The anti-smoking media campaign among adolescents

The anti-smoking media campaign among adolescents INTRODUCTION In the 20th century, smoking has been established as the leading cause of many preventable diseases (i.e. cancer) and deaths. Antismoking ads started in the 1967, when FCC required broadcasters to air one antismoking message for every three cigarette (Siegal 1998). At first these ads were free until it became effective to the audience that it eliminated the free advertisings. Throughout these years, it provided a worldwide dispute to health of the community. Liu reports: â€Å"Since Minnesota introduced the first paid anti-smoking media campaign in 1986, many other states have used a proportion of their cigarette excise tax revenue to fund large-scale anti-smoking advertisement through the mass media. Those media campaigns try to provide the public with health information about the harmful effects of smoking on health, and, therefore, change peoples smoking behavior, based on the theoretical hypothesis that more informed people are more likely to choose healthy lifestyle† (Liu 2009, p.29). Constantly, advertisers are creating advertisements, such as billboards, commercials and other interesting promotions, for anti-drugs and anti-smoking. It is found in many different places that can be simply seen by the public, preferably among adolescents and teenagers, to get their attention. For example, â€Å"Florida has reported that its Truth advertisements attacking tobacco firms are effective, on the basis of surveys showing 40% and 16% declines in smoking among middle and high school students in the state, respectively† (Penchman 1999, p.2). Recent studies have argued various points that these ads are not working for our city and future generations. Clearly, the government is clearly spending a lot of money for these advertisements but past presidents such as, George W. Bush, tempted with the idea to cut spending because of no concrete answer for a positive outcome. In addition, news media in different markets indicated that teenagers are using more marijuana because of these popular ads that they are constantly seeing in the media. For example, many adolescents feel that marijuana is fashionable drug among their peers because it is popular usage in media such as movies, commercials and many other outlets. Not all people involved in media have agreed with this statement. Others have disagreed with their counterparts and stated that these advertisements are actually working for many people. Research studies done in the past have proved that these advertisements have been a significant positive change for less use of drugs among society. Recently, these advertisements have been getting realistic to the point that it might scare potential users away. In addition, past surveys have been conducted which stated that majority of the people that seen these types of ads are trying to quit from destroying their health. Research studies that found some type of evidence for the success of these media campaigns such as, reducing cigarette consumption and drugs use among adolescents and adults shows that several governments have cut the spending on their control programs. The lost of funding has been in use in other areas such as the recent hit of the economic recession which could have a serious influence on the future success of antismoking and anti-drug control initiations. In addition, policy makers have stated that there is a lack of evidence that these messages are working. This topic brings back to the debate that these ads are producing cigarette use instead of stopping it. â€Å"Many researchers have different ideas on whether advertising for antismoking should be used for tobacco use prevention, which depends on both its effectiveness and cost-effectiveness† (Pechmann 1999, p.2). Currently, theyre no significant evidence that these ads are actually working media. Others are confused if these ads are wasting taxpayers money and not benefiting our society. â€Å"For instance, significant amount of research has been done on this topic and little conclusive evidence of a direct link between advertising-only interventions and reduced adolescent smoking dominance. However, I do agree there is an indirect evidence for the effectiveness of antismoking and antidrug advertising† (Pechmann 2003, p.16). â€Å"Mass communication media play such a significant role in contemporary society, that we could not conceive it without their presence† (Televisa). Since the introduction of media, smoking was brought into new heights and established new audience to attract. Tobacco companies have taken advantage of the media, which they have, supplied billions of dollars on advertising of tobacco. These companies make smoking glamorous, fun and â€Å"cool† to the public. Along with the advertising in media, many include general surgeon message, which is in fine print that many viewers do not notice the health concerns of the use of cigarettes. Recently there has been a surge of cancer among people that antismoking campaigns have been created to end or to put a stop on these glamorous ads and tobacco companies. The opposing ads demonstrated the negative aspects of smoking, which is mainly targeted for adolescents along with statistics on the mortality rate cause by smoking. Along wi th tobacco advertising, parents were another influenced for young adults to start smoking. The rival ads such (thetruth.com) started to use parents, whom do not smoke, as the anti-smoking and anti-drug gear towards the adolescents. Over the past seven years, television ads have gotten increasingly graphic and even gruesome. In recent months, television ads have gotten more graphical which has been taken a page from a horror movie. These ads are trying to hit an objective goal of having 20,000 smokers to stop the routine. In addition, New York City has raise up the prices on its pack of cigarettes up to $10. Along with habit, it is costing New Yorkers $250 a month just on smoking cigarettes which can use that money for other needs. The government wants to reduce people from smoking and its trying its best to achieve its goal. New York Officials claim that the ads are fighting â€Å"fire with fire† when comes to widespread cigarette advertising. For instance, â€Å"The National Cancer Institute reports cigarette manufacturers spend some $37 million a day on average to hawk their product, a whopping $13.5 billion per year† (Inbar). The message that these anti-smoking campaigns are doing is expressing that someone might suffer and die from smoking but also, it may wreck someones family. In the present-day, media depicts drug use and smoking as a popular craze to do. Televisions shows and movies depict drugs and smoking as a good habit and do not state any negative consequences on the use of it. Todays audience watches these shows and movies, which get the sense that smoking and using drugs is a â€Å"cool thing to do†. For example, HBOs television â€Å"Bored to Death† and 90s cult classic movie, â€Å"Half-Baked†, depicts characters that continuous smoking marijuana throughout the whole act. Throughout these programming, it does not stated any negative aspect from smoking marijuana but instead glamorous as a drug that can be use for relaxation. Television ads depict the negative