Tarantino and Scorsese considered auteurs Essay Example For Students

Tarantino and Scorsese considered auteurs Essay The auteur debate was initiated by Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut, 2 key French New Wave directors.  Both Scorsese and Tarantino are considered by many to be auteurs, many film critics and others in the industry have stated that with films made by both these directors can be identified as theirs before being told so. This is a true auteur; someone who can make all their films along the same guidelines, and put their stamp on every scene of every film. They bring their character, thoughts, feelings and interests to their films, the films seen personal to the director. Tarantino is probably seen as the most famous auteur, most people, whether theyve watched his films or not, know he has a certain style of film making. In all his films Tarantino uses dark humor, for example he tries to make violence appear funny, he takes aspects from other films, whether this be a scene, a character, a storyline or a technique, music from the 1970s and a large amount of the same actors. We will write a custom essay on Tarantino and Scorsese considered auteurs specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Tarantinos first major film that set him on to be an auteur was Reservoir Dogs made in 1992. Almost immediately, one of Tarantinos symbolic features is used, we see someone torturing someone else whilst making jokes, i.e. making violence seem funny, and dancing along to Stuck in the middle with you thus using seventies music and dark humor.  Reservoir Dogs, being the first of Tarantinos films, meant it is slightly different to lots of his other films, some aspects of it, although similar to his auteur styles in later films, are not quite so prominent, this could be because as a director starting out, he had to see how the audience would react to things such as his use of dark humor. If they liked this he could develop it further in later films, as we see he goes on to do. Another thing which is done in Reservoir Dogs, is Tarantino giving characters mysterious names, the characters are known by their surname for example Mr. White.  Tarantinos use of 1970s music is seen in all of his films, this aspect of his films tends to agree with the definition of him being an auteur. In Jackie Brown (1998) the beginning credits and sequence is accompanied by music from the 1970s. Pulp Fiction (1994) also has a large amount of music from the 1970s, throughout the whole film. Essentially the only music that is heard in all of Tarantinos films is from the 1970s. By doing this, Tarantino is making it easier for the audience to recognise that these films are in fact his. It is not just the music that Tarantino uses to make references to the 1970s. He, in fact, makes many references to the 1970s in his films, for example in Kill Bill (2002) the film starts with Our Feature Presentation written on screen, which was often used on films in cinemas in the 1970s. Another example of reference to the 1970s is in Kill Bill 2 (2004) Tarantino puts in a character called Pie May which is a direct reference to the martial arts character of 1970s films.  Tarantinos vast amount of 1970s references, are used because they represent Tarantinos views and personal likes as he grew up in the 1970s and identifies largely with things from this era. Something else which we see in most of not all of Tarantinos films is the use of feet. Tarantino himself had a thing for feet and so portrayed this in his films. For example in Jackie Brown in the sequence where we are introduced to Bridget Fondas character, Melanie, we see her feet first and often when she is talking the camera is focused largely on her feet. Also in Pulp Fiction, there is conversation about feet, as the two main characters, Vince and Jules are walking into the building at the beginning they talk about foot massages. .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904 , .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904 .postImageUrl , .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904 , .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904:hover , .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904:visited , .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904:active { border:0!important; } .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904:active , .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904 .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u50236b095f9af4ee1c00c1fd1f72f904:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Film Summary - The Help EssayTarantino often works with the same characters in his films, for example Samuel L Jackson appears in Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill 2. Also Uma Thurman appears in Pulp Fiction and both of the Kill Bill films.  Tarantinos films often involve long periods of dialogue which have no relevance to the film, but are used as to bring humor to the violence of his films. An example of this would be in Pulp Fiction, in the beginning Jules and Vince are in the car on their way to shoot someone, but are having a normal conversation about burgers. Tarantino also likes to play with graphics on screen, he often , uses captions on screen to show what is happening, or show the time it is when something happens, this happens in all of his films.  Another thing that is done by Tarantino is his invention of products, instead of using existing products and therefore using product placement, Tarantino likes to invent his own products to use, for example he invents the cereal we see in Kill Bill and the coffee we see in Pulp Fiction. One other thing that Tarantino often includes in his films, as that we see the same sequence but from a different perspective. This happens in Jackie Brown, when we see the women leaving the money in the changing room of a shop and it being picked up by someone else, twice but the perspective of two different people so are seeing two sides to the same story.  Tarantinos films are very different to the films of other directors in the way the narrative is structured, the types of storyline, the characters and the references in them. For this reason it is quite clear that Tarantino is a true auteur. Martin Scorsese is also considered an auteur, his films are all linked in some way or other and all have his signature over them. One film critic said of Scorsese Martys such an auteur; every frame of Raging Bull has his stamp on it. This is also said to be true of all of his films.  Martin Scorsese is hugely interested in the three themes of violence, religion and redemption; this can be seen in his films. The basic story line for each of the films is based around these themes.  Taxi driver (1976) is the story of a Manhattan Taxi driver, and his slow fall into insanity through a path of religion and violence. Travis is an insomniac living in New York; as a result of his insomnia he takes a job as night Taxi driver.

