The New Jim Crow Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The New Jim Crow - Essay Example Any statement that doesn’t concide with what it implies is hypocrisy even if it is in the form of a law. A law not implemented sincerely and judiciously is self negating. Spare the rod and spoil the child is not valid today as the contrary is more likely to spoil the child. This is in fact what is happening in our society today. Our laws target to prevent the crime and through a vicious circle of incarceration end up in promoting it simply because of the real focus being upon segregation of those whom we don’t want to be in the mainsream of our society. How incarceration can be counter effective and promote discrimination is the point to ponder upon. This was the point that flashed across the mind of Michelle Alexander, an associate professor at the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University, while he happened to quickly glance at a roadside bill reading, "The Drug War is the New Jim Crow." His reaction to this poster, in his own words was, "Yeah, the criminal-justi ce system is racist in many ways, but making such an absurd comparison doesn't help. People will just think you're crazy." (Alexander) Right as he was, this thought required thorough probe and research to establish what he thought was a fact. He did so and after a lapse of good enough time delivered an illuminating speech at Constitution Day, during an event hosted by the Constitution Project and the Georgetown Center on National Security. He stated conclusively, â€Å"the system of mass incarceration is now immunized from judicial scrutiny for racial bias, much as slavery and Jim Crow laws were once protected from constitutional challenge.† Jim Crow is iconic for laws pertaining to discrimination. In the early days of our history such laws were proclaimed openly like Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. It was a pro-slavery clause in the U. S. Constitution and provided that, â€Å"persons held in service of labour in one state, escaping into another ... shall be delivered up on clai m of the party to whom such service of labor may be due."  (Ronald and Davis) Further to it â€Å"Those who refused could be fined and jailed. Slave catchers were paid a bounty for each slave captured.† (Ronald and Davis). We do not have such harsh laws today because now we are better equipped with the use of legal terms to express our illicit thoughts. Discrimination of colour and creed, not pronounced though, is embedded in the subconscious of our society and those at the helms of legal affairs do not spare any opportunity to imprison and reimprison the ‘defaulters of color or creed’on one or the other pretext. Crux of the thinking is that we want to keep some of the society, away from society on pretence of some legal ground, mostly prompted by political motives. Living in a truly free society, the black and white feel attracted towards one another like the opposite poles well known for their intrinsic affinity, when however constrained to live together they act like similar poles and tend to repel one another. Imprisonment has been a favourite mode of punishment in the history of law. The stated objectives of imprisonment are to punish the criminals followed by their training and education to reintroduce them in the society as useful and respectable citizens. Facts that come in light through research do not approve the realization of these objectives, for example statistics show that most of the persons once charged and imprisoned are charged and

