Bear Stearns Collapse Timeline Essay

This week five years ago, JP Morgan announced it would buy Wall Street rival Bear Stearns in a deal worth $2 a share – this ultimately rose to $10. Here, Financial News looks at the events in the run-up to the fall of the 85-year old independent investment bank. Financial News compiled the timeline from press releases, contemporary media reports and William D Cohan’s account of the collapse of the bank, ‘House of Cards’. May 21, 2007 After months of growing instability in the US sub-prime mortgage market, Bear Stearns chairman Alan ‘Ace’ Greenberg offers reassurances that the firm, heavily exposed to the market, is on top of things. â€Å"The sub-prime (issue) has been blown completely out of proportion,† he says, in comments reported by Dow Jones Newswires. Mid-June 2007 Serious problems become apparent at two Bear Sterns hedge funds with a high exposure to sub-prime mortgages. Investors in the High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund, which managed $600m, are informed that the fund has lost 23% of its value over the year to April, reports The Wall Street Journal. The fund begins a fire-sale to minimise exposures. After the failure of a mooted rescue plan involving support from lenders, a new rescue scheme is announced by Bear Stearns, which offers $3. 2bn for a bailout of a second fund – the High Grade Structured Credit Fund. The bank previously had only $45m invested in this fund’s equity, according to William D Cohan in House of Cards’. Bear Stearns later says it is providing $1. 6bn to the fund rather than the original $3. 2bn, citing the sale of assets. A decision is made not to rescue the High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund, according to Cohan. August 3, 2007 Standard & Poor’s downgrades the bank’s outlook to negative. The bank says that concerns over its situation are â€Å"unwarranted† as the hedge fund fallout represented â€Å"isolated incidents† and â€Å"by no means a broader indication† of the bank’s performance, according to The Wall Street Journal. August 5, 2007 Bear Stearns president and co-chief operating officer Warren Spector resigns from the bank. Alan Schwartz is confirmed as sole president. Days later, the Associated Press reports that the bank sends letters to clients reassuring them of its financial position. September 10, 2007 British billionaire Joseph Lewis expresses his confidence in the future of the bank by acquiring a 7% stake, becoming one of the largest shareholders. October 5, 2007 Federal prosecutors launch an investigation into the collapse of the Bear Stearns hedge funds. November/December 2007 Chief financial officer Sam Molinaro says that the bank has been â€Å"very conservative and aggressive† in its revaluations, according to Dow Jones Newswires. On December 10, MarketWatch reports that the bank has written down $1. 9bn related to mortgage exposure. January 8, 2008 Chief executive Jimmy Cayne steps down after widespread criticism of his hands-off response to the events of the previous year. He remains as chairman. He is replaced at the top by Alan Schwartz. In the same month, the bank announces the closure of a third fund, the Bear Stearns Asset Backed Securities Fund. Bloomberg reports that this fund has suffered a decline of 39% of its value over a year. February, 2008 Hedge fund Peloton Partners, run by Goldman alumnus Ron Beller, collapses following its exposure to asset-backed securities. March 2008 Carlyle Capital, a hedge fund based in Amsterdam, collapses as concerns over exposures to mortgages begin to multiply, causing a squeeze on lines of funding. By March 5, insurance premiums on Bear Stearns debt have risen from $50,000 per $10m of debt at the beginning of 2005 to $350,000 per $10m debt, according to William D Cohan. It soon reaches $700,000. Monday, March 10, 2008 The company’s stock falls 11% to its lowest level in five years following a Moody’s downgrade of portions of its mortgage bond holdings, writes Cohan. The bank denies rumours that it is in trouble. Investors look for ways to bet on further falls in the bank’s stock. Tuesday, March 11, 2008 ING Groep, the Dutch bank, cancels $500m of short-term funding for Bear Stearns, according to The Wall Street Journal, following an example set by Rabobank. According to a press release, the Federal Reserve announces an unprecedented lending facility in which collateral can be exchanged for funding, but the scheme cannot be accessed until March 27. In another important incident, cited by Cohen in ‘House of Cards’, Goldman Sachs refuses to stand in for Hayman Capital in a trade with Bear Stearns, suggesting hemorrhaging confidence among major financial players. Wednesday. March 12, 2008 Overnight markets for funding begin to dry up, while institutions continue to deny short-term lending to Bear Stearns. Hedge funds and other investors continue in their attempts to extract their money from Bear Stearns, which is rapidly approaching a funding crisis. Thursday, March 13, 2008. As customers continue to withdraw funds, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Federal Reserve begin discussions on the crisis. In a meeting on Thursday night, reported by Cohen, it is discovered that outgoings at the firm can no longer be maintained, with the firm effectively running out of cash during the afternoon. Lawyers are summoned to discuss the options for bankruptcy, while a deal with JP Morgan Chase is sought. After late night negotiations, JP Morgan agrees in conjunction with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York that it will provide secured funding to Bear Sterns for an initial period of up to 28 days. Friday, March 14, 2008 The cobbled-together deal fails to assuage the markets. Investors continue to pull money from the bank over the course of the day. By the evening, it is clear that a solution will have to be devised over the weekend if the bank is to survive. Saturday, March 15- Sunday, March 16, 2008 JP Morgan says it cannot do a deal without support from the Federal Reserve, due to the large number of toxic securities on the books of Bear Stearns. In response, the Fed approves a loan of $30bn saying that it is necessary to avoid â€Å"serious disruptions in the financial markets†. JP Morgan offers just $2 per share for the bank, a large loss for those whose stock was worth $30 on Friday, $60 the week before and over $150 a year before. Bondholders will be rescued by the deal, which is accepted by the board of Bear Stearns on Sunday morning. Wrangles with JP Morgan over a contract situation – which potentially leaves the bank liable for funding Bear Stearns without claiming full ownership – result in brinkmanship from Bear Sterns. A final price of $10 per share is agreed, with a value of $1. 45bn attached to the equity. March 25 Bear Stearns chief executive Jimmy Cayne and his wife sell 5. 66 million shares in the bank for $61. 34m, which, according to Cohan, represented a $1bn loss on the bank’s stock. May 29 The final Bear Stearns shareholder meeting takes place, at which former CEO Cayne speaks of his sadness at the firm’s demise, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing guests present.

Hum 176. Week 1 Mass Media

University of Phoenix Material- Effects of Mass Media Worksheet Write brief 250-to 300-word answers to each of the following: |Questions |Answers | |What were the major developments in the |In the early/middle 20th century brought a mass of developments into the world. Some of | |evolution of mass media during the 20th |the extended communication lines begin to extend then with radios, televisions, | |century? newspapers. The late 20th century added other forms of media through internet, social | | |communication, and technology such as video games. Media was the forefront of culture and | | |brought people together. Media is a mixture of mass media and communication outlets. | | |Before mass communication, people wrote letters and sent them through mail to communicate. | |However since the evolution, there are new ways such as email, text messages, video | | |conferencing, chatting, etc. This century has adapted to the media conversion and it has | | |evolved into daily lifestyles. In the average workplace, new waves of technology have | | |begun to embark on the evolution by removing files, the use of paper, more recycling, and | | |using technology to its full potential.The average employer no longer requires paper | | |applications. More applications for employment can be done online, through smartphone | | |services with just one touch. Another major development streamed lined in the early 1900’s| | |with the authority of the printing press. As the invention successfully streamed, it | | |allowed the news press and local media to get more local news out effectively. Theatres | | |embraced the line of cinema.More movies also became famous as part of the century | | |entertainment. There were no longer more outside evening films. The films also gained | | |communication through the development of radio. Radio became the worldwide core to news, | | |entertainment, and the source that people could rely on. The radio started to be the hit | | |location f or many artist to show their talents and for viewers to hear top hit songs.The | | |late 20th century brought on more collaboration of music through the internet, cell | | |phones, and applications downloads on the internet, and more. The major developments have | | |been a great asset to the country and will continue to be embraced by individuals. | |How did each development influence | | |American culture? | |

A Savings And Credit Cooperative Economics Essay

A Savings And Credit Cooperative Economics Essay The inception of SASRA in October, 2009 made it a requirement for SACCOs in Kenya to acquire licenses in order to be take deposits. Since then, there has been a steady increase in the number of deposit taking SACCOs in Kenya seeking licensing with already licensed and operational SACCOs growing in terms of membership, deposits, total assets, gross turnover, loans granted, and equity (SASRA, 2011, p. 25). A total of 570 SACCOs were registered between 2009 and 2010 increasing total registered and operational deposit taking SACCOs to 3,632. SACCOs are increasingly allowing persons who were not in the original bond to become members. This is to respond to competition and ensure sustainability as the traditional market shrinks. For example rural farmer based SACCOs are rebranding to position themselves as a national SACCOs so as to attract non farmers such as business persons and employed persons (SASRA, 2010). A Savings and Credit Cooperative (SACCO) is one â€Å"that pools savings for its members providing them with credit facilities† (UN-HABITAT, 2010). The general objective of SACCO is to promote the economic interests and general welfare of its members. They are formed based on a common bond which could be economic activity, geographical location or employment. The ICA Statement on the Co-operative Identity defines a cooperative as â€Å"an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise†. Co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. Co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility, and caring for others (Bibby & Shaw, 2005). The 1995 ICA Congress also reformulated seven principles of co-operatives. In summary, they are: Voluntary and open membership Democratic member control Member econom ic participation Autonomy and independence Education, training and information Co-operation among co-operatives Concern for the community Different SACCOs provide a number of products which include but are not limited to credit services, deposit and savings facility, cheque clearing, bankers’ cheques, standing orders, safe custody, and salary advances. History of SACCOs The pioneers of modern cooperation emerged in working- class environments in European Industrial cities of the 19th Century. In the 1840s,the first to industrialize countries (Great Britain and France),pioneers of co-operative invented models of the consumer cooperative and the labor cooperative to defend and promote the interests of working-class families in the face of the social disasters caused by industrial revolution. The second generation of the pioneers of modern cooperation emerged, in certain European rural environments in the late 19th century. In the 1860s, these pioneers created the models of agri cultural cooperatives and savings and credit cooperatives inspired by the success of the consumer cooperatives formula in Great Britain and based on old traditions of rural solidarity aimed to meet the primary economic needs, which went unsatisfied. Agricultural cooperatives then enabled families of farmers and livestock raisers to organize their own supply systems of agricultural inputs and market their products and no longer depended on merchants and businessmen in the cities. The SACCO helped them to stop depending on moneylenders and to find the credit necessary to modernize their agricultural cooperatives (Mwakajumilo, 2011) .

