Kearlsey Case Study Essay Example for Free

Kearlsey Case Study Essay Tony Kearsley applies for a position as a firefighter with the City of St. Catharines and was accepted on condition that he were to pass a medical examination by a doctor specified by the city. However, during the medical exam the doctor discovered that Kearsley had an atrial fibrillation (an irregular heartbeat) and refused to pass him. Kearsley took it upon himself to consult a medical specialist who advised him that his condition would indeed not affect his ability to perform his job as a firefighter. Kearsley then filed a complaint against the city with the Ontario Human Rights Commission. At the Commissions Bored of Inquiry hearing, the doctor who had originally examined Kearsley testified that atrial fibrillation led to increased risk for stroke meaning his heart could fail to pump sufficient blood to his organs during the extreme conditions that come with firefighting. The Board of Inquiry called a medical expert in atrial fibrillation. The expert testified that the increased risk for stroke in someone of Kearsley’s age was inconsequential. The expert further testified that there was no increased risk for heart failure in someone like Kearsley because he was otherwise in good health. Meanwhile, after Kearsley got turned down by the St. Catharines fire department, Kearsley had become a firefighter in the City of Hamilton, achieving the rank of first-class firefighter in October 2001. 2. Why did the Board of Inquiry rule in Kearsley’s favour? The Board of Inquiry ruled in Kearsley’s favour because they came to the conclusion that Mr. Tony Kearsley had in fact suffered discrimination. The Board noted that it would have been the City of St. Catharines responsibility to seek an expert opinion when confronted with a medical condition such as that found in Kearsley. The Board also indicated that this was the procedure used in other municipalities. The City did not follow their responsibilities which led to Mr. Kearsley’s unfair treatment and discrimination based on disability. For these reasons, this is why I think the Board of Inquiry most definitely ruled in Kearsley’s favour. 3. Do you agree with the decision in this case? Why or why not? I strongly agree with the decision of the case. Tony Kearsley was without a doubt, discriminated based on disability which is illegal in Canada. I feel like the city of St. Catharines defiantly should have handled this matter in a more ordered and professional way, as it seems that none of the facts in favour of the city of St. Catharines truly added up. I feel like the city jumped to conclusions too quickly not taking into account that Tony Kearsley was still fully capable to fulfill all duties of a firefighter. They did not treat Mr. Kearsley as an equal after finding out he had a disability; this is an act of discrimination and this is illegal. The city of St. Catharines owes at the least these things to Mr. Tony Kearsley in return for their lack of knowledge towards him while doing their job. 4. In what ways in this case a question of human rights? This case is a question of human rights because it is strongly discriminating against disability in the workplace. The Ontario Human Rights Code provides in part: 5(1) Every person has a right to equal treatment with respect to employment without discrimination because of †¦ handicap. 10(1) â€Å"because of handicap† means for the reason that person has or had, or is believed to have or have had a) any degree of physical disability that is caused by illness. 17(1) a right of a person under this Act is not infringed for the reason only that the person is incapable of performing of fulfilling essential duties or requirements attending the exercise of the right because of handicap. It is obvious at once that a person with very bad eyesight is not discriminated against when refused a job as a truck driver nor a person with inadequate strength when refused a job as a police officer or firefighter. There is no doubt that St. Catharines considered that Mr. Kearsley had a physical disability, atrial fibrillation. The issue is whether St. Catharines was justified in concluding that because of this perceived disability; Mr. Kearsley was incapable of performing or fulfilling essential duties as a firefighter. It was later found out that Mr. Kearsley could indeed perform all duties as a firefighter, as he got hired by the City of Hamilton later that year. Therefore, Mr. Kearsley was discriminated against based on disability and this is without a doubt, a question of human rights.

EU Membership Criteria Evaluation Dissertation

EU Membership Criteria Evaluation Dissertation Abstract The purpose of this thesis is establishing a new membership mechanism for the European Union (EU). As the EU struggles with different kind of issues those showed up lately due to its membership mechanism, the demand for a new membership system arises. The thesis follows five steps to come up with a new solution. First step covers information of the current membership system. Second step refers particular problems closely related with membership system. In third phase the framework of the recommended system is built up considering the problems. Within the fourth step, the new system applied on mentioned problems to see how it effects current situation in theory. Finally, the self-criticism on the recommended system and the comparison between recommended and current membership mechanism is done in the fifth part. To understand the necessity of a new membership system at least the existent structure with its historical background shall be known. As much as knowing well the source of problems, analyzing problems separately is also required to create a solution. In the same way to come up with a solution, the establishment of the system shall be based on arguments those pointed out during the examination of the current membership system. While settling the new system, required elements were inspired from different disciplines of the social science. To check the functionality of the new system, it is applied to related problems. More specific explanations about the system are held during this checking process. Even if it sounds well functioning in theory, there might be some points to criticize in the new system since the perfection of a system is hard to achieve in social topics. The last thing to decide about whether choosing the recommended system or not is comparing the system with the curren t one according to their advantages and disadvantages. All in all, the thesis claims that the European Union is going to have a dynamic membership mechanism which provides more efficiency in membership activities. As a result, the EU can solve its problems and increase its structural solidity. In other words, the unification of member states may process faster than before. INTRODUCTION The Assumption â€Å"The European Union is NOT a religiously formed structure; unlike it is suspected and conspired as a Christianity Union by some political scientists.† 1.2 The EU and necessity of a new membership system Europe has achieved a very stunning progress in unification so far. However the mind bending question â€Å"Does the unification make anything better for all of the EU countries?