Analysis of American History X Essay

In this assignment, I was challenged to find important historical and cultural connections of the film American History X and analyze the important rhetorical of my findings. I went about choosing American History X by placing a poll on Facebook listing out the films that I had any slight interest in considering for this assignment and American History X won by a landslide. I was actually somewhat disappointed, because I wanted to do The X-Files, but I chose to stick to my promise and go with whatever text won. I watched American History X some years after its release in 1998. Although, I know I must have watched it sometime after I got out of high school because at the time of its release I was 12 years old and with the amount of violence in that film I know I did not watch it with my parents. From the little memory I had of the film from the first time, I could only recall that American History X had a lot to do with white supremacy and racism, that Edward Norton played the lead ro le and that the kid who played in the first Terminator was his brother and was all grown up. I hesitated watching the film again for quite sometime because I knew I would need to dedicate a solid two hours of mental energy towards it. One could argue that I was merely just procrastinating; however, I benefitted from having done so because future class discussions provided a foundation for how I could study the film. After reading about and discussing in class the topic of approaching a text organically, I decided to implement that mentality and view the film as objectively as non-object individual can. It is difficult to say whether it was that approach that ultimately led to my findings in the film, or if I would have discovered them anyway since it was my second time viewing the film. Everyone can appreciate that after the second and third time of watching any film you begin to pick up on things you missed the first time. In either case, I found the movie to be incredibly eye opening and I enjoyed having to research the history surrounding the film and, ultimately, the state of the nation during what was my childhood. American History X is a film that depicts a traditional white family in the mid 1990s, but spot lights the two brothers’ journeys into maturity. The movie focuses on the older brother Derek, played by Edward Norton, and how Derek’s Neo-Nazi associations in his life greatly influence his younger brother Danny, played by Edward Furlong. Fueled by rage of his father’s death, the film opens with a scene of Derek brutally killing three young black men who were attempting to steal his father’s truck. Derek is then sent to prison for 3 years during which time his younger brother Danny begins to follow in Derek’s footsteps with the Neo-Nazi organization. The movie flips between black-and-white scenes of the past and color scenes of the present. The black-and-white flashbacks attempt to illuminate Danny’s perception of Derek’s past life while intermittently presenting how Derek overcame is his own hatred. The color scenes portray the present and highlight the effects the hatred has had on the entire family. Overall, the movie critiques on not only the effects of urban racism and bigotry, but a lso the how minds of young people are so impressionable. The film even succeeds in creating a sense of sympathy for characters that are typically hated, Neo-Nazi racist skinheads, and paints them not as foolish, uneducated racist bigots, but instead as misguided intelligent human beings. On the surface the film discusses racism, violence, and bigotry, but upon closer examination I found a deeper message within the film. Watching it a second time, I realized that this film is really emphasizing the lack of critical thinking skills in young people, particularly in teenagers and young adults and how impressionable their minds are. Then, upon further research related to those very topics it touches on in the film, I discovered that the entire movie itself actually harbors an obscure form of racism that was reflected in many movies throughout the 1990s. Needless to say, even in today’s society we deal with these same issues of racism and intolerance for other people’s beliefs. However, within the most recent years it has evolved to focus more on the gay, lesbian and transgender community. History certainly can be seen as repeating itself as many of the arguments that gays and lesbians make regarding their civil rights and discrimination almost mirror the same arguments made back in the 1960s during the civil right movement. Reverend Dr. Phil Snider made this connection so blatantly clear in his speech that went viral on YouTube that he gave before the Springfield City Council of Missouri just a few weeks ago. In his speech, Dr. Snider cleverly took quotes directly from speeches given by white preachers in favor of racial segregation in the 1950 and 1960s and merely substituted select words and inserted ‘gays and lesbians’ (â€Å"Preacher Phil Snider Gives Interesting Gay Rights Speech†). I think the twist of his speech highlights the main issues regarding any form of racism and discrimination and they most certainly could be applied to the issues of racism that America faced in the 1990s. The 1990s was saturated with debates over, court cases involving and numerous media outlets centering on the issues of racism and affirmative action. In May of 1992, Newsweek printed an article entitled â€Å"The Crossroads of Shattered Dreams† that summarized the conflicts of racism in the early 90s stating, â€Å"white[s] charge that affirmative action is unfair†¦blacks respond that it was unfair for them to be starved of opportunities by 300 years of slavery and discrimination.† That same year, the verdict of Rodney King’s case outraged the black community and sparked riots lasting six days with over 2,000 people injured and 55 people killed (â€Å"Riots Erupt in Los Angeles†). In March of 1996, the three white law school candidates charged that they were unfairly discriminated against and rejected for entrance into the school for less qualified minorities in the famous case Hopwood v. Texas Law School (â€Å"Hopwood v. University Texas Law School †). Just prior to the release of American History X in 1998, California enacted Proposition 209, which amended the state’s constitution to ban preferential treatment of any persons based on race or gender in public sector education, employment, and contracting (Parker). All of these enormously impactful events and numerous others shaped much of the discrimination that occurred in the 1990s. In fact, sociological research confirms â€Å"discrimination is more often the result of organizational practices that have unintentional effects† or predispositions â€Å"linked to social stereotypes and does not so much stem from individual prejudices† (Tomaskovic-Devey). Nevertheless, the culmination of these types of incidents led to a demand for Hollywood to â€Å"headline positive characters of color† (Hughey 549). Producers and directors felt pressure to make-up for their own history of racist filmmaking and, consequently, this also gave rise to the development of a veiled type of racism within films referred to by Hughey himself as the â€Å"cinethetic racism†(550). Cinethetic racism in the 1990s was typically found in films that have a black character whose purpose in the film is to support the white protagonist. Typically this black character, coined the â€Å"magical Negro† by Hughey, was portrayed as the voice of reason, or having some other type wisdom, within the film and who selflessly helps the white character achieve his goals. â€Å"These films rest on friendly, helpful, bend-over-backwards black characters that do not seek to change their own impoverished status, but instead exhibit a primordial, hard-wired desire to use their magical power to correct the wrongs in a white world† (Hughey 556). The concept expressed in this quote is clearly evident in the film American History X during the many scenes of Derek in prison working in the laundry room with Lamont, a friendly black prisoner who attempts to befriend him. Eventually Derek is able let down his guard and the future interactions between them usually consist of Lamo nt humorously explaining how things work within the prison. There is one scene, however, that does somewhat contradict this concept of a â€Å"magical Negro† and, instead, causes Derek to experience a form of guilt. This contradiction is depicted in the scene of Lamont and Derek working in the laundry room and Derek very genuinely asks Lamont why he is in prison. Lamont explains how he was sentenced for assault on a police officer because he accidently dropped a TV on the officer’s foot that he was trying to steal. Derek initially resists and jokingly asks Lamont to tell the truth, but Lamont insists that he did not assault the police officer and only dropped the TV on the officer’s foot. This is the pivotal moment within the movie that shows Derek’s guilt and sympathy for the first time towards a black person. I think this is the most important scene throughout the entire film because it gives the audience exactly what they want: they want to see Derek experience this epiphany and for him to recognize how he has perpetuated discrimination against black people. But it does not take very long for the film to revert right back into the traditional cinethetic racist ways. In Derek’s last interaction with Lamont, the audience learns that during Derek’s stay within prison Lamont was protecting him from further beatings and rape after Derek chose to no longer affiliate with the Neo-Nazis within the prison. That scene ultimately preserves the concept of the â€Å"magical Negro† and that black people have this underlying desire to serve to the needs of white people. I liken this idea of cinethetic racism to what actors refer to the subtext of a script. Normally, the subtext refers to the underlying motives of a particular character, but this concept of cinethetic racism is like the â€Å"subtext† of an entire film. â€Å"Of greatest critical concern is how [magical Negro] films advantageously shore up white supremacist and normative orders while ostensibly posturing as an irreverent challenge to them† (Hughey 553). On the surface it appears to be a film that tries to defeat racism, but ironically there are hidden agendas that completely go against the moral of this story. Just as magical Negros are a disguised form of racism found in American films in the 1990s, there were also disguised forms of racism going on politically throughout the nation, more specifically in California. During the 1990s, racism and civil rights disputes were approaching the heights they reached in the civil rights era of the 1960s. However, after many decades of affirmative action policies attempting to right the wrongs minorities faced and with California experiencing an economic downturn, many whites became less tolerant of minorities receiving preferential treatment through affirmative action programs (Alvarez). Now the whites are claiming they were discriminated against in a form of â€Å"reverse discrimination.† What I find so interesting about the idea of â€Å"reverse discrimination† is that it implies that discrimination only naturally goes in one direction: whites against minorities. And, furthermore, that there will always be a certain level of racism, as if to suggest that there is a threshold for which it is acceptable, but also that it is the responsibility of the majority, white people, to keep it in check. Yet the moment any form of racism or discrimination is felt against whites, it is completely intolerable and demands political action. It was the supporters of Proposition 209 that argued that current affirmative action programs led public employers and universities to reject applicants because of their race, and that Proposition 209 would â€Å"return [us] to the fundamentals of our democracy,† as summarized in an article capturing the main arguments of Proposition 209 entitled â€Å"Prohibition Against Discrimination.