Marks of an Educated Person Essay Example for Free

Marks of an Educated Person Essay Holmes describes a liberal arts education as providing â€Å"an opportunity to steward life more effectively by becoming more fully a human person in the image of God.† (The Idea of a Christian College, Pg. 36.) The liberal arts that include subjects such as language, history, speech, philosophy etc. help in making the student a more complete person. Every student approaches learning with a subjective view based on his or her background, beliefs and opinions. A Christian liberal arts education teaches the Christian how to â€Å"be in this world but not of this world† (II Cor. 10:3) It not only addresses the practical aspects of educating for the purpose of career and employment, but it also offers Biblical concepts that help develop the spirit filled and spirit lead life. This adds depth to the liberal arts student that can be applied to the Christian’s witness to the world. The liberal arts education must encompass a broad range of subject matter regardless of the career field. Holmes offer examples such as the healthcare field. Because wellness involves physical as well as mental and emotional and is influenced by such factors as environment and the human spirit, the physician would, according to Holmes benefit from such studies as psychology, sociology in addition to the medical studies. A student’s depth of understanding is dependent on their concepts of communication and speech. For the student to fully integrate their knowledge base they must have basic communication skills. What does the word mean? The Christian liberal arts college incorporates all of these areas into a comprehensive education plan that not only helps to prepare the student to make positive career choices but it also enables the student to broaden his or her spiritual experience as his life witnesses to the world around him. In a world whose values vacillate with whatever is the popular ideology of the day, a Christian liberal arts program helps the student to build on a foundation anchored by God’s Word. As previously stated, we are able to be in this world but not â€Å"of this world.†

Social Reactions To Interracial Relationships

Social Reactions To Interracial Relationships The United States Supreme Court In 1967 ruled that Virginias anti-miscegenation laws were not in accord with the principles set forth in the constitution of the state and put a stop to all of the legal restrictions that were in place against marriages amongst mixed race (Erin, 2005). Since that time there has been a remarkable increase in the number of marriages amongst mix race in the United States (Lewis and Yancey, 1997), and the figures of interracial couples has also become twice as much every decade since 1960 (Killian, 2002). Statistics show that currently there are about 3 million interracial marriages, which make up 5% of all marriages in the United States, and another 2.5 million mix race couples that are dating (Hibbler and Shinew, 2002). Interracial marriages can include the combination of White, Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and any other group. However, when people talk about interracial relationships, the first things that mostly come to their mind is relationships amongst black and white (Vernellia, 1998). The rate of growth of interracial marriages is increasing by the day. In particular, the kind of interracial intermingling involving Blacks and Whites has been constantly changing. Immediately after Emancipation, the figures of black and white interracial relationships increased, got to its peak in 1900, and subsequently decrease till 1940. However, this form of union is still the least common type of mix race union (Davidson, 1992), even though the Black and White intermarriages has been on the increase since the 90s (Tucker and Mitchell-Kernan, 1990). There are a lot of reasons for the sharp increase in the figures of the different form of interracial marriages. One of the reasons is the Supreme Court decision in 1967 that made anti- miscegenation laws unconstitutional (Kalmijn, 1993). The close in the gap narrowed down between Blacks and Whites education, occupation and income (Kalmijn, 1993). Also, data from National Center for Health Statistics indicates the decrease in Whites prejudice against Blacks (Kalmijn, 1993). Further more, the increase in interracial marriage can be linked to the progress made by the Civil Rights movement, the increase in opportunities afforded Black people, and the increase in social contact between the races (Davidson, 1992). This research aim at reviewing the historical background of interracial relationship both interracial dating and marriage, and also factors attributed to relationships amongst mix race. This research also focuses on the opinions of the youth to interracial relationship in the 21th century. In general, the main aim of this piece is to examine interracial relationships, whether marriage or casual dating and the attitude of the youths towards it, taking foreign pre- masters students at ICRGU from different regions as samples. The reason for the study of different forms of relationships is because some individual rather prefer to go into a causal date, than going into a serious relationships that might lead to marriage. But this research will not only look at attitude towards interracial relationships from perspective of preference. It will look at possible points of meeting a person from another region or origin, and what might probably propel someone into such relationship base on pers onalities and compatibility. The research questions are as follows: What are the attitudes of the youths towards relationship amongst mix race in the 21th century? How popular is relationships amongst mix race. Factors affecting relationships amongst mix race. LITERATURE REVIEW This section of review on the interracial relationships will basically focus on three major tittles, which are The characters of those going into interracial relationships Theories why people marry outside of their race taking blacks and whites form of union as study sample. Social reactions to interracial relationship. To start with, characteristics of those in interracial relationships, in terms of marriage, research shows that people who interracially marry tend to be younger, likelihood of being married before, live in developed environment like cities or town, or are older in age from their spouse compared to people who married within their own race (Erin, 2005). Research founds that male and female within a particular racial group to an extent have different tendency to get married to someone outside their racial group (Erin, 2005). For instance, Black male have high records of interracial compared to black females. Also, Japanese and Native American woman have much higher numbers of interracial marriages compared to their male counterparts (Erin, 2005). In the U.S interracial marriages currently are highest in the west and lowest in the southern region. However, Hawaii breaks the normal trends of interracial marriages. Hawaii has a unique racial makeup