Analysis of The American People by Nash, Gary B Article

Analysis of The American People by Nash, Gary B - Article Example Though the natives often outnumbered them, they had superior weaponry and tactics and overtook the empires in search of precious metals. Anne Hutchinson was a female who confronted the Puritan leadership in the 1630s on issues that were theologically based. Her presence polarized the population and she was banished and excommunicated in 1637 by the male Puritan leaders (92). She settled in Rhode Island where her followers continued the split in the church that she had started. The Puritans were a religious group that believed the Church of England was tainted by the Roman church and wished to 'purify' it by ridding it of all traces of Catholicism. In addition to being religious reformers, they also rejected the social changes that were sweeping over England at the time and found religion to be a way to confront them (89). During the 1630s, the Puritans believed that they had the destiny to be the rulers of the New World and should conquer and civilize the native savages. They were spurred on by epidemics of smallpox that they interpreted as God's will. Pressured for more land, they sought to rule over the natives leading to the Piquet War of 1637 against the Piquet Indians. This victory gave the Puritans a solid foothold and assured the future of British domination (94). The immigrants to the Chesapeake Bay faced a difficult time upon their arrival.

Extremely Fat and Barely Digesting Junk Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Extremely Fat and Barely Digesting Junk - Essay Example   Healthy food is cheaper for consumers, therefore more money remains in savings, living standard increases, healthy way of life can be (and should be) example for the further generation, it means much healthier and tough people. All people know that with a bad fuel car will drive for two or three meters then it will be broken. So the people are, people’s fuel is food and bad food can cause problems with proper digesting since the organism is the system of systems, malfunction of one will ruin others. Proved fact that abusive eating of fast food results in problems with health decreases savings, cultivates the improper way of life and disregards of healthy food. Failure of digesting system (diabetes or obesity) results in the problems with locomotor and endocrine systems and it can lead to fatal outcome. Healthy food provides enough energy for the proper functioning of the organism and human body remains healthy. Spreading of fast food concept can critically affect the society. Increasing of fast food institution taxation will not have the result, such institution will raise costs for favorite American food and they buy it even for enormous prices, it will make people from the low-income class feel the last hold slipping away. One should use other methods of impact; however, such methods will not be discussed in the present paper. The rate of people suffering from obesity and diabetes is constantly sky-rocketing. Understanding of what is healthy, and what is not will help people to fight killing diseases. It needs fundamental changes, and not only in the government, more importantly, to change the mentality. Society should eradicate the concept of eating-on-the-run. The most precious thing in human’s life is health; nothing in the world will help to return health. And junk food is strong means to deprive the health.  

Biological Positivism and Crime | Dissertation Proposal

Biological Positivism and Crime | Dissertation Proposal Introduction â€Å"Our society has decided that man is a creature born of free will. At the same time, our system recognises that attitudes may be influenced by environmental factors.† (Taylor, 1984: 9) Adults who engage in criminal conduct are seen as having values which are distorted by adverse environmental conditions. â€Å"Guilt then is premised upon the concept that everyone who commits an act does so out of an exercise of free will. A person is fully capable of not committing the act, should he or she so desire.† (Taylor, 1984: 10) This approach is referred to as the ‘classicist approach’. Classicists have achieved near-total victory in the recent years resulting in our criminal justice system being founded upon the concept that criminal behaviour is the complete result of environmental influences, that it is nurture that shapes conduct. This has caused our social institutions to attempt to correct deviant behaviour through modification to environmental influences through prison and rehabilitation programmes. The number of offences recorded by the police in the UK between June 2012 and June 2013 is 3.7 million (Office for National Statistics, 2013). It needs to be questioned whether this crime level is the result of a troubled society or the result of a breakdown in the criminal justice system? Recidivism is still occurring with more than one in four criminals reoffending