Overcrowding In Our Jails and Prisons Today Essays - Criminal Law

Overcrowding In Our Jails and Prisons Today Cyceli Desargent Constitutional Law 10-31-12 I plan on discussing overcrowding in our jails and prisons today. We'll look at the two classes of criminal prisoners kept in our jails and prisons. In addition, I will examine the wide-ranging concepts that affect the numbers of criminal inmates in our jails and prisons. The United States incarcerates substantially more people than any other nation in the world. Actually, the Pew Center on the States reported in 2008 that one in every 100 adults in the U.S. now occupies our prison system. (http://www.pewstates.org/) Since we have been making an effort to ?imprison our way? out of crime for quite some time, federal and state prisons and county jails have become subjected to crisis levels of overpopulation. At the same time, operating funds have been rigorously restricted, as has financing to manufacture new facilities. Over the next couple of years, I expect the conditions will get even worse. At the core of the jail overcrowding problem is the mixture of increasing crime rates with an expanding countrywide population. Investigation points to the fact that when the national economy falloff, crime rates and the frequency of alcohol-related misconduct also increases. Coming from a criminal justice perspective, alcohol lawbreakers are overpowering our orderliness and causing cumbersome court dockets, troublesome caseloads, and filled to capacity jails and prisons. Statistics collected from courts shows that alcohol plays a substantial part as an influencing factor in the crimes that put a large number of people behind bars. Using imprisonment as a punishment for alcohol offenders is not only costly, but is insignificantly successful because it doesn?t help them concentrate on their core problem which is alcohol addiction. A lot of offenders ride out the time they were sentenced to but once they get out they return to their old surroundings with the same situations that caused them to drink in the first place. I believe a large portion of offender?s recidivate if their dependence problem has not been treated and settled. County jail and state prison overcrowding is a disturbing truth, and the courts of our state deal with it on a regular basis. Overcrowding may or may not affect the verdicts judges will make because it will vary from case to case and from one judge to another, but it definitely is a factor. There are many prisoners in local jails who have zilch to do with criminal court. I think judges should focus on those inmates who are in jail because of criminal charges. There are two types of inmates in our jails and prisons. 1. Those that have been charged with crimes and are awaiting trial. 2. Those that have been convicted of crimes and are serving out what they were sentenced to. There are numerous reasons/factors that affect the size of jail inhabitants. These basic concepts are fundamental principles of constitutional law. First and foremost, an offender accused of a crime is assumed to be not guilty of that crime, regardless of what anyone may think about his/her guilt until the he/she i s proven to be guilty. The second is the constitutional authority that while a defendant is waiting for his/her trial for that crime, the defendant is permitted judicious chance to be free pending trial. A judge then determines if the defendant qualifies for a bond. If so the defendant must pay the amount of money or put up property with the court in order to be released. The second category is those defendants who are serving sentences for their crimes. Offenders are given active jail time (behind bars) or some alternative to jail. The judge determines which of these two general categories of sentences to impose. A judge typically contemplates the primary goals of sentencing which are retribution, deterrence and rehabilitation. Retribution is also thought of as a Just Deserts. The defendant deserves to suffer this penance for what he/she did. Deterrence has two elements. 1. Specific deterrence, which makes that specific offender from perpetrating future crimes. 2. General deterrence shows a standard to others. The theory is that people will know what sentence was imposed with another defendant and will expectantly choose not to commit crimes. Rehabilitation comprises a wide

