Teenager Substance Abuse Essay Example for Free

Teenager Substance Abuse Essay For youth leaders, this is a study of a teenager who has a substance abuse problem and was released from a detention center. It involves a seventeen old male who abuses marijuana, alcohol, and ecstasy; and is also the son of two ministers. This story should help readers understand the dynamics involved with a teenage drug user and will also help youth leaders develop effective skills for reaching out to a troubled teen in need of support, especially after incarceration. A seventeen-year-old male, Jimmy, lived in a middle-class suburb. Jimmy was referred to me by his sister, ecause she felt my knowledge and past experiences might be helpful in reaching him. Later on I decided to meet and conduct an interview at his house, with his sister present in an adjacent room. During the conversation, several facts emerged. Jimmy had been in trouble with the legal system, mostly for drug possession and motor vehicle infractions. He said he had been kicked out of high school because of his drug use. He had been using alcohol and marijuana since he was about 13. He had more recently been taking ecstasy. When asked why he used drugs, he claimed it educed his boredom and provided a way to escape and have fun. Additionally, it was discerned that his father worked long hours (in the mental health field), and was basically absent from the family. Later, I learned that his father denied his sons habits. The family, which also includes a younger 16-year-old brother, had gone to see a therapist but Jimmy was an unwilling participant. Jimmy noted that he does have a problem with authority figures, like the police, because he believes they are corrupt. Jimmy did admit that police have a Job to do, in terms of protecting people rom harmful practices. Jimmy also realized that there are consequences of drug use and that he was headed for a state prison sentence if he did not improve his actions. He learned that his mother could be arrested under law if he had drugs in her house; this bothered Jimmy. I researched about what state prison was like and told him all about it. Throughout the intervention, then I listened and affirmed the young man without condoning his bad behavior. In the end, I gained his trust and told him that his personal feelings would be kept confidential. I recommended that Jimmy be areful when he with his peers, and I encouraged him to select a friend who would help hold him accountable. I shared my phone number with him. Jimmys behavior improved. The relationship between teens and drugs has been around for decades; however, this is not what you would call positive. Substance abusing (which is using drugs or alcohol in ways than can cause physical harm) is often associated with crime. But why do youths take drugs? Youth take drugs for the following reasons: social disorganization, peer pressure, family factors, emotional, or rational choice. Social isorganization deals with drug abuse to poverty and disorganized urban environment. Drug use by youth minority group members has been tied to factors such as racial prejudice, low-esteem, social status, and stress produced from environment. The National Youth Survey found that drug use tends to be higher among urban youths. problem was bad and the police officer and teachers that worked at my high school had no idea whatsoever what was going on right under their noses seriously, I remember people at football games found this place behind a shed where no one went and they used to smoke and do drugs, it was bad. But of course no one could say anything about anything they saw otherwise that person will get death threats and get their tires slashed in the parking lot and have to go to homecoming fearing for their life. Like one time I remember this girl said something and everyone in the school hated her and she was instantly unpopular. So yes there is a huge drug problem and getting students to rat each other out is so not going to happen. In a perfect world maybe, but in the real world, not a chance. Jimmy is a classic case of a lonely teenager who is never with his parents and is basically always hanging out ith his friends which are a very bad influence. The pattern that I recognize from Jimmy is that he has been wanting to get his parents attention and the only way he gets it, is by consuming excessive alcohol or illegal drugs. Teens feel alone at home and family. They look for something attractive that pleases them. They dont get enough attention from parents. They were not used to get enough attention when they were kids. But when they were kids there were a lot of childish things that could make them busy and temporarily happy. But when they reach 14, those things can ot attract them anymore. They still suffer from lacking of attention and the things that could be a relief for them, have lost their attraction. So they look for new things. Definitely these new things cannot be found in family. They are already disappointed about family. Parents should be trained and educated about these things. They should know that all of these problems come because of lack of attention from one or both parents. One hour attention to children and teens saves hundreds of hours of therapy in future. It prevents a lot of problems that addiction is only one of them. By interviewing Jimmy I found that teenagers see taking / using drugs are Just a way of teenage-hood, most youth will try some sort of drug, maybe Just to try it out or maybe for a reason. This teen said he has taken drugs because it was something to do, and everyone else around him was doing it and it was seen cool to take drugs and that it was a way to escape from the real world. Interviewing Jimmy was very interesting because I could sort of relate what he is going through from when I was in high school. Luckily Jimmy is acting on time before he goes to the wrong path and becomes a failure in life.

