Survival Guide

We cannot foresee every situation that you are likely to confront during your career as a college student. This guide, however, will provide you with information about several topics that may interest you or problems that you may face as a college or university student.

YOU AND THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

Any person, providing that he or she fulfills certain minimal requirements, can participate in the American political system. Here we provide information on how you can register to vote; how to obtain information about political candidates, as well as events occurring in state legislatures and the U.S. Congress; and what to do if you wish to become a political candidate.

How Do I Register to Vote?
In most states, you must register before you go to the polls on election day.

Who May Register?
In general, you are eligible to vote if you are a citizen of the United States, will be eighteen years old on election day, and are a resident of the state in which you wish to register.

How Do I Register?
You may register to vote at the appropriate county office in your state, or you may complete a postcard registration form and return it to the correct official. To find out which county official or office you need to contact (whether the appropriate official or office is the county clerk, county auditor, or county board of elections, for example), check the information pages of your local telephone directory.

Registration forms are available throughout your county in places such as banks, union halls, city halls, savings and loans, utility offices, libraries, and political party headquarters. If you cannot register by one of the above methods, call your county clerk, political party headquarters, or the League of Women Voters.

For How Long Is My Registration Valid?
In general, your registration will be valid indefinitely if you vote at least once every four calendar years and if you remain in the county in which you are registered. These rules vary somewhat from state to state, because some states have regular "purges" of their voter registration lists and others do this less routinely.

When May I Register?
In states that require pre-voting registration, you must register no later than 5:00 P.M. on the tenth calendar day prior to the primary and general elections, or the eleventh calendar day prior to any other election in which you wish to vote. Postcard registration forms must be postmarked no later than fifteen days prior to the election in which you wish to vote.

If I Move, How Do I Record My Change of Address?
If you move within a county, write a letter to the appropriate county official. State the full name under which you are registered, your old address, your new address, and any other information to assist the county official in identifying you. The letter must include a signature from each affected voter. You may also record the change at the county offices in person, at the polls on election day, or by completing a postcard registration form. If you move to a different county, you must register as a new voter.

May I Vote Using an Absentee Ballot?
Yes. If you are properly registered and you expect to be out of your precinct on election day, or if you are ill or physically disabled, you may vote by sending in an absentee ballot. Incidentally, if you are voting via an absentee ballot from another state, check with a local notary public; a notary public's signature may be required for the out-of-state absentee ballot to be acceptable back home. If you are using an absentee ballot within your state, you can have it notarized at the county auditor's office during regular office hours.

You may request a ballot by mail not more than seventy days prior to an election. If the request is for a primary election ballot and you are in a state that requires party registration, you must include your party preference. Persons who are residents of health-care facilities or patients in hospitals may have a ballot delivered to them upon request to the registration official. Your completed absentee ballot must be postmarked no later than one day before the election. An absentee ballot must be returned, regardless of whether it is completed.

Where Do I Get Information about the Candidates?
Apart from paying attention to political and election news on television and radio, take the time to read a national newspaper (such as the New York Times) or a news magazine (such as Time or Newsweek). Also, watch C-Span or CNN on cable television, or contact interested groups. Local election headquarters for a candidate are probably the most direct source of information, but you should also contact the county or state party headquarters, look in your local public library for campaign material, or rely on nonpartisan activist groups, such the League of Women Voters, for unbiased information.

How Can I Find Out What's Going on in Congress or in My State Legislature?
To find out what is happening in Congress, you can call the offices of a U.S. senator or congressional representative from your state. To obtain information about events in your state legislature, you can call the legislature and leave a message for an individual state senator or representative, or you can ask for information about upcoming votes or events in the legislature. Most legislatures have a number with a recorded message describing the day's events in the legislature and a separate number with information on the status of bills, public hearings, and legislative agendas.

How Can I Become a Candidate?

If you want to be a candidate, contact one of the following offices:

• For county positions, contact the county clerk's office.
• For state and federal positions, contact the secretary of state's office.
• For municipal positions, contact the city clerk's office in your city.
• For school district positions, contact the secretary of the school district in your district.

