Is Hydropower Really Environmentally Friendly Essay

Is Hydropower Really Environmentally Friendly - Essay Example Hydropower’s negative impacts on the environment are almost equal to its positive impacts, thus making its impacts on the environment a heated topic for debate. The positive and negative impacts of Three Gorges Dam on the environment will also be explored in this paper (Draper  7, 11; Honningsvag et al. 183; Moog 1; Gunkel 1). There is a possibility that fossil fuels are gradually decreasing and because the global warming is increasing due to their use, water is apparently a much cleaner source of energy. Moreover, unlike fossil fuels, water cannot be depleted. This is because when water evaporates from oceans and lakes, it is pulled back down to earth by gravity and back into these water bodies. There are many measures that make hydropower an environmentally friendly source of energy. These include changes that are made either to the hydropower plant or the area surrounding it. Trees can be planted on the land along the banks of the water nearest to the hydropower plant, in order to prevent erosion of the soil there. Fluctuations in the level of the water can be minimized by making sure they take place within the regulation height normally used instead of taking place between the whole maximum and minimum regulation height. This measure avoids many fishes from remaining stranded in the reservoir when the rest of them migrate to rivers or deeper water (Draper  7, 11; Honningsvag et al. 183, 204, 206). However, according to a quantitative study of several Austrian rivers, artificial fluctuations in water can have an adverse effect on the fish fauna and benthic invertebrates living in those waters. In the investigation, the breakdown of benthic invertebrates and fish fauna was calculated throughout the length of the rivers. The results showed that between 75 and 95 percent of benthic invertebrates’ biomass was found in the first few kilometers of river length. On the other hand, a decrease of between 40 and 60 percent of benthic invertebratesâ⠂¬â„¢ biomass, compared with areas undisturbed by fluctuations, was found within the following 20 to 40 kilometers. When the biomass of fish fauna was detected in the same length of river, the results were similar to the ones mentioned previously. This proves that hydropower plants can reduce the biomass of fish fauna and benthic invertebrates in the rivers that precede them (Moog 1). Another negative effect of hydropower plants, according to some new investigations, is that they do contribute to the emissions of carbon dioxide and methane, which are greenhouse gases. When reservoirs, which are part of hydropower plants, are in a eutrophic state, and trophic levels are high, anaerobic conditions are bound to occur with the emission of methane. The pathways for the production of methane include diffuse emission through the water-air interface, foaming, and degassing in the hydropower plant’s turbines and downstream in the reservoir spillway and the initial river length. High e mission rates of both carbon dioxide and methane are found particularly in shallow and tropical reservoirs. By calculating the energy density, hydropower capacity and ratio of the reservoir surface, it has been found that some reservoirs have a global warming potential that is more than that of coal use for production of energy. This investigation questions the labeling of water as a

Visitor in Singapore Art Museum Essay Example for Free

Visitor in Singapore Art Museum Essay Executive summary As the tourism industry is doing well throughout the world, there are a lot of tourism sites which has gained benefits from it and one of it is the Singapore Zoo. However, many of the tourism sites do not aware of the visitor-related management issues that are happening under their area of control. For the Singapore Zoo, there is currently an overcrowding issue which has brought detriments for them. In order to deal with the overcrowding issue, the manager of the Singapore Zoo can implement one of the management planning tools such as Visitor Management Impact which will be discussed in this report and also strategies which can help in reducing the impacts from the overcrowding issue. 1. Introduction Tourism industry has gained large popularity and brought a lot of benefit for tourism destinations since the last decades. However, most tourism sites only concern about how to obtain maximum profit from the visitors and neglected the issues which might caused negative impacts and led to failure in achieving the management objectives. The main purpose of this report is to identify the visitor-related management issue of Singapore Zoo and discuss the possible causes and impacts which arise due to the issue identified. Moreover, some management actions in term of approaches and strategies will be recommended in order to deal with the management issue encountered by Singapore Zoo. 2. Background of Singapore Zoo The Singapore Zoo, also referred to as Mandai Zoo and formerly known as Singapore Zoological Gardens is opened on the 27th of June in 1973. Furthermore, the Singapore Zoo is built on a 28 hectares piece of land with a grant from the Singapore government. The zoo applies a modern method of displaying animals in almost natural habitats providing the visitors a chance to view a large number of animals which is around 316 species contains of 36% threatened species (Singapore Zoo, 2011). The Singapore Zoo is visited by a large number of people of both local and international origins daily and often it is beyond the carrying capacity of the zoo especially on the public holiday. In addition, the popularity of the zoo and  the large number of visitors creates a problem that hampers an adequate service delivery (Barr, 2005). This problem is the problem of overcrowding and consequential problems resulting from it (Appendix 2). 