Financial Accounting Theory Essay

The article â€Å"GM to Take Charge of $20. 8-Billion† here reproduced from The Globe and Mail (February 2, 1993) describes the potential impact of SFAS 106, â€Å"Accounting for Postretirement Benefits Other Than Pensions,† on General Motors and Ford. For example, it appears that General Motors will be required to record a liability of $20. 8 billion, reducing its shareholders’ equity from $27. 8 billion to $7 billion, about a 75% reduction. Describe and explain how you would expect the efficient securities market to react to this information. SFAS 106, Accounting for Postretirement Benefits Other Than Pensions: â€Å"This Statement establishes accounting standards for employers’ accounting for postretirement benefits other than pensions. It will significantly change the prevalent current practice of accounting for postretirement benefits on a pay-as-you-go (cash) basis by requiring accrual, during the years that the employee renders the necessary service, of the expected cost of providing those benefits to an employee and the employee’s beneficiaries and covered dependents. In exchange for the current services provided by the employee, the employer promises to provide, in addition to current wages and other benefits, health and other welfare benefits after the employee retires. It follows from that view that postretirement benefits are not gratuities but are part of an employee’s compensation for services rendered. This Statement relies on a basic premise of generally accepted accounting principles that accrual accounting provides more relevant and useful information than does cash basis accounting. Accrual accounting goes beyond cash transactions and attempts to recognize the financial effects of noncash transactions and events as they occur. Recognition and measurement of the accrued obligation to provide postretirement benefits will provide users of financial statements with the opportunity to assess the financial consequences of employers’ compensation decisions. In applying accrual accounting to postretirement benefits, this Statement adopts three fundamental aspects of pension accounting: delayed recognition of certain events, reporting net cost, and offsetting liabilities and related assets. (FASB, 2012) I would expect the efficient securities market to find this practice acceptable. â€Å"Accrual-based accounting is more effective than cash-based accounting. A few arguments to support this theory are: certain cash receipts and disbursements are â€Å"lumpy,† within operating cash flows receipts and payments can be lumpy, accrual-based accounting is a better predictor of a company’s long-term financial performance. Also all formal statements need to be set up using accrual-based accounting, and publicly traded companies need to use accrual-based accounting to conform to GAAP standards (Keener, 2012). 2. Chapter 4: Problem 12 (Imax) a. To what extent can revenue growth substitute for net income as a predictor of future earning power? Explain. Use efficient securities market concepts in your answer, and consider the requirement under GAAP for immediate writeoff of research and startup costs. â€Å"Both revenue growth and net income are useful in determining the financial strength of a company, but they are not interchangeable. Net income describes how efficient a company is with its spending and operating costs and how effect ively it has been controlling total costs. Revenue, on the other hand, only indicates how effective a company is at generating sales and does not take into consideration operating efficiencies which could have a dramatic impact on net income (Investopedia, 2012). † â€Å"Start-up costs are defined as â€Å"those unusual one-time costs incurred in putting a new plant into operation, opening a new sales outlet, initiating a new process in an existing plant, or otherwise commencing some new operation (FASB, 2012). † †Costs of start-up activities, including organization costs, should be expensed as incurred (FASB, 2012). â€Å"Definition of ‘Revenue Recognition’ An accounting principle under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) that determines the specific conditions under which income becomes realized as revenue. Generally, revenue is recognized only when a specific critical event has occurred and the amount of revenue is measurable. ‘Revenue Recognition’ explained For mo st businesses, income is recognized as revenue whenever the company delivers or performs its product or service and receives payment for it. However, there are several situations in which exceptions may apply. For example, if a company’s business has a very high rate of product returns, revenue should only be recognized after the return period expires. Companies can sometimes play around with revenue recognition to make their financial figures look better. For example, if XYZ Corp. wants to hide the fact that it is having a bad year in sales, it may choose to recognize income that has not yet been collected as revenue in order to boost its sales revenue for the year (Investopedia, 2012). † b. Use the concept of relevance to defend the revenue recognition policies outlined above. Relevant financial statements give information to investors about the firm’s future economic prospects (Scott, 2009). † c. Use the concept of reliability to criticize the revenue recognition policies outlined above. â€Å"To be reliable, information must have representational faithfulness and it must be verifiable and neutral (Scott, 2009). † d. To the extent that investors are awar e of the possible use of revenue recognition policies that overstate revenues (even though, for a specific firm, they may not know the extent to which that firm is using such policies), what is the effect on the operation of the capital market? Explain. â€Å"Investors have prior beliefs about a firm’s future performance. These prior beliefs will be based on all available information. If net income is high, or higher than expected, this may be good news. If so, investors would revise upward their beliefs about future performance. Other investors, who perhaps had overly high expectations for what current net income should be, might interpret the same net income number as bad news. Investors who have revised their beliefs about future performance upward will be inclined to buy the firm’s shares at their current market price, and vice versa for those who have revised their beliefs downward. We would expect to observe the volume of shares traded to increase when the firm reports its net income. Furthermore, this volume should be greater the greater are the differences in investors’ prior beliefs and in their interpretations of the current financial information (Scott, 2009). †

Psychological and Ethical Egoism Essay

Egoism is the teleological theory within the proximities of ethics which is allied to setting greatest good, pleasure and benefit for a single person. It comes as a contrast of altruism whose strictness is not self-centered. However altruism incorporates the interest of others in deriving absolute pleasure for a group of people or the contemporary society. Egoism can of necessity be viewed under different contexts with prevalence to the implication of drive into pleasure. Psychological egoism: This is the term that is taken to apply the aspect of human motivations as centered in self-interest. According to this view, any action despite its scores of altruism is governed by the motivations of personal desire that come from the psychological overview of the specific agent. This could incorporate aspects of desire by the agent such as avoiding the notion of been guilty, creating motives of desire for rewards or developing motives towards personal happiness. However, psychological egoism is developed as a synchronization effect of claiming the thresholds that define the scores of human nature. Since this claim in support of human nature is of necessity universal, it follows that the persuasion towards acting to a certain episode is driven by motives of personal desires and motivations (David, Jennifer, 2003, p. 58). Generally, psychological egoism underscores the phenomenological ascertainment of actions as founded on models of pure altruism. However, every action accrues some specific benefits to the fundamentals of an individual person. For example, helping a friend would yield personal happiness in the long run. The theory argues that the help that people give to the others is still motivated by personal interest and not purely aimed at creating happiness and satisfaction to the others. The principles of this theory are based on non-normative theoretical background that explains on the subjective phenomena of how things should primarily be. The basic provisions of psychological egoism is that the ultimate motive that ignites an individual towards making his/her voluntary actions is the in held desire of attaining personal pleasure as well as avoiding any possible effects and possibilities of pain (David, Jennifer, 2003, p. 3). In its proponents, psychological egoism argues that all altruistic actins are by themselves centered on parameters and motives of self interest and selfishness. These acts are only instrumental in having the aspects of motives towards self interest. The ultimate goal of egoism is therefore to achieve good feelings on personal pleasure which could consequently help in reducing and avoiding any probable scores of pain. Ethical egoism: It is the doctrine with its foundations based on the motives of selfishness as an acute score in the plain of human virtues. The theory has its propositions on the aspect that a person’s actions should ideally be modeled by personal interest. The foundations of ethical egoism are restoring the normative valuation of social phenomenon. Comparatively therefore, the truth value of ethical egoism outscores that of psychological egoism in that if it holds true, then psychological egoism would subjectively be untrue. It is a deviation from the principles inclined in altruism which propose on the ideals of the good for the contemporary society or group of people. According to the theory, when the societal resources are focused more precisely towards satisfying the interest of a person, greater efficiency and functionality of the existing social structures would therefore be felt. Consequently, the end results of this process are greater happiness in the contemporary society in the long run after each individual acts to create proximities of personal interests and happiness (David, Jennifer, 2003, p. 71). The principle code of ethical egoism is providing the rationale for a persons action in his/he own interest. This is however acceptable despite any controversial prospects in leading to conflicts between the parameters of interest and values of the others within the society. The basic difference that exists between ethical egoism and psychological egoism is that ethical egoism argues that an individual should presumably act in accordance to one’s self-interest. However, psychological egoism has its value that individuals can primarily act within the scores of their motives held in self-interests. Primarily therefore, ethical egoism governs persons in acting according to the requirements of their personal interests. Accordingly, its advancement conflicts with the basics and principles of ethical altruism when the latter presupposes the role of an individual in helping and serving the other people within the societal context (David, Jennifer, 2003, p. 71) . Conceptually however, ethical egoism is not founded on the disregard of the basic well being of the other people by the specific moral agent. Either, it does not disregard the rejection of the agent in refraining from the causal behavior that creates moral deliberation for the others. The basic creations and models of ethical egoism have been formulated on the basics of three scopes of understandings which are the universal, personal and individual. An individual egoist would proclaim that individuals should basically do that which creates benefits to them. A personal egoist would argue that their actions should be based on motives of their self-interest. Additionally, universal egoist would claim that all the people should act according to the principles that are by there on creating the aspect of own interest (David, Jennifer, 2003, p. 76).