aspects of marijuana and cigerrette use as someone whom can lose their concentration, vision and can cause serious damage to their brain cells. According to Variety, Triplett writes, â€Å"A senior lawmaker, Ed Markey (D-Mass.), wants more action from Hollywood against smoking, and the Motion Picture Association of America pledged to try opening a direct dialogue on the issue. Markey wants to ask MPAA topper Dan Glickman to improvise on the following: Including antismoking public service announcements on DVDs. Certifying that no one involved during a production received anything of value for using or displaying tobacco in the film and eliminating tobacco brand imagery from movies† (Triplett). If adolescents see their favorite actors or actresses smoking, it will lead them to believe that smoking is a good thing to do or not harmful. But these changes in the movie industry will try to eliminate smoking from their movie scenes to not influence anyone about smoking. It is great idea because many adolescents look up to these celebrities as role models. INTERVENTION The intervention to reduced smoking habits has been on the community and its two aims. The reasons for the campaigns are to highlight the dangers of smoking in terms of health and to reduce the amount smoked and potential smokers in the community. The statewide tobacco prevention and education campaign launched to target audience from ages 12-17 to inform them about the harsh realities of smoking. The campaign was created along with group of teen advisors whom themselves were smokers or knew someone that smoke to get the best perception to help succeed with these ads. The funds come from tobacco tax dollars that purpose is to be used for prevention efforts. The idea for this campaign is the let the audience know that smoking can be addictive and hard to quick. Not all of the campaigns are true, as it seems. For example, Baram writes about a famous controversial spokesperson for antismoking campaign but continue to smoke after he filmed a commercial about the harm that smoking can do for a human body. Baram writes: â€Å"Skip Legault, with his tale of two heart attacks, strokes and an amputated right leg, has become the star of anti-smoking posters and commercials blanketing New York since December. But the 48-year-old former repairman isnt getting the message Legault said he still smokes up to a full pack of Marlboros every day. I cant stop smoking, Legault told ABCNEWS.com. Ive been smoking since I was 8, and Im afraid to quit. ABC†. This case of Skip Legault made national headlines because of the issue of quitting smoking is much harder than it seems† (Baram 2008). Even, addictive smokers admit that it is hard. Many people believe that they can quit on their will but it is different. The chemicals drive these smokers to smoke more because of the addiction. A marketing campaign that has been successful in getting its message across is thetruth.com. The 1997 Settlement Act mainly funded the company. It has been the number one protestor against smoking. The anti-smoking campaign consists of several ways to reach to the massive amount of audience. Each way is to attract audience on the hazards that smoking can happen to an individual. The ads are in English and Spanish, which include television ads, radio ads, posters, cinema advertising, online media, social media, and Internet advertising and original websites. FUNDING Before 1988, mass media campaigns relied on free advertising through public service announcements or short-term funding for specific campaign (Siegal 1998). These ads were not aired during prime time, which made little progress towards reaching the mass audience. The ads were heavily dependant on donation of advertising time by broadcasters. In 1988, the use of mass media for antismoking changed by voters in California approved Proposition 99. This election required that tobacco companies donated 20% of their revenue for the state to provide educational programs and increased of the state cigarette tax by 25 cents. As Warner reports, â€Å"The purpose is to demonstrate that, with various combinations of policy changes, mass media information, and smoking cessation programs, smokers can be encouraged to stop smoking, and young people can be prevented from starting to smoke† (Warner 1982, pg.378) A court settlement that changed everything for antismoking media is 1997 settlement. The background begins,in August 1997, when the Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles made an historical out of court settlement among all tobacco companies at that time. The massive payout of $11.3 billion dollars is the considered the day that the straw that broke Joe Camels back† (Grossman 1997 p.290). This settlement led to the creation of thetruth.com whom is an advertising company that campaign against smoking. In addition, the money was used to compensate the state for public health costs caused by smoking-related illnesses.† The main goal of this settlement is to provide a way to lower down the use of cigarettes among young adults and give a helping hand to adults to quit smoking. The main idea of the settlement is to educate non-smokers about the effects of smoking and the harm of its chemicals. In â€Å"Cigarette Taxes†, Grossman reports that the agreement calls on tobacco companies to: Pay billions of dollars for a host of public education and health programs; Reimburse states for the cost of treating tobacco related illnesses; Set aside a multi-billion dollar fund to compensate smokers who win individual lawsuits against the tobacco companies; and Severely curtail marketing and advertising cigarettes, especially to teenagers. All of theses changes made a significant progress in the campaign against smoking. Since the settlement, smoking has been a decline for many users as they reported that the main reason to quit were due to the informercials and mass media adverstiing. The adversiting has faced some roadblocks in the process of succeeding. For example, in 1992, Gov. Wilson suspended Californias media campaign for other purposes. In 1995 and 1996, he censored and pulled other commercials that went against tobacco companies. The motivated behind this act still remains unsolved but it would not be surprise if he were supporting tobacco companies in some form of way. Another example, Siegal reports, in 1996, Assembly Speaker Curtis Pringle introduced a bill that would have restricted the media campaign to messages dealing with health and disallowed spots attacking the tobacco industry (Siegal 1998). TYPES OF CAMPAIGNS In March of 2009, the New York State Department of Health released ads for antismoking which cost $1.2 million from the states budget. The campaigns are featured in medical journals, newspapers and other publications such as the Internet. These ads are encouraging healthcare providers to make quitting a main concern with their patients who smoke. These ads were photo-shopped that featured images of patients with oversized ears to demonstrated that smokers are willing to listen from their doctors about the hazards of smoking. The reason for these ads is to attract healthcare workers because many adolescents go for their annual physical exam. Somehow, adolescents interact with doctors and nurses and are convincing to help these young adults