Strengths of Hitler That Allowed Him Into Power Essay Example for Free

Strengths of Hitler That Allowed Him Into Power Essay The weakness of the Weimar Republic played a huge part in Hitler’s rise to power. this essay will explore the weimars weaknesses, including the impact of the first world war, the constitutional weakness of the Republic, the implications of the treaty of versaille and the Munich Putsch. Aswell as other factors that led to Hitler’s success not so related to the Weimer republic. This includes the anger of the German people at Germany’s surrender. This is commonly known as the stab in the back by the politicians who became known as criminals, due to the armistice being signed in November 1918. Reasons for this public feeling were because the Germans thought that they were winning the war. The policians, in reality, had no choice. A significant problem with the Weimar republic was the fact that it was constitutionally weak. The use of the proportional representation system proves this, due to the failure to form a majority government. Parties only needed 2% of votes in order to gain seats. There were also a lot of elections, for example in 1932 there were 5, which is a huge amount in politics. This wasn’t the only problem however, each party was extremely self interested. Article 48 was an issue. It was created as a means of protecting the republic when it was threatened, for example by the Kapp putsch. As time went on however, especially during Hindenburg’s reign, it was misused, with new laws going from 5 being used in 1930, to 44 in 1931 and 60 in 1932, while sittings of the Reichstag declined from 94 in 1930 to 13 in 1932. Even more to Hitler’s success was the Versailles treaty. Winning public approval for the republic was made even more difficult because of this. The terms of the treaty included  £6.6 billion reparation payments, a war guilt clause, great loss of land and colonies and an army of a mere 100,000 with a navy of 10,000 and no aircraft. Besides these brutal terms, the war guilt clause proved to be extremely damaging. It was a constant reminder to the German nation of the ‘stab in the back’ by the ‘criminals’ which did nothing to help Weimar and just helped Hitler as it made people look for more extreme political ideas. It worsened their economic problems during the economic slumps of 1923-1924 with inflation reaching new heights. This worked in Hitlers favour as once again the German public were looking for much more extreme ideas to help their country get out of this mess. This resulted in Hitlers rise to power. Another foolish episode in Weimar’s time were the years from 1924-28. These were the ‘golden years’ for Germany. It is argued that there was political stability and growth, and political violence was left behind. Even Germany’s economy had stabilised, which was an achievement after the 1922/23 inflation problems. But it ended awfully for the republic. In order for Germany to be as stable as it was, the government had taken short term loans from America, and in 1929, with the Wall Street Crash, the loans were called in and Germany was left in a worse state than before, with unemployment reaching 5.6 million. Hitler seized on this mistake by offering jobs to be created if he were in power and for the stabilisation of the economy in Germany. Hitler and the Nazis used the Wall Street Crash in there propaganda and they blamed it on Weimar. From 1928 there were strains economically with investment dropping and unemployment rising. Due to the catastrophe in Germany due to the US calling their loans back in, Bruning was using article 48 increasingly in his attempt to help. Due to the Nazis propaganda this was the reason why right wing support increased for the Nazi party and Hitler. Another factor in Hitler’s rise was the Munich Putsch. He tried to take the government by force. Parts of the SA along with Hitler, and other attendees were stopped and sixteen Nazis were killed. Hitler was arrested, and in prison wrote Mein Kampf. Another part of Hitler’s success is the collapse of the government 1930-33. In 1930 Muller resigned as chancellor due to pressure, with Bruning taking over. His election of 1930 wasn’t good as the Nazis jumped from 12 to 107 seats. It was only through the SPD and Hindenburg’s support that he made it through to May 1932, when Fritz von Papen took over. Papen had no scruples about governing by presidential rule. He then decided on an election in July 1932 which saw the Nazis jump to a staggering 230 seats in the Reichstag. They both had public support for the Nazis. People would expect Hitler to at least play some part in the government after this result, but he was adamant that he would not accept anything but the chancellor position, and Hindenburg was not up for this decision. This shows that the republic was weak as many resignations resulted in Hitler getting closer to his wanted position, which in the end results in him getting it. The final factor that helped Hitler was his personal attributes. He was a great public speaker and could win over many people with his speeches. In a source a man said ‘each one of his words was like an arrow and everyone reached it’s target’. This helps Hitler as he can get his points across well and persuade the audience in an instant. In conclusion Hitler’s sheer determination and will power allowed he to get into the position of chancellor but this couldn’t have been done without the Weimars failures. If the stab in the back myth hadn’t have been announced the public wouldn’t have lost confidence in the republic. The economic strains on Germany also allowed Hitler to open up a gap to pursue. If the strains and the stab in the back wouldn’t have been their then no problems would have arose and their would be no need for change. However with these problems it meant that a gap opened and with Hitlers sheer determination he took full advantage.

Violence on College Campuses Essay -- essays research papers

On college campuses today, there is a lot of violence. Violence occurs for many reasons, its unfortunate but true. One of the main reasons that violence accurs is because 90 percent of violence on college campuses is alcohol related. That is one of the many reasons why violence occurs. There have been reports of increased violence on U.S. college campuses since the early 1980s. Alcohol-related problems have included vandalism, fighting, injuries, and rape. However, as in the past, crime on campuses frequently was not reported to authorities or not divulged by institutions. Therefore, it is difficult to know if there has been an increase in incidences or just increased reporting. Roark (1987: 367) has suggested that "although comparative data from previous years are difficult to obtain, it seems to many student affairs professionals that there is an increase in violence on campuses." One study reported that residence hall advisors mediated more physical confrontations between students in the mid-1980s compared to previous years. College campuses are communities populated with individuals at high risk for unintentional and violent injury, the vast majority of whom are single and experiencing freedom from home and parental supervision for the first time. Des pite broad-based concern about violence on campus, accurate information about the scope and nature of this problem is hard to come by. Nevertheless, there is general agreement that since the 1960s crime and vio...