3. Overcrowding issue in the Singapore Zoo Due to the popularity of the Singapore Zoo, the zoo has been experiencing large visitor numbers, thus, resulting to inefficient service delivery. Overcrowding in the Singapore Zoo has resulted to various problems which causes the Singapore Zoo to become a risk zone. 4.1. Causes of overcrowding In the Singapore Zoo, the problem of overcrowding can be attributed to various factors. These factors include lack of adequate guides in the zoo, lack of an adequate viewing space for various species of interest to the visitors, small size of the zoo premises, purchase of entry tickets at the zoo, and lack of special tracks for the disabled who use wheel-chairs. 4.2.1. Lack of adequate guides in the zoo The lack of enough support staff in the Singapore Zoo also contributes to overcrowding. This happens as a result of haphazard movements in the zoo by various visitors. Moreover, most of the visitors utilizing more time per individual and the continuous time wastage cause the visitors in the zoo at any time of the day to face congestion (Milner, 1981). 4.2.2. Lack of an adequate viewing space for various species of interest to the visitors The zoo’s setup has also contributed to overcrowding by not matching demand and supply. This is so, because the viewing space for various unique and interesting species is the same as for the animals with fewer viewers. For example, most of the Singapore Zoo’s visitors are more interested with the White Bengal Tiger but the viewing space for observing the species is inadequate and lead to crowding (Milner, 1981). 4.2.3. Small size of the zoo premises Since 1973, the size of the Singapore Zoo has remained constant, despite the  growing local and international popularity. This has resulted in the unavoidable overcrowding, since the same location is visited by more visitors at any given time. Lack of an adequate space has also caused overcrowding due to the lack of adequate parking spaces in the zoo. The congestion is also worsened by poor parking in the available parking slots (Milner, 1981). 4.2.4. Purchase of entry tickets at the zoo The purchase of entry tickets at the zoo by incoming guests has resulted to overcrowding at the entry points for the incoming visitors. This paints a negative image of the zoo with the new visitors who at times have short schedules ending up in having little time to view the diverse species in the zoological garden. The act of purchasing entry tickets in the zoo also causes fatigue to the visitors, especially during the very hot days as they await either to be served or to have their tickets processed (Milner, 1981). 4.2.5. Lack of special tracks for the disabled who use wheel-chairs Over the past, the global recognition of the rights of the disabled has led to more visits by people on wheelchairs and other disabled carriages. The influx of the disabled and their assistants on the same paths as the other individuals at times causes overcrowding, since the varying terrain causes slow movements for the disabled, hence causing congestion (Kisling, 1988). 4.2. Impacts of Overcrowding The effects of overcrowding in the Singapore Zoo have wide reaching effects on the tourists, the wildlife, and the zoo infrastructure and image. The various impacts include pollution, conflict between visitors, insecurity, and poor satisfaction level of visitors. 4.3.6. Pollution The overcrowding of the Singapore Zoo results in a variety of environmental pollution. The noise from the consequent overcrowding of the zoo results in a great distress to the wild animals due to the interference to the animal space. Furthermore, high levels of stress to the wild animals can result in poor health, as well as death of some valuable animal species. Overcrowding  has also contributed to the rise in the levels of litter in the Singapore Zoo and led to the loss of the internal beauty of the zoo. Litter has also been found in the enclosures of the wild animals, leading to consequential ingestion of the litter, which causes poisoning to the animals. In addition, pollution has contributed to people opting to choose other recreational sites, therefore causing a downshift move in the status of the Singapore Zoo (Kreag, 2001). 4.3.7. Conflict between visitors According to Schneider and Hammit (1995), conflict is a continuing issue featured by minor annoyance incidents which have a cumulative effect. When there is an overcrowding, visitors may demonstrate bad attitude or behavior against each other therefore conflict occurred. Based on the observation undertaken in the Singapore Zoo, conflict between visitors arose in several situations for instance during the long queue for tram inside the zoo and from the outside when visitors are queuing at the bus stop and taxi stand (Appendix 3). 4.3.8. Insecurity Overcrowding of the Singapore Zoo has led to the straining of the available support staff. This has caused an increase in the instances of insecurity which have manifested as frequent thefts of visitors’ items and visitors crossing over the set barriers or taunting the animals, thus attacked by the animals. These incidents happened due to the lack of adequate staff to keep track of the visitors’ behavior (Innes, 2006). 4.3.9. Poor satisfaction level of visitors When visitors expect that Singapore Zoo is a good recreational site whereas it shown such a poor service performance, the satisfaction level of visitors eventually drop. Moreover, the consequence is loss of popularity and a decline in the number of visitors, hence loss in the income of the zoo (Kreag, 2001). 4. Recommendation This section of the report will describe the potential management approach  which can be use by Singapore Zoo and suggest some strategies to minimize the impacts of overcrowding. In order to solve the serious issue of overcrowding, the management of Singapore Zoo can choose to implement the management planning tools. These tools include the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS), Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC), Visitor Activity Management Process (VAMP), Visitor Impact Management (VIM), and Visitor Experience Resource Protection (VERP). However, this report will focus on the VIM approach as a recommendation for the management of Singapore Zoo. 5.3. Visitor Impact Management approach VIM is a management planning tool that focuses on the visitors’ activities and their impact with a series of processes and techniques. This framework consists of eight steps processes which are created to deal with the issues to impact management (Pigram and Jenkins, 2006). 