The Use of I in First Person Narration

The Use of I in First Person Narration The Use of â€Å"I† in First Person Narration The Use of â€Å"I† in First Person Narration By Maeve Maddox Graham Broadley wrote: If I am writing a short story in the first person are there any tips or tricks for avoiding the overuse of the word i? My usual writing style leans towards short sentences but this seems to increase the frequency of the word â€Å"I† popping up.   Are longer sentences a way round the problem? Also, Im trying to avoid sentences starting with â€Å"I†.   Do you have any advice, tips and tricks for writing in the first person? It is inevitable that writing in first person will require frequent use of I, me, and myespecially I. This should not present a problem. In a first person narration, the pronoun â€Å"I† is probably as invisible to the reader as the word â€Å"said.† Besides, the point of writing in first person is to establish an intimate bond with the reader. The reader becomes the â€Å"I† of the story. Listen to your own words and thoughts during the course of a day. The word â€Å"I† is probably the most frequent word that forms in your mind and comes from your mouth. Plenty of websites discuss the use of first person narration, but I think the best way to see what works and what doesn’t is to analyze a published work of fiction. You might want to analyze some of your favorite writers to see how they deal with the pronoun I. For example, in preparing this post I took a close look at the way Laurie R. King handles it. Laurie R. King is a prolific writer, averaging a book a year since the publication of her first novel in 1993. She has created not one, but two mystery series. One is set in contemporary California and features Inspector Kate Martinelli. The other is set in the era of Sherlock Holmes and features Mary Russell. King has also written several stand-alone novels. So far I’ve read only some of the Mary Russell books. I find them intelligent, entertaining, and unputdownable. I’ll analyze a few pages to see how King deals with the problems mentioned by our reader. In the first chapter of A Letter of Mary, about 2,000 words, the pronoun â€Å"I† appears 60 times. Note: All of these figures are approximate. Here’s the breakdown on how the pronoun I is distributed: Mary 39 Holmes 7 Dorothy Ruskin (in a letter) 14. The paragraph with the greatest number contains nine: †Megalomania, perhaps; senility, never.† I stood and watched a small fishing boat lying off shore, and I wondered what to do. The work was going slowly, and I could ill afford to take even half a day away from it. On the other hand, it would be a joy to spend some time with that peculiar old lady, whom I indeed remembered very well. Also, Holmes seemed interested. It would at least provide a distraction until I could decide what needed doing for him. â€Å"All right, we’ll have her here a day sooner, then, on the Wednesday. I’ll suggest the noon train. I’m certain Mrs Hudson can be persuaded to leave something for our tea, so we need not risk our visitor’s health. I also think I’ll go to Town tomorrow and drop by the British Museum for a while. Will you come?† Sentence length does not seem to have much to do with the frequency of I. King’s sentences tend to be long. Sentences that begin with the pronoun I don’t particularly jump out. In the analyzed passage, 14 of the narrator’s 39 subject pronouns begin sentences. Bottom line: Write your first person story without worrying about the pronouns. You can always see ways to reduce them in revision, if you think it’s necessary. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:16 Substitutes for â€Å"Because† or â€Å"Because Of†The Possessive ApostropheMay Have vs. Might Have

Sculptures of Ancient India and Greece Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sculptures of Ancient India and Greece - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that if one takes a look at the ancient statutes of gods that both cultures produced, one will be able to see that there are some similarities between them. Zeus of Artemisium and Shiva of Brahmaputra Valley show the deities in positions that feature the perfect balance of posture. Indeed, while Zeus is standing firm and his feet, Shiva is dancing. However, each posture is elegant. On the other hand, these two sculptures also show the differenced between the approaches. Thus, Zeus is shown as an athletic middle-aged man, while Shiva is depicted as having eight arms. Nevertheless, it would not occur to the Ancient Indians that having eight arms is not realistic. Now, it may be advantageous to turn to the analysis of the sculptures that depict people. The two examples that will be used are the famous Discobolus and Dancing girl from Mohenjo-daro. As for the similarities that these two works of art possess, one might suggest that they give the r ights proportions of the human body create an adequate image of a person. However, there is a significant difference: while the body in Discobolus is shown in all correct anatomic details, Dancing girl provides only a general appearance of the body, allowing the audience to focus on the spiritual message that it sends. This means that the Greek statue is similar to the contemporary photo, but is made in marble, while the art of Ancient India is more concerned with the meaning than with the actual form. As one can clearly see, the differences in the depiction of gods and men that were explored in the paragraphs above might be easily explained if one recalls the cultural values and ideas that were dominant in Ancient India.

Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 4

Business - Essay Example The product to be marketed is a wide range of cosmetics (100%Vegetarian) especially lipsticks, and it would be launched in the Indian market by the name: To enter into a new market firstly a Market Research has to be done and thus, I have prepared a questionnaire for the females between 16-55 yr as a part of my Primary Market Research analysis. Also I have applied Porter’s Five Forces Model i.e. the threat of substitute products, the threat of the entry of new competitors, the intensity of competitive rivalry, the bargaining power of customers, and the bargaining power of suppliers. Culture is the manner in which things are performed within a society, community or nation. Culture is not a trait that comes with birth but it is learnt over a span of several years. The major things that can be observed amongst Indian culture are as follows:- The Terpstra and Sarathy Cultural Framework helps marketing managers to assess the cultural nature of an international market. The Eight categories are Language, Religion, Values and Attitudes, Education, Social Organizations, Technology and Material Culture, Law and Politics and Aesthetics. 1. Language: - There are as many as 22 official languages in India. The national language of the country is Hindi and most of the people in the country are quite well versed with English as well owning to the British rule in the country for around 200 years. 2. Religion: India is considered to be a land of unity in diversity. Many religions are practiced in the country including Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Islamism, Sikhism, Christianity etc. The cow is considered sacred in Hinduism. She is the one who should be worshipped for the various graces she bestows on humanity. 40% of the total population is Vegetarian. 3. Values and Attitude:- Generally people in India have a high regard for their elders. Although traditional roles are changing, especially in urban areas, there

Economics Coursework - Demand Essay Example for Free

Economics Coursework Demand Essay Manufacturers and dealers want UK to follow Europe into scheme to give cash to drivers who scrap old cars to buy new The government was facing renewed pleas to bail out Britains ailing motor industry yesterday as figures showed sales of new cars had dropped by almost a third year on year. Only 313,912 cars were registered in March a 30.5% fall in sales from this time last year, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed, prompting fresh calls for the government to pay motorists to trade in their old cars for new ones. The motor industry and lobby groups are hoping this months budget will include a scrappage scheme, under which car owners are given a financial incentive of about à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2,000 to swap their old vehicle for a new greener model. Treasury officials have told the industry they are seriously considering including such a stimulus in the budget a fortnight tomorrow although ministers publicly insist that no decision has been taken. A scrappage scheme in Germany which offers car owners à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2,500 (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2,263) for getting rid of any vehicle over nine years old has attracted more than half a million buyers, with sales soaring 40% there in March. The SMMT estimates that 280,000 Britons would take advantage of a similar programme over an 18-month period. This would cost around à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½560m, a figure the SMMT told the Guardian would involve a net cost of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½150-160m. The rest of the money would come from the VAT charged on new cars. But green groups counselled against such a knee jerk response and said the money could be better used to fund sustainable transport solutions. Some environmental organisations fear funds could be diverted from existing pots of money set aside by the government for investment in green technologies, such as the à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½400m earmarked in the pre-budget report for an environmental transformation fund, which supports the development of new low-carbon energy and energy efficiency technologies in the UK. Pro-motoring lobbyists argue that if the government does not move quickly to boost the industry, further jobs would be lost and some manufacturers may transfer their business to other countries. In Whitehall, the debate is still swirling over the wisdom of adopting a scrappage scheme. Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, said in February that his department was examining the experience of other countries, notably Germany, to see whether it would work in Britain and carmakers were asked to produce costed proposals, but no decision has been made. David Cameron told the Guardian in January that the Tories were looking at the idea but he was yet to be convinced. In the meantime, demand for cars has crashed across the world, throwing the global industry into its biggest crisis and forcing American giants General Motors and Chrysler to the brink of bankruptcy. Manufacturers in the UK have also been hit, with factories such as Hondas plant at Swindon mothballed and thousands of jobs cut. Last months decline in sales follows falls of 30.9% in January 2009 and 21.9% in February. March, when new number plates are issued, is a key period for the industry and traditionally accounts for nearly a fifth of annual sales. If things do not improve, the SMMT is forecasting that only 1.72m new vehicles will be sold in 2009, compared with 2.13m in 2008. However, there was one bright note with the rise of the small car segment, where sales increased 84%, indicating a trend towards downsizing among consumers. The top three best-selling models were the Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Corsa and Ford Focus. Yesterday SMMT chief executive, Paul Everitt, said: March new-car registrations are a barometer of confidence in the economy, from businesses and consumers alike. The fall in the market shows that the government needs to do more to boost confidence. A scrappage scheme will provide the incentive needed and the evidence is clear that schemes already implemented across Europe do work to increase demand. The UK is the only major European market not to implement a scheme. Edmund King, the president of the AA, said: The latest figures show the stark difference between a country with a scrappage scheme and one without. A vehicle-scrappage scheme has the potential to reduce emissions, reduce accidents and their severity whilst giving a boost to the UK motor industry. There are many benefits from getting older gross polluters off the road. But green groups counselled against introducing such a scheme. Peter Lipman, policy director at Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, said it would be a really, really bad idea, wherever the money is coming from. There are so many better ways of spending government money if you are trying to deal with both the recession and climate change, he added. The RAC motoring strategist, Adrian Tink, said: The introduction of any car-scrappage scheme needs to be contingent on balancing the economic benefits with a concern for the environment. The scheme needs to be as much about getting old, high-polluting cars off the road as it is about stimulating car sales. The dire sales figures bode ill for the economic recovery because new car sales are seen as a key indicator of consumer confidence. When the UK went into recession in the early 1990s, new car registrations dropped for 27 successive months. At one point, sales that had reached an annual peak of 2.3million in the late-1980s dipped as low as 1.5million. IB Economics: Internal Assessment Commentary Car industry begs for budget boost from Alistair Darling The article Car industry begs for budget boost from Alistair Darling found on the web page of The Guardian discusses the effects of the current recession on the car industry, particularly in the UK. The article states according to the SMMT a 30 % fall in sales from the year before at the same time. In order to take a first step to solving the problem the motor industry hopes to impose the scrappage scheme.. The drop of demand for cars during the recession creates an example of the laws of demand and supply. Demand is the quantity of a good or a service that consumers are willing and able to purchase at a given price in a given time period. Supply is the willingness and ability of producers to produce a quantity of a good or service at a given price in a given time period. Consumers being aware of the recession will rather save their money than choose to spend it on luxury purchase. The fall in income due to the recession has, according to the laws of supply and demand and assuming that all other things stay equal (Ceterus Paribus), caused the fall of demand. Although the article doesnt state a percentage of the fall in income of the population, the income elasticity of demand for vehicles can be described as at least unitary if not elastic, the examples will make an attempt to prove this. Income elasticity of demand measures the proportionate response of quantity demanded to a proportionate change in income. The article