Puritan Ideals of Work and Play in Our World Today Essay

When Columbus landed in the New World in 1492, he changed the world forever. When the Puritans landed in the same New World, they changed the tides of America’s future everlastingly as well. They brought with them many ideas that are still being used today. The Puritan work ethic was a huge portion of the beliefs carried by the community; it was the idea that all members should strive to do as much as they could for the community, and all should work to gain God’s favor. The Puritans’ idea of duty before self-fulfillment was another evident notion every Puritan held. They believed that everyone should do their obligations first and foremost before anything else. The life of a puritan was full of hard work which was done willingly to gain the favor of God and of the community, and contained the concept of fulfilling each person’s individual responsibilities and then only partaking in activities which where self-fulfilling; in our modern society we volunteer and each member of the family is given duties to complete, similarly to the jobs the Puritans held 100’s of years ago. In the Puritan world everything revolved around God. He was the cornerstone for every action they took. For them, one way to get redemption from the sins that they had committed was to work and toil for God and the people around them. In the Puritan era people helped one another, not for the chance to gain a reward, but a chance to gain favor amongst themselves, strangers and God. As William Bradford states, â€Å"But when he grew weak, they had compassion on him and helped him,† this refers to the time when the new colonists helped the sick sailors who had brought them there (Bradford 21). They did this just for the sake of helping others and in doing so gained more of God’s favor. This work ethic inspired the generations of people who followed, and created the standards for American work ethic, which are still being used today. In modern day America, people volunteer at a variety of places to help the poor, needy or injured. My parents when they had just got married spent quite a while at an orphanage in India to help the poor kids there, and I actively volunteer at Mercy Medical to help the sick and injured. Neither my parents nor I had to do so, but it gave us a sense that we were benefiting our communities. Like us, many people in America and the world help others, making the world a better place with every helpful hand. Just as the puritans strived to do work, they also strived to do work which was necessary, even if they did not relish it. For instance when given the choice between trimming tree to make it look better, or helping the neighbor sow his crops, most Puritan’s would choose the later. They had the notion to do your duty first, and all else came afterwards. The Puritan’s believed that the woman of the household should be a good mother and wife first and all else came second. In the same household a man should be a good husband for his wife and a supportive father of his children. In the community, there is not one person who does not have some sort of duty. In Anne Bradstreet’s poem To My Dear and Loving Husband, she describes her love for her husband as his wife, â€Å"I prize thy love more than mines of gold or all the riches the East doth hold (Bradstreet 35). Bradstreet made it quite clear that she was a wife before anything else, being a poet came afterwards. Many of her other poems are about family and hers sense of duty toward them. Puritan’s strove to make their children’s lives better, and by being responsible they entailed their kid to do so as well. In modern day America, every member of the household has a specific task that they must do. An example of this is my family, where my parents both maintain their jobs, while tending to the household chores of cooking, cleaning, etc. while my brother and I both do our jobs of doing well in school, while helping our parents where we can. Whether Puritan or modern day American, or Indian in my case, the idea is the same, everyone has tasks they need to do to maintain a functioning household. The Puritan work ethic simply entails that, only after all the work that is needed to be finished is done, should a person partake in other activities or chores. In the Puritan lifestyle family was important; to maintain a good family all the members of it needed to be diligent of their du ties. When someone volunteers in today’s world they are doing more work to make their society better, when the Puritans did extra hard work they tried to make their community better, and to have a better standing with God. The Puritan’s also did their duty to the best of their ability, and each member of the family functioned together to get their work finished. Both the Puritans and Modern day Americans were partook in hard work and were consistent with their duties to improve their community, and make it a better place for all to live in. All we have to do is maintain these standards in the future, do you think we can?

