Structural Theories and Street Gangs free essay sample

For example, Lil’Z knows that he does not have the ability to live a life as the people outside the slum are living; he is aware that he does not have the ability to achieve, principally, the monetary success and standard of society maybe because of his lack of education and the violent environment in which he lives in. Thus, he decides to accompany the Tender Trio and rub the motel with them in order to achieve the monetary success he wants, and eventually commit many crimes in order to get money. In City of Gangs, it is explained that one of the problem in Regina is that aboriginal could have a job if they wanted, but many of these people don’t have the ability to achieve this goal since they don’t have a resume or they don’t know how to fill an application form (City of Gangs, 2009). We will write a custom essay sample on Structural Theories and Street Gangs or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Thus, the young people on reserves are experiencing this inability to achieve norms and standards of the dominant society, and are joining gangs in order to achieve their goal, through illegitimate ways such as selling drugs or stealing. Differential Association theory is a theory that looks at the acts of the criminal as learned behaviors through social interaction (Adler, Mueller,Laufer amp; Grekul, 2009, p. 132). Gang members are setting criminal norms and values to its members, thus members are learning a criminal behavior, such as stealing, carrying a gun or using drugs. The members of street gangs are learning more definitions of actions favorable to violation of the law and this learning is passed down from generation to generation (Adler, Mueller,Laufer amp; Grekul, 2009, p. 32). The documentary City of Gangs clearly shows that the learning pattern of gangsters comes from learned behaviors through social interaction, and that is transmitted from the older to the younger since what they learned are the criminal attitudes and values of the gang. Sutherland’s theory of differential association is explained through nine propositions. The third proposition, which explains that the principal part of the lear ning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups. , is clearly discussed in the documentary City of Gangs (Adler, Mueller,Laufer amp; Grekul, 2009, p. 132). In fact, as mentioned in the clip, every day more kids are getting in gang since they are hanging out with gang families made out of drug dealers, pimps and fogs (City of Gangs, 2009). The fifth proposition is also shown in the movie. If a young is surrounded by people viewing breaking certain laws as acceptable or normal behavior, then he might be more likely to break those laws. As mentioned, there is a gang problem in Regina; the police reported many as 600 gangs in cities, constituted in majority of aboriginal people (City of Gangs, 2009). The problem is that there is a gang mentality that is embedded in the hearts and minds of aboriginal people (City of Gangs, 2009). The solution is to change that mentality to really educate their young people at young age (City of Gangs, 2009). The young aboriginal people are surrounded by people who are breaking certain laws, thus for them it becomes a normal behavior. One last proposition that is clearly demonstrated in the clip is the eighth one. In fact, violence is common in this part of town and it is a dangerous place to walk at night (City of Gangs, 2009). These kids and young people are dealing with these criminal situations every day, thus they are learning out of it, like learning anything else. All of the various processes by which humans learn can potentially be relevant. Economic and Community Structure We can use the social disorganization theory to address the idea that crime and criminal networks thrive in social disorganized neighborhoods. This theory explain that an area in which there is a disintegration of conventional values caused by urbanization, rapid industrialization and an increase in immigration may causes the development of high crime (Adler, Mueller,Laufer amp; Grekul, 2009, p. 160). Cultural deviance theory also combines certain parts of this theory since it explains how the different set of values of disadvantaged or disorganized neighborhoods contributes to criminal behavior (Adler, Mueller,Laufer amp; Grekul, 2009, p. 130). These theories can be explained with the movie City of God, since it addresses the idea of the context in which crime and criminal networks flourish. City of God is a slum in Rio de Janeiro, a lower class area, marked by poverty with low income group. It is evident that there is a weak community institution in the slum, which is lacking of agents of social control such as the police or even strong familial or friends relationships. It is mainly the people who live in the City of God that maintain order. Community Action Program There are many program aimed at curbing early involvement in criminal activity. The community, not individuals, needs treatment. Helping the community, then, should lower its crime rate (Adler, Mueller,Laufer amp; Grekul, 2009, p. 164). Sun Youth is an organization providing community support in the area of Montreal. They established a crime prevention program aimed at educating public and establishing a better cooperation among citizens. Among their programs, there is the Intervention Agents in School Environments, targeting mainly young students. Sun Youth agents are working full time in certain schools in order to prevent bullying and taxing and to resolve conflicts between students, which is related to Coordination and Community Cohesion, a major components of another prevention program in Vancouver Downtown (Adler, Mueller,Laufer amp; Grekul, 2009, p. 165). They are preventing such problems through group workshops on leadership, peer meditation, conflict resolution, socialization, or notions of racism, friendship, etc. through individual interventions, as well as by promoting the team work through recreational activities in group (Sun Youth, 2011). Being Critical of the Structural Theories of Deviance Previous studies exploring why a person joins a gang mainly focused on the theory of anomie, the social disorganization and strain theory as well as the criminal subculture (Sanchez-Jankowski, 1991, p. 295). However, Martin Sanchez-Jankowski (1991) is basing his ideas on the fact that many youth see joining a gang as a ration al decision to maximize self-interest. He argues that gangs provide individuals with a source of money, protection, entertainment, protective group identity, personal protection, and because some individuals see participation as a form of commitment to their community and as a way to resist living lives like their parents. He also explains and that becoming a gang member depends not only on the individual, but also on the gang, who decide who will join the gang or not. He explains that there are three types of recruitment. The first one is the fraternity type, in which members try to ‘sell’ their gangs by mentioning the advantages it has such as the parties it gives, the women who are available and the type of drugs they have. The second type is the obligation type, in which members are contacting people and persuading them that it is their duty to join the gang. Finally, the last type of recruitment is the coercive type, which occurs when the gang feels they need to expand their membership quickly.