The Poetry of the First World War Essay Example for Free

The Poetry of the First World War Essay Does the Poetry of the First World War reflect the changing attitudes to War? Poems in the early part of the First World War were pro war which means that they were saying that the war was good fun with women and uniforms. The main aims of the poems were to get men to join the army and fight the Germans. After two years of the war in July 1916 the battle of the Somme took place, 60,000 English soldiers died each day. Anti war poems started to be written about how bad war really was, but these poems were hardly ever published in newspapers or magazines, as they still wanted men to join up to fight. The two pro war poems that I have chosen are Fall In by Harold Begbie and Whos for the Game by Jessie Pope. The Recruiting poems of 1914 were required because, unlike most European countries, we did not have conscription and therefore did not have a large army. They saw the war was going to be long and hard and recruiting poems and posters made people volunteer for the army until conscription was introduced in 1916. Fall In by Harold Begbie does exactly what it is meant to do. It makes people feel ashamed about not going and fighting for your country. The title Fall In is like a command, which they use in the army saying you must fall in, group together and fight. It also has another meaning say you are going to fall in to the army. You do not have a choice but you will fall in. Begbie says: What will you lack, sonny, what will you lack. When the girls line up on the street, shouting their love to the lads come back These are the first three lines and are saying that when the other men who joined up for the army come back, you will be left on your own with all the girls wanting the army men. And grin till your cheeks are red? Here the man Begbie is talking about his embarrassment about not being in the war and his face is going red. When your children yet to be clamour to learn of the part you played Begbie is saying that if you have children who are yet to be born and they want to know about what you did in the war, what will you do when you cannot answer them? You will miss out on your children looking up to you; this is what Begbie is saying. When you sit by the fire in an old mans chair and your neighbours talk of the fight Again Begbie is telling you when your friends will talk about the war for years to come they will not respect you when you answer that you did not go. Begbie is saying that you will miss the respect from friends. Your head shamed and bent? Or say I was not the first to go. But I went, thank God, I went Begbie is saying this to make people who have not gone to war yet feel that it does not matter that you have not gone yet, but there is still time to join to get all the things I just said you will miss. In the last stanza Begbie is saying if you do not join up and the war was lost it will be your fault that we lost. Begbie is trying to make the shirkers feel ashamed for not volunteering by telling them of the things they will miss out on. Things like, the women when you return from war, by your children looking up to you and the respect of your friends and neighbours when they talk about the war in years to come. Then towards the end of the poem he says that you can join up now, you were not the first to go but you went. The second pro war poem I will look at is Whos for the Game? by Jessie Pope. The great soldier poet, Wilfred Owen, particularly detested her. In this poem she tries to make war sound like a game. The poem is based on the game rugby. Pope says: Whos for the game, the biggest thats played? She is saying who wants to join the army, come on, its just a game come and play. Who would much rather come back with a crutch, Than lie low and be out of the fun? Pope is saying that it is better if you go to war and get injured than just having to lie low, rather than people talking about you not going to war and missing out on all the fun of war. Throughout the poem Jessie Pope uses slang, sit tight and up to her neck. She does this because it will be young men joining the army and they do not want to be sitting in the pub reading a formal poem, which they will not understand and just read the first line and put it down. They want to read in the way most of these men would talk. Rupert Brooke was a highly popular pro war poet. He was unaware of the conditions in the trenches which motivated by poets such as Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg and Siegfried Sesson on the front line. The two anti war poems I have chosen are Dulce et Decorum Est and Disabled. I felt that of the poems that I was given to choose from, these two told a tragic story of what war was really like. Wilfred Owen at the time seemed to be bitter. His reason for being bitter is that he read the pro war poetry by writers such as Jessie Pope, who was writing about the joys of war, how fun it was and how the ladies will love you. I have chosen Dulce Est because the poem describes the hardships for a group of soldiers who have to struggle through the life of war in the trenches. I have chosen Disabled because it shows the struggle of one man who has lost his legs and his arms at the elbow. All he has are the memories and they seem to become more distant as the days go on. Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patri Moria translated into English means It Is Sweet And Honourable To Die For Ones Country. If someone is reading the poem for the first time and learns of the English meaning of the title before reading the poem they may feel it is a poem that makes you think of the army in a good way. After reading the poem a number of times I have come to a conclusion that Owen named the poem this because of the strong statement that he makes in the poem. In a way I get the feeling that Owen was mocking the saying but I dont think he was mocking the army as a whole. The first stanza is not like how a pro war poem starts they are not all having a laugh wearing nice uniform, being cheered at by the ladies, they are staggering through mud, tired bleeding, and this is was Owen wanted you to think what war was really like. Owen says Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags Own is trying to say that these men came into the army as fit young men and now war has turned them into old hags, bent over and staggering. Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs The soldiers are fed up. They are so tired that even when the flares go off behind them they dont have the energy or even feel like turning around to see them. And towards our distant rest The reader and the men are lured into a false sense of security as we think they are safe from bombs. Blood shod Owen says this because they have been walking for a long time and is like they are wearing shoes of blood but what he is really saying is they have been treated like animals because Horses hoofs are shod. The men have been treated in an inhumane way, like they are worthless. Drunk with fatigue Owen is saying that the soldiers are so tired that it is as though they are drunk. Owen is trying too saying that the soldiers are as though they dont know entirely what they are doing. They are just being led along like zombies. Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind them Fine-Nines are gas bombs that the Germans used in the war. Owen is saying that the men are so tired that they are just blanking out the sounds of these gas bombs, as they are behind the lines and think they are not in range. The bombs are personified as is they are moving slowly and are weary. The pace of the poem quickens in the 2nd stanza. The soldiers are woken by a gas attack. This effectively shatters the mood that Owen has told of us in the opening stanza. The soldiers are now woken by the fact that their lives are in danger and they now have to be fully aware of all their surroundings. Owen says Gas! GAS! Quick boys! The men have just woken up they are still half-asleep the first sign of Gas is in lower case as they have just seen what going on. The second GAS is the man shouting for their lives as they try to find their gas masks. Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, as under a green sea, I saw him drowning The green light Owen talks about is the gas falling down on them. Owen uses a simile saying that the man is drowning in a green sea, which he means by the colour of the gas looking like the sea. The reality is that the man is drowning, when a gas attack takes place, the lungs fill up with fluid and drown on your own bodily fluids. The ecstasy of fumbling Owen does not mean that there is an adrenaline rush. But medically it means a morbid state of nerves, which means that your nerves are making you think of one thing to do, which in this case, is to put your gas masks on. Fitting the clumsy helmets Owen is either saying that the men are clumsy in putting the helmets on or the helmets clumsy by letting the gas in. Owen tells us how this memory has stayed with him. The sight of a dying man lunging at him in a plea for his life. In the short 3rd stanza, Owen seems to have a great fear of the gas attacks when he talks of them. Owen talks of all of the nightmares he has had because of the war and this event. Owen says In all my dreams before my helpless sight Owen is dreaming about that man, which was dying before him Owen dreams about it because there was no way in which he could help him. The 4th stanza is back to the slow pace of the 1st stanza. In this stanza Owen is accusing the pro war poets of doing this, making young men to join the army and just to go to their deaths. He was addressing mainly Jessie Pope because on the original draft he writes under the title, To Jessie Pope He describes how the man was taken away and then Owen walked behind and saw his face. Owen is still haunted by the nightmare. If in some smothering dream Owen describes his dreams as smothering because when he sleeps that is all he can think of the man dying. We flung him in The dead bodies are treated like meat there are so many deaths it becomes like a routine thing. In the first stanza he say blood shod like animals are shod once again here is another reference to them being treated like animals. My friend, you would not tell with such high zest to children or ardent for some desperate glory. Owen is saying that if you could see the things he had seen then you would not believe the lies that the pro war poets tell you. By saying this he is expressing the bitterness he has not only for the army but the situation as a whole. Owen adds more examples of this throughout the last stanza. Owens main question to the reader in the last stanza is before going into the army think carefully of what you are doing as you might get and see something in great contrast to what you may have imagined. The poem is describing a terrible shocking death by gas, how can it be sweet and honourable to die for ones country if you die like this. This is the country that sold him the old lie. Dulce ET decorum est. pro patria moria. In Disabled Owen is describing a man who has no legs and his arms have been amputated at the elbow. He is in an institute, a nursing home of some sought. This poem is an angry response to the type of patriotic poetry with made light of disability and which glorified death. Instead of writing and millions of dead or injured, he focuses on one person. Disability is not on the battlefield with bombs going off and people being blown up, it is at home, after the war, after the glory of winning. People will only think about the men who died in the war, not the people how have been, dehumanised and will have to sit in some home for the rest of the their lives. This is why the poem comes across as so shocking because in the days of the war people didnt know about the disabled people just about the people who died. Till gathering sleep The man is waiting for the night to come for him to sleep, as he hates to die, as he cannot do anything. I think the man sees sleeping as an alternative to death and he wants to end his life. Owen tell us about how he used to be, before he became injured, he used to like going out to have fun on the town at night, but now he just wants to go to bed and forget about the memories At the start of the 4th stanza it says, One time hed liked a blood-smear down his leg, This is ironic as he liked getting injured and bleeding and it is as if he enjoyed it now it has got it a millions time worse. It was after football, when hed drunk a peg. Hes thought hed better join He had drunk a peg of beer so he was probably not in the right frame of mind when he decided to join the army. It also says Someone had said hed look a god in kilts, Thats why; and may be, too, to please his Meg He is saying that he joined the army because he would look good in a uniform. I many of the pro war poems say that is one of the good things about war the