† With in the same article it preached, â€Å"let us not perpetuate the myth that ‘minorities’ and women cannot compete without special preferences†¦vote for fairness not favoritism.† The fairness of Proposition 209 has been hotly debatably ever since it was enacted in 1997, but I think the dinner scene with Derek and his father in American History X most succinctly sums up the mindset of the many supporters of Proposition 209. The scene opens with a dinner table conversation between Derek and his father about the material he is learning for his English class. His father than expresses his distaste for such material with the following monologue: â€Å"All this stuff about making everything equal†¦ it’s not as easy as it looks†¦you gotta trade in great books for black books now? You gotta question these things Derek. We are not just talking about books here, we’re talking about my job. I got two blacks guys on my squad now that got their jobs over a couple of white guys who actually scored higher on the test. Does that make sense? They got their job because they were black not because they were the best? America’s about if you do your best you get the job†¦not this affirmative blacktion crap†¦.it’s nigger bullshit.† This dinner scene perfectly exemplifies the concept that 1) the moment whites feel they are being discriminated they instantly raise the red flag and 2) that â€Å"discrimination is more often the result of organizational practices that have unintentional effects [†¦] and does not so much stem from individual prejudices,† as I stated earlier. Another aspect that I find so interesting about American History X was how writer David McKenna was able to pull directly from real life situations to add dialogue into this screenplay. McKenna and Edward Norton actually rewrote a portion of the script quoting from Governor Pete Wilson’s speech advocating Proposition 209 in 1995 (Goldstein). More importantly, it was used in a scene where Derek is trying to energize a group of young skin heads before they vandalize a grocery store owned by minorities. I find it so ironic that the character of a racist Neo-Nazi was reciting actual words from a speech promoting the removal of affirmative actions polices that were, allegedly, intended to reduce discrimination and increase equality. When I discovered this tidbit of information I was completely blown away. I had no idea how closely this movie reflected real problems going on in society in the 1990s. McKenna’s use of Pete Wilson’s speech is clearly an example of art ref lecting reality, but Pete Wilson’s speech was not the only source from reality in which McKenna got his inspiration. McKenna grew up in Southern California, where the film story takes place, and personally witnessed bigotry and racism (Bruce). From his encounters and extensive research, McKenna decided that the point he tried â€Å"to make in the script is that a person is not born a racist†¦[McKenna] wanted an accurate portrayal of how good kids from good families can get so terribly lost† (Bruce). Personally, I think McKenna succeeded in having that be the main message of the film: the impressionability of a young mind and that all behaviors are learned. The film simultaneously follows Derek’s upbringing and how he becomes involved in the Neo-Nazi organization and how his involvement with that group greatly influenced his younger brother Danny. The dinner scene I detailed above is the key scene from McKenna’s screenplay that supports the idea that racism is a learned behavior stemmed from outside organizational practices. However, despite how well received the movie was and the numerous nominations Edward Norton received for his performance, that is not the original message the director intended. Tony Kaye was the director of American History X and, ironically, he also turned out to be a major competing persuasive force throughout the entire film making process. Kaye battled with directors, producers, writer David McKenna and Edward Norton himself claiming that New Line Cinema never allowed him to create his vision of the film going as far as to take out full page ads in trade magazines bashing the film and even requested to have his name removed from the film entirely and replaced with the pseudonym â€Å"Humpy Dumpty† (Goldstein). In a statement made shortly after the film’s release, Kaye contended that Edward Norton edited a majority of the film in order to increase his screen time in the film and that the producers did not allow Kaye an â€Å"opportunity to present a black voice to provide depth and balance to the film† and furthered that he wanted the film to be an â€Å"homage to free speech and responsibility† (Leinberger). I think the main reason why Kaye’s original vision never made it to the film was because it clashed so much with McKenna’s original message. McKenna wrote the film based off of his personal experience witnessing acts of racisms in Southern California in throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. Whereas, Kaye is not only much older than McKenna, but grew up in United Kingdom and had only been living in the United states for a few years before he got involved in the film at all, and, therefore, did not quite have the same outlook for the script (Topel). It should also be noted that this was Kaye’s first feature film and his previous directing experience came from extensive work with TV commercials and music videos (Goldstein). And while McKenna himself may not have been directly involved during the filming process, as most writers are not, I think Edward Norton and the producers all believed in and followed McKenna’s vision because of how much it related to the struggles that America was facing at that time. This is not to suggest that Kaye’s vision for the film was wrong, but that producers have to consider what the audience wants and expects to see. From studying American History X, I have learned how racism evolved in a very peculiar fashion. As racism, specifically towards black people, became less and less accepted by whites over the last 150 years, certain segments of society seemed to find ways to continue a small, but undeniable level of racism since it was no longer socially acceptable among the general population to outwardly express it with for instance, lynching. Racism and discrimination has certainly come a long way over the last sixty years, but it has definitely not been eradicated. In fact, some would argue that now whites are beginning to experience a type of â€Å"reverse discrimination† due unforeseen effects from affirmative action programs. In regards to American films however, one would have to sit down personally with directors and producers of 1990s films to determine if they intentionally created these magical Negro characters in order to perpetuate racism. Aside from the fact that it is highly unlikely that anyone would ever openly admit to that, I personally think that cinethetic racism and the magical Negro were just an unintended consequence of a fad that was going on throughout Hollywood at the time, the fad being to have black people portray certain qualities of wisdom and â€Å"magical powers† within films. In either case, it is very curious that a movie such as America History X meets the qualifications for cinethetic racism. In my opinion, for a film that was intended to enlighten the audience of the problem of racism in America, yet ultimately perpetuated a veiled version of it, could no more flawlessly fit into this concept of cinethetic racism. Also, the argument of whether or not reality reflects art or if art reflects reality is just as frustrating to argue as whether the chicken or the egg came first. But in the case for this film, I would contend that American History X, art, is reflecting reality. In fact, the notion behind cinethetic racism and the magical Negro tie in so neatly with the arguments for Proposition 209 and Gov. Pete Wilson’s speech that it is just uncanny. With a closer look into both, one can see that each share their own masked form of racism veiled as though whites are helping minorities. Art was imitating the subversive racism that was occurring in r eality. As an actor myself, I think it is unfortunate for director Tony Kaye that, for whatever reason, he was not able to get his original vision of the film produced. I think because of the numerous racially historical events that were occurring the 1990s that producing a movie which centered on the freedom of speech around racism as Kaye originally intended, was the last thing any audience wanted to watch in a theatre. All in all, I think film did a fabulous job highlighting historical events and attitudes going on throughout society during the 1990s, despite the fact that the film may be perpetuating racism at a subversive level. Works Cited American History X. Dir. Tony Kaye. Perf. Edward Norton and Edward Furlong. New Line Cinemas, 1998. Film. Alvarez, R. Michael, and Lisa G. Bedolla. â€Å"The Revolution Against Affirmative Action in California: Racism, Economics, and Proposition 209.† State Politics and Policy Quarterly 4.1 (2004): 1-17. Sage Publications, Inc. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. Bruce, David. â€Å"Racism in America=Hating Others.† American History X: A Hollywood Jesus Film Review. HollywoodJesus.com, n. d. Web. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. . Goldstein, Patrick. â€Å"Courting Trouble.† Edward Norton Information Page. N.p., 13 1998. Web. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. . â€Å"Hopwood v. University of Texas Law School†. Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012 . Hughey, Matthew W. â€Å"White Redemption and Black Stereotypes in â€Å"Magical Negro† Films.† Social Problems 56.3 (2009): 543-77. www.jstor.org. University of California Press, 2009. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. . Leinberger, Gisela. â€Å"Film Director Tony Kaye Makes Statement at Berlin’s Brandenberg Gate; Director of ‘American History X’ Speaks to Film’s Issues.† PR News Wire. N.p., n. d. Web. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. . Parker, Beth H. â€Å"The Impact of Proposition 209 on Education, Employment and Contracting.† ERA: Prop 209 Impact. Equal Rights Advocates, n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2012. . Preacher Phil Snider Gives Interesting Gay Rights Speech. Perf. Rev. Dr. Phil Snider. Www.YouTube.com. YouTube, 13 Aug. 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. . â€Å"Prohibition Against Discrimination or Preferential Treatment by State and Other Public Entities. Initiative Constitutional Amendment..† California’s 1996 General Election Web Site! . N.p., n. d. Web. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. . â€Å"Riots erupt in Los Angeles.† 2012. The History Channel website. Oct 21 2012 . Tomaskovic-Devey, Donald, and Patricia Warren. â€Å"Explaining and Eliminating Racial Profiling.† Contexts. American Sociological Association, 2009. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. . Topel, Fred. â€Å"Interview with Lake of Fire Filmmaker Tony Kaye.† About.com Oct 21 2012. Whitaker, Mark. â€Å"A Crisis Of Shattered Dreams.† Newsweek. 5 1991: 1. Web. 19 Oct. 2012..