The Accidental Tourist- Why and how Muriel Changed Macon Essay

The Accidental Tourist- Why and how Muriel Changed Macon - Essay Example Out of the blue Macon recognizes that he is on the brink of insanity. One reason for the change in Macon’s character is his sudden realization of how he failed to use his mental power to repel his pain. Another reason is his realization of the uncultivated emotional strength that he is pushed away from. The changing character of Macon is perplexing to his brother, Charles. Macon responds to Charles’s confusion (Tyler 2002, 228): â€Å"I’m more myself than I’ve been my whole life long.† Before the fated rendezvous with Muriel, Macon is a generous but anxious individual with a traditional sense of decency and refined fairness. Macon is a neurotic, overwhelmed with particular fears about being killed by lead-poisoned canned orange juice. All about him is contained. Even the manner in which he mourns over his deceased son is contained, hence at the surface it appears more like apathy. When his wife wrongly blames him for not truly loving their son and walks out of the restaurant, Macon musters his pride and pushes himself to eat his meal. His wife wants to face their son’s killer. She would force the killer to grasp the terrible nature of his action and afterward would kill him on the spot. Macon, who is not at ease with obsessive sentiments, says to his wife, â€Å"We can’t afford to have these thoughts† (Tyler 2002, 21). His wife retorts: â€Å"Easy for you to say†¦ pretend it never happened. Go rearrange your wrenches from biggest to small est instead of from smallest to biggest; that’s always fun† (Tyler 2002, 21). This confrontation is one of the defining roots of Macon’s change, propelling him to the path of Muriel who changes him significantly. The first meeting of Macon and Muriel is a clash of two completely dissimilar characters, compelling the change in Macon’s character. As Muriel deepens her place in Macon’s heart, he recognizes that, with her bright clothes and flowery fragrance,

Film review Movie Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Film - Movie Review Example Here, time stopped, and life became a pursuit of pleasure. The head characters include Kenneth Branargh, Denzel Washington, Emma Thompson, Michael Keaton and Keanu Reeves, who find the right way to play out the misunderstandings, passionate love affairs, reconciliations and renunciations (film). When the movie starts, Beatrice and her friends are relaxing, when news of the arrival of Don Pedro, the Prince of Aragon (Denzel Washington), comes. He had come to spend time at Leonato’s (Richard Briers) villa. This was after squashing an uprising organized by Don John (Keanu Reeves). . For Benedick and Beatrice, they have been acquaintances for some time, and it takes their friends’ prodding to admit their feelings to each other. She is submitted to Benedick, just as he is to her. This couple is engaging, such that their differences are unnoticeable. However, for Hero and Claudio, they have an immediate attraction, love at first sight, but still have a lot know about each other. Claudio’s love then turns into loathe, but does not tell this Hero until their wedding day, when he denounces her (film). The whole production was as though Branargh sought to come with a bizarre diversion. It could be assumed that he knew the conventional comedy routines would prompt anything, apart from laughter. For the characters, Keanu Reeves is elegant and handsome and speaks his lines with authority. Just like Claudio and Hero, Beckinsale and Claudio behave with naà ¯ve genuineness, though they usually look numb at hearing the words that they speak. In general, the movie has done Shakespeare well, and it is

IOM Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

IOM - Assignment Example When the country is equipped with such a big number of professionals, it becomes much easier to satisfy the diverse needs of clients throughout the nation (DeWit 322). The acquisition of a baccalaureate degree is of great value because it can improve the standard of healthcare in the country. Therefore, it should be implemented by bringing the public and private sector together. First, the health care organizations within the country should urge all the nurses with diploma and associate degree qualifications to enroll for a baccalaureate degree program upon the completion of their courses (DeWit 319). Besides, both the public and private funders should be ready to work as a team. They should allocate enough funds to support bac ­calaureate programs. This would enable many nurses to enroll for it. Last, but not least, the U.S. Secretary of Education, Health Resources and Services Administration and other agencies should avail loans and grants for the nursing students who are willing to pursue baccalaureate degree programs. These would make it much accessible to them whenever they need

Israeli palestinian conflict Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Israeli palestinian conflict - Term Paper Example The pace of development is rapid which is also challenging Americans. They have not been able to resolve many disputes including the Israel and Palestinian conflict. They do not know how to cope with it. Another stance by the American government is of changing loyalties that has created mistrust among the Middle Eastern countries. Various circumstances in the past reflect it. Other than helping the countries in promoting their local policy for peace, America uses force to maintain. This in return invites rebellion. The wars done by America especially in Afghanistan was very costly. It impacts not only their economy but also worldwide. The American public even does not align its interests with the government. They have a divided opinion and this creates it difficult for the government to decide. About the stature and view of America from the world, they expect it to act as a super power. Issues inside America as shutdown of federal posts and offices are alarming not only for Americans but also for the entire world. Such things are a blow to the prestige of the American policies for even their own people. The world economy in return is impacted by it. The allies of American have to rethink how much they can trust investing in businesses in America. If the military functions as it is while federal jobs are laid off, the people will open their eyes and realize where the budgeting is put in to. The policies set by the American government were deemed tobe ideal for a diplomatic country but the crises within America has led to hesitation from other countries in adopting such policies. Their newly introduced health care program is questionable as well. By allowing Russia to provide a middle line while dealing with Syria has made the world believe that American is not the only global decision maker but Russia also exists other than the super power. A survey was conducted on the views of America from around the world. The results indicate that Middle East and south Asia have the most negative views on America [1]. In this article I will focus on Israel and Palestine conflict. Key Issues: The key issues in the Israel-Palestinian conflict include Jerusalem as the main bone of contention. They both claim to own it. Both sides have a deep respect for it based on their religious beliefs. The conflict of this region is that Israelis are of the view that they should maintain their control over it. Palestinians believe that they should have the control over Jerusalem as they had on the part of it before 1967. Israel declaring the disputed region as its capital in its law is very disturbing for the Arab nations as it was acquired with wars and its ownership is not yet resolved. Both nations seem to have concerns over practicing religion in the areas governed by the other nation. There have been incidents in the past in which people have been banned from visiting their holy places and practicing their religion. The other issues between the two nations I of t he Palestinian refugees. They fled to save their lives in 1967. As a result they were not given any nationality. Even after 30 years of war, these people are forced to live in refugee camps. Many of them are now born outside Israel but they should have a right to return to their homeland. Israel refuses this right and declares that other Arab nations should give them nationalities that have acted as their host countries. They also deny expelling these people from

Use of Expert Witness in Court Procedings and Trial Research Paper

Use of Expert Witness in Court Procedings and Trial - Research Paper Example This research will begin with the statement that experts have become a fixture of the American legal system. Expert testimony is a de jure requirement for some types of lawsuits and a de facto requirement for others. It is widely thought that the use of experts in American courts has increased dramatically in recent decades. The difference between an expert witness and other witnesses of the court is that expert witnesses are permitted and even encouraged to offer opinions and inferences. There are advantages and disadvantages of admitting such testimony, which has been the subject of much controversy and debate. Saferstein related that an expert witness is, "an individual whom the court determines possesses knowledge relevant to the trial that is not expected of the average layperson". Saferstein stated that the knowledge of the expert witness is obtained through training, education, experience or any combination of the three. A problem exists because a judge is making the decision on expert witness qualifications in highly technical fields. Expert witnesses may often testify to issues in forensic psychology, firearms identification, or forensic chemistry to name a few of the disciplines. Any number of other social and natural sciences may be deemed forensic in their application to the law. How is the judiciary to know, if what the expert witness is professing is based on a sound foundation of legitimate social, psychological, and natural sciences? The attorneys on each side of the American Court adversarial system may both profess to have expert witnesses. Those proffered witnesses may interpret the exact same evidence differently. Pros Expert witnesses are different from other witnesses in several key respects. Witnesses who are called to give testimony about particular events generally are not permitted to state opinions about the meaning of the facts. Only witnesses that have been qualified as experts by the court have that privilege. Unlike other witnesses, experts do not necessarily testify about events they have witnessed personally, nor is it necessary that they offer evidence specific to the matter at hand. They may offer generalizations from their own experience or from data or studies that are not necessarily derived from the particular dispute being litigated (Vollen & Eggers, 2005). For example, a toxicologist may testify about the effect of a certain substance on humans based on previous scientific studies concerning that substance, and the toxicologist need not have examined the injured party. The expert witness is a teacher who, by virtue of education and experience, educates the court regarding information to which the triers of fact

FAMILY VIOLENCE AND ABUSE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

FAMILY VIOLENCE AND ABUSE - Essay Example He also threatened to injure maim her. The historical and the current standing posed beyond doubt that Marcia’s life was in great jeopardy and she needed redemption. The case also fulfills the requirement that the aggressor is not the defendant. The deceased aggressed the defendant’s myriad times thus attributing to the retaliation by his wife, Marcia. The obligation of applying just sufficient force in the defense as required by the law was not achievable because the husband threats were recurrent and he would justice only she shut her up for good. Marcia Norman option to end the life of her husband was pegged on her mission to save her life-perfect self-defense, and therefore was legally right. The eminent past and continuous history of mal-abuse by her husband would not allow limited room for her right of freedom from harm (Leverick, 2009). The courts would factually consider immense psychological distress and trauma that Marcia had undergone. According to a witness from the case, after she was asked whether she thought it was correct for Marcia to shoot her husband, she admits that from the examination and the assessment of her records and psychological files, it was exclusively fine for her to do so. She adds that Norman Marcia assumed herself doomed from the torture she endured from her husband. She had a perception of persecution ahead due to the immense social degradation and demeaning that her husband accorded her, and recognized that her death was probably not avoidable in future. The witness also notes the fact that Ms Marcia had attempted suicide before and there was a conviction that she would not succeed in her struggle against her unwavering husband. The witness notes that she believed that the defendant had grown insecure to an extent that he could not have any sense of attachment to her family. She could not run away from the deceased due to his immense power and