Impact of Television on Presidential Elections

Impact of Television on Presidential Elections The Impact of Television on Presidential Elections: The aim of this paper is to look at the relationship between the mass media, specifically television, and presidential elections. This paper will focus on the function of television in presidential elections through three main areas: exit polls, presidential debates, and spots. The focus is on television for three reasons. First, television reaches more voters than any other medium. Second, television attracts the greatest part of presidential campaign budgets.Third, television provides the candidates a good opportunity to contact the people directly. A second main theme of this paper is the role of television in presidential elections in terms of representative democracy in the United States. Researchers tend to hold one of three views about television's influence on voters. Some believe that television affects voters in the short run, for example in an election campaign. Another group of researchers believes that television has a great influence on voters over time and that television's impact on voters is a continuous process from one campaign to the next.Others stand between the two views or combine both. In the last three decades, polls became an important instrument for the media, especially television networks, to determine who wins and who loses the election. Caprini conducted a study about the impact of the early prediction of a winner in the 1980 presidential race by the television networks. He observed that, shortly after 8 p. m. Eastern standard time, NBC announced that, according to its analysis of exit poll data, Ronald Reagan was to be the next president of the United States (Caprini, 1984, p. 866).That early call was controversial because the polls in many states were still open at the time and, in some of the western states, would remain open for several hours. Caprini ended his study with the following conclusion:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Voting for the Republican candidate was completely unaffected by the early call, with precall and postcall districts varying from their normal patterns in exactly the same amount and direction. The Democratic vote, however, declined 3. 1 percent more in the postcall districts than in the precall districts (p. 874). This result suggests that the NBC prediction did have an impact on the election.Additionally, this result supports the impact of the media on political behavior. Some experts argue that rates of voting in the western states are not affected by early projections. Strom and Epstein argue that the decline in western states' turnouts is not a result of the early projections by the networks but is the result of a complicated combination of factors, none of which is related to information received on election day (Epstein and Strom, 1981, pp. 479-489). This argument denies the influence of polls on the voting turnout in the first place, and it denies the impact of media on political behav ior.Other researchers look at the issue of exit polls from a legal perspective. Floyd Abrams, a First Amendment lawyer, supports the constitutional rights of the media and says their exercising of their rights should not be restricted, even if that influences the voters:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Once it becomes a legal issue, even people who believe that projections are harmful, or that exit polls are sometimes misused, should unite and say that the law should not be used to stop people from exercising their constitutional rights even if we happen to disagree with the way that they are using them (Abrams, 1985, p. 8). These different viewpoints represent two sides, the public and the media. Few researchers believe that exit polls have no effect on voting behavior. The majority of researchers believe that exit polls and early projections of the presidential elections do influence voters, but they disagree to what extent. The most persuasive reason to include televised debates in presiden tial campaigns is that voters want them.Voters find something in televised debates that confirms their previously held support for a candidate or helps them to decide whom to support. So television debates are now part of the political landscape. However, one expert has written that, even after the Bush-Dukakis debate, thus making four campaigns in a row to include debates, he would not predict continuation: â€Å"there are too many points at which disagreement might scuttle the whole plan† (Mickelson, 1989, p. 164).Stephen Hess in his book, The Presidential Campaign, observes that:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While some contend that televised debates of 1960 and 1976 elected John Kennedy and Jimmy Carter, those elections were so close that any single factor – including debates – could have been said to have made the difference (Hess, 1988, p. 76). Debates give people an opportunity to learn about those who will be president. This is probably the most positive thing to come out of the televised debates. People build their images about the candidates through their stands on the issues. For the 1960 ebates, Katz and Feldman reviewed studies:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As far as issues are concerned, the debates seem to have (a) made some issues more salient rather than others (the issues made salient, of course, may or may not have been the most important ones); (b) caused some people to learn where the candidates stand (including the stand of the opposition candidate); (c) effected very few changes of opinions on issues; and (d) focused more on presentation and personality than on issues (Katz and Feldman, 1962, pp. 173-223). This conclusion shows the importance of â€Å"psychological factors† in voting.As technology develops, researchers try to determine its impact on voting behavior. Technicians use advanced techniques during the presidential debates to get the viewers' attention. The most impressive effect of the presidential debates is its im pact on voters compared to that of other televised political communication in presidential campaigns. In a 1983 study of 2,530 voting-age Americans, ABC News and the John F. Kennedy School of Government noted that voters and non-voters agree that debates are more helpful in deciding whom to vote for than either television news reports or the candidate's own television ads (Kraus, 1988, p. 28). So it is obvious that such debates will have some impact on the outcome of the elections. Presidential debates are controlled by the candidates in several ways: the decision about whether to participate, the approval of areas of discussion, and the refusal to debate without panelists (p. 142). The 1988 debates were actually just joint appearances by Bush and Dukakis answering reporters' questions in two-minute and one-minute segments (Mickelson, 1989, p. 164). The year 1952 witnessed the emergence of the televised spot commercial in politics.The spot is a very short ad designed to convey a spe cific point or image without going into depth on issues or providing much detail. Since that time, spot commercials have been a main part of presidential campaigns. Joe McGinniss, an expert on campaigns, noticed the importance of the political ads:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is not surprising then, that politicians and advertising men should have discovered one another. And, once they recognized that the citizen did not so much vote for a candidate as make a psychological purchase of him, not surprising that they began to work together (McGinniss, 1969, p. 27).The goals of spots are converting the voters and keeping the committed in line. Also, spots can encourage the voters to go out and vote on the basis of their commitments (Diamond and Bates, 1984, p. 352). These goals are related to the short-term influences of television on voting behavior because spots appear in the last weeks of the campaign. They could make a difference in the outcome of the presidential election. The goals ar e also related to the long-term influences of television on voting behavior because young voters today have been raised with television and they perceive the political process through the media.The evidence supports the idea that spots, more than anything else, could make a difference in the outcome of the presidential elections. Sidney Kraus makes this point in the book, Televised Presidential Debates:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It came as a surprise to almost everyone in the broadcasting industry to find a major study of the 1972 presidential race (conducted by two political scientists) concluding that voters learned more about Richard Nixon and George McGovern from political spots than they did from the combined nightly newscasts of the networks† (Kraus, 1988, p. 17).Kathleen Jamieson agrees: . . . political advertising is now the major means by which candidates for presidency communicate their messages to voters . . . Unsurprisingly, the spot add is the most used and the most vi ewed of the available forms of advertising (Jamieson, 1984, p. 446). On the other hand, others argue that spots are not providing the voters good information about the candidates. Theodore Lowi supports that position:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Since the brief commercials are built on impressions rather than logic, â€Å"instant replay† benefits the sender, not the receiver (Lowi, 1985, p. 4). Others describe these spots as selling candidates like any other product. These experts ask whether presidential campaigns should be run on marketing principles or political tactics, whether the best candidate or the most telegenic performer wins, whether money can buy enough media to buy elections (Lowi, 1985, p. 65). The emergence of spots has been particularly upsetting to those who believe that political campaigns should inform the voters, not manipulate the opinions of the voters.The growing role of television in the presidential elections and its effects on the public gives rise to an i mportant question: Is this phenomenon healthy for democracy in the United States? Television became an important factor in the election process for several reasons: the decline of political parties, which had been the most important factor; (Wattenberg, 1986, p. 108) developing technology, which provided new opportunities for political television, like spots and debates; and, as a consequence of the decline of political parties, decreasing voter turnout in presidential elections since 1960.For example, only 53. 