Recent orders
Interview and Counseling Intake Interview
Interview and Counseling Intake Interview
Based On a Mock Trial
Jane Doe
University of Central Florida
Abstract
The first interview in a counseling session must cover many topics in a short period of time. The background of the client is one of the most important things to learn along with why the client initiated the session with the therapist. A mock interview was done to accomplish this first intake interview. The client brought forth a problem with depression, anxiety, stress, and marital problems due to the scenarios seen through his job as a LEO. Thorough communication throughout the mock interview the client was able to properly portray to the therapist certain ideas and feelings. Multiple interviewing techniques are accomplished through this mock interview to build rapport, understanding, and to find the goal(s) that the client wants to achieve through the journey of therapy.
Keywords: PTSD, (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), LEO (Law Enforcement Officer)
Interviewing and Counseling Intake Interview
Based On a Mock Trial
The mock trial was produced to show the ability of techniques and skills acquired and to use these techniques and skills in a real-life scenario. The mock client for this interview is a Law Enforcement Officer at a disclosed agency. Law Enforcement Officers face many problems throughout their job. One important aspect that is becoming more widely accepted is that LEO’s should see therapists whenever they feel they are having trouble processing their emotions due to the job and also after a critical incident. Many Law Enforcement Officers experience a variety of emotions. The client for this mock trial has mentioned feelings of depression, anxiety, and stress. The client has also expressed having marital discord due to these emotions he is feeling. The interview techniques and skills expressed throughout will help lead the client to realize his potential goal(s).
Background
Interviewing and counseling have been used increasingly throughout the past century, but has been seen in simpler forms as early as the Enlightenment era in areas such as Egypt, Persia, and Mesopotamia (Hackney & Cormier, 2013, p. 2). A larger proportion of people in society today though have a misconceived notion about therapy. There are people that view people seeking therapy as being “broken” or “crazy”. This unfortunate misconception has shaped the view of therapy for quite some time. Unless you know the true process of therapy and the goals of therapy, many may keep this misperception. What some people may not know is that therapy, interviewing, and counseling is actually quite broad and can range from situations such as critical incident stress debriefings, work evaluations, marriage counseling, and of course individual counseling and therapy.
There have been multiple therapy techniques developed over the years, some have shown promise and stability while others haven’t been so successful. Depending on the success rate of these techniques determines if they become more universally accepted or if they get rejected through trial and error. Hackney and Cormier (2013) included a list of theory/therapy types and the proportion of counselors that prefer to practice them as cited by Prochaska and Norcross (2010), “eclectic approach (37%), followed by existential/humanistic theory (13%), cognitive theories (10%), person-centered therapy (8%), psychodynamic theories (8%), systemic theories (7%), and behavioral approaches (6%)” (p. 5). With this being said there are four main approaches that counselors use, these being the psychodynamic approach, the transpersonal approach, humanistic and cognitive/behavioral approaches (Hackney & Cormier, 2013, p. 2).
Most recently there has been a shift in how counselors are using these different therapy approaches and theories. There has been the introduction the eclectic or integrative approach to therapy. This is the combination of multiple therapy approaches/theories to use in practice on the clients (Hackney & Cormier, 2013, p. 5). This is a newer development with the realization that not one single approach may benefit the client. The therapist will learn the client’s personality and characteristics and then determine which combination of approaches would most benefit the client to reach his or her full potential and goal(s). Not only is it about the client though, the counselor must keep in mind which approaches he or she is comfortable practicing. All in all, not one client is the same and not every client is going to benefit from one individual approach, therefore the client could quite possibly be accessing a higher rate of success among his/her clients with the integrative approach.
