Evaluating a Health Promotion Website Essay

Health Information Technology (HIT) has been introduced into the National Health Service (NHS) in order to improve the quality, efficiency, safety and cost effectiveness of the delivery of health care. The application of computerized information technology in health care settings has so far played a vital role in improving the accessibility of information and has replaced more labour intensive and unproductive methods (Shekelle and Goldzweig, 2009). The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC, 2009) maintain that that nurses’ skills, knowledge and practice must be guided by the best available evidence. Often this evidence is found on the internet however many sources of information can be inaccurate so a good standard of critical evaluation is required (Kim, Eng, Deering et al 1998). To evaluate the quality and reliability of a chosen website the use of a framework can be helpful such as Roberts (2012) 5 C’s website tool. This framework evaluates five areas: credibility, currency, content, construction and clarity. The website The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RC Psych, 2012 a) was chosen to be evaluated because as a mental health nursing student this will develop an awareness of how information technology is implemented and applied to practice in health care. Additionally, by using Roberts (2012) 5 C’s framework to critically evaluate this website, knowledge and skills of the quality and reliability of HIT will be acquired. Main Body RC Psych is the professional and educational organisation for psychiatrist in the UK as well as being a registered charity (RC Psych, 2012 b). Their website is aimed at improving the lives of individuals affected by mental illness through educating the public. They claim to be at the head of developing and promoting best practice in mental health services through their education, training and research projects. Additionally they are involved in the publishing of the following world-class journals; British Journal of Psychiatry, The Psychiatrist, Advances in Psychiatric Treatment and International Psychiatry (RC Psych, 2012 c). Credibility Having gained a royal charter this shows us that the organisation has been recognised by the Queen and seconded by the government to call itself a registered organisation of the highest regard. As stated by the Privy Council Office (2012) organisations granted a Royal Charter must have a solid record of achievement. 75% of its members should be qualified to at least first degree level and the work completed by the organisation must be in the interest of the public. Professor Peter Tyrer is named as the Editor, of the website, and is said to be responsible for the editorial and production aspects of its publications in addition to the production of their online continuing professional development (CPD) e-learning resources and its sales and marketing (RC Psych, 2012 d). After researching Peter Tyrer it is evident that he is highly qualified within the field of mental health and is a professor of community psychiatry for the Department of Medicine, within the Imperial College London (Imperial College London, 2012). The website offers a vast amount of information around mental health including conditions, diagnoses, treatments and types of therapies. The advice provided is produced in the form of online leaflets for the use of the public as well as professionals. Within the website there is no evidence to show that the same specific authors are used regularly for their published articles however, at the end of each article the producer, editor and sometimes an author are named in addition to any expert that has been involved in the making of it. All these leaflets are produced by the RC Psych Public Education Editorial Board that is responsible for producing 300 educational leaflets. These leaflets have been accredited by the NHS Information Standard and subsequently gained numerous awards (Byrne, 2011). They have achieved Plain English and BMA patient information awards and have received consistently positive feedback for the web versions. The editor of these leaflets is Dr Phillip Timms who is currently employed as a consultant Psychiatrist for the South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust as well as a senior lecturer in psychiatry at King’s College, London (BMJ Masterclasses, 2012). This site’s web address shows that it is delivered by a UK based academic body as it has an ac.uk URL. This confirms their credibility and reassures the reader that they are qualified experts able to give advice in this field (Roberts, 2010). Combining all this it is apparent that the producers of the website have appropriate qualifications and expertise to offer advice in regards to mental health and supports the credibility of the organisation and the website. Some of these points also link into the other five C’s for example, the awards that the leaflets have received show that the content and clarity of their work has been assessed and found to be of an acceptable standard. Currency When using a website for personal development reasons or to recommend to a patient the information being accessed should be the most current evidence available that has been proven in practice. In regards to the advice provided on the website RC Psych (2012 e) states that they endeavour to update it every two to three years. This is reflected in the articles by showing the date the information was last updated and the date it will be reviewed in the future. Additionally RC Psych (2012 d) state that their information derives from the best evidence available at the time of writing and is updated regularly to reflect any changes in knowledge. Another way to determine the currency of information is to consider the references used to back it up (Roberts, 2010). If the sources are dated then what you are reading may not come from the most current research so there may be more up to date evidence elsewhere. The dates of the references used throughout the website are quite varied however, they do contain many recently published articles and up to date clinical guidelines so this suggests that they are committed to producing up to date information and evidence. This is seen in a leaflet on depression where RC Psyche (2012 f) cites a recently updated guideline by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE, 2009) which looks at the treatment and management of depression in adults. The currency and credibility of the website can also be reflected in its content and therefore this should also be assessed during the evaluation process. Content As well as being credible and current the content must be assessed for its objectivity, accuracy and completeness (Roberts, 2010). The content of a website can be judged by assessing what the website aims to achieve. This could be selling a product, persuading the audience to believe in something or to provide the reader with unbiased and up to date information on a specific topic (Roberts, 2010). RC Psych (2012 a) profess that they aim to improve the lives of individuals with a mental health illness. They aim to do this by educating people through making information and advice available on their website. This would indicate that it falls under the category of providing unbiased and up to date information to the public. The articles on the website are written in the third person so prevents the author from expressing personal opinion. Furthermore the leaflets produced provide links to various other sources of information on the topic being discussed. This encourages further reading which provides a complete and balanced view preventing bias and, where treatment is recommended, allows the reader to make an informed choice (Roberts, 2010). The references used within the website are taken from well known and respected sources that provide current and acknowledged recommendations such as NICE, the Department of Health (DOH) and various field related journals. This indicates that the website seeks to provide and maintain up to date, accurate and unbiased information that concurs with information available in books and journals on the same subjects. Construction The construction of a website, for example, the layout, colours, fonts, sizes and ease of access can determine whether or not a reader believes the website is of good quality or not (Roberts, 2010). A study by Lindgaard, Fernandes and Dudek et al. (2006) found that the first 50 milliseconds that the reader is exposed to a website can cause the reader to form an opinion as to whether a website is worth using or not. On first impression, the website in question looks colourful and professional. The eye is drawn to the bolder writing that states the websites purpose and there are minimal graphics to distract the reader from this. There is a lot of information on the home page of the website and could be considered cluttered, however it is divided into clear sections and appears well organised, giving clear subheadings which guide the reader to their areas of interest easily. The main colour used for the website is grey and presents a professional look. It is subtle but effective in breaking up different sections of the website without being obtrusive. The font size is varied throughout but mainly of a larger size making the website easy to read. There is no option for the reader to change the font sizing or colour which could cause some difficulty as it is not possible to suit everyone with one font size, style and colour (Roberts, 2010). As this is a registered charitable organisation it would be unfair to expect them not to promote money making offers. There are two links to buy books that are published by the royal college of psychiatrists and an option to support them in future development projects. They have presented these links as the last things you would come across on the website. Because of where they are situated it comes across to the reader that they are more interested in providing free and accessible information to educate the pubic over making money. Clarity Clarity is another important area to consider when evaluating a website. Due to our continually growing multi-cultural society it is important that websites cater for all groups in society and not just the English readers. One part of the website caters for professionals working in psychiatry and another to the public wanting to learn more about mental illness. Both sections are presented and written in a way that is understandable to the general public. In the public section they offer their advice in 21 different languages in addition to visual aids using BSL sign language as well as audio pod casts and printable versions. This shows that they have made an effort to cater for diverse cultures and needs. Unfortunately it appears that they have not taken into account the needs of people with dyslexia. Approximately two million people in the UK population are affected by dyslexia of which around 35 to 40 percent experience visual disturbances when reading (Dyslexia Action, 2012). The British Dyslexia Association, (2012) states that the reading ability of an individual with dyslexia can be negatively affected by bright white backgrounds and the use of too much text. By changing the background to an off white colour and spreading out the information over larger areas this would cater for yet another group in society. Conclusion Having the ability to access health information via the internet has given nurses the capacity to constantly improve their knowledge base and skills knowing that they are delivering the best possible care derived from the best available evidence. The RC Psych website not only offers nurses a place to go and build on their knowledge and skills but it also provides them with a safe, reliable and easily accessible knowledge base that they can confidently refer their patients to. The evaluation of this website has shown that the website contains quality, reliable evidence and could be recommended to anyone interested in the field of mental illness. In addition to this the use of the five C’s evaluation tool has provided a great foundation to the development of evaluating skills. It has given an opportunity to discover that the evidence being accessed is suitable for developing personal practice and to help educate patients and is accepted within the NMC code of conduct (Roberts, 2 010).