3 percent of the eligible citizens voted in 1984, the lowest since 1948. This is the same period during which the amount of money spent on televised political advertising tripled (in constant dollars) (Diamond, 1984, p. 352). Experts disagree about how television should function in a democratic society. Proponents see television as part of political socialization, and they believe that voters have profited from the presidential debates and political ads. Proponents do, howeve r, suggest particular improvements in presidential debates.Kraus suggests the following:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Campaign Act of 1971 provides a tax check off to help finance campaigns in presidential general elections, and since the public want presidential debates those who receive funds should debate. Candidates may refuse to debate, but they would not receive public funds (Kraus, 1988, p. 154). Others defend television from a legal perspective. Floyd Abrams defends exit polls as follows:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Once it becomes legal issue, even people who believe that projections are harmful . . . should write and say that the law should not be used to stop people from exercising their constitutional rights (Abrams, 1985, p. 8). Opponents look at television as a harmful factor in the democratic process of electing a president. According to one expert, â€Å"The promise [of] television . . . has collapsed in an era dominated by packaged campaigns and avoidance of issues (Mickelson, 19 89, p. 167). Others see the media as the main cause of the decline of political parties, which were supposed to be intermediary between the government and the people in a representative democracy, and they believe the decline of the parties will increase the gap between the government and the people. Also, they see the media as a part of the political elite in the United States.Edward Greenberg noticed this point:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Most importantly, the mass media are themselves parts of gigantic corporate empires and, while a few among them may experience an occasional episode of â€Å"muckraking† these media are firmly, in the long run, entrenched in the camp of the powerful (Greenberg, 1986, p. 22). Regulations are necessary to control some of the bad effects of the media, particularly television. Exit polls could be regulated so that East Coast poll results are not announced until the last poll on the West Coast closes. Participation in presidential debates should be r equired of candidates who want to receive campaign funds.Spots should have more regulations than the previous two areas because the candidates use spots to attack each other. For example, in the 1988 elections, George Bush had one spot in which he rode a yacht through Boston Harbor to show that Michael Dukakis is not an environmentalist and which appeared many times during the last days of the campaign (Mickelson, 1989, p. 162). The public got the impression that Dukakis is not concerned about the environment. Spots should be based on facts. This paper demonstrates that the mass media, particularly television, have a great effect on presidential elections.Analyzing exit polls, presidential debates, and spots shows that television does affect the voters and the voting turnout in the United States. Scholars agree on the effects of television on presidential races; however, they disagree on the extent to which television has affected voting behavior and the voters. Television emphasize d the decline of political parties in the last four decades. Although some experts believe television in presidential elections is healthy, others believe it is harmful to democracy, increasing the gap between the government and the people.The negative effects of political television on democracy can be eliminated through regulations. Such regulations could permit political television without its dangers. References Abrams, Floyd. (1985, Spring). Press practices, polling restrictions, public opinion and first amendment guarantees. Public Opinion Quarterly 49 (1): pp. 15-18. Caprini, Michael X. Delli. (1984, August). Scooping the voters? The consequences of the networks' early call of the 1980 Presidential race. Journal of Politics 46: pp. 866-85. Diamond, Edwin, and Stephen Bates. (1984). The Spot. Massachusetts: MIT Press. Epstein, Laurily R. , and Gerald Strorn. October 1981). Election night projections and west coast turn out. American Politics Quarterly 9 (4): pp. 479-91. Greenb erg, S. Edward. (1986). The American political system: A radical approach. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. Hess, Stephen. (1988). The Presidential campaign. Washington D. C. : The Brookings Institute. Jamieson, Kathleen Hall. (1984). Packaging the Presidency: A history and criticism of Presidential campaign advertising. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Katz, Elihu, and Jacob J. Feldman. (1962). The debates in the light of research: A survey of surveys. In The Great Debates, ed. Sidney Kraus.Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 173-223. Kraus, Sidney. (1988). Televised Presidential debates, and public policy. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Lowi, Theodore J. (1985). The personal President: Power invested promise unfulfilled. Ithaca, New York: Cornell   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  University Press. Mcginniss, Joe. (1969). The selling of the President 1968. New York: Trident Press. Mickelson, Sig. (1989). From whistle stop to sound bite: Four decades of politics and television. New York: Praeger. Wattenberg, Martin P. (1986). The decline of American political parties 1952-1984. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Impact of Television on Presidential Elections Impact of Television on Presidential Elections The Impact of Television on Presidential Elections: The aim of this paper is to look at the relationship between the mass media, specifically television, and presidential elections. This paper will focus on the function of television in presidential elections through three main areas: exit polls, presidential debates, and spots. The focus is on television for three reasons. First, television reaches more voters than any other medium. Second, television attracts the greatest part of presidential campaign budgets.Third, television provides the candidates a good opportunity to contact the people directly. A second main theme of this paper is the role of television in presidential elections in terms of representative democracy in the United States. Researchers tend to hold one of three views about television's influence on voters. Some believe that television affects voters in the short run, for example in an election campaign. Another group of researchers believes that television has a great influence on voters over time and that television's impact on voters is a continuous process from one campaign to the next.Others stand between the two views or combine both. In the last three decades, polls became an important instrument for the media, especially television networks, to determine who wins and who loses the election. Caprini conducted a study about the impact of the early prediction of a winner in the 1980 presidential race by the television networks. He observed that, shortly after 8 p. m. Eastern standard time, NBC announced that, according to its analysis of exit poll data, Ronald Reagan was to be the next president of the United States (Caprini, 1984, p. 866).That early call was controversial because the polls in many states were still open at the time and, in some of the western states, would remain open for several hours. Caprini ended his study with the following conclusion:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Voting for the Republican candidate was completely unaffected by the early call, with precall and postcall districts varying from their normal patterns in exactly the same amount and direction. The Democratic vote, however, declined 3. 1 percent more in the postcall districts than in the precall districts (p. 874). This result suggests that the NBC prediction did have an impact on the election.Additionally, this result supports the impact of the media on political behavior. Some experts argue that rates of voting in the western states are not affected by early projections. Strom and Epstein argue that the decline in western states' turnouts is not a result of the early projections by the networks but is the result of a complicated combination of factors, none of which is related to information received on election day (Epstein and Strom, 1981, pp. 479-489). This argument denies the influence of polls on the voting turnout in the first place, and it denies the impact of media on political behav ior.Other researchers look at the issue of exit polls from a legal perspective. Floyd Abrams, a First Amendment lawyer, supports the constitutional rights of the media and says their exercising of their rights should not be restricted, even if that influences the voters:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Once it becomes a legal issue, even people who believe that projections are harmful, or that exit polls are sometimes misused, should unite and say that the law should not be used to stop people from exercising their constitutional rights even if we happen to disagree with the way that they are using them (Abrams, 1985, p. 8). These different viewpoints represent two sides, the public and the media. Few researchers believe that exit polls have no effect on voting behavior. The majority of researchers believe that exit polls and early projections of the presidential elections do influence voters, but they disagree to what extent. The most persuasive reason to include televised debates in presiden tial campaigns is that voters want them.Voters find something in televised debates that confirms their previously held support for a candidate or helps them to decide whom to support. So television debates are now part of the political landscape. However, one expert has written that, even after the Bush-Dukakis debate, thus making four campaigns in a row to include debates, he would not predict continuation: â€Å"there are too many points at which disagreement might scuttle the whole plan† (Mickelson, 1989, p. 164).Stephen Hess in his book, The Presidential Campaign, observes that:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While some contend that televised debates of 1960 and 1976 elected John Kennedy and Jimmy Carter, those elections were so close that any single factor – including debates – could have been said to have made the difference (Hess, 1988, p. 76). Debates give people an opportunity to learn about those who will be president. This is probably the most positive thing to come out of the televised debates. People build their images about the candidates through their stands on the issues. For the 1960 ebates, Katz and Feldman reviewed studies:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As far as issues are concerned, the debates seem to have (a) made some issues more salient rather than others (the issues made salient, of course, may or may not have been