Overview of Mock Interview
The first interview with a client is one of the most important and beneficial. It is a chance to not only introduce why the client has chosen to see a counselor, but it’s also a chance to begin building the client-therapist relationship. Building a rapport with the client is one of the more important techniques a therapist can accomplish. With this rapport, the client feels a stronger comfort level and is therefore able to open up to the therapist without feeling judged. Other techniques that are important for the client-therapist relationship and for communication to prosper is the ability for proper language use and sentence/question formation and keeping cultural differences and similarities in mind. Pauses and moments of silence are to allow the client to think, process, and elaborate or add additional information. The therapist should also use nonverbal communication, paraphrasing, and clarification to portray to the client a sense of understanding and confirmation.
Preceding the session with my client I overviewed the paperwork given to me about my client, just to get an idea of the basics of who I was about to see. I knew I was about to begin a session with a male client and I recalled part of an article I studied about counseling men, “The male experience is framed by context, power, character, personalities, and relationships, which are interwoven in complex ways” (Duffey & Haberstroh, 2014). This would beneficial to keep in mind. Now, some therapists may find some reasons as to why there may be a conflict with the client that may interfere with the session from being beneficial to themselves and the client; the therapist would possibly then refer him or her to someone else. “The counselor must also make an initial assessment of the situation, determine that his or her skills are appropriate to the client’s presenting concerns, and that the interaction of personalities and personal values are a good match for counseling success” (Hackney & Cormier, 2013). As I found no reason to not proceed with the interview, I welcomed my client into the room. The atmosphere of the room is exceedingly essential for creating that positive first impression. I made sure the client had a number of options as to where to sit, whichever would make him the most comfortable. I also made sure to not have any type of table or ottoman in between where the client would sit and myself. If there is an object between myself and the client, the client may feel as though I am closing myself off to them; that I am psychologically putting a wall between myself and the client (Hackney & Cormier, 2013, p. 20). The client also focuses on the therapists’ body language. Depending on how the therapist is sitting can determine the client’s comfort (Hackney and Cormier, 2013, p. 20). I made sure to sit in a position that wasn’t intense and wasn’t blocked, I made myself open and relaxed to give the client a sense of security.
After introducing ourselves I made sure to cover the confidentiality of our session, everything stays between myself and the client, unless under certain circumstances as explained through the ethics of counseling and therapy. I then began to explain that this initial interview was an in-take and history interview, rather than a therapeutic session. (Hackney & Cormier, 2013, p. 75). It is necessary to disclose this because many clients want an instant fix and they need to understand that it is a process and that process begins with the initial evaluation and history of the client. After all of this information was given, the in-take interview process began. I asked the client why he was seeking counseling and he advised me that he had begun to feel overwhelmingly stressed and anxious and was afraid that he was becoming depressed. Without going into too much detail about this at this stage I began to probe a bit about this and asked him when he thought these feelings began to start. The client advised me that the episodes began a few months after starting his career as a Law Enforcement Officer.
Moving forward from this I asked more about his background and history. This included history as a child, in school, relationships with parents and siblings, work history, marital status, etc. Making a mental note to myself in the session I recalled, “Counselors who seek to understand their male clients as unique human beings while being aware of the multifaceted aspects of masculinity can better conceptualize their clients’ needs and respond with accurate and genuine empathy” (Duffey & Haberstroh, 2014). Throughout all of this information given to me by the client I made sure to use appropriate nods, used nonverbal and verbal communication, showed empathetic regard to my client, and was also note-taking and recording the session for later use (Hackney & Cormier, 2013). When I was presented with information given that was ambiguous I would ask probing questions and ask the client to explain a bit further with specific instances and examples. I would also ask questions to allow me to lead and/or to infer feelings and emotions (Hackney and Cormier, 2013, p. 83). Along with these techniques, throughout the interview thus far I would in some instances, paraphrase what the client was saying once he finished speaking. This gave me the option to determine and confirm that I was correctly understanding the client’s communication, emotions, and situation given. Not only did paraphrasing give me the option to confirm understanding, but it also gave the client the opportunity to hear back what he said to help develop insight and giving them an opportunity to clarify any misunderstandings (Hackney & Cormier, 2013). After receiving all of the information necessary for the interview I began ending the session with my client. I asked him what he wanted his goal or goals for therapy to be and I also gave my feedback on his goal and goals as well with the problems presented in this session (Hackney and Cormier 2013, p. 82). I explained my thoughts about the session and what I thought would be beneficial to the client as well, which approaches to use based on the information given to me throughout his in-take interview and assessment (Hackney and Cormier, 2013, p. 82).