† still doesn`t have a clear answer. From 1952 Paris Treaty until 2007 the last enlargement, the European Union (EU) enlarged fifth times and each enlargement separately came with some pros and cons. It has been arguing that how come a positive and beneficial action could create drawbacks and be harmful rather than helpful. Even though the ideology behind the establishment of the European Union is basically covers mutual beneficial agreement, somehow enlargements make some members` current social and economic situation worse. Besides, there are also some debates on whether enlargements should continue or not. After considering long-term cost-benefit analysis of enlargement attempts some doubts justifiably aroused about necessity of enlargement. The answer of these kinds of questions and results of thes e arguments will be also provided if the dilemma of enlargement is solved. It is easy to point out the problems and backwards of enlargement observing the social and economic fluctuation in the EU countries. However, marking the first cause and fundamental reason of these problems and to find exact solutions, as much as the source of problems are different and varied and cannot be solved without major regulations, the enlargement structure should be examined per se. Thus, to see the main stream of enlargement problems, essentially focusing on the enlargement progress is necessary. As the question aroused about the enlargement progress, the membership process that the skeleton of enlargement is so important to analyze and observe the basic reason of problems in the EU with cost-benefit perspective. It can be said that the membership process may actually the origin of the problems which can be monitored in the EU. To see how membership process affects the Union badly, a comparison of social and economic indicators between current and previous situations is truly required. In other words, analyzing from â€Å"the big bang† of the EU till current situation by looking at enlargement results gives some clues to understand how problematic the membership process is. Additionally, the current social and economic situation of the EU members and the EU`s relations with other states are also helpful indicators to recognize the problem in membership process. Furthermore, during the analysis it can be observed that in some cases the legal and written rules of the EU come short to cover the legal loophole at the current membership process. After reaching the conclusion of analysis about the membership process, the system can be regulated and may be renewed according to the results those show us whether the system should be changed. Although if the results objectively refer the moderate performance of membership process, a new prospectively designed system will still be suggested to optimize the system and increase efficiency. Because by having a flashback to the establishment of the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community) it can be seen that the main scheme of the EU was created to improve and support efficiency among countries. Thus if there is a more efficient and beneficial system which helps the EU to get rid of its problems particularly, it should be preferred to current membership process due to ideological background of the EU, even though the current system works with difficulties. Besides, the recommended system will compromise with the current system by adapting most of its features. Mostly, membership systems are thought so strictly binding with members and rules of membership are not dynamic to adopt with a new unknown situation. But the recommended membership system which will be designed and tested can bring dynamism into the EU structure. The structure of membership process is bases on the framework of dynamic systems. As the ideology and motto of the new system, it can be said the whole world changes and differs every second to form adaptation with each items in it, systems also should be so dynamic that adopt with every sort of situation. In other words, the life is dynamic by itself. Therefore, a dynamic system for the EU membership mechanism is more realistic than a static membership model. Even in social sciences such as economics a dynamic analysis of economy is more explanatory than a static analysis and it also has more correct results. This thesis follows on five steps those will give us an understanding of change and the difference of new membership system. First of all, the current membership system and enlargement activities will be mentioned to observe the current situation. Secondly, the international, social and economical problems caused by current membership system will be mentioned particularly. The current problems and the lack of solution method against them will be shown in this part. Thirdly, the difference and requirements of new recommended membership system will be introduced. Furthermore, the application of the new membership system will be tried out with problems which would have been mentioned on the second step. Lastly, the conclusion to make an overall analysis and self-criticism of nominated membership system emphasizing advantages and disadvantages of both membership systems will be pointed out. At the beginning of the thesis, the assumption is placed in the middle of the first page without a ny additional script to emphasize it very strongly. Because the whole thesis is bases on the assumption that the European Union is just a union tries to increase common benefits of all countries in Europe without any discrimination. Otherwise, if it was not said so and the European Union was a religiously established union, there would be no need to improve efficiency of the membership process because the only one membership criterion that would have been looked for would be the Christianity of the applicant countries. Hence, the thesis would be meaningless, the current application of non-Christian countries as well. The assumption also helps to set the border of this thesis. During the thesis, the focus will just be on objective materials without referring any speculative comments. The dynamic system will be recommended for the EU can also be used as a conflict resolution method on the other unions` problem. With beliefs of the EU wants to have a more efficient and beneficial system, and also the EU defends that the unification of economic system and the harmonization of social structures shall be carried forward, a dynamic system will solve most of the problems in the union without getting in any other political debates such as religion. As an introduction for drawbacks of the current system, slowdown in economic indicators, rising of nationalist ideology and parties, rejection of the EU constitution, domestic moral problems in member states such as in Italy, Budget deficit problems in member states like Greece and Spain, lack of common foreign and security policy, and loosing beliefs of candidate states on the EU can be referred among dozens of problems. Nowadays, the EU is not in a comparable position with its former strength but the comparison of situations after and before enlargement activities will show that how the current system affects the strength of the union negatively. Thus, it will also explain how a membership system can diminish the power of a union. As simple as in the metaphor about flywheels of a machine, if there is any flywheel that works reversely, it should be gotten out from the mechanism before it blocks the working system. Even if a member state doesn`t work simultaneously with the union, the Union may be able to ban the state or hold its membership for a while. Otherwise the whole legal structure doesn`t help the system to work properly, this illustrates that the membership mechanism needs to be restored with an efficient one. PART I THE CURRENT MEMBERSHIP SYSTEM AND ENLARGEMENT ACTIVITIES 2.1 The current membership System The current membership system bases on three different documents which are The 1992 Treaty of Maastricht (Article 49),The declaration of the June 1993 European Council in Copenhagen, i.e. Copenhagen criteria, and a document is decided after negotiations about adaptation to acquis communautaire between European Union and candidate state. Lately, all of the membership requirements and its legal structure were combined into the Treaty of Lisbon. This means that all of