uniform. He also joined because of a girl called Meg, who he was trying to impress, which it also says in pro war poems that when you join the army you get all the women wanting to be with you. The young man had lied to get in to the army Smiling they wroth his lie; aged nineteen years The men who were recruiting even knew that he was lying but they still wrote his name down. Germans he scarcely thought of he join the war note knowing about what was going on he had never thought about the Germans before. He talks about the evenings. He says that at this time the towns atmosphere was fun and happy everyone is dancing having fun. Owen makes the town sound romantic so that would feel for the man more. He says the girls look upon like he has some kind of disease. He talks of how he will never again feel the waist of a woman. He also talks about how he threw away his knees in the war. His was once a lovely face which now he looks old. His back is now in a brace and this was the back that was not so long ago was a strong as anything. He has lost his colour just like losing blood. He feels as though he has poured his life away down endless shell holes; he wonders what he has been given for this. Nothing. And leap of purple spurted from his thigh. Owen says And no fears of fear have come yet He had thoughts of all the swords and other weaponry that he would receive in the army. He had great thoughts of wearing the smart uniform. He thought that playing football was great, the buzz he got from the cheering. People thought of him as hero. He thought that people would cheer for him in the army; he wanted to be a hero in the army. He thinks of the army spirit, the pride in his unit. He tells about how he was given cheers and the noise of the drums as he leaves. He is so very optimistic. When he is brought back the cheers were not like the ones before the cheers are in contrast to what he imagined. This is ironic to him. Only a few people cheered when he came back only one man inquired this man was the priest. He will spend the next few years doing as the rules say. People will just take pity on him. He talks of how the women ignore him for the strong people. People with all their body. His final thoughts of the poem are one of total depression. He thinks that life is pointless. He is so helpless he cant go to bed without someone being there to help him. He feels as though he only has a few years left. He wants to be put to death as he feels like he has nothing to offer or that his life tolerable and he feels as though nothing that he does or feels will make him feel his life is worth it. As you can see from both poems they are very powerful. Each of the two poems makes a statement. One difference between the poems is that Dulce Est is a view on the army that concerns a whole array of the army. With Disabled it is just a description of the pain of one person. One thing that I feel both poems have in common is that they both talk about how they were lied to and how they were sold a lie. This is true, If a person wanted an example of army life at its worst then I would show them Dulce ET Decorum. However if I was asked about a poem that describes a poem where a person can see how the war affected people. II would recommend the latter Disabled is in my opinion the most moving of the stories as it represents a mans struggle for his life. This man can offer nothing to his country now. He cant even offer himself something that he feels will make his staying alive worth it. Whilst the majority of the people in Dulce Et are still alive this mans soul, has in effect died. He has lost his colour and cant get used to the fact that he is unpopular. I find Dulce Et Decorum to be the more shocking of the two poems. My reasons are as follows, although Disabled is a very moving and powerful poem in its own right, it only describes the view of one person in the army. I think that what makes Dulce Et so powerful is that Owen speaks for the masses in the army when he talks of the daily horrifying sights and regular attempts by the Germans to gas them. Reading these poems can enlighten a person. Many people say that they live stressful lives and are under extreme pressure. If you think of what these young men must have gone through it can put a lot of things in to perspective. Day in day out these men had to have the weight of a nation on their shoulders this is before they have to dodge land mines and gas attacks.

The Ideas Of The Classical School

The Ideas Of The Classical School In order to appropriately address the topic of discussion, its important to consider the criminological perspectives related to the debate and the principles associated with each perspective. Two schools which will be drawn upon are the Classical school, which was established towards the end of the 18th century and the Positivist school which developed towards the end of the 19th century. The Classical school was based on a utilitarian philosophy and demonstrated the idea that, for the sake of consistency, every offender must be treated equally. The Positivist school, however, opposed Classical principles, using the scientific method to study human behaviour, expressing individuality and stressing the need for the criminal to be treated with appropriate discretion. One contentious area within criminology is the idea that the criminal is normal. Jeremy Bentham, a Classical thinker, argues that this is indeed the case. Criminals are normal in that they are rational, calculated decision-makers just like everybody else. Individuals have free-will and they are guided by a hedonistic calculus the maximisation of pleasure and the minimisation of pain (Bentham cited by Walklate 2007:18). Such idea suggests that before engaging in criminal activity, the criminal calculates whether the reward outweighs the risk. i.e., is the potential pleasure worth the potential punishment? However, what this assumption fails to consider is that criminality can sometimes be a spontaneous reaction; its not always a pre-meditated one. People may act out of pure desperation; giving little thought to the consequences should he/she be caught. An ideal to support this would be the clichà ©d scenario in which an individual steals a loaf of bread to feed his/her starving fami ly. Such action involves no particular thought process; they do what they do simply because they wish to survive. However, thats not to say that rational choice is not apparent. It does have relevance to certain