the most important ones); (b) caused some people to learn where the candidates stand (including the stand of the opposition candidate); (c) effected very few changes of opinions on issues; and (d) focused more on presentation and personality than on issues (Katz and Feldman, 1962, pp. 173-223). This conclusion shows the importance of â€Å"psychological factors† in voting.As technology develops, researchers try to determine its impact on voting behavior. Technicians use advanced techniques during the presidential debates to get the viewers' attention. The most impressive effect of the presidential debates is its im pact on voters compared to that of other televised political communication in presidential campaigns. In a 1983 study of 2,530 voting-age Americans, ABC News and the John F. Kennedy School of Government noted that voters and non-voters agree that debates are more helpful in deciding whom to vote for than either television news reports or the candidate's own television ads (Kraus, 1988, p. 28). So it is obvious that such debates will have some impact on the outcome of the elections. Presidential debates are controlled by the candidates in several ways: the decision about whether to participate, the approval of areas of discussion, and the refusal to debate without panelists (p. 142). The 1988 debates were actually just joint appearances by Bush and Dukakis answering reporters' questions in two-minute and one-minute segments (Mickelson, 1989, p. 164). The year 1952 witnessed the emergence of the televised spot commercial in politics.The spot is a very short ad designed to convey a spe cific point or image without going into depth on issues or providing much detail. Since that time, spot commercials have been a main part of presidential campaigns. Joe McGinniss, an expert on campaigns, noticed the importance of the political ads:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is not surprising then, that politicians and advertising men should have discovered one another. And, once they recognized that the citizen did not so much vote for a candidate as make a psychological purchase of him, not surprising that they began to work together (McGinniss, 1969, p. 27).The goals of spots are converting the voters and keeping the committed in line. Also, spots can encourage the voters to go out and vote on the basis of their commitments (Diamond and Bates, 1984, p. 352). These goals are related to the short-term influences of television on voting behavior because spots appear in the last weeks of the campaign. They could make a difference in the outcome of the presidential election. The goals ar e also related to the long-term influences of television on voting behavior because young voters today have been raised with television and they perceive the political process through the media.The evidence supports the idea that spots, more than anything else, could make a difference in the outcome of the presidential elections. Sidney Kraus makes this point in the book, Televised Presidential Debates:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It came as a surprise to almost everyone in the broadcasting industry to find a major study of the 1972 presidential race (conducted by two political scientists) concluding that voters learned more about Richard Nixon and George McGovern from political spots than they did from the combined nightly newscasts of the networks† (Kraus, 1988, p. 17).Kathleen Jamieson agrees: . . . political advertising is now the major means by which candidates for presidency communicate their messages to voters . . . Unsurprisingly, the spot add is the most used and the most vi ewed of the available forms of advertising (Jamieson, 1984, p. 446). On the other hand, others argue that spots are not providing the voters good information about the candidates. Theodore Lowi supports that position:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Since the brief commercials are built on impressions rather than logic, â€Å"instant replay† benefits the sender, not the receiver (Lowi, 1985, p. 4). Others describe these spots as selling candidates like any other product. These experts ask whether presidential campaigns should be run on marketing principles or political tactics, whether the best candidate or the most telegenic performer wins, whether money can buy enough media to buy elections (Lowi, 1985, p. 65). The emergence of spots has been particularly upsetting to those who believe that political campaigns should inform the voters, not manipulate the opinions of the voters.The growing role of television in the presidential elections and its effects on the public gives rise to an i mportant question: Is this phenomenon healthy for democracy in the United States? Television became an important factor in the election process for several reasons: the decline of political parties, which had been the most important factor; (Wattenberg, 1986, p. 108) developing technology, which provided new opportunities for political television, like spots and debates; and, as a consequence of the decline of political parties, decreasing voter turnout in presidential elections since 1960.For example, only 53. 3 percent of the eligible citizens voted in 1984, the lowest since 1948. This is the same period during which the amount of money spent on televised political advertising tripled (in constant dollars) (Diamond, 1984, p. 352). Experts disagree about how television should function in a democratic society. Proponents see television as part of political socialization, and they believe that voters have profited from the presidential debates and political ads. Proponents do, howeve r, suggest particular improvements in presidential debates.Kraus suggests the following:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Campaign Act of 1971 provides a tax check off to help finance campaigns in presidential general elections, and since the public want presidential debates those who receive funds should debate. Candidates may refuse to debate, but they would not receive public funds (Kraus, 1988, p. 154). Others defend television from a legal perspective. Floyd Abrams defends exit polls as follows:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Once it becomes legal issue, even people who believe that projections are harmful . . . should write and say that the law should not be used to stop people from exercising their constitutional rights (Abrams, 1985, p. 8). Opponents look at television as a harmful factor in the democratic process of electing a president. According to one expert, â€Å"The promise [of] television . . . has collapsed in an era dominated by packaged campaigns and avoidance of issues (Mickelson, 19 89, p. 167). Others see the media as the main cause of the decline of political parties, which were supposed to be intermediary between the government and the people in a representative democracy, and they believe the decline of the parties will increase the gap between the government and the people. Also, they see the media as a part of the political elite in the United States.Edward Greenberg noticed this point:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Most importantly, the mass media are themselves parts of gigantic corporate empires and, while a few among them may experience an occasional episode of â€Å"muckraking† these media are firmly, in the long run, entrenched in the camp of the powerful (Greenberg, 1986, p. 22). Regulations are necessary to control some of the bad effects of the media, particularly television. Exit polls could be regulated so that East Coast poll results are not announced until the last poll on the West Coast closes. Participation in presidential debates should be r equired of candidates who want to receive campaign funds.Spots should have more regulations than the previous two areas because the candidates use spots to attack each other. For example, in the 1988 elections, George Bush had one spot in which he rode a yacht through Boston Harbor to show that Michael Dukakis is not an environmentalist and which appeared many times during the last days of the campaign (Mickelson, 1989, p. 162). The public got the impression that Dukakis is not concerned about the environment. Spots should be based on facts. This paper demonstrates that the mass media, particularly television, have a great effect on presidential elections.Analyzing exit polls, presidential debates, and spots shows that television does affect the voters and the voting turnout in the United States. Scholars agree on the effects of television on presidential races; however, they disagree on the extent to which television has affected voting behavior and the voters. Television emphasize d the decline of political parties in the last four decades. Although some experts believe television in presidential elections is healthy, others believe it is harmful to democracy, increasing the gap between the government and the people.The negative effects of political television on democracy can be eliminated through regulations. Such regulations could permit political television without its dangers. References Abrams, Floyd. (1985, Spring). Press practices, polling restrictions, public opinion and first amendment guarantees. Public Opinion Quarterly 49 (1): pp. 15-18. Caprini, Michael X. Delli. (1984, August). Scooping the voters? The consequences of the networks' early call of the 1980 Presidential race. Journal of Politics 46: pp. 866-85. Diamond, Edwin, and Stephen Bates. (1984). The Spot. Massachusetts: MIT Press. Epstein, Laurily R. , and Gerald Strorn. October 1981). Election night projections and west coast turn out. American Politics Quarterly 9 (4): pp. 479-91. Greenb erg, S. Edward. (1986). The American political system: A radical approach. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. Hess, Stephen. (1988). The Presidential campaign. Washington D. C. : The Brookings Institute. Jamieson, Kathleen Hall. (1984). Packaging the Presidency: A history and criticism of Presidential campaign advertising. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Katz, Elihu, and Jacob J. Feldman. (1962). The debates in the light of research: A survey of surveys. In The Great Debates, ed. Sidney Kraus.Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 173-223. Kraus, Sidney. (1988). Televised Presidential debates, and public policy. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Lowi, Theodore J. (1985). The personal President: Power invested promise unfulfilled. Ithaca, New York: Cornell   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  University Press. Mcginniss, Joe. (1969). The selling of the President 1968. New York: Trident Press. Mickelson, Sig. (1989). From whistle stop to sound bite: Four decades of politics and television. New York: Praeger. Wattenberg, Martin P. (1986). The decline of American political parties 1952-1984. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