those three documents are included into the treaty of Lisbon with a couple of updates. Especially, the Copenhagen Criteria are the rules that decide whether a country is eligible to join the European Union and they are also known as the main detailed source for the membership prerequisites. Firstly, the idea of preparing a legal content for membership carried out with the 1992 Treaty of Maastricht (Article O). In Article 49 (formerly Article O), the geographical criteria and slightly general policy criteria were settled do wn. Then, with the 1993 Copenhagen Criteria, the general policy criteria of membership were described in more details considering three aspects; Political, Economic and Legislative. After all those criteria, as a homestretch, measures and regulations decided by negotiations between the European Union and candidate states fulfill the scheme of membership requirement for the EU. Most of these criteria have been confirmed over the last decade by legislation of the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament, as well as by the case law of the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. The mentioned documents provide all requisites to become a member state of the EU. Thus, criteria can be sorted with sub-categories to understand what the EU demands from candidates particularly regarding to the general policy, geographic, political, economic, and legislative criteria. As a main frame the general policy criteria can be summarized as in the Article O (Maastricht Treaty): â€Å"Any European State may apply to become a Member of the Union. It shall address its application to the Council, which shall act unanimously after consulting the Commission and after receiving the assent of the European Parliament, which shall act by an absolute majority of its component members. The conditions of admission and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the Union is founded which such admission entails shall be the subject of an agreement between the 16 Member States and the applicant state. This agreement shall be submitted for ratification by all the contracting States in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements.† (European Commission, 1992a) In addition to the article it can be extensively illustrated by an excerpt from the Copenhagen Presidency conclusions: â€Å"Membership requires that candidate country has achieved stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights, respect for and protection of minorities, the existence of a functioning market economy as well as the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union. Membership presupposes the candidates ability to take on the obligations of membership including adherence to the aims of political, economic and monetary union. †(Copenhagen European Council, 1993: 1) Regarding its acquis and actions, the EU doesn`t have certain steady geographic criteria for candidates. The EU refused Morocco`s applications a couple of decades ago, in 1987 due to territorial and geographical difference. Besides, even though Turkey has small part of its territory on the European continent and Turkey is on â€Å"negotiation† phase of membership process now, the membership of Turkey is still a huge debate. On the other hand, the speculations about the membership of Israel is considerably spread because of close economic and politic relations between Israel and the EU (Europa, 2007) and recently some Prime Ministers of member states individually declared that they would be happy to see Israel as a member state of the EU soon (Rettman, 2010). Hence, in the legal documents, the geographic criteria briefly demands that the candidate country shall have territory on the European continent and economical, cultural, historical and political ties with other European s tates as well. On the other hand, in practice, it can be seen so questionable. There is no clear answer for this dilemma. It can be easily illustrated by the fact that, before the rejection of Morocco, the EU accepted French Guiana to join the union despite the reality that it is in South Africa. Both countries mentioned in this case have similar background within France. The only difference is unlike French Guiana, Morocco is independent right now. However, instead of both countries, only French Guiana is in the EU. As a result, it can be claimed that the geographical criteria are not necessarily applicable within the current membership mechanism. Until 1993 the decision-making process of membership doesn`t have clear references. The clear expression of prerequisites is declared with the Copenhagen Criteria. However, when member states agreed on criteria in 1993, there was no mechanism for ensuring that any member state was in compliance with these criteria. Nevertheless some legal arrangements and sanctions have been imposed to monitor compliance with these criteria. The first victim of this action was the Austrian government of Wolfgang Schà ¼ssel in early 2000. They have been come across with sanctions of the other 14 Member States governments because of not compensating the membership requisites. These legal arrangements came into effect under the provisions of the Treaty of Nice on the first of February 2003. With Copenhagen Criteria three more aspects were added into membership mechanism; Political, Legislative and Economic criteria. These criteria are going to be explained particularly as follows; As a crucial part of political criteria the EU ask for a consolidated democracy from candidate states. According to most political science scholars, the definition of consolidated democracy contains these three steps; Competitive elections, Liberties such as freedom of expression, freedom of press and freedom of association, and Consolidation of democracy in society. Consolidated democratic governance requires that all citizens of the country shall be able to participate equally in the political decision making process at every single governing level. Consolidated democracy also means free and fair elections with a secret ballot, freedom of press, the right to establish political parties without any obstacle from the state rulers, freedom of association, freedom of expression, rule of laws and freedom of standing trial through unbiased free judges. The second political criteria for candidate states is the rule of law which expresses government authority may only be exercised in accor dance with documented and written laws. They should be adopted through an established procedure. In case of arbitrary rulings towards individuals, the principle is supposed to be a safeguard. The third political criterion to join the European Union is respecting the Human rights in every kind of situation. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights is considered the most authoritative formulation of human rights and the EU is also admitted its legitimacy. According to the declaration human rights which every person holds because of their quality as a human being should be protected against all threats. Besides, those rights are inalienable and belonging to all humans. Briefly, if a right is inalienable, that means it cannot be limited, granted, bestowed, bartered away, or sold away. These include the right to life, the right to be prosecuted only according to the rule of laws, the right to be free from slavery, and the right to be free from torture.