crimes, especially crimes such as burglary in which a planning process is undergone before hand to avoid detection and significantly increase the chances of a successful sweep, such as observations of home security and patterns in daily comings and goings. Arguably the main principle of the Classical approach can be said to be reflective of the idea that the criminal is normal this principle being that offenders should receive equal punishments, providing the offences are of the same or a similar nature. The principle revolves around the idea that everybody is equal and thus to treat everybody as equals disregards the conception that theres an abnormality in the behaviour of the criminal (Hopkins Burke 2009: 31). Their philosophy expresses that there is no place in the categorisation and labelling of individuals into specific groups based on conditions which they may or may not have; in order for there to be a truly just justice system, everybody must be treated the same. This principle has, unsurprisingly, come under a lot of criticism, a general criticism of which would argue that society is in fact unequal (in terms of the divisions in social class) and so for an offender to be punished in the same way as an affluent offender is s een to be ludicrous. Take the example mentioned previously: an individual who is forced to engage in the theft of a loaf of bread to feed their starving family should not be punished in the same way as a president of a large corporation, for example, who dips his hand into the wages of his employees to give himself a larger bonus. In one scenario the crime is very much committed out of necessity, whereas the other is a crime of greed and thus it would be unfair, morally, to treat the cases equally as they are clearly unequal in nature. On the flip side to the normality of the criminal debate, comes the idea that the criminal is sick. Where in the 18th and early 19th century, we have discussed that crime was believed to be a deliberately chosen behaviour of rational actors; the second half of the 19th century saw the emergence of individual positivism which sought to dispel the Classical approach to explanations of crime and the ways in which criminals should be punished (Sapsford 1981: 310). Such perspective doubted the ability of a criminal to choose to engage in crime and that criminality, they argued, is a form of mental illness which removes their capacity to act freely. Therefore, straight away the disparity between Individual Positivism and Classical criminology become visible. Cesare Lombroso (1876) was a key contributor to Positivist criminology. His research focused on idea that the criminal is born a criminal and they have very little choice in the matter. He studied the physical differences between the criminal and the non-criminal, whilst also taking into account the similarities and differences of the criminal and the mentally ill. Most notably, he drew the observation that criminals possess similar traits to an atavistic being which of course refers to an earlier stage in human development. Such observations included irregularity in skull size, ear size, irregularities in both height and weight and many other traits. However, he was also prepared to accept that not all criminals are born into the role and that some in fact do achieve it either through mental disorders or the environments in which they live (Lombroso 1876 cited by Sapsford 1981: 310-311). The views regarding the normality or the abnormality of the criminal have a substantial effect on the ways in which the Classicists and the Positivists believe punishment should be distributed. The history of the use of punishment is an interesting one. Michel Foucault (1979) in his book Discipline and Punish provides a great context into how the problem of crime was treated pre-enlightenment. The purpose of Foucaults research was to establish how it was that we got to the stage where incarceration became the main kind of punishment. It was 1757 Paris in which Foucault researched a man who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by the court. By order of the court, the man was publicly taken through the streets of Paris in horse-drawn cart until he arrived at the point of execution. He was stripped to the waist, flesh was torn from him with pincers, sulphur was poured onto his hands and he was then quartered by four horses. Four hours passed before his torso was pierced onto a spike. The following day, the torso was burned and the execution process was complete (Foucault 1976: 3). What Foucault found was that the punishment was very much made into a public spectacle and these public displays were boisterous affairs people found great pleasure in seeing people condemned for their transgressions. 80 years later, a similar thing happened. A man was found guilty of murder, but instead of receiving the same brutal punishment; he was incarcerated, isolated from the outside world. High walls kept the criminal confined on the inside; the public were kept on the outside public emotions were taken out of punishment. Although Foucault was not associated with the Classical school, his observations were regarded highly by Classicist thinkers, particularly Cesare Beccaria. Beccaria was an enlightened thinker who sought great need in replacing irrational thinking with a rational one. He stated that pre-1750; punishments were barbaric and localised meaning that punishments varied from place to place (Beccaria 1764 cited by McLaughlin et al 2003: 11). Punishments were vengeful with public participation permitted through the throwing of projectiles and the hurling of abuse. Beccaria claimed that such a criminal justice system is weak and as a result, he set out to reform the way in which we punish offenders, in which Foucault insisted that his intentions were not to punish less, but to punish better (Foucault 1976: 82). For Beccaria, one of the main issues that needed to be addressed was the complex nature of the law and the written legislature. The law needed to be made clear and simple so that people can understand what is deemed acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. Law should not just be a doctrine which can only be understood by lawyers and other legal experts, but should be understood by the individual when the number of those who can understand the sacred code of laws and hold it in their hands increases, the frequency of crimes will be found to decrease (Beccaria 1963: 18). Classicist