Expository Essay on A Farewell to Arms Essays - Free Essays

Expository Essay on A Farewell to Arms Essays - Free Essays Expository Essay on A Farewell to Arms subject = Modern American Lit title = Expository Essay on A Farewell to Arms In Ernest Hemmingway's A Farewell to Arms, the protagonist, Frederic Henry is both dysfunctional and tragic. Throughout the story Henry lives up to this description of shear tragedy and dysfunction. The main elements that aid in making him both tragic and dysfunctional are: the fact that the love he and Catherine shared at the end of the book was doomed, this love was only "role-playing" to him at first, and he went AWOL on the Italian army. The first detail that contributes to making Henry a dysfunctional character is that he uses role-playing as a way of escaping the realization of the human mortality which is unveiled by the war. This role-playing begins on Henry and Catherine's third encounter. After this meeting the two become increasingly comfortable with their roles. It is as if their whole relationship is a "game". Neither one of them mistakes role-playing for a truly intimate relationship, but both recognize that it can be a useful device for satisfying certain emotional needs. This role-playing is a very dysfunctional characteristic of Frederic Henry. The second point that makes Henry a dysfunctional character is that he deserted the Italian army. Not only was this illegal but it could have cost him his life. Henry, although an American, had made a commitment to the Italian army, to protect and serve Italy. This characteristic alone is enough to make one dysfunctional, as it does to Henry. In addition to being a dysfunctional character, Henry is also a tragic character. The love that Henry gains for Catherine is pure tragedy. Although the relationship that Frederic and Catherine had started out to be only role-playing it turned into something much more, it became true love. This love was more than could be explained in words. Their love during an ugly war was not to be recreated or modeled even as much as through a baby conceived by their love. The baby could not be born alive because their love was beautiful yet doomed so that nothing could come out of it. "In a world where the abstracts of glory, honor, and sacrifice meant little to Frederic, his physical association with Catherine was the only thing he had and it was taken away from him long before she died."1 In conclusion, these three main items aid in making Henry a dysfunctional and tragic character. Henry had fled his duty as a soldier, giving up on the country he had confided in. Henry was engaged in a relationship which started as a mere game, grew into love and ultimately ended in the tragic death of his precious wife and child. Frederic Henry is a tragic and dysfunctional character in a tragic and dysfunctional story.

Investment and Financial Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Investment and Financial Planning - Essay Example Probably the most important data to a growth investor is the company's earnings per share. Earnings are bottom-line profits the company earns, after all expenses and taxes. When earnings are divided by the number of shares, you get earnings per share. Microsoft stocks was first sold to the public in 1985, and in that year it had just a penny of earnings per share. But by 1989, earnings had increased four times, to four cents a share. From then on, Microsoft earnings went on a steady climb, reaching $1.71 per share in 2000. What happened then A recession combined with a technology sector collapse caused the era of straight-up growth to end. Is Microsoft still considered a growth stock Yes, by most it is. The stock market still values Microsoft based on an expectation that growth will resume, although not at the pace of the company's early years. Most growth companies pay little or no dividends. Until recently, Microsoft paid none. So, earnings measure the money the company can reinvest back into its own growth. Earnings per share are reported quarterly, and they are the best measure of success for growth investors. A steady pattern of quarter-to-quarter earnings growth should create strong upward movement in share prices over time. But the opposite is also true. When a growth company slows its earnings growth rate, the share price can take a big tumble because investors lose faith in future growth. Growth stocks tend to be more volatile than the market as a whole, because they are in high demand when earnings keep growing and can fall out of favor when earnings falter. The sectors that are most widely followed by growth investors include technology, pharmaceutical and retailing. Value Investing Value investing is the other side of the stock market coin. Value investors believe almost the opposite of growth investors. Instead of looking for growing companies that are the stock market's darlings, they look for out-of-favor companies selling at attractive values. These values are most often defined by below average price/earnings ratio and below average price/book ratio. The slide shows both types of data for Eastman Kodak, a company that is widely known and followed. But for various reasons, Eastman Kodak has fallen out of favor with investors. Why do you think that might be so (VOLUNTEERS) Price/earnings ratio is calculated by dividing the current

Europa Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Europa Report - Essay Example The Europa report film faces a lot of disastrous technical failures the lead to lack of communication between them and the earth mission control. Despite the series of very dangerous crises, the Europa crew continue with the mission of reaching Europa where they encounter a lot of scientific mysteries. On this mission, several scientific aspects were used which had different accuracies (National Research Council & Space Studies Board, 28). One of the scientific aspects used included the Radio Science Subsystem. A radio science subsystem is a subsystem that is placed on board of a spacecraft (Carroll & Michael, 76) .The RSS is placed on board for purposes of radio science. The radio Science Subsystem mainly uses signals to determine a medium like that of planetary atmosphere. The spacecraft transmit very high stable signals to the ground stations, receives signals from the ground stations or even both. The transmitted signals parameters are known to the receiver and so the propagation medium or the relative motion of the spacecraft is attributed to these parameters (National Research Council & Space Studies Board, 59). The Radio Science Subsystem was used in the Europa to determine the degree two-time dependent gravity field, to recover K2 amplitude at the Europa’s orbital frequency to 0.003 absolute accuracy, and the phase to 1 degree. The RSS functions include determination of the gas clouds that include the atmosphere and the aura of plasma which surrounds the sun also referred to as the corona. The RSS also characterize gravitational field which explains that there is a body that extends into space around itself. RSS estimates masses of celestial satellites and sizes of particle fields and also the density of ion fields (Carroll & Michael, 99). A magnetometer (MAG) is an instrument that measures vector magnetic field where the information is used to determine the boundaries that are between various plasma regions. The MAG also