Writing Narrative

IMPLEMENTING PICTURE SERIES TO IMPROVE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN WRITING NARRATIVE TEXTS AT MABI PROGRAM OF MAN 3 MALANG A Thesis by Fifin Naili Rizkiyah (Nim 20622140128) State University of Malang, Faculty of Letters, English Department, July 2010 Nowadays, English is becoming more and more important. English is a global language which many people all over the world speak English as first or second languages. Many countries include English as the subject taught in educational institution. English is a key to open the door of science, technology, economics and culture.In Indonesia, our government has made a policy on the school curriculum that English is taught as a compulsory subject. As stated in Pusat Pembinaan & Pengembangan Bahasa in 1984 (in Marhum, 2009:3), on December 12, 1967, the Minister of Education issued Decree No 096/1967, stipulating English as the first foreign language to be taught in Indonesian schools. Based on KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pen didikan= School Based Curriculum), the instructional objective of English is that the mastery of four language skills; they are listening, reading, speaking, and writing.Language skills are classified into receptive and productive skills. Receptive skill includes listening and reading while productive skill includes speaking and writing. Productive skills are obviously more difficult than the receptive. Widiati and Cahyono (2006:139) state that writing is the most complex skill compared to the other three skills. Some students often complained about how difficult it is to write in a foreign language, even Blanchard and Root (2003:1) state that writing can be difficult even in your language.In a new language, writing can be even more difficult. Students often got stuck in expressing their ideas into written texts. They also had problems with the language use. Those problems are faced by students of 10th MABI program MAN 3 Malang which is the subject in this study. To solve the studen ts’ problem in writing, the researcher decided to conduct a classroom action research applying picture series as a strategy to improve the students’ ability in writing narrative texts.The study is to find out how picture series strategy is implemented in improving 10th grade students’ ability in writing narrative text. The writing activities were to giving a model of how to write a paragraph of narratives including teaching students generic structures of narrative and training students to write a paragraph of narrative by using picture series. As the warm-up activity, the researcher did brainstorming in order to raise the students’ readiness and eagerness to write. Then the researcher comes to training stage, which is the process of writing.And the students’ final products are assessed based on the scoring rubrics made. The procedures of implementing picture series in teaching writing are as follows: 1. Brainstorming (asking some questions related to the topic to be discussed to elicit the students’ ideas) 2. Discussing flow-chart text containing communicative purpose, rhetorical structure, and grammatical pattern of the text 3. Distributing the pictures series 4. Prewriting (listing topics, identifying objects and action verbs in the pictures) 5.Outlining (making outline; making sentences representing every picture in the picture series) 6. Drafting 7. Polishing (revising and editing) The research design was a collaborative action research which consisted of two cycles, in where cycle 1 consisted of two meetings and cycle 2 consisted of four meetings. A cycle consisted of four steps namely: planning the action, acting on the plan, observing the action and reflecting on the observation. The subject of the study was the 21 students of X MABI MAN 3 Malang in the academic year of 2009/2010.The instruments used to collect data were observation checklist, field notes, questionnaires, scoring rubrics and the students’ writings. The data from the observation, scoring rubrics and questionnaires were analyzed and the results are presented in the form of tables and description, while the data gained from the field notes and the students’ writings were analyzed and reported descriptively. The result of the study showed that the picture series effectively improved the students’ ability in writing narrative texts.All students had reached the minimum score of 3 in all aspects; organization, diction, and language use. Moreover, the majority of the students gave positive responses towards the implementation of picture series, in the case that 70% of the students showed excitement. Furthermore, they found that picture series is interesting, easy to understand, moreover, it helped them to organize paragraphs and develop ideas in writing narrative texts. Here are the mean scores of the students’ writings in each category. Cycle 2 collaborative Cycle 2 individual Cycle 1 Preliminary study In conclusion, picture series can be implemented to improve the students’ ability in writing narrative text at MABI program of MAN 3 Malang. Picture series was very helpful to develop the students’ ideas and creativity. The students enjoyed the writing activity implementing picture series because it was interesting, fun, and not boring. It is suggested that the teacher use the picture series in teaching writing since it can solve students’ problems in writing. It is also suggested that other researchers conduct other researches that apply picture series in other skills and genres.

Team Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Team - Essay Example Moreover, acting more efficiently he is already proposing replacements. This is a very negative way of handling matters. Meanwhile, he is also talking to the other members quite persuasively and trying to make his point. As we explored earlier the entire idea itself is lurking within doubtful alleys, additional negative elements and feedbacks like John's will make it very hard for Don to take up the Change idea further and that too successfully. With reference to the scenario at Gene One, the review of the following theories and literature will help us draw a mark on the best suited style of leadership that would help Gene One accomplish success in the future. The leadership style, presented within Fiedler contingency model has implied that the efficient groups relying on a suitable match amid a leader's approach of intermingling with the subsidiaries in addition to the level to which the state of affairs provides management and authority to the leader. It was the proposition of Fiedler that had created the notion of the slightly favored associate questionnaire as a device to recognize the leadership style. Within Fiedler's assumption, he was able to extrapolate the fact that all the leadership styles are mostly enduring.

Scholarly Paper - Healthcare Informatics Theories & Policies Essay

Scholarly Paper - Healthcare Informatics Theories & Policies - Essay Example ification (CCC), Perioperative Nursing Data Set (PNDS), the Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS), The Nursing Interventions Classifications (NIC), International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP), the Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC). The American Nurses Association has approved thirteen, but only ten are considered particular to nursing care. NANDA-I will be the main considered terminology in this essay. NANDA-I maintains an agreed set of diagnoses, which are then used to select appropriate nursing interventions and develop desirable patient outcomes. Its taxonomy is organized into 13 domains of nursing practice, 46 classes, and 216 diagnoses. NANDA-I has been found to be used extensively both in the United States and globally (About NANDA†, n.d.). NANDA opened up the way of diagnostic taxonomy in nursing. During the first National Conference on Classification of Nursing Diagnoses, 1973, a task force was formed. It later evolved into an incorporated Association in 1982 to help nurses who were in the United States and Canada. The work on classification was begun by Kristie Gebbie and Mary Ann Lavin, faculty at St. Louis University, by calling a classification conference. They influenced the current decisions of the identification-classification process through their belief that nurses should be involved in the development process. A diagnosis is a clinical decision about an individual’s response to real or possible health problems. It is the foundation for choosing the appropriate nursing intervention to get an outcome for, which the nurse is accountable. Gordon’s observation was of diagnosis being a model that puts a meaning on a set of observations therefore triggering understanding and thinking about the set. T his phenomenon forms the basis of every diagnostic concept of today (Speksnijder et al., 2011). Subsequent to specifying the goals of a proposed system, the identification process begins. The subject phenomena are identified. NANDA

Discussing Censorship and the First Amendment Essay

Discussing Censorship and the First Amendment - Essay Example It shows the US president how he played with the American people's sentiments after the terrorist attack in New York and Washington by fortifying his own agenda of oil manipulation. The movie depicts what manipulative tactics he did to win the Florida primaries the last deciding factor for president ship during 2001 elections. His family's relationship with various Arabic tycoons from around the world especially the Saudi royal family, his family stake on oil cartel market, relations to US biggest enemy's family the eminent Saudi fugitive billionaire etc. The first amendment clearly states the freedom for all to do or to say whatever he/ she may wish for. While as in the land of the free as this film was due for release Disney decided not to distribute "Fahrenheit 911". Miramax studios had been told by parent company Disney that it had decided to ban distribution of the film. The reason was according to Disney executive it was that it was not in the interest of any major corporation to be dragged into a highly charged partisan political battle. Moore said that he hoped that he would have been able to put his work out to the public without having to experience the profound censorship obstacles he has seen often seem to encounter," Moore wrote in the statement on his site. "Some people may be afraid of this movie because of what it will show," Moore wrote. "But there's nothing they can do about it now because it's done, it's awesome, and if I have anything to say about it, you'll see it this summer because, after all, it is a free country." Miramax had bought the film last May when Mel Gibson's Icon Pictures backed out, triggering complaints by conservatives to Disney. Overseas distribution rights have already had been sold. "Fahrenheit 911" was one of the movies at the Cannes film festival. Now people seem to ask what the sheer motivation to prevent its release was. The film portrayed deep resentments which prevailed in US society about the motives at which the Bush administration went to war over a lousy issue of weapons of mass destruction which turned out to be false as no weapons were found while young Americans continue to die everyday leading the toll to a massive 2200 soldiers. It shows interviews of GIs and of families of the fallen who live in utter miseries and now have to live with the fact that their loved one has died for a fallen cause. It shows the deep mistrust in joining the

Define Accounting and Bookkeeping and compare and contrast the role of Essay

Define Accounting and Bookkeeping and compare and contrast the role of Professional Accountants and Bookkeepers - Essay Example The book also described the use of journals and ledgers. Accountancy contained two parts bookkeeping and accounting. Both became useful to the merchants and the professional from time to time. It plays an important function in recording the financial transaction of an organization. It provides information to a whole range of users. The essay elaborates basics of accountancy and the use of accountancy in different areas of management by the accountants and the bookkeepers (Gazely and Lambert, 2006) Accounting and Bookkeeping Accountancy does the task of maintaining records and it also involves in preparation of financial reports for a particular business. It also involves in auditing those reports. It is concerned with the knowledge, practices and the principles of accounting for meeting the general needs of a running business. According to Kohler â€Å"Accountancy refers to the entire body of the theory and practices of accounting† (A. Goyal and M. Goyal, 2009). The term accou ntancy can be divided into two parts: Accounting and Bookkeeping. Accounting Accounting basically deals with the provision or measurement of assurance of the financial information that are used by a number of users such as the lenders, investors, managers and the decision makers of a particular organization (Fitzpatrick, 2010). According to American Accounting Association it is â€Å"a process of identifying, measuring and communicating information to permit judgment and decisions by the users† (Khan and Jain, 2007). It also measures the different economic activities which are responsible for affecting both the inflow and outflow of the resources of the economy. It serves as a language to the business as it communicates its results to the business (Hugh and Hobbs, 2005). There are certain characteristics of accounting which are as follows: Accounting concerns of only the financial transactions and are expressed in terms of money. The information which cannot be expressed in t erm of money cannot be included in the books of accounts. After the identification of the financial information these are recorded in the books of accounts. Journal is known as the primary book of accounts in which all the information is recorded at first. When information are vast then the book of accounts is sub-divided into a number of various books such as Sales book, Purchase Book, Sales Return Books, Cash Book and many more (Stittle and Wearing, 2008) After recording of the financial data, they are classified into different groups of data which are of same nature. The book in which these are recorded are known as the Ledger. After classifying the data, they are summarized and presented in a manner that is understood by a layman also. This process is concerned with the preparation of Profit and loss account, trial balance and balance sheet. The information thus got from the summarization of the data is to be analysed to get a result. Ratio analysis is a very common tool for ana lysis and thus it helps both the management and the external users to take their decisions. The result thus communicates some information to the interested party and they can take an appropriate decision (Warren, 2009). There are different types of accounting which are as follows: Financial accounting concentrates on only those transactions that have already occurred in the past. The main aim of this type of accounting is to