Steve’s Needs as a student

Steve is a 20 year old male student; he lives away from home as he is in his final year at university. Steve lives in student accommodation with 6 other male students. The area he lives in is deprived of the city and the local housing is poor quality. There are busy roads and factories surrounding the area he lives in. He smokes up to 120 cigarettes per week and binge drinks a lot. He doesn't exercise at all and he eats unhealthily. Steve's housing is very dirty and messy therefore causing a lot of dust. This is affecting his asthma. Steve's Needs Steve has many needs to improve his PIES. Firstly for his physical health he should stop drinking so much as it will be affecting his liver. Also he should stop eating so unhealthy and get on a healthy diet and start to exercise regularly. He should also use the exercise as well as to get fit to loose weight so he is at a healthy BMI. For his emotional health he should make sure that he stays motivated to loose weight and drink less alcohol and smoke less and eventually quit. He should keep self-confidence in himself that he can loose weight and that he will look much better in the long run after all his hard work.Dying of Breast Cancer in the 1800s Lastly for emotional health he should have support from people in order to help him loose weight and get healthier. People offering him support should be his friends, family and the nurse and doctors who are helping him. These could include the dietician and the community nurse. For Steve's intellectual health he should make sure he concentrates more at university, in order to achieve a high standing grade. Also he should make sure that he gets educated on the risks of what he is doing to himself as he needs to realise what he is really doing to damage his body. Lastly for Steve's social health needs he needs to reassess his social life and stop going out more and maybe even find more supportive friends rather than people who find it funny that he gets into a complete state. Also he should take up a hobby in order to keep himself busy rather than turning to alcohol and causing himself harm. Steve should also think about how he spends his money and that he should stop spending it on alcohol and cigarettes and he should use it in a more useful way such as joining a gym or towards a hobby he may want to take up. Steve should also make sure his housing environment is clean as it is affecting his health as it is very unhygienic. Community Nurse Lisa is a community nurse. She is helping Steve to get healthier and giving him advice on how he can loose weight and get healthier. Roles Lisa works within the community but she is based in a doctor's surgery. A community nurse acts as a teacher and counsellor primarily, but also plays an important role in preventing widespread illness and disease in the community she serves. Lisa offers a supportive role; she supports patients as well as other professionals. She does visits to schools, GPs and home visits in order to spread awareness of illness disease and also to support people in any health issues they may have. Lisa is part of the PCT (primary care trust). She offers general health care to patients and she gives out general advice. The main roles that Lisa undertakes are monitoring people's health, providing nursing care to the sick and disabled, she is also a health teacher letting the community she serves in know about health risks and what you can do to prevent them. Also she is a councillor; giving an appropriate advice and broadening a client's insight about a problem so that appropriate decisions are made which can lead to a positive resolution of the problem. Tasks One of the tasks Lisa may undertake is screening tests to find out about their health such as she could look at the height, weight, BMI and blood pressure of Steve. Also she could do tests on Steve for his cholesterol levels and test their lung functions. These screening tests can help to promote good health. This is because if there is an issue involving the Steve's health then doing one of these screening tests Lisa may be able to notice the problem and then look at it in more detail. If the problem is noticed soon enough then Lisa will be able to inform Steve of what it is and help him sort the problem out and recommend him to a doctor or advise him on what he can do in order to retain a healthy state. Also a task Lisa may do as a community nurse is educating the community. She may give out education and advice on certain issues patients may have. These could include pregnancies, exercise, drinking, smoking, diet and contraception. A community nurse can also provide information and advice on prescribed or over-the-counter medication on medication regimens, side effects and interactions. However if Lisa thinks that the patient needs more than just her advice such as Steve may need to see a dietician in order to plan out a healthy lifestyle and diet she may advise him to go see the specialist person as she may not be able to help him as much as the dietician can. She may also advise the patient to go to a specialist support group. Such as if she thinks that Steve is showing signs of being an alcoholic she may advice him to attend an AA meetings or if she sees that Steve is overweight and needs help in loosing weight she may send him to groups that are specialised in helping people loose weight such as weightwatcher meetings. Lisa may also give out leaflets to a patient in order to help them with their health issue and for them to learn more about what it may consist of and how they can help themselves to get better health. Such as giving Steve leaflets on stopping smoking. The leaflet would contain information of what stopping smoking consists of and what different methods he can use to stop smoking. If Lisa is incapable of giving the patient the knowledge they need she may have to refer them onto someone who will have much more knowledge about the issue. Such as if Lisa found that there may be an issue with a Steve's health that would need him to have more tests and more examining then she will refer him to a doctor who will have more knowledge on what the issue is and they will be able to advise give more advice to the Steve than Lisa may be able too. Lisa educating the community and giving them advice is another way to show that she is promoting good health to the community. The education she is providing will help people to see the first symptoms of serious diseases such as lumps on the breast, which should be checked out for breast cancer. This education of people finding out about diseases in the early stages will help a person to overcome the disease and get their good health back as soon as they can. Rather than having no education on looking out for the disease they may end up noticing the disease months down the line when it may be too late. Also if people are being given positive advice they may feel better about themselves and therefore their lifestyle may become of a better quality and more positive. Such as if she was telling Steve how much fitter and healthier he will be if he looses weight and cuts down his drinking and smoking. Also that he will look much better and people will find him more attractive. This positive encouragement will help Steve to take on Lisa's advice and make him want to loose weight so he can achievement a positive outcome. The advice may also help people to seek out more medical help in order for them to maintain good health, without the advice they have been given by Lisa they may not know what to do about their health issue and things could have got much worse. Another task that Lisa might do as a community nurse is minor treatments. Lisa will not have the full medical training and knowledge as a doctor may have so therefore she will not be able to administer extreme drugs to the patient or be able to attend to serious wounds. However she will be able to dress wounds and make sure they are kept clean. Such as if Steve has a minor injury from being out drinking all night and falling over as he was drunk. He will need the wound dressing and Lisa will be able to clean it to prevent infection and then bandage it up to avoid further damage. Skills Lisa will need a variety of different skills as a community nurse. Firstly she will need mathematical skills. These mathematical skills can be put to use when she is making sure that numerical data is interpreted properly. If the data is interpreted properly then patients will have a correct understanding of what is going on with their body. Also Lisa can put her mathematical skills to use when she is doing Steve's BMI. If she correctly uses her mathematical skills to work out Steve's BMI then Steve will see Lisa as a knowledgeable, reliable person. If he sees Lisa as this then he will be more likely to listen to her advice and trust her. If he is listening to her advice because she has shown him that she is correct at her job and can help him then that will be helping Steve needs. Lisa should also have good communication skills. She can put these skills to use when she is trying to get her message across to Steve. If she is giving Steve results from a screening test she must make sure that she doesn't upset him and that she knows how to correctly communicate with him in order to get the best outcome. If Lisa seems to be nice and helpful towards Steve and she looks like she knows what she is saying and she is comforting Steve when he finds out some shocking news then Steve will maybe become to like Lisa and understand why she is there for him. If he understands that she is there to help him then he is more likely to listen to her and in listening to her and getting her advice Lisa will be helping Steve to loose weight and cut back on the bad things he is doing to his body. This will be helping Steve's needs. Lisa will have to have medical knowledge as a skill to be a community nurse. She will have to have medical knowledge so when she is giving out medical advice she will need to know that what she is saying is accurate and correct. If her medical knowledge is accurate and correct and she has the skill to advise people on what they should do and help people with their descriptions she will be trusted and respected a lot more than if she didn't have any knowledge on what she was doing. The medical knowledge can come in useful when she is working with Steve and helping with his needs. If Lisa shows Steve that she knows what she is doing and her knowledge is correct then Steve is going to want to follow her advice on how he can get his body fitter and healthier. Steve needs to lose weight and if he wants to follow Lisa's advice then she will be helping with his needs. If she had bad knowledge and seemed as if she didn't know what she was doing Steve would be put off by this fact and may not want to or follow her advice as he may seem it to be incorrect, or that its her opinion and not a medical one. Lisa also should have good communication skills. She must make sure that she gets her message across to her patients such as Steve in a way that won't offend them and will make them feel confident that she knows what she is saying. She must make sure that if she is giving out results such as screening tests to someone that she is professional and makes the person feel comfortable. If Lisa puts this skill to use when working with Steve she will be helping with his needs. She will be doing this