Killing Us Softly a film review essays

Killing Us Softly a film review essays One of the films that struck me the most was Killing Us Softly, the documentary on how advertising and the whole media in general can basically run this entire world. Sounds a bit drastic, but I really believe that this statement is true because of the many horrible incidents that happen throughout the world today. The documentary effectively demonstrated how easy it is for advertising to send across many different hidden meanings that can cause tremendous effects like bulimia, rapes, murders, disrespect towards women and vise versa, and several other things like making a weak minded person go crazy. For example, if for decades all the media has been showing is women who barely weigh 110 lbs, dont you think every girl who weighs over 130 lbs is going to try to do the impossible to try to fit into what society thinks is the norm only because the media has planted it into our subconscious minds without us even noticing it. Another example that is extremely disturbing to even hear about is the J B Ramsey case. Obviously the person who committed this crime was a Bergen Pines basket case, but I think that if the media wasnt so big on showing 6 yr olds as beautiful models dressed up to look provocative, these pedophiles wouldnt get much of a chance to view such pageants. The more exposure we g et of something, the more acceptable it becomes in our society whether its wrong or right. Personally Ive realized that, the media brought about even my style of dressing. If you see a commercial on TV or in a magazine for a shirt you thought looked good, wouldnt you buy it? I know I would. I guess thats my problem. Killing Us Softly relates to several other works studied in the course. For example, in The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter the media basically controlled every American society by turning women into the reciprocal of what they were used to...