thinking requires that the punishment must be proportionate to the offence (Newburn 2007: 116). Proportionality has in itself caused confusion, with some taking it literally to be reflective of the notion: eye for an eye. However, what is truly meant by the term is that punishment should not be too excessive as it doesnt have any real impact on preventing crimes from occurring. In order for punishment to be justified, it must have a use and the use that punishment provides is its deterrence effect on the rest of society it must prevent others from committing the same crimes (Newburn 2007: 116). The most important aspect of punishment, for Classical criminology, is that the general public are discouraged from committing crimes because of the fear of suffering a similar fate to the offender who has been caught and publicly punished. Also, this punishment must be made certain. That is, that people must be made aware that crime will not be tolerated and punishment will follow. Again, this relates to the general deterrence of punishment. A significantly effective way of deterring the public is through the participation of the media in the reporting of crimes. Rarely, crimes are reported to have gone without punishment. Yet it must be said that the certainty of punishment doesnt necessarily reduce crime in all cases. There are of course instances where people are aware of the consequences of a crime but continue to carry out the crime nonetheless. Ideally, the more promptly the punishment follows the crime; the more just a justice system will be a concept which makes a whole lot of sense. The modern day criminal justice system is a rather weak one in terms of how quickly they are able to process trials through a court and decide on whether the accused is guilty or not guilty. Such lack of urgency is deemed a cruel torment of uncertainty as the criminal is forced to wait an indeterminate length of time to hear the verdict and the punishments that may follow should the verdict be one of guilt (Beccaria 1963: 19). The promptness of punishment would thus spare the criminal of this torment. However, not only does the promptness of punishment serve in the interests of the accused, it also serves in the interests of the criminal justice system. If a system is seen to be tough on crime in that they can swiftly and appropriately punish an offender, people will recognise that the chances of them evading detection are slim. Whilst the Classicist justification for punishment resembles that of a retributivist nature, the Positivist approach looks more to rehabilitate the offender and provide treatment for the sick criminal. Sentences must consider the psychological conditions behind why it is that somebody engages in crime. It would simply unfair to give somebody suffering from some degree of mental deficiency the same punishment as a person who is of sound mind. The criminal justice system needs therefore to encompass mitigating circumstances which can decrease the culpability of the accused as they are not controllably committing unlawful behaviours. Mitigating circumstances can be seen in the English Criminal Justice System, evident with the offence of manslaughter which is an offence of less culpability than murder. One partial defence for murder, written under s.2(1) of the Homicide Act 1957, is diminished responsibility which states that a person will not be found guilty of murder if they suffered f rom an abnormality of mind which substantially impaired their mental responsibility for the action (Padfield 2000: 153). Such mitigating circumstances are necessary because people are not the same and thus to punish them as equals would be inappropriate and completely unjust. Some people dont act out of their own free-will, they have little to no control over their behaviours and it would be wrong to give them the same punishments as those who are fully in control of their behaviour i.e. the rational, calculated offenders. In drawing a conclusion, its clear to see that theres been a progressive development in theories regarding the debate of the normality or the abnormality of the criminal. Classical thinking preceded Positivist thinking and their principles did not take into consideration that scientific explanations for the behaviour of the criminal could be influential to the formation of a just criminal justice system. The emergence of the scientific approach saw improvements into how we perceive the criminal. In most cases, the criminal is sick and its thus necessary to at least attempt to try and treat them rather than punish them. This saw a shift from a retributivist approach to a reductionist one which saw to rehabilitate the offender. But although the two perspectives are the contrast of one another, thats not to say that one of them, have had little impact on the criminal justice system that we see today. Todays system encompasses principles from both perspectives from the Classical school, it takes the idea that punishment must fit the crime that the serious offences must be met with a more severe punishment and subsequently, the lesser offences should receive a lesser sentence. We can see that with the sentencing tariffs in which each offence requires a minimum and a maximum sentence for the offence. From the Positivist school, the system adopts the idea that the punishment must also fit the criminal the culpability of the offender must be considered in order to ensure that the best possible sentence is imposed on the offender. The influence of Positivism has also encouraged a variety of punishments/treatments including community sentences which serves as both a retributitive punishment and a rehabilitative treatment. Beccaria, C. (1963) On Crimes and Punishments. 18-19. New York; Bobbs-Merrill. Foucault, M. (1976) Discipline and Punish. 3, 82. London; Penguin. Hopkins Burke, R. (2009) An Introduction to Criminological Theory. 31. Collumpton; Willan. McLaughlin, E., Muncie, J. and Hughes, G. (2003) Criminological Perspectives: Essential Readings. 11. London; Sage. Newburn, T. (2007) Criminology. 116. Collumpton; Willan. Padfield, N. (2000) Criminal Law. 153. London; Cromwell Press. Sapsford, R.J. (1981) Individual Deviance: The Search for the Criminal Personality in Fitzgerald, M., McLennan, G. and Pawson, G. (1981) Crime and Society: Readings in History and Theory. 310-311. London; Routledge. Walklate, S. (2007) Understanding Criminology: Current Theoretical Debates. 18. Cardiff; Open University Press.