by communicating to Steve what is going on with his body in a positive non-offensive way then Steve is going to want to listen to Lisa and he will see what she is saying is important and that will help him in being confident that he is in the right hands to lose weight and get healthier. Qualities There are many qualities that Lisa should have to be a good community nurse. Firstly she should be patient with the patient. She should never rush them into anything she must make sure she remains calm and not stressed out with the patient. Some patients may need to lose a lot of weight and if they aren't doing it as quick as the community nurse would like, they must make sure they still remain calm and patient. If they start to rush a patient into loosing weight and telling them there not doing well enough or quick enough then they may lose their self-esteem and that could cause them to stop the course of treatment and therefore they won't be loosing any weight. However if Lisa is patient and calm with patients like Steve throughout the whole time they are seeing them which could be many months, Steve will more likely to become more confident that what he is doing is going to be beneficial and that he is doing everything correctly therefore Lisa will be helping him with his needs. Another quality that Lisa should have as a community nurse but also in helping Steve with his needs is being encouraging. If Lisa is encouraging then Steve will want to carry on with what he is doing as he is being encouraged to do so. If Lisa is giving him positive encouragement and keeps reminding Steve how much better he will look and feel when he is healthier and fitter then Steve will become more determined to listen to her advice and participate in what she is doing to help him. If he listens to her advice then his needs will be for filled. Lisa should also make sure that she is very friendly towards her patients and that she doesn't come across as being very nice then patients like Steve will be put off from talking to her. If Steve is put off from talking to Lisa then he is unlikely to listen to her advice. If he doesn't follow or listen to her advice then he won't have his needs met. However is Lisa is friendly and kind towards Steve and shows him that she cares about him as an individual then Steve is more likely to listen to her advice and encouragement and have his needs met. Dietician Roles Sue is a dietician for the NHS. She works in partnership with doctors and a nurses who can refer their patients to Sue to get specific help that Sue as a dietician can help them with. Sue will have specialist knowledge about diets and nutrition as she is trained in them areas. Therefore Sue will be very useful in helping Steve with his diet and loosing weight. A dietician plans nutrition programs and food programs for their patients. Dieticians such as Sue can help prevent diseases and obesity problems because they teach people about the role of food in their diet. They usually run food programs in institutions, such as hospitals and schools. A dietician promotes healthy diets through education and education programs. Another role that Sue may have is to be able to create a diet based on what the doctor prescribes. The dietician must be able to prepare and calculate a diet based on the nutrients a person needs. Tasks A few tasks Sue may have to do as a dietician is educate her patients. The education is often about appropriate diets and what diet may be appropriate for their health needs. Sue could educate Steve on what diet he could start to take and how it will benefit him. Sue can also educate her patients by telling them the different types of food groups and why their all individually important. She could educate Steve on what the different foods he eats do for him and maybe what food group he should start eating and why. Also Sue can educate her patients about the risks of an unhealthy diet and being overweight. Steve would benefit from this education very well as he may not understand the full risks of what he is doing to his body, but if Sue educates him on what he is doing to it and how bad it is then it may encourage Steve to take action. One of Sue's tasks may also be giving her patients a diet that they specifically need and that will fit into their lifestyle. She could give Steve a diet that specifically is for him and fits around his university timetable. Both hospital and community dieticians educate people who need special diets as part of their medical treatment, for example patients with kidney disease, food allergies, eating disorders, diabetes, HIV/AIDS etc. Another task that Sue may do is to run food programmes. Running food programmes in places such as schools can help the young pupils to get more knowledge on nutrition and what diets they should be taking in order to be healthy. Sue could run a food programme at Steve's university to show Steve that it is important to lose weight and be healthy, not just him but everyone. Another task that a dietician may have is giving out advice. Sue could give out advice on diets and nutrition in many different ways. A few of these ways could be giving out leaflets in a school or community place to get people to read into more detail on how important a healthy diet is. Also she could give leaflets out to her specific patients advising them on how to cope with their new diet etc. Sue could also show videos and tell about case studies in communal places such a school or a GP. These videos will show awareness of a what an unhealthy diet can do and what you can do in order to maintain a good health and how you can do it. One of a community nurse's tasks are to produce diet plans to suit the individual and what's best for them. If Sue produced a diet plan that was suitable for Steve in order to lose weight then that will benefit him a lot. A dietician also monitors weight, they do this in order to see how well the patient is doing on the diet they have been set. If the patients diet plan isn't working for them and regular weight monitoring shows this then Sue may change their diet to something else to see if that diet plan works. Constant updating is needed in order for Sue to see if she needs to change diet plans for the patients. A dietician might incorporate exercise into the process, but this would only be minimum information such as that they should exercise regularly and often after meals etc. Skills Sue should have mathematical skills as a dietician. She will need these skills in order to produce accurate diet charts and to accurately work out a person's BMI. If the information Sue produces is correct because she has accurately used her mathematic skills then she will be able to tell Steve what to do to get healthier and lose weight. Steve will then believe that Sue knows what she is saying, he will then follow her advice and start to lose weight, this will be helping with his needs. Therefore he will feel better about himself as he will look and feel great. Sue should also have good communication skills. Good communication skills are useful as the information is given face to face so therefore its important that the message is given across appropriately. Steve is more likely to listen to Sue's information as she will be giving immediate responses and making him feel comfortable. This will help him as he will understand what to do to get himself healthier and this will help him to lose weight leading to him having a good self esteem, again Sue will be helping with what he needs. Sue should also be able to have a skill in order for her to be able to give good advice. Sue will have to give good advice with reason behind the advice she has given, she will also have to have medical and nutritional knowledge to back up what she is saying this is because Steve will then know that she is giving a medical overview on his body and that it is a serious fact that he is unhealthy and needs to lose weight, not just Sue's personal opinion. The knowledge that Sue has is important as she will be letting Steve know she knows what she's doing and he will follow what she is saying and he will lose the weight he needs also he will get much fitter and healthier and he will then feel much better about himself, therefore his needs will have been helped by Sue. Sue should also have knowledge on nutrition and dieting. This knowledge she has on nutrition and dieting will help her to provide accurate and immediate advice to her patients. If she is providing accurate and immediate advice to patients they will feel confident that she knows what she is doing. If Steve believes that Sue has knowledge and accuracy on what she is telling him then he will trust her and he will want to take her advice and he will stick to diet plans she sets him, if he loses weight as a result of Sue's work she will be helping his needs. Qualities Sue should have many good qualities in order to be a good and helpful dietician. Polite and friendly should be one quality. She will need to make sure she doesn't offend the patient in what she is saying. She shouldn't say that they are ‘fat' and need to lose all their ‘chubbiness†. She should be polite and professional and use the correct terminology to avoid any offence. Steve is overweight and if Sue worked out his BMI and saw this she shouldn't call him ‘fat'. She should tell him that he is overweight and borderline obese. Even though it sounds worse if Sue uses the correct terminology then Steve is less likely to get offended and more likely to take things seriously. If he takes things seriously he is more likely to want to lose weight and therefore his needs will be met. Sue should also have being approachable as a quality. If the Sue is approachable and friendly and nice the message she must give to Steve that he is overweight and does need to diet may make him accept these things more lightly than just saying he's fat and needs to lose weight fast. If Steve can accept things more lightly and understand what Sue is saying to him then he is more likely to be confident and want to lose weight. If he loses weight then his needs will have been met. Sue should also make sure that she is relaxed and patient with her patients but that she is also firm. Things may get irritating if a patient is refusing to diet or doesn't seem to think they should lose weight. Sue should stay relaxed and patient but however she must make sure that she doesn't give in and she stays firm. Such as making Steve stick to his diet plan. She must understand that it may be difficult at first but must be consistent and firm with Steve and keep reminding him that his needs can only be met if he works with her and takes onboard her advice. Sue must also make sure she stays positive. Being positive is a quality that Sue needs. She must make sure that she tells them how much better they will look and feel after all their hard work and that it will be very beneficial. If she does this then her patients will then want to aspire for the positive goals. If she is negative and rude patients such as Steve may not listen to her and may not lose weight and may even start to gain weight. If Steve doesn't lose weight then his needs will not be met. However if Sue stays positive with Steve and makes sure that he is in a positive frame of mind and he is in a determined lose as she tells him of all the benefits then Steve's needs will be met as he will eventually lose weight and feel and look much better.