to stop or before they start smoking. In earlier years of advertising, anti-smoking groups and health departments have attempted to oppose the advertising of tobacco by creating their own ads to emphasize the negative effects of smoking. The commercials included smoking cessation, the increased risk of lung cancer and other hazards problems that were seen passive for other public members. However, over the years, the ads have become more aggressive and more combative against smoking. Now these ads are focused on decreased physical attractiveness such as erectile dysfunction and graphical messages such as losing fingers and black lungs. These campaigns are much targeted to the younger crowd than its predecessor. Around the globe, smokers know that smoking tobacco is bad for their nature but they continue to do it regardless of their hazards that come along with it. Current smokers that I have met stated that the number one reason that they cannot stop smoking because of they are addicted to smoking and/or the use of tobacco. Many smokers are addicted to the scent and the nicotine, whom several years ago, the tobacco companies have tried to cover it up to make more money of it. Nicotine is a stimulant form of factor that has been considered one of the worst addictions to break compare to cocaine and heroin use. It is not the only chemical involved with cigarettes but along with 4,000 chemicals is involved which can make an individual much harder to quit. Aside from the fact that cigarette smoking can damage the health of the one smoking but it can also pose serious health risks to other people in the surrounding area. A person that smokes within distance can promote second hand smoke to his peers. This situation can lead to others to walk away from the venue and/or to move away from the entire scenery. Since Mayor Bloomberg was elected, he banned all types of smoking in nightclubs; restaurants and other public places to decrease second-hand smoke and increased businesses for these places that people avoided because of the tobacco smell. Smokers should be educated on their smoking can be to those people around them, including children. This is one of the reasons that anti-smoking campaigns focused on. The campaigners wanted to stop second hand in the neighborhood to prevent cancer and asthma. The campaign for the anti-smoking will try not to use propaganda but instead promote facts about the hazards of smoking. The posters for the campaign against smoking are with feature graphics that is within accepted limits for the culture that it is intended as not to attract negative publicity. The ads do not have any racist overtones or anything that will offend the mass public. The campaign was design to attract peoples attention regardless of race, color, age, and sex. The preferred approach for advertisers is arousing fear because nothing is as vivid as violence and nothing translates as to film as horror. The tendency of media to control against open-mindedness is one of the dominant themes in media criticism. The only aim of the campaign is to distribute as much promotional campaign against smoking as possible within a very limited area. In reference from thetruth.com, they have listed celebrities and well-known actors to get the message across to viewers that smoking is not â€Å"cool†. The anti-smoking group believes that having celebrities and other well-known faces will attract a bigger audience than having a request from the government and its surgeon general. There are several message theme labels that are use in anti-smoking advertising across the border. Based on Penchmanns recent research, â€Å"The message theme labels are the following: disease and death (Smokers suffer from health effects), endangers others, (second-hand smoke), cosmetics, (unattractive side effects), smokers negative life circumstances (loser lifestyle), refusal skills role model (role models do not smoke), marketing tactics (image advertising), selling disease and death (tobacco firms use manipulation and deception to sell a product that causes harm), and substantive variation (several messages use to spread one meaning)† (Penchmann 1994, p.240). Each message theme is use in their ways by marketers and campaigners. It has proved that all of them methods none have made the effort that the â€Å"shock method† has produce. Since 2007, the New York City Department of Health launched a series of anti-smoking campaigns which included smokers quit hotline and free nicotine patch and gum clinics in certain areas at certain times throughout the year. The television ads promoted the damage smoking can do to the body. These ads were noted for their graphic nature as well as their effectiveness. Since 2008, a second series of ads launched that can be seen nearly in every subway train station. It is about â€Å"Marie† a Hispanic Middle-Aged woman whom describes the amputations and pain she has undergone in relation to developing a disease that was the effects of smoking cigarettes. Each day routine smokers die from smoking related diseases each day. In a single cigarette 4700 cancer-causing chemicals are found which are have general surgeon messages pasted on the cigarette cartons. Despite the warnings, smokers continue to smoke. Some of these chemicals include acetone, ammonia, formaldehyde and arsenic. It is disgusting that people are putting these chemicals in their bodies and lungs daily. It is a suicide waiting to happen. Earlier times, Men were to consider smokers more than women. Times have changed and now more women smoke to deal with stress or problems. In addition, social influences such as friends and partygoers are most likely to smoke. Most modern women today will agree that the demand and multiple roles they have taken on have grown over the years. It is no small wonder that many have turned to cigarettes to deal with stress. EFFECTIVENESS Although the main goal of anti-smoking media campaigns is to quit smokers to quit smoking, little evidence suggests that the role of these campaigns are helping to stop. The campaigns can provide a new insight for young people such as non-smokers and those smokers wanting to quit to lead a normal life. These campaigns cost less money than sending someone to be hospitalized or suffer severe consequences because of smoking. It is a healthier and more prosperous future for our younger generation but not all of antismoking ads are effective. Research study has shown that the most successful campaigns are exposing the tobacco industrys manipulation on young adults; focus on themes of second hand smoke and cigarette addiction (Siegal 1998). Campaigns that simply say, â€Å"do not smoke† are the least successful because it not reinforcing adolescents to experience making decisions and the ability to grow up. For example, â€Å"most adolescents want to appear mature, independent, sav vy, attractive, and cool, and many think that not smoking will help them realize these goals. Smokers Negative Life Circumstances messages suggest that smoking is a barrier to achieving [these] goals (Penchmann 2003, p.10). These ads are effective in their own ways that likely to change someones thoughts on the idea of smoking. STATUS AND IMPACT The question is, â€Å"Does anti-smoking ads work?