School Safety and the Tragedy at Columbine High School :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

Unlike most of the country, I knew about Columbine High School on April 19, 1999. I knew that the Columbine Rebels had a good football team, I remembered how they beat Cherry Creek for the 1999 football championship. I knew what Columbine's building was like from when I was inside it in January for a debate tournament. I had friends that went to CHS. We had gone on a trip to Hawaii together to learn about biology. The rest of the country found out about Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. They didn't hear about their football team, the debate tournament they hosted, or my friends, though; they heard about two angry students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, that went on a killing rampage killing 12 other students, a teacher, and themselves. The nation, the media, the killers, my friends, and me all have their own view of what happened that day. Many people tried to understand how something so terrible could happen, while the killers thought that the killings were a wonderful thing , and still other students were trying to comprehend that this tragedy had actually happened so close to home. At 11:19 in the morning of April 19, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold stood at the west entrance of Columbine High School preparing for the deadliest shooting in American school history. One of them yelled, "Go! Go!," and then the two pulled out their shotguns and began firing, killing two students almost immediately (Jefferson County 3). Harris and Klebold began moving through the school randomly shooting students, detonating pipe bombs, and yelling about how much fun they were having. While this was happening, Coach Dave Sanders and other heroes were frantically trying to get students out of harm's way. At 11:26, while running past the library warning students of the killers, Sanders was shot by one of the shooters. He made it into a science room where first aid was administered by students. He died several hours later in that same room. The worst killing took place in the library during a span of about eight minutes starting at 11:29. Ten students were killed and twelve others were wounded. After leaving the library, Harris and Klebold wandered around the school in movements that appeared to be "extremely random" (Jefferson County 18). They eventually returned to the library at about 12:08 and killed themselves. In 49 minutes, 14 students were left dead, one teacher was left dying, 23 people were injured, and an entire community's sense of safety and security was shattered.

Writers of a New Era :: Internet Technology Computers Papers

Writers of a New Era The internet has quickly woven itself into the fabric of sociey. Many consider it an indispensable part of their lives, allowing them to keep pace with their hectic schedules. The internet has improved the ease in which people can communicate and find information. Navigating the web has become second nature to regular users. Some find the computer so convenient that they use it to do all of their writing from academic papers to journals. As the computer has aided in the task of writing, the internet has helped many become published writers. Anyone with moderate computer knowledge can create web sites. Personal web sites often have information and pictures that someone would normally only share with close friends, but having it published on the web means anyone can access this information. Sites like online journals and diaries are specifically designed for publishing personal ideas, feelings, or day to day happenings. Another increasingly respected writing medium used by students and aspiring journalists, as well as the average person’s diary, is blogger. Blogger, according to the web site Blogger Forum (bloggerforum.com), is a site that allows anyone to post a blog, short for webblog. This is a journal that can be continually updated, and viewed by any web user. The writers of blogs are called bloggers. Bloggers tend to write frequently and informally, as in a journal. They also try to give informative or inspiring entries. The number of bloggers is steadily increasing. Its popularity is attributed to the free, blogging software that is available to everyone, along with the appeal of being able to publish ideas, beliefs, and knowledge. Since anyone can publish on the web using blogger, the definition of a writer has dramatically changed. Before the web, a writer was viewed as someone who had their work published. Writers were also viewed with respect since getting a piece of writing published was highly competitive. Those who achieved it had to have a special quality in their writing. Now the use of the term writer is thought of more loosely, since anyone can be a published writer.

Cultural Sensitive Care Essay -- Sociology, Transcultural Care

Cultural sensitive care Culture The classic definition for culture was proposed by Tylor (1871/1958) and still commonly cited: Culture is â€Å"that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom, and many other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society† (p. 1). This definition focuses on attributes that are acquired through growing up or living in a particular society, rather than through biological inheritance (Kottak, 2002). In Giger and Davidhizar’s (1991) Model for transcultural care, culture was defined as a patterned behavioral response that develops over time as a result of imprinting the mind through social and religious structures and intellectual and artistic manifestations. Culture is also the result of acquired mechanisms that may have innate influences but are primarily affected by internal and external stimuli. This definition gives more illustration on the social and religious dimensions and identified that culture is shaped by values, be liefs, norms, and practices that are learned and transmitted by members of the same cultural group (Leininger, 1991). Leininger (1991) explained In her model of transcultural care that culture is focused on the total or holistic life ways of human beings, religion (spiritual), kinship, politico-legal, education, technology, language, environmental context, and worldview are all considered. The importance of understanding patients’ culture was clearly articulated in Giger and Davidhizar’s (1991) work. They have indicated that culture guides our thinking, doing, and being and becomes patterned expressions of who we are and that cultural values guide actions and decision-making and facilitate self-worth and self-esteem. Transcul... ...ials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice (1998) and The Essentials of Master’s Education for Advanced Practice Nursing (1995). Other disciplines have adopted similar steps to ensure appropriate level of knowledge and skills on cultural diversity. Elementary school and college educators were urged to respect the cultural richness of students and incorporate culturally sensitive curricula (Percival & Black, 2000). The importance of adequate physician knowledge in relation to cultural sensitivity has led to the imposition of legal mandates (Institute for International Research, 2005). In the military field, it has been recommended that cultural sensitivity training be added to the basic training curriculum (Holt, 2002). Additionally, in the market of business, cultural training is linked as the key to success (Local Relationships, 2003).