LUCID DREAMING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

LUCID DREAMING - Essay Example Our focus will be on how these lucid dreams occur along with the research analysis of Lewis; Lewis has discovered that while our body rests the brain starts to revise the tasks performed during the day, the second part of the discovery shows how it focuses more on the traumatic events and modifies them and finally she reveals how the mind forces a connection between distant concepts (Lewis, 2013). We would merge the symptoms of occurrence of lucid dreams with the Lewis discoveries in our examples below; and would conclude how these commercial and public messages emerge known dreams. Women of today age are easily distracted by the beauty product advertisements and often have lucid dreams; I would discuss about L’oreal total repair 5 shampoo ad; the ad states that the shampoo can repair five issues and would give the hair restored fiber, stronger grip, vitality, silky and shiny touch. Women especially young girls with hair problems start to consciously dream about such hairs as shown during the ads; they would take bad hairs as a weak area would modify it with thinking of them as healthy hair and would relate the two concepts. They would start to dream that they have long and shining hairs that could be easily taken out of a pony and would attract so many people around them. This is how the ad plays with that section of the body that the mind wants to change or has been changing constantly (Shen, 2010). Bharia Town is considered as one of the pioneers in development and construction work; it has made its advertisements in a manner that would make the buyer believe that they are just a drive away from their dream town and dream place; in the article under discussion about Sector D of Lahore; it is shown that the plots are ready to for possessions; Bharia would provide them with easy installment plans and the sector is develop with all the facilities such as commercial area and entertainment areas

Advertising and Marketing Communications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Advertising and Marketing Communications - Essay Example It needs to be very targeted, precise and significant for them in order for them to take notice and understand that the particular brand connects with them in the best and most easiest of manners possible and hence they should be the ones to buy it for themselves and for this reason satisfy their need or even please themselves more than they had already expected. It is a sure tough job for the people who have to extract the perfect message which needs to be sharpened again and again before it actually gets down to the right kind of people who will make the actual purchase and therefore the product will be sold in the end. However, on the flip side of the coin, this requires selling the product or the brand in the mind of the consumer before he actually decides to go and buy the very same. The earth is considered as one of the most beautiful planets in the whole wide universe that we live in as our mother earth is the only planet in the entire universe that has enough water in order to provide support to life. Distressing to know is the fact that our planet is on the receiving end courtesy a number of problems that need to be solved before the world become nothing less than a complete smoke house. Hence quite rightly so the principal problem that we are facing in the world today is that of pollution, no matter in whichever form it exists. Pollution is a factor that is threatening our world in the present times. One such example to quote here is that of nitrogen. Considering the same, human beings are adding around 100 to 150 million tons over the 90 to 150 tons that are already in production with relation to the nitrogen cycle. So this excess in nitrogen has caused coastal waters as well as estuaries to grow toxic form of algae as well as killed the fish and not to fo rget the trapping of the solar heat in the air as a result, as well. This paper has focused on an advertisement which is on

MCA selection in church Essay Example for Free

MCA selection in church Essay Once upon a time there was a boy his name was Sonish he was a wonderful bowler and then he heard from his friends that there was a MCA selection in church gate he thought that if he is a good bowler he can attend the selection he ran and told his mom that there mca selection his mom told okay but where did you saw that Sonish told I heard from my friends mom told okay then Sonish told yes he ran and stand on the line and but he was worried because there alder people than him but still he told himself to not give up then he went inside then his turn came and he bowled it was a yorker but the batsman easily defensed it but still he had confidence again the same bowl and he was bowled the judges were impressed with him the next two bowls were short length then the next two bowls were full length. Then the sir told you bowled well met Bhuvneshwar Kumar from tomorrow he will be your coach Sonish told ok sir but I am selected if I told you come tomorrow means you are selected. The next day I came kumar sir told that first run and then we will do net practice ok I was the first won to finish and then I went to sir and told I finished then sir told quick we have to do net practice I bowled the six bowls very well after 10 days of practice sir told Sonish tomorrow we have to go to Kandivali you have been selected for a tournament fast Sonish was very happy the next day he went with his marvelous bowling his team went to the final and the final was interesting we were bowling first Sonish took three wickets and the target was 35 in 6overs the score was 24-6 I came and hit two sixes and finished the game and remembered in Maharashtra cricket association then after a year Sonish again came back and everyone were saluting him because he won many prizes in three tri-series; Ranji Trophy and first class cricket. Then he came to kumar sir and told sir I did my job and came now what is left for me to do sir told now you have to get the under-19 world cup Sonish told ok sir I will try my best after 10 days the first u-19 match was there it was India vs. Australia India won the toss and choose to bowl first then Sonish was from the stump the first over went excellent for the Indian team then following the first o over till the 50th over the target for the Indians was 234 in 50 overs it was easy task if we play the game seriously we won the game very easily like this only we won the coming 8 games then India came in the semi- finals are match was vs. south Africa they were an easy team if we play very serious cricket well they were batting first they set a target of 280 we had to get a good start and then I just didn’t see but suddenly are score came to 275 then a big six and we won it was a hard score but we still got it in 45.5 overs this was the best match ever for India [final lost by the Indians] then I was the presentation ceremony in that I got the best bowler award through the tournament. The best sport cricket the best thing in the world