† It is a tough question to answer because there is no direct link that it does work. As Ms. Garcia, whom I interviewed, stated that â€Å"these aids are not working and the campaigners should find other ways to attract its audience.† The antismoking ads offer two ways that it can spread it messages. The messages are if a person smokes than that person would not succeed in life and if you do not smoke, you would be successful in life. The Tobacco remains one of the most widely abused substances. After writing this report and reading other research articles related to this topic, I found there is at least a connection with anti-smoking campaigns and decreased use of smoking among adolescents. For example, smoking is at historically low among groups of ages over 12 years old compared to the late 1990s when the campaign started. Many people believe because of the increased advertisements and its graphical nature has made i nfluenced in these changes. Most of the advertisements are found on during times that young adults are at home usually after school programming to get their attention. Before, it used to seen at various times of day. I believe it has made impact among our future generation and as long the government keeps pumping money into the campaign, I feel lower down smoking use but never fade it away. These ads had made an impact in society. When people are asked about these anti-smoking ads, their first impression is to mention the graphical nature that it has. Even younger adults have stated that, â€Å"if their lungs are going to turn black because of smoking, might as well not even start†. But not everyone agrees that these ads are effective, as it seems to be. For instance, Pearman Parker writes, They can [be effective], though, when they reinforce the perception that their close friends listen and respond to the campaigns.† In addition, Parker reports that the ads have been effective on younger teens but not towards adults. Parker writes, â€Å"Adults know it is unhealthy and knows what can happen to them but that does not change their behaviors.† Overall, anti-smoking has made big impact since 1998 with its â€Å"shock method†, it keep evolving and changing as time goes by. The ads that are picture in the campaign can be viewed as personal testimonials from smokers whom are having the negative side effects from smoking. In these ads, real people tell their own stories about the negative impacts that have cause throughout their lifetime. The main message to get across the audience is provide a sadness or fear mood. Teenagers are more bound to learn from personal testimonials because it provides some sort of realness to the picture of the negative effects of smoking. CONCLUSION: POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS According Penchmanns recent study done in 2002, â€Å"our findings to date suggest that tobacco-marketing (anti-industry) advertisement may not be especially effective with adolescents, though such advertisements are popular, in part because of the apparent success of the Florida Truth campaign.† It has been proven that The Truth Campaign has been the most successful in decreasing smoking habits among adolescents. Anti-smoking campaigns have other free options to promote their cause against smokers and the tobacco industry. The funds that the campaigners get can be use to provide free addiction clinics and research studies to help smokers on how to quit. As newspapers are fading away such as, their revenues have fallen 23% over the last two year (The State of News Media). Anti-smoking campaigns can push for interactive ways using social media and social networking. They can promote and advertise on MySpace, Twitter and Facebook to get users to join the campaign and give awaren ess of the health hazard on tobacco. For instance, social networking can reach to the other audiences especially to the crowd that attracts the most of its first-users are the adolescents. Another way of social media that antismoking campaigners can use is YouTube to gain more audiences. According to Hempel, â€Å"YouTube is the largest video platform in the world (Hempel 37).† People behind the campaign can run concepts such as viral campaigns with homemade videos. The adolescent group is the most users of social networking and the anti-smoking campaign can promote their product with graphical ads that can catch their eyes. Using social media will be a great way to interact with young adults. For example, using Facebook Connect, the creators can create an ad that collects the users information and create a video on the hazards of smoking tobacco with the information use of the viewer. Only the viewer will get to see the commercial ad to avoid controversy with others watching it unless the person wants to show to the mass. In conclusion, anti-smoking advertisements have been a great topic to cover throughout the research. It has its positives and negatives on certain areas that affect various groups throughout the New York State and the nation as a whole. Many researchers oppose that the campaign has not been working because of the massive funds that the government invested since the 1997 settlement. In addition, many campaigners agreed that the campaign is positively proceeding to a certain extent because of the decline of smoking users have gone down. The percentage is not big but it shows that it is effective. The question to answer is what is the status and impact on adolescents by the anti-smoking campaign? The status is the campaign is still trying to attract adolescents not to smoke and the impact has that many young adults have been listening to these ads especially of the shock method nature of it. Will it succeed to stop people from smoking? The true answer is no because of the addictive chem icals involved in tobacco will make smokers hard to quit. As Penchman writes, â€Å"It is conceivable that advertising that is ineffective on its own becomes effective when combined with other effort.† The campaign needs to develop a strategy to help people to quit. As Ms. Karp from MSNBC reports, that the Internet outlet is the best source to use to expand advertising strategy. For instance, withdrawal clinics, nicotine patches, non-for-profit outpatient treatment can help smokers in many places that the campaign is not helping. Overall, the anti-smoking is making an impact among all people and the status of campaign will become stronger because it is here to stay. Bibliography 2009 Join us in our Anti Smoking Campaign because Its Time To Quit Smoking Healthy Living on Shine. Astrology | Horoscopes, Celebrity Horoscopes, Chinese Astrology, Compatibility Tools, and Gift Guides on Shine. Web. 01 Nov. 2009. . Baram, Marcus. Star of Anti-Smoking Campaign Still Puffs. ABC News. 11 Jan. 2008. Web. . Note: The article helps me understand it is hard to quit smoking. The fellow interviewed in the article was seen in an antismoking ad early in the year but still smokes today. The author writes about the hardships of quitting smoking and advertisements are not what it seems to be. Berger, Arthur Asa. Media and Communication Research Methods. SAGE 2000. Pgs 3 173. CBC. Anti-smoking campaigns apparently have little effect on youth. CBC.ca. CBC News. Web. 01 Nov. 2009. . Note: The article is based from Alberta, Canada. This website was helpful because it gave a different point of view from the ant-smoking campaign. It helps me understand the two sides from the debate and on the reasons on why it is not working. Elhart, Mary. Statewide Anti-Smoking Campaign Takes New Approach in Curbing Teen Smoking | Reuters. Reuters.com. Arizona Department of Health Services Bureau of Tobacco Education Prevention, 16 Feb. 2009. Web. 01 Nov. 2009. . Note: The author of this article discusses new ways that the antismoking campaigns can evolve. The author mentions different areas where the campaign is lacking and to make it stronger to decrease smokers. Grohol, John. Scare or Disgust Work Best in Anti-Smoking Ads | Psych Central News. Psych Central. 