Presented Problems
Throughout the interview, the assessment of the background and history of my client was the first and foremost purpose of this in-take interview. But, briefly overviewing why the client was seeking therapy in the first place would also be a key factor into continuing the sessions. The client as mentioned previously described feelings of anxiety, depression, and intense amounts of stress. When probing I found that these feelings began and intensified soon after beginning his career as a Law Enforcement Officer. I found that there was a definite correlation between the two as he began to explain more about his job duties and experiences he has had while on shift.
When I asked the client questions about his marital status he did tell me that he was married. Through further questions the client and I began to understand that since starting his career as LEO there was also a correlation with problems in his marriage arising. He began to explain to me that he felt a lot of pressure and stress at work and situations he came across while working would greatly affect his mood. He would take these feelings home with him, but not open up to his wife, and as he said she began feeling shut out. He mentioned he couldn’t just shake away these feelings of sadness from certain calls during his shift and he then started having anxiety about how they were affecting him.
I have done some research about stress, anxiety, and depression with LEO’s previously but after this session I feel as though more research would be necessary to continue therapy sessions with the client to guarantee his benefit. I explained to him that he was not alone in feeling this way. I informed him that it was found that LEO’s that were married did in fact experience much higher levels of stress, anxiety, and even depression when compared to the LEO’s that were not married (Husain & Sajjad, 2012). I explained to him that I also felt as though it would be beneficial to him to participate in marriage counseling as one of his goals while also continuing therapy sessions individually. Not only do LEO’s experience stress, anxiety, and depression, but they are also highly capable of developing PTSD. Knowing this I advised the client that I would don’t believe he has PTSD, but that it is something that I would like to evaluate further. He agree with this and he also agreed to continuing individual sessions and also agreed that he would discuss marriage counseling with this wife.
Conclusion
The mock in-take interview and assessment was beneficial into understanding the appropriate techniques used in a therapy session. The techniques therapists used throughout their sessions with clients guarantee a positive rapport is built between the client and the therapist (Hackney & Cormier, 2013). With the rapport that is developed the client is therefore able to open and feel secure with this relationship. This secureness that the client feels is essential for successful therapeutic sessions in reaching the client’s ultimate goal(s). As counseling becomes increasingly universally accepted, the more people will understand its systematic ways of creating a more functional intrapersonal unity and interpersonal relationships and skills.
Works Cited
Duffey, T., & Haberstroh, S. (2014). Developmental Relational Counseling: Applications for Counseling Men. Journal of Counseling & Development, 92(1), 104-113. Doi: 10.1002/j.1556-6676.2014.00136.x
Hackney, Harold L., & Cormier, Sherry. The Professional Counselor: A Process Guide to Helping. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2013. Print.
Husain, W., & Sajjad, R. (2012). Depression, Anxiety and Stress among Married & Unmarried Police Officers. FWU Journal of Social Sciences, 6(1), 43-47.
Lucas, T., Weidner, N., & Janisse, J. (2012). Where does work stress come from? A generalizability analysis of stress in police officers. Psychology & Health, 27(12), 1426-1447. Doi: 10.1080/08870446.2012.687738.
McCoy, S. P., & Aamodt, M. G. (2010). A Comparison of Law Enforcement Divorce Rates With Those of Other Occupations. Journal Of Police & Criminal Psychology, 25(1), 1-16. Doi: 10.1007/s11896-009-9057-8.
