Alternatives to Incarceration Essay - 876 Words

Alternatives to Incarceration Ever since the first prison opened in the United States in 1790, incarceration has been the center of the nations criminal justice system. Over this 200 year period many creative alternatives to incarceration have been tried, and many at a much lower cost than imprisonment. It wasn’t until the late 1980’s when our criminal justice systems across the country began experiencing a problem with overcrowding of facilities. This problem forced lawmakers to develop new options for sentencing criminal offenders. Unlike jail or prisons, which create an expensive cycle of violence and crime, these alternatives actually prevent violence and strengthen communities. Community corrections programs provide†¦show more content†¦Some of the conditions may be a requirement for employment, school, or community service hours. These conditions must be met to satisfy the sanction, if they are not met the offender would be in violation and sent to jail or prison. Another commonl y used alternative is house arrest and confinement. This sanction restricts an individual to his or her residence for specific periods of time; in most house arrest programs offenders are allowed to leave their homes only for employment, medical needs, or mandated assignments such as community service or school. The emphasis of this program is on confinement, and the supervising officers’ role is to ensure that the offender stays confined at home. There are three different levels of home confinement, each with a different degree of restricted freedom. The first is curfew which requires offenders to be in their residence during limited, specific hours, generally at night. The offender’s movements outside of the curfew hours are unregulated. The second is home detention that requires offenders to remain at home at all times except for employment, education, treatment, or other pre-approved activities. This program may be with the assisted with electronic monitoring. The last level is home incarceration. This program requires offenders to remain at home at all times, with very limited exceptions for religious or medical purposes. At a minimum, offenders are subject to randomShow MoreRelatedAlternative to Incarceration Essay894 Words   |  4 PagesDecember 5, 2001 Alternatives to incarceration Ever since the first prison opened in the United States in 1790, incarceration has been the center of the nations criminal justice system. Over this 200 year period many creative alternatives to incarceration have been tried, and many at a much lower cost than imprisonment. It wasnt until the late 1980s when our criminal justice systems across the country began experiencing a problem with overcrowding of facilities. This problem forced lawmakersRead MoreAlternatives to Incarceration Essay1984 Words   |  8 Pagesdata, along with Chi-square analysis. A logistic regression model was also used in this study. The results of the study indicate that graduates of drug court were found to be older than clients who were terminated from drug court. Juvenile incarceration was related to termination from drug court in both rural and urban drug courts. They also found that urban participants were found to have more children and were more likely to be employed full-time. However, rural part icipants reported moreRead MoreAlternatives to Incarceration Essay828 Words   |  4 PagesName Course Fallacy Research Essay Date How Begging the Question Fallacy is Used Publicly and Personally Begging the question fallacy is used every day, all the time, and by everyone. Fallacy is defined as an invalid or false argument or statement to deceive someone to make him believe that what is said is true. Politics use fallacies most of the time to convince people that they are good candidates for a political position. Teenagers, use fallacies to convince other teenagers that doing somethingRead MoreExpanding Funding For Alternatives For Incarceration Essay1589 Words   |  7 PagesExpanding Funding for Alternatives to Incarceration Many individuals in prison have mental health and addiction problems. The only way they can be helped is by our system offering lower-cost alternatives to incarceration to address the problem which led them to criminal activity. Studies have indicated that only 10% or fewer inmates received mental health care while incarcerated which in turn is costly and ineffective. Studies have shown it cost $1.8 billion to house mentally ill offenders whom returnRead MoreAn Overview of Alternative Methods of Incarceration700 Words   |  3 PagesAn Overview of Alternative Methods of Incarceration Leaders at the Federal, State, and Local levels are constantly seeking ingenious methods to reduce the costs of criminal justice and corrections. It is agreed that violent offenders should be in maximum security facilities, however establishing alternatives to prison for non-violent offenders have become a necessity (e.g. DMI, Project HOPE, The 24/7 sobriety project). Due to the overcrowding and budget issues, methods have been devised to increaseRead MoreAlternative to Incarceration Intermediate Sanctions 1268 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction Alternatives to incarceration have been explored in recent years due to the overcrowding in the correctional system. Intermediate sanctions