The Wannsee Conference Essay Example for Free

The Wannsee Conference Essay How valid is this assessment of the Holocaust? The true origins of the Holocaust have been under academic debate and intense scrutiny among historians for a considerable amount of time. Dividing them into two major perspectives; Functionalists and Intentionalist.[1] The pair bring into view a key question and queries the shroud surrounding the Shoah. It questions what point in time the mass genocide of 6.6 million Jews was decided upon. Many would put forward the Holocaust was already assigned a position in the time-line using Hitlers own â€Å"Mein Kampf† as justification. Others would suggest the Holocaust was result of numerous political economic and social factors, that brought about the rise of both The Nazi Party and Thrid Reich. There is substantial evidence to support both sides of the debate. Functionalist historians such as Browning and Mommsen agree that the power struggle between Hitlers subordinates and war played a much greater role in deciding the demise of the Jewish people compared with Hitler himself while Intentionalists like Fleming and Dawidowicz say Hitler was following a gradualist policy. Taking these perspectives into account while researching my own sources it seems implausible the Wannsee Conference headed by Reinhard Heydrich on 20th January 1942, conceived the Holocaust and it was most definitely not fully responsible for the Shoah, however it did play its part, comprised of fifteen highly educated leading Nazi officials, civil servants and SS members, brought together under a grand villa in Berlin on shores of Lake Wannsee to discuss a programme of mass murder. Anti-Semitism was by no means birthed from Nazi imagination, although it was the Nazi party who took advantage of this hidden resentment and unleashed it with mass exaggeration. Undoubtedly without the Nazi party it would not have manifested itself in such the way it did. Rhodes perspective is from the very early stages of the Nazi party they had clear enemy. Hitler had convinced himself that Bolshevism was birthed from Jewish ideology and like a disease, would slowly infect its way around the globe until every country was a Bolshevic state and his National Socialist state was the last line of defence against Bolshevism. Having also convinced himself that the Jews who were a very easy target, were responsible for Germanys humiliating defeat of the First World War and blamed them for accepting the crippling terms of the Treaty of Versailles.[2] Historian Yehuda Bauer adds â€Å"No genocide to date had been completely on myths, on hallucinations, on abstract, non-pragmatic ideology†[3] Once he had internalised these â€Å"myths† and â€Å"hallucinations† he then required the German people to join in his beliefs; which wouldnt require much prompting. [4] The phase â€Å"two opposing political systems† which Yehuda Bauer also refers to as â€Å"parallel quests† means that National Socialism and Bolshevism or the Nazi Party and the Jews were on a collision course which could only endure one outcome, essentially one destroying the other in terms of how the Nazis perceived it to be. Seeing as the Jews were seen as an inferior race to the Aryans (Nazis) through the ideologies of eugenics and Charles Darwins â€Å"Survival of the fittest† theory, the Nazis believed they had the right to destroy the Jews. The term â€Å"quest† and â€Å"conspiracy† invokes the feelings that eventually they would reach the end and they would be willing to travel a great length to reach that end, and the Jews conspiracy would be the main obstacle upon the quest, therefore in the Nazis eyes eradication of that obstacle would bring glory upon the German Nation. It was this ideological racial war[5] so to speak between the two political systems that was the most powerful driving factor of the Holocaust and the Nazi war machine. Hitler then had to pass his ideological war onto the people, of course he knew the outcome, but would have to encourage step by step resentment and programme by rational means in order to reach this outcome. By using the intentionalist theme, this allows us to see the invasion of the Soviet Union as a way of disguising the horrors of the Einsatzgruppen and justify the killings of Jews as acts of war. The invasion of the Soviet Union was the first step in Hitlers racial war against non-Aryans and the first step towards the elimination of Bolshevism. This source is neither for or against the functionalist or intentionalist approach, however if we continue with the idea that the Holocaust and mass genocide of all inferior races, Jews in particular had already been decided upon long before the meeting at the Wannsee conference, Wannsee being in January 1942 and this taking place in September 1941[6] shows that the method of killing compared to that of 1942/1943 was extremely different, what remains completely the same between the two dates is the logistical removal of unwanted races of people through murder proves that it was well entrenched in Operation Barbarossas blueprints. As Himmler ordered his men to act harshly against â€Å"a racially and humanly inferior population† To have such an unwavering tenacious view toward a race of people and view them as ideologically under them just highlights how much the Nazi ideology of race and purity was bombarded into the people of Germany, and also means that genocide had been amo ngst the Nazi Partys designs for a long time. With these answers comes another question, what was the purpose of the Wannsee Conference. To view the source from a functionalists perspective, one could argue that with the newly acquired territory of Soviet Union due to occupation, the Nazi Party now found themselves under the control of another 2.5 million Jews who all had to be accounted for, and that would mean the next problem the Nazis came under was what to do with such a high amount of people. The quickest and simplest answer was to liquidate them at the source, so while conquering the land; they disposed of its inhabitants in order to make way for the German population in later years. Even with the intentionalist and functionalist view, the invasion of the USSR of one of the major key steps in Hitlers racial war of extermination. Using this source we can see how far the Nazi partys anti-Semitism had come since it began in the 1920s. The ideology had come straight from the pages of Mein Kampf to being practised in the streets of Germany and in the theatres of war. It is approximated the Einsatzgruppen killed 1,500,000 people through Operation Barbarossa. It is this mass murder why many historians such as Richard Rhodes6 believe that the Wannsee Conference of January 1942 does not mark the starting point for the Holocaust, this evidence of the previous source linked with Richard Rhodes link of â€Å"Operation Barbarossa† with genocide directly opposes the statement that the Wannsee conference was entirely responsible for the Holocaust. There is something else that throws mystery over the Holocaust in itself, in terms of Hitlers leadership was that he hardly gave specific orders; to the contrary he would issue an overall outcome or goal to reach and then his subordinates concluded the best approach in order to reach this target. Sometimes appointing two or more people to complete the same or similar task in order to reach different methods of completing this chosen vision and normally picking the most radical of the two to go ahead with. This caused much confusion within the Nazi party and inner conflict between the main leadership of the Nazi party which often meant they were constantly in a power struggle with different departments, each despised the other, mostly competing for Hitlers attention and acknowledgement, each time becoming more ruthless and radical with their approach to meeting his agenda in order to obtain respect and acknowledgement by their Furher. Even though the killing of those known as undesirables had been well under way long before the Wannsee protocol. The conference could still arguably be noticed as the start of the Holocaust as it made the killing of innocents an official policy. Even though the Einsatzgruppen had taken a ruthless approach to the invasion of the Soviet Union it could still be added to brutalities of war, exempt from the Nazi partys official policy. Perhaps Wannsee can be seen as responsible for the beginning of the Holocaust. This source goes against the intentionalist ideology and suggests the Wannsee Conference was intended for a different purpose altogether, the Wannsee conference at the time was going through a rapid transition in terms of the Nazi Partys ever changing ideas and beliefs toward the shifting perspectives of the final solution to the Jewish question, at a time when the intention of the party of was to take on an enormous deportation programme leading to total extermination in work camps in occupied Soviet territory after the end of the war. The source suggests that the â€Å"change in situation† was that the Nazis were coming to the shocking realisation throughout the time period the Wannsee conference was postponed to consider the harsh realities that the Jews would be disposed of during the war, and in the territory of the General government. The speech on the 12th of December to declare war against the Jews This need for a â€Å"full-scale extermination programme† could be the need to adjust from the original design of having all non-Aryans annihilated through attrition and natural causes within the camps, to organising a complex or simplistic method of killing other than bullets[7] and to discuss how they were going to kill those within the general government without deportation to the occupied Soviet Union. I dont think the decision to murder the Jews was made at the Wannsee Conference, however I do believe that the Wannsee Conference was used as a way of trying to make a decision as to what to with those deemed as Jews and Slavs within occupied territory, opposed to the original plan of working them to death through starvation and disease, it was a way of speeding up the already draw-up designs and agreeing about what was happening. Viewed in such a way, the Wannsee Conference possibly making the official start to the Holocaust that the Jews endured, many contemporary historia ns consider it to be not the exact point in time where the decision to murder the Jews was made, which would place it in agreement with my point made previously. However, regardless of this, the event is certainly of some overall significance. This sources however brings fourth another important question about the extent to which the Nazis supported were supported in their murderous actions. Also at what point can we accurately say that a policy for mass-annihilation was drafted up and started – a valuable point to highlight is that the seeds for such an operation were possibly already were affirmed within the minds of the German people long before the Nazi party ever took power over Germany. The hatred was already there, the Nazis just acted upon this hatred in their rise to power and well after they had affirmed this power with the enabling act.[8] Tracing back to the original question at hand, perhaps you could place the argument that genocide can be traced back indefinitely with the savage rise of anti-Semitism throughout the 1930s gripping Germany in a tightened vice and gradually got more radically over the years. Anti-Semitism within Germany built up in stages; however it is doubtful that the stages were planned from the entrance of National Socialism. Although there is some sort of pragmatic footpath which leads up to the Holocaust. If we begin the starting point as anti-Semitic activities and attitudes then a number of clear events come into light, with each one more ruthless and radical than the first. It is as if the Nazi Party is testing the limits the German people are willing to go, each time making the next more adventurous than the first. The first to start was the boycott of Jewish businesss which is than strongly followed by the Nuremburg Laws,[9] these laws deprived the Jewish people, many of which were born in Germany of their citizenship and forbid marriages between Jews and Germans in an attempt to purify than Aryan blood. The third step through this line of events can be viewed as Kristallnacht,[10] next to this is the invasion of the Soviet Union and the horrific work of the Einstazgruppen which led to the Wannsee Conference taking place, this then cemented the attitudes and actions that had arisen through the previous steps, finally all culminating in the arrival of the Holocaust. Kristallnacht itself was the act of a coincidence, but it leads as an example as to how far Anti-Semitism within Germany and Austria had progressed in terms of hatred of a certain race and allows an insight into how the acts of one were accountable for all in terms of the Jews. This source is particularly interesting as we get to see just how far the German people had been indoctrinated into the Nazi propaganda, although there were some who were against Kristallnacht, they were many who took it as an act of war, and saw it as their right to rid their country of the Jewish conspiracy. What is most disturbing about this extract is that it shows the murderous attitudes of people of persuasion and how far the German people were willing to go