5.4.10. Step 1: Preassessment date base review The main purpose of this step is for the management to identify and review the information related with the situation which they already had in order to fully utilize the information on hand during the visitor impact management process. In this step, the manager of Singapore Zoo can do a review on their policy documents and the information of their visitors or the survey on their visitors which they have done before (Pigram and Jenkins, 2006). 5.4.11. Step 2: Review of management objectives The second step of the VIM process is to review the relevant management objectives to the current situation. It is important to have an unambiguous and specific management objective so that the service provider can measure their performance level to know whether they are operating according to their management objective (Hendee Stankey, and Lucas, 1990). For Singapore Zoo, they have an objective which is to bring people closer to the nature therefore they need to ensure that the services they provided for visitors do not stray from their initial management objective. 5.4.12. Step 3: Selection of key impacts indicators In this step, there are many measurable indicators for the associated management objective which need to be identified. The most important thing is to choose the essential variables or attributes based on the ecological and social impacts which will be used as an indicator (Appendix 4) (Pigram and Jenkins, 2006). Accordingly, Singapore Zoo needs to select the most relevant impact indicators with regard to their current situation. 5.4.13. Step 4: Selection of standards for key impact indicators After impact indicators have been chosen, the next step is to set standards for those indicators. Moreover, the standards to be set are depending on the management objectives of the service provider and these standards will be used as the basis against the evaluation of existing situation (Pigram and Jenkins, 2006). Similarly, the Singapore Zoo need to set a standard for the impact indicators selected in step 3. 5.4.14. Step 5: Comparison of standards and existing conditions Once the previous steps have been carried out, the next step is to compare the key impact indicators and the related standards. If there is no discrepancy between the key impact indicators and the standards, it indicated that there is no unacceptable impact and the only thing that needs to be performed is monitoring the situation for future changes (Pigram and Jenkins, 2006). However, from the discussion above, the Singapore Zoo in facing an overcrowding issue therefore it is necessary to move on the next step of VIM process. 5.4.15. Step 6: Identify probable causes of impacts At the first part of this report, the probable causes of impacts regarding the issue encountered by the Singapore Zoo have been identified. But, if the Singapore Zoo really wants to execute the VIM approach, they need to do research with the purpose of finding the most significant causes of the issue (Pigram and Jenkins, 2006). 5.4.16. Step 7: Identify management strategies After the probable causes of the visitor impacts have been identified, the next step is to brainstorm and construct the suitable management strategies  that can be used to reduce the visitor impacts problem. Furthermore, the visitor management strategies are classified into two different categories which are the indirect and direct strategies (Appendix 5). So, the Singapore Zoo can choose to use the indirect or direct method or both in order to fix the overcrowding issue (Pigram and Jenkins, 2006). 5.4.17. Step 8: Implementation The last step of the VIM process is to implement the management strategies as soon as possible to minimize the unacceptable impacts. However, the program does not stop until here, instead the service provider need to continuously monitor and observe whether the strategies implemented has generated desired outcomes (Pigram and Jenkins, 2006). 5.4. Strategies The problems that Singapore Zoo faces and the effects of the existing problems can be mitigated. Indirectly, the administration of the Singapore Zoo should ease the ways of getting tickets in other places than within the zoo. Some of these methods include the use of online marketing companies and partnering with tour providers to offer tickets to their clients on behalf of the Singapore Zoo. This will help to reduce congestion by improving service delivery (Graefe, Kuss, and Vaske, 1990). Furthermore, the Singapore Zoo should provide both offsite and onsite education about the need of appreciation of the recreational environment for the visitors so they will participate in conserving the recreational values. In addition, the Singapore Zoo should charge higher admission fees during peak season in order to decrease the number of visitors coming to the zoo. On the other hand, some of the direct visitor management strategies that could be adopted in regard to this issue include the increased surveillance to enhance proper interactions between the visitors and the animals. There should also be zoning for example by keeping the children away from the majority of the animals. Lastly, the Singapore Zoo should limit size of visitors who are coming to the zoo in group to allow decongestion in the zoo (Giongo, Bosco-Nizeye, and Wallace, 1994). 