Miller, L. (2007). Police Families: Stresses, Syndromes, and Solutions. American Journal Of Family Therapy, 35(1), 21-40. Doi: 10.1080/01926180600698541.
VIOLANTI, J. (., CHARLES, L. (., HARTLEY, T. (., MNATSAKANOVA, A. (., ANDREW, M. (., FEKEDULEGN, D. (., & …BURCHFIEL, C. (. (0001). Shift-Work and Suicide Ideation Among Police Officers (English). American Journal Of Industrial Medicine, 51(10), 758-768.
Webster, J. H. (2014). Perceived stress among police officers: an integrative model of stress and coping. Policing, 37(4), 839-857. Doi: 10.1108/PIJPSM-06-2014-0064.
Paige Schulze
PCO-4203C-0W59
November 17th, 2014
Two Minute Transcript from Mock Interview
Therapist: You said that you’re a police officer and that you’ve been experiencing some feelings of sadness, anxiety, and that you’ve also been stressed. Do you think the two have anything to do with each other?
Client: I do. My job puts a lot of stress on me anyways and some of the situations I’m put in sometimes stick with me even when I go home.
Therapist: What do you mean by the situations sometimes stick with you? Can you give me an example or explain this more to me?
Client: Well, some things that I see are really hard to get over, they’re sad situations that involve young kids, or anything like that and it becomes something that affects my mood at home because I think about it a lot. I guess I wish I didn’t have to see it or I wish I could have done something more.
Therapist: Okay. I understand. That would be hard to let go. You mentioned to me that you were married. Do you talk to your wife about any of these feelings you have?
Client: Not really. (long pause for client to process and elaborate). I’ll tell her if I’ve had a more difficult day but I don’t go in to details about it because I don’t want her to hear all the bad stories. But I feel like sometimes I distance myself from her because of not wanting to share and I can tell that it upsets her and I can tell it’s causing some problems between us.
Therapist: I understand. You’re saying you don’t want her to have to hear all of the bad stories because of how sad they are? Is that correct?
Client: Yes.
Therapist. Okay. Have you tried telling her your emotions from what happened during the day, but not the actual story of what happened?
Client: I guess not. Usually I just say it’s been a hard day and leave it at that.
Edward Sapir
Theoretical Genealogy
Name of Student
Institutional Affiliation
Edward Sapir
Background
Edward Sapir was Franz Boas’ trainee in the early years of the 20th Century and was considered a genius by his peers. Edward was the only trained linguist among Boas’ students and had the gift of intuition that gave him insight into grammatical patterning and the relationship between linguistic families through history (Benedict, 1939). He contributed to general linguistic theory, Amerindian, and Indo-European linguistics. He also contributed significantly to ethnology, cultural psychology, and culture theory. Sapir was known as a prolific fieldworker and expert in theory. During his time, he recorded thirty-nine distinct Amerindian languages, sometimes working with the last speaker alive. Sapir transliterated indigenous-language folklore writings. He was a music composer, humanist, anthropologist as well as a linguist. He was also a literal critic and published poetry. Sapir was an exemplification of the study of meaning and communicative form across linguistic and cultural boundaries for his successors regardless of the discipline.
Sapir was a student of Germanics at Colombia University before switching to anthropology and linguistics after he was influenced by Franz Boas, a huge figure in the field and the founder of contemporary American anthropology. He contributed a lot to Native American and Indo-European linguistics. Before he began contributing to American Indian and general anthropology, Sapir had contributed majorly to American letters through poems and reviews in journals like the Nation, Poetry, Freeman, and the Dial. His contributions to cultural anthropology were mainly the development of formal descriptive linguistics. This made him one of the founders of contemporary linguistic. After his studies at Colombia, Sapir went to the division of anthropology as its chief in Ottawa, Canada, where he worked for 15 years. He moved to the University of Chicago after the death of his wife and back to the center of anthropology, unlike Ottawa, that had isolated him.