in that no single racial group makes up more than 25% of the population and nearly 40% of all marriages interracial (Solberry, 1994). Therefore, it is significant to note that interracial couples tend to often move to more hospitable areas of the country (Tucker and Mitchellkernan, 1990). Further more, many theories have been established to explain the reasons behind people getting married to race other than their race, and success of such marriage to stand test of time. Structural theory states that marriages among mix race is more frequent in areas where community structure have been kept in place to support and authorize interracial marriages, and also community were there is increase in awareness of peoples personal decision to go into such a union. Recent attention given to interracial marriage in the media and in popular literature along with more people living and working in more integrated environments has lead to an increased acceptance of heterogeneous relationships (Hibbler and Shinew, 2002). Another predominant theory on reason people chose to marry outside of their race is the social exchange theory. Using Black-White interracial marriage for instance, social exchange theory states that when White women marry Black men, who usually are of higher economic status, they exchange the prestige of their skin color for the Black husbands higher economic status (Davidson, 1992; Kalmijn, 1993; Lewis and Yancey, 1997). However, Black women have been found to marry down in both interracial and same race unions, which seem to prove that Black-White interracial marriage is more complex than just an exchange of status (Foeman and Nance, 1999). An additional theory, which attempts to account for the union of interracial relationships, is the racial motivation theory (Kouri and Lasswell, 1993). The racial motivation theory states that many interracial marriages take place because of racial differences, not in spite of them (Kouri and Lasswell, 1993). From this view, it can be said that curiosity about differences in race, increases sexual interest or attraction to someone not of same race. This theory also says that those who intermarry may be acting in rebellion against social norms of racial endogamy and using the marriage as a way to state their independence (Kouri and Lasswell, 1993). Finally, there has been a change in the societal view of interracial marriages. Many studies have shown that there is less pressure in society today to have racially homogeneous relationships than in the past (Lewis Yancey, 1997). Never the less there are still some discriminations in some form of interracial union. Using the union of Black and White for instance, recent studies still suggest that the Black-White interracial union, especially the Black male-White female union, is still the most negatively viewed relationship type (Norment, 1994). There have been many researches on the history of discrimination against Black-White Interracial union. Today, the relationship between Blacks and Whites is seen as different from that of other minorities. When one speaks of race relations in America, the majority of people immediately think of the struggles between Black and White people (Killian, 2002; Wright et. al, 2003). Despite the dramatic increase in Black-White marriages, they are still the least favorable form of interracial marriage in America (Wade, 1991), and they are still considered to be a taboo subject by some (Harris and Kalbfleisch, 2000). According to survey carried out among Blacks and White marriage, in the study of 270 interracial couples, it was found that nearly half reported that marrying someone not from their race makes marriage difficult, while about two thirds reported that at least one of the parent objected to their marriage (Fears and Deane, 2001). Although there is increase in the tolerance of interracial couples, there are still powerful forces in society that make Black-White interracial marriage hard and unappealing (Dainton, 1999). Many Black-White interracial couples report that they face discrimination from members of their own particular race; European Americans view them as being too Black and African Americans view them as being not Black enough (Orbe, 1999). Another source of discrimination for those in interracial marriages is often the family. The majority of people in interracial marriages have said that they have had to face one or both parents express serious concern to outright disapproval of their choice to marry interracially. Most of the time , this disapproval are always expressed verbally, and in the case where couple goes on with the marriage, some certain members of the family not in support of the union might refuse to attend any important event organized by the couples, such as wedding, holiday celebrations, family reunion or even family visitation. In some extreme cases, members of interracial marriages have reported having lost all contact for years at a time with once close members of their families (Luke and Carrington, 2000). But, one part of the twos couples tend to be more acceptant than the other. Studies have also found that acceptance of interracial marriages is increasing at a rapid rate and an increasing number of interracial couples are reporting that their families have openly accepted their interracial relationship, and they feel comfortable speaking about their relationship in public (Fears Deane, 2001, Rosenblatt et. al., 1995). However, attitudes towards interracial relationships have been found to vary based on race, age, and gender. In a study of Black and White people between the ages of 21 and 40, it was reported that men have more positive attitudes towards interracial relationships compared to women, and also those that are younger have more favorable views on interracial relationships (Datzman and Gardner 2000). It was also found that the families of the Black partner in interracial relationships tend to be more accepting and supportive than the families of the White partner (Hibbler and Shinew, 2002). In another study eighty-six percent of Black respondents said that their families would welcome a White person into their family compared to only 55% of White respondents who said their families would welcome a Black person into their family (Fears Deane, 2001). This research however is not just about interracial relationships among blacks and white, the review is to build up facts associated with interracial relationship considering researches already done on different topics on interracial relationships which can help answer some of the research questions. This research aims at cutting across all forms of interracial relationships, and types of relationships, whether causal dating or marriages and associated factors that influences the opinion of people towards going into it. Also, it aims at finding the opinion of the youth towards interracial relationships in the 21th century. METHOLOGY The research targeted at getting the opinions and attitudes of the youths towards interracial relationships, whether just casual dating or marriages. Considering the limitation both time and