Case Analysis: the Early Bird †Electric Power Load Despatching

Case Analysis: The Early Bird – Electric Power Load Despatching The Early Bird – Electric Power Load Dispatching Electric utility firms have, for more than two decades, used marginal productmarginal cost concepts to generate and dispatch electric power in a more efficient, lowercost manner. Southern Company, the nation’s third largest utility, refers to its load dispatching method as the â€Å"Early Bird† system. Southern’s Early Bird is designed to provide automatic, computerized control of all the company’s power production and transmission facilities. The Early Bird continuously calculates the marginal cost of delivering additional kilowatts of electricity to Southern Company customers anywhere in the company’s service area; then, as electricity demand rises or falls at points throughout the system, Early Bird transmits â€Å"raise† or â€Å"lower† impulses to the company’s generating units and routes the correct amount of electricity along the most economical transmission path to the end user. Periodically, Southern Company engineers test the operating efficiency of every piece of power-generating equipment the company has in service. The purpose of the test is to determine how much fuel, labor, and other variable inputs are required to produce electricity with that unit and, subsequently, to calculate a production function for that generating unit. Experience has shown that revised production function equations must be calculated from time to time because normal wear and tear, maintenance problems, and mechanical efficiency vary over time and from generator to generator, depending on who manufactured it, when it was purchased, how long it has been in service, and the reliability with which it has performed. In other words, the production function for a given generating unit shifts by sufficiently large amounts over time to make it worthwhile to update the input-output equation. The equations for the production functions of each generating unit are then fed into Early Bird and combined with information as to fuel prices, wage rates, and other variable input prices to obtain marginal cost functions; from these, MC values can be calculated for a particular generating unit at whatever rate it is being operated. In addition, because there is a loss of electricity in the course of â€Å"shipping† it through the transmission wires, Southern engineers make studies to determine the transmission loss coefficients from generating units to distribution substations. These, too, have to be updated several times a year since the transmission loss depends not only on the distance factor but also on the varying load characteristics of the system and changes in the transmission grid. The marginal cost equations, together with the transmission loss coefficients, are the nucleus for Early Bird’s control of power generation and transmission. When, during the course of a day, the demand for electricity picks up, the Early Bird system is programmed to compare the marginal costs of generation at each on-line unit and then to send impulses to raise the electricity output of the unit (or units) where MC is lowest. Simultaneously, another Early Bird program analyzes the transmission loss coefficients to calculate how best to allocate the increased load on the transmission grid so as to minimize transmission loss to the many substations and end-user locations. In similar fashion, when electricity demand falls off (as work shifts end and businesses close at the end of the day), the Early Bird system automatically sends impulses to reduce electricity generation at those power units where MC is highest and reroutes the remaining load to maintain maximum transmission economy and load-generation balance. At periods of peak demand, when on-line generating units are already operating at or near their minimum cost points, and assuming that water levels in Southern’s dam reservoirs are ample, Early Bird sends impulses to Southern’s hydroelectric facilities to open the gates and generate enough power to get across the peak. Southern’s power system control center is also equipped to forecast short-term loads for the next hour, day, or week. For example, weather data from all round Southern’s four-state service area are fed into the Early Bird network several times a day to help forecast heating and air-conditioning loads. The hourly, daily, and weekly Early Bird forecasts of upcoming load demands are used to preplan the mix of generating units to put on line and those to put on standby, to schedule maintenance, and to determine whether to exchange blocks of electricity with neighboring utilities. For instance, approximately 15 minutes prior to the beginning of an hour, Early Bird calculations as to the next hour’s generating and transmission costs are made; this information is then compared immediately with similar information obtained from adjoining utilities having interconnections with Southern’s transmission network. If it is determined that it would be more economical for Southern to buy a â€Å"block† of electricity from an adjacent company than to generate the electricity needed itself (because at the forecasted generating rates the other company will have lower MC than Southern), then an order is placed for that unit at a price set forth in the interchange agreement between the two companies. On the other hand, if Southern’s marginal costs are lower than those of its neighbors, then it may agree to sell a block. The exchange of electricity among interconnected companies based upon marginal cost calculations is common throughout the electric utility industry. As bigger and faster computers have become available, the functions of the Early Bird system have been expanded to permit. 1. Reductions in unnecessary â€Å"load-chasing,† with resultant savings on maintenance; 2. Monitoring the current operating status of generating units, line flows, voltages, station breakers, and switches as a basis for assessing the prevailing degree of security (reliability) within the system: . Altering the dispatch criteria to allow for reducing power output at a particular facility because of unexpected air or thermal pollution, yet doing so in a way which entails the least increased costs to the system; 4. Operating hydro, steam, combustion, and nuclear generating units in a mix which seeks to minimize fuel costs; and 5. Monitoring temperatures, oil pressures, stream flows, and so on at unattended hydro stations to give early notification of potential troubles.