5. Conclusion In conclusion, the Singapore Zoo, being an attractive tourism site should be made as efficient as possible and it is critical for the manager of the Singapore Zoo to be aware of the overcrowding issue happening in the zoo and the impacts arisen from it. Furthermore, the issue can be minimized by utilizing the stated recommendations in order to achieve the management objective and to preserve the recreational values of the Singapore Zoo. Methodology There are two types of approaches which have been used to gather all the information needed for the working of this report, namely quantitative and qualitative approaches. For the qualitative approach, the research is done through direct observation on the tourism site discussed in this report which is the Singapore Zoo whereas the quantitative approach is done by getting information from secondary data such as academic journals, magazines, and related website for the discussion. Reference Barr, D. (2005). Zoo and aquarium libraries: An overview and update. Canadian press. Giongo, F., Bosco-Nizeye, J. and Wallace, G.N. (1994). A study of visitor management in the world’s national parks and protected areas. College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University. Graefe, A., Kuss, F.R. and Vaske, J. J. (1990). Visitor impact management: A review of research. Washington, DC: National Parks and Conservation Association. Hendee, J., Stankey, G. Lucas, R. (1990). Wilderness management, North American Press, Golden, CO. Innes, J. (2006). Scholarly communication and knowledge management in American zoos. Nova Southeastern University press. Kisling, V.N. (1988). American zoological park libraries and archives. Oxford: Oxford press. Kreag, G. (2001). The impacts of tourism. New York: Minnesota University press. Miller, G.D. (1981). An inquiry into the role of libraries in zoos and aquariums. Chicago: University of Chicago press. Pigram, J.J.J., Jenkins, J.M. (2006). Ou tdoor Recreation Management. (2nd ed). New York: Routledge Scheider, I.E. Hammit, W.E. (1995) Visitor response to outdoor recreation conflict: A conceptual approach. Leisure science 17, 223-234. Singapore Zoo. (2011). Overview: About the Singapore Zoo. Retrieved at 30 November 2011, from http://www.wrs.com.sg/parks-info-facts.html

Racism in US Criminal Justice System

Racism in US Criminal Justice System The biggest offense in the U.S. criminal justice system is that it is an institution based on racial disparity in which African-Americans are openly beleaguered and penalized in a much more destructive manner compared to white people.  This paper is an attempt to learn the degree of racism followed by the criminal justice system of America. The paper also attempts to make use of relevant literature to outline statistics for certain crime records that have been associated criminal injustice. American society is turning out to be more ethnically and inexpensively polarized. Many poor and minority citizens pledge to the prejudice theory that the criminal impartiality exists. A recent Gallup poll showed that virtually two third of the African-Americans interviewed believed that the law system is assembled against them. Many civil rights support groups have the same opinion, but many conservatives refuse that the organization is racist (Rubin, 2006). Information on race is accessible for each phase of the criminal justice system starting from drugs, police stops, taking into custody, bailing out, legal court  representation, selection of jury members, courtroom trials, prison term, imprisonment, parole and liberty.  It is very evident in America that a policeman stops you on a highway for no reason whatsoever asking you to prove your identity and ask you where you are from (Riles, 2006). Very often your car and your belongings are searched. It is common policy that they believe your racial identity is blamed for your reason to be a criminal and anyone who looks like them is stopped or interrogated with further questions. If they are accused of a certain crime, then it is probable that your representing lawyer will only give you a few minutes and will convince you to plead guilty. If you argue over yourself being innocent, then you will get to stay in prison for some months. Racism has been prominent since the days of African slavery. It is likely that all the information and proofs provided are against you, especially if you are an adolescent. The rate of incarceration for your ethnic group is seven times that of the common populace, most of whom concur with the police that your type are tending to create violence and commit crime (Cole, 1999). People like you are arrested, convicted and killed by the police more often than those in the general population. One in every third person from your ethnicity and skin color, especially in the age group of 20 to 29 is in jail or on parole or trial. In universities, almost 100 graduates are arrested each year. You are not living in some oppressive misery (Cole, 1999). All this is because you are an African American residing in the United States, a so called home liberalists and bravery. Law enforcement officials universally claim that targeting of Black and Latino drivers is not done, but the stories of African-American and Mexican men prove otherwise. Attorney Christopher Darden, one of the prosecutors in the O.J. Simpson trial says in his book that he is stopped about five times a year. Many men of color find similar experiences, from Ohio to Florida to New Jersey to California (Allen, 1999). An African-American Miami policeman was stopped on Route 4 in Florida, where it seems that the police have decided that all Black men are likely to be drug runners, despite the fact that it is estimated that nationally Blacks are equal to only 13 percent of drug offenders. Undeniably, the Orlando Sentinel acquired recorded tapes of at least 1,100 stops in a single Florida County and revealed that while Blacks were only five percent of all drivers transiting from there, they were 70% of those blocked and the rest were not even bothered to be stopped (Goodale, 2005). In Maryland, one African-American lawyer and his family were blocked on Interstate 95 after departing from a funeral. When they prosecuted, a central court ruled that the Maryland state police had to disburse $50,000 and had to split information on the race of motorists blocked and searched. They found that African-Americans were 75% of those stopped and searched, although they made up only 17 percent of the motorists (Goodale, 2005). A professor of law at Georgetown University, David Cole marshals plenty of evidence that Americas criminal justice system is racially biased. And yet many others have done that before him. What is more important and commonly available in literature to date, is the argument that it is only by denying basic rights to poor and black Americans that the more prosperous white minority can itself enjoy the constitutional protections of which Americans are so proud. Certainly America is not the only country whose system of criminal justice is marred by racial or economic biases. Drug policies