is one of those alternatives. Intermediate sanctions have long way been used in the United States due to the benefits and options that it offers from saving money to reducing overcrowding but it does, however, have its unfortunate faults. There are many programs within intermediate sanctions that work and some that fall behind. IntermediateRead More Home Confinement: An Alternative to Incarceration Essay949 Words   |  4 PagesConfinement: An Alternative to Incarceration      Ã‚   West Virginia state prisons have a maximum capacity of 2,154 inmates; currently they house 2,363 inmates, and more remain in City and County lockups to manage the overflow (West Virginia Blue Book). Home Confinement solves this problem. Reduction of the prison population should be reason enough to institute home confinement, but other reasons do exist. Would you like lower taxes? Home confinement costs much less than incarceration. Do you favorRead More America Needs Alternatives to Incarceration Essay2835 Words   |  12 Pagescaught and sentenced to serve 1 year in the County Prison. Clyde never wanted to do it and was very uncomfortable doing it, but he thought it would help his family and allow them to go one more month with food on the table. Even though there are alternative forms of rehabilitation that would have kept him out of prison and been more beneficial to him and his family as well as being more cost efficient, Clyde was sent to prison to become part of the l argest prison population in the world. Read MoreThe Benefits of Community-Based Alternatives to Incarceration2170 Words   |  9 Pageslow-risk offenders to keep them from clogging up the cells in jails and soaking up unnecessary tax money? Well, the only true way to eliminate a growing prison population is to discuss, analyze, and apply prison alternatives as possible criteria for sentencing, as well as rehabilitation. Alternatives such as probation, parole, and community service will help keep prison populations at bay and within a manageable rate. In addition, tax dollars can be utilized for another issue, while low-risk criminal offendersRead More Community Based Corrections: Viable Alternative to Incarceration1679 Words   |  7 Pagesprocess. Community-based corrections facilities are located in the community and support diverse rehabilitative programs including restitution, community service and repayment of monetary fines (Moses, 2007). Community-based correction is not incarceration; there is accountab ility, responsibility and supervision with graduation within nine and twenty four months of enrollment (Honarvar, 2010). Probation, day reporting and house arrest, which use global positioning satellite tracking devices, are

School will Improve Education in America Free Essays

School choice will improve education in America. Public schools are grossly inefficient, and are not educating many of America’s youths adequately. Schools that are run independent from local government bureaucracy provide better education at lower cost. We will write a custom essay sample on School will Improve Education in America or any similar topic only for you Order Now School choice would allow more students to attend better schools. School choice is a potent educational reform that is far more effective than increased spending. The fears of opponents of school choice are factually unfounded. School choice is necessary to improve American education. Through allowing more parental choice in education, school choice forces education into a free market environment. As it is now, parents send children to the nearest school, assigned to them by the school district. If a family is wealthy enough and chooses to do so, parents can send children to private schools. However, this family then pays twice for one education. They still pay their taxes, and they pay the tuition for the private school. Under a school choice plan, any parent who decides to send their child to a private school will receive a scholarship from the government, redeemable for tuition at scholarship accepting private schools. The scholarship dollar amount is far below that of the average cost per student per year at public schools, but would allow millions of parents who cannot presently afford private tuition to do so. If a school performed poorly, parents would choose to remove their children, and then send to them to better schools. If a school began losing all its students, and therefore all its funding, the school would desire to improve. Under the current system, government schools get your money whether they are doing a good job or not. Milton Friedman was one of the first people to propose a school choice plan. Since he did so over a quarter century ago, support has expanded rapidly. However, few plans for school choice have actually been enacted. The city of Milwaukee enacted a program designed by future choice icon Polly Williams. She asked the simple yet brilliant question, â€Å"Why not allow tax dollars to go to the schools that are working? † (Harmer, 162) The plan does not allow religious schools to participate, and allows only low-income children to take part. Schools that participate can have no more than 49% of their students are scholarship receiving students. The extremely limited scale demonstration has had little effect on Milwaukee public schools, but has enabled many students to attend better schools. The number of students in the choice program has grown every year, in 1990 there were 341, in 1994 there were 846. (McGroarty, 36) In California in 1993, the Parental Choice in Education Initiative was placed on the ballot. The initiative was defeated by more than 2 to 1. However, proponents were outspent by a factor of 4 to 1. Unions such as the AFL-CIO, Nation Education Association, and California Teachers association raised over $17 million. Proponents raised only $4. 