Trade blocs: Economics and politics Essay

Trading BlocsThe key term in this essay is â€Å"Trading bloc† and my interest in this term has been as a result of the major economic changes that have taken place across the world. I have been able to note that there have been great developments in international trading and business (Haftel, 2004). Economic integration is considered as the new form of reality in carrying out international business (Macho-Stadler, & Xue, 2007). Business institutions as well as governments have formulated various institutions, agreements and treaties which help in dealing with trade differences, allow and boost the movement of goods, services and trade across boundaries of countries involved (Chase, 2005). Furthermore, my interest is as a result of the business relationships that I have noted between my country and that of the other nations. A â€Å"Trading bloc† can be defined as countries that have come together to form a set that is closely involved in business and international trade with each other. The countries that form the trading blocs are often related to each other through a mutual agreement known as â€Å"free trade agreement or even other form of association which promotes trade within those countries and among the countries involved (Macho-Stadler, & Xue, 2007). The trading blocs often have rules and regulations which have been set to govern how the member countries relate with each other on business and international trade matters while separate rules and regulations set for non-members that want to trade with the member countries (Egger, 2004). The purpose of the trading blocs’ formation is to help eliminate trade barriers as well as help improve coordination and cooperation among member countries in terms of international trade. The different types include Free Trade Areas, Common Market, Customs Union, Economic Union and Political Union (Krishna, 2005). Article Summary             The article â€Å"From the Outside Looking In: The Effect of Trading Blocs on Trade Disputes in the GATT/WTO†, written by Haftel, Y. Z. (2004) is a journal that discusses the effect of trading blocs on resolution of trade disputes between member countries. There have been major expansion and increase in the number of trading blocs in international trade, which have become part of the economies across the world (Haftel, 2004). Trading blocs have negative effects on third parties whereby there is multilateral trade taking place between countries and non-member countries. Non-member countries are often affected negatively as a result of the trading blocs as compared to the way the member countries are affected. The non-member states often tend to take political action against the trading blocs, which in turn results in to negative effects and fails to assist in the resolution of trade disputes (Haftel, 2004). From this article, the author notes that WTO (World Trade Organization) has become one of the major organizations that help in enhancing international or multilateral trade between countries across the world. The WTO has a system through which disputes can be settled between countries that are in disagreement on trade issues (Haftel, 2004). Furthermore, the author notes that there has been a lot of concentration by scholars on the effects that trading blocs have on the members and on the other hand they have paid very little, if any, attention to the effects that those trading blocs have on third parties or the non-member states. Trading blocs affect the prices of products from non-member states whereby the member states enjoy better prices for their produce as compared to the non-members, despite producing similar products (Haftel, 2004). The third parties often suffer since the members of the trading blocs change trade the products of the member countries, which in some cases are often cheap (Haftel, 2004). This in turn affects their production since the market share that their products command is overtaken by the trading blocs’ members. Formation of trading blocs has been part of international trade and nearly every country across the world has engaged in trading blocs (Haftel, 2004). However, despite the fact that trading blocs attract a lot of attention, scholars as well as policymakers have failed to fully define and appreciate the fact that these trading blocs have negative impacts on third parties and other multilateral institutions. Non-Member states often feel short-changed hence resulting in a lot of disputes brought by the non-member states (Haftel, 2004). Discussion             The primary reason that brought about the formation of trading blocs by countries across the world was to help improve on international trade between members by eliminating trade barriers (Macho-Stadler, & Xue, 2007). The members of a trading bloc enjoy several benefits which include free movement of goods and services between member states, reduction of trade tariffs on their products, and improvement of economic standards of the member countries. Furthermore, trading blocs also help in the improvement of cooperation and collaboration between member states hence political and economic stability in the member states (Krishna, 2005). Furthermore, trading blocs helps improve on competition, increase in productivity as well as affordability in price of products. In addition, it has also been seen that trading blocs helps in creation of employment in the member countries as a result of the increase in trade within the region hence better living standards for the citiz ens of the member countries. However, as noted by Haftel, (2004), trading bloc benefits the members while on the other hand, causes a lot of negative economic impacts on the non-member states. The formation of trading blocs often endangers firms that are less efficient in the non-member states since they lack the market for their products (Haftel, 2004). There is also the danger of over-exploitation of the countries that are less efficient by countries that are efficient, hence causing an increase the wealth-gap whereby the advanced countries continue to become richer while countries that are less developed become poorer. Therefore, it is important to strike a balance on how member states and the non-member countries can continue to trade (Egger, 2004). Despite trading blocs being important in international trade, disputes will continue to arise from the non-member countries since there is no uniformity in trade regulations. References Chase, K. A. (2005). Trading blocs: States, firms, and regions in the world economy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Egger, P. (2004). Estimating Regional Trading Bloc Effects with Panel Data. Review Of World Economics, 140(1), 151-166. Haftel, Y. Z. (2004). From the Outside Looking In: The Effect of Trading Blocs on Trade Disputes in the GATT/WTO. International Studies Quarterly, 48(1), 121-142. doi:10.1111/j.0020-8833.2004.00294.x Krishna, P. (2005). Trade blocs: Economics and politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Macho-Stadler, I., & Xue, L. (2007). Winners and Losers from the Gradual Formation of Trading Blocs. Economica, 74(296), 664-681. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0335.2007.00589.x Source document