Arthur Zimmermann - Profile

Arthur Zimmermann - Profile Arthur Zimmerman worked as the German Foreign Secretary during 1916-17 (mid World War 1), during which time he sent the Zimmermann Note / Telegram, a document whose clumsy diplomacy (trying to trigger a Mexican invasion of the US) contributed to America’s entry into the war and earned Zimmerman lasting infamy as a hapless failure. Born 5 October 1864, Died 6 June 1940. Early Career Born in 1864 Marggrabowa, East Prussia (now called Olecko and in Poland), Arthur Zimmermann followed a career in the German civil service, moving to the diplomatic branch in 1905. By 1913 he had a major role thanks partly to the Foreign Secretary, Gottlieb von Jagow, who left much of the face to face negotiations and meetings to Zimmermann. Indeed, Arthur was acting as Foreign Secretary alongside German Emperor Wilhelm II and Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg in 1914 when the decision to support Austria-Hungary against Serbia, and thus Russia, and thus enter into the First World War, was taken. Zimmermann himself drafted the telegram giving notice of Germanys commitment. Soon most of Europe was fighting each other, and hundreds of thousands were being killed. Germany, in the middle of it all, managed to stay afloat. Arguments Over Submarine Strategy Jagow remained Foreign Secretary until the middle of 1916, when he resigned in protest at the governments decision to resume unrestricted submarine warfare, which was likely to provoke a US declaration of war against Germany. This style of warfare involved using submarines to attack any and all shipping they found, whether or not it appeared to be from neutral nations (although American was using an odd sort of neutrality at the best of times), and one major target was US civilian and shipping craft. The US had warned earlier in the war that such tactics might induce it to fight Germany.Zimmermann was appointed his replacement on November 25, thanks partly to his talents, but mainly to his complete support of the military rulers – Hindenburg and Ludendorff – and the submarine policy, which was now going to going ahead. Reacting to the threat from America, Zimmermann proposed an alliance with both Mexico and Japan to create a ground war on US soil. However, the telegram of instructions he sent to his Mexican ambassador in March 1917 was intercepted by the British (not entirely honourably, but there was   a war on) and passed onto the US for maximum effect: it became known as the Zimmermann Note, severely embarrassed Germany and contributed to the American publics support for war. They were, as you might imagine, angered by Germany trying to bring bloodshed to their own country, and were now keener on exporting some of their own in return. A Lack of Denials For reasons that still baffle political spokesmen, Zimmermann publicly admitted to the telegram’s authenticity. Zimmermann remained Foreign Secretary for a few more months, until he retired from government in the August of 1917 (largely because there wasnt a job for him anymore). He lived until 1940 and died with Germany again at war, his career overshadowed by one short communication.

Fire Control Project Overview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Fire Control Project Overview - Essay Example This project arose from a report which the government commissioned having been raised by the management, engineering as well as development consultancy which was published in April 2000. The conclusion from the report was that maximum efficiency could be attained if the number of control rooms could be reduced from current 46 (as at that time) to only 9 regional control rooms. The objective of the project being to ensure community safety by providing strategic framework for the Fire and Rescue services (FRSs) as well as other agencies which would prevent and respond to emergencies as they arose. The benefits that would accrue from the project were increased resilience. In this case by using the resilient networked technology, staff in any RCC would be able to answer calls within any part of the country. Secondly, the project would integrate all services by use of new risk management tools which had the ability to deploy specialist equipments. This would necessitate introduction of a common call handling, process mobilization, technology and training which would guarantee consistency across various regions. The communication system would also be changed to be data based rather that voice which would be readily accessible through the MDTs. This would hence ensure greater fire and rescue services capabilities (Great 2010, p.30). Extent of Failure Originally, each FRS had its own local control room charged with the responsibility of handling its own emergencies. All the 46 control rooms were independent with each using different levels of technology, network capacities and also their own back-up arrangements. The challenge faced by the control rooms was the increased number of calls and levels that exceeded the local control room. This made the calls be transferred to a different FRS or police control room. By using the police control room, information would then be sent back to the local control room using telephone, radio or fax machine. Due to the fact that different control rooms employed different technology levels and variable quality, this made the transfer process difficult for the FRSs to effectively back each other up. This resulted to the local control rooms being flooded hence being hard to cope using the current technology to handle the high volume of calls which then resulted in long queues or even lost calls. This was another example of a Government IT project in which it was absorbing increasing resources but never achieving the objectives initially set. The essential checks and balances done at the early stages of the project were ineffect ive. This was due to the fact that approval of the project was done based on unrealistic cost estimates as well as under-appreciation of the IT complexity that was to be involved. This made the project be implemented in a hurry with poor management. The Communities and Local Government Select Committee after closely examining the project hope that the project should go live by mid-2011 if there is an agreement on a viable project plan. The realization of the above has been put on substantial risk as a result of the following. Reasons for failure Project Environment There are several issues that ultimately led to the downfall of the said project which if they had been handled before would have made the project a complete success and be completed on time. Failure by the Department to sufficiently incentivize Fire and Rescue Services The Fire and Rescue authorities were under no legal obligation to use the regional control centers once completed. Despite this, the department failed in its mandate by not communicating the benefits to be accrued by transferring to the regional structure. The Department charged with the