Lab 3 Determinates of Water Hardness

Determination of Water Hardness Using a Titrator Heather Crall Chemistry 1 SMT- 271044 10/17/2012 Abstract From seeing all of my results and conclusion I now see that I didn’t understand this lab very well and that its not easy when others try to help. Since I have hard water it tells me that my water flows over and through rocks and minerals, like limestone. Purpose The purpose of this lab is to become familiar with the concept of water hardness. We learn that hard water contains high levels of dissolved minerals that are in the form of metallic ions.Most of Ohio which is the state I live in either has moderately hard water or hard water. For as my town the city is moderate and the country is hard. Procedure 1) Put safety things on 2) Place the stopcock in the closed position on the end of the titrator and fill with 10 mL of EDTA solution. 3) Put a crumpled up paper towel under the titrator and allow a few drops of the solution to fall into the towel. This way it fills the ti p of the titrator then close and throw the towel away. Then place the 100 mL beaker under the setup. 4) Use the graduated cylinder to measure exactly 10 mL of tap water from your sink. ) Pour the tap water into the beaker then add 5 drops of pH 10 buffer solution. Swirl carefully the mixture in the beaker. 6) Read the volume of EDTA in the titrator and record the initial volume. Then slowly open the stopcock and add 1 drop at a time while swirling the mixture.7) Once the solution turns a pale blue-gray color turn the stopcock off then record the final volume in the titrator. 8) Repeat steps 4-7 and fill in Table 1. 9) Pour the rest of the contents down the drain Data Data Table 1: EDTA titration volume| | Initial EDTA Volume (mL)| Final EDTA Volume (mL)| Total Volume of EDTA Used (mL)| Trial 1| 9 mL| 7. mL| 1. 6 mL| Trial 2| 8 mL| 6. 6 mL| 1. 4 mL| Trial 3| 7mL| 5. 2 mL| 1. 8 mL| Average Volume of EDTA Used (mL): 1. 6 mL | Data Table 2: Water Hardness| Average Volume of EDTA Used (m L)| Concentration Ca^2+ ions per Liter of Water (mol/L)| Water Hardness (ppm CaCO3)| 1. 6 mL| 0. 015 mol/L| 1,500. 9 ppm CaCO3| Results A) Based on the analysis of your local water, would you classify its hardness as soft, moderate, hard, or very hard? Explain your answer. My water is moderately hard even though it’s the city we still have plumbing problems due to our soil and the minerals in our town.The country all has hard water so the deal with rust and bigger clogs than the city. B) Approximately how much calcium would you ingest by drinking eight 8-oz glasses of your local water? HINT: 1 oz(fluid ounces) =29. 57 mL 8oz= 236. 56 236. 56*8= 1,892. 48 mL Conclusion In conclusion it seems as though my results have come to show that I have very hard water when looking at the last graph but to have it say 1,500 tells me that my results is potentially incorrect. From what I understand it shows that the calcium carbonate is very high in my town.

Special Needs Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Special Needs Education - Essay Example By giving a workshop to parents regarding the education of children with special needs, not only would they be able to appreciate the efforts that regular schools do for the children, but also enlighten them in what they could do to support and encourage their own children’s learning process. Special Needs Education Workshop for Parents Many parents take it for granted that their own children are able to follow the school’s given curricula without any worries. However, for parents who may not be able to understand why their child is having a hard time coping with lessons in school, despite regularly attending classes and studying even after school, it may be that they have not realized that the child has learning problems. Putting the blame on the child or the educational system, or both may not be the best way in handling the situation. Not only does it creates a barrier between understanding the child better, but it also gives the child an idea that there is nothing t hat can be done to the situation (Porter, 2002). Thus, to improve the well-being of children with special needs as well as providing stability to the parents’ relationship with the child and the school, a workshop regarding the mechanics of how special education needs are addressed by regular schools, as well as how parents can participate in their child’s learning process would be a helpful tool in helping parents understand and support their child better in school. The main goals for conducting the seminar and workshop regarding the special education needs for children that have learning problems are: to introduce to parents the â€Å"IDEA†, an act that supports the education of children with special education needs through the public school system; to present to concerned parents how regular schools are able to provide quality education not just to children with normal or superior learning capabilities, but also to children that may have other needs that woul d allow them to learn lessons at the same rate as their peers; to let parents see the perspective of children with learning difficulties in dealing with their everyday schooling; to provide parents ideas which could help them assist and empower their children in coping with the regular educational curriculum of the school; and to enlighten parents of the important role that they have to play in order to become even more attuned with their children not just in the academics but also in their physical, social, psychological, and emotional well-being. In order for the parents to not only be informed but also get engaged with the topic itself, the program shall consist of four parts: the introductory part; the presentation proper; the question and answer part; and the workshop proper. The introductory part would be presented in the form of a video presentation that enumerates and explains laws that are concerned with the provision of additional adjustment of the school’s teaching methods to address the needs and support the abilities of children with special needs. The presentation proper would utilize a power point presentation so that the parents would be able to read the additional information with ease. The presentation will be mentioning in detail the services that are provided for specifically by the schools that their children are enrolled in, as well as other

Four Major Problems Faced by the US Economy Currently Based on Current Term Paper

Four Major Problems Faced by the US Economy Currently Based on Current Media Reports - Term Paper Example The 2008 financial crisis of United States affected the economies throughout the world and the macroeconomic factors were shaken up. The issue started with the debt crisis when the borrowers were unable to service their loans and thus faced difficulty in paying back the loans. This resulted in the housing market crisis when people ended up with bad loans which in turn resulted in people being deprived off their homes. The credit crunch also led to damage to investors confidence and investors and savers were unwilling to inject the money into the economy which resulted in shortage of money and cash, and this also resulted in the rise of unemployment. US Federal Debt/Deficit Since the financial crisis struck in the year 2008, the US debt has been very high. According to a recent news article, the United States debt is nearly as much as the total value of all its goods and services produced in the US during the financial year. CNBC reports that the total value of the US debt is $14.96 t rillion which means that the United States external debt as a percentage of its GDP stand at 99.46% (CNBC). This is a very high figure and indeed a very dangerous one because high leverage of debt can be very risky. As a matter of fact, it is suggested that every person born in the United States has a debt of $47,664 in the very second it is born. The figure on the left shows that the public debt in the US will surpass the 17 trillion mark by the end of 2012, and indicates how the debts are constantly on the rise, which can be a very alarming situation for the people. (US Government Spending) Not just the rising debts, but the economy also faces the difficulty of constant budget deficits which means the outlay of the United States government is greater than the receipts and this means that the US government has to search for sources to raise the finances. Since the past three years, the US federal deficit has been around the $1300 billion mark. (US Government Spending) Issue of Rais ing Finance As mentioned above, United States economy has become highly leveraged and the debt to GDP percentage is nearly touching the 100 percent mark. This increases the riskiness of the economy and damages the confidence of investors and savers to inject their money into the economy. Investors ask for high returns to take on risky projects and some do not even settle for higher returns due to the fact the people are naturally risk averse. A credit rating agency has downgraded the credit rating of the United States and has gone down from AA+ to AA. Since the credit rating is going down, the investors and savers are reluctant to inject their money into the economy (Yahoo!). This creates a problem for the United States because the US government needs to borrow the money to cover up for the budget deficits they are facing each year. When the government has to inject money into the economy and it is unable to increase its budget receipts, then it has to look for other sources of mone y to cover that deficit and this source is usually to borrow money. With the credit rating going down, less number of savers is ready to save their money and thus it creates a shortage of money for the US government. Not just to finance the budget deficit, the government also faces difficulty in raising the money to service or repay their previous loans. Housing The housing bubble emerged in the United States in the year 2005 when the property prices started to rise and they rose at quite high rates. This increased the