within a year of release (Ministry of Justice, 2013). A possible reason for this could be that the whole premise on which we base our criminal justice is defective. If this classicist premise is wrong then it is no wonder that recidivism is continuing to happen and that as a society we are failing to eradicate crime. If the actual cause of crime is identified then there is the potential of eliminating crime, easing pain, and instilling common trust and security. Stephen Mobley had all the attributes of a natural born killer. At the age of 25, he walked into a pizza store and shot the manager in the neck after robbing the till. Nobody could blame his upbringing – he came from a white, middle-class American family and had not been abused as a child. In 1995 he was waiting on death row in Georgia to hear whether his appointment with the electric chair was confirmed. His lawyer tried to plea that his murder was not the evil result of free will but the tragic consequence of a genetic predisposition. His aunt, a witness for the defence, testified that various members of their family over the past four generations have been very violent, aggressive and criminal. She told the court how the Mobley family had had murder, rape, robbery, and suicide. His lawyer therefore argued that there is no legal defence to Mobley’s crime. Mobley’s family history is an obvious mitigating factor and his actions may not have been a product totally of free will (Connor, 1995). To date, there has been little agreement that a person’s biology has an influence on crime. Early biological theorists such as Lombroso have been widely discredited mainly on the basis of a flawed methodology however the recent and more contemporary biological explanations of crime have been shown to more credible. This dissertation will explore contemporary biological ideas on crime – the role of genetics. What if there are people that are genetically predisposed to commit crimes? Should they be held to account for their actions that may have been completely beyond their control? In light of the apparent failures of our current criminal justice system, it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the real causes of crime. Can we afford to ignore the possibility that criminal behaviour could be due to genetics? There is also the issue of how society should deal with the offender whose crime was genetically influenced? Society has decided that no individual should be held accountable for acts performed when he or she is mentally incapacitated. We have the defence of insanity when people who have a ‘disease of the mind’ commit crimes. It needs to be considered whether genetic aberration should be considered in mitigation of, or as a defence to, a criminal charge. Some would say that to accept the notion that criminals are born rather than made would be opening a gateway to a moral minefield causing other factors including society, unemployment, and upbringing to be ignored (Connor, 1995). General Research Aim It is the purpose of this dissertation to assess the relevance of biological positivism in the modern society through way of literature analysis. I will briefly explore early biological theories such as those of Lombroso and his idea of a ‘criminal man’, moving on to discuss contemporary biological ideas the influence of a person’s genetics on criminal behaviour. The research will explore the effectiveness of punishment and how biological ideas may have influenced punishment by placing emphasis on the treatment of offenders. Finally, the ethical implications surrounding the treatment model will be considered. Aims and Objectives In order to successfully answer my research aim, a number of sub-questions must be considered: How does society view crime? This dissertation begins by explaining why further research into the topic is essential. The main body of this dissertation will be introduced with a discussion of how our society currently views crime – is it a product of a person’s biological influences, environmental influences, or a combination of the two? What is biological positivism? In order to assess the relevance of biological positivism in the modern society, I must first clarify what biological positivism actually is. I will explore early biological theories leading on to a discussion of contemporary biological ideas. Relevant case studies will be looked at to inspect the usefulness of these present day theories in explaining crime and criminal behaviour. How has biological positivism affected punishment? The dissertation will then move on to assess how these theories, previously discussed, have affected punishment. In order to do this I will first look to why we punish and what forms of punishment are currently used in the UK. Using reoffending statistics I will critically analyse the effectiveness of these current forms of punishment, leading on to a discussion about an alternative to punishment suggested by biological positivists: The role of