Global Business Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Global Business Plan - Essay Example Checking inflation, lowering the deficit, and bettering the efficiency of public sector continue to be vital challenges confronting the government. (The Economy of Costa Rica) Costa Rica continues to be one of the safest and most attractive countries for foreign investment in Latin America. The Costa Rican government, its ministries and F.I.s keep up a distinctly pro-US and continental position with regard to financial security and tax laws. The avowed objective is to attract mainly the companies that are on the technological forefront to leverage Central America's most educated, computer literate and highly disciplined workforce together with the modern production infrastructure the nation is presently building. Currently, the economy is being changing over from its long-term dependence on coffee, bananas and cattle rearing to electronics like microprocessor production and high-tech telecommunication services. The pro-investment friendly climate and government policy of transforming the country into the Silicon Valley of Latin America has lured major companies like Acer, Microsoft, GE, Intel Corporation to make considerable investments in the country bot h financially as well as physically, with major production and distribution facilities. (Doing Business in Costa Rica) During 1998, in the course of its entire history, Costa Rica is set to earn a major part from high technology exports than from coffee or bananas or from the flourishing tourism industry. The World Bank has highly rated the country in terms of political and financial health. In the annual conference, the World Bank commended the nation as possessing one of the most stable and robust democracies among the Latin American countries. World Bank also praised the country because of the healthy growth rate and some of the best social indicators in the continent. The country is one of the strongest advocates of continental trade zone, and already possesses its own agreement with Mexico and other nations of the region. The number of tree trade zones of the country and tax holiday opportunities is lucrative. They extend benefits like exemption from import duties on capital goods, components, raw material; unlimited profit repatriation, exemption of tax on profits for 8 years and a 50% exempti on for the subsequent four years. (Doing Business in Costa Rica) Even though the country is not an offshore financial centre in the conventional sense, it favourable tax structure implies that it could have been categorized as a tax haven some decades ago. But it was not until recently that the government came to know of its tax haven potential and started to enact laws and market this sector of economic activity. The country possess a lot of characteristic feature which renders it a distinct advantage compared to other offshore jurisdictions inclusive a perceived on shore jurisdictional status, rock bottom taxes and a fiscal policy that does not differentiate between residents and non-residents for taxation purposes. Off-shore activity is at present booming in Costa Rica and a number of popular companies have established operations, however the industry is yet just in its early stages. A major offshore banking industry is not present primarily due to the fact that the industry came out of the shackles of state control in the year 1996. (Offshore Business Activities in Costa Rica) The financial institutions in the

Race and ethnicity in the United States Census Essay Example for Free

Race and ethnicity in the United States Census Essay The media is an industry where the competition is intense and it has been used by the government individuals, organizations, institutions, society, and family etc. for various purposes. However, due to the increasing competition in the industry, many at times the functions and duties which the media owes to the society are significantly overlooked. There are various functions of the media some will be discussed later on in this paper. The aim of the media has to a fearfully large extent shifted from fulfilling its roles to the society, rather their focus is often on how much entertainment they can offer to their audience and how much money they can make and how quickly they can make it. Entertainment and money making is definitely key in the existence, survival and growth of this industry, nevertheless, this should not be achieved by inappropriately portraying a group’s identity in any form. DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS Construction – To make or create, by putting together ideas, components or arguments. Group Identity – This refers to a person’s sense of belonging to a group. Media- Are communication channels through which news, entertainment, education, data or promotional messages are disseminated. Media includes every broadcasting and narrow casting medium such as newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, billboards, direct mail, telephone, fax and internet (business dictionary, 2015). THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY BY TAJFEL TURNER (1979) This theory was propounded in order to understand the psychological reasons and basis for inter- group discrimination. The components of this theory goes thus: Categorization- This is the process of putting ourselves and others into categories, our self-image is associated with the categories we belong to. Identification – This is the process by which we associate ourselves with certain groups of people. Nevertheless there are some groups we don’t want to be identified with (out groups) and there are some we would want to be identified with (in groups). Comparison- This is the process through which we compare our groups with other groups, thereby creating a positive bias towards the groups in which we are members of. This aspect of this work will focus on two salient functions of the media amidst the various ones there are. Social heritage function- The onus lies on the media to transmit positive racial and ethnic values about every existing race and ethnic group. The act of highlighting and spotlighting the various negativities of races and ethnic groups should be avoided. Surveillance function- This is the duty the media owes to the society in circulating news and information when necessary, the media is responsible for providing information about events. THE CONSTRUCTION OF GROUP IDENTITY BY HOLLYWOOD (A STUDY OF THE LATINO RACE) There are five acclaimed races in the world: 1) Mongoloid (Asian and American Indian) 2) Caucasoid (European) 3) Australoid (Australian and oceanic) 4) Negroid (East African black). 5) Capoid (South African black) The Latinos could be said to belong to the Mongoloid race and most of the 315 million people who live in the United States of America are either immigrants or have ancestry to another country. In actual fact, the only truly American people are the Native ones. This country is based on the idea of migration in pursuit of a better social and economic life. According to U. S. Census Bureau (2012), there are roughly 52 million Hispanics/Latinos living in the United States, representing approximately 16. 7% of the total population of United States of America, and making them the nation’s largest ethnic minority. Among Hispanic subgroups, Mexicans rated as the largest at 63%, followed by Puerto Ricans (9. 2%), Cubans (3. 5%), Salvadorans (3. 3%), Dominicans (2. 8%), and the remaining 18. 2% were Colombians, Guatemalans, Portuguese, Honduras, Ecuadorians, Peruvians, Brazilian. The main reason for their migration has been either that they are politically endangered or have financial problems. For instance the Cubans who ended up in America wanted to escape from the political conditions in their country. Escaping from the communist government practiced in Cuba, they were considered as ‘political refugees’ in America for three and a half decades until 1995. As a result of America’s opposition to the Cuban government, they were treated in America better than almost any other ethnic group. This has also been partly because of their high level of education and professionalism before migration (Martins, 2006 as seen in Mousavi Sadeghi, 2013). Latinos, Mexicans in particular, mostly live in the Southwest; almost half in California and Texas. Puerto Ricans are mostly in the East and Cubans are in Florida. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, legal Hispanic household income is only 75 percent of White American income. There is also a high rate of poverty and unemployment among them, and their socio economic status is at a low level. The cause for this situation is partially their jobs being the lowest paid ones, their low education level, and employment discrimination (Camarillo and Bonilla, 2001). They are present in the news, advertisements, election campaigns, political debates, television and films. The common major feature that is present in all of these portrayals is the problems related to them that should be solved and not to be glorified, exaggerated or exploited by Hollywood. Before now African Americans were more likely to be portrayed as domestic workers in Hollywood. African Americans played major roles in television sitcoms such as â€Å"Beulah† in the 1950’s and â€Å"Gone with the wind† in 1939. In recent times Latinos have increasingly replaced African Americans as Hollywood domestics. Hollywood has presented an incorrect reality of the Latino people to the American people and to the world at large, it has exaggerated a poor image of this particular race. Although the Latinos who live in America get more roles to play in Hollywood, most of these roles are mentioned in the next paragraph. The Latino female is often presented as a temptress, vamp, lustful, promiscuous, unfaithful, manipulative, of loose morals or submissive at times in relation to a white male fantasy, low class, serving the whites. A list of Ten Latino Female artists who have played the role of a maid in Hollywood Movies/series. Jennifer Lopez – Maid in Manhattan, 2002 Aida Linares- Clueless, 1995 Lupe Ontiveros- As good as it gets, 1997 (She has played an estimate of 150 maid roles on television). Consuela-Family Guy, 2005-till present Nadine Valesquez-My name is Earl, 2005-2009 Paz Vega- Spanglish, 2004 Kate Del Castillo- La misma Luna, 2007 Adriana Barraza- Babel, 2006 Catalina Saavedra, The maid, 2009 Roselyn Sanchez, Devious Maids, 2013- till present Pania Ramirez – Devious Maids, 2013 till present THE MEDIA, DIVERSITY AND SOCIAL CHANGE INITIATIVE (MDSCI)’S SIX YEAR STUDY REVEALS SOME STATISTICS. Among the racial and ethnic groups studied in the Media, Diversity, and Social Change Initiative’s report, released August 2014, Latinos made up only 4. 9% of movie characters across 100 of 2013’s top-grossing films. According to the U. S. Census Bureau’s estimates, there are roughly 52 million Latinos in the U. S. as of July 1, 2011, or just over 16% of the current U. S. population. That number is on track to reach 132. 8 million — or about 30% of the U. S. population — by July 1, 2050. LATINOS THAT ARE DEPICTED IN TOP-GROSSING MOVIES ARE MOSTLY NAKED. While the study does note that â€Å"Hispanic females (37. 3%) were more likely to be featured in popular films than were white females (29. 6%) or Asian females (32%),† Latinas are also more likely than females among any of the other groups studied (37. 5%, to be precise) to be shown partially dressed or nude on the big screen. LATINOS ARE ALSO HIGHLY LIKELY TO BE SEXUALIZED. The sexualization of Latinos does not stop with women. Latino men were the most likely among the studied groups (16. 5%) to be depicted wearing â€Å"tight, alluring or revealing clothing. † DANGERS OF THE NEGATIVE PORTRAYAL OF RACE ETHNICITY BY THE MEDIA ? Since there is a tendency to believe what is represented or depicted by the media; as particular races or ethnic groups are often negatively portrayed, others who are not acquainted with such group of people are bound to believe they are actually the way the media has presented them. ?Another danger of negative portrayals of race/ethnic groups by the media is that the younger ones from such groups may not be able to see themselves better than the way the media has portrayed them. For example if a race is continually depicted as a maid or as vulgar murderer the younger generation of such groups may not see anything wrong with being that way and could actually end up as same. ? This particular race have existing challenges of employment, poor education; the continuous depictions as such does not help solve these problems, but only worsens them. ?It could be difficult for people who are negatively portrayed to keep relationships with or amongst other races who are depicted as superior to them. THE NOLLYWOOD CONSTRUCT OF ETHNICITY (A STUDY OF THE YORUBA, AND NORTHERN NIGERIANS) The founding fathers of Yoruba films in Nigeria i. e. Herbert Ogunde, Moses Olaiya (Baba Sala) Based their works on the constructive values of the Yoruba ethnic group without leaving their audience entertained. In recent times Nollywood has neglected the transfer of social heritage function in the production of Yoruba films. More often than necessary abusive statements, raining of curses and the invention of such and rascality has been synonymous with Yoruba films. The very rich Yoruba culture which the world could learn from is often being tarnished by our film industry. However there are various Yoruba producers who focus on spreading the positivity of the Yoruba culture i. e. Tunde Kelani, Tade Ogidan, Yinka Afolayan. Men from the Northern part of Nigeria are also often times portrayed as either a gateman or the security man of a well-established family. The character who could actually be Yoruba speaks like a man from the north to convince the audience that the gateman is a man from the Northern part of the Country. Little does Nollywood know that many of the gatemen in Lagos which I can speak for are not even Nigerians. I have observed that most of the gatemen/security men in reality are actually from Niger Republic many of them look like Nigerian Northerners, are able to speak Hausa language but they are not Nigerians. RECOMMENDATIONS ?Every race has some sort of value and norms that could be positive, the media should hereby seek out such and spread them. The media needs to respect the fact that every human person has dignity and should be portrayed as such. ?They never should never assume that a particular race or ethnicity is less than the other, regardless of the socio economic status of such groups. ?The media should seek to solve the challenges faced by some races and ethnic groups rather than exploit them. The media should be reminded that they are socially responsible to the society, thus they should be mindful of what they feed the society with.