resources, the research were conducted among international students of ICRGU who are from different parts of the world, namely, China, Nigeria and Kazakhstan. The final sample of students consist of 4 Chinese (1 males, 3 females), 3 Nigerians (2 males, 1 female), and 3 Kazakhstanis (1 male, 2 females), all between the age of 20-35. None of the participant is married. Interviews were conducted on each of the participants to explore their attitudes toward interracial relationships. Qualitative data were collected by the means of follow-up interviews with the respondents who participated in the survey. The interviews with the respondents were semi- structured interview, including general questions as well as sets of questions for individuals who either have family members or friends, or know someone who was is into interracially relationship. Generally, all the questions aimed at getting disposition towards interracial relationships, and also general opinion towards interracial relationships. DISCUSSION Over the decades now, many studies have been made on interracial relationships and so far shown many controversies. The study on interracial relationships is a wide study, but very interesting study. This research however focused on the opinion of the youths towards interracial relationships, and has been proven that there is increase in the awareness of youth towards interracial relationships, unlike in the past. The table 1 shows the numbers of participants both male and female who took part in the survey, and their opinion on whether they can go into a relationship with someone not of their race. About 60% agreed they can go into interracial relationships, while about 20% disagree not to going into interracial relationships. 20% percent others would want to, but are restricted because of some factors like family acceptance or their culture. Table 2, shows the participants general opinion towards interracial marriages, and from the table, there is a trend of acceptance in some region compared to other regions. Fig 2.1 and 2.2 shows the percentages of both male and females opinions towards interracial marriages. Figure2.1 shows individual dispositions towards interracial marriage and about 60% sounded positive of getting married to someone outside their race, and about 40% wouldnt want to get married to someone not from their race. Figure 2.2 shows the general opinion on interracial marriages, and about 90% feels nothing is wrong in going into interracial marriages, while about 10% feels interracial marriages isnt ideal. Even with challenges faced in interracial relationship, its still something one can rule out from happening. According to Mr. John, he feels with high speed travel and communication technology in this age of globalization interracial marriages will always happen irrespective of the family, cultural believes, or societal opinion. But he feels to preserve culture, interracial marriage is not ideal. Miss Ama also feels marriage has nothing to do with culture or believes. She feels as long as there is love and the both parties understand themselves, marrying each other shouldnt be a problem. She also didnt rule out difficulties that might come with the marriage such as language barriers but she said if the 2 parties are strong enough to overcome the challenges that will make them strong. Generally, from the research, it was observed most believe interracial relationships have to do with the personal decisions and feeling. According to Miss Beauty, she feels going into interracial relationship is a personal thing. She also said as long as there is respect and happiness, there is nothing wrong about interracial relationships. To add to this, Miss Ama said feeling is a thing of the mind irrespective of color, culture or religion , you dont expect it, it just happens. When happens and you feel the person is the right choice for you, you just go for it. One of the limitations in this research is the time frame. The time frame to complete this research isnt long enough to get more samples for analyzing the topic in context. The research was restricted to little numbers of participants and limited questions to elaborate more on the factors affecting opinions so as to have enough time to execute the aim of the research. However, with previous review on related research, the aim of the research was accomplished. Another limitation was the numbers of different regions availably. In the pre masters class of ICRGU where the survey was carried out, presently have students mainly from 3 countries namely, Nigeria, China, and Kazakhstan. The effect of this is that, there were limitations to cultural behaviors and believes considering the topic was generally on opinion of the youths in the 21th century, and just 3 countries were available for the survey. CONCLUSION An interracial relationship is where there is marriage, sexual or romantic relations between individuals of different races. In the past, interracial marriages were in fact taboo in some parts of the world, but with globalization there has been a change in ideology about interracial relationship. From the result of the survey, it suggests that there is increase in the awareness of interracial relationships. It also suggests there is an increase in the acceptance of going into a relationship with someone of different race. However, there are still some believes that interracial relationships, especially marriage if encourage, could lead to cultures being eradicated, in this light very few persons wont support such union so as to preserve culture. The finding in the studies also shows that about 90% of the participants feel there is nothing wrong in going into interracial relationships, as long as both parties love each other and have reasons to want to go into such relations, and also can solve their differences. There are some attitudes common to the participants of this survey which are, All participants are in their 20s and are all international students of ICRGU who are from different countries, and might want to try something new. They have been opportune to meet with other students from other countries. Considering might be the first time most of them have the opportunity to meet different people with different culture, color, background and country. They believe as long as the 2 parties are willing to pass the huddles, there is nothing wrong in interracial relationships Lastly, they feel relationship is the thing of the heart. It has nothing to do with color, culture or country. As long as the two parties can cope with their differences. There are a lot of controversies on interracial relationships because believes of every individuals varies. But according to this research, it can be said to some extent that interracial relationships is somehow accepted and there is increase in awareness. In light of the increasing rates of interracial relationship and the opinion of people towards it, there is still a great deal of research that needs to be done on this topic. One of the researches needs to discuss more on the success of interracial marriages.

Can War Ever Be Eradicated?

