Does Child Abuse Cause Crime - Free Essay Example

On May 26, 2000 Nathaniel Brazill shot and killed his seventh grade, english teacher at Lake Worth Middle School with a .25 caliber handgun. As a result he was tried as an adult and sentenced to a state prison for 28 years. Now, if a person were to hear a story like this, they would probably say Thank god they put that psychotic kid away, and would not question the reasons why he shot his teacher Weve created the image that teenagers are something to be feared states Dan Macallair of the Center on Juvenile justice in San Francisco. All we know about Nathaniel Brazill was that he was in the seventh grade, he had somehow acquired a handgun, and he shot his teacher. On the other hand, what we dont know is why he killed his teacher, what was the state of his mental health, and what was his home environment like. Although this isnt to say that what he did was ok, all it would ask is, did he get a fair trial and can he learn from his mistakes if he is charged as adult. I mean in the end isnt he just a kid right? As a society, we tend to acknowledge that kids, below the age eighteen, cant and dont operate as adults, thats why the law takes special steps to shield kids from the implications of their actions, and infrequently seeks to ameliorate the damages caused once kids make wrong decisions, by giving them a second chance. The law prohibits individuals below eighteen from voting, serving within the military, and a plethora of other things, however in some states, theyll be hanged for crimes they committed before they reach adulthood. According to ACLU, the US Supreme Court prohibits execution for crimes committed at the age of fifteen or younger. Nineteen states have laws allowing the execution of a person that committed crimes at sixteen or seventeen. Since 1973, 226 juvenile death sentences were imposed on these poor teens. To this day, according to ACLU there has been twenty-two juvenile offenders who are dead and eighty two who are still on death row. In the article, Juveniles Dont Deserve Life Sentence by the author and juvenile court judge, Gail Garinger, he explains why he believes, kids should not get sentenced to life in prison and tried as an adult. Approximately seventy nine young adolescents have been sentenced to die in prison nationwide. These teenagers should not be judged by their crime first but rather the scenario, because theres always three sides to a story that the judge needs to hear. These include the victims point of view, the teens point of view, and the truth of the whole situation. When giving a person a sentencing in general, the court system needs to take into consideration the age, mental state, and who the person committing the crime is as a person. Deciding on whether or not to make the life sentence applicable to minors should depend on the specific situation. Everybody makes mistakes and it is not fair that in some cases the judges do not take the childs life into consideration. Some these teens can change their lives completely if the court system gives them a second chance and gives them a minor punishment so they can learn their lesson from the whole situation. Garinger also states in the article that young people are biologically different than adults meaning that their minds are not fully developed to be trialed in court as an adult. While adolescents can be held accountable for their actions, scientific information demonstrates that they can not fairly be held accountable to the same extent as adults. Studies by the Harvard Medical School, the National Institute of Mental Health and the UCLAs Department of Neuroscience finds that the frontal and prefrontal lobes of the brain, which regulate impulse control and judgment, are not fully developed in adolescents. These findings confirm that adolescents generally have a greater tendency towards impulsivity, making unsound judgments or reasoning, and are less aware of the consequences of their actions. Structurally the brain continues to be growing and maturing throughout adolescence, starting its final stages at sixteen or seventeen. Some researchers say that growth maxes out at age twenty. Others, like Jay Giedd of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in Bethesda, contemplate whether twenty five is the age at that brain maturation peaks.Various forms of brain scans and anatomic dissections show that as teens age, disordered-looking neuron cell bodies called substantia grisea recede, and neuron projections lined in a very protecting fatty sheath, known as substantia alba, take over. In 1999, Giedd and colleagues showed that just before puberty, kids have a growth spurt of substantia grisea. This is followed by huge pruning within which about one hundred forty five of substantia grisea is pared down every year during the kids years, while the overall volume of substantia alba ramps up. This method is believed to form the brains neural connections for adulthood, based on e xperience. Not just that but according to Giedd the prefrontal cortex which controls impulse and reasoning also grows with the substantia grisea. A study done in 2001 at the University of California Los Angeles, states quite a few hypotheses, that have been postulated for why juveniles may engage in impulsive and risky behaviors. Accounts of Juvenile trials suggest that it is a period of development associated with progressively greater efficiency of cognitive control capacities. This efficiency in cognitive control is described as dependent on maturation of the prefrontal cortex which has yet to mature. This basic function controls reasoning and emotions. Improved cognitive control with development of the prefrontal cortex is consistent with a increase in this ability from childhood to adulthood. Without proper cognitive function a person can make a stupid mistake without thinking of the consequence. Culpability of juveniles and whether their brains are as capable of impulse control, decision-making, and reasoning as adult brains are, is what should be focused on when you try a child as an adult states law professor Steven Drizin of Northwestern University in Chicago. And to answer whether or not a juvenile has the same capable impulse control and decision making as an adult brain does the answer is no. The brains prefrontal cortex, which