Thematic Analysis Of Faerie Queene Literature Essay

Thematic Analysis Of Faerie Queene Literature Essay The earthly human society continues to be faced by various impediments to its existence and continuity. Some of these varied issues include; the reality a bout truth and faith, the unending evils, the confusion of love and the persistence search for purity. It is because of these squabbles that Edmunds Spencers Faerie Queene was written. The book focuses largely on the central theme of holiness and how it can be achieved in the society. Holiness would mean being pure, clean and godly. However it can not exist without evil. According to Wauchope, holiness could be compared to light and evil compared to darkness. Holiness therefore the main drive and urge for any person who wishes to attain the highest faculties in life, truth, faith and love. The work of any writer cannot be clear and complete unless various characters are employed in order to bring out the intended message. As such Spencer has notable characters that have different purpose. Book 1, Cont I, introduces Redcrosse who is the Knight of Holiness that works collaboratively with Una, a beautiful lady who is out to represent truth and faith of a true Christian. It is matter to be noted that for any person who aims to be a true Christian full of holiness, he must have true faith. The religious battles that exist in the world today can be traced back to the christsera. Most of our time is faced by lack of virtue of holiness, persistent evil that threatens the human race specifically occurring as a result of superiority struggles among the major religions of the time. The world known religion catholic is being condemned for not presenting truth to its followers and uses various images that are meant to deceive. The strength of Knight and the lady Una is as a result of boldness, courage and sheer determination to achieve victory by fervently fighting evil and false religion (Faerie Queene II,147-48) . The Roman Empire worked continuously hard to ensure that the whole world remains bound by one religion but however, because of increased awareness and freedom, the England people led a determined rebellion and broke away from Roman Catholic to form a true religion of Protestants and Anglicans. This fierce break-up aggravated evil in the society, where most people were killed for defending their faith. Most Martyrs like Stephen were forced to die because of trying light to bring to the world. The true position for any Christian should be to aim at fighting for righteousness and work towards ensuring that evil does ensue too soon. Every society that tries to advance in holiness still has to face the hurdles of vice. The two elements are parts of the same coin that operate at the extreme ends. Hamilton highlights in his book, that evil will take the slightest opportunity to engulf holiness. Una who is representing truth happens to meet Duessa, who on contrary represents false images that are used to deceive and confuse the faith of Una. She is torn between the devil and deep sea losing when she encounters Duessa.That being a strong religion, Catholic Church still focuses on use of images which carry false meaning. These images could be source of idolatry, which caused the rebellion of the Protestants. Indeed any individual with divine faith and holiness cannot accept to throw away his noble pursuit because victory does not come easily. Fighting evil in the society requires one to stay on course even when it seems tough. This would require surrounding yourself with life performers who have achieved the highest ladder in the fields of faith, character and honour. When Knight Meets Una, a strong bond is developed that help them to remain focused in their mission to achieve holiness and eradicate evil. Therefore when cooperation exists among the members of the society, then notable vices like rape, idolatry and innocent killings cannot continue to escalate further. This is not an individual effort but an integral one which requires positive mindset that Redcrosse is urged to have. Resolved in minde all suddenly to win (Faerie Queene, I.210). Human beings still remain to be the weakest creature that is easily lured into evil. Many a time most people have found themselves on the crossroads, more on the wrong side than on the right side of it, because they were tempted by other people; who because of weaker power for self defence of individual values and virtues had to give into it. Wauchope infer a case where Archimago tries to separate Redcrosse from Una through lust and deception, which he falls into. Once separated he becomes extremely weak making it easy for Duessa to deceive him even more. It is good to note that whenever truth is separated from holiness, confusion ensue as people are lost in faith. Thus in our present times it is essential that we keep good companies and associations that can help us grow in faith ,develop the power to defend our believes, not being easily led astray from truth and fall into the paths of evil by the already fallen. This will help enrich the soul, mind and body which in turn will help to perpetuate holiness in all kind and spheres of life. Evil in our society can only be eliminated only and only if we take collective initiative to set rules that will help lighten our lives than darkening it. Only when truth is adhered to that we can forge a way out to develop standards of morals that every member is expected to follow. There is a great overall evil that threatens mankind, the very basic evil of sin. This is the dragon that Redcrosse defeats at the end of Book 1 of Faerie Queene. This enemy can be dealt with, through reformation in various social institutions like marriage, learning institutions, governing bodies and churches. The Norton Anthology also focuses on best reason as to why we should reform our social, economic and political systems so as to have an all round society. If we restructure our religion, faith and love we will have a true meaning of holiness. Holiness is not complete without love. True love does not lie in being beautiful or gorgeous, but it thrives where there is truth and light in faith. Most young men tend to associate beauty with love, but in really sense, it is not an indicative virtue of love. Courtly love dictates that the excitement and splendour constantly travel with valiant warriors who croon romantic declarations of passions to women and eventually accumulate great respect through epic triumphs in the battles over many years. The Redcrosse knight bridges the gap between mere men and these gallant celebrities and reverses the process of virtue. The virtues of love entail being sincere in heartily devotions and commitment to one another, not in reputation but in character and true integrity. This is the ingredient of love. Jennipher Sinclair, points out that being in love does not necessarily mean sexual and emotional feelings but involves learning how best we should live a virtuous life full of respect, purity and holiness. Respect will involve observing the code of humanity of preserving life and not forming stereotypes that are prejudicial and discriminative in nature. These acts are highly shown by persistent struggle that exist between the Roman Catholics and the Anglican Protestants. When human beings begin to use religion as an instrument to hate rather than love each other, then no major developments can be realised specifically in the areas of holiness. As Nelson Mandela points out that, No one is born hating the other and if a person can learn to hate, then he can be taught to love. Love is the union of all earthly races because all human beings have blood that is red symbolising that we are all equal. The Faerie Queene was intended to teach the young men and women to focus on building a society that is clean and pure in its operations. Being the weakest and most lured into temptations of every soot, they ought to observe good codes of conduct. Young men should posse spotless character and should rise to highest circles of leadership and command. We are also a forewarned about love and appearance because love is not in the beauty, as such, believing in the beauty would deceive and the originality of true love. Only truth and faith can indicate real virtue and meaning of love and struggle hate.Consequentlty we are also encouraged to remain firm in our believes and of life, because modern expectation cannot always be met and fulfilled, and respect through trials other than physical tests, in the long run, holiness prevail over evil and light blinds the dark.