Note that candidates must also file campaign finance disclosure reports. Federal candidates should write or call the Federal Election Commission, 999 E Street N.W., Washington, DC 20463 (800-424-9530). All other candidates should write or call the Campaign Finance Disclosure Commission for their state.

YOU AND THE JUSTICE SYSTEM

One of the essential "survival skills" in today's world is knowing what to do if you are a victim of a crime or have an encounter with the police. The following sections provide information on how to deal with such situations. Additionally, any American citizen has a chance of being called up for jury duty. If you should be called, you should know what jury duty entails.

What If I Am the Victim of a Crime?

If you are the victim of a crime, you should, of course, report the crime to the proper authorities. At a college or university, this may involve contacting the campus security office, the local municipal police, or both. Many campus security personnel have powers of arrest, as well as training comparable to local police, and they probably can respond more quickly than the local police if the crime occurred on campus. Help with legal services is available through many student governments or university administrations.

Beyond that, many states have crime-victim compensation programs that help victims with costs related to injuries resulting from criminal acts. In general, you may be eligible for this form of assistance if you have been physically or emotionally injured in a violent crime; if you are the victim of drunk driving, hit-and-run driving, reckless driving, or driving in which a car is used as a weapon; or if you are the survivor of a homicide victim. To qualify for such financial compensation, generally you must report the crime to local law-enforcement officers within a specified amount of time (for example, seventy-two hours), unless there is an explanation of why you could not do so; file an application with the program within a time limit (for example, two years) from the date of the crime; cooperate with the reasonable requests of law-enforcement officers in their investigation or prosecution of the crime; not have consented to, provoked, or incited the crime; and not have been assisting in, or committing, the criminal act causing your injuries. Payments generally will be made when all required information is received.

Within established limits, you may be compensated for medical or nursing care needed for crime injuries, crime-related counseling, wages lost due to crime injuries, loss of support (for dependents of deceased victims or victims who cannot work), funeral and burial costs for homicide victims, grief counseling for survivors of homicide victims, cleaning the homicide location in a home, or replacing clothing and bedding held as evidence by law-enforcement officials. Depending on particular state legislation, you may not be eligible under these programs to be compensated for property loss or repair, legal fees, travel, telephone bills, meals, or pain and suffering.

What Happens If I Have an Encounter with the Police?
Let's say that you are involved in a traffic accident, and the police start asking questions. Then again, you might be stopped as you leave a store at the mall and be charged with shoplifting. What kinds of things do you need to know to help you get through experiences such as these?

We will assume in what follows that you will be dealing with state law-enforcement and court authorities rather than federal officials, because by far the greatest number of violations of the law involve transgressions against state laws or local ordinances.

Criminal laws are passed to protect the public from conduct that is dangerous or offensive. When a criminal law is broken, the city, county, or state brings criminal charges against an individual. Criminal law is divided into two classifications: felonies and misdemeanors. A felony is a major crime (such as murder, robbery, or sexual assault) and may be punishable by an imprisonment for anywhere from one year to life (or death, for that matter, in states that provide for capital punishment), depending on the severity and classification of the felony. In contrast, a misdemeanor is a comparatively minor offense that is punishable by a fine, imprisonment for up to one year, or both.

Criminal Procedures
Most arrests are for misdemeanors, and in such situations, the arresting officers often release the suspect with a citation rather than taking him or her to the police station. The citation instructs the person to appear in court at some later date to respond to the charges. If, after arrest, the suspect is not released with a citation, he or she will be taken into custody. Within twenty-four hours, the suspect will be brought before a magistrate or a judge. At this time, the suspect is informed of the charges against him or her, and bail or conditions of release are set. In some serious cases, state law may prohibit a release on bail. Within a relatively short time (twenty days, for example), the accused person may receive a preliminary hearing before a district judge or a district associate judge. The purpose of this hearing is to determine if there is enough evidence ("probable cause") to continue to prosecute the case. If a preliminary hearing is held and the court finds probable cause, the defendant will be held for further proceedings.