(Wikipedia, 2010a) T he last but not the least political criteria for EU membership are respect for minorities and protecting their rights. At the beginning there was no clarity in definition of minorities in member states. But in 1995 with the Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (COE) the EU declared minorities in member states and defined their rights with consensus. However, minorities in member states are defined by a consensus commission which was formed by member states therefore not all minorities could be regarded and defined within the concept. The consensus commission (the Venice Commission) reached the conclusion of the Convention for the Protection of National Minorities which protects minorities by defining them as â€Å"a group which is smaller in number than the rest of the population of a State, whose members, who are nationals of that State, have ethnical, religious or linguistic features different from those of the rest of the population, and are guided by the will to safeguard their culture, traditions, religion or language† (Venice Commision, 2004: 1). According to the definition of national minorities, unlike others, recent minorities such as immigrant populations have not been listed by signatory countries in the convention. This can be seen by checking the list of national minorities published by Council of Europe (Council of Europe, 2007). Another issue of the EU membership mechanism which can also be considered as a membership requirement is the economic criteria. As it is obviously known that the free market economy is the main characteristic of the EU. Speaking generally about free market economy, candidate countries shall have a functioning free market economy and the system should not be interfered by government as little as it is possible. Besides, their producers shall have the capability to deal with competitive pressure of free market and market forces within the Union. Nowadays, all economic requirements for membership are carried out with The European Exchange Rate Mechanism to take candidates into the Eurozone. While debating economic criteria for EU membership, one of the most popular misbelieves is the acceptance of economic criteria which were defined by the Maastricht Treaty as prerequisites for membership. Because the way it is interpreted in the Maastricht Treaty concerns about member states. They men tion about neither the necessity of abiding by the treaty for candidates nor obligations on candidate states. However, in practice, fulfilling those criteria is also expected from candidate states. The economic criteria defined by the Maastricht Treaty became more concrete with the Protocol on the excessive deficit procedure and the Protocol on the Convergence Criteria Referred to in Article 109j annexed to this Treaty. In the Protocols the desired ratios and rate were announced to member states, regarding to the practical aspect of the Treaty, it is binding for candidate states as well. The economic requisites for membership are sorted with articles in the protocol as follows; â€Å"The reference values referred to in Article 104c(2) of this Treaty are: 3% for the ratio of the planned or actual government deficit to gross domestic product at market prices; 60% for the ratio of government debt to gross domestic product at market prices.†(European Commission, 1992c) â€Å"The criterion on price stability referred to in the first indent of Article 109j (l) of this Treaty shall mean that a Member State has a price performance that is sustainable and an average rate of inflation, observed over a period of one year before the examination, that does not exceed by more than 1 ½ percentage points that of, at most, the three best performing Member States in terms of price stability. Inflation shall be measured by 30 means of the consumer price index on a comparable basis, taking into account differences in national definitions.†(European Commission, 1992b) Lastly, all candidates should regulate and enact their constitutions and judicial systems to consolidate them according to European law which built up over the history of the Union and also known as the acquis communautaire. After all criteria, the negotiations phase is the last step towards membership. During the negotiations with each candidate country, progress towards meeting the Copenhagen criteria is regularly monitored. On the basis of this, decisions are made as to whether and when a particular country should join, or what actions need to be taken before its access become possible. However, even though a country successfully fulfilled the whole bunch of criteria, it is declared that the new member cannot take its place in the Union until it is considered that the EU per se shall have enough absorption capacity for this enlargement. This situation were announced with the excepts in Presidency Conclusions (Copenhagen European Council, 1993) as follows; â€Å"The Unions capacity to absorb new members, while maintaining the momentum of European integration, is also an important consideration in the general interest of both the Union and the candidate countries.†(Copenhagen European Council, 1993: 1) To see the officially declared requirements and explanations it can be better to quote some excerpts from official web-sites of the European Union, thus the criteria can be compared and understood with and without interpretation; Accession criteria In 1993, at the Copenhagen European Council, the Union took a decisive step towards the fifth enlargement, agreeing that â€Å"the associated countries in Central and Eastern Europe that so desire shall become members of the European Union.† Thus, enlargement was no longer a question of ‘if, but ‘when. Concerning the timing, the European Council states: â€Å"Accession will take place as soon as an associated country is able to assume the obligations of membership by satisfying the economic and political conditions required.† At the same time, it defined the membership criteria, which are often referred to as the ‘Copenhagen criteria. Copenhagen European Council Membership criteria require that the candidate country must have achieved stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities; the existence of a functioning market economy as well as the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union; the ability to take on the obligations of membership including adherence to the aims of political, economic monetary union. Madrid European Council Membership criteria also require that the candidate country must have created the conditions for its integration through the adjustment of its administrative structures, as underlined by the Madrid European Council in December 1995. While it is important that European Community legislation is transposed into national legislation, it is even more important that the legislation is implemented effectively through appropriate administrative and judicial structures. This is a prerequisite of the mutual trust required by EU membership.† (European Commision, 2010) As opposed to the membership criteria and the EU`s Acquis Communautaire, general criticisms are the lack of certainty and elaboration in membership criteria, not mentioning in Acquis Communautaire about cancelling membership in the case of refusing to carry out sanctions and penalties opted by the EU and the slightly existence of flexibility towards extreme case such as a desire of a member state to quit from the Union. In other words, there are sometimes conflicting interpretations in current member states about membership criteria and cancelling membership of an idle member state. On the other hand, the right of quitting form the union is recently added to the EU acquis with the Treaty of Lisbon. â€Å"Before the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 December 2009 no provision in the treaties or law of the European Union outlined the ability of a state to voluntary withdraw from EU. The European Constitution did propose such a provision and, after the failure to ratify the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, that provision was then included in the Lisbon Treaty. The treaty introduces an exit clause for members who wish to withdraw from the Union. This formalizes the procedure by stating that a member state may notify the European Council that it wishes to withdraw, upon which withdrawal negotiations begin; if no other agreement is reached the treaty ceases to apply to the withdrawing state two years after such notification.