Can War Ever Be Eradicated? Our world is inherently inconsistent; it is constructed on the eternal conflict, on constant contradictions. Knowingly there black and white, the north and the south, right and left exist. Each conflict eventually expands until the time when the person cannot supervise it any more. Frequently it also leads to revolutions, wars, intestine conflicts. Throughout all world history, the person has lived for only a few years without war, he has constantly fought for the right to exist, for the freedom, land, power etc. Together with the development of the humankind, this fight became more and more rigid. At the same time, the weapon, which gradually bore more and more destructions, also developed, which made the fight crueler. War inherently does not know any winners. To some extent, everyone in it is a looser, because each side bears an enormous amount of losses: human lives, money, and territory. The conflict of individuals is an everyday occurrence in a modern life; war covers bigger am ount of people. More often it arises because of the requirement of the person to operate, and brings much more global destructions and does not influence separate people any more, but the whole society. War, as a phenomenon, cannot be eradicated, because modern processes of globalization, development of terrorism and desire of the power promote the development of war. Modern process of globalization as process of increasing influence of various factors of the international value on the social validity in the separate countries is one of the reasons why war cannot be eradicated. (Reference) Globalization became real aspect of the modern world system, one of the most influential forces defining the further process of our civilization. Globalization process opens new possibilities, but it is also fraught with negative consequences. Globalization influences formation of potential conflicts in the conditions of a competition. Unfair distribution of the blessings creates threat of conflicts at regional, national and international levels. Globalization causes defined amount of problems. One of them is connected with a question who appears in a prize from this globalization. Most often basic part of advantages is received by the rich countries. The second problem is connected with potential regional or global instability because of interdependence of nati onal economies at world level. Local economic fluctuations or crises in one country can have regional or even global consequences. Such possibility carries not only theoretical character, and is quite real. That can be confirmed with a financial crisis in Asia, which have begun in the summer of 1997 in Thailand, and then threw on other countries of South East Asia, having reached South Korea, too. The similar phenomenon testifies the big vulnerability of the interconnected economy. World recession or depression is capable to cause appeals to break off an interconnection and the dependences created during globalization, just as it and has occurred at the time of Great depression of 1930ies in the USA. The economic conflict with a threat of transformation into economic war or even military collision can become the result. So, globalization, which is very actual nowadays, provokes conflicts between the countries, frequently even military ones. Development of the international terrorism as the certificate of violence against citizens or objects for the purpose of destabilization of a public order in the country or complication of the international relations, also does not allow eradicating war. (Reference) If in the middle of XX century the terrorism was considered as the local phenomenon, but already to the beginning of the third millennium, it has captured the most part of the world. Now there does not remain a place on the earth, where the terrorism has not got in. Terrorism acts have already taken place practically on each continent, but struggle against this terrorism cannot be won in a way of only defeating separate terrorist organizations, because everywhere in the Islamic world there are people supporting Sacred war, especially against the USA. The vivid example of it is an act of terrorism on September 11, 2001 in New York, which caused retaliatory measures of protection from the USA side. The First World War has b egun with murder of the successor of an Austro-Hungarian throne, which also can be considered as an act of terrorism. In addition, for today fears that acts of international terrorism and retaliatory measures of the states can end with one more world war are expressed more and more often. Events of the year 2006 in the Near East have shown how real the threat of the world war world war is. Though acts of terrorism have caused only the war on the local level, only between two countries, it is impossible to forget that the world community was on a hair from other counties retraction in war, Syria, Iran and the USA in the first place. In addition, proceeding from the statistical data, the quantity of acts of terrorism in 2005 exceeded the amount of 13.000. Such considerable quantity of acts of terrorism puts the world on the side of a war. That means that the international terrorism is a cause of war, but also that presence of the international terrorism means presence of constant wars . One of the main reasons for almost every war in the history of mankind were and still are a capture of territories, desire of a profit, but only this purpose has been disguised à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ under the pretext of belief, democracy etc. Each country separately thirsts for the new markets, resources, money, i.e. everyone wants to predominate over the others. Moreover, there will always be the state, which will be dissatisfied with its present position, which finally will start the conflict. Zones of economic influence of Great Britain, Japan and Russia have narrowed for last 15 years. Thus, those zones have essentially extended at the republic of South Africa and Germany. Influence of China on a state of economic affairs promptly amplifies. Zones of economic influence of the USA, Italy and France have undergone less considerable changes. Struggle for spheres of economic influence has led to the situation that on a part of territories there was a collision of economic interests at the several states at once, rivalry between which has in certain cases taken the form of a confrontation. Unfortunately, the human is greedy à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ the higher is his post, the stronger is a desire of the power. There are antidemocratic countries, such as Iran, Iraq, the North Korea in the modern world, for which the main aim is capture of territories and imposing of their opinion. Absence of democracy in the separate countries is a war cloud, one of its possible preconditions. The history knows several ethnic, international conflicts, which, in fact, were caused by motives that are more religious. In 20 century, ethnic wars started to carry more global character. Having begun with the fascism, which has proclaimed destruction of Jews and Slavs, their number increases in a geometrical progression, messages on them fill screens of TVs and the press. International divisions have also concerned outwardly safe Europe: Czechs and Slovaks, Scots and English; the Canadian Frenc h and English, Arabs and Jews. The government always had a choice. World problems could be solved peacefully, without applying physical strength, but it would mean loss of the power over the others that is unacceptable for the psychology of the person. Each competitive country wishes to own the greatest influence and the most productive way à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ war (i.e. while globalization develops, the states will choose war for achievement political, economic, etc. the purposes). Moreover, force has always been called upon because it is an ultimate method by which peoples, whether individually or in national groups, have been able to achieve their desires. Based on the set forth above it can be said that war cannot be eradicated as the processes of globalization, terrorism and humanà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s desire of power promote the occurrence of military conflicts, and as these processes are deep-rooted, war will never be eradicated.