Sapir’s contributions to ethnological studies in the form of writings followed each other steady succession from the earliest to those published afterward. He wrote “The Social Organization of the West Coast Tribes” in 1995 that constituted a summary of huge amounts of data, unlike the brief reviews he was doing (Sapir, 1968).
Information on the significant publications and contributions to the field of anthropology
Edward Sapir influenced in a significant way the American linguistics and anthropology even beyond its borders. Sapir was the principal developer of the American school of structural linguistics, in his book Linguistics (1921) Sapir insists that language is closely related to culture (Sapir, 1968). He says that language is culturally acquired.
Sapir founded “Ethnolinguistics,” which studies the relationship between language and culture, and vigorously contributed to the study of North American Indian languages. He was more concerned about the cultural change among the American Indians, something that prompted a publication of the same in 1916. In his writing, he indicated that man perceived the world basically through language. The different behaviors exhibited by individuals with specific cultural backgrounds, he says they are related to the particular style of a specific community.
Sapir contributed to anthropology by explaining the interrelation that exists between culture and language and how they implicate each other in a particular society. He addresses the issues of how style affects literature and culture affects language. Sapir, together with Benjamin Whorf, discovered that the Eskimo have several words to refer to snow as compared to another culture of people who don’t experience snow. The Sapir-Whorfian hypothesis that they developed implies that a language has a direct influence on how the speaker of it thinks. According to Sapir and Whorf, the culture determined the language use and the choice of diction.
Sapir also contributed to the theory of Social Cultural Traditions. In this theory, Sapir and Whorf explain how we form meanings of words by use of culture. It is a culture that determines the definition of a given the term; therefore, we cannot separate a language from its culture. The meaning of words depends on a particular culture. A particular culture defines the phonemes, thus the meaning of the word. Each culture has its own conventions on how they place meaning on a particular word. Sapir also published reviews on poetry, the nation, freeman, and the dial.
Information on which school of thought or theoretical perspective in which this individual is associated with
Sapir is associated with several theoretical perspectives touching on language and anthropology. In his time, Sapir was an influential figure and brain that developed a number of theoretical perspectives that can be used to explain the phenomenon. He mainly focused on culture and personality. Sapir influenced a number of theories; this paper discusses some of the theoretical perspectives.
The linguistic and cultural theory (1925) by Sapir sought to explain the interrelation between language and society. Sapir notes that language is directly influenced by culture. That is to say that words that are used a specific group of people to relay a given meaning they belong to a particular society with a unique surrounding. Every culture provides sense to words depending on the community that they belong to. He further states that sound is part of society that shares particular conventions and structures that help it to come up with meaningful communication. Therefore, language and society are dependent on each other and are inseparable.
Sapir, in his book “Language” (1921), gives a fuller understanding of languages in history and structure. Sapir mainly concentrated in American Indian languages. Sapir was more interested in phonetics and grammatical typology of the words how they were articulated by then and how the society influenced the articulation. In this book, he introduced the theory of linguistic drift, which stipulates that morphological change in language is by systematic trends followed in language history. Therefore, the history of the language influences the grammar and its usage. The theory also highlights the meaning of words being conventional to a particular culture (O’Neill, 2015). The theory suggests that it is through the need of the society to have words to explain a given phenomenon that we came up with words that specifically are related to that culture.
The Intellectual Descent of the Individual- Tracing the Influences on the Anthropologist’s Thinking Where Possible
Edward Sapir was a student at Columbia University, where he studied Germanics when Franz Boas influenced him, and he changed to linguistics and anthropology. Boas was the founder of modern American anthropology. Sapir wanted to make an impact on the American Indian languages that others thought they had no history, and they were not well-documented languages. The chance of working with Franz Boas excited him, and he took it. In anthropology and linguistics, he would at least document and show the history of the American Indian languages.