treatment. Is the treatment model effective? The effectiveness of the treatment model will then be evaluated. Consequently, emphasis on treatment over punishment carries huge ethical implications. These ethical implications will be discussed with an in depth exploration on the incorporation of the European Convention of Human Rights into domestic law through the Human Rights Act 1998. Are there any proposals for change to the current criminal justice system which suggests a move towards the treatment of offenders? Finally, any proposals for change in the criminal justice system put forward by the Government will be discussed if they are of relevance to key points highlighted in this dissertation. Suggestions for future changes in the criminal justice system made by biological theorists will also be argued. Conclusion Despite the in-depth research there is still much debate on the true causes of crime. The central importance of identifying the causes of crime has been discussed through this dissertation. With both crime rates, and reoffending rates, being considerably high (Office for National Statistics, 2013 ; Ministry of Justice, 2013) it is vital that the causes of crime are identified, and individuals are therefore dealt with accordingly, in order for these figures to decrease. After researching into biological positivism, the use of biological theories in the current criminal justice system are identifiably lacking with more emphasis on environmental factors being seen as the causes of crime. A biosocial, multi-factor, approach has been formed over the recent years incorporating environmental, social, and biological factors (Hopkins Burke, 2009) nevertheless there seems to be an ignorance of biological factors. The aim of this dissertation was to identify the relevance of biological positivism in the modern society through an analysis of existing literature. The main focus of the research was to identify contemporary biological ideas, and then examine how they influenced punishment in the criminal justice system in England and Wales. Theses influences were then analysed in terms of effectiveness, with ethical issues later being questioned. Biological positivism is relevant in today’s society. The research does not suggest that biological factors are the sole cause of criminal behaviour for every individual offender, but that it can have an influence on an individual’s susceptibility to commit a crime (Hopkins Burke, 2009). Environmental and social factors also later contribute to shape the offender. Early biological theories stemmed from the work of Lombroso. Although his work is largely discredited, he laid the foundation on which much more plausible explanations could be formed. Research into contemporary biological explanations, including twins studies and hormones, has led to the conclusion that criminality in a minority of offenders is solely caused by biological factors (Hopkins Burke, 2009). Although these more contemporary biological ideas have been shown to be credible, this credibility does not seem to be reflected in the current criminal justice system. Biological positivists have favoured treatment over punishment as way of dealing with offenders (Cavadino and Dignan, 2007). This dissertation has recognised that emphasis is currently placed on punishment, and primarily, imprisonment. There have been many attempts over the years to adopt a treatment approach however, due to both financial and time-related restrictions, these attempts have been limited considerably. This limitation implies that sex offences are the only offences seen as a result of a biological defect in the offender. The rationale behind treatment being offered only to sex offenders however, is quite noticeably the result of some other reason: sex offenders are the most despised group of offenders, even among other offenders and therefore there is an increased pressure on the criminal justice system to ensure that these offenders do not re-offend. Specialised treatment techniques such as chemical castration have therefore been developed to deal with them (Miller, 1998). An implication of these findings, that a person’s biology does have an effect on their susceptibility to commit crime, is that biological defects should be taken into account for all offenders and in turn, treatment should be offered to every individual offender despite costs. Although prison is used most commonly to punish offenders, and is arguably cheaper than treatment, long term costs are substantial. This suggests that it is more beneficial for the criminal justice system to invest in something that works to rehabilitate the offender and prevent them from reoffending, than to incarcerate them preventing them from offending only on a short term basis. It is important that the cause of crime in each individual offender is identified and then dealt with accordingly. There have been numerous analyses of the treatment model in terms of ethical issues however authors of these