after being under the Nazi propaganda machine of Dr. Joseph Goebells. Kristallnacht was the result of the German people holding all the Jews accountable for the acts of one and was a key stage in the 1938 pogroms which would then culminate in the Holocaust. It was the actions of well-educated people, mostly the middle class which truly enforced Kristallnacht, taking it to a whole new level, the Nazi party had the fire service on hand just in-case the synagogue fires spread to the neighbouring buildings. Hitler was apart of Kristallnacht, it was mostly Joseph Goebbels who enraged the resentment towards to the Jews to produce this outcome, however the main ideology behind Kristallnacht was to remove Jews from their homes in order to re-home German citizens within the city. This source is definitely a structuralist as Kristallnacht was pure coincidence that Grynszpan saw the need to take revenge, however the intentionalist approach could argue that this event would have happened eventually regardless of his actions, as anything else could have been used to enrage the German people into action after the amount of Nazi propaganda they had been indoctrinated into over the years. Although there were many other incidents of anti-Semitism, these events can be viewed as a straight line toward the Holocaust, even though it is easy to see them as progressive steps towards the Shoah it can be argued from a functionalist perspective. Arranging these particular events in order of least radical to the most suggests that there was a clear and defined plan from the very beginning, however many were just by chance they happened as they took advantage of the opportunity at hand, something which the Nazi party were extremely good at. Kristallnacht is a key example of this and shows how the extremist and chaotic nature of the Nazi party could lead to mass destruction. Something which most definitely undermines the importance of the Wannsee Conference is that the extermination camps had been constructed long before the meeting ever took place. By the end of 1940 the Nazi war machine had 11 concentration camps[11], two years before the Wannsee Conference ever took place, one of those being the most significant of them all; Auschwitz in 1940. and Chelmo had already been using stationary gas vans since the December 1941. If the decision to build death camps had already been made and construction and indeed the process of murdering prisoners within those camps had actually begun, this significantly undermines the significance that the Wannsee Conference had on the Holocaust. However, by the beginning of 1942 in different camps fixed gas chambers were built, or already existing buildings were restructured for this purpose,[12] in light of this it could be used as evidence that the Wannsee Conference had authorised this during its meeting. Although, Hitlers undisputed absence from the meeting is also an important argument to add to its insignificance, but as we know Hitler allowed his subordinates to find the paths, so it would not seem to significant that he did not attend this meeting, however it is an argument that puts forth the idea that this meeting was just a platform for which Reinhard Heydrich to convey his many positions of power.[13] This theory can be supported by the minutes of the meeting to which Heydrich opens the proceedings by not only stating in detail but repeating how he has been granted the position of authority by Goering to oversee and co-ordinate the â€Å"Final Solution†. There is no doubt that all who attended the meeting knew that the mass-destruction of the Jewish people in Europe had been common practise, the meeting was not to discuss whether to carry out murder, but rather how to carry out the murder. At the Eichmann[14] war crimes trial in Jerusalem, Eichmann testified that â€Å"during the conversation, the minced no words about it at all. They spoke about methods of killing, about liquidation, about extermination.† The meeting simply concreted ideas and bound those in authority together rather than formally deciding upon anything new, this does not however make it a widely significant event, but it does insure its important within the history of the National Socialist movement. Another factor which also undermines the importance of the Wannsee Conference in terms of birthing the Holocaust is that the Shoah itself could have been brought forward in time due to an increasingly difficult problem which only increased with every new territory brought under occupation of the Third Reich. This problem was the question of what to do with every new Jew, Slav, Gypsy and all other inferior races of people that the Nazi party captured, the Ghettos and extermination camps already housed hundreds of thousands of â€Å"undesirables†, making the establishments extremely over-crowded, especially the Ghettos in particular. Huge numbers of people were being moved in order to suit the needs of the Nazi party. This again, is an important factor in the history of the Holocaust as it shows the Nazi party may have been forced to kill inferior races in order to make way for the new influx of victims to the Nazi war machine. This source is interesting as it explores Hitlers intentions before coming into the role of Furher, here Hitler describes the Jews building â€Å"a state within a state† suggesting that the Jews do not follow a religion but are an invasion, what is also interesting from this source is that Hitler accuses the Jews of taking advantage of Aryan generosity, which adds to the intentionalist perspective that Hitler had a plan from the very beginning. In this case, it would be removing the Jews from Aryan society and then taking it further with the Holocaust after proving to the German people that his believes are the truth, so to speak. Again, using the Jews as a scapegoat, stating they have â€Å"spread all over the world† adding more to his Jewish conspiracy theory, I believe at this point Hitler is trying to convince himself that these theories are correct by adding specific points that align with what he is saying, including how they are all made up of â€Å"one race exc lusively† It is very important to recognise the importance of the Wannsee Conference, by the fact fifteen high Nazis were in attendance that their discussions on that day were certainly of some significance to the Holocaust. However, past events and horrors that had previously taken place in the time-line of the Third Reich such as, over-crowding of the Ghettos and camps, and the mass-murders of the Einstazgruppen, were far more important in shaping the Holocaust than any formal meetings discussing it. It was acts of murder like these that allowed the Nazis to push their â€Å"genocidal† boundaries even further, among other goals, it was the overall goal of the Nazis to systematically be responsible for the demise of the Jewish race, alongside European domination. As the time went by, years of radicalisation went with it. Wannsee was a sit down to review what had happened so far, and what direction to take next. Although my argument supports the intentionalist perspectives. It seems implausible that the Nazis anticipated all aspects of Jew killing. However there was a plan, the Nazis seized opportunity and manipulated their ideas. It was this ability of opportunism that allowed the Nazis to create the single most aggressive act of mass genocide in the history of man. The two opposing political systems were Bolshevism, which Hitler and his Nazi leadership believed to be a Jewish conspiracy, and National Socialism. Richard Rhodes, Masters of Death – The SS enisatzgruppen and the invention of the Holocaust. Pg14 Another example of â€Å"Abnormal† warfare in the east is General Max von Schenckendorffs â€Å"cause for combating the partisans†, held on Mogilov between 24 and 26 September 1941. It also shows the close operation between the army and the SS. Schenckendorff has charged the SS – Cavalry Brigade under Strandartenduhrer (colonel) Hermann Fegelein with mopping up the Pripyat marshes. This operation had begun on 29 July 1941, after Himmler had instructed his men to act harshly against â€Å" a racially and humanly inferior† population. All male Jews were to be shot, women to be driven into the marshes. Suffering 17 dead, 3 missing-in-action, and 36 wounded, Fegelein could proudly report to his leader that the brigade had shot 660 Soviet soldiers, 1,001 partisans and 14,178 Jews† Jurgen Foster, The Final Solution, Origins and Implementation, edited by David Cesarani Gerlach suggests that the purposes of the Wannsee Conference had changed sharply during the period of its lengthy postponement – or at any rate its inordinate length – was caused by the changed situation following Hitlers speech on 12 December, and the need to now prepare for a full-scale extermination programme which had not been the case when the initial invitations had gone out at the end of November 1941. Ian Kershaw, Hitler, the Germans, and the Final Solution. Pg.267 In an act of anguished revenge, he shot the Third Secretary at the German Embassy in Paris, Ernst vom Rath. The German diplomat died of his wounds on 9th November 1938. Grynszpans action was immediately denounced by the Nazi propaganda machine as a â€Å"declaration of war† and part of the world-wide Judaeo-Masonic conspiracy. It would unleash an unprecedented orgy of ferocious anti-Jewish violence and terror across Germany. Robert S. Withrich, Hitler and the Holocaust, How and why the Holocaust happened. Pg.68 The Jewish state has never been delimited by space. It has spread all over the world, without any frontiers whatsoever, and has always been constituted from the membership of one race exclusively. That is why the Jews have always formed a State within the State. One of the most ingenious tricks ever devised has been that of sailing the Jewish ship-of-state under the flag of religion and thus securing that tolerance which Aryans are always ready to grant to different religious faiths. ________________ [1] Intenionalists and Functionalists can be divided into sub-categories of moderate and extreme and historians within the same block can have differing perspectives. [2] The terms of Versailles stated, the Germans had to accept the blame for starting the war (The war guilt clause), they had to pay reparations of  £6.6 billion and the army was reduced to 100,000 men, the Rhineland was demilitarized, submarines, air force were forbidden and they were only allowed six battleships. Lost territory included Alsace-Lorraine to France and numerous colonies to Britain. [3] Yehuda Bauer, Rethinking the Holocaust, New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 2002, Pg.48. [4] The hatred of the Jews birthed from using them as a scapegoat for the Treaty of Versailles and defeat of the world was greatly advanced by the propaganda of Dr. Joseph Goebells. [5] Nazi Ideology viewed all those of non-Ayran decent, especially Jews as inferior races, these being, Nigeros, Slavs, Gypsys and many others. The only race of people they seen pure were the British and believed they shared the same blood as the Germany people. [6] Richard Rhodes, Masters of Death – The SS einsatzgruppen and the invention of the Holocaust. Pg.98 â€Å"The German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, codenamed â€Å"Operation Barbarossa† was indeed to be inextricably linked with the decision to implement a genocidal war against all the Jews of Europe.† [7] 15 August 1941 two months into â€Å"Operation Barbarossa† Himmler went to the Minsk Ghetto to observe the shootings of â€Å"undesirables† for the first time. During the shooting Himmler who had never seen dead people before stood right at the edge of the open grave to look in, and because of this he had brain matter splashed onto his coat and head and began to feel sick, heaving and wobbling. Himmler then took into account the effect shooting people would have on their soldiers and began to look for alternative methods. [8] The Enabling Act was a decree put forth by Hitler in his rise to power that allowed him to maintain his reign over the German people, the decree abolished the need for a democratic vote every four years and therefore allowed Hitler to maintain his political position until his demise in 1945. [9] The Nuremburg Laws of September 15th 1935: the laws outlawed relationships betweens Jews and Aryans in order to make the Aryan blood pure again. [10] On the 9th November 1938: Kristallnacht (Night of broken glass) was responsible for approximately 100 dead Jews, 20,000 German and Austrian Jews arrested; many of those were sent to concentration camps. 1,350 Jewish synagogues were burnt to the ground and Jewish shops throughout Germany and Austria had their windows smashed and their homes looted. [11] By January 1942, the Nazi party had 11 concentration camps throughout their occupation of Europe. These were Dachau(1933), Sachsenhausen(1936), Buchenwald(1937), Flossenburg(1937), Mauthausen(1938), Ravensbruck(1939), Gusen(1939), Neuengamme(1940), Gross-Rosen(1940), Natzweiler(1940) and finally Auschwitz(1940) [12] http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/gascamp.html [13] Heydrich was Heinrich Himmlers deputy and head of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt. (Reich Security Main Office, or RSHA) [14] Eichman was in charge of organising and maintaining the logistics of the Holocaust.