Franz Boas gave him the tools and techniques to lay bare his desire, and he grew to be a world-renowned linguist and anthropologist who has influenced the course of history in those fields academically. Through the knowledge that he received by switching classes, he was able to write several theories that describe language and culture, which enabled him to analyze the American Indian indigenous languages. He wrote their history and phonemic transcriptions of these languages.
He was able to develop the theories and tools of analyzing these languages by borrowing from Boas’s ideas that he had earlier on come up with. Sapir used these ideas as a basis to create his designs and formulate the theories. Franz Boas have greatly influenced Sapir’s works.
Therefore, we can conclude that Sapir was inspired by his teacher, Boas, who gave him the needed educational information, which helped him to establish his own theories and thoughts. Such educational background provided Sapir with adequate tools for future achievements.
The Significant Problems the Individual Address in His Scholarship
Sapir addresses several problems in his course of evaluating more on anthropology and linguistics. He addresses issues that he feels are more fundamental to him and those that other scholars ignored. Some of the problems he addresses in his scholarship are explained below.
Sapir addresses the psychological reality of phonemes. In his books, especially “Language” (1921), he tries to explain the notion that phonemes are language-specific and mostly influenced by culture. Sapir tries to say that contrary to the general belief that grammars are universal, to him, they belong to a given culture as they are used to create meaning to a word from a specific culture. Therefore, to him, phonemes are unique and only belong to a single culture with unique pronunciation and definition. The phonemes, according to Sapir, are cultural and must be culturally defined.
Sapir also addresses the unconscious patterning of behavior in culture. Sapir believes that language is a determinant of behavior in society. That language directly affects the behavior of the members of the community. He generally believes that when a word is courteous in its tone, it’s most likely that the behavior of the members of the society is also polite. And when the language is perceived to be rude and even its tone, the behavior of that society is equally questionable. Behavior and language in culture are related, and they influence each other. Sapir also addresses problems such as time perspective in American culture, the meaning of religion, among other issues.
References
O’Neill, S. P. (2015). Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis. The International Encyclopedia of Language and Social Interaction, 1-10.
Sapir, E. (1968). Selected Writings of Edward Sapir. Univ of California Press.
Benedict, R. (1939). Edward Sapir. 465-477
Interrelationship between politics, policy, and government
Political Science
Author
Institution
Introduction
1. Interrelationship between politics, policy, and government
The term government is used to underline the institutions involved in the making of authoritative public policies on behalf of the entire society. Politics is an ambiguous term that, according to Harold Lasswell, may be defined as “who gets what, when and how” (Caramani, 2008). In this case, it encompasses the mechanisms through which decisions pertaining to the allocation of resources to individuals are made. Policies, on the other hand, refer to the rules, guidelines or frameworks that guide the execution of decisions and the achievement of rational outcomes. The three terms are interrelated as politics determine the actions of the government, while policies determine the frameworks through which the government would attain laid out outcomes (Caramani, 2008). The government, therefore, is guided by politics in determining the resources and their required distribution criteria, while the execution of the political decisions is guided by the policies.
2. Fundamental rights.
One of the rights that are considered fundamental by the Supreme Court is the Right to freedom of speech. While there are varied fundamental rights, the government may restrict them in instances where their exercising put the common good in harm’s way. For example, freedom of expression is restricted in instances where it conflicts with other rights and values. This may, for example, be in instances where it involves child pornography (Tushnet, 2008).
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages for cities to incorporate?
One of the key advantages for the incorporation of cities is in the enhanced speed of addressing issues pertaining to an area. In fact, the incorporation of most cities is founded on discontent with the level of interest shown in a particular area. The incorporation allows for issues to be quickly addressed as there would be a body solely charged with safeguarding the welfare of the city.
However, the incorporation comes with a downside for the dwellers. This is especially with regard to an increase in the taxes. The incorporated cities would be dependent on franchise fees, proceeds from half-cent sales tax, taxes on utilities, as well as the shared dollars from state revenue. These taxes would have to be shouldered by the residents and business people of the cities.