My favorite philosopher Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

My favorite philosopher - Essay Example The paper starts with the Plato's history. Being born in a wealthy and powerful Athenians (Kemerling), Plato purposed to make wise use of such advantages in addition to his wit. For generations, many people have been witnessed who were endowed with money but have grown to squander their gifts. However, it was not so with Plato and that is just one thing I admire about him. Plato had been a student to Socrates, a well-known Athenian philosopher. To his being a student, I could say that he had been among those who did his responsibilities well. The knowledge that was passed on to him was not only recognized in his future life as a teacher himself but was embraced and lived to a full worth emulating. He is to the very sense of the word, a true philosopher worthy of being called such. Thinking could have been one of the very tasks he had been doing to the end of his life for indeed he did not just influence the branches of Science and Mathematics but even the sociological and political a spect of human beings. One of my favorite sayings from the master is this, "until philosophers are kings, or the king and princes of this world have the spirit and the power of philosophy, cities will never have rest from their evils nor the human race and then only will our states behold the light of day†. Of course I strongly agree with him on this thought because leaders should be thinkers. They should not be easily swayed by what are told of them nor what they externally see but they should be able to read the minds of people around them and the reasons why things happen in such and such a manner.

Discussion topics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion topics - Assignment Example Hence, hydrolyzing protein means breaking it into its most basic units called the â€Å"amino acids† through aqueous medium with the help of enzymes which act to catalyze or speed up the hydrolytic process. Enzymes themselves are made of protein constituents which serve as biological catalysts that increase the rate of reaction (Ophardt, 2003). (2) Describe how energy is measured and the importance of energy balance for someone experiencing under-nutrition or over-nutrition. In your response, also address the implications of ideal versus healthy weight. In food, the energy (in calories) is measured by means of device called the ‘bomb calorimeter’ which subjects the food to combustion so that it burns with oxygen at a certain pressure. The heat generated is then analyzed in terms of calorific content originating from carbohydrates, protein, fats, and the rest of the food’s nutritional composition (Niedziocha, 2011). Individuals in the realm of over-nutrition expend energy much higher than the right or allowable amount whereas those experiencing under-nutrition consume energy in quantities below normal. Either case tends to cause metabolic activity that bring about diseases such as cancer, AIDS, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, burns, and cachexia that is why a balanced expenditure of energy must be maintained on a regular basis (Pi-Sunyer, 2000). Factors besides energy affect one’s determination of an ideal weight so at any rate, however, energy consumption ought to account for values within the range of a healthy weight. Pi-Sunyer, F.  Xavier M.D. (2000). â€Å"Over-Nutrition and Under-Nutrition as Modifiers of Metabolic Processes in Disease States 1’2’3.† The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Retrieved from http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/72/2/533s.full on October 6,

Rhetorical Analysis Macroeconomic Policy and Diversity Conservation Research Paper

Rhetorical Analysis Macroeconomic Policy and Diversity Conservation - Research Paper Example The article may not be emotional in its tone due to the nature of the literature which is academic writing that follows the formal rules of writing, but the topic nevertheless touched on our concern about the environment. It appeals to our sense of responsibility that we have to do something to save our environment from degradation and to do that we should regulate the pollutants emitted by industry. The topic has emotional significance to the readers because the reader is aware how ruined our ecosphere is and how it contributes to global warming. Considering the source of the journal which is EBSCOhost, the article has the assurance of the integrity of its argument to be grounded on sound scientific study having been scrutinized by the stringent academic standard. This was evident with how the author argued on how to regulate the industry by using the government’s macroeconomic tools to regulate the emission of industrial pollutants from an economist point of view. The author wrote with authority to convey that she is an authority on the subject.Being an academic journal, the article posed its appeal to the readers using logic or logos. It reasoned that by taxing heavily industries which pollute, it could encourage business to be ecologically responsible. The variations of the government’s macroeconomic policy which are the fiscal and monetary tools were argued from the point of the reason how the author’s proposal is feasible in controlling industrial pollution.

Obesity Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Obesity Policy - Essay Example Obesity Policy Obesity can occur in any age group but it tends to increase with age " infants with excessive weight gain have an increased incidence of obesity in later life (Charney etal 1976)4. It has a female preponderance and certain genetic component in its causation as evidenced by twin studies, which show a close relation between the weights of identical twins even when they are reared in dissimilar environments (Falkner 1980)5. Physical activity and fitness's are important modifiers of mortality and morbidity related to over weight and obesity (WHO 2003)6 but according to Falkner it is the reduced energy output that is the main etiological factor behind obesity. Food habits play important role in weight gain and obesity, the composition of the food, the periodicity at which it is consumed and the amount of energy derived from it are the factors, which modulate body weight. A diet containing more energy than needed may lead to prolonged postprandial hyperlipidemia and to deposition of trigly cerides in the adipose tissue resulting in obesity (Oliver 1981)7. Other factors include psychosocial, familial tendency, endocrine, ethnicity and drugs like corticosteroids etc. Its is a positive risk factor for hypertension, diabetes, gall bladder diseases, congestive heart disease and certain cancers (hormonal and large bowel). It also predisposes to other conditions like varicose veins, abdominal hernia, osteoarthritis of knees and hips. Flat feet; sleep apnea and respiratory problems etc. the Framingham Heart Study in United States of America reveals that there is a dramatic increase (20%) in sudden death among overweight adults as compared to those with normal weight. Healthy People 2010 are a comprehensive set of disease prevention and health promotion objectives for the Nation to achieve over the first decade of the new century and one of the objective is to reduce obesity up to 15% in adults by 2010.the objectives are 19-1: - increase the proportion of adults who are at a healthy weight from 42 % to 60% by 2010. 19-2: - Reduce the proportion of adults who are obese from 23% to 15% by 2010. 19-3: - Reduce the proportion of children and adolescents who are overweight or obese from 11% to 5% by 2010. In order to achieve this objective health care planning has to be done and an obesity policy has to be made which has to be implemented at various health care levels, the work done has to be evaluated and depending upon the results relevant modification should be made in the policy to achieve better results. OBESITY POLICY The policy is to educate the American public on the dangers and medical quandaries that obesity causes and to help eradicate this epidemic from our nation. PLAN: Health education is planned in connection with a health service for proper implementation. This health service provides health education about hazards of obesity in the following three methods Individual approach: by personal interviews in hospitals, consultation rooms, and health care centers or peoples houses. Health education is given at every interaction with the patient about the etiology, risk, prevention and control of obesity. It will be the principal duty of the physician and nursing staff to

Presidential Perspectives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Presidential Perspectives - Essay Example The difference between Democrats and Republics is apparent in American politics. Democrats and Republicans differ mainly in terms of philosophy, worldview, ideologies, and politics. Democrats are more of socialists and hold that the duty of the government is welfare of the people regardless of individual interests. They support government sponsored programs such as healthcare as well as subsides. Republicans, on the other hand, elevate economic equity and free market; they believe that solutions lay with the people rather than the federal government. Hence, they are more of capitalists, promoting property rights over welfare rights. They also decry active government interference in the economy. Obama’s policies and Mitt Romney’s are contrasting and apparent due to their political divides, which shapes their philosophy, worldview, ideologies, and politics. Alperovitz (2011) asserts that power structure in the United States can be analyzed in four rival approaches, namely: pluralism, State autonomy, elite theory, and Marxism. Pluralism theory holds that groups such as unions and professional associations, civil rights activists, business and financial lobbies govern America. Liberalists assert that there are multiple centers of power, which yield a colossal bearing in the making of laws and policies. According to Alperovitz (2011), state autonomy stresses that the government is always an autonomous force due to its control of military. Hence, they conclude that the government in the United States is the central source of power. Elite theory stipulates that leaders of large organizations inevitably dominate key sectors of the society and that America is no different. Finally, Marxism argues that property owners dominate the society. Those who hold power are predominantly those who own means of production. Policy issues such as taxes, trade agreements, and labor standoffs are a manifestation of this fact. Obama’s ideologies

Law Enforcement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Law Enforcement - Essay Example 2. A terrorist threat is almost certain to change the role of the state or local law enforcement. This is because they have the best local knowledge about possible modes of attacks and security vulnerabilities that are applicable to their individual areas. In addition, they often have insiders who can tip off alerts. In addition, law enforcement authorities can often incorporate keeping an eye on suspicious movements or persons as part of their local security operations, something that centralized counter-terrorist agencies will find difficult to do. For example the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention act of 2004 (1) made specific provisions for increasing security checks at airports and borders, which is impossible to implement in practice without local law enforcement agencies participating actively. The best way that they can operate is in conjunction with specific anti-terrorist groups, with a designated number of local and state law enforcement officers undertake special training, and work in collaboration with central agencies. For example, Federal Law enforcement Training Centres ( FLECTs) (2) have already been set up specifically to train local and state law enforcement officers to train in counter-terrorism. 3. During the next attack, the state and local law enforcers should be much better prepared with a plan to limit the damages of the attack, an emergency plan to shut off routes of escape or access to perpetrators, carry out on prompt investigations, detain suspects and co-ordinate with agencies outside their jurisdiction. In addition, they would be much better trained to cope with disasters with the help of local emergency and disaster services. 4. If I were the State Director of Law Enforcement, I would keep my forces and systems in high alert, being prepared for all future terrorist incidents. I would set aside a significant