Segmentation Targeting and Positioning Analysis Theory

Segmentation Targeting and Positioning Analysis Theory Kotler (1994, p. 93) has pointed out that the strategic marketing planning process flows from a mission mission and vision statement to the selection of target markets, and the formulation of specific marketing mix and positioning objective for each product or service the organization will offer. Proceeds to segment the market, select the appropriate market target, and develop the offers value positioning. The formula segmentation, targeting, positioning (STP) is the essence of strategic marketing Restrepo (2010, p1). Source: Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (2010)http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/images/cb/STP.png http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/cb_Segmentation.html Today, India is one of the worlds fastest growing economies. With having a wide geographical area of about 15,200Km and a coast line of 7,500 Km over a billion people .According to Financial times (2004) the GDP growth rate was less than 1% in 1991, however by 2003 the figure grew by 8.5%. Button et al (1999) argues that because of the growth of Indias IT industry, the number of travelers has grown rapidly. Due to which Indias Travel and Tourism generated $38.8 billion in 2004 and it is expected to raise $ 90.4 billion by 2014. According to the centre for Asia pacific Aviation (2005), Indian airlines have ordered a total of 490 aircraft over the last few months. Which in turn it is expected a growth of 164% compared to a world average of only 2.7% Connell Williams (2006, p.358). Connell Williams (2006) states that Indias domestic air travel has grown rapidly due to the growing wealth of Indias population. At the beginning of 2005, there were only four domestic airline services Indian airlines, Air Sahara and Jet airways and Air Deccan which was the low cost carrier. Company background Air Deccan: Air Deccan (2009), Indias first low fare and fastest growing airline was formed in 2003 with the vision to empower every Indian to fly by providing the lowest airfares and connectivity to unconnected towns and cities. Deccan is a business unit of Deccan Aviation, Indias largest private helicopter charter company, which pioneered helicopter tourism in India. In 1997, a group of old army buddies led by Capt. Gopi decided to pool in their vast experience and knowledge of aviation and geography to launch Indias first Private sector helicopter charter company. Deccan Aviation was started in 1997 with one helicopter, it now has a fleet of 10 helicopters and 2 fixed wing aircraft deployed across eight bases at Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Surat, Katra and Colombo (Sri Lanka). Deccan Aviation provides helicopter charter services for a range of aviation activities like helicopter tourism, aerial coverage of sports events, heli- skiing and rappelling, aerial reconnaissance and photography, and also undertakes logistic support for off shore oil explorations, geophysical mineral survey, power line survey, emergency medical evacuation, V.I.P. movement, film production etc. The result was Deccan, Indias first low cost, no frill airline, which was launched on the strength of a simple dream. A dream inspired by just one statement. I want every Indian to fly at least once in his/ her lifetime. (Captain Gopinath, CEO, 1995) The first flight was launched on 23rd August 2003 from Bangalore to Hubli. Since then forward innovation and cost efficiency has been the main reason of our business philosophy and strategy. The business model is robust, scalable and aligned to the dreams of nation building by making air travel a mass commodity. We pride ourselves on our out of the box strategies which have created several firsts in Indian aviation and also made air travel affordable, available and easily accessible to the common man of India. Source: Destinations of Air Deccan (2009) Growth Story: India government is considering the growth of aviation sector especially of the private sector in aircraft manufacturing, operating and upgrading airports and by providing enhanced ground services. According to ICFDC (2004) The Indian aviation sector has four types of operators domestic airlines, operating within India and select International destinations, International airlines, chartered air operators and air cargo service providers, whose services include air transportation of cargo and mail. According to the Director General of civil aviation (2006), when Air Deccan began its operation in August 2003, with a single aircraft from Bangalore to Hubli, Air Deccan has seen a phenomenal growth. Air Deccan now has an Aprx 266 flight which runs on a daily basis. As of March 2006, Air Deccans market share is at 19%, making it the third-largest airline in the country. Currently, the carrier employees apprx 2,600 employees. As of Nov 30 2005, Air Deccan had flown apprx 2.7 million passengers.( Air Deccan,2009) Vision and Mission: According to Air Deccan (2009), Captain Gopinaths vision has helped the lives of Indias masses where they realized through Air Deccan, which is a pioneering low-cost business model. The airline has played a significant role in making the common mans dream to fly which has come true. However, the airline plans to fly a large number of destinations in India by connecting millions of people (Captain Gopinath, CEO, 2004). Basic Idea behind the modeling approach: STRENGTHS à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Leader in LCC market à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Highest load efficiency à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Flies to destinations in the hinterland WEAKNESS à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Focuses on South Indian market à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Image plagued by frequent breakdowns and near misses à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Very limited advertising à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Reached at the threshold of cost efficiency OPPORTUNITIES à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Extensive network to capitalize Air Cargo business à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Plenty of scope for expansion of operations à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Strengthen its position in Chartered flight segment à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ could start Contractual Employment THREAT à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ High attrition rate à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ the threat of new entrants into Low Price Segment especially Indigo, Go Air, Spice jet and Jetlite. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ High risk perception. As mentioned in Air Deccan (2009) Air Deccan has plenty of scope for expansion of operations; also it has been in operation since last 5 years, so kingfisher with the merger could get the opportunity to fly internationally and Air Deccan with facing constant threats from the ever emerging low cost carriers, higher attrition rate and requirement for capital had no other better option than to accept the offer of getting merged with Kingfisher. Marketing Strategies: Segmentation: High aircraft utilization was the first of Air Deccans strategies as it would directly result in high revenue generation. The success of the Air Deccan is by its well planned operational routes. The Air Deccan operates from six bases, which are located in the metropolitan cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Further these bases are connected to other regional locations through regional routes. The main strategy of Air Deccan is to pursue unexplored routes which would result -high yield and high load factor (Sampler, 2006). Positioning: The main success behind Air Deccan is because of its unique pricing model. In the pricing model seats which were booked well in advance had lower fares, whereas the seats booked closer to the travel date had higher fare. However, this helped the airline to maximize its revenues from ticket sales as well as maintain high seat occupancy. By commenting on additional revenues, Captain Gopinath (CEO, 2005) states that With an average passenger spending INR 75 for a quick meal or beverage, Air Deccan could have easily generated additional revenue worth INR 202.5 million from 2.7 passengers that had flown on the airline till November 2005. Targeting: Air Deccan (2009) has achieved tremendous growth due to their marketing and promotion strategies. The airline utilized its marketing and promotional programs effectively to highlight the competitive advantage with the result of its low fares. The target segment which is for the customers who are cost-conscious, Air Deccan choose cartoonist R K Laxmans famous mascot The common man as its brand ambassador. The airline advertisement is generally through media like print, radio, and bill boards. The airline has entered into various sales which have provided Deccan with additional advertising slots on television, newspapers and radio. Word Count: 1,335. Referencing: Anonymous. (2010). Segmentation, Targeting, and positioning .Available: http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/cb_Segmentation.html. Last accessed 11/12/2010. Annonymous. (2009). Deccan simply fly. Available: http://www.deccanair.com/aboutus.html. Last accessed 12/12/2010. Annonymous. (2010). Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. Available: http://www.centreforaviation.com/. Last accessed 12/12/2010. Button, K.J., Lall, S., Stough, R., Trice, M., 1999. High-technology employment and hub airports. Journal of Air Transport Management 5, 53-59 Financial Times, 2004. From Indias forgotten  ¬Ã‚ elds, a call for economic reform to lift the poor. Kingfisher-Deccan Merger. 12 Dec. 2010 http://www.antiessays.com/free-essays/47835.html Kotler, P. (1994), Marketing Management: Analysis, planning, implementation, and Control, 8th edition, Prentice Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliff, New Jersey. OConnell.F.J, Williams.G.. (2006). Transformation of Indias Domestic Airlines: A case study of Indian Airlines, Jet Airways, Air Sahara and Air Deccan. Journal of Air Transport Management. 12 (1), 358-374. Restrepo.A.J.. (2010). SEGMENTATION TARGETING POSITIONING.Available: http://pdfcast.org/pdf/segmentation-targeting-positioning. Last accessed 11/12/2010. Sampler.L.J. (2006). Air Deccan. Available: http://web.mit.edu/cisr/working%20papers/cisrwp365.pdf. Last accessed 11/12/2010. Marketing ethics and social responsibility an opportunity for competitive advantage or a constraint on marketing decisions? Discuss citing appropriate examples. Introduction: Carrigan Attalla (2001, p.560) states that Marketing ethics and social responsibility are inherently controversial, and years of research continue to present conflicts and challenges for marketers on the value of a socially responsible approach to marketing activities. According to Laczniak Murphy (1993) since few years there are certain controversy revolving around marketing ethics and social responsibility, researchers and scholars are continuing to work on it. Smith Quelch (1996) states that most of the company would like to think that being a good company will attract customers with their products, while it has seen that by the unethical behavior customer would reject their offer/products. The basic idea behind focusing marketing is by its products and services with the environment, where customers play a very important part by representing (Vaaland et al, 2007).As mentioned by Vaaland et al (2007, p.929): Marketing is the process of planning and executing conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of goods, ideas and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals. According to Singhapakdi et al (1995), Social responsibility is been given so much importance because, E.g., some public companies undergo social responsibility which might limit profits and disagreement of the social responsibility. However, he also argues that, the international researchers have not identified in detail to which marketers across the countries assume that ethics and social responsibility are important for their organization for their growth. And also argues that, first managers should be aware of the ethics and social responsibility to have the organization grow before their behavior become more ethical and reflects greater social responsibility. Social responsibility in marketing: As Laczniak Murphy (1993, p.5) states that, both ethics and social responsibility have to make a positive impact towards the success of an organization, due to which customers make ethical judgments that are likely to influence their purchases. As he has told that: Customers over time will normally recognize the organizations that attempt to be responsive to various ethical and social factors in the marketplace. The ethics era: Hunt and Vitell ( 2006, p.3) pointed out that An individual perceives a situation as having ethical content, the next step is the perception of various possible alternatives or actions that might be taken to resolve the ethical problem. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/content_images/fig/2160040303002.png As Hoddow (2001) states that even though, the researchers are working on this field ETHICS since 30-40 years its still not possible to have achieved the answer of what exactly is the social responsibility of marketing. According to BBC (2001) there have been lot arguments which have been made by governments and organizations with regarding to the ethical issues. E.g., Companies like Oxfam and Medecin sans Frontieres on allowing cheaper access for consumers of drugs like AZT. Globally, there are many organizations and institutes which are established to do research and promote ethical business behaviour like for E.g., European Business Ethics network, Hong Kong Ethics Development Centre. There has been given a lot of importance to the field of marketing as it has grown rapidly and developing a strong ethical profile, academically and professionally, marketers are finding it difficult to ignore the gap of ethics of what the society is expecting and what marketing professionals are delivering (Carrigan Attalla, 2001). Ethical Consumer Behaviour: According to Hunt and Vitell (1992) it has been seen that a lot of attention is given to marketing ethics in the current years, irrespective of that it is been unsuccessful to see the buyer side of the exchange process. However, it is a fact that the customers are more informed, more educated and are aware of their consumer rights and product requirements in most of the western society. However, a study conducted by Boulstridge and Carrigan (2000) examined customers response to ethical or unethical behaviour, where they found out that the most customers did not have more information weather a company did or did not behaved ethically. E.g., Nestle and Exxon. Even though many people believed that social responsibility is not important while considering in their purchasing behaviour, even with knowledge about unethical activity, some customers still bought goods from the company. The main reason why consumers bought these products is because of price, value, and quality and brand familiarity rather than societal ones. Ulrich and Sarasin (1995) say that, one thing is clear, dont do any research. Dont ask the public any questions on this subject. The answers are never reliable. In instances where the head says one thing and the heart another. Studies are useless if not misleading (Carrigan and Attala, 2001, p.566). Performance framework: Friedman (1962, p.133) argues that few trends could so thoroughly undermine the very foundations of our free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible. The framework by Carroll (1995) gives us the idea and the present condition of what corporate social responsibility theory and their role within the corporate social performance framework. http://labspace.open.ac.uk/file.php/4778/!via/oucontent/course/132/pyramid.gif Figure 2: Source: Carroll (1995, p.49). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility. According to Windsor (2001), Carrolls four dimensional pyramid of responsibility structures the crude notion of various corporate social responsibilities into a construction of pyramid. And the pyramid consists of economic responsibilities which are the foundation and philanthropy is the apex. The construction of the pyramid is such that the other responsibilities will not be achieved in the absence of economic performance. Economic and legal responsibilities are socially required, ethical responsibilities are socially accepted and philanthropy is socially desired. Socially Responsible firms: When asked to identify the socially responsible firms, many would point out on Marks and Spencer, because as Jobber (2010, p.182) mentioned that MS aims to go carbon neutral, send no waste to landfill, extend sustainable sourcing, help improve the lives of people in its supply chain and help customers and employees live a healthier lifestyle. According to Carrigan Attalla (2001) companies like JCB, Nissan and Co-operative bank followed ethical behaviour to an extent and when one trying to think of being a good citizen one respondent said: There really arent that many .I am sure they are all unethical to some degree. (Anonymous, 2008). Companies like Microsoft, is well known as philanthropy. Bill gates, fights for many of the worlds diseases with his foundation with Melinda Gates. The foundation has given $ 20.1 billion since its first set up (Jobber, 2010).There are few well known companies which they have been registered as a poor social responsibility for many reasons, E.g, LOreal for their animal testing, NatWest due to their financial investment with animal research centres and Shell and BP for their poor environmental pollution and poor employee relations (Carrigan Attalla (2001). As mentioned by Carrigan Attalla (2001, p.569) the attitudes of many consumers would include when you buy petrol, you do not think of those companies that are or not ethical, it does not even cross your mind. I would only fill up elsewhere if it caused no inconvenience to me. However, the behaviour of the ethics needs to be changed or it has to be convincing to the people in order to make them buy or have believe in the products. As we have discussed above about few companies and have seen the reaction of customers buying behaviour as the just buy the products because of their convince and or are for the brand name. All these show us that the customers are passive ethical shoppers other than the active consumer shoppers (Carrigan Attalla (2001). Conclusion: It has been seen from the study whether the customers care about the marketing ethics and social responsibility which would influence them on their buying behaviour. It has also seen that researchers have studied the consumers buying behaviour and they have to say that the many of them give very less attention to ethical considerations when it comes to their buying or decision making behaviour. Carrigan Attalla (2001) states that the link between the social responsibility and marketing ethics and consumer purchase remains unproven but also one should not conclude with the development of ethical marketing policy and social responsibility. Word Count: 1,376.