comprise of the most important factor causative to racial indifferences in criminal justice. Federal laws against cocaine are a basic example of institutional discrimination. Under the present law, crimes concerning crack cocaine are penalized much more harshly than those concerning powder-cocaine (Goodale, 2005). But the United States is supposed to be different (Neugebauer, 2000). It is a society founded on the idea of equality before the law, where such idealism has always been taken seriously and comprised a central part of its self-image. In a careful explication of Supreme Court judgments and a description of how the criminal justice system actually works, it makes a persuasive case that on the streets or in the nations police stations and courtrooms, constitutional protections so cherished by the majority barely exist for most poor or black Americans. Over the past 40 years, the Supreme Court has grandly defended the principal of a race- and income-neutral system of justice. Every defendant, including the indigent, is entitled to a competent lawyer, the court has said. The exclusion of jurors on racial grounds is forbidden (Cole, 1999). The police cannot use race as a criteria for stopping, investigating or prosecuting someone. Race-based sentencing is, of course, totally unacceptable. But in a series of decisions the court has also made it virtually impossible to prove the existence of such practices on appeal, and so they permeate the criminal justice system. For instance if we look at Ohio traffic incident. After hearing a most recent case, government requests the judge to accept that the Ohio State Highway Patrol intentionally goals African-American drivers for narcotics search. When there is no odd traffic or climate situations, policemen on traffic easily manage but not halt vehicles on interstate main streets for racing when they are only passing at the pace restricted to two miles per hour. (Ratner Jason, 2001) After hearing similar testimonies as above, the Congressional Black Caucus presented a legislation to halt particular races, aiming at of Black and Latino motorists. Already approved by the House, it was waiting for Senate activity at the end of the last conference. The Traffic Stops Statistic Act of 1998 was conceived to assemble the facts and numbers to display that racial aiming at does exist (Nolan, 1997). It needs the United States advocate general to perform a study of such halts and to topic a report to Congress on them. The clues apparently displays that African-Americans are being regularly halted by policeman easily because they are Black. It is precisely this sort of unjust remedy that directs minorities to distrust the lawless individual fairness system (Rubin, 2006) For example, the court has accepted that the death penalty is applied in a racist fashion (blacks who kill whites receive it far more frequently than anyone who kills a black) (Travis, 2000). But it has demanded that racial bias be proven in each individual case, something that is almost always impossible given that judges and juries rarely express such biases overtly. The exclusion of blacks from juries is a recognized practice of prosecutors across the country. And yet the court has steadfastly upheld prosecutors right to reject jurors without giving any reason for doing so, virtually endorsing the practice. The court has set the standard for competent defense attorneys so low that even lawyers who have fallen asleep during death-penalty trials have qualified, and the court has done nothing about the financial strangulation of public-defender programmes, denying most of those accused of a crime a proper legal defense (Goodale, 2005). Police regularly sweep through poor neighborhoods stopping and searching whomever they like. Yet the court has repeatedly refused to require the police to advise people that, according to the Fourth Amendment to the constitution, everyone has a right to refuse a search unless the police have a warrant or have arrested them for a crime. So most poor people, intimidated and wary of the police, believe they have no choice but to submit (Brown, 1998). The court has permitted police so much prudence in deciding as to who will be stopped and searched that most African-Americans are despairingly familiar with the act of being stopped for driving because they are black, a crime of which white Americans are supremely not aware of. Most white people, especially the better-off, are simply not treated this way by the police. If they were, there would be a public outcry (Agamben, 1998). It is impossible to imagine the majority ever tolerating the statistics being reversedthe incarceration rate for whites being seven times that of blacks, for example. It is conceded that it is probably impossible ever to eradicate completely the advantages the economically better-off enjoy before the law. And given the number of blacks in jail, racial profiling can seem like a rational strategy for the police. First, such discrimination is itself pushing many young black men towards crime and has seriously alienated the black community (Cunningham, Herie, Martin, Turner, 1998). After all, the vast majority of black people stopped by the police are innocent of any crime. Second, the better-off majority can only enjoy sweeping constitutional rights because these are denied to the poor and black minority. If everyone had the same level of legal protection against search and seizure, the police would probably find it impossible to do their job. Nevertheless, if the United States is ever to live up to its noble ideals, it must find an answer to both these dilemmas. But first it must recognize the scale of the problem. We love to symbolize our societys commitment to equality with classical icons like Lady Justice, with her blindfold and neatly balanced scales. And we resonate with pride to the words Equal Justice under Law emblazoned over the portico of the Supreme Court. But reality shatters these illusions in the criminal justice system. The commitment to equal criminal justice in America is a mile wide and an inch deep (Cole, 1999). Discrimination on the basis of economic class also pervades the criminal-justice system. In 1964, New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis wrote a powerful book called Gideons Trumpet. Lewis celebrated the courage of Clarence Gideon, who was found guilty of a felony he did not commit, and who pleaded to the Supreme Court in a handwritten petition for an attorney to help him in his appeal (Lewis, 1964). Lewis also celebrated the generosity of Abe Fortas, later to become a justice, who argued Gideons cause before the court without a fee, and persuaded the court that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel must be extended to everyone in jeopardy of losing their liberty through a felony conviction. Lewis could not write such a book today (Lewis, 1964). What are the costs of inequality in our criminal-justice system? It is argued persuasively that people obey the law primarily because they think it is the right thing to do, not because they fear punishment. Where a community accepts the social rules as legitimate, the rules will be largely self-enforcing. Citing a 1995 Gallup poll that found that 77 percent of blacks and 45 percent of whites think that the system treats blacks more harshly than whites, it is evident that severe costs flow from this erosion of confidence that the criminal justice system is fundamentally fair (Allen, 1999). Where a community views the law as unjust, enforcement is subverted. Police find it more difficult to get leads, prosecutors find witnesses more reluctant to testify, and jurors may engage in nullification (Agamben, 1998). According to the Bureau of the Census, approximately 30 million African Americans live in the United States, comprising about 13 percent of the countrys population (Neugebauer, 2000). What is more? African-Americans commit a notably large proportion of those crimes that people fear most-heightened stabbing, theft, rape, and assassination. Disproportionate black criminality has consistently been revealed by official statistics of arrest and incarceration rates. And while these reports undoubtedly contain methodological biases that make any evaluation of black crime a precarious undertaking, Kennedy correctly points out that victim surveys (which typically involve ordinary citizens with nothing to gain by lying), as well as careful criminologists of various ideological stripes, corroborate the official statistics. They are the largest racial/ethnic minority. However, blacks, particularly young black men, perpetrate a percentage of street crime that is strikingly disproportionate to their percentage in the population. Kennedy states that in 1992, for example. 44.8 percent of all persons arrested for violent crime were black (Rubin, 2006). Racial differences relate not only to patterns of felonies but at every step of the criminal justice system as well. From incarceration to detention, from judgment to imprisonment, blacks are targeted in great numbers, a proportion incomparable to their entire number in US population. As Cole observes: The country is already at a point where three out of every four black males will be arrested, jailed, and acquire a criminal record by age 35 (Cole, 1999). Looking further, the arrest statistics are even more dismal. Data from 1990, for example, indicate that 28.9 percent of all arrests in the U.S. involved African-Americans. In 1992, there were over 14 million arrests nationally; five million of them were black males (Miller, 1996). Turning his attention to delinquency, Miller cites a 1994 study of juvenile detention decisions which indicates that, even after controlling for the influence of offense seriousness and such social factors as single-parent home. African-American youths were more likely than white youths to be detained at each decision point in the criminal justice system (Miller, 1996). In short, black teenagers are more likely to be handled formally, to be waived to adult court, and to be adjudicated delinquent. One important irony that Tony points out is that even as the black proportions of serious violent crimes remained essentially stable since the early 1980s, disproportionate incarceration rates of African-Americans have grown steadily worse, especially since Ronald Reagan became president. Conclusion Racial bias studies never completely take into account all of the legitimate factors that determine how an ease is handled, consequently, these unmeasured factors might explain a racial disparity if the factors are ones on which the races differ. Given the small disparity in the first place, such unmeasured factors become potentially important. Another questionone that frequently arises in racial bias studies that combine or aggregate samples from different states and different countiesis whether black defendants were more heavily represented in jurisdictions where sentences were possibly tougher, not just for blacks, but for whites as well. If so, combining the jurisdictions would create the appearance of a sentencing disparity even when no disparity actually exists. Because Americas races are scattered differently across jurisdictions, and jurisdictions sentence differently from one another, aggregating has an effect that is easily mistaken for racially disparate sentencing.

Comanche Indians Essay -- essays research papers

COMANCHE INDIANS The Comanches, exceptional horsemen who dominated the Southern Plains, played a prominent role in Texas frontier history throughout much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Anthropological evidence indicates that they were originally a mountain tribe, a branch of the Northern Shoshones, who roamed the Great Basin region of the western United States as crudely equipped hunters and gatherers. Both cultural and linguistic similarities confirm the Comanches' Shoshone origins. The Comanche language is derived from the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family and is virtually identical to the language of the Northern Shoshones. Sometime during the late seventeenth century, the Comanches acquired horses, and that acquisition drastically altered their culture. The life of the pedestrian tribe was revolutionized as they rapidly evolved into a mounted, well-equipped, and powerful people. Their new mobility allowed them to leave their mountain home and their Shoshone neighbors and move onto the pl ains