Poverty in the UK Essay Example for Free

Poverty in the UK Essay In 1886, Charles Booth investigated the extent of poverty in London. His was the first systematic sociological study of poverty in the UK. The results, presented in 1902-3, documented the living and working condition of the London poor. Adopting a relative approach to poverty — which was defined as the inability to meet the usual standard of life — Booth estimated that the level at which poverty set in for a family of two adults and three children was 21 shillings per week (? 1. 05 today). Booth estimated that 30. 7 per cent of Londons total population were in poverty. Around the same time, adopting an absolute perspective on poverty, Seebohm Rowntree investigated the state of the poor in the city of York in 1899. He highlighted the minimum standard of living which fulfilled peoples biological needs for food, water, clothing and shelter. This is also referred to as the subsistence level. Rowntree subsequently drew up a list of those minimum personal and household necessities required for survival and established two categories of poverty. Primary poverty is when the person is unable to acquire the minimum necessitates, secondary poverty is when a portion of the persons total earnings is absorbed by other useful or wasteful expenditure such that it is not possible to maintain the minimum standard. Poverty can be defined in several ways, Booth took a relative approach and Rowntree took an absolute approach. In the post-war era, there has been a more pronounced shift from viewing poverty as predominantly a monetary and economic phenomenon to regarding and acknowledging its more qualitative and subjective aspects. By the end of the 1950s, the period of rationing and shortages was over and, with almost full employment, the UK seemed ‘never to have had it so good’. Yet, by the 1960s, a number of social policy academics close to the Labour Party (such as Tawney and Townsend) raised the issue of the continuing existence of poverty in a period of greater prosperity. Townsend questioned absolute definitions of poverty (such as those of Rowntree) which were outdated and failed to take account of the problems some people had in fully participating in society. Townsends definitive work on poverty in the UK in 1979 (Townsend 1992) went beyond an absolute definition based on physical needs, to view poverty in relation to a generally accepted standard of living, in a specific society, at a particular time. Individuals can be said to be in poverty when they lack the resources to obtain the types of diet, participate in the activities and have the living conditions and amenities which are customary, or at least widely encouraged and approved, in the societies which they belong. (p. 31) Townsend suggested a definition that was closer in tune to the concept of citizenship — poverty constituted a lack of resources that would enable a person to able to participate in the normal expectations and customs of a society. This kind of definition also would imply that the indicators of poverty can change over time in order to embrace changes in society. In the 1960s, Townsend used the example of not being able to afford a proper Sunday lunch as an indicator of poverty. The idea of a Sunday roast meal might not be so relevant today because of changes in family life and the way people gather together, and therefore is not so much an integral aspect of what people can be expected to do normally. On the other hand, Townsends indicator of giving presents to near members of the family for birthdays or Christmas still holds. In his 1979 work, Townsend identified twelve items he believed were be relevant to the whole population, and gave each household surveyed a score on a deprivation index. The higher the score, the more deprived was the household. Townsend calculated that 22. 9 per cent of the population fell under the threshold of deprivation (Giddens 2006). When talking about poverty, researchers usually base their work on measures of deprivation rather than the identification of poverty by itself. The existence of deprivation is taken as a surrogate for the existence of poverty. People are said to be deprived materially and socially if they lack the material standards (diet, housing ad clothing) and the services and amenities (recreational, educational, environmental, social) which would allow them to participate in commonly accepted roles and relationship within society. The compass of poverty is complex, embracing the unemployed, those on low pay or in insecure work, the sick, the elderly, and the unskilled. Some minority ethnic groups also come into the picture, for example, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis in the UK have, in general, high rates of poverty compared to other groups (Giddens 2006). Absolute poverty assumes that it is possible to define a minimum standard of living based on a persons biological needs for food, water, clothing and shelter. The emphasis is on basic physical needs and not on broader social and cultural needs. Rowntrees studies of poverty in York in 1901, 1936, and 1951 used such an approach to poverty. But another way of viewing poverty is of relative poverty, which goes beyond biological needs, and is not simply about a lack of money but also about exclusion form the customs of society. Relative poverty is about social exclusion imposed by an inadequate income. Social exclusion is a broader concept than poverty encompassing not only low material means but the inability to participate effectively in economic, social, political and cultural life, implying alienation and distance from the mainstream society (Giddens 2006). Social exclusion may both be a precursor to poverty and an important consequence of it. In 1984, Mack and Lansley study established that the poverty threshold covered not only the basic essentials for survival (such as food and shelter) but also the ability to participate in society and play a social role: for the first time ever, a majority of people see the necessities of life in Britain in the 1980s as covering a wide range of goods and activities, and people judge a minimum standard of living on socially established criteria and not just the criteria of survival or subsistence. (Mack Lansley 1985 : 55) In the 1980s, the discussion of poverty turned increasingly to the notion of polarisation and to the shrinking portion of the UK cake held by the poorest. Poverty and wealth are not simply the bottom and top of the income distribution, they are polarised social conditions (Scott 1994). Income polarisation was also compounded by a number of policy measure introduced in the 1980s, such as a reduction in the level of income tax for high earners and increasing use of indirect taxes. Academics showed that polarisation and social disparities were growing between those who had benefited from the measures of the successive Thatcher administrations and those who had lost out, while the Thatcher government as the time tried to deny the excesses of Thatcherism. According to an analysis of the Child Poverty Action Group, in the regime of Margaret Thatcher, more than 63 billion has been transferred in subsidies from the poor to the rich (Oppenheim and Harker 1996) Research in the 1990s on the distribution of wealth and poverty in the UK has been produced under a Joseph Rowntree Foundation research initiative. This research highlighted that the number of people living in households with under half the national average income fell between the early 1960s and 1970s from five million to three million, but then rose to eleven million in 1991, to a point where one in five households were living on under half the national average income. The number of individuals under 60 living in households without paid work has more than doubled from 4.1. million, or 8 per cent, in 1979, to 9. 4 million, or 19 per cent by the mid 1990s. This has been accompanied by a widening gap in the incomes of households in paid work and those out of paid work. In 1997, 12 million people in the UK (almost 25% of the population) lived below the poverty line, defined as under half the average wage, and two out of five children were born poor. Today, according to OECD (Organisation for Economic cooperation and Development), Britain has one of the worst poverty records in the developed world (Giddens 2006). According to the latest available statistics, nearly 1 in 4 people in the UK – amounting to 13 million people – live in poverty. This includes nearly 4 million children – signifying a shocking 1 in 3 ratio (Oxfam GB 2003). The explanations that have been offered as causes of poverty fall under two categories, individualistic theories and structural theories. Here we will focus on the former. Individualistic theories identify the main causes of poverty within individuals themselves. Social and cultural factors are not entirely discounted, but more emphasis is place on inappropirated individual behaviours. There are three main types of individualistic theories. Orthodox economic theory: This theory proposes that poverty can be explained by the economic deficiency of the individual . Harold Lydall argues that the general abilities of men in the labour force determine the distribution of incomes. These abilities are assumed to be created by genetic, environmental and educational factors. To reduce poverty, policies need to target individuals own value systems, to develop their own personal qualities in a manner that makes them more capable and efficient. The individual is poor because he has not maximised his true potential in the labour market. Minority group theory: Minority group theory originate from the earliest studies of poverty based on the findings of Booth and Rowntree. These pioneering social scientists did not attempt to discover the causes of poverty, merely the characteristics of certain groups of poor people. Minority group theory has largely constructed its explanation for poverty through examining the characteristics of the poor for example, being old, being married with dependent children. Going beyond such demographic indicators, the theory implicates alleged faulty’ characteristics. The classification of ar-risk groups has prompted policy makers to implement a benefit system to ensure that the most basic of needs are met, without encouraging idleness or apathy. The poverty policies of successive governments have often informed by minority group theory. Subculture of poverty theory: Subculture of poverty theory is derived form a number of anthropological and sociological studies, particularly, the work of Oscar Lewis. It was Lewis who in 1959 introduced the term the culture of poverty in an effort to draw an analogy between the Mexican lower class families and those in other parts of the world. He attempted to explain the phenomenon of the persistence of poverty in different countries. The basic idea has its roots in the Chicago School of Sociology and the work of Robert E. Park. According to Park the patterns of the neighbourhood, and the slum in particular, once they come into being, take on a life of their own and are to a great extent self-generating and self-perpetuating. A sociological process known as labeling also underpins this phenomenon. Labelling somebody negatively may also lead to increased surveillance or segregation from the wider community which further increases (and even creates) the predicted behaviour (Fulcher and Scott 2001). These processes, whereby people tend to live up to the expectation of others are known to be self-fulfilling. Oscar Lewis implies a similar understanding in his formulation of the notion of the culture of poverty. Lewis claimed that poverty affected the very personality of slum dwellers. The poor tend to be at once apathetic yet alienated, happy-go-lucky yet miserable. Other negative characteristics that mark the psychological orientation of poor people include laziness, being unambitious, being disorganised, and fatalistic. To fight poverty at its roots, such psychological tendencies need to be gradually eroded, with more positive attitudes taking their place. Much work also needs to be done on making the destitute people more attractive to their potential employers, in terms of skills and educational qualifications. Substantial and sustained reductions in poverty depend on raising the level of qualifications among older teenagers and young adults in the bottom quarter of educational achievement. Lack of progress here is a major concern for longer term progress on reducing poverty. (Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2006) References: Giddens, A. (2006). Sociology. Cambridge : Polity Press Fulcher, J. Scott J. (2001). Sociology. Oxford : Oxford University Press Joseph Rowntree Foundation. (2006). Monitoring poverty and social exclusion in the UK 2006. Retrieved 20 March 2007 from http://www.poverty. org. uk/reports/mpse%202006%20findings. pdf Mack, J. Lansley, S. (1985). Poor Britain. London : Unwin Hyman Oppenheim,C. Harker, L. (1996). Poverty: the Facts, 3rd ed. London : Child Poverty Action Oxfam GB. (2003). The facts about poverty in the UK. Retrieved 20 March 2007 from http://www. oxfamgb. org/ukpp/poverty/thefacts. htm Scott, J. (1994). Poverty and Wealth: Citizenship, Deprivation and Privilege (Longman Sociology Series). London : Longman Group United Kingdom Townsend, P. (1992). Poverty in the UK. Berkeley : University of California Press