gives two proves for that: First, the thought of the coming recession has already let people stop buying cars by 30.5% from one year to the other. People wont buy any luxury goods in bad times. And second, subsidising car buyers by about 2000à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ (scrappage scheme) will increase the purchases in a month by 40%. The fall in demand will also cause an excess supply even if the motor industry stops production directly. All car producers will hence have a massive amount of cars that are just not being bought because there is no demand. According to the rules of supply and demand, as demand falls, quantity supplied decreases as well. In this particular case, the quantity supplied decreases as well but probably not as much as it could to find a new equilibrium, the price at which supply equals demand. Why this is the case will be explained after the following The following graph will show how a fall in demand will cause the demand curve to shift to the left and therefore a fall in the quantity supplied of cars to find a new equilibrium. It can be seen that cars sales fell by nearly 25 % from 2008 to 2009 As stated above, this development is not quite that what happens in reality. According to the rules of unemployment, unemployment is a lagging factor and the demand for labour depends on the demand for, in this case, cars. That means that it begins to rise some time after the recession began. This is because of several reasons such as that firms want to keep skilled workers and will delay redundancies hoping that things might get better. Since firms want to keep skilled workers they would have to keep up the production to a certain extend. Of course production will decrease what will cause cyclical employment but to a certain extend production will be kept up to occupy the workers. The term cyclical unemployment can be defined as occurring when the economy is growing more slowly than estimated as the demand for labour is interdependent on the demand for goods and services. This situation cant be kept up for long because firms lose money spending more money on workers they try to keep than actually gaining through sales and go bankrupt if the recession doesnt end or if they are not being subsidized by the government. Hence the motor industry searches for ways of pushing demand. A possible solution could be the scrappage scheme which encourages motorists to swap their old cars against new ones by giving the buyer about 2000à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ directly. The effect of the scheme on the demand for cars can be seen on the following diagram: Demand rises again due to the encouragement and shifts the demand curve to the right again. Concluding one can say that the law of supply and demand is displayed in the real world. In the article Car industry begs for budget boost from Alistair darling it is clearly shown how recession can affect the demand for cars and how therefore demand for labour interdepends on demand for, in this case, cars. Furthermore it can also be stated that things like the scrappage scheme can encourage demand again.

Anabolic Steroids Essay -- Drugs Veterinarian Biochemistry Essays

Anabolic Steroids Of the diagnostic methods available to veterinarians, the clinical chemistry test has developed into a valuable aid for localizing pathologic conditions. This test is actually a collection of specially selected individual tests. With just a small amount of whole blood or serum, many body systems can be analyzed. Some of the more common screenings give information about the function of the kidneys, liver, and pancreas and about muscle and bone disease. There are many blood chemistry tests available to doctors. This paper covers the some of the more common tests. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) is an end-product of protein metabolism. Like most of the other molecules in the body, amino acids are constantly renewed. In the course of this turnover, they may undergo deamination, the removal of the amino group. Deamination, which takes place principally in the liver, results in the formation of ammonia. In the liver, the ammonia is quickly converted to urea, which is relatively nontoxic, and is then released into the bloodstream. In the blood, it is readily removed through the kidneys and excreted in the urine. Any disease or condition that reduces glomerular filtration or increases protein catabolism results in elevated BUN levels. Creatinine is another indicator of kidney function. Creatinine is a waste product derived from creatine. It is freely filtered by the glomerulus and blood levels are useful for estimating glomerular filtration rate. Muscle tissue contains phosphocreatinine which is converted to creatinine by a nonenzymatic process. This spontaneous degradation occurs at a rather consistent rate (Merck, 1991). Causes of increases of both BUN and creatinine can be divided into three major categoriesprerenal, renal, and