Disease in the Middle Ages :: Health

In the Medieval and Renaissance time periods, health conditions were extraordinarily poor for the European nations. Many different diseases and ailments arose to plague these unfortunate people. Luckily for them they had their much esteemed doctors, scholars and the highly â€Å"religious† clergy members to â€Å"help† rid them of their affliction. They offered solutions to the suffering souls seeking answers and a cure. Many of these illnesses were spread through prostitution, consumed grain, animals or too much of a bodily humor. It could be agreed upon that the medical education of these times were few and none. The most popular sickness of the middle ages was the four bodily humors. This physiological philosophy was brought about by Hippocrates, who was wrongfully regarded as the Father of Medicine. As history does, the ideas of great medical practitioners of ancient Greece were passed down through the Unani peoples to the Europeans. The four types of bodily humors are; black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. The idea was that too much of one of these humors would upset the balance of a person’s temperament. The humors were also associated with the four elements and seasons and have their own qualities. Yellow bile had the element of fire and the season of summer, it is said to cause irritability and anger and is characterized as hot and dry. Too much phlegm or water would make one sluggish or lazy, its season is winter and it’s said to be cold and moist. Black bile, having the element of earth and the season of autumn is said to make one sad and melancholic and is charac terized as cold and dry. Next there’s phlegm, associated with the element of water and the season of winter. Having too much phlegm results in apathy and is characterized as cold and moist.Lastly is blood, just like phlegm this bodily humor is somewhat self-explanatory. Blood, with the element of air and the season of summer, is said to bring about temperament and disposition and is characterized as, of course, hot and moist. This is also where the term hot-blooded is derived from. These behavioral unbalances were treated through diet, exercise, and activity prescribed to purge the body of the imbalanced humor. For example a person with the symptoms of yellow bile (hot and dry) would be treated by increasing its opposite, phlegm (cold and moist). The patient would be told to take cold baths until the symptoms decreased, but if this prescription did not work they were told to take hellebore, a poison with the side effects of vomiting and diarrhea.

Quest for Purpose in the Novels of Kurt Vonnegut Essay -- Works of Kurt

Quest for Purpose in the Novels of Kurt Vonnegut      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kurt Vonnegut's personal experiences force him to question the meaningless cruelties and conflicting paradigms in life.   As a second generation German-American and a witness of Dresden's bombing during World War II,   he observes firsthand the pointless destruction of which humans are capable (Dictionary 494).   He devotes his works to understanding the chaotic, cruel world he encounters.   According to   Peter Reed, Vonnegut's works feature a "...protagonist in quest of meaning in an absurd world" (500).   While struggling to understand the disordered universe around them, Vonnegut's protagonists attempt to become satisfied individuals by understanding the purpose of human life.    As he probes the chaotic nature of the universe, Vonnegut, according to Ernest Ranly, "...seems preoccupied with genuine human questions, about war, peace, technology, human happiness" (454).   Vonnegut's works show an obsessive desire to answer these questions, and he explores them by narrating quests for order and purpose in human life.   According to Stanley Schatt, Vonnegut "...believes passionately in both the importance of the individual and the need for human love and compassion" (348).   Vonnegut's beliefs become apparent as the searchers invariably realize Vonnegut's truth: the universe is too chaotic to understand, so the secret to order in their lives is simply kindness. In Vonnegut's novel, Galapagos, the narrator, Leon Trout, attempts to understand humanity's cruelty after witnessing the Vietnam War's brutality and lack of purpose.   As a marine in "...a nearly endless, thankless, horrifying, and, finally, pointless war..." (Galapagos 254), Trout struggles to come to terms w... ...nd: A Study of the American Novel in the Nineteen-Sixties.   Yale, 1973.   Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism,   Vol. 3.   Detroit: Gale,1975. Ranly, Ernest W.   "What Are People For?" Commonweal.   7 May 1971, 207-211.   Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism,   Vol. 2.   Detroit: Gale,1974. Reed, Peter J.   "Kurt Vonnegut, Jr."   Dictionary of Literary Biography.   Vol.2: American Novelists Since World War II.   Detroit: Gale, 1978. _____.   "Kurt Vonnegut."   American Writers.   1981.   Scribner's Writers Series. Schatt, Stanley.   "The World of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr." in Critique: Studies in Modern Fiction. Vol. XII, No. 3, 1971.   Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism,   Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale,1973. Vonnegut, Kurt.   Galapagos.   New York: Dell, 1985. _____.   Mother Night.   New York: Dell, 1961. _____.   The Sirens of Titan.   New York: Dell, 1959.

Patty Herst vs. Connie :: essays research papers

Patty Campbell Hearst Vs. Connie   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Where are you going, where have you been?† is a story about a young teenager named Connie that is rebelling against her parents and discovering her sexuality with older boys. No one can really control Connie; she sneaks around and hides what she does from her parents. Her character reflects a person named Patty Campbell Hearst who was kidnapped in the seventies. I am going to compare these two people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story of Patty Hearst is a bizarre one. First of all Patty is the granddaughter of the famous newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. That’s why she was kidnapped in the first place. She was taken on February 4th 1974 by an activist group who called themselves the Symbionese Liberation Army. This uncanny group was trying to wage a war on those of status and money. When the SLA abducted Patty there was media frenzy over it. Anyway she went missing for two months then something most unexpected happened. She appeared on a surveillance tape helping the SLA rob a San Francisco bank. This bizarre twist of events is still being debated today. Why would a girl join her captors and help them in crime?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Now I’ll compare how Connie resembles this concept. During the story Connie keeps going farther and farther with older and older boys. Keep In mind that she’s a young girl much like Patty Hearst. Toward the end of the story a much older man named Arnold Friend arrives at her doorstep attempting to seduce Connie into â€Å"going for a ride† with him. She was alone and he knew it. At first she kept telling him to leave but he started getting under her skin. He just kept trying to reassure her that he wouldn’t hurt her and that he was her friend. But Connie knew from the start that he was a dangerous man and that something wasn’t right. He knew all sorts of things about her. Arnold told her exactly where her family was at the time they we’re talking without her saying anything. It was obvious that he’d had an eye on her. However Arnold Friend still hadn’t convinced Connie to go with him. Then he started leaving hints that he was going to take her. For instance he said: â€Å"Connie, don’t fool around with me, I mean don’t fool around.† Eventually he was really getting to her and she threatened to call the police.