17 Nov. 2008. Web. 01 Nov. 2009. . Note: Grohol discusses the â€Å"shock method† message that can be seen in antismoking advertising. It is helpful because it mentions different ads in their shock message. The shock method is one of the most effective techniques found in advertising. Grossman, Michael and Frank J. Chaloupka. â€Å"Cigarette Taxes: The Straw to Break the Camels Back† Public Health Reports (1974-), Vol. 112, No. 4 (Jul. Aug., 1997), pp. 290-297. Association of Schools of Public Health Hall, Nicholas G., John C. Hershey, Larry G. Kessler, R. Craig Stotts. â€Å"A Model for Making Project Funding Decisions at the National Cancer Institute† Vol. 40, No. 6 (Nov. Dec., 1992), pp. 1040-1052 Source: Operations Research,

Issues with Unlimited Police Powers

Issues with Unlimited Police Powers Police is enforcement is a vibrancy interpretation of the law, safeguarding citizens from threats of anti social elements qualifies to be the most decisive police job description. Crime is an act for which on may punished by law. A criminal describes someone who has broken the accepted laws of the country by his or her action. The police is the people who have power to bring criminals to justice. Clearly there are limits on a precincts ability to use its police power to control the persons and property of citizens. The general rule is that the means employed in the exercise of the police power can be neither arbitrary nor oppressive, and there must be a reasonable and substantial relationship between the means employed and the end to be attained. In today world, we are facing many incidents of police powers and their authority, if police have unlimited power when dealing with crime, the issue of corruption will be occur. The police corruption has been used to describe many activitie s such as bribery, violence, brutality, fabrication and destruction of evidence, favouritism and nepotism. Corruption of authority is when an officer receives some form of material gain by merit of their position as a police officer with violating the law. Police may use their authority to get some extra income when dealing with criminal. It is most commonly happen when police dealing with traffic offenders or maybe a murder. Police may receive some pocket money, when the traffic offenders are trying to escape from traffic tickets. It happens every day in our real life. Bribery will be happen if the murder criminal is a richer, they can even escaped arrested with money. So when bribery is happen, the richer criminals do not need to be punished by law. The truth cannot be found, the victim cannot find the murderer. The unsolved crime is gradually increased. Favoritism and nepotism also is the reason may cause innocent. Police may actually protect the people they would like to protect, such as their family even they are likely to be criminals. The fabrication and destruction of evidence may happen due to escape legal of sanctions. With such behavior, is often result more victims and more innocent events. This is actually unfair to the public. These are also the reason why we still have lot of unsolved crime in our country. Police are human, human are prone to error. Unlimited power means police dont have to abbey the law or the constitution. Meaning they are allow to do absolutely anything to the suspects of the crime. There is now the era of numerous incidents of police brutality against criminal suspects resulting in serious injuries and deaths. The police may use abuse on the suspects who may actually innocent. There have been several cases involving. This was certainly the case in the deaths of three innocent school boys who were shot dead by the police. The police said they ignored orders to surrender and opened fire at police personnel. It was great suspicion of foul play, because there is no witnesses, no police cars with bullet shots, no wounded policemen. Where there is a death by police shooting, the authority alleges that the deceased attacked and the police acted in self defense. Families of those shot dead have often protested that the deceased had no history or track record of any crimina l activity, again raising questions about the veracity of police claims. The police may assume the things they do to be helping society, such acts may include violence towards the suspect. However, the victim may feel unfair, but still, since the right is given to the police, they are not responsible in inflicting damages to the victim. A string of vicious murders by the police on suspects have left the nation loathe and distrust the police for the police force. It is very difficult to believe that these deaths are caused by the very institution is supposed to protect and preserve justice, even to those who are suspected individuals. This is not the usual situation of having to put up with police corruption, misconduct, mistreatment and heavy-handedness as part of our life everyday life. It will continue to happen as long as the police have the discretion and unlimited power in their hands to interpret as they like the Federal Constitution. Social unrest may also occur due to the police having unlimited powers, the victim may feel unfair due to police corruption. Riots might happen due to the seeking of justice for the victim may result. Social unrest may cause our country political unstable. Social unrest not only will cause the loss of many innocent lives, it will also in the drop of our economic level, Foreign investors will no longer take interest in investing in a country with internal conflicts. Such an incident is similar to that of the 1992 Los Angeles riots which were sparked when the jury acquitted four police officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King when he resisted arrest. Looting, assault, arson and even murder occurred. The country took a long time to settle the unrest, resulting in loss of revenue for the country. This shows how a country can adversely affected due to unlimited powers given to the police, this all actually can be avoid. It is important to the government to overlook the effect of giving such right to the police before doing so ensure best to the country and its people. In my opinion, police should not have unlimited power when dealing with crime. Although the police have ether assumed or have been assigned responsibility for dealing with many more of complex crime and social problem, but their job is to service people. The mission of police is to control crime, we expect them to perform, a crime control role. They should not be giving authority to judge a criminal. Their job is to find out the criminal and left them to legal sanctions.