Dreams Of A Lifetime :: essays research papers

Some people only get to dream about what life might be like if they had accomplished their life goals. Some people dream about what it might not be like. Steven was one of these more fortunate people until...Steven had to overcome more pain during his lifetime then some could imagine. He dreamed of becoming a wealthy, well known business man, with a loving family. He had no clue that it would be so hard to accomplish the few things that mattered the most to him, his dreams.Steven grew up in a family of poverty, heartbreak, and violence. Every night Steven’s dad would come home drunk and beat on Steven and his sister, Danielle. Sometimes Steven would hide in a closet with his sister praying that his dad wouldn’t come home. The pain Steven suffered during these beatings were unbearable. Steven’s mother couldn’t do anything about it. She was afraid of her violent tempered husband. She tried to take her kids away from their father a few times, but she was threatened and beaten. There was no escape from what seemed like hell. After years of violence and abuse, Steven’s mother had had it. After Danielle had just been molested by her father, she thought that their was nothing left to live for. She had pulled the trigger on herself, killing one of the few people that Steven had cared about. After this incident, Steven rebelled against everything that he believed in. He just felt like there was nothing to live for and no one he could depend on. Steven didn’t do his schoolwork, he ran away from home a number of times, and he even got addicted to heroin. Danielle had moved to her aunt’s house in order to avoid getting into trouble with her father, but Steven refused to go. Then on a cold rainy night, Steven went home to see a swarm of police around his home. He later found out that his father was killed in a fight over drugs, in which Steven was the source of. It was at that moment that Steven felt the worst he has ever felt in his entire life. He felt like he was to blame for his father’s death and his mind went blank. Without hesitation, he got his father’s handgun, held to his mouth, and thought of his mother. The loving mother that he used to have, the one that was to afraid to help him, the one that was just there.

Meaningless Lives in 7 Stories :: essays research papers

?If you remain imprisoned in self denial then days, weeks, months, and years, will continue to be wasted.? In the play, 7 stories, Morris Panych exhibits this denial through each character differently. Man, is the only character who understands how meaningless life really is. All of the characters have lives devoid of real meaning or purpose, although they each have developed an absurd point or notion or focus to validate their own existence. In this play, the characters of Charlotte and Rodney, are avoiding the meaninglessness of their lives by having affairs, drinking, and pretending to kill each other to enhance excitement into their life. Charlotte and Rodney are blind to the meaninglessness of their life because they avoid it by having an affair. They are the first characters introduced to Man in the play, and they go to this place to escape from their own corrupt marriages. ?A lovely picture of your lovely wife,? (pg.6) proves the tone of the situation, and the sarcasm in how much Rodney doesn?t care about his wife and family at home. ?I started having another affair. You can?t believe how complicated that is. Cheating on the man you?re cheating with,? (pg.42) as Charlotte expressed how bored she was wither own life, and that this was the only way that she could avoid her own meaningless life. Another way these characters avoid living their life is by drinking continuously, in a way to make the time pass by faster and forget. ?Haven?t you had enough? She loses count after 10 cocktails,? (pg.11) proving to the audience her own self denial, and how she wastes every day. Unfortunately, there are many, who in society today, do the same thing to get out of a situation they?re trying to hide or a difficult time they?re going through. This relates back to their affair which they?re obviously hiding and trying to get through this time in their life. Thirdly, Charlotte and Rodney pretend to kill each other to try to enhance and excite their boring lives. They use this technique as many people do in every day life to not show their true self, because they think that they will be more interesting this way. ?It gives him a tremendous amount of power to hear me gasping for air,? (pg.40) which shows how Rodney gets excitement into his life by this role-playing. ?The world according to Rodney. Life would be so ?