Prison and Parole

CJ 365 1 – April – 2013 Parole In Society Last year, 77% of prisoners released from incarceration were released through and in to a system of community and authoritative supervision called parole. Parole is the conditional release from confinement of a person serving an indeterminate sentence (Corrections Today, page 262) and it is an idea which has had a huge impact on the justice system and the workings of the U. S. Department of Corrections as we now know it. The concept of parole can be traced back to the works of Alexander Maconochie.Maconochie was the superintendent of a penal colony on Norfolk Island, Australia. In his work, Maconochie utilized a system through which good behavior was encouraged through the use of ‘marks’. Prisoners served their sentence in three stages of progressively increasing responsibility. Prisoners advanced through the first two stages through labor, studies and good behavior. They would then be released into the outside worl d under the condition that disobeying the law would result in reincarceration.Walter Crofton adopted Maconochie’s ideas as the basis for the ‘Irish mark system’ which made permissible the early release of prisoners with a record of good behavior. This mark system was instituted at the Elmira reformatory in the 1870s and from there went on to spread rapidly throughout the United States justice system. Today, around 77% of inmates that are released from prison do so through the parole system or some very similar form of community supervision. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, at the end of 2011 there were 853,900 adults on parole and around 1. million adults that had moved on to or off of parole over the course of the year. The main goal of parole is to supervise the reintegration of inmates back into society and encourage their rehabilitation towards becoming a more productive member of society. There are three different purposes of the institution of parole: to help the parolee obtain help for problems with employment, residency, finance, and any other personal troubles that may interfere with a prisoner’s reintegration into everyday life; to make society safer by preventing situations in which prior offenders might commit new offense; and also to prevent the needless imprisonment of those not likely to commit further crime (Parole FAQ’s). Parole is often confused with probation, though they are distinctly different. Probation is used as an alternative to incarceration in which the offender receives state supervision whilst still living a mostly normal life, whereas with parole, an offender serves most of their sentence in a reformatory and pending good behavior, is then released to serve the remainder in the community (under state supervision).There are several rules and guidelines used to determine eligibility for parole that must first be met by an inmate. Eligibility for parole depends on the type of sentence assigned by the court. Accompanying an offender’s sentencing is a ‘parole eligibility date’. This is the earliest potential date upon which an offender may be released in the instance that the parole commission finds them suitable for release. Unless the court specifies a minimum amount of time that an inmate must serve or said offender is serving an indeterminate sentence, an inmate becomes eligible for parole after completion of one third of their court-mandated sentence.To apply for consideration, an inmate must fill out a parole application furnished by a case manager. The case manager then informs the potential parolee of his parole hearing date. This date generally occurs within a few months of placement in the respective institution, except in cases where the offender is serving more than ten years time. In this instance, ‘the initial hearing is scheduled six months prior to the completion of ten years.At this parole hearing, the offender receives an opportunity to present their side of the story and to offer their argument as to why they should be released. The general factors considered during a parole hearing include â€Å"the details of the offense, prior criminal history, the guidelines which the Commission uses in making their determination, the offender's accomplishments in the correctional facility, details of a release plan, and any problems the offender has had to meet in the past and is likely to encounter again in the future† (USPC FAQs).When determining parole eligibility, there are four important factors which the parole commission must consider: can the inmate be released without being a detriment to himself and/or the community, will their release serve the best interest of the community, is the inmate willing and able to meet the conditions of both their parole assignment and of everyday life, and whether or not continued correctional treatment would further their chances of leading a normal, law-abiding life.To make a determination of these factors, each potential parolee is interviewed by the acting parole board. A parole board is a group of people who decide whether or not an offender should be released on parole. On February 7th, 2011, Governor Rick Snyder signed State of Michigan Executive Order No. 2011-3 abolished the ‘Michigan Parole and Commutation Board’ and replaced it with the ‘Michigan Parole Board’, granting membership â€Å"†¦ to ten full-time non-Civil Service employees who are appointed by the director of the Michigan Department of Corrections† (MDOC Parole Board).Michigan’s current board members come from a variety of backgrounds including law enforcement, law, corrections, ministry, social work and public service. These ten people are split up into three groups of three, with the remaining person acting as the chairperson and also the deciding vote in ties. The MPB (Michigan Parole Board) is the sole parole authority f or prisoners under the jurisdiction of the Michigan Department of Corrections. It should be noted that parole board structure and decisions differ from one jurisdiction to the next. According to statute MCL 791. 33, a prisoner may be granted parole only after the board has reasonable assurance, after consideration of all of the facts and circumstances, including the prisoner's mental and social attitude, that the prisoner will not become a menace to society or to the public safety† (Parole – Learning More). Most prisoners are interviewed by one member of the board. This interview is used to explore the offender’s criminal, social and substance abuse history, their behavior in prison, their plans for parole, and any other matters pertinent to the specific case.The prisoner is allowed to have one other ‘representative’ present at the interview with them (this representative cannot be a lawyer or fellow prisoner). On October 30th, 2004, the ‘Crime Rights Victims Act’ was enacted. This act is intended for the preservation of the rights of crime victims. A crime victim is defined as â€Å"an individual who suffers direct or threatened physical, financial or emotional harm as a result of the commission of a crime is considered a victim† (Crime Victim’s Rights Act). This act entitles the crime victim notification and consultation throughout each step of the justice process.According to the act, at the written request of the victim, the MDOC must provide notifications at every stage of the prisoner’s incarceration process. This act also grants the victim the right to submit a written, telephone or oral impact statement to the parole board for hearing prior to the approval of a parole request consisting of any relevant statements regarding the effects of the crime upon the victim, the circumstances surrounding the crime and any other details relevant to the crime, and also the victim’s personal o pinion as to whether or not the offender should be released on parole.The parole board utilizes a numerical scoring system called the parole guidelines. This process applies objective criteria and is generally a significant factor in the parole approval decision process: in some situations, parole can be approved or denied before an interview even takes place. The score is important enough that in instances where the Parole Board makes a decision contradictory to that suggested guideline score, they â€Å"†¦must provide, in writing, substantial and compelling reasons in support of the decision. † The guidelines used in parole guidelines are outlined in Administrative Rule 791. 716 (Parole Consideration Process). After the hearing has been completed and the case file examined, the parole decision is made by three-member panels of the board. If their request is denied, the inmate is returned to the institution where they then have the option of filing an appeal of the paro le decision with the National Appeals Board (so long as they do so within thirty days of the date listen on the Notice of Action). The National Appeals Board then has the option of affirming, reversing or modifying the decision made by the regional commissioner, or they may order a new hearing.Decisions made by the National Appeals Board are final, and offenders will not have the option of appealing the Appeals Board’s decision. If the inmate declines to submit an appeal, he is legally entitled to reconsideration after a certain amount of time. If the inmate is sentenced to less than seven years, they will receive another hearing 18 months from the date of their last. If their sentence exceeds seven years, their next parole hearing will be scheduled 24 months from the date of the last.If the panel approves the parole request, the inmate’s case file is then assigned to a parole officer based upon the county in which the subject will be fulfilling their parole requiremen ts over a specified amount of time. The offender should have a release plan denoting a suitable residence and ideally a verified offer of employment. This is not mandatory though and there are exceptions to this law which are decided on a person to person basis. If everything goes accordingly, the detainee will be released from incarceration on the date listed on their release certificate.They then return to their approved housing and must then report to the United States Probation Office listed on their certificate. Their assigned officer will establish a plan for regular reporting in person, along with mandatory monthly reports for the remainder of the sentence. Also listed on the release certificate are the rules and conditions by which the parolee agrees to live. So long as the parolee fulfills the requirements established by the parole board and finishes his parole period without any violations of the predetermined parole conditions, the parolee will be released from government supervision.These rules vary from one person to the next and are tailored by the Parole Board to better equip each individual offender for success in the integration process. Common conditions of parole often require abstaining from any and all drugs and alcohol, confinement to a defined area/perimeter, steady employment/residency, counseling or, if deemed necessary, enrollment into in-patient treatment facilities. In the event of a violation of parole conditions, the offender isn’t always returned to prison.Depending on the nature of the violation, various programs and sanctions can be used as an alternative to re-incarceration. The Michigan Department of Corrections cites â€Å"†¦an added emphasis on offender success in the community and tries to keep parolees out in the community when they believe that they can continue to be safely managed there† (Parole – Learning More). Though it is, like nearly every other government approach to social issues, plagu ed with disadvantages, parole serves as an efficient and mostly effective tool for managing some of the flaws and issues within the justice system.Parole allows the freeing up of space in already rapidly overcrowding prisons nationwide by releasing non-violent drug offenders and other reformed prisoners ready for reintegration into society, opening up space for inmates who pose a more serious threat to society. After spending months, years or even decades in prison, the average inmate has lost at least some sense of what life is like outside of their institution. Parole is a gentle easing back in to community life; allowing the prisoner supervision and some restrictions to help keep them from the activities which got them into trouble into the first place.Parole’s accompanying threat of a return to prison is often enough to deter those who might otherwise fall back into their old ways. Many inmates report feeling lost and alone following their release; some don’t know what to do in the absence of the basic structure and routine that they’d grown accustomed to during their period of incarceration. Parole is not a unanimously accepted issue and some think it to be little more than an extension of mercy towards the prisoner in the form of a reduced sentence. These people feel that early release on parole drastically reduces the effectiveness of the prison sentence.What most do not realize is that even if a person doesn’t receive approval for parole, this does not disqualify them from or affect their chances of an early release on account of good behavior and/or other contributing factors. Citing information from ‘White Paper’, a report compiled by a firm called