analyses have either concluded that treatment violates all of the offenders fundamental rights, or none of them (Miller, 1998). The analysis of these ethical issues through this dissertation has led to the conclusion that the current forms of treatment, offered on a voluntary basis, are not in breach of offenders’ rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. There is an underlying issue of discrimination however, under article 14 ECHR, as it can be argued that treatment offered only to sex offenders is discriminating it is discriminating for sex offenders, and also discriminating for those offenders that are not offered treatment. By offering treatment to all offenders it will ensure that any biological influences to crime in offenders can be addressed, and then treated. It has been earlier identified that not all offenders have a biological predisposition, but for those offenders that do, it may rehabilitate the individual and prevent reoffending. In response to this, article 14 ECHR and the prohibition of discrimination may not be as much of a concern. To offer treatment to all offenders would be a step towards removing this cause of discrimination. Other ethical issues surrounding treatment, including informed and valid consent, and off-label drugs, have also been addressed in this dissertation, and have been seen to be justified. Recommendations It has been identified that research into twin studies, in particular monozygotic twins, is the most credible in terms of ascertaining the influence of genetics on criminal behaviour. It is therefore recommended that if it were possible to locate a representative sample of monozygotic twins who satisfied experimental conditions, being separated at birth and growing up in different environments, then the true extent of how much influence our genes have on criminal behaviour can be determined. The criminal justice system must recognise that other offences, not only sex offences, can be the result of a genetic defect and consequently treatment should be offered to all offenders. Treatment given should be appropriate for the offender, and offered on a voluntary basis in order to avoid potential ethical issues. To ensure consent is free, informed and valid, offenders should be assessed to ensure they have the mental capacity to give consent, and to ensure they are aware of all risks involved. Although long term effects are unknown, as long as the offender is aware of the uncertainty then informed consent is not an issue. Drugs should also be licensed for the purpose of treating offenders. More rigorous testing is needed using double-blind randomised trials along with full medical tests prior to, during and after treatment (Harrison, 2008). Genetic aberrations should be considered as a mitigating factor with consideration given to biological influences on the offender when sentencing.

Beowulf: Fierce and Compassionate Warrior :: Epic of Beowulf Essays

The epic Beowulf is one of the oldest poems written in English. According to the Norton Anthology, "the poem was composed more the twelve hundred years ago, in the first half of the eight century. Its author may have been a native of what was Mercia, the Midlands of England today, although the late tenth-century manuscript , which alone preserves the poem, originated in the south in the kingdom of the West Saxons" (Norton 21). Although the poem is of English origin, it speaks of tribes (the Danes and the Geats) that are from the "Danish island of Zealand and southern Sweden respectively" (Norton 22). The main character, Beowulf, demonstrates that he is a warrior who places heroism and bravery over his own well-being and life. Beowulf is a hero and an example of a great warrior. His actions give us a good example of the pagan warrior mentality. The pagan society is a warrior society, in which courage and bravery are extremely prevalent. Beowulf fights against monsters and dragons, and he would rather die in battle, then anywhere else. Beowulf is called upon to help defeat Grendel, who is a monster that has taken over the hall of Heorot. He is greeted with great hospitality. Hrothgar, the King of Denmark, is relived to see Beowulf. There is some skepticism by Unferth, who recalls a fight in which Beowulf lost in Battle. Unferth is wrong, and Beowulf says this great line: "fate often saves an undoomed man when his courage is good." Beowulf defeats Grendel with great ease and the people of the hall are gracious to Beowulf. With all his great achievements, he becomes king of his homeland (Geatland). Even in his old age, he still has an obligation to fight against the evils of nature. Beowulf hears about a dragon who has become extremely upset because a thief stole a cup from a treasure which he had been guarding for several years. When Beowulf asks for volunteers to fight against the dragon, all but one of Beowulf's followers run into the forest in fear. The one who stays with Beowulf, is a young warrior named Wiglaf.