Keynesian Economic Policies before and after 1970 Coursework

Keynesian Economic Policies before and after 1970 - Coursework Example Friedman suggested that governments have a central bank monetary policy whose main aim would be to sustain the equilibrium of demand and supply of money in the economy. As opposed to the Keynesian economics which mainly focused on value stability of a country’s currency and the panic resulting from insufficient supply of money that led to alternate currency and collapse, Friedman and his monetary policy focused on stability of prices as a result of the equilibrium between money supply and the demand of money (Lipsey and Chrystal, 2007). The Keynesian economic principles dominated the macroeconomic world in the 19th century in to the early 20th century, in a period characterized by the rise of capitalism. This period is referred to as the Golden Age of capitalism. The golden age of capitalism, led by The US and other Western economic powers especially after the World War II, (from 1945 to mid 1970s) saw the rise of capitalist nations in to major economic regions of the world. K eynesian Economic Policies A prevailing economic principle in the 1930s and during the Great economic depression was that the economy would recover by itself without any interventions from the government. A British Economist, Keynesian, then suggested that governments should increase their spending and cut taxes so as to revive their economies during the depression (Eatwell and Millgate, 2011). Without government intervention, he argued that the economy would be greatly affected by high unemployment rates and would never recover. In his opinion, increasing government spending during an economic downturn would help to boost demand, as well as setting off the chain of the chain of demand by suppliers and workers whose incomes would have been affected by the increased expenditure by the government. Reducing the tax burden would also enable people to have more disposable income, which would help to boost demand in the economy. He also contended that the most appropriate fiscal policy in periods of high unemployment is to run a deficit budget (Eatwell and Millgate, 2011). Keynesian’s ideas were largely ignored by both the British and the US Governments at the time, until after the World War II (Eatwell and Millgate, 2011). After the war, Keynesians principles of a fiscal policy, government involvement in spending and cutting taxes with the aim of maintaining employment rates became the center of attraction in macroeconomics, both in the debate of national economic policies as well as in research. In the US, the Employment Act (1946) helped the government to start using Keynesian’s economic principles to regulate its economy and improve the employment rate. Application of Keynesian principles saw governments regain economic stability throughout the 1950s and 1960s as they recovered from the economic depression. The Keynesian economic theory was based on the principle of a circular flow of money in the economy (Eatwell and Millgate, 2011). This implies that when one person spends money, kit results in another person earning money. This would then raises the demand of the later, leading him to also spend the money and through buying of goods and services, leading to another person earning the money and so forth. According to Keynes, it is this circular flow of money that enables economies to function well. According to the Keynesian Theory, the aggregate demand created by

Managing Diversity in British Schools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Managing Diversity in British Schools - Essay Example Instead of segregation they could be taught in conventional schools with teachers pointing their weak areas. The Government needs to provide resources to schools of the minorities and ensure that they do not undergo racial abuse by teachers and fellows. Therefore these boys seem to need special attention from their teachers and proper care, love and support from their parents which could be obtained by training. This paper intends to highlight the reporting of standards of achievement and behavior in British Schools while finding out the reasons for the problems of blacks in Britain face. Three articles taken from different sources were analyzed and the findings from those are given below. In this article, Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, plans to deal with the under- achievement of the black students. It is known that there has been two times as many blacks in prison as there are studying in the university. In order to increase their achievement level it is believed that they should be taught separately from the white students and it is also essential to have parental support. He said that "The Windsor Fellowship", which is mainly for ethnic minority children, have mentored their students excellently that 100% of their students passed with good GCSE grades in London while 75% in Birmingham last year. Keith Va Keith Vaz, the Labour MP for Leicester East, criticized and fears that this would further enhance the segregation and lead to encouraging the feeling of being different. He says that the normal schools should provide additional help required by the failing minority students. Phillips believes that poverty is neither the reason for the poor performance of the black boys, nor white people regarding them as inferior. As their sisters perform well so does the Chinese and Indian students who also suffer from discrimination as perform far better than black boys. [7] Objectivity or Interest of the Writers The writer cares about the welfare of the students of the ethnic minorities and suggests ways of improving their educational achievements especially those of the black boys, who seem to be spending their lives in prison, mainly by segregating schools but believes that racial discrimination is not the reason for their poor performance. The writer believes that poverty is not the major reason behind the low achievement but it is actually under-employment which is the main reason. The black boy after graduation do not get job up to their capabilities which is seen by children and is believed that education is not the solution. Hence they indulge in crime which seems manlier than education. [6] The major reason for the black boys performing low is the racial abuse in the schools which needs to be stopped as it results not only in poor results but dropping out of schools. This eventually leads them to commit illegal act like robbery and drug trafficking. Hence every student should be welcomed and diversity should be accepted in schools especially by the white teachers and students. [4] The minorities and blacks students must have seen their parents work so hard and their employer's under-utilizing their skills, leaving them to dwell in poverty. Hence it leaves an impression on

Personal statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 36

Personal statement - Essay Example After I completed my bachelor’s degree I immediately entered the workforce. I have had three jobs since then. I worked at the ELS language center as a customer service representative. At that job I learned that the customer is the most important stakeholder group for companies. My verbal communication skills improve a lot by working at this firm. I also worked at ARC Company as an administrative officer in the human resource department. This job was very challenging, but I liked working under pressure. I learned the importance of being organized and that working with others in harmony can help increase the productivity of a company. I’m currently working at Saudi Radwa Food Company as a personal administrative officer. I like working at this firm because the lines of communication are always open between the employees and the management team. I know that it is important for professionals to speak more than one language. In order to improve my English I successfully complete an eight month course in Nottingham Trent International College. I speak good English and Arabic. I have reached a point in my life in which I have realized that I need to pursue a master degree. I am interested in becoming a graduate student seeking a masters’ degree in health administration. Health administration is a booming field that provides lots of job opportunities. During 2010 I trained in a hospital laboratory for five weeks. I want to work in the health care industry once I complete a masters’ in health administration with my end state goal being becoming a hospital director. I am an excellent candidate to enter a masters’ program in health administration due to my educational background and job experience. I am extremely motivated to start graduate studies because I want to obtain advance knowledge that I can use to improve in the workplace. I am an outgoing person that knows how to motive others to

The Role of the School Curriculum and the Assessment of Childrens Essay

The Role of the School Curriculum and the Assessment of Childrens Learning - Essay Example This essay stresses that the school curriculum essentially answers two questions: what should be taught in schools and how it should be taught. Curriculum planners will typically establish a standard for teaching and learning and will determine expected outcomes and what should be taught and who teaching should be conducted in order to achieve expected outcomes. However, teachers are responsible for the implementation and development of the curriculum. All too often however, teachers have demonstrated a tendency to ignore the curriculum or make only a half-hearted attempt to fully implement the curriculum. This paper makes a conclusion that England’s school curriculum policy directs that all publically funded schools are required to develop a curriculum that is ‘balanced and broadly based’ and ‘promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society’. The school curriculum must also ‘prepare pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life’. The national curriculum, which is a compulsory part of the school curriculum, ‘introduces’ student to the ‘best that has been thought and said; and helps engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement’. In this regard, the national curriculum outlines main areas of education that students are at liberty to enhance and incorporate in lessons for helping children learn and develop skills and knowledge in compliance with the school’s curriculum.

Obstacles and Constraints Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Obstacles and Constraints Paper - Essay Example It is a common term that is used by ecologists in their study to define the relationships between two or more organisms. Mutualistic is a term that is used to define a relationship between two organisms, in which they co-exist with the help of each other. In this case of relationship, both the organisms’ co exit in a mutual way, both of them gain benefits from each other, there is no organism that is at harm. Commensalistic is a term that is used to describe a relationship is which there one party who is benefitting is and then there is one party that is not benefiting at all. The two parties are existing together in a mutual way, and one is gaining advantage from the other while the other is gaining no benefit or no disadvantage as well. Parasitism is a term that is used when both the parties exist mutually but one party is living off the other. One of the parties derives benefits from the other party and the other party is getting harmed by the benefits. Competition in this both the parties try to exist mutually but then they fail due to the fact that both of them try to gain benefits but none of them gains anything out of it. In this both the parties end up harming each other. While the final form is Neutralism, in this both the parties remain unaffected and neither benefits nor is disadvantaged. In a good sense, the relation between the policy maker and the agent of implementation is an mutualistic relation. They can both function together in a mutual way and benefit each other. In this case, a policy designer is the person who designs policies, he designs policies keeping in mind the actual requirements of the city, now after he has done designing he expects that the policy implementer would implement it as it is and make amends only when required not on his personal opinion. When the relationship is bad then, we can say that there exists a Competition type of relationship, both try to implement and have their choice implemented, this way the genera l masses get no advantage out if it and they both end up harming their own reputations and their own egos (Amos, 1988).   In this case the government has faced a serious lack of implementation, they ordered a step but then refrained funding. It should have happened that the government should have actually provided the funds that were enough to sustain and maintain the police force. When such high amount of force is added, there is a need to accommodate their salaries, the ammunitions that is being provided to them and the uniforms that has to be provided. These are some of the basic things that have to be provided. The government had provided for the first timers only, later there was no release of funds which actually became a burden (Amos, 1988).   There are many financial constraints that are involved when any policy or any project is to be implanted. The budget is divided according to the requirements of the projects. But usually the prices are underestimated. It has also be en seen many times that the government or the higher officials do not allow the money to trickle down enough to be sufficient. Many a times the sanctioning of the budgets take up a lot of time and hence the projects are stalled a lot. There is always a serious need of training for the police officers that were hired; the government did not fund the training. When new people are hired they need to be trained. This is the

Week Two Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Week Two Paper - Essay Example Federal courts are generally said to have "federal question" jurisdiction, which means that federal courts will hear cases that involve issues touching on the Constitution or other federal laws. The source of "federal question" jurisdiction can be found in the Constitution. Article III states that the "judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority." The federal court has jurisdiction over the case of Mr. Jones and the owner of the adjacent lot, because the Federal law also authorizes federal courts to hear cases where the opposing parties are citizens of different states. This is known as "diversity jurisdiction", because the plaintiff and the defendant have different, or diverse, state citizenships. "Diversity jurisdiction" enables a federal court to hear cases where there is not a federal question. In diversity cases, the federal court provides a fair forum where citizens of different states can have their cases heard. A "supplemental jurisdiction", a federal court can hear a claim that would normally come under the jurisdiction of a state court if it is related to a claim already before that court. Supplementary jurisdiction -- sometimes called "ancillary jurisdiction" or "pendent jurisdiction" -- is a common-law, device that allows a court to resolve all claims between opposing parties in one forum. Unlike other forms of jurisdiction, supplementary jurisdiction is discretionary -- a court can choose whether or not to exercise it in a given case. Disagreements are common in our daily lives. Usually these disagreements can be settled outside the legal system. Sometimes they are so serious, however, that one of the parties sees no alternative but to file a lawsuit.