â€Å"Prisoners’ Legal Services† which covers nearly all aspects of the current state of parole in Massachusetts; lower rates of parole negatively affect the prisoner, the community to which he returns, the crime victim, and also the justice system of which he is a part.The report states that the number of state and county prisoners released on parole decreased from 4,508 in 2010 to 2,043 in 2011. By the end of 2011, there were only 1,649 offenders out on parole; nearly half the number of the previous year’s end. In 2010, 38% percent of released offenders were put on parole, compared to 2012’s meager 15% release rate. Instead of having a parole officer to guide them through the reintegration process, prisoners are released back into the world with no form of supervision, services or support.Reduced parole approval rates also mean that prisoners serving time in medium and maximum security institutions return directly to the community with no transitioning steps. Failure to provide assistance to released inmates and the state’s ignorance of the rehabilitation process can be directly correlated with higher rates of recidivism. Recidivism is defined as â€Å"the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have experienced negative consequences for that ehavior, or have been treated or trained to extinguish that behavior† (Recidivism, Wikipedia). Recidivism is one of the most important subjects of consideration within the criminal justice process as the purpose of a release from incarceration is rendered useless if the perpetrator will simply return to the life that lead him into the justice system in the first place. This is an issue of the highest priority as over 95% of prisoners serving time in state and federal prisons will eventually be released back into the community.While the United States continues to take increasing measures aimed towards the arrest and incarceration of its criminals (resulting in drastically higher arrest rates and increasing issues with overpopulation and crowding in the nation’s institutions), it has failed to respond to increasing rates of recidivism among its prisoners. A survey conducted in 2003 by the Urban Institute of the Ju stice Policy Center reported that 53% of arrested males and 39% of arrested females would be re-incarcerated.This same study states that within three years of release, nearly seven out of every ten males will be rearrested and half of that number will end up back in prison. The report says recidivism happens due to both personal and situational conditions. It also claims that one of the main reasons for recidivism â€Å"†¦is because it is difficult for the individual to fit back in with normal life†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  It says many prisoners report anxiety regarding their release and excitement about how their life will be ‘different this time’ and this often proves a matter of utter disappointment and frustration in the instances where this doesn’t end up being the case.Nearly every study and report on the issue reports the same thing: the more efforts taken to work towards rehabilitation of released prisoners, the lower their chances of recidivism. The su ccess rates of rehabilitation efforts depend largely on the nature of the original offense, but in almost every single instance, an inmate has a notably higher chance of success in the outside world with the assistance and support of the state. In 2010, 51% of United States federal inmates were doing time as a result of a drug-related charge.Estimates state that nearly three out of four prisoners returning from prison have a history of substance-abuse. Despite this, only 7%-17% of prisoners actually meet the DSM criteria for alcohol and drug dependence and actually receive treatment in prison. Effectiveness studies have reported that inmates who partake in residential treatment programs during their incarceration have 9%-18% lower recidivism rates, and possess a 15%-30% lower chance of relapse than their fellow prisoners who did not receive treatment.One interesting statistic to note is the rate of recidivism in offenders with prior arrest history. Within three years of release, 41% of prisoners with one prior arrest were re-arrested while 82% of those with more than fifteen prior arrests were re-arrested. A study published in McNair’s Scholar Journal entitled â€Å"The Relationship Between Parole and Recidivism in the Criminal Justice System† by Jacquelin Robinson of Grand Valley State University claims a direct association between parole and recidivism.Interestingly enough, she says that because of modestly high rates of parole violation and failure among parolees are a direct opposite of what they seemingly should be; as the rate of parole increases, so do the chances of recidivism. According to the same studies, parole supervision (regardless of how intensive) was not a direct contributor towards lower recidivism rates. This same article cites a study conducted by Jeremy Travis in May 2000 on behalf of the National Institute of Justice.Travis’ findings indicated that rehabilitation programs actually had very little effect on reduced re cidivism and actually states that parole violations are ‘now the driving force behind prison growth’, being responsible for 34% of all admissions. A study entitled ‘Does Parole Work’ compiled by Amy Solomon of the Urban Institute in Washington D. C. for the Bureau of Justice Statistics offers statistics indicating a meagerly higher chance for recidivism of unconditional releases (61%) in comparison to discretionary parolees (57%). While these studies claim that parole supervision is next to useless, other studies present very different ideas.According to a four year study conducted by Rutgers University and presented to the New Jersey State Parole Board, intensive supervision of violent and high-risk offenders significantly reduces the chances that they will be re-arrested. According to this study, parolees subjected to intensive law-enforcement supervision and to programs designed to ease their re-entry into the community fared best, boasting a 41% recidiv ism rate in comparison to the 51% general parolee rate and the 73% rate of those who completed their full sentence and were under no supervision post-release.Though as a general whole, these high rates of recidivism and the low rates of parole success might seem to support the idea that parole is not a terribly effective manner of approaching the release and treatment of the country’s lower-threat class of criminals, it is proven more effective in cases involving violent/high-risk offenders which should be of a higher priority anyways. That said, parole also makes sense from a financial perspective which is ultimately of huge important in the process.Though it varies from one institution to the next and from state to state, it costs taxpayers $47,000 per year to keep inmates incarcerated in a California prison (less than yearly tuition at Princetown University) which stands in comparison to a probation cost of around $1200 a year and about $1500 a year to keep an offender out on parole. In the fiscal year of 2010, the Michigan Department of Corrections had $1. 2 billion in prison expenditures and more than seventy million in prison-related costs outside the department’s budget. A Michigan inmate will end up costing the state $28,117 for each year of incarceration (Price of Prisons).Obviously withstanding the offender themselves, the most important person in the parole supervision and reform process is the parole officer. Parole and probation supervision is a social-based job, rather than one rooted in information and data and often culminates in an end-result of satisfaction and rewards when a parole officer gets the opportunity to have a positive impact on the life of one of their parolees. In a news article published in New Hampshire News, reporter Chris Jensen follows parole/probation officer John Loven through an average day in his line of work.Loven starts the day out with a folder containing the files of all of the parolees to which he is a ssigned. His job is to make sure that the people in these files are living up to the conditions agreed upon that are listed upon the parolee’s assigned certificate of release, and in the cases where they are not, it is his duty to see to it that they’re either rewarded for their efforts or punished for their lack thereof. Loven says that most of his cases involve problems stemming back to alcohol and drugs, though there are the inevitable outliers to this too. Each probation or parolee,† Loven states, â€Å"is really an individual; they have individual problems and they each have individual needs. † (Day in the Life)† Loven’s job entails a daily commute of up to (and sometimes more than) two hundred miles. Most of his visits are unexpected; intended to catch the parolee in their natural environment living out an average day. Hoping to catch them in the act, he often finds himself digging through their trash cans for evidence of recent drinking or drug use. One case special to Loven is that of a twenty year old recovering addict.Loven stops by her house regularly, checking up on her physical well-being, keeping track of what stage she is at in her recovery. Upon arrival, Loven finds the girl in a bad state. She appears visibly nervous, and is quite shaky and seemingly anxious and upset. At first Loven probes for any evidence of deviance from the court-ordered conditions but after a phone call informs the girl of family problems she breaks down in to tears. Loven works to console the girl, and that done, asks to look at her arms. She explains two bruising track marks as the areas from which she had her blood drawn for a recent medical procedure.Loven makes sure that she’s taking proper hygienic standards to keep herself in optimal shape. With a history of previously missed appointments, Loven then reminds her that she’ll have another meeting with him in two weeks time. After running through her schedule with him, he wishes her well and then heads back to his car to go about his day. With 96 cases that month, and nearly 110 the month before that, Loven keeps plenty busy. His visits take him to a variety of different environments filled with a variety of different people.Drug users, alcoholics, sex offenders, violent criminals and also everyday average American citizens; there are few limits drawn around Loven’s scope of duty. With a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and graduate’s degrees in community counseling and psychology; although he does mention a huge amount of paperwork, he says that when it comes down to it, his job is a delicate balance of counseling and investigation. He must reach a point where he’s not unapproachable to his parolees, but at the same time, doesn’t come across as a sucker that will fall for their lies and tricks.He must count on a sense of reason and logic to guide him through the day to day. â€Å"You get to know them, you get to know their families, their lifestyles and how they’re doing. † Though not for everyone, the role of parole officer/supervisor is a job that will prove both enriching and rewarding to the right kind of person who is ready to endure the hard work and dedication required to meet the demands of a job so important in modern-day society. All in all, parole is one of society’s stepping stones towards a brighter future.Though not a guarantee of success and not without the occasional flaw, parole still holds much greater promise than most of the alternatives. Through the hard work of officers, parole gives criminal offenders a chance at putting together the pieces of a normal life in the wake of a lengthy prison sentence. So long as both officer and parolee are willing to put in the time and effort towards improvement on a personal and community level, parole gives a reformed and well-intentioned offender the chance for a new start and a better life.Works Cite d Alarid, Leanne Fiftal, and Carmen Rolando V. Del. â€Å"Probation. † Community-Based Corrections. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2011. 139-55. Print. â€Å"Crime Victims' Rights Act. † Michigan Department of Corrections. N. p. , n. d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. . â€Å"Crime Victims' Rights Act. † Offices Of The United States Attorneys. United States Department of Justice, n. d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. . Jensen, Chris. â€Å"A Day in the Life of a North Country Parole Officer. † New Hampshire News. NHPR, 23 May 2011. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. . Marushack, Laura, and Erika Parks. â€Å"Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). † Bureau of Justice Statistics. N. p. , 29 Nov. 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2013. Http://bjs. gov/index. cfm? ty=pbdetail&iid=4538 Michigan Exec. Order No. 2011-3, 3 C. F. R. (2011).Print. â€Å"Parole – Learning More. † Michigan Department of Corrections. N. p. , n. d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. . â€Å"Parole Conditions. † LegalMatch. Ed. Ken LeMance. N. p. , 21 Oct. 2012. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. . â€Å"The Parole Consideration Process. † Michigan Department of Corrections. N. p. , n. d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. â€Å"Parole Position