Black and Minority Ethnic People in Prison

Black and Minority Ethnic People in Prison For every Afro-Caribbean male on campus there are two in jail. (Phillips, 2004). Sir Trevor Phillips memorable claim is interesting on two levels. First, in how it highlights the strong evidence that Black or Minority Ethnic (BME) persons form a disproportionately high section of the prison population in England and Wales. Secondly, as an example of the polemical terms in which this question is often debated. In this essay I will seek to get behind the rhetoric. Whilst Sir Trevor may have chosen (or embellished) his statistics for rhetorical purposes, there is a disproportionately high number of BME prisoners. Home Office statistics  [2]  show some 27% of the prison population in England and Wales identified themselves as being from ethnic minority groups  [3]. These figures should be approached carefully if one is trying to consider incarceration rates in the resident population. Foreign nationals accounted for 38% of the BME prison population (Ministry of Justice, 2009). However, even excluding the impact on the statistics of foreign nationals, the differences in incarceration rates are startling, particularly for British nationals who self-identify as Black  [4]  : 6.8 per 1,000 compared to 1.3 per 1,000 for White people  [5]   more than five times more Black people in prison per head of population than White people. Similarly, there were more people of mixed ethnicity in prison per head of population than White people, with a rate per 1,000 of 3.7. However, this substantial overrepresentation was not shared by other non-White ethnic groups. People from Chinese or Other Ethnic backgrounds were least likely to be imprisoned, with a rate of 0.5 per 1,000. The rate for people from Asian groups  [6]  was also higher than for White persons but significantly lower than for the Black or Mixed groups at 1.8 per 1,000 population. The differences in these rates are so marked that there is clearly a question to answer here: why are Black people, and certain (but not all) other ethnic minorities more likely to be incarcerated than their White fellow-citizens? Three broad explanations present themselves as possibilities: disproportionate criminality: that persons of BME ethnicity commit a disproportionately high percentage of crimes; disproportionate detection and prosecution: that they are disproportionately more likely to be caught, charged or prosecuted with such crimes; and disproportionate conviction and sentencing; that they are more likely to be convicted, or if convicted more likely to be imprisoned or imprisoned for longer. Of course, the truth could combine these explanations but it is important to establish which of them is most salient, and to delve more deeply into the causes underlying such explanation. Are BME people just more likely to offend than White people? The simplest explanation for the disproportionately high number of BMEs imprisoned is that BME individuals are more likely to commit crimes. If we assume that there is a direct relationship between arrests and criminality, and we accept police reported crime levels, there is strong evidence to suggest that BMEs are more likely to commit crimes than Whites. (Here we are using the Home Office crime definitions, encompassing violent crime, intimate violence, acquisitive crime, vandalism and criminal damage, fraud, racially or religiously motivated crimes, and drug offences.) In 2007-8, 82% of all arrests were of people of white appearance, with 9% Black, 5% Asian and 1% classified as Other (Ministry of Justice, 2009). This can be compared the governments estimates for the ethnic makeup of the general UK population in 2006/07 where 88.7% are White, 2.7% Black, 5.5% Asian and 1.5% Other (Gask, 2008). Whilst the arrest numbers for White, Asian and Other ethnicities were roughly proportional to their prevalence  [7]  in the population, Black people were 2.5 times more likely to be arrested than the population as whole. If we accept a strong correlation between arrest and criminality rates, then we may conclude that Black people, but not other ethnic groups, are more likely to offend than Whites. This requires an explanation and broadly three types of explanation have been propounded: socio-economic, family factors and historical/cultural factors (including policing strategies). The association between socio-economic disadvantage and involvement in crime is well-established (Home Office Report). According to Beckers (1968) analytical framework, crime rates reflect the risks and costs of being caught, and the disparity between potential gain from crime and the associated opportunity cost. Those with least to lose are more likely to offend. Economists have interpreted measures of income inequality as indicators of the distance between the gains from crime and its opportunity costs (Fajnzylber et al, 2002). This view is supported by statistics associating UK homicide rates with poverty (Dorling et al, 2005). Black African and Caribbean groups make up approximately 2.5 times the proportion of the population in the most deprived areas of the country as for England as a whole (Jacobs Tinsley, 2006). Relative poverty appears to provide a good explanation why Black people might be more likely to commit crime, and in particular economic crime  [8]. It seems likely also that the unemployed are more likely to engage in criminality. The adage that the devil makes work for idle hands is supported by the literature  [9]. It is therefore significant that Home Office statistics on unemployment rates found that Black men suffered almost three times more unemployment than White British or Irish men (Home Office, 2005). Poor educational achievement is a symptom and cause of socio-economic disadvantage. Some argue that educational underachievement is also independently a major cause of criminality. The failure of the education system to educate our black boys provides a breeding ground for disaffection that undoubtedly leads many (not all) to seek alternative means to obtain a good standard of living or gain respect from their peers (Home Office, 2003). Certainly poor education is associated with delinquency. Maguin Loeber (1996) showed through their meta-analysis of studies of this relationship that children with low academic performances offended more frequently, committed more serious offences, and persisted in their offending. However, whether poor education is an independent cause is not established the merely correlational role of education was argued by pioneering analysts in the 1830s (Feldman, 1993). It may be that poor education affects delinquency indirectly by limiting employment opport unities, which in turn leads to more probability of criminal behaviour. If educational underachievement causes criminality then it is pertinent that Blacks participate far less in higher education than Whites (Bhattacharyya et al, 2003)  [10]. Furthermore, Black people are far likelier to be excluded from school (Department for Education and Skills, 2006)  [11]. There is an established association between school exclusions and involvement in crime  [12]  and, whilst it is unclear whether criminality leads to exclusion from school or vice versa, either way the evidence of more school exclusions amongst Black people supports the proposition that Black peoples disproportionate incarceration arises from disproportionate criminality. If education is a factor, however, it is unclear whether fault lies with the educational opportunities available; the allegedly low value that Black (or more specifically Afro-Caribbean) males place on formal education or other factors. Family and parenting factors provide another possible explanation of the overrepresentation of BMEs in prison. BME children are more likely to grow up in single-parent households; for example, 54.5% of mixed White/Black Caribbean children grew up in lone-parent households (Home Office, 2003). This has been shown to have a negative impact on later life outcomes. Kellam et al (1982) found that Black children from mother-only families were more likely to be judged by their teachers as maladaptive, than other groups. More specifically, a high proportion of BME children are born to teenage mothers (Higginbottom et al, 2005).  [13]  Jaffee et al (2001)s 20-year longitudinal study showed that the offspring of teen mothers are at particular risk for adverse outcomes including early school leaving, unemployment, early parenthood, and violent offending. Another possible family factor is that, the high proportion of BME adults already in the criminal justice system may feed back into offend ing behaviours among young people. Criminal and antisocial parents tend to have delinquent and antisocial children  [14]. Furthermore, concentrated incarceration in impoverished communities breaks familial ties, weakens parents social-control capacity, weakens economic power, and sours attitudes towards mainstream society, increasing the likelihood of offending (Clear, 2007). Taken together these socioeconomic, educational and family factors seem to provide a fairly full explanation of any greater level of criminality among Black or BME groups. However this has not prevented other theories being advanced. One suggestion is that we should blame urban Black culture, especially music and film, for providing role models who glamorise violence, and encourage criminal lifestyles. The Home Office suggests (Home Office, 2003) that active social exclusion comes about when young people lay claim to particular identities and make choices about lifestyles which compound their disadvantage and their existence on the margins of society, and quotes evidence that the arrival of American TV on St Kitts led to a sharp rise in gang violence, drugs and murders  [15]  and of links between music videos and criminal behaviour, especially gang behaviours such as of South London gangs having music production arms advocating violence against rivals. Pitts (2006) reports how gangs film robberies and use the footage to promote their music. However, as an explanation this is not as convincing as those discussed above. It is not obvious why BME youths should be more susceptible than White youths to music glamo urising criminality. It seems more likely that a popular culture that gives endorses criminality is a reflection, rather than a cause  [16]. Others prefer to blame White society, or more specifically colonialism. During the 1960s Fanon popularised a model which conceptualised the relations between Blacks and Whites in post-colonial societies (Fanon, 1963). The model has recently become revived by scholars such as Agozino (2003) and Gabbidon (2010). The colonialist model argues that past colonial repression, can cause crime in the present. Tatum (1994) argues that the victims of social, economic and political oppression will develop feelings of alienation to which the criminality and violence is an adaptive response. The model predicts that the colonised will become estranged from their own culture, and begin to self-hate both as individuals and at the group level. Racial groups become estranged from each other, and racial violence increases, based on a mutual lack of trust and as individuals try to fight back and reclaim their culture and identity (Tatum, 1994). Pouissant (1972) argues that this internalisation of anger c an explain the increasing Black on Black violence in Afro-American societies in particular. It is certainly easy to see that past colonialism, can be linked to social structures of oppression that persist into the present (Feagin Feagin, 2003, p. 35). Past economic, political and social subordination has left lasting imbalances in post-colonial societies and these differences in status, cause segregation, which leads directly to a negative impact on crime and perception of crime level (Massey Denton, 1993). Crime rises as the ethnic minority becomes increasingly separated from good basic services and employment opportunities (Wilson, 1998). However, it seems easier (and to accord better with the principle of Occams razor) to attribute greater criminality to greater disadvantage, and the greater disadvantage to history than to rely on group-wide psychological theories based on historic grievances. Direct tests of the components of the colonial model only show limited support (Austin, 1983) for the theory (although proponents of the theory argue that colonialism should be seen as an antecedent variable, and thus these tests may lack reliability (Bosworth Flavin, 2007)). Besides the difficulty testing this theory, the colonial model does not explain the diverse responses different groups have to similar forms of alienation why would ethnic minorities feel more alienated than lower-class Whites? Nor do they explain why a society that produces Malcolm X can also produce a Martin Luther King. Are black and ethnic minority individuals more likely to get caught and charged with criminal offences? After exploring reasons why BMEs might commit disproportionately high levels of crime, it is important to note that the statistics showing disproportionate criminality are highly contested. I began the previous section with the important caveat If we accept a strong correlation between arrest rates and criminality rates, but this proposition is contentious. Any statistics generated by criminal justice agencies provide only partial information about the nature of offenders, as the vast majority who commit crime are never caught or processed by the criminal justice system: individuals diverted from the criminal justice system will not feature in such statistics (Ministry of Justice, 2009). There is evidence to suggest that there is reporting bias in the reporting of certain crimes amongst certain ethnic minorities. Although some authors have suggested that mistrust of the criminal justice system may lead to less reporting of intra racial crimes, especially within ethnic minority groups, other evidence suggests that racial biases lead to disproportionately greater crime reporting in BME groups. For example, statistics suggest a higher propensity for black women to report sexual offences. Although this could indicate higher levels of sexual crime in Black communities, equally it could reflect lower tolerance of sexual misbehaviour by Black women or underreporting of sexual offences in the wider community (Home Office, 2003). Furthermore, statistics are also often skewed by the focus of law enforcement. A crack down on street crimes in BME-dominated areas, will distort the statistics (Chambliss et al, 2004). One way to evaluate the validity of the arrest data, and answer our second question is to consider discrepancies between self-reported and official crime rates. If such discrepancies are found, the most likely explanation would be a racial bias in the police force or Crown Prosecution System. Unfortunately the evidence here is inconclusive. Sharp Budd (2005)s analysis of the 2000 Offending Crime and Justice Survey seems to evidence a disparity between self-reported, and official criminal activity: White respondents and those of mixed ethnic origin generally self-reported the highest levels of offending  [17]. Asians and those from Other ethnic groups reported significantly lower levels of offending  [18]  than Whites, or those of mixed ethnic origin, on all offences, except robbery (Sharp Budd, 2005: 9). Black respondents were significantly less likely to self-report