Western civilization. Ideas of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle Essay

Western civilization. Ideas of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle - Essay Example Athens in olden times was an intellectual and artistic centre of the Greek world. The advanced thinkers came in and rejected the traditional explanations of the world of nature. The Greek thinkers started suspecting rational order to the universe.In such an atmosphere came the traveling teacher the Sophist. They were men whose responsibility was to train and educate the sons of Athens [1]. Amongst the ranks of Sophist came Socrates (c.469-399 B.C.), the most notable and wisest Athens ever survived. His most prized student was Plato (c.427-347 B.C.), who came from a wealthy and powerful family and devoted himself to teachings of philosophy under Socrates at a young age of twenty. Amongst Plato's prized student was Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) born in small Greek colony in Thrace and whose father served grandfather of Alexander the Great. He was interested in details of natural life. [2]Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher. He is the founder of Western philosophy, and has contributio ns in the field of ethics, epistemology and logic. His ideas and approaches strongly provide a foundation for the western philosophy. His most important contribution is his dialectic method of inquiry which is known as Socratic Method used in examination of concepts of good and justice. He is known as the father of politics, philosophy, ethics and moral philosophy. He taught his students to be concerned with their families, careers and political responsibilities and also with the welfare of their souls. He believed in immortality of the soul, and that virtue could be taught. Socrates argued that the moral excellence was a matter of divine legacy and not the 1) Steven Kreis, the history guide, Lecture 6: The Greek thoughts: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, 2000. http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture8b.html 2) Dr. C. George Boeree, the ancient Greeks part2: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, copyright 2000, 2009. http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/athenians.html Parental nurture. His few believe were that no one desires evil, no one does wrong willingly or knowingly, all virtue is knowledge and virtue is sufficient for knowledge. This believes are characterized as Socratic paradoxes. He is himself referred as saying, "I know that I know nothing" [3]; he believed that wrongdoing was a consequence of ignorance. He connected the art of love with the love of wisdom i.e. philosophy. Socrates believed that the best way for the people to live was to focus on self development rather than material wealth. He stressed that virtue was the most valuable of all possessions [4]. Plato was Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues and the founder of Academy in Athens. He laid the foundations of natural philosophy, science and western philosophy. He taught philosophy, logic, rhetoric and mathematics. He often discussed the father-son relationship and the impact it had on son's life. Plato discovered that mankind is born with knowledge and it is present in human mind at birth. He argued that in daily lives we collect information from our experiences and gave great importance to the physical, mental and spiritual development of an individual. Plato introduced the idea that the mistakes were due to not engaging properly within justice, beauty and equality (he called them "forms"). In metaphysics Plato predicted a systematic rational treatment of the forms and their interrelation. In ethics and moral psychology he developed the view that the good life requires not just a certain kind of knowledge but also training to healthy emo tional responses and harmony between the three parts of the soul; reason, spirit and appetite. [5] Aristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and the teacher of Alexander the Great. His 3) Benjamin Jowett, The republic by Plato, book 1, 23rd September 2009. 4) Sarah Kofman, Socrates: Fictions of a Philosopher ,1998, ISBN 0-8014-3551-