International Trade, Comparative Advantage and Protectionism

Group D INTERNATIONAL TRADE, COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE AND PROTECTIONISM 1. According to the table above determine which country has the absolute advantage in corn and which in soybeans. In addition, determine which country has the comparative advantage in corn and which in soybeans. Make sure to support your answer by deriving the opportunity costs of each. Ans. A producer with absolute advantage over the other in the production of a good or service is if it can produce that product using fewer resources. Therefore; Canada has absolute advantage in Corn and Mexico in Soybean.Comparative advantage is the producer with the lowest opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is the  cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action or the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action. For example, the opportunity cost of going to college is the money you would have earned if you worked instead. On the one hand, you lose four years of salary while ge tting your degree; on the other hand, you hope to earn more during your career, thanks to your education,  to offset the lost wages. Canada O/C for corn 8/2 = 4 soybeansCanada O/C for Soybean8/2 = 0. 25 Corns Mexico O/C for corn2/10 = 0. 2 Soybeans Mexico O/C for Soybean10/2 = 5 Corns Canada has comparative advantage in soybean and Mexico has comparative advantage in corn. 2. According to the table above, would there be trade flows in both directions if the exchange rate were $1 = 1 peso? Ans. The USA would gain by exporting  plastic and importing pesos from Mexico. At an exchange rate of 1:1, it now only has to give up $1 worth of plastic to obtain 1 pesos, whereas before trade it had to give up $4 for 8 pesos.On the other hand the USA would not benefit from trade on paper because at the inception USA was getting a good rate on paper at $1 to 3 pesos. 3. If a lower exchange rate spurs exports then why wouldn’t it be a good idea of policymakers to intervene to push the ex change rate as low as they can? Ans. It is not a good idea for policy makers to intervene to push the exchange rate as low as they can because importers sometimes would not benefit or get value for their money. The exchange rate would also affect the quantity of goods received. . What is protection as it refers to international trade? Ans. Protectionism is restraining trade between countries through methods such as tariffs through imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow fair competition between imports and goods and services produced domestically. 5. Explain the law of comparative advantage and why it is important in international trade? Ans. The concept of comparative advantage is an integral part in achieving increased gains in international trade.The concept, first introduced by David Ricardo in 1817 states comparative advantage exist when a country has a â€Å"margin of superiority† in the production of a good or service, where the marginal cost of production is lower. He explained how trade can benefit all parties such as individuals, companies, and countries involved, as long as goods are produced with different relative costs. The net benefits from such activity are called gains from trade. This is one of the most important concepts in international trade.According to the principles, benefits of trade are dependent on the opportunity cost of production. Opportunity cost is measured in terms of what you give up of another other. A country with no absolute advantage in any product, i. e. the country is not the most competent producer for any goods, can still be benefited from focusing on export of goods for which it has the least opportunity cost of production. When countries specialize and trade based on comparative advantage consumers pay less and consume more and resources are used more efficiently.Countries which are open to trade grow faster over the long run that those that remain cl osed. Increased trade benefits consumers and producers, through lower prices and access to a wider variety of goods. This is due to specialization which lowers cost and competition. Trade helps countries in allocating resources as efficiently as possible; it also allows countries to accumulate resources more quickly. 6. Distinguish between a tariff and quota? Explain the effect of tariff/quota on domestic consumption, prices and output. Ans. Tariffs and quotas are tools implemented to protect domestic industries.To distinguish between both we need to explain what a tariff and a quota is. A tariff is a tax or duty placed on imported goods by a domestic government and does not apply to sales of domestically produced goods and a quota is a limit on the quantity of imported products. Base on the explanations above we can note that tariff is imposed to make goods imported from foreign countries more expensive as it raises the price of an imported good, making it more expensive than simil ar domestic goods which protects domestic producers from dumping by foreign countries.As outlines on businessdictionary. com ‘dumping is exporting goods at prices lower than the home market prices’. The rational is to increase demand for domestic products while reducing the quantity of imports. Tariffs are a benefit to domestic producers who faces reduced competition in their home market. The reduced competition causes prices to rise. Sales of domestic producers should also rise, all else being equal. With the increase in production and prices this will cause increase employment and a rise in consumer spending.The tariffs also increase government revenues that can be used to the benefit of the economy. Once the price of the good with the tariff has increased; the consumer is forced to either buy less or of some other good. The price increase will cause a reduction in consumer income. A quota sets a limit on the quantity of goods that can be imported during a particular period. Quotas are employed to protect new industries and keep market entry costs low for domestic producers. They also protect domestic jobs by ensuring that foreign products are not imported in sufficient numbers to meet current demand.This will ensures a percentage of the existing market share is retained by domestic companies. Once there is an increase in imports quotas are more protective than tariffs. Quotas benefit the government by protecting domestic corporations to keep people employed. 