allows restraint over hasty behavior, doesnt begin to mature until 17 years of age, states Ruben Gur of the University of Pennsylvania. The very part of the brain that is judged by the legal system process comes on board late. Choices and actions observed during adolescence represent an inflection in development that is unique from either childhood or adulthood stated by the National Center for Health Statistics on juvenile behavior and mortality. If cognitive control and an immature prefrontal cortex were the basis for bad choice behavior alone, then children should look remarkably similar or presumably worse than adolescents, This alone proves that a kid is a kid, because a kid does not think, they act with their emotions. But I do understand how hard it would be to link the changes in the teenage brain, with legal or moral accountability is tough. Paul Thompson a professor of neurology claimed Even though normal teens are experiencing a wildfire of tissue loss in their brains, that does not remove their accountability.(Paul Thompson) What we can infer from this is that there are parts of the frontal lobes that allows reckless actions restructure themselves with startling speed in the teen years. With th is information on teen brains we can can see that teens need all the help they can get to steer onto the right path in these very difficult times. Even though there seems to be a lot of facts of why an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex in teens should allow them a certain amount of leaniacy, some people believe that even though an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex may limit reasoning it still does not erase accountability toward those crimes. For example Jennifer Jenkins, President of the National Organization of Victims of Juvenile Lifers wrote an article called Punishment on Teen Killers. She argues that brain development is not the reason why teens commit violent crimes. She is also against advocates that are against juvenile life without parole or JLWOP. She also believes that these kids know fully well what they are doing and should not have any leniency because of their age. It is important to keep the teenage brains in mind when we as a society decide how poor decisions should be punished.If brain development were the reason, then teens would kill at roughly the same rates all over the world. They do not. Advocates often r epeat, but truly misunderstand brain research on this issue.(Jenkins) But maybe its not the most important factor in how those decisions get made in the first place. For example ones economic standing and home life and life may be a reason to turn to crime. The results of a new study by Mike Males from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice support the argument that teenage poverty, and teenage biology, is most to blame for teenage crime. Males looked into more than 50,000 homicides in California from 1991 to 2002. As one would expect, teenagers perpetrated more of the homicides than other age groups, but only when he did not control for poverty. When he did control for poverty, teenagers committed more crimes than other age groups only in high-poverty areas. In the areas where teenagers had as much money as other middle-aged people, they tended to commit fewer violent crimes. And in the areas where middle-aged people had as little money as other teenagers, those middle-aged people tended to commit just as many violent crimes. In other words, financially secure teens act as responsibly as stereotypical middle-aged people; and poor middle-aged people act as recklessly as stereotypical teens. The financial situations of the would be perpetrators had a lot bigger impact than what age they were at the time. And that impact was huge: The homicide rate among the poorest teenagers Males looked at was eighteen times higher than it was among the wealthiest. We can infer that when teenagers are stressing about money they will try something reckless in order to become financially sound. Economic standing is not the only other factor to why juveniles go into a life of crime it is also cause by problems a t home. Teenagers need their peers love, affection and care more than anything else. Cholee Clay, a person working in Criminal justice and volunteers in juvenile group homes states neglected teens are more prone to become criminals, as the lack of love and affection they feel they deserved from the family makes them angry and violent. They channelize their negative energy in committing crimes. Some new research suggests an association between childhood abuse and later involvement in delinquency. A study done by Carolyn Smith and Terence P. Thornberry, both professors of Criminal Justice, examines this issue using official and self?report data from the Rochester Youth Development Study. This analysis addresses three central issues: the significance of the relationship between early child abuse and later delinquency, official and self?reported; the possibility of spuriousness in this relationship; and the impact of more extensive measurement of abuse on later delinquency. A significant relationship between child abuse and self?reported and official delinquency is found and this relationship.(Smith) Especially for more serious forms of delinquency, remains when controlling for other factors. As a results we can see that the more extensive the abuse is, the higher the rates are for delinquency. Of these reports, about one in four, or 9.2 per 1,000 children, are substantiated f or abuse or neglect perpetrated by a caregiver (Barboza). This elevated rate of proof is alarming given previous research showing that children who experience abuse and neglect have an increased risk of poor behavioral outcomes, such as externalizing and internalizing behavior and juvenile delinquency, and are more likely to be involved in the criminal justice system As one can see juvenile crimes are not solely based on the the brains prefrontal cortex being under developed, it is also based on the idea that each child has their own reasons why they do a certain act. Maybe because they arent financially sound or they are being abused at home, everyone has their own problems. And while sending juveniles to a juvenile detional facility may be the only choice to give these teens it may not be the best.