Economics †monopoly Essay

A monopoly is an enterprise that is the only seller of a good or service. In the absence of government intervention, a monopoly is free to set any price it chooses and will usually set the price that yields the largest possible profit. Just being a monopoly need not make an enterprise more profitable than other enterprises that face competiton the market may be so small that it barely supports one enterprise. But if the monopoly is in fact more profitable than competitive enterprises, economists expect that other entrepreneurs will enter the business to capture some of the higher returns. If enough rivals enter, their competition will drive prices down and eliminate monopoly power. Why do economists object to monopoly? The purely â€Å"economic† argument against monopoly is very different from what noneconomists might expect. Successful monopolists charge prices above what they would be with competition so that customers pay more and the monopolists (and perhaps their employees) gain. It may seem strange, but economists see no reason to criticize monopolies simply because they transfer wealth from customers to monopoly producers. That is because economists have no way of knowing who is the more worthy of the two parties—the producer or the customer. Of course, people (including economists) may object to the wealth transfer on other grounds, including moral ones. But the transfer itself does not present an â€Å"economic† problem. Rather, the purely â€Å"economic† case against monopoly is that it reduces aggregate economic welfare (as opposed to simply making some people worse off and others better off by an equal amount). When the monopolist raises prices above the competitive level in order to reap his monopoly. Profits, customers buy less of the product, less is produced, and society as a whole is worse off. In short, monopoly reduces society’s income. The following is a simplified example. Consider the case of a monopolist who produces his product at a fixed cost (where â€Å"cost† includes a competitive rate of return on his) of $5 per unit. The cost is $5 no matter how many units the monopolist makes. The number of units he sells, however, depends on the price he charges. The number of units he sells at a given price depends on the â€Å"demand† schedule shown in Table 1. The monopolist is best off when he limits production to 200 units, which he sells for $7 each. He then earns monopoly profits (what economists call â€Å"economic rent†) of $2 per unit ($7 minus his $5 cost, which, again, includes a competitive rate of return on investment) times 200, or $400 a year. If he makes and sells 300 units at $6 each, he earns a monopoly profit of only $300 ($1 per unit times 300 units). If he makes and sells 420 units at $5 each, he earns no monopoly profit—just a fair return on the capital invested in the business. Thus, the monopolist is $400 richer because of his monopoly position at the $7 price. Table : 1 Price Qty. Demanded Monopoly Profit/Year 7 200 400 6 300 300 5 420 0 The main kind of monopoly that is both persistent and not caused by the government is what economists call a â€Å"natural† monopoly. A natural monopoly comes about due to economies of scale-that is, due to unit costs that fall as a firm’s production increases. When economies of scale are extensive relative to the size of the market, one firm can produce the industry’s whole output at a lower unit cost than two or more firms could. The reason is that multiple firms cannot fully exploit these economies of scale. Many economists believe that the distribution of electric power (but not the production of it) is an example of a natural monopoly. The economies of scale exist because another firm that entered would need to duplicate existing power lines, whereas if only one firm existed, this duplication would not be necessary. And one firm that serves everyone would have a lower cost per customer than two or more firms. Whether, and how, government should regulate monopoly is controversial among economists. Most favour regulation to prevent the natural monopoly from charging a monopoly price. Other economists want no regulation because they believe that even natural monopolies must face some competition (electric utilities must compete with home generation of wind power, for example, and industrial customers can sometimes produce their own power or buy it elsewhere), and they want the natural monopoly to have a strong incentive to cut costs. Besides regulating price, governments usually prevent competing firms from entering an industry that is thought to be a natural monopoly. A firm that wants to compete with the local utility, for example, cannot legally do so. Economists tend to oppose regulating entry. The reason is as follows: If the industry really is a natural monopoly, then preventing new competitors from entering is unnecessary because no competitor would want to enter anyway. If, on the other hand, the industry is not a natural monopoly, then preventing competition is undesirable.

History of Criminal Justice Essay

The modern criminal justice system has evolved since  ancient  times, with new forms of  punishment, added  rights  for  offenders  and victims, and  policing  reforms. These developments have reflected changing  customs, political ideals, and economic conditions. In ancient times through the middle Ages,  exile  was a common form of punishment. During the  Middle Ages, payment to the victim (or the victim’s family), known as  wergild, was another common punishment, including for violent crimes. For those who could not afford to buy their way out of punishment, harsh penalties included various forms of  corporal punishment. These included  mutilation,  branding, and  flogging, as well as  execution. Though a prison,  Le Stinche, existed as early as the 14th century in  Italy, incarceration  was not widely used until the 19th century. Correctional reform in the United States was first initiated by  William Penn, towards the end of the 17th century. For a time,  Pennsylvania’s criminal code was revised to forbid  torture  and other forms of cruel punishment, with  jails  and  prisons  replacing corporal punishment. These reforms were reverted, upon Penn’s death in 1718. Under pressure from a group of  Quakers, these reforms were revived in Pennsylvania toward the end of the 18th century, and led to a marked drop in Pennsylvania’s crime rate. Patrick Colquhoun,  Henry Fielding  and others led significant reforms during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. [19] Definition Criminal justice  is the system of practices and institutions of  governments  directed at upholding  control, deterring  and mitigating  crime, or sanctioning those who violate  laws  with criminal penalties and  rehabilitation efforts. Those accused of crime have  protections  against abuse of investigatory and prosecution powers. The criminal justice system consists of three main parts: (1)  Legislative  (create laws); (2) adjudication (courts); and (3)  corrections  (jails, prisons, probation and parole). In the criminal justice system, these distinct agencies operate together both under the  rule of law  and as the principal means of maintaining the  rule of law  within  society. Policing The first contact an  offender  has with the criminal justice system is usually with the  police  (or  