Maybe Later Essay -- Personal Narrative Creative Writing Essays

Maybe Later She’s sitting there, a blown-out shell as hulking and vacant and lifeless as the enchanted castles of my beloved fairy-tale stories. The television cries for attention, but her eyes refuse to acknowledge even its blatant wail. Behind tinted glass—is that smudged dirt or a protective coating?—eyes finally flutter open, the first sign of life. Are they blank? Do they beg for help or scream of past and present pain? I can’t say—I haven’t the courage to look. The world rotates around its axis three times an hour and I run with it. â€Å"Soccer cleats, water bottle, there you go.† â€Å"Fine—I’ll be there in an hour.† â€Å"Okay, groceries, post office, soccer practice . . . hmm . . . what do you want for dinner?† Family members dance around the kitchen in the ultimate test of agility to avoid tromping on another’s toes. â€Å"There’s nothing to eat!† â€Å"Love you—bye!† â€Å"Come back here! Pick that up right now!† A slap of the cupboard door, dashed kisses, and a sprint for keys—trip! crash! yell! A mad cacophony—entirely normal, unsettling, and dear. Grandma sits there. She has not moved. The eye of the storm? Or merely forgotten by time? Dad and I walk away from it all sometimes, releasing frustration in fruitless lament. Sometimes we laugh bitterly. Sometimes his words are a painful reminder of a happier and more carefree time. â€Å"I just had to get out of the house. Usually I can take it—but tonight!† His stride slows in failure. â€Å"I never wanted you to realize how different she is. I tried—I hoped you’d never recognize her illness. And pretending used to work. I’m—I’m sorry you have to see it now. She used to love to visit, you know, and you loved her back.† I strain to remember lost time and attitude... ...te and poofy dress waving a crystalline magic wand and saying the magic words as I am instantaneously granted love and patience and relief from guilt and dread. But there is no magic wand or sudden connection of love and understanding. There is no resolution of perfect peace. I stare at these words and am instead startled, not by supreme happiness or tranquility, but by a resilient hope. The world does not end with this page. I will push print and the world will go on, and I will continue to create my world. â€Å"Happily ever after† is unnecessary. Instead, maybe I will sit down next to her and simply speak. Tonight maybe I will kiss her cheek as she goes up to bed. Maybe I will hold her hand as she struggles up the stairs or joke with her, whether she understands or not. This is no end, and there doesn’t yet need to be—I’m still trying. to Current Contest Winners

Colombia Report Essay -- essays research papers

The Deaf population in the United States is composed both of individuals Deaf since early childhood and individuals who lost their hearing later in life. The "Deaf Community", a heterogeneous mix of people from all walks of life, represents every socio-economic and racial category. However, this group of people consider themselves "a community" because they are bound by a common culture, history, heritage and, most importantly, a common language. This language, which forms the foundation of the Deaf Community, is known as American Sign Language (ASL). ASL is a beautiful and expressive visual language that holds the Deaf Community together. (Lake) Unfortunately, deaf/Hard of hearing people have long been victims of discrimination. Lacking a â€Å"voice†, hearing people have assumed that Deaf people are incapable, and have made decisions for Deaf people on their behalf. Even today the attitude toward Deaf people is that they are incapable of accomplishing anything including their own dreams. This message of incapability is sinking into the heads of many Deaf children and adults. Deaf people as a group are underemployed or unemployed period. Many community based services are unwilling to make accommodations to meet the needs of this unique population. Being deaf means that you can’t hear the conversations in supermarkets, in banks, at the post office, at work, at school, etc. All of these which hearing people take for granted. This means that a deaf person is often found in situations where they can’t follow what is being said and are often confused, scared, and isolated. The attitudes of hearing people toward Deaf people tend to pervade deaf/HOH people’s relationships with their family, educational environment, employers, and fellow co-workers. Some examples are, accepting lower expectations of themselves based on perceptions of hearing people, and lacking confidence as a result of being raised in an overprotective environment, or having things done for them. When it comes to education, deaf/HOH people are also discriminated against. Unfortunately, residential schools for the deaf are often sorely deficient in actual education. The teachers rarely use ASL or teach Deaf history and in most places are not required to. The administrations are often made up of hearing people who are still... ...imination that goes on is to start raising awareness of the deaf community. There are some very easy things that you can do to learn about the deaf culture. One very easy way is to attend a deaf awareness event. Many amusement parks such as Paramount Kings Dominion in Virginia and Six Flags hold deaf awareness days. There are also many baseball teams that hold deaf awareness nights at the ballpark. Many schools, programs, and organizations for the deaf also hold annual deaf awareness events or festivals. These are some very easy ways to learn about the deaf culture and have fun at the same time. Another way is to join or volunteer to an organization. There are many deaf groups and organizations that are in need of volunteers to get involved and help with the deaf community. As I said before, we are lacking interpreters and people to interact with the Deaf and we can start to improve that area by having more people get involved and learn about the deaf community. In conclusion, deafness is a disability of communication. Given equal opportunities to communicate at home, in school, and at work, the Deaf individual can and will succeed and make a positive impact on the community.