1 million, and were left with only $2. 5 million once they got the initiative on the ballot. (Harmer, 147) Demonstrators attempted to physically prevent people from signing the petitions to get the initiative on the ballot. People deliberately signed the petition multiple times to hamper school choice efforts. One person signed 23 times. Principles and teachers sent home anti-school choice information with children. School boards, such as that of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), illegally used public funds and forums to send an anti-choice message. From the standpoint of well to do Washington, D. C. suburbs, a school choice plan may seem unnecessary. Choice plans are not designed to help the upper-middle or upper class children. David Harmer wrote, â€Å"In my travels as president of the Excellence through Choice in Education League (ExCEL), I rarely met rich white suburban Republicans who were desperate for alternative schools. † (Harmer, 114) They already get a good education from government schools. However, rural poor and inner-city children do not have that luxury. For example, in the city of Milwaukee, only 40% of freshman will eventually graduate from high school, and the average GPA for students is a D+. (McGroarty, 30) School choice plans would help these students the most. The people most involved in the education system are the ones who most easily realize the problems of government schools. The Wall Street Journal wrote that, â€Å"The California State Census Data Center, after analyzing the 1990 Census, found that about 18. 2% of the state’s public school teachers send their children to private schools. That’s nearly twice the statewide average for all households, which is 9. 7%† (Harmer, 28) College entrance exam scores have been dropping across the board, and the US often ranks dead last in international comparisons among industrialized nations. From 1960 to 1992, the average SAT score dropped 76 points. If one were to include the reenterings of the SAT test, scores would drop even further. (Harmer, 19) The landmark study by the National Commission on Excellence in Education, A Nation at Risk, claimed, â€Å"Each generation of Americans has outstripped its parents in education, in literacy, and in economic attainment. For the first time in the history of our country, the educational skills of one generation will not surpass, will not equal, will not even approach, those of their parents. † (Harmer, 25) In addition academic failure, public schools are failing to produce good citizens. According to a Tulane study, 20% of suburban high schooler’s condoned shooting someone who had stolen something of theirs. (Harmer, 29) The answer, contrary to what many education reformers claim, is not to throw more money into schools. Only one nation in the entire world spends more money per student, per year than the US, Switzerland. Japan, whose schools consistently outperform those of the US, spends only half as much money per student. Accounting for inflation, per student expenditure has increased 40 percent since 1982, and has tripled since 1960. (Harmer, 38) The image of the â€Å"criminally-underfunded† public school is false. Class size has also failed to improve education. The pupil teacher ratio declined from 25. 8:1 in 1960 to 17. 3:1 in 1991. Even in urban public schools, the ratio is as low as 17. 9:1. (McGroarty, 16) The image of the over crowded inner city school is also false. There is no relationship between spending and educational achievement in grade schools. A recent comparison of per student expenditure and scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests by Forbes and Right Data Associates found the correlation coefficient for a linear relationship between spending and test scores to be 0. 12. (This value could range from -1 to 1, the closer the absolute value of the correlation coefficient is to 1, the stronger the relationship. ) (Brimelow, 52) Where does all the money go? In the LAUSD only 36 % of school funding is spent on teacher salaries, textbooks, and supplies. Thirty-one people are paid over $100,000 a year, only one of which is a teacher. Statewide in California, only 44 percent of the people employed by the school system are teachers. In the independent schools in California, 86 percent of school employees are teachers. (Harmer, 41-43) The situation is the same nationwide. Researcher Michael Fisher found that only 25. 