The Violence In Movies

The Violence In Movies Do violent movies cause people to be violent? Violence is a very delicate topic and it raises the attention of producers, because they are affecting lives around the world, the movie producers see this as an opportunity to bump up their ratings by making violence more popular. Aiming to keep profits high, they target young adults through advertisements and keeping them informed with previews about what movies are coming up next. Research has shown different aspects of violence in creation by media sources, news, publishers, and even books written specifically based on the effects of violent behavior in movies affecting peoples lives. There are diverse ways in which to consider the rating for violent movies, and different laws are passed in every country regarding the age that people are able to watch a specific violent movie. At a young age children are more vulnerable to practicing what is filmed on the big screen. Arguments are seen in the public eye, as a way to stop the creation of violent movies and create or recreate stories which are suitable for the public eye to view without endangering their way of living in a normal society. This subject also answers to what is the cause for gun violence, drugs, gangs, attempted murders, and a large variety of vicious attacks in society. It is known that the mind acts as a triggering device which takes actions based on what images or information it has received. Negative information or images are processed through and give out a harmful response to the collector or to the people around him. Harmful, downbeat or depressing movies can change a characters view on things or can change their personality. It might bring back depressing moments in someones living or make them feel insecure about things in life, making them choose wrong options, doing drugs, mistreating their family, breaking laws etc. These are some examples of how people react to a violent movie, by identifying the argument based on reality. FACTS On Children and Teenagers. According to research that is dated not only in present, but also in long passed years, violent movies tend to affect mostly children and young adults. Watching violent movies does not only affect the youngsters behavior and tendencies to violence, but it also causes lower grades in classrooms. In the article Adolescents who watch violent films get poorer grades in the classroom written by Richard Gray Science Correspondent for Telegraph.co.uk, Dr. James Sargent, a pediatrician at Dartmouth Medical Center and the scientist who led an investigation concerning effects of violent movies on children, says: These are young adolescents who really should not be watching this type of adult material. Watching a lot of violent material seems to crank up their rebelliousness. Violent movies disrupt sleep and leave children not so eager for hard work and concentration in classrooms, which automatically leads to a considerable drop in grades and accumulation and assimil ation of knowledge. The same research also proved that students with excellent scholastic results dropped from 50% to 25% in grades. Other studies, though few of them, have compared various types of TV violence in United States, Japan, and Spain. Japanese television illustrates fewer physical of fatal injuries that the U.S. or Spain. Another study has shown that increasing violent expression of teenagers is directly linked to the violence on TV and movies in other countries. A child who is exposed to raging shows at ages 6 or 8 predicted aggression 2 years later among many boys and girls in the United States, Finland, Poland, and Israel. A new question rises: Why and how do children have access to headstrong programs? Who should be considered guilty for it? On Psychcentral.com, in an article entitled Movie Violence Can Overwhelm Children, by Rick Nauert PHD Senior News Editor, Keilah Worth, the leader of the study says: In Britain, no adolescent would be admitted to these movies unless they were 18. The R rating in this country is clearly not preventing our young people from seeing them . . . We know so much about the harmful effects of exposure to violent media content, but how much exposure children actually get has been largely ignored. Now, were learning more about the large numbers of kids seeing this material and who they are . . . We should re-think the current movie rating system, which has been in place for 40 years, and was designed when kids could only see movies in theaters. Ratings need to be more prominent on all movies, whether they are seen in theaters or purchased in the store, and we need clearer messages to parents. Pediatricians and child advocates should instruct parents to strictly abide by the movie-age guidelines and to closely monitor movie viewing. Is the rating system responsible for it? Is it the governments fault for not setting stricter laws? Or the parents are guilty for a not so strict supervision of their children? This question is yet to be answered. On one hand, the government is responsible for what is aired on TV and for the ratings in theaters. Movies rated-R, such as Scary Movie, which show a high number of extremely violent acts, should not be at hand for young adolescents. Although it is contraindicated for a person aged between 10 14 years to be able to attend such shows, according to Extension.iastate.edu, an average of 12.5 percent of an estimated 22 million children age 10-14 watched at least one movie that is rated-R, but has a higher level of brutality. Scary Movie was watched by an estimated 10 million children (48% of 10-14 year olds). As a fact, cartoons are 5 times more violent than most TV programs. On the other hand, the technology today is so easy to use, anyone can do it. Illegal downloads take pla ce everywhere, so it would be easy for a youngster to get anything digital. Everything is as close as the push of a button. Although punishments for piracy are severe, children are irresponsible and easily impressed by others who do it. Internet downloads fall under the jurisdiction of the parents. Strict supervision of the child when using a computer is absolutely necessary, until the child reaches a proper age for him to know what is good and what is wrong for himself. Culture, religion, and the way a child was educated in the family are also important, but in a lesser manner. Why do children do it? Why are they so desperate about watching violent movies? Some think that this is a ritual, some king of passage from a child to a teenager or from a teenager to an adult. Others believe that it is pure rebellion against parents and society, which is caused by violent movies (this explanation tends to be circular so some doubt its validity). In any case, what we know is that we must not encourage and we should prevent (if possible) children from watching high-ranked in violence movies, letting them lead a normal childhood and develop themselves as beautiful, well-rounded individuals. There are several problems that have draw questions upon themselves. For example: at what age should be children allowed to start watching violent movies, rating brutality in movies, which movie would be suitable for what age or the existence of good violence,. The term good violence appeared in 1960s, when TV channels broadcasted racist violence against African Americans. Some peop le believe that this is not violence, because it was released under the title of news. Others believe that no matter why is out there, is still violence. The topic is still argued by the two sides, and it would probably be debated a long time from now. But there has been reached a compromise concerning film ratings: YMaterial is suitable for all audiences, no violence; Y7Material is suitable for older children, may contain fantasy violence; GMaterial is suitable for general audiences, very little or no violence; PG Parental guidance is suggested, may contain some violence; 14 Parents are strongly cautioned, could contain moderate amounts of violence; MA Mature audiences only, contains material not suitable for children; In addition to this rating system, all of the television shows have sub-ratings. The sub-ratings include V for violence, S for sexual situations, L for explicit language, FV for fantasy violence, and D for suggestive dialog. These ratings help parents limit what their children watch. (suite101.com pg2) How parents can help. There are many and different ways which a parent can use to get to his child, and control, in one way or another, what the kid is watching without letting it seem like a total control, which most teens and young children hate. Some examples would be: media-free bedrooms for the children, common TV areas and family TV time, lack of free and unsupervised Internet access, suggesting a change of channel when the scenes become violent, discussions concerning the subject et cetera. A parent can also use Internet to research movies and their ratings so they will know what to let their young ones watch and what not. A different approach may be needed for different persons but the key is perseverance. As a parent, you should not give up when your daughter or your son finds new ways to watch whatever they want without you knowing. There is always a solution for these problems. On adults. Any differences based on sex or race? The effects that violent movies have on adults are not as researched as those on children and teenagers, probably because as the time passes by and a person already formed his or hers personality, it is hard to change that personality through an exposition of violent moving pictures. Recent studies have shown that the impact on adults does not differ from one person to another based on race or cultural provenience, proving equality and offering a good starting point for any race, but also removing myths that said some cultures are more violent than others. On the other hand, there is, or better said, was a difference between genres. Since women began being treated as being equal to men, aggressive behavior had increased in female society. In recent years, violent female characters appeared in movies, and it became more acceptable for a women to act freely and violent. However, compulsion will increase in both genres as long as brutal m odels are shown and promoted by the media. Even though this kind of movies affect adults too, it is hard to deny ones access to them. For example, a patient in a mental institute is suing United States because of the desire to view movies that contain violence, suicide and nudity. The patient, Larry Filliung, has strangled his girlfriend and was found not guilty by reason of insanity is requesting a change in rules, because the institute controls which movies can be viewed in groups and which not. Filliungs lawyer, Mark J. Heyrman, says that people like his client will one day be released and that sheltering him from controversial topics does not help him reintegrate into society. CRITICS AND CRITICISM Movie critics have a compared a multitude of movies to real life incidents, or better said tragic events. By drawing parallels between those two, critics have reached the conclusion that many terrorist attacks have their roots and draw their ideas from violent American movies, such as Independence Day or The Siege.