Kingstons Women Warrior Gives Voices and Identities to Chinese and Chinese American Women Essay Example for Free

Kingstons Women Warrior Gives Voices and Identities to Chinese and Chinese American Women Essay Growing up with a family of five sisters and myself as first generation Korean Americans, The Women Warrior focuses on the author’s life were she struggles to find her voice. Maxine Hong Kingston’s writing of this book is an example of how ancient talk stories, myths, and beliefs help one find her voice in America. The Women Warrior takes us on an adventure through five main female characters and five chapters that helps us understand how she finds her voice in America. The five chapters integrate Kingston’s experiences through the five women brought to life throughout the book. The references in the book refer to Kingston’s emotional struggle while showing the reader the benefit of finding ones personal voice in America. The book shows how the five women in this book along with the talk stories help in the search for individual identities. Through Kingston’s writing of this book the chapters help show how she manages to give her aunt an identity, Chinese women an identity, her mother a voice, and finds her own identity and voice in America. If women do not have voices in traditional Chinese culture, then the talk stories that mothers pass on to there daughters may be considered subversive tales and instructions for their daughters. In the first chapter of The Women Warrior, Kingston’s mother Brave Orchid tells the story of her sister and the relevance of the no name women. This talk story was told by Kingston’s mother in order to teach her daughter of proper women behavior. The fact that the story starts with her mother saying not to repeat the story makes this book a way of bringing Kinston’s aunt to life. The story was based back in the village in China where it is believed that she brought disgrace to her whole family by having an illegitimate child. â€Å"You must not tell anyone, my mother said, what I am about to tell you† (Kingston 3). This is how the book starts and the story of Kingston’s mother’s sister who killed herself with her newborn daughter. The no name women had become pregnant while her husband was off to war. The thought of what China was like painted a confusing picture for Kingston. She knew that the village that her aunt had killed herself by throwing her and her daughter in the village water well shows very little error for family values. It is here were the reader can come to know that the struggle of her aunt is the struggle she herself is going through while trying to make sense of all the tradition of China while living in America. The point of Brave Orchid to tell Kingston the story of her husband’s sister is to warn her to be careful and cautious. â€Å"Now that you started to menstruate, what happened to her could happen to you. Do not humiliate us. You wouldn’t like to be forgotten as if you had never been born† (Kingston 5). The story truly begins through this talk tale. Kingston is not allowed to mention the story of her aunt she has to create her own fantasies to complete the story. Kingston feels that the story makes more sense to her as if her aunt was rapped by a villager that ordered her to be with him. She also feels that her aunt may have stepped out of the normal social order and her sexual passion could have been incest and the whole town turned there backs and even her own family turned there backs. The birth took place in a pigsty and since the aunt already knew her fate she walked her daughter to the well and they drowned themselves. The whole idea that it was a daughter or a girl makes the story more interesting because the customs in China may have already named the girl useless and immoral. This chapter is often one of the more frequent anthologized sections of the book. The talk story of her aunt opens the door for more stories to follow. The place of women in Chinese society comes to question while the thought of Kingston’s place in America comes to question as well. Her reference to the village society of her aunt was vital to eliminate sexual attraction. This came true to Kingston herself who would try not to make herself to attractive to boys. The chapter is mainly a talk story told by her mother and the rest is the writing of Kingston. The first chapter makes the reader wonder if the stories are fiction or nonfiction. The tales from Brave Orchid seem to trouble Kingston from what is real and what is fantasy. You can see the struggle of where Kingston and her aunt seem to be voiceless throughout their lives. The fact that the no name women never told anyone who the husband was shows that she was protecting him with silence. By writing about her aunt Kingston gives her a voice. â€Å"The real punishment was not the raid swiftly inflicted by the villagers, but the family deliberately forgetting her† (Kingston 16). Although Kingston never finds out her aunts name, the symbolic act of naming her the No Name Women honors her memory. The second chapter White Tigers is based on another talk story about a female warrior Fa Mu Lan. The fact that the story is told in the first person gives Kingston her ability to become a warrior. This chapter develops some background for Kingston and her voice is heard through the story of the Fa Mu Lan. The warrior in the story starts her training at the age of seven and since it is written in the first person we can picture the warrior to be Kingston herself. In the fantasy Kingston follows a bird up into the mountains until she comes to the hut of an old couple who want to train her to become a great warrior. As part of her training she spends years on the mountain, fasting for days and eating only roots and vegetables while drinking snow water. At her hungriest moment she was sitting by the fire and a rabbit sacrifices itself for her to eat. â€Å"The rabbit seemed alert enough, however, looking at me so acutely, bounding up to the fire. But it did not stop when it got to the edge. It turned its face towards me, then jumped in the fire† (Kingston 26). Her starvation in the mountains causes her to hallucinate. â€Å"I saw two people made of gold dancing the earth’s dances† (Kingston 27). She eventually returns at the age of fourteen and her mentors teach her to fight. She is able to see images of her family in a gourd of water and she can see her family preparing her wedding to a childhood friend. She saw her husband and brother taken away and she wanted to help so badly but the training was not over. She was to wait until she became twenty two. When she is ready to leave the mountain she has learned how to us her magical sky sword and is given powerful beads by the old couple. Kingston returns home and her parents in preparation for battle tattoo a list of grievances all over her back to symbolize revenge. In men’s armor she rides her white horse and prepares to lead an army. This is probably the most exciting chapter in the book. We can see that Kingston is retelling the story as if she was the great Fa Mu Lan. This chapter follows a Chinese myth that the women would fight in place of their father. â€Å"We are going to carve revenge on your back, my father said. We will write out oaths and names† (Kingston 34). The tattoo that was actually carved in a man’s back is carved into Kingston’s back. She is pretending to be a man and becomes a great warrior at the head of a huge army. She defeats and wins over the army of a giant. Her husband then joins her and soon she is carrying a newborn baby under her armor. She eventually leads the entire population of China to overthrow the corrupt emperor and put a peasant in his place. In the fantasy Kinston takes on the role of a powerful man warrior and yet is also a female avenger. She has the ability to create life and to take life. These dual powers let her maintain both her sense of womanhood and duties of a wife. When she is a warrior she would wear her hair up and reveal the tattoos and when it was time to be a wife she lets down her hair to cover the tattoos. He wept when he took of my shirt and saw the scar words on my back. He loosened my hair and covered the words with it† (Kingston 39). When in battle her husband joins her and after birth to the newborn the husband leaves to care for the child. This sign of role reversal gives more meaning to Kinston’s life. She is able to transcend the rigid customs and traditions in this chapter. At the end of the chapter the reader can see that the customs of women constrict her in America as well. â€Å"Did you know the restaurant you chose for the banquet is being picketed by CORE and the NAACP? Of course I knew that is why I chose it. I refuse to type these invitations, I whispered, voice unreliable. He leaned back in his chair, his bossy stomach opulent. He picked up a calendar and slowly circled a date. You will be paid till here and we will mail you a check† (Kingston 49). We can see her trying to stand up to her boss in America and he simply fires her. In reality the only powers Kingston has is through her writing. It is in her writing that her aunt and her voice are heard. The end of the chapter states the real powers of Fa Mu Lan. The sky sword created by Kingston is as powerful as she wants just like her words. They can only have as much power as she can give them. The fact that the women with bound feet created an army in her writing gives them much deserved credit for all that they have endured The point of this chapter is through writing Kingston found a way to give voice to all Chinese women. She has found a way to poke holes through old stereotypes and thus through her writing she can change customs and give women a more important role in society. Although chapter two was the most adventurous it is in the third chapter that the reader can actually see that Kingston gives her other a voice and even finds out more about her own self. Shaman focuses on Kingston’s mother, Brave orchid and her childhood in China. The chapter traces her life in China after her husband was in America. Kingston is able to bring the talk stories of her mother and along with other storytellers Kingston writes of her mothers accomplishments becoming a doctor. The chapter brings her mother to life. In America she has no voice and in China she was a remarkable doctor. It was at the To Keung School of Midwifery were Brave Orchid truly excelled as one of the top students. â€Å"It rolled over her and landed bodily on her chest. There it sat. It breathed airlessly pressing her, sapping her. Oh no a sitting ghost, she thought† (Kinston 69). It was here when she defeated the ghost at her school and impressed the other students. It was as if she could perform magic. When Brave Orchid returns back to her village she had the ability to heal the sick and defeat the ghosts. Kingston feels that her mother’s power comes from her being able to eat any beast. She remembers one talk story that Chinese people ate the brains out of the head of a monkey. One day Kingston and her mother went to purchase a slave. I am a doctor, she told her new slave, when they were out of the dealer’s hearing† (Kingston 81). It is here that Kingston feels some uncertainty towards her mothers talk stories. Her mother recalls spending two hundred dollars for Kingston when she was born. Kingston remembers her mother commenting on the fact that they gave away girls that were infants. Here Kingston is torn with the fact that she cost her mother money and that being a girl was almost a burden on her family. The struggle with honoring her mother’s powers and with identifying herself is clear in this chapter. The fact that Kingston comments on her being a girl and being useless is what she truly struggles with. Many families in China look down at baby girls and it isn’t until Kingston writes about her mother and herself to give them an identity. The second part of the chapter takes place in America where Brave Orchid a once powerful doctor has no voice in America. She couldn’t speak English so the simple language barrier silenced her. The way to get Kingston to understand her mother was through the talk stories and ghosts Brave Orchid made up. But America has been full of machines and ghosts, Taxi ghosts, Bus ghosts, Police ghosts, Fire ghosts, Meter reader ghosts, Tree trimming ghosts, Five and dime ghosts† (Kingston 97). The surroundings of America contained many ghosts but the reader can sense that Kingston is happier that she is in America. The chapter ends on the present day during a visit by Kingston. Brave Orchid complains about how hard they work in the laundry and tomato field businesses. Her mother claims that even the time goes faster in America. Brave Orchid never stopped calling China home. She seems to understand little of the political situation in China. She has finally told Kingston that they would never return to China. The chapter is best summed up as the ghost chapter. The new ghosts in America along with the ghosts from China can be terrifying. The deformed baby that was kicked out to die in the outhouse would haunt Kingston. The chapter of Shaman is the chapter that depicts the conflicts of Brave Orchid’s life and the mother daughter relationship she has with Kingston. The reader can see how frustrating Kingston is as she tries to find her identity in America. If there were no talk stories of her mother’s life in China then Brave Orchid could have never had her own identity. Brave Orchids life in America is completely opposite and in America she struggles with her own identity because she only speaks Chinese. The next chapter At the Western Palace is where Brave Orchids sister Moon Orchid comes to America. It is through these women that Kingston can identify with herself. Brave Orchid sends for her sister and she makes the trip to America from Hong Kong. â€Å"Brave Orchid momentarily saw, like a larger, younger outline around this old woman, the sister she had been waiting for† (Kingston 117). The two women kept describing how old each one looked. The fact that Brave Orchid sent for her sister to come to America raised question as to why her husband, who lived in America, never sent for her. It is here that I noticed that Moon Orchid was a lady with no identity in America. Brave Orchid insisted that Moon Orchid should go demand her life as a wife to her husband. â€Å"Moon Orchids eyes got big like a child’s. I shouldn’t be here, she said† (Kingston 124). This was Moon Orchids reaction to her sister’s rambling about her reclaiming her husband. Moon Orchid got money from her husband. He sent her money and she never worked a day in her life. She tries to tell Brave Orchid she was not abandoned and that he sent money for all the food and servants one could need. He even sent their daughter to college. Brave Orchid pressured her sister till finally one day they went to Los Angeles to confront her husband. Brave Orchid tells her sister to demand her place as the first wife but Moon Orchid wants no part in it. They came up with a plan after Brave Orchid saw his doctor office. They would send Brave Orchid’s son to the office and make the doctor come out thinking their was an accident. The plan did bring him out but it failed in Brave Orchids mind. He mentioned his new wife did not know of the first marriage and that he wanted no part in her life, but he would continue to send money to his daughter in care for Moon Orchid. The doctor embarrassed Moon by calling them grandmothers. This made Brave Orchid and Moon Orchid ghosts and the comic and tragic story of Moon Orchid takes form. The daughter takes Moon Orchid in after brave Orchid realized she was useless in helping her. She could barely fold towels and she got to hot to work. Her inabilities to perform the easiest tasks became annoying. Like many women in China they would marry the men just before they left for â€Å"the Golden Mountain† America. The fact that Moon Orchid comes to America and is useless to Brave Orchid and her husband wants nothing to do with her raises more speculation to her identity. The women in this story seem to have to find their own place and are voiceless. Like in previous chapters Moon Orchid comes to life through Kinston’s writing. In this chapter Kingston is hardly present. This is the first appearance in the book of her siblings and her father. Brave Orchid is embarrassed that her children are unaware of respecting or understanding Chinese culture. The fact that Brave Orchid and Moon Orchid become ghosts while confronting her husband takes a lot out of Moon Orchid. She slowly begins to deteriorate and Brave Orchid tries to comfort her but she ends up sending her to away to a home. The stories in this chapter are an important reminder to Kingston and her feelings for her mother. The fact that these women both had great lives in China can show the reader that in America the women were of no use and in America they struggled to find their identity. It s in the final chapter A song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe, Kingston finally begins to focus on her own life. We can see Kingston in some of her most important turning points in her life. She is insecure, quiet and an alienated young girl. Kinston has begun to see the world logically and as a more mature person. She embraces her roots and her past and finds strength in her writing. Kingston and other Chinese Americans are constantly told not to tell anyone outside the community about their lives. This makes finding ones identity harder. It is very important that Kingston does not spare herself in the final chapter. Here the quiet girl even has two long rants showing her words were often bottled up. Her ability to write made her more mature and gave her a clear perspective of her place in society. In America silence is a trait of Americans and Kinston finds herself as quiet and American-feminine. â€Å"So I had to stop, relieved in some ways. I shut my mouth, but I felt something alive tearing at my throat, bite by bite, from the inside† (Kingston 200). This is when you can see that Kinston remaining quite only kept things bottled up inside. The story ends with another talk story about the Ts’ai Yen who had to translate the songs of the Barbarians back to the people. It is here that the reader can sense that Kinston has found a way to communicate from her writing to her readers. Kinston’s identity seems to be in between American and Chinese American culture. The culture of both worlds has come to life throughout this book and it is in this chapter that Kingston realizes that she can give anything identity through her writing. Kingston’s ability to find herself in both cultures reveals her true identity. It is through her mother’s talk stories and through the other women in this book that helps her find her own identity. Kinston also gives identity to her No Name Aunt as well as Moon Orchid, and her mother. This novel focuses on the stories of these women and there struggles to find their voices. After realizing her place in society Kinston gave herself and all the other women in this book a voice and an identity. The women who have no identity and the struggle of a Chinese American women makes this book reveal everyone’s place and identity. Through her writing, talking about her past becomes the cure for silence and the cure to achieve an individual voice as a Chinese American Women.