Depending on state law or other factors, the case may be presented to a grand jury. A grand jury is a panel consisting of six to twenty-three citizens who decide whether to return an indictment against the defendant. If a specified number of the grand jurors feel that there is enough evidence to bring the accused person to trial, they indict the defendant, which means that the case is presented to the court for filing. Few criminal cases are heard by grand juries. Usually, the county attorney will file an information, which is a statement of the charges and the evidence in the case. After the indictment or the filing of an information, the defendant appears before a judge or magistrate for arraignment, generally within forty-five days of the preliminary hearing. At the arraignment, the defendant hears the charges and enters a plea, which is usually either "guilty" or "not guilty." The judge will either dismiss the case, accept the not guilty plea, or accept the guilty plea. If the guilty plea is accepted, the judge will announce the sentence, which may be a fine, confinement in a jail or prison, probation, and/or other treatment. Sometimes, if a judge is not convinced that a defendant is guilty, he or she may require that a trial be held.

If the defendant pleads not guilty, a trial date is set. The defendant has the right to a trial by jury. If a jury is not requested, a bench trial is scheduled. In a bench trial, the judge will hear the evidence and render a verdict. If a jury is requested, the jury will hear and weigh the evidence and render a verdict. If the jury is not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt of the defendant's guilt, a not guilty verdict must be returned. In a criminal trial, the jurors' decision as to whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty must be unanimous. If the jury cannot reach a unanimous verdict, the judge will declare a mistrial. The state then will decide whether to retry the case before another jury or to dismiss the charges. If the jury returns a guilty verdict, a sentencing date will be set. The judge will also order a complete investigation of the defendant's background and the circumstances of the case.

After weighing the information from the investigation, the judge at a sentencing hearing may sentence the defendant to a fine, confinement in a jail or prison, probation, other form of special correctional treatment, or a combination of these punishments. If the sentence is a fine or confinement, the judge may suspend the sentence. If the sentence is suspended, the fine or confinement does not have to be paid or served, and the defendant is placed on probation. If the defendant fails to follow the rules and conditions of the probation, it may be revoked and the original sentence reinstated.

Traffic Violations
For traffic-related matters, a somewhat different pattern is followed. Fines and costs are listed on tickets when they are issued for minor violations, such as parking and most moving violations (speeding violations, for example). These costs are usually paid by mail but can be paid at the traffic clerk's or district clerk's office. Usually, a court appearance is not required for a minor violation. Some jurisdictions, though, may require you to go through a "shock" session before a judge. If damages from an accident exceed a specified amount, a court appearance may be required. More serious traffic violations--such as reckless driving, operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, or driving when your license is suspended--require a court appearance before a judge or magistrate.

What If I Am Called for Jury Duty?
Eligibility to serve on a jury is a basic obligation of citizenship. In general, any registered voter (and, in many locations, people who are registered as owning motor vehicles or whose names appear on other publicly available lists) may be called up periodically (the frequency varies) to show up at the county courthouse for possible selection to serve on a jury. Jurors may be excused from service for reasons of serious hardship, inconvenience, or public necessity. The United States Supreme Court has stated that, during the jury selection process, potential jurors may not be excluded because of their race or gender. In general, to "qualify" for jury duty, you must be at least eighteen years old, be a citizen of the United States, and be able to understand spoken and written English (those with hearing disabilities will be accommodated).

In many states, there are few, if any, blanket exemptions from jury duty for students or others whose lives or jobs might be disrupted by having to take the time to sit on a jury. It may be possible, however, to ask that your period of eligibility for jury duty be delayed to a later date. Whether you will be allowed to delay jury duty often depends on the cooperation of the local judge and, possibly, of the court clerks. One situation that normally would excuse you from jury duty is if you were solely responsible for the daily care of a permanently disabled person living in your own household.

Although many trials may last no more than one or two days and many potential juries are dissolved before they actually meet (because defendants plea-bargain for a lesser sentence from the judge), you will have no control over the length of time you must serve on the jury. It is quite possible that you might be required to participate for a week or longer, during which time you may not be permitted to watch or listen to certain broadcasted news reports or to read certain printed news articles. There is no guarantee that you will not be chosen on more than one occasion to serve on a jury.

If you or any member of your immediate family has been a party to a lawsuit involving the principal persons involved in the trial or has had any other significant interaction with those principals or the law-enforcement officers participating in the case, or if you feel that physical or mental circumstances would make it difficult for you to make an informed and impartial decision, then you may be excused by the judge.