4. Judiciary as the least dangerous branch of the government.
The framers of the constitution believed that the Judiciary made the least dangerous branch of the government as its nature and functions had the least capacity to injure or annoy the constitution’s rights. Their belief was undoubtedly correct as the judiciary did not have some powers that the legislature and the executive had. For example, the legislature controlled the purse and made rules by which every citizen had to adhere. The executive, on its part, held the community’s sword and dispensed the honors. The judiciary, on the other hand, did not have any influence on the purse or the sword, and could not have any direction pertaining to the wealth or strength of the society. This means that it cannot execute any active resolution, unlike its other branches as it only makes judgments while ultimately depending on the other branches.
LONG ANSWER
1.
The entire constitution does not underline the right to privacy. However, the right to privacy has its origin in the Bill of Rights, which reflects James Madison’s and other framers’ concerns pertaining to the protection of certain elements of privacy (Tushnet, 2008). Varied constitutional amendments underlined the right to privacy including the 1st amendment (privacy of beliefs), 3rd amendment (a home’s privacy against demands for use in housing soldiers), 4th amendment (protecting individuals against unreasonable searches), and the 5th amendment (protecting the privacy of personal information).
The right has also been espoused in case laws such as the Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 (1965), where the Supreme Court stated that the rule that forbid the use of contraception among married couples was a violation of marital privacy rights enshrined in the bill of rights (Tushnet, 2008).
While the Supreme Court may have made considerable definitions of the right of privacy, I do not think it has gone too far. This is because there is an element of ambiguity as to whether it is guaranteed alongside other rights (Tushnet, 2008). In essence, it is imperative that the Supreme Court make all efforts to define the boundaries pertaining to the Right of privacy.
2. Commerce Clause and The Necessary and Proper Clause
The Commerce Clause outlines the principal powers of the federal government. It gave the United States Congress the power to regulate the country’s commercial undertakings with foreign nations, among the varied states, as well as with the Indian tribes. The clause had significant effects on the powers of the congress with regard to commerce. These powers have been varying in line with the dynamics of the time. Nevertheless, the clause gave the Congress power to have jurisdiction over varied aspects pertaining to interstate and intrastate commerce and non-commerce.
The Necessary or Proper clause gave the Congress the power to make laws that it deemed proper and necessary for the execution of the foregoing powers, as well as other powers that had been vested on the government, or any Officer or department thereof. These two clauses acknowledged the problem that came with the deficiency of federal commerce power according to the Articles of confederation.
These two clauses have often been paired so as to offer a constitutional foundation for varied federal laws. A number of reforms incorporated in the New Deal have been found necessary and proper enactments for the purpose of controlling interstate commerce. In addition, not only have the clauses been paired to uphold federal laws that have any effect on economic activity but also to justify criminal laws pertaining to the federal government.
The Congress used the Necessary and Proper clause in the Federal Kidnapping Act, where it made the transportation of a kidnapped individual across state lines a federal crime as it would amount to an interstate activity. On the same note, the clause justified varied criminal laws pertaining to interfering with the rightful operation of the federal government such as federal laws against the murder or assault of federal employees (Tushnet, 2008). In addition, the Commerce Clause has for more than two centuries been invoked in solidifying fundamental federal responsibilities including corporate entities regulation, road construction, as well as illegality of child labor (Tushnet, 2008).
As much as the clauses may be seen as giving the congress the powers to “overstep” its mandate, I believe that the congress should have such powers. This is because there are numerous gaps in the interpretation of the constitution, which can only be closed by the dynamism that the pair offers especially with regard to commerce and the powers of states.
References
Tushnet, M (2008). I dissent: Great Opposing Opinions in Landmark Supreme Court Cases. Boston: Beacon Press.
Caramani, D. (2008). Comparative politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.