offending than White respondents across all offence categories, except burglary and the supply of drugs  [19 ]. White respondents and those of Mixed ethnic origin self-reported overall similar levels of offending, but those of mixed ethnicity were more likely to be serious offenders 27% versus 21%, although this may be subject to some non-response bias (Sharp Budd, 2005: 9). However, such self-report surveys suffer conceptual and methodological difficulties. Respondents may be untruthful and there may be an ethnic bias to the extent to which answers are honest. Whilst in the UK it is generally accepted that self-report surveys are reliable and valid measures of delinquency (Farrington, 2001), studies elsewhere suggest that ethnic minority groups are less likely to provide accurate answers to questions on criminality. Hindelang et al (1981) found that Black males were three times less likely to admit to offences, even when they were already known to the police. To overcome this problem Sharp Budd (2005) asked respondents how truthful they had been in completing the survey. Although there was little difference by ethnicity in the percentage of respondents claiming to have been honest (around 95%), slightly fewer older Black respondents said they were totally truthful, and overall, Black individuals were less likely to report honesty when answering problem s about drug use. Of course, answers to these questions could themselves be affected by a social desirability bias individuals may not want to admit to lying but, these general trends replicated the findings of other self-report studies, such as Flood-Page et al (2000). Another flaw in this evidence is that it shows only the percentage of individuals involved in any kind of crime. It may be that the smaller than expected percentages of BME individuals admitting to offending, commit a greater percentage of crime and therefore provide more opportunities to be caught. The evidence, therefore, is not strong but does suggest that BME people are less likely to be involved in criminality than Whites and yet are arrested disproportionately. We must ask then why would BME individuals be more likely to be caught and charged with criminal behaviour? Bowling Phillips (2002) suggested that this could be explained by institutional racism amongst the police. The charge of police racism has been levelled particularly at the Metropolitan Police.  [20]  The finding of institutional racism made at the Stephen Lawrence enquiry was generally accepted and TV documentaries such as the Panorama series have helped establish this as a wide-spread perception that is obvious and self-evident. For example the former Home Secretary, Jack Straw pronounced: Any long-established, white-dominated organisation is liable to have procedures, practices and a culture that tends to exclude or disadvantage non-white people. (Straw, 1999) Other commentators dismiss the idea that the police are institutionally racist. The earlier (1981) Scarman report supported a bad apple theory: that racial prejudice occurred amongst only a minority of officers (Neal, 2003). Racial prejudice does manifest itself occasionally in the behaviour of a few officers on the street. It may be only too easy for some officers, faced with what they must see as the inexorably rising tide of street crime to lapse into an unthinking assumption that all young black people are potential criminals (Macpherson, 1999: 16). Whilst the bad apple theory is not now prevalent, it is important to be careful not to extrapolate individual (or group action) or racism towards the whole institution. Some argue that reports such as the Morris Report (2004) have conflated individual racism to institutional racism (Lea, 2000; Stenson Waddington, 2007). Lea argues that the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, in particular, examined the specific actions of individual officers a nd unscientifically extrapolated from this a conclusion that the police force itself is racist. It has been argued that the negative interpretation of institutional racism has further increased tension between police and ethnic minorities (Foster et al, 2005). In fact, the direct evidence that institutional racism leads to disproportionate arrests of BME people is mixed. Jefferson, Walker Seneviratne (1992) studied differences in treatment in individuals arrested in Leeds, and found conflicting evidence. By analyzing the (police-perceived) race, sex, age, offence and address of everyone arrested or stopped in the city over 6 months in 1987, they found that Blacks were over-represented (7% of those arrested, compared to 3% in the population), Asians were proportionately represented and Whites were under-represented. However, when the neighbourhood ethnic balance was controlled for, Blacks were only over-represented in White areas. In Black-dominated areas, Whites were in fact over- represented. However, the information was based on where offenders lived, not where they offended. Furthermore, the low Black arrest rate in Black areas maybe due to mistrust of police in intra-racial crimes (Jefferson et al, 2002). If we turn to indications of differential treatment by the Police in relation to actions other than arrest, patterns do emerge. Newburn, Shiner Hayman (2004) analysed the propensity to be strip-searched in custody, finding that on average, Afro-Caribbeans suffered twice the number of strip-searches as Whites, whilst Arabic or Oriental people had a virtual halving of the probability of being strip-searched (Newburn et al, 2004: 689). Other studies have considered possible police ethnic biases in relation to stop-and-search arrests. Overwhelmingly the data suggest that BMEs are significantly more likely to be stopped than Whites. In 2006/2007 Blacks were seven times more likely to be stopped and searched, and Asians were twice as likely to be stopped as Whites (Jones Singer, 2008). However, the validity of these findings can be questioned. Bennetto, 2009 observes that police officers may just be more likely to record stops made of BMEs than those conducted on White people, but it seems unlikely that such misrecording would persist so consistently across forces, and over the last five years, particularly with the strong incentives on the police not to display racism. A more telling criticism is that stop-and-search data involves an invalid comparison it compares the ethnicity of the whole population with that of those stopped, rather than looking at the proportion of those stopped within the available population those who are out at times, and in places where stops are likely to occur (Fitzgerald Sibbitt, 1997). Indeed, Jefferson et al (1992) found a statistically significant low-to-moderate correlation (r=0.20) between number of evenings out and annoyance with police. Although Pavey (2008) counters this by arguing that it is unlikely that Black people are mo re available to be stopped in some areas than others, it is not outlandish to suggest that in some cultures may be more normal than others for people (particularly young men) to hang round on the street rather than staying in. Others counter this criticism by observating that, even if the ethnicity mix where and when the searches are made is different to that in the general population, it does not disprove police racist motivation the police might have chosen when and where to conduct such stops is based on where BME youths congregate (Home Office, 2003). This argument would be convincing if it could be backed by evidence that police decisions on where to operate are based on something other than their assessment of when and where crimes are most prevalent, but I am not aware of any such evidence. Are Black and Ethnic minorities unfairly dealt with by the justice system? The evidence of institutional racism in the justice system is also mixed at best. Although Hood (2008) argues that the over-representation of Afro-Caribbeans in prisons is a direct product of their over representation among those convicted of crime and sentenced in the Crown Courts, a recent study of almost 16,000 jurors found that although BME individuals are 3.5 times more likely to face a jury verdict, relative to their representation in the global population, jury verdicts showed only small differences based on defendant ethnicity (Thomas, 2010)  [21]. This indicates that one stage in the criminal justice system where BME groups do not face persistent disproportionality is when a jury reaches a verdict. The evidence that BMEs are likely to suffer more punitive sentences than White people is superficially more persuasive. Black young offenders accounted for 11.6% of custodial sentences, despite only accounting for 6% of total offences (Home Office, 2003). However this does not prove unfairness whilst it could reflect biased sentencing, it could equally have other causes, perhaps that BMEs are likelier to commit crimes that justify a custodial sentence. Jefferson et al (1992) found that apparently racially-based differences in outcome of arrest could be otherwise explained. Although in juvenile cases, Blacks were twice as likely to be tried in a Crown Court as Asians or Whites, most were being tried jointly with an older co-defendant, necessitating the Crown Court, and six of the twelve Black subjects included in this data were arrested in one incident. Also the Home Office statistics say nothing about prior convictions, which may affect sentencing. Although evidence that Whites are more likely to re-offend  [22]  suggests that this may not explain disproportionate custodial sentences for BME people, studies which take account of prior convictions find no evidence of racially biased sentencing. Mair (1986) found that Blacks and Wh ites who had committed similar offences, and had similar criminal records, had the same chance of a custodial sentence. Jefferson et al (1992)s regression analysis of data collected in their Leeds study found that when offence type and previous convictions were taken into account, there were no differences in sentencing or length of custodial sentence between different ethnic groups  [23]. Furthermore, once imprisoned, there is evidence to suggest that there is no racially-explained difference in the availability of parole. Although Hood Shute (2000) found that both Blacks and Whites were less likely to be granted parole than South Asian/Chinese prisoners, this is not necessarily due to ethnic bias. Moorthy et al (2006) argued persuasively that this could be better attributed to other characteristics associated with release. The clearest explanation of the disparity in sentencing is that BME individuals are likely to be engaged in different types of crimes than Whites, and more specifically are more likely to be engaged in crimes that have a high likelihood of incarceration, or even mandatory prison sentences. Young people of different ethnic groups do appear to have different profiles of offending behaviour. Jefferson et al (1992) found that BME individuals were more likely to be arrested under charges of violence and theft, whereas, Whites were more likely to be charged with burglary or damage. This is corroborated by Home Office statistics which suggest that. BME individuals seem to be overrepresented for certain crimes notably robbery and drugs offences (Home Office, 2003), and are more likely to be involved with firearms and gang violence, whereas white people are more likely to commit and be convicted of less serious offences, for example criminal damage or property offences like burglary. The pro pensity for BMEs to be engaged in drug offences in particular goes a long way towards explaining the relatively high percentage of custodial sentences given to BMEs. Drug offences typically have longer custodial sentences than those for even the most violent crimes, even for importing relatively small amounts of drugs.  [24]  There is a substantially higher proportion of Black inmates serving drug-related sentences (Home Office, 2003).  [25]  This is particularly true for female prisoners (Chigwada-Bailey, 2003)  [26]. Of the women in prison for all offences, 40% were convicted of drug offences (Home Office, 2003). Furthermore, this is not only the case for foreign nationals; over half of all Black British women prisoners incarcerated in 2005 were due to drug offences (Fitzgerald, 2007: 56). Although levels of drug use among 16 24 year olds are lower for Black youths than those from White or mixed backgrounds, there is evidence to show that Black people disproportionately misuse certain drugs, specifically crack cocaine (Sangster, Shiner, Sheikh, Patel, 2002). Almost half of arrestees reported using crack cocaine are Black: young White offenders at Feltham Young Offenders Institute are more likely to have opiate problems, whereas Black youths are more likely to have problems with crack cocaine (Home Office, 2005). There is also evidence that cannabis misuse is a particular problem among ethnic minority communities. The 2001/2 British Crime Survey found that people from a mixed white and black Caribbean background were also most likely to have used cannabis in their lifetime (54%), compared with only 30% of Whites (Home Office RDSD, 2008). Furthermore, there is evidence that BME people are disproportionately more likely to be involved in supplying drugs. Despite accoun ting for only 11% of all Londoners, 67% of those accused of supplying crack cocaine are Black (Home Office, 2007). Conclusion The relationship of race to criminality is perplexing. Many commentators in the field have a particular political point to make, and much of the debate is conducted in terms that are more interested in promoting a particular agenda than reaching the truth. Often statistics are gathered for particular reasons. Since 1991, the Criminal Justice Act has required police officers to monitor the ethnicity of people they stop and search and these have been gathered in the context of a force desperately keen to shrug off a racist label. It is difficult to see that this would not have had an effect on the quality of the data. In other contexts, data are deliberately withheld or not collected, for example the Press is discouraged from referring to ethnicity when reporting crime  [27]. Where information is collected, different studies categorise ethnic groups in different ways, some including and some excluding foreign nationals. However with all these caveats, the conclusion that best seems to fit the facts is that in England and Wales, BMEs do as a group disproportionately commit crimes that are more likely to lead to custodial sentences than other ethnic groups but this disproportionality all but disappears if we factor in socio-economic disadvantage, educational levels reached, and family factors, and there is no need to reach for more complex explanations such as post-colonial angst or police racism. In particular, the evidence supporting the pervasive view that police racism causes disproportionate arrests is unconvincing, especially as if it were true it would mean that we would need to find explanations why BME groups must have a lower level of criminality than one might expect given the socio-economic disadvantage, educational levels and family factors that apply. Astonishingly, there seems to be no paper that directly looks at crime rates by race, when socio-economic status is controlled for. Such a paper would be a major step forward to moving this debate from the polemical onto a scientific basis. Of course su