Enthalpy of Neutralisation Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Enthalpy of Neutralisation - Lab Report Example As a matter of fact, this variation is attributed to the fact that when a strong acid is used, full ionization takes place while with a weak acid; ionization is incomplete (Jarvis, 2011). In this experiment, NaOH is mixed with HCL and later with CH3COOH. Place 500 mL of water into the calorimeter and add 150 mL of 1.0 M sodium hydroxide. Measure 160 mL (an excess) of 1.0 M hydrochloric acid into a 400 mL beaker. Start the stopwatch and stir the two solutions with separate stirring rods and measure their temperatures (use separate thermometers) at 30 s intervals as above. (DO NOT stir the solutions with the thermometers.) After 5 min (do not reset timer to zero) rapidly, but quantitatively, pour the HCl into the calorimeter. Replace the stopper. Continue stirring and record the temperature of the reaction mixture at 30 s intervals for the next 5 min. After the experiment is completed, test the solution with two drops of phenolphthalein. If the reaction mixture is alkaline, insufficient acid has been added and the results are worthless † start again. The first part of the experiment is about reactions between fully ionized strong acids and strong bases and the sole real chemical change is formation of water molecule from hydrogen ions and hydroxide ions. This is given as follows, Evidently, the reaction between NaOH and HCL yields a higher enthalpy of neutralization as compared to the reaction between NaOH and CH3COOH. This is attributed to the fact that the enthalpy of neutralization of a NaOH with a HCL involves complete ionization of the dilute aqueous solutions and hence the reaction involves higher energy. In the case of CH3COOH, while NaOH undergoes complete ionization, CH3COOH only partly ionizes and as a result the enthalpy of neutralization is lower. There are various methods used in measurement of such heat. Initially measurements were premised on simple thermometric