7. â€Å"Economists have demonstrated that imports benefits consumers while causing losses to producers and exports benefit producers while causing losses to consumers. In the balance then international trade neither benefits nor hurts a nations as a whole. † Evaluate this statement. Ans.International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders territories. The international trade accounts for a good part of a country’s gross domestic pro duct. It is also one of important sources of revenue for a developing country. The trade which exists between countries consists of buying goods that are produced at a lower cost elsewhere. Individual and countries have different abilities in producing their goods; taking the advantage of these differences in order to have efficiency will enable each to experience gains from trade. . If the Bank of Jamaica suddenly switches to a more expansionary policy, explain the effects it will have on the exchange rate and balance of payments of Jamaica. According to investopedia (2012),an expansionary policy is a macroeconomic policy that seeks to expand the money supply to encourage economic growth or combat inflation (price increases). One form of expansionary policy is fiscal policy, which comes in the form of tax cuts, rebates and increased government spending.Expansionary policies can also come from central banks, which focus on increasing the money supply in the economy. The bank of Jama ica cab increase money supply in two ways. These are; * By reducing the policy interest rate * Open Market Operations due to the purchase of certificate of deposits Reducing the policy interest rate and Impact A reduction in the interest rates will result in Commercial banks and other Deposit taking institution extending more funds to individuals and businesses.In other words the increased ability to borrow funds due to a reduction in policy interest rates will cause more Jamaica dollars to be in circulation. The excess supply of money will result in pressure on the Jamaican dollar resulting in a depreciation of the Jamaican dollar. The pressure that is exerted on the Jamaica dollar due to an expansionary policy will cause a widening of the balance of payment deficit. The Jamaica economy is heavily dependent on imports and therefore it would cost more to import product and services ******

Impacts of Globalization on an Economy Essay

Globalization is a phenomenon, which demonstrates a significant growth in the overall international trade of goods, services and other financial assets as observed in an economy. Globalization also commonly refers to a situation where in one country highly interacts with other countries or economies via trade, competition or investments. In such situations any change taking place in one economy and lead to significant impacts and changes in the economies and financial situations of other economies and countries. Globalization is also a situation where in the performances and economies of multiple countries across the globe become interrelated to each another and the impact of changes in any one economy can cause significant changes in other economies. There are different ways by which globalization can have some impact on an economy. The first and the most crucial way is through the changes taking place in the policy. Different countries adopt different policies but in the case of globalization, it is often observed that the policies of one economy are adjusted slightly in order to make them align to the policies of other economies. Thus, the use of policy is one major aspect that leads to the impact of globalization on an economy. One of the very common example of how globalization affects economic policies is that the central banks of any country do not have the privilege of lowering their inflation targets because under globalization purview, inflation cannot be used as a tool in order to manage or change the demand or supply functions in a country. Globalization also significantly affects the trade taking place from one country. A country is usually involved into some form of exports, as well as imports and the prices and the exchange rates for such trade and export and import are shown to be highly dependent on the globalization. Thus, the economies change significantly because of the globalization and the global exports and imports taking place from a country. Innovation and growth are two important pillars of an economy and both of these factors are highly affected by globalization. Globalization is shown to lead to innovation, which in turn affects the overall development of an economy. The productivity and the prices of any goods being exported or imported from a country are highly affected by globalization, thus affecting the entire economy. Thus, we see that there is a strong connection between globalization and the development or non-development of an economy. In a situation where the economies of different countries are highly correlated to each other, it is important for the countries to work according to the international scenario. Globalization can act in the favor or not in the favor of an economy depending on the situation but definitely has an impact on all economies. Reference: http://classof1.com/homework-help/international-economics-homework-help/