YOU AND YOUR PERSONAL PROTECTION

Being a victim of crimes against persons is not inevitable, but these crimes are certainly commonplace. An important survival skill today is knowing what you can do to avoid becoming a victim of crime. You should also be aware of what steps you can take if you are the victim of a sexual assault or battering.

Suggestions for Guaranteeing Your Personal Safety

Anticrime experts have a number of tips that can help you avoid being a victim. Here are some of them:

1. Always park your car near a light and as close to a gate or to a security booth as you can. When possible, use valet parking. Only give the valet your ignition key. Otherwise, a simple wax impression of your home keys can easily be made by an enterprising valet.

2. Never stop on the street to look at your watch if someone asks the time. While you are looking at your watch, you are extremely vulnerable. Simply approximate the time, and give the person the approximate time while you continue walking.

3. If you are traveling or simply worried about a robbery at your house or hotel room, do the following: Leave a $20 bill about four feet inside the entry door. Few criminals will walk past that money without pocketing it. Thus, when you return and open the door, if you notice that the $20 bill has disappeared, you should immediately close the door and not return until you are with a police officer or a security guard.

4. According to many self-defense experts and police personnel, meekness often invites aggression. An alternative to meekness is "cerebral self-defense." This is the state of being mentally prepared for trouble. One of the first things to do when accosted by a criminal is to use "choice speech." Most attackers, if made to speak, will become somewhat distracted. The attacker's talking buys you time either to make an escape or to signal for help. In some situations, it even changes the attacker's mind. Some examples of choice speech are "You don't want to hurt me. After all, I hate the same people you do," or "I'll bet you were probably abused as a child."*

What Can I Do If I Am the Victim of a Sexual Assault or Battering?
Many cities, counties, and towns have assault care shelters and telephone hotlines for reporting serious crises that happen to you in your relationships. Local facilities often provide some or all of the following services: a twenty-four-hour crisis telephone line for listening, support, information, and advocacy; a shelter to provide safe, temporary housing for women and their children; children's programs for counseling, advocacy, outings, and therapeutic play groups; free, short-term individual counseling provided to adult survivors of child sexual abuse, rape, and battering; support groups for battered women or victims of sexual assault, with child care; and education programs for community groups and public agencies.

You may be a victim of battering if your partner hits, kicks, or shoves you; uses his or her temper, jealous rages, or anger to frighten you; isolates you from your social support system; calls you names, puts you down, or plays mind games; threatens to commit suicide; threatens to report you to the authorities; controls access to money, food, and necessities; or forces sex on you against your will.

Many colleges and universities have affirmative action offices, sexual-harassment offices, or both that you may contact if these or related events occur to you while you are a student. Particular rules and guidelines may apply in your institution. To find out about those rules, contact your student government, the campus affirmative action office, or the campus women's center. Some universities and colleges have a sexual-harassment hotline.

Protecting Yourself on the Electronic Superhighway
To protect yourself against huge phone bills and the ability of others to get into your electronic mail, (e-mail), it is important that you choose a password that cannot be easily discovered by others. Here are some rules for choosing a password and keeping your password secret:

 

Do not use any words that are in any dictionary.

Use at least eight characters.

Do not use obvious passwords, such as sports teams or your birthday.

Mix up numbers, special characters, and letters. Mix upper and lower case.

Never write your password anyplace where people can find it.

Change passwords frequently.

Do not "lend" your password to anyone else.

Do not tell your password to someone over the phone.

You and Your Employer

Finding and keeping a job is clearly important to your future well-being. In the past, an employer could hire and fire workers with virtually no legal restrictions. Today, many laws restrict the employer's discretion in hiring and firing employees and ensure that employees are treated more fairly. These laws do not guarantee fairness in the workplace, but they do prevent certain specific forms of unfairness.

Legislation Prohibiting Employment Discrimination
Until the early 1960s, private employers were free to discriminate openly against minorities, women, or any other group. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited employment discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, or gender. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was created to help resolve or prosecute discrimination cases for employees. Two other federal acts--the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990--prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of age and disability, respectively.