†(Wikipedia, 2010b) â€Å"Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.†(European Comission, 2007: Article 50) 2.2 Enlargement Activities The European Union enlarged fifth times so far and enlargements with greater amount of candidates mostly occurred through eastern European countries after the definition of the criteria mentioned above. This enlargement process started in 1952 when the European Union was still called as the European Coal and Steel Community. Since then, the EU has achieved to have twenty-seven member states with the most recent expansion to Bulgaria and Romania in 2007. Table 1. The EU`s enlargements and its approved members Accession Applicant Issued Enlargements 23 July 1952 France N/A Founding Members 23 July 1952 (West) Germany N/A 23 July 1952 Belgium N/A 23 July 1952 Italy N/A 23 July 1952 Netherlands N/A 23 July 1952 Luxembourg N/A 1 January 1973 United Kingdom 10 August 1961 First Enlargement 10 May 1967 1 January 1973 Denmark 10 August 1961 11 May 1967 1 January 1973 Ireland 10 August 1961 11 May 1967 1 January 1981 Greece 12 June 1975 Second Enlargement 1 January 1986 Spain 28 June 1977 Third Enlargement 1 January 1986 Portugal 28 March 1977 1 January 1995 Austria 17 July 1989 Fourth Enlargement 1 January 1995 Sweden 1 July 1991 1 January 1995 Finland 18 March 1992 1 May 2004 Cyprus 3 July 1990 Fifth Enlargement 1 May 2004 Malta 3 July 1990 1 May 2004 Hungary 31 March 1994 1 May 2004 Poland 5 April 1994 1 May 2004 Slovakia 27 June 1995 1 May 2004 Latvia 13 September 1995 1 May 2004 Estonia 24 November 1995 1 May 2004 Lithuania 8 December 1995 1 May 2004 Czech Republic 17 January 1996 1 May 2004 Slovenia 10 June 1996 1 January 2007 Romania 22 June 1995 1 January 2007 Bulgaria 14 December 1995 Within the table above the enlargements and candidate countries are sorted according to historical antecedence. On the other side, there are also countries which could not join the EU because of particular reasons. The United Kingdom is vetoed by the French Government in 1961 and Denmark and Ireland

The Crime Survey For England And Wales Criminology Essay

The Crime Survey For England And Wales Criminology Essay The National Statistician in 2011 acknowledged that the exclusion of crimes against children from the BCS estimates has been considered a major gap. As a result, in 2009 the survey was extended to include children aged between 10 and 15 (Home Office Statistical Bulletin 2010/11, p. 20). This may help in gaining further knowledge of the full extent of crime in Britain, although this process also comes with its own limitations. The children may not be entirely accurate in their accounts, or fear what may happen to them after responding. The Crime Survey for England and Wales measures the extent of crime in England and Wales by asking people whether they have experienced any crime in the past year.  The survey has measured crime in this way since 1982 and is an important source of information for the government about the extent and nature of crime in England and Wales. It also aims to enquire information regarding the location and timing of crimes, the offenders characteristics and the relationship between victims and offenders (Office for National Statistics, 2012).    A separate survey (the Scottish Crime and Justice survey) measures the extent of crime in Scotland. The survey is conducted by TNS-BMRB on behalf of the Office for National Statistics. Evidence in support of this argument comes from The Home Office (2011) which stated: the BCS offers a more dependable measure of trends in crime as it has a consistent methodology and is unaffected by changes in levels of reporting to the police, recording practice or police activityHowever, the BCS does not aim to provide an absolute count of crime in England and Wales, but to produce estimates of crimes experienced by adults aged 16 and over resident in households. (Home Office Statistical News Release: Crime in England and Wales, 2010/11). Therefore, the survey is not representative of the whole population of Britain and cannot be used to give an overview picture of crime, due to the nature of its sample. Moreover, the survey does not cover all offences such as homicide, fraud and drug offences. On the other hand, police recorded figures have a greater coverage of offences compared to those of the BCS. For example, homicide is not covered by the surveys. Sexual victimisation questions are asked in a separate form, and results are not included in the main total of crime collected by the BCS, due to their delicate nature (Home Office, 2011). Office for National Statistics, 2012): Latest figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for the year ending June 2012 show a 6 per cent decrease in overall crime against adults compared with the previous years survey. This continues the downward trend in recorded crime, seen since 2004/05. (Ref 6, the Guardian) There were 9.1m reported crimes in 2011/12, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, but less than half as many 3.9m were recorded by the police. (Ref 13 Home Office, 2010/11, p. 15-16) Police recorded crime has been subject to major changes in recording practice over time, making interpretation of long-term trends for this series is difficult. The BCS and recorded crime provide generally good coverage of crime committed against the public, particularly for offences involving physical harm, loss or damage to property. Recorded crime is limited to those offences which come to the attention of the police, and is affected by changes to reporting rates, recording practice and police activity. Thus for the crime types and population it covers, the BCS is the best long-term measure of crime trends. However, the BCS is limited in its coverage to crimes against those residents in households and so cannot cover all crime types (for example, homicide, crimes against businesses and other organisations and drug possession). Crime is recorded according to the victims account of events, rather than requiring criminal intent to be proven. Th e BCS asks about individuals experience of crime, irrespective of what action was subsequently taken. For police recorded crime, the victim-focused approach is enshrined in the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS).The NCRS states that all incidents reported by a victim to the police should be recorded, if the events described amount to a crime in law and unless there is credible evidence to the contrary. The drop in crime since the mid-1990s is because of improved property and vehicle security, economic influences, social change, use of CCTV and other local crime reduction initiatives and changes in policing and the wider criminal justice system. Pg. 22: A range of non-notifiable crimes may be dealt with by the issuing of a Penalty Notice for Disorder, a Fixed Penalty Notice or prosecution at a magistrates court. Along with non-notifiable offences dealt with by the police (such as speeding), these include many offences that may be dealt with by other agencies for example, prose cutions by TV Licensing or by the DVLA for vehicle registration offences. These counts only relate to offences where action has been brought against an offender and guilt has either been ascertained in court, or the offender has admitted culpability through acceptance of a penalty notice. These crimes generally only come to light through the relevant authorities actively looking to identify offending behaviour. However, they do illustrate that, taking the broadest definition of crime, the main BCS