Joint Criminal Liability for Murder | Case Study

Joint Criminal Liability for Murder | Case Study Introduction: This assignment will attempt to analyse lesser criminal liabilities leading up to stronger criminal liabilities for all parties involved in a possible conviction of murder by focussing on the major themes of contending and procuring, aiding and abetting, accessory liability, unlawful killing, grievous bodily harm (death resulting) and causation. Joint Criminal Liability between Andy, Matthew Jimmy Are both Andy and Matthew equally principal offenders for the purpose of distinguishing criminal liability? Criminal liability A person who commits the acts which form whole or part of the actus reus of the crime is known as a ‘principal in the first degree†: Osland v R (1998) [1] It can be derived from the facts that both Andy and Matthew were present at the scene to carry out a joint criminal enterprise: Tangye (1997) [2] as there was an express agreement: Tangye (1997) [3]made between the two to seize the managers of large supermarkets in their homes and force them to return to their supermarkets and open the safes. On the facts it cannot be established that derivative liability exists between the two or any failure to agree to such actions is present: Osland v R (1998) [4]rather an â€Å"acting in concert† which may create the effect of equally placing responsibility on each individual for the acts of the other: R v Lowery and King (No.2) (1972) [5] Both Andy and Matthew may be charged with Conspiracy under S.321 to commit and offence does this extend to Jimmy? Conspiracy Andy puts his plans to Mathew who agrees to take part in the robberies, for a percentage of the proceeds under S.321 of the crimes Act 1958 this agreement made between Andy and Matthew resulted in the involvement and commission of the offence hence may lead to a finding of guilt in conspiracy to commit that offence. Does this apply to Jimmys level of involvement? Actus Reus Conspiracy has been defined as an agreement to do an unlawful act or a lawful act by unlawful means†:R V Jones (1832) [6] there is clearly no question of dispute that both Andy and Mathew decided that the best way of making quick money was to execute the agreed criminal act. To establish contravention of s.321 it may be inferred that Jimmys conduct of providing a â€Å"safe house intentionally perverted the course of Justice or intended to pervert the administration of public justice: James v. Robinson (1963) [7] hence making Jimi a complicit in the commission of a crime. Mens Rea The establishment of both Andy and Matthewss intentional agreement to contravene s.321 is apparent on the facts posing the question whether a conspiracy charge is as effective as heavier weighed substantive charges available: Hoar v R (1981) [8] Jimmy may be found guilty under the equally applicable test if it is proved that the provision of the ‘safe house was a furtherance to the common purpose: R. v. Tripodi (1955) [9] in effect being liable for accessorial liability due to the counselling and procuring involved with Andy and Matthews main offences. Defences The scope of mens rea clearly applied to Jimmy is debatable â€Å"a conspiracy is proved by evidence of the actual terms of the agreement made or accepted or by evidence from which an agreement to effect common objects or purpose is inferred.†: Gerakiteys v R (1984) [10]. No evidence of actual terms of the agreement provides a clear entry point before the act or common object to the commission of the offence by Jimmy: R v Theophanous (2003) [11]The mere providing of a â€Å"safe house provides only an inference for a jury to draw upon after the fact of Jimis level of participation. In this light the evidence may fall short of establishing a clear level of involvement: R V Darby (1982)[12]. Due to the possible grey area in establishing Jimmys intention to pervert the course of justice the possibility of an acquittal under s.321 may result, if the inference of the overt act in itself is not proved beyond reasonable doubt aligning common purpose against other substantive criminal acts: R V Darby (1982) [13]. Both Andy and Matthew may be charged with Burglary does this extend to Aggravated Burglary? Burglary Andy and Matthew may be guilty of burglary for breaking into Joes home as trespassers with an intention to assault both Joe and Betty. Actus Reus As we can see from the facts the actions of both Andy and Matthew in breaking into Joes home may substitute the trespassing and home for the purpose of a building. Case? Mens Rea On the facts this was actioned knowingly without permission with a firm intent to commit an assault: R v Collins (1972) [14] Aggravated Burglary If burglary can be established between Andy and Matthew they may be also be found guilty of aggravated burglary due to the carrying of a firearm at the time and knowingly entering with intent to do so. Actus Reus Both Matthew and Andy entered intending to assault Joe carrying loaded pistols at the time of their entry. With no apparent reason on the facts to dispute that Joe was not present in his house, hence an inference may be drawn by the jury not suggesting otherwise: R v Verde (2009) [15] Mens Rea: Both Andy and Matthew on the facts intended to threaten to cause injury to a person inside the house if he they were disturbed during the burglary: R v Verde [2009] [16]. They also had the weapon for a purpose connected with the burglary as discussed about albeit for armed robbery: R v Kolb Adams (2007) [17]. Matthew may also be charged of extortion with threat to kill Extortion with threat to kill Furthermore on the above aggravated burglary charge this may be coupled with Matthews threat to kill Betty which may contravene S.27A B regarding extortion with a threat to kill. Actus Reus Matthew clearly made a demand of Betty to lie down on the floor and remain silent or he will kill her. Leaving Joe fearing for his life and that of his wife if they did not submit: R v Lawrence (1980) [18] Mens Rea: On the facts Matthewss intention to threaten to kill was an attempt to create fear of the infliction of harm: Ryan v Cuhl (1979) [19]. Is Andy liable for the common law crime of false imprisonment against Betty? False imprisonment Andy may be liable for the Criminal offence of false imprisonment due to unlawful restraint and threats to both Joe and Betty. Actus Reus As we can see from the facts Andy drags Betty into another room tying her hands and feet with rope and taping her mouth in order for her not to scream. Clearly unlawfully restraining Betty from her liberty to freedom of movement, furthermore confining her into the custody of one room: Ruddock v Taylor (2005) [20] Mens Rea: Andy held a clear intention to unlawfully restrain Betty against her will as a consequence of his threats to kill her and Joe if they did not comply: R v Garrett (1988) [21] Defences There is little to no likelihood that Andy may raise a defence of lawful justification for his actions upon the facts: Blackstone [22] Andys Liability Is Andy liable for contravening S.22 23 of the Crimes Act 1958 regarding Bettys unborn child. Conduct endangering life/Reckless conduct endangering serious injury Andy may be charged as a result of engaging voluntarily in the conduct of restraining Betty without lawful excuse that may have placed her unborn child in danger of death. S.22 23 Actus Reus It can be clearly established that Betty whimpered that she was 7 months pregnant, however Andy voluntarily and recklessly continued without lawful excuse to assault and restrain causing possible serious injury by way of miscarriage on Bettys unborn child: R v Crabbe (1985)[23] Mens Rea Applying the test in: Ryan v Walker (1966) [24] to the possible death by way of miscarriage to Bettys unborn child. The Jury may infer that this possibility was contemplated by Andy as a result of his continued restraint and threat to kill. Furthermore evidence of Andy contacting authorities alluded to his realisation and contemplation of danger or serious injury. Defences: There may be a minimal defence to debate the intent on Andys behalf to place Bettys unborn in danger by the subsequent contacting of authorities furthermore death did not result, hence the actus reus of the consequence failed to occur: R v NuriI (1990) [25] however a finding on the continuation of Bettys restraint at the time of the offence may weigh more heavily against Andys contemplation: R v Crabbe (1985).[26]. It must also be noted that in R v Hutty (1953) [27]a person is not a being until he or she if fully born in a living state however R v West (1848) [28] negates this and still establishes homicide if a child is born and subsequently dies. Does Andys use of stolen licence plates constitute theft for the purposes of s.72 (1) s.73 (5) s.73 (12) Theft Andy may be charged with theft by the action of stealing or dishonestly appropriating another persons licence plates with the intention of permanently depriving them from the owner. Actus Reus Clearly Andy was unauthorised to appropriate or physical take and carry away: The king v James Lapier (1784)[29]. Another persons tangible property: Oxford v Moss (1979) [30]in this case being licence plates for the commission of the offence. Mens Rea It may be inferred that Andy had specific intent to dishonestly deprive s.73(12) the owner of rightful possession of the licence plates for his own right to use: Stein v Henshall (1976)[31] furthermore this can be strengthen by the lack of consent: R v Senese (2004) [32] Are both Andy and Matthew liable for kidnapping Joe under S.63a Kidnapping Andy and Matthew may be liable for demanding Joe to drive to the supermarket to intentionally open the safe for their advantage in return for his release. Actus Reus On the facts we can clearly see that Joes personal liberty or freedom of choice was removed primarily by way of a threat to kill unless he complies: Wellard v R(1978) [33]. Secondly this was performed by Joe being carried away in the form of a car by Andy and Matthew. Thirdly this was achieved by force without consent. This may be inferred by a Jury as his wife Betty was clearly in an injured state. Fourthly at no point was there any justified lawful excuse: R v D (1984) [34]. Mens Rea Andy and Matthew both shared intent in agreeing to perform the kidnapping in order to fulfil their common purpose of performing the robbery. Case Did the actions of Joe opening the safe constitute a criminal offence under s.9AG. Duress Joe may not be found guilty of a criminal offence pertaining to the opening of the safe under duress due to a threat to kill Betty. Actus Reus: On the facts a threat of immediate death was made towards Betty unless both remained compliant. Joe being clearly overborne by this indirect threat subsequently led his will to be placed under duress, furthermore serious personal violence overbearing his ability to become resistant or no opportunity to restrain lead may lead to a strong justification for his actions of opening the safe: Attorney-General v Whelan (1934) [35] Mens Rea Clearly Joe had no intent to perform this criminal offence if he was not under duress, his will was overborne with fear for his life and that of his wife. Defences Joe has a strong case in establishing duress: R v Brown (1986). [36] Furthermore a jury may infer that carrying out the conduct was the only reasonable way that the threatened harm could have been avoided. s.9AG. (b) Are both Andy Matthew guilty of committing Robbery/Armed Robbery contravening s.75 s.75A? Robbery/Armed robbery Both Andy Matthew as an accessory may be equally guilty of robbery for stealing the contents of a safe by force through Joe by means of fear with the use of firearms. Actus Reus Joe was aware of the theft and subsequently was compelled by force or fear to submit to Andys demands to open the supermarket and safe, this prevention by violence or threat establishes robbery under s.75 the use of firearm establishes armed robbery for the purpose of s.75 a (1) enabling the two to have the safe opened and its contents permanently deprived of the owner. It is clear that Joe being the supermarket manager satisfying s.75 a (1) as the applicable person or custodian of the property in this instance: Smith v Desmond (1965)[37] Mens Rea It is clear that Andy and Matthew intended to place Joe under duress by the use of a deadly weapon to intimidate Joe to fear for his life and that of his wife. case Defences Regardless if Andy believed he had an honest entitlement by way of his intentions of support for the Karen tribe as a claim for defence, it is unnecessary to prove this: R v Langham. (1984) [38] furthermore would not constitute lawful excuse at any rate under the Firearms Act (1996) s.132 (2). Thirdly a claim for military necessity would not apply due to his departure from the SAS and proportionality arguments contravening multiple international humanitarian law conventions regarding legal use of force.[39] Andys Liability over Joes serious injuries sustained. Causing serious injury intentionally Andy may be charged under s.16 17 s.22 for pistol whipping Joe until he became unconscious. Actus Reus It may be established on the facts that Joe clearly suffered no less than serious grievous bodily harm by Andys act of pistol whipping to the point of unconsciousness DPP v Smith (1961)[40]. Due to this act being in furtherance of a crime it would constitute without lawful excuse for the purposes of s.16 of the crimes act 1958. Mens rea Andys intent may be established sufficiently in causing intentionally serious injury through the furtherance of a crime or alternatively through recklessness. Meyers v R (1997) [41] It is possible that recklessness may also be established given the nature of Andys training received through the SAS in the continued use of such force being reasonable foreseeable that such a consequence may arise R v Coleman (1990) [42]. Andy may also be liable under s.22 for recklessly engaging in conduct that renders Joe in danger of death with the carrying of a firearm it also may be sufficient to be deemed guilty for grievous bodily harm and breech of s.31a R v Faure (1999)[43]. as a probable consequence he may be deemed just as blameworthy as the conduct of one who does an act intended to kill or to do grievous bodily harm. R v Crabbe (1985) [44] Is Matthew triable as a principal offender as an abettor for his involvement in the commission of a crime under S.323? Abettors in indictable offences are triable as principal offenders Matthew may be charged for assisting Andy at the scenes of the crime furthermore encouraging and procuring by taking appropriate steps towards the commission of the offence under S.323 Crimes act 1958. Actus Reus Matthew agreeing to take part in the robberies hence satisfies the preparation arm or to â€Å"abet† in agreeing to the commission of the offences Thambiah v R (1966)[45], Secondly clearly he â€Å"aided† when he broke into the home acting in concert, hence not derivative to the principal offence also by carrying loaded pistols and when he threatened Betty and Joe performing the subsequent false imprisonment Osland v R (1998) [46] Thirdly Matthew â€Å"counselled† by â€Å"keeping nit† and not changing the course of action R V Whitefield (1983) [47] whilst the robbery took place. These actions show the series of steps undertaken in the commission of the offences constituting a breach of s.323. Mens Rea Matthew may be found guilty due to the fact that at no time Matthews intention knowingly or wilfully changed to the knowledge and acceptance of the pre formed sequence of events R v Bainbridge (1959)[48]. [1] Osland v R (1998) 159 ALR 170 [2] Tangye (1997) 92 a Crim R 545 [3] ibid at 545 [4] Osland v R (1998) 159 ALR 170 [5] R v Lowery and King [No.2] (1972) VR 560 [6] R V Jones (1832) 4 b Ad 345 at 349 [7] James v. Robinson (1963) 1 CLR 593 at p 618 [8] Hoar v R (1981) 148 CLR 32 [9] R. v. Tripodi (1955) SCR 438 [10] Gerakiteys v R (1984) 153 CLR 317 at 7 [11] R v Theophanous (2003) 141 A Crim R 216. [12] R V Darby (1982) 40 ALR [13] R V Darby (1982) 40 ALR 601 [14] R v Collins (1972) 2 All ER [15] R v Verde (2009) VSCA 16 [16] R v Verde [2009] VSCA 16 [17] R v Kolb (2007) QCA 180 [18] R v Lawrence (1980) 32 ALR 72 [19] Ryan v Cuhl (1979) VR 315 [20] Ruddock v Taylor (2005) 222 CLR 612 [21] R v Garrett (1988) 30 SASR 392. [22] Blackstone, Book 4, Chapter 14 [23] R v Crabbe [1985] 156 CLR 464 469 [24] Ryan v Walker (1966) VR 553 [25] R v NURI (1990) VSCA 7 [26] R v Crabbe [1985] 156 CLR 464 469 [27] R v Hutty (1953) VLR 338 at 339 [28] R v West (1848) 2 Cox cc 500 [29] The king v James Lapier (1784) 168 ER 263 and Wallis v Lane [1964] VR 293 [30] Oxford v Moss (1979) 68 Cr App Rep 183 [31] Stein v. Henshall (976)V.R. 612 [32] R v Senese (2004) VSCA 136SDSD [33] Wellard v R(1978) 67 Cr App R 364 [34] R v D (1984) 2 all er 449 [35] Attorney-General v Whelan (1934) IR 518 at 526 [36] R v Brown (1986) 43 SASR 33 at 37. [37] Smith v Desmond (1965) AC 960. [38] R v Langham. (1984) 36 SASR 48 [39] Article 52 of Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions [40] DPP v Smith 1961 AC 290 [41] Meyers v R [1997] HCA 43; (1997) 147 ALR 440; (1997) [42] R v Coleman (1990) 19 NSW 467 [43] R v Faure (1999) 2 VR 537 [44] R v Crabbe [1985] HCA 22; (1985) 156 CLR 464 (26 March 1985) [45] Thambiah v R (1966) AC 37 [46] Osland v R (1998) 197 CLR 316 [47] R V Whitefield (1983) 79 Cr App R 36 [48] R v Bainbridge (1959) 3 ALL ER 200