Business Plan Concepts - Free Essay Example

Executive summary The executive summary, or statement of purpose, succinctly encapsulates the businesss reason for writing the business plan. It tells the reader what the business want and why, right up front. The summary or statement should be no more than half a page in length and should touch on the following key elements: Financial requirements state how much capital is needed for start-up or expansion, how it will be used and what collateral is available. Business concept describes the business, its product, the market it serves and the business competitive advantage. Major achievements points out anything noteworthy, such as patents, prototypes, important contracts regarding product development, or results from test marketing that have been conducted. Financial features include financial highlights, such as sales and profits. Current business position furnishes relevant information about the company, its legal form of operation, when it was founded, the principal owners and key personnel. Mission statement A mission statement is a key tool that can be as important as the business plan. It captures, in a few succinct sentences, the essence of the businesss goals and the philosophies underlying them. Equally important, the mission statement signals what the business is all about to the customers, employees, suppliers and the community. The mission statement reflects every facet of the business: the range and nature of the products the business offer, pricing, quality, service, marketplace position, growth potential, use of technology, and relationships with the customers, employees, suppliers, competitors and the community. Company background The company background, which follows the executive summary, more details history of the company. This will vary, depending on how the business is developing. History of a start-up is clearly different than an existing company. Here are a few points that you should be sure to include in this section: The origin of the idea for the business The progress so far Issues the business has faced so far Short-term development plan Overall, this section of the business plan should provide an investor is interested a better idea of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹who you are and how this business idea came about. Again, keep it brief and avoid personal information not relevant Product description Description of business may be a few paragraphs to a few pages in length, depending on the complexity of the plan. If the plan is not too complicated, keep short business description, industry described in a paragraph, in a product, and the business and its success factors in two or three paragraphs better. When describing business products or services, ensuring readers now have a clear idea about what was said about business. Explain how people use the product or service and talk about what makes a product or service different from others available on the market. Be specific about what the business placed outside the competition. Then explain how the business will achieve a competitive advantage and why the business will be profitable. Describe the factors that businesses think that will make it successful. If the business plan will be used as a financial proposal, explain why additional equity or debt will make your business more profitable. Other information to solve he re is a description of the experience of other key people in the business. Anyone reading the business plan will want to know what vendor or business experts talked about the business and their reaction to the idea of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹the business. They may even require businesses to clarify the choice of business location or reason for selling this particular product. Marketing plan A thorough market analysis will help businesses identify potential customers and help enterprises establish pricing, distribution and promotional strategies that will allow the company to be successful with competitors’ competition, both in the short and long term. Start analyzing your market by identifying market in terms of size, demographics, structure, growth prospects, trends and sales potential. Next, determine how often the products or services will be purchased by the target market. Then seek out potential buyers annually. Then find out what percentage of this amount annually, or enterprises with or can achieve. Market share will be a benchmark for how your business is doing in light of market forecasts to plan. Businesses will also have to describe your positioning strategy. How companies differentiate a product or service from that of all competitors and then identify niche markets to fill is called positioning. Positioning help establish the product or servi ce in the eyes of the identity of the buyer. A positioning statement for a business plan is not a long or complicated, but it should be pointed out who the target market is. How business prices of products or services may be an important marketing decisions possible. It is also one of the most difficult to do for most small business owners, because there is no formula immediately. Many methods are available to build value for the business, but this is one of the most popular. Cost-plus pricing is used mainly by manufacturers to ensure that all costs, both fixed and variable are covered and the percentage achieving the desired profit. Price needs to be used by the company sells products through a variety of sources with different prices based on demand. Competitive prices used by the company are entering a market where a price has been established and it is difficult to distinguish the two drugs. Mark-up prices are used mainly retailers and is calculated by adding the desired profit of enterprises with the cost of the product. Businesses will also have to determine distribution, which covers the entire process of moving products from the factory to the end user. Be sure to analyze the distribution of opponents before deciding whether to use the same type or an alternative channel can give you a strategic advantage. Finally, your