These laws prohibit employment discrimination at any stage of employment. A business may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, or disability in hiring new employees, in setting pay scales, in granting promotions, or in firing employees. The law also prohibits discrimination regarding the "terms and conditions of employment." This means that an employer cannot expect a person who falls into one of the categories, or groups, protected by the laws mentioned above to work longer hours or suffer less desirable working conditions than other employees. Indeed, employers must be very careful about giving preferential treatment to the members of any protected class. Sexual or racial harassment is a prohibited act, as is discrimination on the basis of pregnancy. An employer cannot refuse to hire a pregnant woman, fire her because of her pregnancy, or force her to take maternity leave. Pregnancy must be treated the same as any other temporary disability. For example, pregnancy must be covered under health insurance if other temporary disabilities are covered.

Under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, employers with fifty or more workers must provide up to twelve weeks of leave during any twelvemonth period to employees for family or medical reasons, which include caring for a newborn baby. During the leave, the employer must continue the worker's health-care coverage and guarantee employment in the same position or a comparable position when the employee returns to work.

Intentional and Unintentional Discrimination
The initial focus of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was on intentional discrimination against the classes of employees designated by the act. As the law evolved, courts began to recognize the presence of discriminatory practices (such as certain educational requirements) that had a discriminatory effect, or disparate impact. For example, suppose that a fire department had a rule requiring all job applicants to be at least 6 feet tall and weigh at least 175 pounds. Although this rule is applied equally to everyone, the requirements exclude a disproportionate number of women who might want to become firefighters. This rule has a disparate impact.

An employer may justify a rule or policy having a discriminatory impact by claiming that the rule or policy is a business necessity. If the fire department were sued for discriminating against women, for example, the fire department might respond that firefighters need to be strong, and therefore the rule is necessary to perform the job. The plaintiff could rebut (counter) this claim by showing that an alternative test of strength or other measure--one that does not have a discriminatory impact--could serve the fire department's needs. An employer may also justify a rule by claiming that the rule is a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ). The BFOQ exception is very limited, however, and it generally applies only in obvious situations, such as those involving fashion models or actors.

Affirmative Action Programs
To make up for past discriminatory practices against certain groups, many employers have instituted affirmative action programs. For such a program to be lawful, the employer must show a reason, or need, for affirmative action. Such a reason might be that the company has an extremely low number of minority employees relative to the number of qualified workers in the community. Any affirmative action program must be temporary and limited to correcting the need to create a balanced workforce. Affirmative action programs cannot unduly restrict the opportunities of groups, such as white males, that are not protected under employment-discrimination laws. Courts in the mid-1990s are increasingly reluctant to uphold affirmative action programs on the ground that they violate the equal protection clause of the Constitution.

What Can I Do If I Am a Victim of Employment Discrimination?
If you believe that you have suffered unlawful discrimination, you should first file a claim with your state government human rights agency, which will investigate and pursue your case if it is deemed meritorious. If you receive no relief at the state level, you can file a claim with the EEOC. You must file a claim with the EEOC within 180 days of suffering the discrimination. The EEOC, if it decides to investigate your claim, will try to reach a voluntary settlement with your employer that protects your interests. If no settlement can be reached, the EEOC will determine whether there is reasonable cause to suspect unlawful discrimination. If it finds reasonable cause, the EEOC may take the case to court for you. If it does not find reasonable cause, the EEOC will give you a "right-to-sue" letter, and you can initiate a lawsuit against your employer for illegal employment discrimination. You must file your lawsuit within 90 days of obtaining a right-to-sue letter. If your claim is successful, you may be awarded back pay (wages for up to two years), compensatory damages, attorneys' fees, and job reinstatement.

Other Laws Protecting Employees
In addition to the discrimination laws discussed above, a number of statutes provide a variety of protections to workers. Many of these laws protect the economic and safety interests of workers and are summarized below.

Fair Labor Standards Act. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 governs the hours and wages of work. The coverage of the FLSA is very broad and reaches virtually every employer in the country. This law establishes a minimum wage, which is now set at $4.70 per hour and will be raised to $5.15 per hour as of September 1997. Some states have a higher minimum wage. Employers must pay the applicable minimum-wage rate for the first forty hours worked in a week. If you work more than forty hours a week, you are entitled to one-and-one-half times your regular wage rate (usually called "overtime" wages) for the hours worked beyond the first forty.