First World War Poetry Essays -- The Great War Poems Poetry Literature

First World War Poetry ".......Above all I am not concerned with poetry. My subject is war, and the pity of war. The poetry is in the pity." -Wilfred Owen. The First World War, or The Great War, was fought over the period August 1914 to November 1918. Although this was fought in many locations, and on a number of continents, the Western Front was the scene of some of the most important and bloodiest battles of the War. The Western Front was a series of trenches running through Belgium and France that formed the front line between the Allied and German forces. Many of the WW1 poets saw action on the Western Front. The War was dehumanising and it brought home how quickly and easily mankind could be reduced to a state lower than animals. The First World War, with its mass volunteers and conscription of educated, non-professional soldiers, saw the appearance of a new phenomenon - the soldier-poet. For the first time, war poetry appeared designed to educate its audience to the horrors of war. The First World War provides a unique moment in the twentieth-century in which literate soldiers, plunged into inhuman conditions, reacted to their surroundings by writing poetry. In fact, as subsequent years have proved, those poems have gone on to give a vision of this historical event to the public which otherwise would probably have gone unknown since it was a period of time when there was no reporting as we know it, in terms of front line war correspondents for newspapers, radio or television. Rupert Brooke Brooke was born in 1887 at Rugby where his father was a housemaster. One of the many ironies of the war is that Rupert Brooke is remembered as a war poet because his actual war experience consis... ...because it only addresses the poet’s feelings of personal loss. It has similarities in tone to both The Soldier and In Flanders Fields because of its romantic nature. It is not at all alike Dulce et Decorum Est since that is purely relating to the horrors of War and Vera Brittain doesn’t directly discuss the issue of war in her poem at all and unless the reader knew she had lost someone in WW1 she might have been writing about the loss of anyone close to her who had died under any circumstance. My Favourite Poem I prefer Perhaps of all the poems because it is beautifully written and is very touching. When I read the poem for the first time I was genuinely affected by what she said and the way she said it. I could see the imagery in her words and feel her pain at the loss of her fiancà ©e. It is a sad poem but the words themselves are very beautiful. First World War Poetry Essays -- The Great War Poems Poetry Literature First World War Poetry ".......Above all I am not concerned with poetry. My subject is war, and the pity of war. The poetry is in the pity." -Wilfred Owen. The First World War, or The Great War, was fought over the period August 1914 to November 1918. Although this was fought in many locations, and on a number of continents, the Western Front was the scene of some of the most important and bloodiest battles of the War. The Western Front was a series of trenches running through Belgium and France that formed the front line between the Allied and German forces. Many of the WW1 poets saw action on the Western Front. The War was dehumanising and it brought home how quickly and easily mankind could be reduced to a state lower than animals. The First World War, with its mass volunteers and conscription of educated, non-professional soldiers, saw the appearance of a new phenomenon - the soldier-poet. For the first time, war poetry appeared designed to educate its audience to the horrors of war. The First World War provides a unique moment in the twentieth-century in which literate soldiers, plunged into inhuman conditions, reacted to their surroundings by writing poetry. In fact, as subsequent years have proved, those poems have gone on to give a vision of this historical event to the public which otherwise would probably have gone unknown since it was a period of time when there was no reporting as we know it, in terms of front line war correspondents for newspapers, radio or television. Rupert Brooke Brooke was born in 1887 at Rugby where his father was a housemaster. One of the many ironies of the war is that Rupert Brooke is remembered as a war poet because his actual war experience consis... ...because it only addresses the poet’s feelings of personal loss. It has similarities in tone to both The Soldier and In Flanders Fields because of its romantic nature. It is not at all alike Dulce et Decorum Est since that is purely relating to the horrors of War and Vera Brittain doesn’t directly discuss the issue of war in her poem at all and unless the reader knew she had lost someone in WW1 she might have been writing about the loss of anyone close to her who had died under any circumstance. My Favourite Poem I prefer Perhaps of all the poems because it is beautifully written and is very touching. When I read the poem for the first time I was genuinely affected by what she said and the way she said it. I could see the imagery in her words and feel her pain at the loss of her fiancà ©e. It is a sad poem but the words themselves are very beautiful.

Stuff :: essays research papers fc

Trickster Tales: Not Just A Bedtime Story â€Å"Beep Beep†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦VRRROOOOMMMM†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦and the Roadrunner speeds away from the deceitful Coyote as Coyote falls over a Cliff with his â€Å"Acme† dynamite still in hand. The tale of the â€Å"trickster† is known and shared all around the world. It is an age old story that has many different versions and is culturally diverse. Almost every culture has some version of the trickster tale; from the early West African people and their tales of Eshu, to the modern day American versions like Wile E. Coyote that Warner Brothers has made so popular (Doty and Hynes 10.) Japanese culture has the story of Susa-No-O, and even the ancient Greeks had similar stories dealing with the character Hermes (Doty and Hynes 141, 46.) With so many different cultures involved, one would think that the tales and myths would be just as variegated. However this is not necessarily the case. It seems as though the trickster story hent this human characteristic in that when a character is tricked, he, in return, takes revenge on his rival. In fact, this is what constitutes the main purpose for the action in these folktales. If it were not for our desire to see the wronged character revenged, there would be no motivation for the reader, or the writer of these stories. Without this theme, there would be no justification for wrongdoing, no justice for the wronged. This element of human nature is what makes these stories timeless and appealing to many generations. It is bred somewhere deep within us that a wrong must be somehow righted and the trickster tale fills this human need. Hand in hand with retribution is the theme of punishment. Not only must one be revenged, but also, in order to feel fully justified, your rival must be punished. Sometimes we can be our own rivals. When we have done something wrong to someone else, we feel the need to be punished, and sometimes, consciously or not, we punish ourselves if we do not receive the punishment from an outside source. Therefore, this idea of punishment is also innate in us. The trickster tale feeds this necessity for punishment. Each time the character is gullible enough to fall for one of the vengeful tricks, he is punished in some way for his naivety, and in essence, for punishing the other character earlier at some point.