of eastern Colorado and western Kansas, where game was plentiful. After their arrival on the Great Plains, the Comanches began a southern migration that was encouraged by a combination of factors. By moving south, they had greater access to the mustangs of the Southwest. The warm climate and abundant buffalo were additional incentives for the southern migration. The move also facilitated the acquisition of French trade goods, including firearms, through barter with the Wichita Indians on the Red River. Pressure from more powerful and better-armed tribes to their north and east, principally the Blackfoot and Crow Indians, also encouraged their migration. A vast area of the South Plains, including much of North, Central, and West Texas, soon became Comanche country, or Comancheria. Only after their arrival on the Southern Plains did the tribe come to be known as Comanches, a name derived from the Ute word Komdnteia, meaning "enemy," or, literally, "anyone who wants to fight me all the time." The Spaniards in New Meadco, who encountered the Comanches in the early eighteenth century, gave the tribe the name by which they were later known to Spaniards and Americans able. Although the tribe came to be known historically as Comanches, they called themselves Nermernuh, or "the People." The Comanches did not arrive on the South Plain... ...orld War ll. accelerated the breakup of Comanche society as members of the tribe left to find jobs in the defense industry or join the military service. In the postwar years, the Comanche population continued to disperse in search of economic opportunity. In the 1960s the Comanches, encouraged by a resurgence of Indian nationalism, began to work together to rebuild their society. They underwent important political changes because of that initiative. They seceded from the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Intertribal Business Committee, which had served as their government since passage of the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936. Although they maintained ties with the Kiowas and Apaches, the Comanches established their own tribal government, which operates in a bustling complex near Lawton, Oklahoma. In 1995, the Comanches had an enrolled tribal population of 9,722 scattered across the United States. For them the pow-wow, or dance gathering, had become an important method of maintaining Comanche kinship. The People are also united by pride in their rich Comanche heritage, an element that has remained constant through years of tumultuous change. Comanche Indians Essay -- essays research papers COMANCHE INDIANS The Comanches, exceptional horsemen who dominated the Southern Plains, played a prominent role in Texas frontier history throughout much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Anthropological evidence indicates that they were originally a mountain tribe, a branch of the Northern Shoshones, who roamed the Great Basin region of the western United States as crudely equipped hunters and gatherers. Both cultural and linguistic similarities confirm the Comanches' Shoshone origins. The Comanche language is derived from the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family and is virtually identical to the language of the Northern Shoshones. Sometime during the late seventeenth century, the Comanches acquired horses, and that acquisition drastically altered their culture. The life of the pedestrian tribe was revolutionized as they rapidly evolved into a mounted, well-equipped, and powerful people. Their new mobility allowed them to leave their mountain home and their Shoshone neighbors and move onto the pl ains of eastern Colorado and western Kansas, where game was plentiful. After their arrival on the Great Plains, the Comanches began a southern migration that was encouraged by a combination of factors. By moving south, they had greater access to the mustangs of the Southwest. The warm climate and abundant buffalo were additional incentives for the southern migration. The move also facilitated the acquisition of French trade goods, including firearms, through barter with the Wichita Indians on the Red River. Pressure from more powerful and better-armed tribes to their north and east, principally the Blackfoot and Crow Indians, also encouraged their migration. A vast area of the South Plains, including much of North, Central, and West Texas, soon became Comanche country, or Comancheria. Only after their arrival on the Southern Plains did the tribe come to be known as Comanches, a name derived from the Ute word Komdnteia, meaning "enemy," or, literally, "anyone who wants to fight me all the time." The Spaniards in New Meadco, who encountered the Comanches in the early eighteenth century, gave the tribe the name by which they were later known to Spaniards and Americans able. Although the tribe came to be known historically as Comanches, they called themselves Nermernuh, or "the People." The Comanches did not arrive on the South Plain... ...orld War ll. accelerated the breakup of Comanche society as members of the tribe left to find jobs in the defense industry or join the military service. In the postwar years, the Comanche population continued to disperse in search of economic opportunity. In the 1960s the Comanches, encouraged by a resurgence of Indian nationalism, began to work together to rebuild their society. They underwent important political changes because of that initiative. They seceded from the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Intertribal Business Committee, which had served as their government since passage of the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936. Although they maintained ties with the Kiowas and Apaches, the Comanches established their own tribal government, which operates in a bustling complex near Lawton, Oklahoma. In 1995, the Comanches had an enrolled tribal population of 9,722 scattered across the United States. For them the pow-wow, or dance gathering, had become an important method of maintaining Comanche kinship. The People are also united by pride in their rich Comanche heritage, an element that has remained constant through years of tumultuous change.

What Disciplinary Sanctions Should Teachers Be Allowed to Use?