postrenal. Prerenal causes include heart disease, hypoadrenocorticism and shock. Postrenal causes include urethral obstruction or lacerations of the ureter, bladder, or urethra. True renal disease from glomerular, tubular, or interstitial dysfunction raises BUN and creatinine levels when over 70% of the nephrons become nonfunctional (Sodikoff, 1995). Glucose is a primary energy source for living organisms. The glucose level in blood is normally controlled to within narrow limits. Inadequate or excessive amounts of glucose or the inability to metabolize glucose can affect nearly every system in the body. Low blood gl... ...ecomes less invasive to the patient. The more information that is made available to the doctor allows a faster diagnosis and recovery for the patient. Bibliography Barrie, Joan and Timothy D. G. Watson. â€Å"Hyperlipidemia.† Current Veterinary Therapy XII. Ed. John Bonagura. PhiladelphiaW. B. Saunders, 1995. Bistner, Stephen l. Kirk and Bistner’s Handbook of Veterinary Procedures and Emergency Treatment. PhiladelphiaW. B. Saunders, 1995. de Morais, HSA and William W. Muir. â€Å"Strong Ions and Acid-Base Disorders.† Current Veterinary Therapy XII. Ed. John Bonagura. PhiladelphiaW. B. Saunders, 1995. Fraser, Clarence M., ed. The Merck Veterinary Manual, Seventh Edition. Rahway, N. J.Merck & Co., 1991. Garrett, Reginald H. and Charles Grisham. Biochemistry. Fort WorthSaunders College Publishing, 1995. Lehninger, Albert, David Nelson and Michael Cox. Principles of Biochemistry. New YorkWorth Publishers, 1993. Schmidt-Nielsen, Knut. Animal PhysiologyAdaptation and environment. New YorkCambridge University Press, 1995. Sodikoff, Charles. Labratory Profiles of Small Animal Diseases. Santa BarbaraAmerican Veterinary Publications, 1995.

Criminal Justice Enforcement policies Essay

The most severe law enforcement will achieve little if lower-class urban offenders can see no legitimate way to solve their problems or satisfy their aspirations. At the absolute best it could turn the criminals into a passive underclass which is forever dependent on welfare benefits. Even then the most energetic and ambitious members of this underclass would eventually be targeted by recruiters for organized crime or terrorist organizations. Social improvements alone will be ineffective if the atmosphere of fear and hopelessness which pervades crime-ridden areas prevents local people from taking advantage of them, or if the improvement are sabotaged by those who have a stake in the existing situation (e. g. loan-sharks and gang-leaders). So we need a combination of: †¢ Long-term measures to enable people to improve their own lives. †¢ Medium-term measures to mitigate the situation while the long-term measures are in progress, and to deal with the difficulties which a few people will continue to experience – it’s unrealistic to expect that we can solve all urban social problems completely. †¢ Improved law enforcement to prevent the situation from getting worse and to give the locals confidence that their efforts will not be undermined by random crimes and will not be sabotaged by those who have a stake in the existing situation. The term â€Å"law enforcement† needs further analysis, which I will supply in the next section. Law enforcement Overview of law enforcement This has three main components: †¢ Policing †¢ The legal system †¢ Sentencing – in this essay I regard prison construction and operation as part of the infrastructure which supports sentencing. To save space I will not consider the legal system here, since the question specifically mentioned policing and sentencing (references to prisons and the death penalty) but not the legal system. Policing To remove crime-induced fear and hopelessness and to discourage those who have a stake in the existing situation from sabotaging improvements I recommend the â€Å"New York† policing model (described by Griffith, 1999): †¢ Zero tolerance for all crime, even minor vandalism. This will often deter offenders from â€Å"progressing† to more serious crimes. †¢ Making senior local officers accountable for the performance of their units. †¢ Information systems which enable officers at all levels to identify and respond to the highest-priority requirements. To make it clear to local communities that this is for their benefit and not just an exercise in â€Å"aggressive policing†, local governments should: †¢ Explain to local people the objectives of the project and the standards which are to govern police conduct. †¢ Provide channels through which locals can easily raise and swiftly resolve issues, including any complaints about the behavior of the police. These channels must be conspicuously independent of the police. Sentencing In mild cases, e. g. minor vandalism and assaults, I recommend: †¢ Community service sentences, where possible in forms which compensate the victims. This also teach the offenders to get along with law-abiding members of their local communities and hopefully will encourage local people