and Recorded Crime statistics only cover a fraction of total criminal behaviour. Crime and society in Britain, Hazel Croall, 2011, p. 40: The role of victims and the public varies with the offence. Some maybe relatively invisible or the victim is totally unaware of any harm or actions regarded abnormal. For example the sexual abuse of children takes place in a private and children are often unaware that something is wrong. Some incidents such as theft at work may result in dismissal only and not involve criminal proceeding. Such incidents are therefore missed out in total crime accounted for by the police records and CSEW. Croall, 2011, Pg. 51: victim surveys use standard classifications of crime missing out white collar and financial crimes, the CSEW is based on households omitting organisations such as businesses, hospitals, schools and care homes, omitting young teenagers and kids, respondents definitions of crime are limited by their memory and restricted to crimes which they are aware of and miss out those they cannot detect themselves, the surveys capture s ingle incidents and underestimate the full extent of repeat victimisation. Pg. 52: self-report surveys that find out how many times the population have participated in criminal activity, provide more detail about the class, age sex or race of those that have admitted to offending. They are often used with young people and therefore provide extremely valuable information about participation in crime. However respondents, particularly children, may be afraid to answer properly as they fear parents might see their answers, or others may exaggerate, hence affecting the accuracy of responses given. These surveys have been restricted to young people making it harder to question other groups of people such as senior executive about embezzlement. Pg. 60: Muir 2010 found that crime has always been and remains higher in England and Wales than in Scotland and Northern Ireland having much lower levels of crime, using a comparison of crime surveys across the UK for 2008/9 figures. Pg. 61: Moreov er, Higgins and Millard 2009 argue that Wales which is generally combined with England has lower rates for most types than England. Tierney, 2006, Pg. 34: before 1992, the BCS used to survey households randomly chosen from electoral registers, however thereafter, the Postcode Address File was used. Pg. 35: Although the BCS provides large numbers of crime incidents not present in police recorded crime figures, this only applies to certain offence categories, rather than crime in general. Pg. 38-39: victim surveys just like police recorded crimes; do not pick up all criminal offences, such as for those under 16 years. Including corporate and organised plus occupational crimes; theft from businesses (shoplifting, insurance fraud), criminal damage, or crimes without victims, plus taxation and social security fraud. Victims may be scared, embarrassed or unaware they are victims. Pg. 41: according to class conflict theories, statistics provide an insight into the class based nature of the criminal justice system, as well as being manipulated to suit the interests of the powerful plus provide indicators of the inequalit ies and biases inherent in the system itself and in a capitalist society in general. Also one must consider the links between criminal activity, police clear up rates and various community-based initiatives. Tierney, 2006, Pg. 44: changes to counting rules in 1998 mainly affected violent crime and led to some previously less serious, non-notifiable assaults being categorised as notifiable. In 2002, police had to take victims account at face value, until proven otherwise, resulting in increasing the number of offences recorded. This is a further illustration of the socially constructed nature of criminal statistics. Pg. 20: Maguire 1994 suggests crime itself is a social contrast and statistics that relate to it are socially constructed. Croall, 2011, p. 42: the higher rates of reporting property crimes, especially car thefts, result from the requirements of insurance policies. Potential crimes come to the attention of police and other law enforcement agencies by being directly encountered or reported, with the majority being reported to the police by the public (Maguire 2007). Law enforcement decisions affect all subsequent stages when a crime is encountered or reported. Not all complaints are recorded, creating a distinction between offences reported to and recorded by the police. Offences may not be recorded because they are not regarded as sufficiently serious or defined as involving no crime (Coleman and Moynihan, 1996). Croall, 2011: Changes were made in police recording procedures following the introduction of the national crime recording standards (NCRS) in 2002. These have a major impact on the reliability of official statistics, especially as recording practices in different areas and jurisdictions may vary , complicating any comparisons. They also affect overall increases and decreases and changes can create apparent crime waves. Recorded crime series were affected by new counting rules from 1998 onwards and by the NCRS from 2002 onwards. Pg. 44:.most police forces are encouraged to be cost effective and as a result successive governments have introduced diversionary schemes where offences are dealt with out of court such as on-the-spot fines. This underlines the existence of an unknowable dark figure of crime which is never recorded in the official statistics. Therefore officially recorded crimes and convicted offenders are those that have survived the process of attrition and are not representative of all who break the criminal law. Pg. 45: crimes which are more visible and take place in public are more likely to be processed than those taking place in private. For example street crimes of young people are more likely to be counted than crimes of white collar offenders which take pl ace in the offices or crimes which take place in the home, further distorting the relationships between age, gender or social class and offending. Variations in the proportions of crimes counted means that it can rarely be said with any certainty that any particular kind of crime is rising or falling, as any apparent increases or decreases could merely represent a change in the proportion of crimes reported to or recorded by the agencies. Changes in police recording practices can create crime waves or alternatively reductions in crime. On the other hand, more policing can increase crime rates, by catching more and recording more crime. Home office, stats bulletin, 2010/11, Pg. 24: Together they provide a more comprehensive picture than could be obtained from either series alone. However, neither the BCS nor police recorded crime aim to provide complete counts of crime. The coverage of police recorded crime statistics is defined by the Notifiable Offence List1, which includes a broad range of offences, from murder to minor criminal damage, theft and public order offences. However, there are some, mainly less serious offences that are excluded from the recorded crime collection. These non-notifiable crimes include many incidents that might generally considered to be anti-social behaviour but that may also be crimes in law (including bye-laws) such as littering, begging and drunkenness. Other non-notifiable offences include driving under the influence of alcohol, parking offences and TV licence evasion. The survey also excludes some other offences for which it may not be possible to collect robust estimates of crime l evels (such as sexual offences). However, the BCS does capture other information about such offences. The BCS is a face-to-face victimisation survey in which people resident in households in England and Wales are asked about their experiences of crime in the 12 months