In earlier centuries, physical punishment was a common thing. Teachers would use a cane to hurt their students when they misbehaved, even more extremely teachers would have their children kneel on the ground with their hands in the air for an hour to cause them considerable pain in places such as Africa. However, now these types of punishments are seen as immoral and unthinkable by parents and teachers. Students are now punished with detentions and notes to their parents which although less severe is arguably a better and more popular policy for schools.Firstly, hitting as a disciplinary sanction should not be allowed by teachers because it does not teach children anything. School is designed to teach children the skills they will need as a grown up which includes knowing right from wrong. Hitting as a punishment does not teach this lesson because the child will only fear pain the next time, instead of understanding that what they did was unacceptable, and this means that they can no t advance intellectually. Furthermore, hitting is wrong because it is hurting children. A lot of the time, naughty behaviour stems from problems at home which children usually cannot prevent from happening.So hitting leave children feeling more despondent and confused when they should be getting help from their school. Teachers can also so easily go to far when they are hitting children, and even if guidelines are put for how long or for what reason a child should be hit, there is no way we can monitor the teachers. Therefore hitting can not be a long term or safe way to bring up school children well. However, some argue that hitting as a disciplinary action should be brought back because detentions and other types of modern day punishments are just not good enough.Surely making them feel fear before doing a naughty thing, will eventually condition them to realise that doing certain things are bad because you will be severely punished? Moreover there are some students who are too na ughty for other less severe punishments and therefore hitting is the only way to get them to behave. The more modern disciplinary sanction of detentions are an arguably much better form of punishment for all students because it forces them to stay in school one hour longer than usual. Most children can not wait to get out of school so that they can go out with their friends.Therefore staying behind at school makes children feel left out and this will arguably stop them from doing a naughty thing because they would not want to stay in school when they could be with having fun with their friends. Furthermore, other methods such as being hit by your teacher can not be made aware to the parents as easily as getting detention after school can. In most cases a letter is sent home, but even if one isn’t, the parents would notice the lateness of the student and would eventually find out.Students would have to deal with their parent’s punishment for getting a detention coupled with the school punishment and this all means that a repeat offence should be much less likely. However this is not practically the case because detentions simply are not severe enough to stop exceptionally naught children from misbehaving. Children are easily able to fabricate lies for their parents and never have them no about the hour they had to spend at school doing homework or even being with their friends who got detention as well.Detention, nowadays, is more of an annoying chore than anything to really avoid by students. Recently there have been studies showing a huge increase in the amount of swearing and abusive behaviour in classrooms in poorer areas of Greater London. It is imperative that we have proper sanctions for these students because without it a naughty student will continue his or her bad behaviour onto the street and this could result in terrible consequences.So, arguably the method of detention is a weak way of punishment because it is not harsh enough to stop children being naughty but at the moment there seems to be no other relatively effective way to punish children. In conclusion, hitting is seen mainly by all as inhumane and unnecessary for the development of children and simply too severe. Detention similarly is seen as a waste of time, ineffective and just not severe enough. Therefore, it is crucial that schools come up with a new modern disciplinary sanction that has the right amount of severity to be able to combat the raising number of naughty children in certain schools.

Legalizacion del aborto

Legalizacion del aborto Esquema argumentativo:LegalizaciÂÆ'Â ³n del abortoPregunta‚Â ¿Se debe legalizar una ley del aborto en casos de violaciÂÆ'Â ³n en nuestro paÂÆ'Â ­s?Posturas ante la polÂÆ'Â ©micaSi se debe legalizar la ley del abortoA1.- Evitar embarazos no deseados por violaciÂÆ'Â ³n: A nivel mundial, la primera experiencia sexual de las niÂÆ'Â ±as de las calles entre 10 y 14 aÂÆ'Â ±os es por violaciÂÆ'Â ³n. En Ecuador, el 69% de niÂÆ'Â ±as entre 10 y 15 aÂÆ'Â ±os han sufrido algÂÆ'Â ºn tipo de violencia de gÂÆ'Â ©nero, especialmente violencia sexual. Significa que las niÂÆ'Â ±as son violentadas en la casa, la escuela o en sus propias comunidades". "Sobre el embarazo adolescente, en los ÂÆ'Â ºltimos 20 aÂÆ'Â ±os los partos existentes en adolescentes han crecido en un 80% (Datos_del_Ministerio_de_Cordinacion_de_desarrollo, 2013)A2.- Evitar muertes a causa de abortos clandestinos: Se estima que en el paÂÆ'Â ­s se realizan 95.000 abortos al aÂÆ'Â ±o, de los cuales solo 200 son legales. Cada dÂÆ'Â ­a 260 mujeres deciden abortar y el hecho de no poder acceder a abortos seguros y legales las pone en situaciones de vulnerabilidad, riesgo y en muchos casos las expone a la muerte. (Ministerio_de_Salud_PÂÆ'Â ºblica_del_Ecuador)En Ecuador el aborto es un problema de salud pÂÆ'Â ºblica, pues el 18% de muertes son causadas por abortos clandestinos, constituyÂÆ'Â ©ndose en la segunda causa de mortalidad materna en el paÂÆ'Â ­s. (Fundacion_EducaciÂÆ'Â ³n_para_la_salud_reproductiva_(E.S.A.R.),Ben in Ecuador2012)A3.- La ley debe contener un amplio marco legal como ha sido establecido en 55 paÂÆ'Â ­ses donde se permite el aborto a base de fundamentos legales amplios, la ley usualmente estipula algunas condiciones como, por ejemplo, lÂÆ'Â ­mites de gestaciÂÆ'Â ³n, indicaciÂÆ'Â ³n, perÂÆ'Â ­odos de espera, requisitos de consentimiento, y restricciones. (Redaccion_Abortos, 2009)No se debe legalizar el abortoA1.- Se teme que el aborto caus e daÂÆ'Â ±os fÂÆ'Â ­sicos y emocionales a la mujer: Son innumerables las dificultades que se tienen para valorar adecuadamente los efectos psicopatolÂÆ'Â ³gicos...