to see some good in the offenders. Some offenders should also be required to attend appropriate rehabilitation or training centers, to help them to manage their finances better or to stop using addictive drugs or to manage grievances without resorting to crime. We should probably reduce their community service workload a little to avoid seeing to punish these offenders more severely than other categories. †¢ Electronic tags which track offender’s movements, to deter against re-offending or evasion of community service. Tags will also make it easier to protect former teenage gangsters against threats and other pressures to re-join their old gangs, and in some cases it may also be helpful to provide with young offenders with panic buttons in case they are attacked by their old gangs or by rival gangs which regard them as easy targets. †¢ Prison sentences (described below) for those who violate the terms of their initial sentences without overwhelmingly good reasons. Prison sentences are necessary for serious crimes because the continued presence of serious offenders in their local communities will cause fear and therefore undermine attempts at longer-term improvements. In many cases, particularly for young offenders, work and education camps in sparsely-populated areas may be more suitable than traditional prisons: †¢ Such camps would separate the offenders both from the social environments in which they turned to crime and from the company of hardened criminals. †¢ Escape would be difficult because of the isolated locations and the offenders’ ignorance of the local geography. †¢ The offenders should be required to erect and maintain as much of the camp facilities as possible. This would both teach them they can only get comforts by working and provide a sense of achievement with each improvement in the camp environment. †¢ There should be plenty of opportunities to earn privileges by work and by educational progress. †¢ Camps would be cheaper to construct and maintain than traditional prisons. I will explain at the end my views on the death penalty. Reducing teenage gangsterism Teenage gangsters desire higher status than they can acquire by legitimate means, and value the regard of their peers more highly than the opinions of adults. The youths are often born into sub-cultures which are at least partially alienated from the rest of our society by †¢ Barriers such as poverty and discrimination. †¢ Sub-culture values such as extreme machismo. Typical crimes include vandalism, assault and murder, and small-scale armed robbery. In addition to their direct costs, these crimes often create an air of fear and hopelessness in the areas affected, which perpetuates the problem by persuading the next generation of teenagers that the only path to safety, status and prosperity is via gang membership. Remedial measures In the long term we must remove the motivation by providing accessible legitimate paths to higher status and prosperity: †¢ Education which is comprehensible to the urban youths but enables them to earn status and wealth in legitimate ways. For example it may initially have to be delivered in the local patois but it must aim to make students proficient in standard English so that they can enter higher levels of education and / or obtain better-paid jobs. †¢ Advice for the teenagers and their families on how to manage their lives, finances, careers and education. †¢ Access to resources such as books and the Internet. Public libraries are the most obvious way to provide these. We must also provide legitimate short-term outlets for teenagers’ ambitions and energies. The most obvious one is sports, which will particularly appeal to the strongest, most competitive and most aggressive teenagers – the potential gang-leaders. I therefore suggest: †¢ Facilities for those who wish to play various sports on a casual basis. †¢ Clubs for those who wish to improve their performance and gain wider reputations. †¢ Organized competitions and leagues at all levels from local to national, for the really ambitious. Reducing crimes committed because of financial crises Long term reduction in personal financial crises requires a fairly complex package including: †¢ Improved education to enable people to obtain better-paid jobs. †¢ Advice on personal financial management. Hopefully these crises will eventually become less common, but they will probably never disappear completely, so there will always be a need for palliatives: †¢ Cheap, quick, reliable legal advice for common types of case. †¢ Inexpensive but not subsidized loans to enable people to survive these crises without resorting to crime. Repayment should where possible be secured by small deductions from the borrowers’ incomes (including any welfare benefits). Credit unions (see ABCUL 2003) should be encouraged as they provide a sense of local involvement, control and responsibility. Reducing drug-related crimes There are at least two types of drug-related crime: †¢ Those committed by addicts