prior to interview. Until recently the BCS did not cover crimes against those aged under 16, but since January 2009 interviews have been carried out with children aged 10 to 15. Experimental statistics for children are shown separately. Pg. 26: For the crime types and population it covers, the BCS provides a better reflection of the extent of household and personal crime than police recorded statistics because it includes crimes that are not reported to or recorded by the police. The BCS is also a better indicator of long-term trends because it is unaffected by changes in levels of reporting to the police or by police recording practices. Although the focus of ensuring comparability over time means that the BCS does no t include some relatively new crimes in its main crime count, such as plastic card fraud, these are asked about and presented. BCS estimates for 2010/11 are based on face-to-face interviews with 46,754 respondents. The BCS has a high response rate (76%) and the survey is weighted to adjust for possible non-response bias and to ensure the sample reflects the profile of the general population. Being based on a sample survey, BCS estimates are subject to a margin of error. Police recorded crime statistics are administrative data based on notifiable crimes that are reported to and recorded by the police in England and Wales. Unlike the BCS, recorded crime includes crime against commercial and public sector bodies, and so-called victimless crimes (such as drug possession offences). Recorded crime figures provide a good measure of trends in well-reported crimes (in particular, homicide, which is not covered by the BCS), can be used for local crime pattern analysis and are important indicators of police workload. However, there are also categories of crime whose numbers are heavily influenced by the extent to which police proactively investigate. Police recording practice is governed by the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS). The NCRS was introduced nationally in April 2002 to ensure greater consistency and transparency of crime recording between forces, together with a victim focus where crimes reported by the public are recorded unless there is credible evidence to the contrary. Crime data are collected from police forces for each crime within the Notifiable Offence List and according to Home Office Counting Rules. Police recorded crime figures should be seen as a product of an administrative system where rules can be subject to different interpretation a nd, for some categories of crime, can reflect police workload and activity rather than underlying levels of crime. Pg. 27: While the coverage differs both in terms of offence types and population groups, property crime accounts for the majority of both BCS and recorded crime (77% and 70% respectively) with violence, including robbery, accounting for most of the remainder 23 per cent of BCS crime and 22 per cent of recorded crime. Pg. 17; the introduction of the NCRS in April 2002 considerably increased the recording of less serious violent crime by the police and figures are not directly comparable across this break in the series. Philip Schlesinger Howard Tumber, 1999, Pg. 7: new forms of crime have emerged: hard drug trafficking, terrorism and corporate fraud. Page 144: developments in police work such as computer use and forensic science, this allows for more crime to be detected. Newburn, 2012, the guardian: theft has become much more difficult.  Then there is surveillance. While the impact of CCTV is generally much less than one would imagine given how widespread it has become, it is effective in some areas and is an aid to the police and private security. There are now more police officers than there were 20 years ago. Add in  Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) security guards and the gradual re-emergence of other jobs with a partial safety and security focus (ticket inspectors, caretakers, park keepers and the rest) and you have a substantial expansion of the eyes and ears available for crime prevention. Home Office Statistical Bulletin, 2010/11: Pg 29-30: BCS crime fell markedly between 1995 and the 2004/05 BCS. Since 2004/05 the underlying trend in BCS crime has continued to be downward, although at a slower rate and with some fluctuation in year-to-year estimates. Recorded crime fell each year until 1998/99 when the expanded coverage and changes in the Counting Rules resulted in an increase in recorded offences; this was followed by the introduction of the NCRS in April 2002, although some forces adopted NCRS practices before the standard was formally introduced. The introduction of NCRS led to a rise in recording in 2002/03 and, particularly for less serious violent crime, in following years as forces continued to improve compliance with the new standard. From 2001/02 to 2003/04 there was considerable divergence in the trends for BCS and police recorded crime, mainly associated with police recording changes (which particularly influenced violence against the person). Since 2003/0 4, despite some fluctuations, trends have been more consistent between the two series.

Ron Howards, A Beautiful Mind Essay -- Mental Illness

In Ron Howard's work, A Beautiful Mind, depicts the real life account of Professor John Nash and his struggle with paranoid Schizophrenia. The topic of mental illness has become popularized as of late, particularly in popular media (film, television). This focus on mental disorders has greatly improved awareness of mental disorders, but this media has become a double edged sword. The same process that educates people (ie these films and shows) can also disseminate largely false or misleading information. In the film, both sides of this information distribution phenomena are expressed. To evaluate the effectiveness of the movie to accurately describe the occurrence of paranoid Schizophrenia one must look at the accuracy of the onset, symptoms, and the treatment given to Dr. Nash. The first area that must be analyzed in the assessment of the accuracy of paranoid Schizophrenia as shown in A Beautiful Mind is the onset and early development of symptoms. The onset of the disease has many factors to be evaluated. First, the age of onset, for Nash, is presumed to be early twenties (ie when he would be in graduate school). This age is in line with the current understanding of Schizophrenia. The age of onset is usually between late teens to early adulthood (although it can start later) which would be exactly the time which the film depicted Nash as first experiencing symptoms. Although it still falls in line with the diagnostic criteria of Schizophrenia, it is important to note that the hallucinations that Nash experienced started occurring after he had graduated graduate school. The onset of symptoms also falls in line with a great increase in stress in his environment (joining graduate school and the quest for the "unifying theory"), w... ...on medication between his first and second hospitalizations, which is true. But, it also depicts him as being on "new medication" after he is released from the hospital the second time. This is not true, Nash actually rejected taking any medication after his second hospitalization and has been managing his symptoms since. The producers felt that this rejection of modern medicine would encourage more people to reject medication. To summarize, although the depiction of Nash's disorder differs on some points from clinical and practical reality, it does fairly accurately describe the symptoms and difficulties that someone who suffers from paranoid Schizophrenia would suffer from. In this particular instance, Hollywood did not butcher a disorder for their own gain, but one must always tread lightly when allowing "artistic license" of a real account or real disorder.