law enforcement) who investigate the suspected wrongdoing and make an  arrest, but if the suspect is dangerous to the whole nation, a national level  law enforcement agency  is called in . When warranted, law enforcement agencies or police officers are empowered to use force and other forms of legal coercion and means to effect public and social order. The term is most commonly associated with police departments of a  state  that are authorized to exercise the  police power  of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. The word comes from the  Latin  politia  (â€Å"civil administration†), which itself derives from the  Ancient Greek   , for  polis  (â€Å"city†). The first police force comparable to the present-day police was established in 1667 under King  Louis XIV  in France, although modern police usually trace their origins to the 1800 establishment of the  Marine Police  in  London, the  Glasgow Police, and the  Napoleonic  police of Paris. Police are primarily concerned with keeping the peace and enforcing  criminal law  based on their particular mission and jurisdiction. Formed in 1908 the  Federal Bureau of Investigation  began as an entity which could investigate and enforce specific federal laws as an investigative and â€Å"law enforcement agency† in the United States;[10]  this, however, has constituted only a small portion of overall policing activity. [11]  Policing has included an array of activities in different contexts, but the predominant ones are concerned with  order maintenance  and the provision of services. [12] Courts Courts of Law The courts serve as the venue where disputes are then settled and justice is administered. With regard to criminal justice, there are a number of critical people in any court setting. These critical people are referred to as the courtroom work group and include both professional and non professional individuals. These include the  judge,  prosecutor, and thedefense attorney. The judge, or magistrate, is a person, elected or appointed, who is knowledgeable in the law, and whose function is to objectively administer the legal proceedings and offer a final decision to dispose of a case. In the U. S. and in a growing number of nations,  guilt  or innocence (although in the U.S. a jury can never find a defendant â€Å"innocent† but rather â€Å"not guilty†) is decided through theadversarial system. In this system, two parties will both offer their version of events and  argue  their case before the court (sometimes before a judge or panel of judges, sometimes before a jury). The case should be decided in favor of the party who offers the most sound and compelling arguments based on the law as applied to the facts of the case. The prosecutor, or district attorney, is a  lawyer  who brings charges against a person, persons or corporate entity. It is the prosecutor’s duty to explain to the court what crime was committed and to detail what  evidence  has been found which incriminates the accused. The prosecutor should not be confused with a  plaintiff  or plaintiff’s counsel. Although both serve the function of bringing a complaint before the court, the prosecutor is a servant of the state who makes accusations on behalf of the state in criminal proceedings, while the plaintiff is the complaining party in civil proceedings. A defense attorney counsels the accused on the legal process, likely outcomes for the accused and suggests strategies. The accused, not the lawyer, has the right to make final decisions regarding a number of fundamental points, including whether to testify, and to accept a plea offer or demand a jury trial in appropriate cases. It is the defense attorney’s duty to represent the interests of the client, raise procedural and evidentiary issues, and hold the prosecution to its burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Defense counsel may challenge evidence presented by the prosecution or present exculpatory evidence and argue on behalf of their client. At trial, the defense attorney may attempt to offer a  rebuttal  to the prosecutor’s accusations. In the U. S. , an accused person is entitled to a government-paid defense attorney if he or she is in jeopardy of losing his or her life and/or liberty. Those who cannot afford a private attorney may be provided one by the state. Historically, however, the right to a defense attorney has not always been universal. For example, in  Tudor  England criminals accused oftreason  were not permitted to offer arguments in their defense. In many jurisdictions, there is no right to an appointed attorney, if the accused is not in jeopardy of losing his or her liberty. The final determination of guilt or innocence is typically made by a third party, who is supposed to be disinterested. This function may be performed by a judge, a panel of judges, or a  jury  panel composed of unbiased citizens. This process varies depending on the laws of the specific jurisdiction. In some places the panel (be it judges or a jury) is required to issue a unanimous decision, while in others only a majority  vote  is required. In America, this process depends on the state, level of court, and even agreements between the prosecuting and defending parties. Some nations do not use juries at all, or rely on theological or military authorities to issue verdicts. Some cases can be disposed of without the need for a trial. In fact, the vast majority are. If the accused confesses his or her guilt, a shorter process may be employed and a judgment may be rendered more quickly. Some nations, such as America, allow  plea bargaining  in which the accused pleads guilty,  nolo contendere  or not guilty, and may accept a diversion program or reduced punishment, where the prosecution’s case is weak or in exchange for the cooperation of the accused against other people. This reduced sentence is sometimes a reward for sparing the state the expense of a formal trial. Many nations do not permit the use of plea bargaining, believing that it coerces innocent people to plead guilty in an attempt to avoid a harsh punishment. The entire trial process, whatever the country, is fraught with problems and subject to criticism. Bias  and  discrimination  form an ever-present threat to an objective decision. Any prejudice  on the part of the lawyers, the judge, or jury members threatens to destroy the court’s credibility. Some people argue that the often Byzantine rules governing courtroom conduct and processes restrict a layman’s ability to participate, essentially reducing the legal process to a battle between the lawyers. In this case, the criticism is that the decision is based less on sound justice and more on the lawyer’s eloquence and  charisma. This is a particular problem when the lawyer performs in a substandard manner. The jury process is another area of frequent criticism, as there are few mechanisms to guard against poor judgment or incompetence on the part of the layman jurors. Judges themselves are very subject to bias subject to things as ordinary as the length of time since their last break. [13] Manipulations of the court system by defense and prosecution attorneys, law enforcement as well as the defendants have occurred and there have been cases where justice was denied. Interpol The  International Criminal Police Organization  (ICPO), widely known as  INTERPOL,[3]  is an  intergovernmental