desperate for their next fix. †¢ Those committed as a result of the mood-altering effects of some drugs. There are good reasons for believing that the War on Drugs is as unsuccessful as Prohibition was (The Economist 2001 a). About 10% of all arrests in the USA are for drug offenses and about 80% of that 10% are for possession, not for sale or manufacture (The Economist, 2001 b). We need an objective review of drugs policy. This might well lead to legalization of some drugs (with regulation of their quality to minimize health risks), which would sharply reduce the prison population and, by lowering the retail price of legalized drugs, reduce robberies committed to finance purchases. The other long-term remedy is aggressive advertising about the dangers of specific drugs which are more harmful than alcohol and tobacco. This will of course have greater credibility if it follows an objective review of drugs policy. We also need rehabilitation centers to help addicts and excessive users to give up their habits. Crimes induced by a sense of grievance This category is very diverse, including grievances: †¢ which a reasonable person may regard as justified, unjustified or partly justified. †¢ against a wide range of targets, from individuals to the highest levels of government or society as a whole. For as long as some areas are severely disadvantaged in incomes, jobs, schools, etc. there will be some grievances which are at least partly justified and should be at least mitigated by a combination of: †¢ economic redevelopment and improved education. †¢ centers which advise people on legal ways of handling their grievances. This should not be limited to what is normally termed counseling but should include coaching in legal ways of influencing the behavior of and or / hitting back at the sources of grievances. The death penalty The death penalty for murder is arguably no more immoral than killing an enemy soldier in a war. But I oppose it because all legal systems are fallible, and it’s impossible to correct a miscarriage of justice after a person has been executed. Incorrect convictions have arisen in cases where: †¢ Judges misinterpret or misapply the law (e. g. Center on Wrongful Convictions 2004) †¢ The defendant had poor legal representation (American University Law Review 1995 mentions cases where defense lawyers made procedural mistakes in capital cases). †¢ Failure of the prosecutors to disclose information which might help the defense. †¢ Police obtained evidence or confessions improperly, or tampered with or fabricated evidence. †¢ Expert witnesses showed bias in favor of the prosecution either because of their personal opinions or because doing so was to their long-term financial advantage. Unfortunately these miscarriages are not rare exceptions – Northwestern University School of Law’s Center on Wrongful Convictions found that In the quarter century between restoration of the Illinois death penalty and Governor George Ryan’s blanket clemency order, 289 men and women were sentenced to death in Illinois. Of those, 18 have been exonerated — a rate in excess of 6. 2%. (Center on Wrongful Convictions, 2005) The risk of miscarriages has probably risen after 9/11 because police and prosecutors will be under even greater pressure to close terrorist cases and other high-profile murders. Conclusion The original question is flawed because it: †¢ does not define the range of crimes with which it is concerned. †¢ presents an â€Å"either-or† choice between stronger law enforcement and prevention, including social services and education, as ways of reducing crime. For the categories of crime reviewed here both improved law enforcement and preventive measure are needed – neither can succeed alone. I oppose the death penalty because justice systems have shown themselves to be too fallible in high-profile cases. References ABCUL (2003), About Credit Unions accessed May 2005 from http://www. abcul. org/page/about/intro. cfm American University Law Review (1995), The Death Penalty in the Twenty-First Century accessed May 2005 from http://www. wcl. american. edu/journal/lawrev/45/death. html Center on Wrongful Convictions (2004) Pollock: Exonerated accessed May 2005 from http://www. law. northwestern. edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/exonerations/Pollock. htm Center on Wrongful Convictions (2005) The Death Penalty accessed May 2005 from http://www. law. northwestern. edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/deathpenalty. htm Griffith, Gareth (1999), Zero Tolerance Policing accessed May 2005 from http://www. parliament. nsw. gov. au/prod/parlment/publications. nsf/0/796C90ABE8349FDFCA256ECF0008CE11 The Economist (2001 a), Stumbling in the dark (about drugs policy) accessed May 2005 from http://www. economist. com/surveys/displaystory. cfm? story_id=706591 The Economist (2001 b), Collateral damage (of the War on Drugs) accessed May 2005 from http://www. economist. com/surveys/displayStory. cfm? story_id=708550