Green Computing Research Essay

The Green Computing research project is well underway and we have to select a research tool that will help with quality control. The choices are Cause and effect diagrams, control charts, Run charts, scatter diagrams, histograms, Pareto charts and flow charts. I am a huge fan of statistical analysis however; it is not one of the seven tools we have to work with. Therefore, I have chosen the Pareto Chart method to help with our quality control. A Pareto Chart will allow us to look at energy consumption over a period of time and break it down to what was the major factor leading to the increase or decrease. Therefore, we can evaluate changes made in hardware and processes and see which ones had the greatest or worst effect over that period. This will help to satisfy Ben and Ito’s concerns for the projects quality research and fulfill the company’s goal of reducing costs, increasing profit margin and at the same time becoming greener. This project should be fairly easy to map out. We will simply take a detailed analysis of the energy consumption of periods of time and then look to see what variables made different periods greater or less than others. The Pareto principle is sometimes referred to as the 80-20 rule (Schwalbe, 2011) where 80% of the problems are caused by 20% of the causes. This could also be considered inversely where 80% less energy consumption can be attributed to 20% better habits. This method can also easily be translated into a flowchart over time, allowing us to focus in on the energy consumption for processes, equipment and times of day. Once the problems or benefits are identified processes can be developed to act on them accordingly. The use of this method will help to break out the consumptions for the project team and leadership in a simple to follow diagram, that can be used in the decision making process. The Pareto tool works well when the processes can be easily categorized into benefits and detriments. Once the processes are categorized, then they can be prioritized. This is where the whole leadership team gets involved, to include the stakeholders. Then these prioritized categories can be made into a hierarchical structure with substance and value. This Pareto analysis chart is rather easy to produce in Microsoft Excel, which is a good thing because I am fairly competent with the process using MS Excel. We simply put in a table the consumption values during the determined period of study and then turn it into a chart and you have a visual of the consumption periods. We can then find the highest consumption periods and compare them to any changes or patterns differences from the lower periods. Then these values can be re-charted in another analysis chart to visually compare the major causes of energy consumption. In conclusion, the Pareto analysis will allow us to identify the major energy consumption issues or the major energy conservation savings factors and allow us to prioritize them in a hierarchical manner. Then the decision making process can begin to work to reduce the overall costs and save energy at the same time.

Schema

Schema as Hirsch has defined it is an â€Å"unified system of background relationships† that allows people to understand the â€Å"surface meaning† of a statement (Hirsch 54). If people can find ways to influence students about things that are important in the world, they would grow up connecting series of things important nowadays, and end up having the knowledge to choose what they can do next. If a person contains schema about environmental problems, and how to solve them, they would automatically put things side by side and build a solution for it. With the help of schema, people most especially students can be able to focus on what is important in the society today. If the student graduates with the mental ability to know automatically what is right for their health and be aware of the environment problems, they can lessen the cause of it and the world would be a better place. If the student graduates with the general knowledge of choosing healthy foods, obesity would be lessened and if they graduate with the general knowledge to be aware of what they do to the environment, global warming would slow down. In the end, since schema cannot be taught, institutions should change the curriculum to teach information that will inform the schemata, so that the generation to come would automatically do what is right for them and for the environment.