organizationfacilitating international police cooperation. It was established as the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC) in 1923 and adopted its telegraphic address as its common name in 1956. Its membership of 190 countries provides a budget of around â‚ ¬60 million through annual contributions. The organization’s headquarters is in  Lyon, France. It is the second largest  intergovernmental organization  after the  United Nations  by  member states. In 2011, the Interpol General Secretariat employed a staff of 673 representing 93 member countries. [1]  Its current Secretary-General is  Ronald Noble, a former United States  Under Secretary of the Treasury for Enforcement. Succeeding  Khoo Boon Hui, its current President is Deputy Central Director of the French Judicial Police  Mireille Ballestrazzi. In order to maintain as politically neutral a role as possible, Interpol’s  constitution  forbids it to undertake any interventions or activities of a political, military, religious, or racial nature. [4]  Its work focuses primarily on public safety,  terrorism,  organized crime,crimes against humanity,  environmental crime,  genocide,  war crimes,  piracy, illicit  traffic  in  works of art,  illicit drug  production,drug trafficking,  weapons smuggling,  human trafficking,  money laundering,  child pornography,  white-collar crime,  computer crime,intellectual property crime  and  corruption. Interpol’s headquarters are located in  Lyon, France. Corrections Offenders are then turned over to the correctional authorities, from the court system after the accused has been found guilty. Like all other aspects of criminal justice, the administration of  punishment  has taken many different forms throughout history. Early on, when civilizations lacked the resources necessary to construct and maintain prisons,  exile  and  execution  were the primary forms of punishment. Historically  shame  punishments and  exile  have also been used as forms of censure. The most publicly visible form of punishment in the modern era is the  prison. Prisons may serve as detention centers for prisoners after trial. For containment of the accused, jails are used. Early prisons were used primarily to sequester criminals and little thought was given to living conditions within their walls. In America, the  Quaker  movement is commonly credited with establishing the idea that prisons should be used to reform criminals. This can also be seen as a critical moment in the debate regarding the purpose of punishment. Punishment (in the form of prison time) may serve a variety of purposes. First, and most obviously, the incarceration of criminals removes them from the general population and inhibits their ability to perpetrate further crimes. A new goal of prison punishments is to offer criminals a chance to be rehabilitated. Many modern prisons offer schooling or job training to prisoners as a chance to learn a vocation and thereby earn a legitimate living when they are returned to society. Religious institutions also have a presence in many prisons, with the goal of teaching ethics and instilling a sense of morality in the prisoners. If a prisoner is released before his time is served, he is released as a parole. This means that they are released, but the restrictions are greater than that of someone on probation. There are numerous other forms of punishment which are commonly used in conjunction with or in place of prison terms. Monetary  finesare one of the oldest forms of punishment still used today. These fines may be paid to the state or to the victims as a form of reparation. Probation  and  house arrest  are also sanctions which seek to limit a person’s mobility and his or her opportunities to commit crimes without actually placing them in a prison setting. Furthermore, many jurisdictions may require some form of public or community service as a form of reparations for lesser offenses. In Corrections, the Department ensures court-ordered, pre-sentence chemical dependency assessments, related Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative specific examinations and treatment will occur for offenders sentenced to Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative in compliance with RCW 9. 94A. 660. Execution or  capital punishment  is still used around the world. Its use is one of the most heavily debated aspects of the criminal justice system. Some societies are willing to use executions as a form of political control, or for relatively minor misdeeds. Other societies reserve execution for only the most sinister and brutal offenses. Others still have outlawed the practice entirely, believing the use of execution to be excessively cruel or hypocritical. History of criminal law The first civilizations generally did not distinguish between  civil law  and criminal law. The first written codes of law were designed by the Sumerians. Around 2100-2050 BC  Ur-Nammu, the  Neo-Sumerian  king of  Ur, enacted the oldest written legal code whose text has been discovered: the  Code of Ur-Nammu although an earlier code of  Urukagina  of  Lagash  ( 2380-2360 BC ) is also known to have existed. Another important early code was the  Code Hammurabi, which formed the core of  Babylonian law. Only fragments of the early criminal laws of  Ancient Greece  have survived, e. g. those of  Solon  and  Draco. [2] The similarly significant  Commentaries  of  Gaius  on the  Twelve Tables  also conflated the civil and criminal aspects, treating theft or  furtum  as a  tort. Assault and violent  robbery  were analogized to trespass  as to property. Breach of such laws created an obligation of law or  vinculum juris discharged by payment of monetary compensation or  damages. The criminal law of  imperial Rome  is collected in Books 47-48 of the  Digest  After the revival of  Roman law  in the 12th century, sixth-century Roman classifications and jurisprudence provided the foundations of the distinction between criminal and civil law in  European  law from then until the present time The first signs of the modern distinction between crimes and civil matters emerged during the Norman  of England. The special notion of criminal penalty, at least concerning Europe, arose in Spanish Late Scolasticism (see  Alfonso de Castro), when the theological notion of God’s penalty (poena aeterna) that was inflicted solely for a guilty mind, became transfused into canon law first and, finally, to secular criminal law. [6]  The development of the  state  dispensing  justice  in a court clearly emerged in the eighteenth century when European countries began maintaining police services. From this point, criminal law had formalized the mechanisms for enforcement, which allowed for its development as a discernible entity. Objectives of criminal law Criminal law is distinctive for the uniquely serious potential consequences or  sanctions  for failure to abide by its rules. [7]  Every crime is composed of  criminal elements. Capital punishment  may be imposed in some jurisdictions for the most serious crimes. Physical or  corporal punishment  may be imposed such as  whipping  or  caning, although these punishments are prohibited in much of the world. Individuals may be  incarcerated  in  prison  or  jail  in a variety of conditions depending on the jurisdiction. Confinement may be solitary. Length of incarceration may vary from a day to life.