7% of funds reach the classroom in Milwaukee schools. (McGroarty, 21) It is plain to see that throwing more money at schools and calling it reform won’t help the situation. Leaders of the National Education Association and its statewide affiliates have done much of the campaigning against proposed school choice plans. They represent the only people who are set to lose because of school choice: the education bureaucrats. Their jobs will no longer be guaranteed by a government monopoly. Many people fear that schools supported by the new choice movements would be fly-by-night institutions that are out to make a profit, teach racial and religious discrimination, and condone violent behavior. However, legislative school choice efforts have placed regulations on independent schools. The Parental Choice in Education initiative in California contained the following items: (1) No school, which discriminates on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, or national origin, may redeem scholarships. (2) To the extent permitted by this Constitution and the Constitution of the United States. The State shall prevent from redeeming scholarships any school which advocates unlawful behavior; teaches hatred of any person or group on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, national origin, religion, or gender; or deliberately provides false or misleading information respecting the school. 3) No school with fewer than 25 students may redeem scholarships, unless the Legislature provides otherwise. These measures would prevent fraud and discrimination. School choice does not condone discrimination. Government already regulates private schools to some degree, and this would definitely not decrease with the use of vouchers. Too many people are under the opinion that private schools are all elite academies or preppy boarding schools, both of which charge admission the price of a college education. However, 95 percent of Catholic schools, and 88 percent of Protestant schools charge tuition under $2,500 a year. Robert Genetski said, â€Å"Average cost data for public and private education indicate that in 1990 the operating cost per student for kindergarten through grade 12 in public schools was $4,841, compared with private school costs of $1,902. † (Harmer, 76) The truth is that even the poorest of parents would be able to afford a private education with a school choice plan. In legislative efforts for choice in California, parents would receive a voucher for half the cost of public schools, which would completely cover the costs of many adequate private schools. It is true that the government would lose money by giving scholarships to students already attending private schools. However, the government gains money by losing new students to private schools, since only half of a students tax money follows the student. The students that leave after school choice is enacted would provide a pool of money that would more than cover current private school attendees. Furthermore, David Harmer, author of the Parental Choice in Education initiative and School Choice: Why You Need It, How You Get It, said that if he had to rewrite the initiative, he would include a measure that would phase in school choice. Each year one new grade would be allowed to participate, starting at Kindergarten, and ending with grade 12. No students currently in private schools would benefit from school choice. (Harmer, 178) Opponents of school choice fear that children with special needs would be left out in the cold, since private schools would deny them admission. However, special education is already dealt with by a voucher type system. Public schools cannot meet the needs of many children, so the government sends these children with special needs to private contractors, such as the local School for Contemporary Education. Children who have special needs are guaranteed an equivalent education by many state laws, and this would not change under a school choice plan. Edd Doerr wrote that, â€Å"Despite repeated and misleading claims to the contrary, vouchers are merely the latest in a long line of attempts by sectarian special interests to channel public money to church-related education institutions. (Doerr, et al, 37) He conjures up images of â€Å"government funded religious schools† that, horror of horrors, teach religion. However, the GI Bill is constitutional! If a student decides to spend money from the government on a religious education, it does not mean that the wall between church and state has come tumbling down. Today students use money from the GI Bill and Pell Grants at religious colleges without any problem. Voucher plans are the exact same thing, except with younger kids. George Bush even called his school choice plan the â€Å"GI Bill for Kids. To say that vouchers fund religious schools is to say that food stamps are government funding of supermarkets. As to cultural balkanization, school choice would not effect this at all. Religious or racial discrimination is not allowed. The claim that society is held together by a â€Å"common school experience† is a faulty argument. Schools exist to teach, not for the sake of existing. Americans respect diversity and freedom of opinion, but somehow a diversity of ideas in education seems anathema. Private schools send a higher percentage of students to college than do public schools. Their students perform better on standardized tests. They operate more cost efficiently. They are directly responsible to the parents of their students, while public schools pay more attention to school boards and administrators. Government schools have had a monopoly on children for far too long. Thanks to their efforts, one third of American seventeen-year-olds cannot locate France on a map of the world. Only one in ten can write a reasonable paragraph or do pre-college mathematics. Every citizen in America deserves a decent education. School choice can make it happen. How to cite School will Improve Education in America, Papers