Groups and Teams Essay -- Groups Team Teamwork Essays Papers

Groups and Teams   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Groups or teams can evolve into high performing, extremely effective, useful tools in any organization if developed and managed correctly. Demographic characteristics and cultural diversity can impact the behavior of groups or teams in positive and some negative ways. Diversity may impede the initial progress of a group; however, the long range benefit to creating high performing teams is great. An effective group is one that achieves high levels of task performance, member satisfaction, and team viability (Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborne, 2003, p. 2). A team or group is two or more people working together to achieve common goals. Members of a group are usually dependent on each other and have regular interactions in order to reach a goal. They actively work together as a unit in order to fulfill a purpose. Organizations rely on groups to accomplish specific tasks. An effective group is one that achieves high levels of task performance, member satisfactions and team viability (Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborne, 2003, p. 2). Synergy, the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, is also part of an effective group. If a group has synergy then they are able to accomplish far more than they would working as individuals. Synergy is crucial in group organizations if they want to be competitive and productive. Groups within organizations improve creativity, implement better decision making processes, increase commitment to goals, offer control and help to offset the size of a large organization. There are many types of groups within organizations including formal, informal, task groups and virtual groups. Group size and dynamics can affect performance. The larger the group, the more help there is to accomplish tasks. Although, a larger group can bring problems with communication, coordination and management. Dynamics or how a group works together in order to deal with issues can also affect performance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Groups and teams have several stages of development in order to be considered effective; forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. Forming is the first stage and is primarily the initial entry into a group and getting to know each other stage. The storming stage of group development is a period of high emotionality and tension among the group members (Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborne, 2003, p. 9). During t... ...ity within a high performing team is respected and embraced. Different opinions and ideas are welcomed and discussed. Team members are involved in clear problem solving procedures and they plans tasks completely before acting. Synergy is critical to team success. Management should reward team successes. High performance teams are high-energy, collaborative process groups. They are the playground and work center for capable people with strong, respectful voices who understand and appreciate the power of aligning diverse perspectives (Schutz, 1999, p 1).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In conclusion, groups or teams that are high performing, and critical to the success of any organization, are rich in diversity, synergy, team work. More can be accomplished, greater achievements and productivity gained, when groups or teams are used in organizations. References Cummings, Jonathon. (2001). Work groups, structural diversity, and knowledge sharing in a global organization. Management Science. (pgs. 1 ? 13). Schutz, Susan. (1999). Building high performing teams: putting the "I" back in teamwork. Ezine. (pgs. 1-2) Schermerhorn, J. R., Hunt, J. G. & Osborne, R. N. (2003). Organizational Behavior

An Education Lasts a Lifetime

Education is a key element in developing the skills necessary for a successful life. Too often students are more involved earning a paycheck than spending time on their academic studies. Students need to realize that their highschool classes will prepare them for a brighter future. A highschool student’s time is very limited. Homework and extra curricular activities are time consuming and if a student adds a job into this busy schedule, less time is devoted to their academic studies. The effects of this could be recieving lower grades or not taking challenging courses. A job would also limit the amount of time a teenager has for social activities and sports, thereby causing a withdrawal from friends and the highschool community. The job environment is not always beneficial to the student. In most cases the wages are low and the hours are long. Sometimes employers can be very demanding and schedules are not flexible. The skills being used may not be beneficial in furthering their career, and they might become comfortable with the paycheck and not strive to reach their full potential. Money is the root of many problems associated with teenagers. A paycheck gives a student the power to purchase many commodities including cars, clothing and electronics. They may also be exposed to drugs and alcohol. Students are being introduced to a new environment and the challenge of managing their money comes into play. Teenagers already have enough pressures and stress in their lives and they may find it difficult to juggle academics along with their work schedule. High school is a time of growth both mentally and physically. Students should focus their attention on their studies so they can one day achieve their dreams.

Fletcher Munson Curve

This means that it requires less energy to hear kHz frequencies Our ears are most sensitive to hearing 3. KHz as this is the resonance frequency of our ear canals Range of frequencies we are sensitive to are between 1 kHz and KHz (this is the frequency range that mobile phones play out) We hear low and high frequencies very poorly The db reference curve is the most flat, meaning that most frequencies appear to be at the same level. This Is why music sounds a lot better and more full when played loudly around this frequency SummaryEqual Loudness Contours show the measure of sound pressure levels in relation to different frequencies. Our ears perceive different frequencies of sound to be louder or quieter than each other even when played at the same reference level of db. Hearing Damage Tinnitus (both temporary and permanent) Tinnitus is a term used to describe the case of being able to hear sounds that are within the person's body, rather than sounds from an outside source. It often c auses a ringing In the ears, but other sounds that can be heard Include humming, buzzing ND whistling.Tinnitus can either be caused by a bully up of earwax, a mild ear infection, or also very commonly can be caused by damage to the inner ear from loud noises (usually high frequencies). Tinnitus can be prevented by best by avoiding exposure to loud noises completely, however this can prove difficult in a lot of scenarios. A more realistic approach to preventing tinnitus include reducing the time that you are exposed to loud noises, this can be done by either spending less time in sissy environments, or by taking regular breaks about every half hour for ten minutes or so.Another way to reduce the risk of getting tinnitus is by ensuring that you stay hydrated, as this makes sure that the circulation for the blood in the inner ear is kept topped up'. You can also reduce the risk of getting tinnitus by reducing the Intensity of exposure. Either turning the volume down yourself can do thi s, or If you don't have control of the volume, then you can wear earplugs. Noise Induced Hearing loss (NIL) is caused by either very loud noises for either a reef or prolonged time.The loud sounds can damage sensitive structures in the inner ear and can result in struggling or being unable to hear certain frequencies, or just partially deafening your ear(s). NIL can be prevented in the same ways as tinnitus and most other hearing problems. If you reduce the amount of time you are exposed to loud noises, or reduce the intensity of the noise by wearing ear protection, then you are reducing the risk of damaging your ears either temporarily or permanently.