Not every worker is protected by the FLSA. For example, agricultural workers, many salespeople, and professional, managerial, and supervisory employees are exempted from the law. The FLSA also has child-labor provisions that generally prevent the employment of persons younger than fourteen years of age and that restrict the terms of employment of persons between the ages of fourteen and seventeen.

Worker Safety
The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 was enacted to help ensure safe and healthful working conditions on the job. Numerous standards have been set under this law, including limits on exposures to harmful chemicals and various workplace standards to avert accidents. In addition, the law obligates employers to keep the workplace free of recognized hazards to health, even in the absence of a standard. Employees can file complaints about unsafe conditions and cannot be required to work when they have reason to fear that their safety is in jeopardy.

When an on-the-job accident does occur, the employee may apply for workers' compensation. Each state has a workers' compensation system that pays benefits for accidents or diseases that arise out of or during the course of normal employment. A worker may recover even if his or her own negligence contributed to the injury, but there is no recovery for intentionally self-inflicted harms. The injured worker may not file suit against the employer but may be able to bring a case against a manufacturer of the product that caused the injury. Some workers have been afraid to file for compensation, lest they be fired. In most states, a person cannot be discharged in retaliation for filing a legitimate workers' compensation claim.

Unemployment Compensation. The United States has an unemployment compensation system, in which employers pay taxes into a fund, and the proceeds are paid out to workers who qualify for such compensation. Each state has authority to set rules determining which workers are entitled to unemployment benefits. Some typical state requirements are as follows:

• The employee must have been fired without good cause or have quit the job with good cause.
• The employee must be unemployed for some minimum amount of time, such as a week.
• The employee must have worked on a reasonably regular basis prior to unemployment.
• The employee must register with a state-operated employment agency, seek a new job, and accept any reasonably suitable new job offer.
• The employee must be able to work and not be a striker.

If the worker qualifies for unemployment compensation, he or she will receive regular, but temporary, benefits based on a formula. The formula is generally based on a fraction of the worker's average wages during a recent period up to a certain maximum. Benefits are available for up to twenty-six weeks, and this time period has been extended during times of serious unemployment. This income may be taxable.

Employee Privacy
Employee privacy rights are a major new concern of the law. In general, employees have little on-the-job privacy protection under the common law. Some statutes have been passed to provide a measure of privacy protection to workers, but this protection is still quite limited.

Lie Detector Tests
In most occupations, you cannot be forced to take a lie detector test and therefore cannot be fired for refusing to take the test. There are some exceptions when such testing is allowed. Workers holding certain sensitive jobs, such as security personnel, may be subjected to lie detector testing. An employer may also force an employee to take such a test if the company is conducting an ongoing investigation of losses and has a reasonable suspicion that the employee was involved in the losses.

Even if you are lawfully subject to testing, federal law contains further protections. You cannot be asked needlessly intrusive or degrading questions.

You must be informed of the purpose of the testing, and disclosure of the test results is limited to those who have a need to know them. The testing must follow accepted standards for accuracy.

Drug Testing
Recent years have seen a significant increase in the use of employer drug testing, as the costs to employers of drug abuse are increasingly recognized. With the exception of a few states, such drug tests are legal. Although drug tests plainly intrude upon your privacy, the tests are generally held to be a reasonable exercise of the employer's rights. Courts may require that steps be taken to ensure the tests' accuracy and that the privacy invasion resulting from drug testing be no greater than necessary.

Employee Monitoring
With the advance of new technologies, employers are increasingly able to monitor the work of their employees. Companies may monitor your telephone calls or your computer work. Closed-circuit monitors may be installed in the workplace to observe your work habits. Like drug testing, such monitoring is considered to be a private matter between employer and employee and is generally legal. A few states have laws restricting such monitoring in certain areas, such as nonwork areas.

Personnel Records
Federal law provides no right for workers to see their personnel records, though a number of states grant such a right, as do many employers' voluntary policies. Moreover, an employer may lawfully disclose the contents of your personnel file to individuals either inside or outside the company. If the revealed information is false, you may sue for defamation.

Back to Top