Simple and Complex Activity Recognition †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Simple and Complex Activity Recognition. Answer: Introduction: The objective of the report is to develop an OEE based method of data collection, which uses voice recognition as the major tool for recording the data. This system would be beneficial from the existing system of manual collection of data. The entire system of the collection of the data would be based on android programming. The operational equipment effectiveness (OEE) method of collection of data has the capability to investigate the effectiveness of a machine within batch, discrete and continuous processes of production. The OEE method would be able to understand the occurred loss and thus take effective decisions of production for constant improvement based on the figures and facts (Andersson and Bellgran 2015). The voice recognition technology of data collection provides the means of communication with the help of computer devices. The voice recognition system, which makes use of java based programs on the android platform would be able to replace the manual attribute of data collection in the existing system. The development of the voice recognition application would help in saving money and time. The OEE method of data collection would be able to accurately measure the production data in an automatic, manual and semi-automatic way. The data, which is processed inside the system would be analyzed, visualized into valuable information. The java programs within the android based application has the feature of a language editor, which would enable new languages for different kinds of users. They also provide a reliable way by allowing the authorized users to access the data (De Vries et al. 2014). References Andersson, C. and Bellgran, M., 2015. On the complexity of using performance measures: Enhancing sustained production improvement capability by combining OEE and productivity.Journal of Manufacturing Systems,35, pp.144-154. Dernbach, S., Das, B., Krishnan, N.C., Thomas, B.L. and Cook, D.J., 2012, June. Simple and complex activity recognition through smart phones. InIntelligent Environments (IE), 2012 8th International Conference on(pp. 214-221). IEEE.

The U.S and Japanese Ideas of Policing

Police officers share a set of attitudes, norms and values that are very essential in their extremely tough working environment. It is these set of values and attitudes that constitute what is referred to as the policing culture. The police culture has been dynamic in recent times due to philosophical and organizational changes that have completely eroded the conventional meaning of police culture.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The U.S and Japanese Ideas of Policing specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The policing culture is very difficult to understand because personal characteristics of officers are completely different from their occupational characteristics. Conventional wisdom portrays a completely different notion about the outlook of police officers. The policing culture varies from one country to another because each country has its unique structures and code of conduct of the police. This paper w ill examine the similarities and differences between the policing culture in the U.S and Japan. The policing culture is very broad and it consists of both the organizational and the occupational culture. The modern policing culture in the U.S and Japan has been inherited in order to maintain historical legacies (Dammer, 2010). Routines like parades and saluting are part of the policing culture that has been around for a very long time. Police officers in the U.S and Japan are expected to be physically and mentally strong at all times. This policing norm makes the officers to be reliable and always ready for action when called upon (Gains, 2011). The American and Japanese police officers have a similar mentality when it comes to masculinity. Feminine traits such as gentleness and sensitivity are not part of the policing culture. Police officers encounter criminals in the course of their duty, and they are therefore expected to be very vigilant (Gains, 2011). The masculine culture is slowly fading due to the inclusion of women in both the American and Japanese police forces. Group solidarity is another policing culture common in the U.S and Japan police forces. The police have a tendency of isolating themselves from the general public. Police solidarity motivates the officers while at the time increases efficiency in their line of duty. The culture of solidarity comes naturally within the police force because the officers share similar fates, challenges and histories (Gains, 2011). The culture of group solidarity is sometimes abused by officers because they use it to cover for fellow officers in case of misconduct (Dammer, 2010). The solidarity culture is very common in almost all police forces across the world including Japan and America.Advertising Looking for research paper on public administration? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Japan is a politically stable country with the majority of its department s being corrupt free. The police force in Japan is forbidden from corruption and involvement in local politics (Dammer, 2010). It is this sense of integrity that has led to a more efficient police force without having regular police rotation. A good number of departments in the U.S are corrupt and therefore rotation is meant to restrain the police force from being involved in corruption and local politics. Uniforms are part of the police culture that is meant to give them identity and legality when dealing with citizens. The culture of uniforms is very common in both the U.S and the Japanese policing culture (Das, 2003). The number of policemen in Japan is small compared to the number of police officers in the U.S. Despite their small number, the Japanese police force is more effective and efficient because the Japanese police have a culture of maintaining a close relationship with the citizens (Das, 2003). Apart from law enforcement and crime prevention, the Japanese police are als o involved in resolving domestic disputes. The U.S police are only involved in law enforcement and crime prevention. It is this culture of maintaining a close relationship with the public that has considerably reduced the Japanese government’s spending on correction facilities, courts and police (Dammer, 2010). The situation is completely different in the U.S because the U.S Government spends a lot of money on security including massive recruitment of the police every year (Das, 2003). The policing ideas in Japan are very different from the ones used in the U.S because Japan has a homogenous culture that promotes peaceful co-existence. The homogenous culture in Japan gives their police force an easy time in doing their job because the police do not have to deal with racial and cultural conflicts (Dammer, 2010). The Japanese police encounter very few hate and racial violence crimes compared to their U.S counterparts. The fact that the Japanese police force comes from one race makes it easy for the officers to work together because their cultural and occupational norms are very similar (Dammer, 2010). The American police force consists of officers from different races and this may lead to ideological differences within the police force. Maintaining law and order in a multi-racial community is a difficult call for the police officers because they have to come up with special tactics for each culture. The Japanese society is associated with politeness and this is also replicated in their police force. The situation is very different in America where the police are known to be aggressive with politeness and gentleness not being part of their vocabulary (Dammer, 2010). The aggressive nature of the U.S police force is attributed the type of environment that they operate in.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The U.S and Japanese Ideas of Policing specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Crim e is very prevalent in the U.S compared to Japan, and this makes police officers to use some excessive force when bringing some situations under control. The structured nature of the Japanese society enables police officers to develop a good relationship with the public. The Japanese culture lays much emphasis on groups where every person belonging to a particular group is expected to guard the interests of the group (Dammer, 2010). The actions of every group member are supposed to affect the group in a positive way. The group philosophy is strictly followed in Japan right from the family level to places of work. The Japanese police officers are able to solve many problems because of the positive group influence (Dammer, 2010). The U.S police force lacks this form of positive peer pressure that is advantageous to the Japanese police force. According to the Japanese culture, peer pressure that leads people to doing good things is what brings development to the community. There are qu ite a number of factors that make policing ideas and culture in Japan to be different from those in the U.S. To begin with, Japan has strong gun control laws compared to the U.S (Gains, 2011). The size of American population is almost twice the population of Japan. Enforcing law and preventing crime in a very populous country like the U.S needs special police tactics and ideas. Some of the most prevalent crimes in the U.S compared to Japan include drugs and firearm crimes. Bravery and secrecy are essential elements of the police culture. Brotherhood and solidarity build the working personality of the police force in Japan and America (Gains, 2011). Authoritarianism is embedded in the culture of the U.S police force. There are situations where the police feel overwhelmed because they are expected to play many roles with some of the roles being beyond their knowledge. The value system of police officers depends on the kind of training that the officers receive. The training of police officers in the U.S puts much emphasis on crime prevention than maintaining a good relationship with the public. It is a great challenge to harmonize the police culture in the U.S because of the sociological and anthropological differences within the police force (Gains, 2011). In conclusion, the policing culture in Japan and America has a fair share of similarities and differences. The homogenous nature of the Japanese culture is what makes policing in Japan to be much easy compared to the U.S. Solidarity and brotherhood are some of the universal elements of the police culture in many police forces across the world.Advertising Looking for research paper on public administration? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The police are always associated with aggressiveness and brutality especial during violent situations. The Japanese police force has a different approach to policing that involves building good relationships with the public. The aggressive nature of the American police force has been influenced to a large extent by the high number of crimes that take place in the U.S. The American police are completely isolated from the public as a way of maintaining their secrecy. Social, cultural and racial orientation of country has a great influence on the country’s policing culture. Japan has the most effective policing system compared to the U.S because of its homogenous cultural orientation. References Dammer, H., (2010). Comparative criminal justice systems. New York, NY: Cengage Learning. Das, D., (2003). Police mission: Challenges and responses. New York, NY: Scarecrow Press. Gains, L., (2011). Policing in America. New York, NY: Elsevier. This research paper on The U.S and Japanese Ideas of Policing was written and submitted by user Violet D. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

War On Drugs Essays - Drug Culture, Drug Control Law, Euphoriants

War On Drugs Essays - Drug Culture, Drug Control Law, Euphoriants War On Drugs War On Drugs This is supposed to be a free country. I don't see that it would harm you or anybody else if someone smokes a few joints a week in moderation. What is the harm done to you? Is this enough to take fathers and mothers away from children? I know I'm not the sharpest knife in the draw but to say that drug users might abuse the stuff and cause problems for their family or neighbors is not very far from saying that because you have a knife in your kitchen draw that you might choose to use it to cause trouble for you family or neighbors. Please tell me, by what reason should marijuana be illegal and please speak from first hand experience if you can. Isn't twenty years of doing the same thing long enough? Isn't it time to step back, gather accurate information and objectively consider alternatives? Wasn't there an objective once? Distinguish between soft and hard drugs like Holland did and reduce actual drug crime by 75%, actual crime, not just prohibition violations. Treat addiction as a health problem, instead of a crime-just like alcohol is treated-and you reduce HIV infection and decrease the costs to society. I am a very opened minded person and have listened to a lot of opinions and read a lot of articles on this subject. It seems that anything we find that stimulates us or alters our state of mind in some way is a stamped as a drug. How can we take something like cocaine, which is so addictive some people have to go to a hospital to get off it and many people have died from overdoses, and put it in the same catagorize as marijuana, a part of a plant which nobody has ever overdosed from. From my perspective, the government has no reason to make marijuana illegal, except that it acts as a stitch. I will get to that in a minute. If it were legal, I really doubt we would have as much drug dealing and drug deal related deaths and crimes. It could be treated like alcohol, same rules, maybe more, but we could have an age limit and everything. (Its (marijuana) defiantly much safer than alcohol I don't know anybody in the right mind who could argue with that. Alcohol is one of the biggest killers in the world, who do you ever here on the news dying of marijuana use? Sure it may cause long cancer, but you can eat it too. Sure somebody might be too high to drive but make rules against it. Its too bad we couldn't replace alcohol with marijuana. I would much rather see people in my family as well as my parents smoke pot than drink alcohol. I could go on and on with this forever. You probably are getting the impression that I am a pot head but believe me I am not. This subject just irritates me how we can serve alcohol which makes people violent and go home and beat their wives in front of their kids but the government can't sell a part of a plant that makes people at ease. I feel I'm getting off subject so I'm gonna get back to my point. But, if it were legal, a lot of marijuana dealers who base most or all of their business on marijuana would turn to other drugs such as crack to base their business upon. That is what I mean by the stitch. Because we all know how crack changed the inner cities of America. Crack definitely increase the number of street gangs, deaths, and crimes of all kinds in this country and we all know crack is made from cocaine. So what I am saying, is that instead of trying to shoot at all drugs at once, only go after cocaine. Forget marijuana, make it legal, the government sure made a profit from cigarettes and alcohol. Make a profit from marijuana. Use the profits to fight the war on cocaine and heroin. Because you know when the cocaine supply is weakening, so is the crack. Most of the crack sold on our streets is made inside our country by