History Of Police Interviewing In England And Wales Criminology Essay

History Of Police Interviewing In England And Wales Criminology Essay CHAPTER 1- Interviewing suspects and witnesses is a basic operation of policing all over the world. In England and Wales, pre PACE, historically there was no formal interview training for police officers and officers learnt how to interview through observation of other police officers. Thus, the best evidence of guilt was confessions and theoretically good interviewers were those who could convince suspects to confess to crimes. Police interviews prior 1984 were governed by Judges Rules, these were just guidelines for the officers who they were allowed to execute interviews unrecorded and then to write a report of the interview from memory. Afterwards, officers memory of the interview was presented in court from the handwriting report. The dangers of this are self-evident officers can pick up bad practises or miss valuable information. Eventually investigations can be damaged, disrupted or even destroyed. The secrecy of the police interview room led to widespread concern about the tactics used to extract confessions things like intimidation, oppression, deception, and even physical violence (Leo, 1992). It has been shown that these tactics can lead to false confessions, in which case a double miscarriage of justice occurs not only is an innocent person convicted but the true offender remains free (Gudjonsson, 1992). The aim of this chapter is to discuss the old investigative interviewing which led to miscarriages of justice. Also, what was happening to police interviewing, why false confessions were frequent phenomenon and what types of false confessions exist. An important theme is public perception about police interviewing at this historical time. Finally the primary improvements that have been done, such as PACE and Circulars 7 and 22. Miscarriages of Justice When the term miscarriages of justice is used, it usually refers to what are called questionable convictions or wrongful convictions. Walker (1999: 52-5) summarises the causes of questionable convictions which are: fabrication of evidence, unreliable identification of an offender by the police or witnesses, unreliable expert evidence, unreliable confessions resulting from police pressure or the vulnerability of suspects, non disclosure of evidence by the police or prosecution, the conduct of the trial and problems associated with appeals procedures. However, the term miscarriages of justice as relating to questionable convictions is itself partly adequate (Adler and Gray, 2010). Consequently, the term can also occur when there is no action, inaction or questionable actions, whereby an offence has taken place but no action or insufficient action or interference has followed. Questionable actions include police unprofessional conduct and lack of ability (e.g, failures to investigate ef fectively, poor treatment of victims and their family), insufficient prosecution processes (poor communication with police, risk avoidance ), and problematic trial practices (hostile cross examination of witness, weak presentation of the prosecution case). Therefore, questionable actions represent police failure to identify suspects and to press charges, the lack of success of the prosecution to mount a case, the collapse of the prosecution case during the trial and as a result, agencies ineffectiveness to inform or support victims and their families (Newburn, Williamson and Wright, 2007). Traditionally, the primary aim of police investigators has been to obtain a confession from the primary suspect, the confession being seen by officers to be the key of a successful investigation and the predominant means by which a conviction can be secured. To understand why a confession was so pivotal concern it is essential to consider the operation of various systems of justice. In an adversarial system, the judge is considered to be neutral during the trial process and should leave the presentation of the case to the prosecution and defence who prepare their case, call and examine witnesses. According to Zander (1994), the adversarial system is not a search for the truth. The inquisitorial system aim to be a search for the truth, in this system the judge is not neutral but will play critical role in the presentation of the evidence at the trial. The Judge calls and examines the defendant and the witness. While the trial is in progress lawyers for the prosecution and defence can merely ask complementary questions. The Royal Commission stated that It is important not to overstate the differences between the two systems because all adversarial systems contain inquisitorial elements and vice versa (Runciman, 1993). The court was not interested in the truth; it just had to decide whether punishment has been applied beyond all rational doubt. Therefore, it is not surprising that confession evidence had priority and investigators relied on a confession within the investigation process. Certainly, investigators focused on a confession and to attain a confession used coercive methods, allowing the investigation team to move on to the next case. False confessions lead to false convictions, thus police officers reproduced miscarriages of justice within their behaviour and interviewing tactics (Newburn, Williamson and Wright, 2007). False confessions lead to false convictions In the UK and other countries, a number of miscarriages of justice have established that false confessions occur and a large number of these are due to factors which exist within the interview context. Kassin and McNall (1991) analysed the tactics described by Inbau, Reid and Buckley (1986) which lead to false confessions; and found two categories: maximisation, where interviewers use scare tactics to intimidate a suspect believe to be guilty and minimisation, where interviewers underrate the offence seriousness and charges. Three categories of false confessions were identified by Gudjonsson and MacKeith (1988) and expanded by Shepherd (1996). These categories are as follows: Voluntary false confession Voluntary false confessions occur when the interviewee falsely confesses for personal reason without pressure. Possible reasons that suspect give false confession are: to exempt feelings of guilt about a real or imagined crime or situation in the past (this is most possible to happen for people with depression, Gudjonsson, 1992). To pre-empt further investigation of a more serious offence; to cover up the real culprit; to gain notoriety- a wish to become infamous and to enhance ones self esteem; an inability to distinguish reality from imagination(people with schizophrenia); to take a revenge on another and to hide other non criminal actions. Coerced-compliant false confession Coerced-compliant false confessions arise when the interviewee agrees to make a confession in order to make some kind of gain. This category of false confession occur from social influence factor; compliance. Compliance is a change in ones behaviour for contributory purposes, it is first found in Aschs (1956) primary studies of conformity and Milgrams (1974) research on obedience to authority. Interviewee sees the short term advantages of confessing (being released) outweighing the long term costs (such as prosecution and imprisonment). People, who are passable to compliance such as people with learning disabilities, may be especially vulnerable to this type of false confession. Coerced-internalised false confession The last category is a coerced-internalised false confession in such cases suspects come to believe that they are guilty because they no longer trust their own memory of certain details. This type of false confession derives from a cognitive effect and refers to the internal acceptance of beliefs held by others. An interviewee who is anxious, tired and confused actually comes to believe he or she committed the crime. The suspects memory may be altered in interviewing process. This can be linked to the false memory syndrome. The memory distrust syndrome concerns interviewees who distrust their own memory and consequently depend on external guide for information (in this particular situation -interviewer, Wolchover Heaton-Amstrong, 1996). This syndrome can be explained in two ways. The first relates to amnesia or memory damage. The interviewee has no clear memory and does not remember if he committed the crime or not. Also he or she does not remember what exactly happened the time of the crime. This may be due to amnesia or alcohol induced memory problems. The second way occurs when the interviewee is aware that he or she did not commit the crime and when the interviewer makes cases, manipulates the interviewee with suggestions. The suspect mistrusts his or her self and start thinking if he or she committed the crime. Ofshe (1989), stated that three common personality characteristics are situated on people who give this type of false confessions. They trust in people of authority, lack of self confidence and heightened suggestibility. Gudjonsson (1997) also argued, the false belief and false memories in cases of coerced- internalised false confession are most commonly developed as a result of manipulative interviewing techniques. Gudjonsson and Clark (1986) also introduced the theory of suggestibility which is a theoretical model of interrogative suggestibility and arises from a social cognitive viewpoint. It is argued, that most people would be susceptible to suggestions if the necessary conditions of uncertainty, interpersonal trust and heightened expectations are present. Implicit in such a model is the assumption that interrogative suggestibility is a distinct type of suggestibility. Gudjonsson also points out that; suggestibility is, to a certain extent, influenced by situational factors and experience. IS is defined as the extent to which, within a closed social interaction, people come to accept messages communicated during formal questioning, as a result of which their su bsequent behavioural response is affected (Gudjonsson and Clark, 1986). The IS is comprise two separate susceptibilities: to yield to leading questions, where yielding regards to the reliability of testimony and closely reflects memory processes; and to shift the primary answer in response to negative feedback, where shifting is related to coping process which are mainly affected by personality traits and experience (convicted in past, Gudjonsson, 1992). The literature on miscarriages of justice highlights the role of coercion