The Problems of Children with Disabilities and Possible Ways of Solution

The Problems of Children with Disabilities and Possible Ways of Solution Problem Statement Nowadays, the main problem of each state’s assessment program is to find the ways for disabled students to get appropriate knowledge and be able to show high scores. It is important to clarify the factors that make the assessment easier and to provide necessary facilities for those who have various types of disabilities (Wise, 2010).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Problems of Children with Disabilities and Possible Ways of Solution specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Considering statistics, about 137,930 students (11.1% of the city population) in New York require specific teaching strategies due to different disabilities. Among these students, 46% have learning disabilities, 13% have emotional disturbance and 24% have speech language impairments (Hehir et al, 2005). Disabled students need a separate form of assessment. Specialized organizations should pay more attention to programs for disabled students as it is the only way to improve students’ academic performance. Importance of the Issue/Problem Students with such learning disabilities as dyslexia, speech sound disorders, and reading comprehension need to be provided with corresponding methods and programs to accelerate the speed of performance in different types of tasks. Many people in New York are those with disabilities who should not be left without appropriate attention. â€Å"Intelligibility of the speech† and â€Å"cognitive and neurological deficiency† (Jason et al., 2011, p.157) are not the reasons to remain without grading or being graded low. The implementation of the specific grading system may help disabled students get high grades and feel deserving members of the society. Being different, disabled students also can learn, they just need specific methods for teaching and assessment to be implemented. The possibility to incorporate those changes may lead to more successfu l results of disabled students. Background of the Problem The problem of learning disorder was implemented in 1963 in Chicago, Illinois (Grigorenko, 2007). The main problem was founded in neurological system of a person that affects the general abilities of perception of certain information in doing different tasks.Advertising Looking for research paper on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More During the past years, scholars have been trying to find the ways out of this problem. A lot of types of media programs such as television shows and films, a great number of books and various articles were created about the matter of learning disorder. It is a big problem for a disabled person to have good results in academic performance. Speech sound production is one of the main and widespread problems nowadays. Unfortunately, specialized groups and classes for such people are few and they not always have specific assess ment system. Teachers of private and public schools make use of time by paying attention to general educational problems and teaching common skills and ways to work. There should be more programs for disabled students with different gaps in physical and mental development. Presently, there are a lot of new educational models and modern informational technologies used for different forms in the educational process. People with disabilities should be provided with â€Å"visual and auditory supports† (Wade, Boon, Spencer, 2010, p. 38). There are many special groups that work out the tasks equal both for people with learning disabilities and those of typical abilities. It is a good step in the process of solving the issue out. It is very important for disabled people to be on the same level with others in the conditions that compensate the deviations in the development and constraints of the abilities in learning (Beate, Matsushita, Raskind, 2011). It is obvious that specialize d programs and institutions working with disabled people give positive results and show their increased performance level. It goes without saying that the changes of a personality do not occur under the influence of the violation of some particular function but they are impacted by a person’s integration into the system of social relation. This fact can be compared with the occurrence of physical disabilities and factors that may cause such dysfunctions. Fortunately, the variety of forms and methods of specialized education has different selective approaches for its participants. A big step forward is the â€Å"use of a computer-based story mapping procedure on the acquisition of nine specific story grammar components† (Wade, Boon, Spencer, 2010, p. 31). This innovative process gives a good opportunity to improve the level of comprehensive reading that turned out to be a very successful project in the whole aspect of education.Advertising We will write a custo m research paper sample on The Problems of Children with Disabilities and Possible Ways of Solution specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Purpose The revision of the existing programs and methods for assessment of the disabled students may help us reconsider the learning process of disabled students and improve their academic performance. Definition of Key Terms Dyslexia is â€Å"a specific disability that interferes with the acquisition of written language at the word level, characterized by deficits in accurate and/or fluent word recognition, decoding, and spelling† (Jason et al., 2011, p. 886). Research-Room Setting is â€Å"a separate classroom setting where students with disabilities receive individualized instruction† (Swanson, Vaughn, 2010, p. 481). Informational Processing Speed is â€Å"the speed of performance during a variety of different cognitive tasks† (Beate, Matsushita, Raskind, 2011, p. 885). Learning disab ilities are defined as specific problems students have in psychological processes, such as language understanding or using, problems with listening, thinking, or speaking, and the disabilities connected with such skills as writing, spelling, or calculating (Kavale, Spaulding, Beam, 2009). Assessment program may be defined as a variety of educational settings which cover â€Å"individual and group, standardized and informal, and formative and summative† purposes (Comprehensive assessment and evaluation, 2011, p. 4). Reference List Beate, P., Matsushita, M. H., Raskind, W. (2011). Global processing speed in children with low reading ability and in children and adults with typical reading ability: explanatory factor analytic models. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 54(3), 885-899.Advertising Looking for research paper on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Comprehensive assessment and evaluation of students with learning disabilities a paper prepared by the national joint committee on learning disabilities. (2011). Learning Disability Quarterly, 34(1), 3-16. Grigorenko, E.L. (2007). Learning disabilities. In A. Martin, R. F. Volkmar, M. Lewis (Eds.), Lewiss child and adolescent psychiatry: a comprehensive textbook (pp. 410-417). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams Wilkins. Hehir, T., Figueroa, R., Gamm, S., Katzman, L. I., Gruner, A., Karger, J., Hernandez, J. (2005, September 20). Comprehensive management review and evaluation of special education. The New York City Department of Education, 1-116. Jason, L. A., Greenblatt, A. R., Dunkelberger, J. M., Anthony, I. A., Williams. M. J., Zhang, Z. (2011). What factors place children with speech sound disorders at risk for reading problems? American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 20, 146-160. Kavale, K. A., Spaulding, L. S., Beam, A. P. (2009). A Time to define: Making the sp ecific learning disability definition prescribe specific learning disability. Learning Disability Quarterly, 32(1), 39-48. Swanson, A. E., Vaughn, S. (2010). An observation study of reading instruction provided to elementary students with learning disabilities in the resource room. Psychology in the Schools, 47(5), 481-492. Wade, E., Boon, T. R., Spencer, G. V. (2010). Use of Kidspiration software to enhance the reading comprehension of story grammar components for elementary-age students with specific learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal, 8(2), 31-41. Wise, L. L. (2010). Accessible reading assessments for students with disabilities: summary and conclusions. Applied Measurement in Education, 23, 209-214.