Analysis Of Barn Burning By William Faulkner Essay -- William Faulkner,

Faulkner shows the feelings of Sartoris by vividly describing the setting. The second to last paragraph starts off by saying, â€Å"At midnight he was sitting on the crest of the hill† (169). By providing the time of â€Å"midnight,† it shows a new chapter for Sartoris. The time of midnight represents a new day, and for the main character, a new day is symbolic of a new beginning. Also, Sartoris is described as â€Å"sitting on the crest.† A crest is a high point. The use of this word means two things: going up the hill is over and going down hill is beginning. Symbolically, going uphill was escaping his past. It was difficult for Sartoris to have to deal with the history he had with his family. Faulkner showing that Sartoris’s next step of going downhill is a foreshadowing that his life is going to be easier than before. Close to the bottom of the last paragraph, Faulkner says, â€Å"he went down the hill, towards the dark woods within which ... ... middle of paper ... ...d now. The last line states, â€Å"he did not look back† (169). Faulkner using this quote as the last sentence shows Sartoris’s determination to progress without reverting back to his past. Faulkner’s writing is very symbolic. Sartoris’s physical feelings also describe his mental and emotional states. Sartoris lived the first part of his childhood in fear of his father. In the final two paragraphs, Faulkner is presenting the moment Sartoris breaks away from being consumed by his father’s shadow and the fear of his father. Faulkner’s description of the setting is symbolic of how Sartoris feels about earning his freedom. Sartoris’s feelings about his freedom and brighter future are expressed through the shift from a dark tone to a hopeful one. The symbolism of Sartoris’s physical actions is a way Faulkner shows how Sartoris was feeling emotional upon obtaining his freedom.

CHOOSE ONE QUESTIONS FROM THE 5 QUESTIONS ON THE INSTRUCTION LIST Essay

CHOOSE ONE QUESTIONS FROM THE 5 QUESTIONS ON THE INSTRUCTION LIST - Essay Example The opinion of economists have varied on this issue regarding the considerable of the GDP is the appropriate measure to understand the well-being of the nation. While most of the economists have relied on this economic indicator as the main determinant of the standard of living, the others have differed stating that the other intangible and tangible factors like education, health as well as ecological environment to be important factors as well. Simon Kuznets who framed the term GDP even warned that the measure is not an appropriate indicator of the well-being of the nation (Kuznets, 1934). Thus is clear that the GDP was never devised to measure the well-being of nations. With the occurrence of the Bretton Woods conference this measure started being used widely in most of the nations of the world since 1944. GDP as an economic indicator The Gross Domestic Product of a country is the sum of the goods and services of the country taken at the market value. In order to understand the con cept of GDP it is important to know how the GDP of a nation is arrived at (Landefeld, 2008). There are a variety of ways in which the GDP of a country can be measured. The product approach measures GDP by summing the total production of all the enterprises during a definite span of time. Thus the value added of all the final products in a year minus the sum of the value added of the intermediate products gives the GDP of the economy. On the other hand, the expenditure approach considers the sum of the aggregate consumption expenditure, investment expenditure, government expenditure as well as the net exports of the economy. The circular flow diagram provides an idea about the income and expenditure flow in the economy that takes place involving the individuals, firms as well as the government. Therefore GDP measures the flow of the goods and the services that takes place in an economy. The income approach however calculates the sum of the total income of the individuals the firms as well as the government in the economy. From the various approaches it is clear that during the calculation of the GDP the monetary values are taken and hence no other intangible aspect could be captured by the GDP. In all these cases only the computation of the However in most cases it is considered that if the economic condition of the people improves the people of the economy would be better off. Thus it is not an ideal measure of the standard of living of the economy. Defects in GDP as a measure of the well-being of the economy The economic system is a subsystem of a larger system that drives the world. There are ecological, political as well as social systems which are intertwined. The effects of each of these systems influence each other and one cannot be thought of independently without thinking about the other. The economic system in a society can run only in connection with the other systems and depends on the other systems to a large extent. For example, in order to carry out the production in a factory system it is important to take the help of the natural resources as well as the human capital. Along with that the incorporation of the knowhow is also important. Hence the entire economic activity of production needs the intangible resources along with the tangible resources.