in obtaining confessions and the problem with convictions based only or mainly on confessions. Using unfair means and tactics to secure a conviction is sometimes known as noble cause corruption. That is to say, so strong is the desire to achieve a correct conviction that any means to that end are justified. The adversarial process combined with the pressure for a quick result creates noble cause corruption. Resounding examples are Guildford Four and Birmingham Six, which have been described in newspapers as the worst miscarriages of justice in England in the last century. The Guildford four took palce on 5 October 1974, in which members of the Irish Republican Army planted bombs in two public houses in Guildford, Surrey: the Horse Groom and the Seven Stars. The attacks left five people killed and over 100 injured. Kennedy (1989) describes how Conlon, came to sign his confession and what previously happened. Pol ice officers were violent and immoral. As Conlon stated I was crying and frightened. Simmons said if I didnt make a statement, he would ring Belfast first thing in the morning and I would never see my mother or sister again. The last of my resistance shattered when he said this. I was crying and shaking uncontrollably. I said my family hadnt done anything. I fell apart. Simmons said what happened to my family was up to me. I said I would make a statement like they wanted, but it wouldnt be true as I really didnt do it (Kennedy, 1989). The four men spent 15 years in prison before the case was overturned in 1989 after a new police investigation had found serious flaws in the way Surrey police noted the confessions of the four: that the notes taken were not written up immediately and officers may have colluded in the wording of the statements (Gudjonsson, 2003). Another event happened as it was called The Birmingham Six, after one month when Guildford four took place, namely on 21 Nove mber 1974. Two public houses In Birmingham were bombed by the IRA in which 21 people were killed and more than 160 were injured. Six men were convicted for this crime and they were released after 16 years (in 1991) Scientists admitted in court that forensic tests which were originally said to confirm two of the six had been handling explosives could have produced the same results from handling cigarettes (Gudjonsson,2003). In Guildford four, the confessions that had been central of their conviction in 1975 were shown to be unreliable and in, sometimes fabricated. In the second case, Birmingham Six, the confession was discredited. Thomas Heron, who was on trial for the murder of a young girl, was acquitted when the interviews, which led to his confession, were dismissed by the trial judge as oppressive. In this case interviews were recorded in compare of Guildford Four and Birmingham Six in which the interviews were not recorded. The Police Studies Institute Report found (1983) that the most widespread opinion about police interviewing and the most popular police misconduct is that police officers threatening and the use of unfair pressure. Around fifty percent of the respondents believed that police use threats and pressure at least sometimes but the more important is twenty five percent thought that it often happens and this was a usual behaviour of police officers. A de facto percentage of Londoners believed that other kinds of misconduct happened at least once in a while. Around ten percent of Londoners thought police officers fabricate evidence and use inexcusable violence on people were detained at police stations. The findings of this research showed the public perception which was negative and critical against police. . The majority of Londoners had serious doubt about police conduct. People did not trust police interviewing, it showed that there was a complete lack of confidence and reliability (Smit h 1983: 325). One third of young white people thought the police often used threats or unreasonable pressure during custodial questioning while 62 per cent of young people of West Indian descent believed that they did so. Therefore, people were critical of police where they had a high degree of conduct with the police or they were subject to a high level of victimisation (Jones et al, 1986). The successful appeals of Guildford Four and Birmingham Six and the acquittal of Heron received widespread publicity and brought heavy criticism of the police and affected public opinion. A general public survey found that 73 per cent of the participants believed that the police broke the rules to obtain convictions (Williamson, 1991). By 1993 police interviews were described as a grave concern (Shepherd 1993). These surveys provide a rich picture of the nature and quality of the relationship between the citizen and the police in the past (Williamson, 2005). By the 1970s and 1980s in England and Wales it was clear that the legitimacy of the criminal justice system was at stake. Something had to be done. This became the focus of policy making. Such were the concerns that the Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure (1981) was set up, in turn leading to the passing in 1984 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) a key piece of legislation to monitor, amongst other things, the integrity of evidence production (Maguire, 2003) Through PACE (enacted 1986), police interviews with suspects were to be tape-recorded. This, it was hoped, meant the old regime of police investigations would be brought to an end and police interviews should be open to scrutiny (Lea, 2004). PACE suggested that investigation should separate from prosecution and should have an independent investigation service. Scientists with educational background should work in these laboratories and help the police to investigations and police officers had to be trained. All pol ice manuals are based on experience rather than objective and scientific data. Experience is invaluable to police work and its usefulness is illustrated by the effectiveness of the techniques recommended. However, relying solely upon experience in determining procedure may create serious pitfalls and fail to bring to light important facts about human behaviour, such as the susceptibility of some suspects to give erroneous information when placed under interviewing pressure. What is needed is more research into the effectiveness and pitfalls of different interviewing techniques. Also they argued that forensic laboratories should be independent from police. Home Office Circular 22/1992 provides the following seven principles of investigative interviewing: 1. The role of investigative interviewing is to obtain accurate and reliable information from suspects, witnesses or victims in order to discover the truth about matters under police investigation. 2. Investigative interviewing should be approached with an open mind. Information obtained from the person who is being interviewed should always be tested against what the interviewing officer already knows or what can reasonably be established. 3. When questioning anyone a police officer must act fairly in the circumstances of each individual case. 4. The police interviewer is not bound to accept the first answer given. Questioning is not unfair merely because it is persistent. 5. Even when the right to silence is exercised by a suspect the police still have a right to put questions. 6. When conducting an interview, police officers are free to ask questions in order to establish the truth; except for interviews with child victims of sexual or violent abuse which are to be used in criminal proceedings, they are not constrained by the rules applied to lawyers in court. 7. Vulnerable people, whether victims, witnesses or suspects, must be treated with particular consideration at all times. Questioning also may be considered oppressive if the officer asks: multiple questions (i.e. several questions rolled into one); ambiguous questions (i.e. where the potential answers have more than one meaning); irrelevant questions (i.e. questions which have no logical connection with the police enquiry); questions concerning other offences; hypothetical questions; questions based on dubious or non-existent evidence; questions concerning a co-suspect. (Home Office Circular 22/1992) The effectiveness of Pace is debatable, on the one hand McConville and colleagues suggested in 1991 that little of police interviews had changed especially in relation to interrogative suggestibility. Namely, the tape recording of interviews had not changed the power relations in the whole interview process, principally the fact that Interrogation takes place in an environment which increases the vulnerability of the suspect and maximises the authority and control of the police (1991, p78). On the other hand, Ede and Shepherd (2000, p109) stated that tape recording of PACE interviews led to a sharp decline in forceful interviewing and revealed the widespread ineptitude of police officers in the interviewing role In the same concept Milne and Bull (2003) report experience officers views. Since the 1986 introduction of PACE regarding audio-taping interviews with suspects, police interviews have become better planned, more structured, and the use of trickery and deceit has all but vanis hed (p121) . PACE appears to have markedly reduced the number of manipulative and persuasive techniques that police officers use when interrogating suspects, except perhaps in the most serious cases (Milne and Bull, 1999). Interestingly, there appears to have been no overall effects on the confession rate of suspects. The reason that police interviewing was still poor (Baldwin, 1992) was because of police role in the investigation of offences was still one of persuading suspects to confess rather than engaging in a process of inquiry, which was a search for the truth. The persistence on confession evidence also meant that witness and victims were often ignored, not seen as an important part of the investigation process, consequently were not interviewed methodically and so were not capable to present all the information they were competent of giving as evidence (Adler and Grey, 2010). Obviously, there was a need for a change of investigative interviewing to meet the ideals of the new legislation and to prevent challenges to the evidence achieved through questioning. This constituted in the establishment of a national committee on investigative interviewing that involved police officers, lawyers and psychologists. That result was the beginning of the PEACE interviewing model (Milne et al, 2007).