Problem solving Essay Example for Free

Problem solving Essay Issue 7 All nations should help support the development of a global university designed to engage students in the process of solving the worlds most persistent social problems. I agree that it would serve the interests of all nations to establish a global university for the purpose of solving the worlds most persistent social problems. Nevertheless, such a university poses certain risks which all participating nations must be careful to minimizeor risk defeating the universitys purpose. One compelling argument in favor of a global university has to do with the fact that its faculty and students would bring diverse cultural and educational perspectives to the problems they seek to solve. It seems to me that nations can only benefit from a global university where students learn ways in which other nations address certain soda] problems-successfully or not. It might be tempting to think that an overly diversified academic community would impede communication among students and faculty. However, in my view any such concerns are unwarranted, especially considering the growing awareness of other peoples and cultures which the mass media, and especially the Internet, have created. Moreover, many basic principles used to solve enduring social problems know no national boundaries; thus a useful insight or discovery can come from a researcher or student from any nation. Another compelling argument for a global university involves the increasingly global nature of certain problems. Consider, for instance, the depletion of atmospheric ozone, which has wanned the Earth to the point that it threatens the very survival of the human species. Also, we are now learning that dear-cutting the worlds rainforests can set into motion a chain of animal extinction that threatens the delicate balance upon which all animalsincluding humansdepend. Also consider that a financial crisisor a political crisis or natural disaster in one country can spell trouble for foreign companies, many of which are now multinational in that they rely on the labor forces, equipment, and raw materials of other nations. Environmental, economic, and political problems such as these all carry grave social consequencesincreased crime, unemployment, insurrection, hunger, and so forth. Solving these problems requires global cooperationwhich a global university can facilitate. Notwithstanding the foregoing reasons why a global university would help solve many of our most pressing social problems, the establishment of such a university poses certain problems of its own which must be addressed in order that the university can achieve its objectives. First, participant nations would need to overcome a myriad of administrative and political impediments. All nations would need to agree on which problems demand the universitys attention and resources, which areas of academic research are worthwhile, as well as agreeing on policies and procedures for making, enforcing, and amending these decisions. Query whether a functional global university is politically feasible, given that sovereign nations naturally wish to advance their own agendas. A second problem inherent in establishing a global university involves the risk that certain intellectual and research avenues would become officially sanctioned while others of equal or greater potential value would be discouraged, or perhaps even proscribed. A telling example of the inherent danger of setting and enforcing official research priorities involves the Soviet governments attempts during the 1920s to not only control the direction and the goals of its scientists research but also to distort the outcome of that researchostensibly for the greatest good of the greatest number of people. Not surprisingly, during this time period no significant scientific advances occurred under the auspices of the Soviet government. The Soviet lesson provides an important caveat to administrators of a global university: Significant progress in solving pressing social problems requires an open mind to all sound ideas, approaches, and theoriesrespective of the ideologies of their proponents. A final problem with a global university is that the worlds preeminent intellectual talent might be drawn to the sorts of problems to which the university is charged with solving, while parochial social problem go unsolved. While this is not reason enough not to establish a global university, it nevertheless is a concern that university administrators and participant nations must be aware of in allocating resources and intellectual talent. To sum up, given the increasingly global nature or the worlds social problems, and the escalating costs of addressing these problems, a global university makes good sense. And, since all nations would have a common interest in seeing this endeavor succeed, my intuition is that participating nations would be able to overcome whatever procedural and political obstacles that might stand in the way of success. As long as each nation is careful not to neglect its own unique social problems, and as long as the universitys administrators are careful to remain open-minded about the legitimacy and potential value of various avenues of intellectual inquiry and research, a global university might go a long way toward solving many of the worlds pressing social problems.

Irony in The Story of an Hour :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Why do bad things happen to good people? We have heard this many times with the death of a car crash or another going bankrupt. Everyone has an ironic situation happen to him or her. Alanis Moressette performed a song about irony in the world’s lives. â€Å"†¦It’s like meeting the man of you dreams†¦then meeting his beautiful wife†¦Ã¢â‚¬  yeah isn’t THAT ironic, that seems to be my best fortune. Irony reveals a different reality than what appears. We see different types of irony in the stories we read, the songs we hear, and what we do in everyday life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mrs. Mallard is a woman who had seemed to live a sheltered life. She stayed with her husband, who worked on a railroad, to make ends meet. â€Å"There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself.† This sentence suggests that she had lived her life to please her husband, and to be there for him waiting on him hand and foot. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Mallard cried and broke down for a moment wondering what would come next. She sat down and thought. Throughout the story, there are descriptions of spring. She looked out the window and saw the trees budding, and the clouds opening up with the sun shining through. She saw that there was new life for her. She prayed that she would have a long life that she could live, by herself. She was free from the pressure of being a wife. â€Å"Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own.† As she sits in the chair thinking about her life ahead of her, her sister Josephine is in the other room thinking her sister is going to lose it because she just lost her husband. This type of irony shows that the other characters in the story think she is grieving over the death. But a couple paragraphs later, we find that she is crying tears of joy for the newfound freedom that has come.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long.† There is irony of this line and with the rest of the story. She stares out the window and prays that her days of life might be lengthened, so she can live for herself and have the freedom to do things.