Essay --

When asked to evaluate the contribution to marketing made by an influential scholar, I decided to choose Phillip Kotler. Phillip Kotler was born on the 27th of May 1931 in Chicago. He was a character who strived during his educational times as he contains a Masters degree from the University of Chicago as well as a PhD from MIT both in the field of Economics. He is known as not just a famous Marketer but a renown author who has published over 55 books such as â€Å"Principles of Marketingâ€Å" â€Å" A Framework for Marketing Managementâ€Å" and â€Å"Marketing 3.0â€Å". The main reason I chose to study Kotler was that over his lifetime he was widely known for his efforts made to the modern marketing era. Of these acknowledgements made I would like to focus in on what I think are his three main contributes to marketing. Firstly, he was given the title as the â€Å"Father of modern marketing† which was seen in the eyes of the nearly all who study marketing. This title was given to him due to his outstanding knowledge and simplest ways to describe and focus in on the future fundamentals of marketing. Secondly, He one of the worlds’s leading authors on marketing placing 4th as an influential character behind the likes of Bill Gates and Peter Drucker. Finally, Kotler is said to be the founders behind the widely known 4 P’s, he is "the world's foremost expert on the strategic practice of marketing" (by Management Centre Europe). Professor Kotler is the expert marketer who discovered the 4 Ps of Marketing. This discovery is one of the most influentia... ...her one of his books â€Å"Marketing Management† is one his widely used graduate level textbook. Many students studying marketing refer to this book, he developed ideas and concepts in marketing including atmospherics (the store's layout, noise level, temperature, lighting), demarketing (reverse marketing in which a company discourages product demand in areas where they cannot realize a desired profit), megamarketing (type of marketing activity required when it is necessary to manage elements of the firm's external environment), and synchromarketing (activity intended to shift the pattern of demand to that it equates more suitably with the ideal pattern of supply). Kotler believes that marketing theory needs to go beyond price theory and incorporate the dynamics of innovation, distribution and promotion systems into analyzing, explaining and predicting economic outcomes.