promotion strategy should include all the ways you communicate with your market to make them aware of the products or services you. To succeed, your promotion strategies need to address advertising, packaging, public relations, sales promotion and personal selling. Competitor analysis The purpose of competitive analysis is to determine: The strengths and weaknesses of competitors in the market. Strategy will give you a distinct advantage. Barriers can be developed to prevent competitors entering the market. Any weakness can be exploited in the product development cycle. The first step in a competitor analysis is to identify both direct competitors and indirect businesses, both now and in the future. Once the group now has competitors, start analyzing marketing strategies and identify vulnerable areas by examining the strengths and weaknesses. This will help businesses identify distinct competitive advantage. Anyone reading the business plan must be very clear on who the target market is, what the segment is exactly how the business will stand apart from all competitors, and reasonable why the business will succeed in doing that. SWOT analysis S.W.O.T analysis is a method can help the business to evaluate the internal as strength, weakness and the external like opportunity, threat. Strength is the advantages can help the business to achieve the goals; weakness is the disadvantages can obstruct a development and improvement of the business; opportunity is the factors may be able to help the development of the business and exploit to its advantages; threat is the factors external may be make a challenge for the business’s activities. S.W.O.T analysis helps a business to concentrate on those areas that present the greatest opportunities and those competencies in which it is strongest. That business look into ways to diminish its weaknesses, develop strategies to defeat threats. Operations The operation and management components of a business plan are designed to describe how the business functions on a continuous basis. Planning and logistics activities of prominent organizations, such as the responsibilities of the management team, assigned tasks for each department in the company, and capital requirements and costs related to the operation of the business. Financial planning After identifying the products, markets and operations, the next area to turn attention to the three financial statements are the backbone of the business plan: income statement, cash flow statement and balance sheet items. The income statement is a report on a simple and straight forward about the cash generating capabilities of the business. It is a transcript of the financial performance of the business reflects when sales are made and when expenses are incurred. It draws information from various financial models developed earlier as revenue, expenses, capital, and cost of goods. By combining these factors, business results shows just how much your company makes or loses during the year by subtracting cost of goods and expenses from revenue to arrive at an outcome together, which is a profit or loss. In addition to the earnings report, including analysis of the results noted. Analysis should be very short, emphasizing the main points of the income statement. Cash flow stat ement is one of the most important information tools for businesses, because it shows how much money the business will need to meet obligations, when it will be required and where but it will come from. As a result, the profits will loss at the end of each month and year. Cash flow statement brings both profit and loss transfer to the next month also shows the cumulative amount. Running a loss on the cash flow statement is a big red flag that there is not enough cash to meet the costs-something that requires attention and immediate action. Cash flow statement should be prepared on a monthly basis in the first year, quarterly for the second year, and every year for the third year. As with the income statement, this will now need to analyze the cash flow statement in a short summary of the business plan. With the analysis is not only long and should include the highlights. The final financial report is a balance sheet. Unlike the previous financial statements, balance sheets are generated every year for a business plan and are, more or less, a summary of all the information prior fiscal divided into three domains Location: assets, liabilities and equity. Balance sheets are used to calculate the value of the assets of a business, individual by measuring assets against liabilities. If the business plan is an existing business, balance sheets from the last reporting period of the business should be included. If the business plan is a new business, trying to project the assets and liabilities of this business will end up planning process to determine which business owners can now accumulate in business. Received funding for a new business, the business will need to include personal financial statements or balance sheets. In the business plan, creating need to analyze the balance sheet as well as the need for business to make the income statement and cash flow. Analysis of the balance sheet should be cut short and include key points. Timeline Timeline of a project or plan is a clearly time defined in a project or a program has been set up according to a predetermined plan. Timeline will be determined depending on the nature and objectives of the plan which aims to plan, if the timeline is inaccurate or not done is set the time over, which can lead to deviations in the results to be achieved or create other consequences. Timeline will be set when the business plan was given; although this is short or long term of time, it will be determined by predicting the working process of how to achieve the goal. When implementing the plan need to pay attention to the timeline and ensure the implementation process must be completed before the timeline. Purpose of timeline for the implementation is to try to urge the plan must be carried out and completed in accordance with the target set. Thus, there are benefits from the plan will be achieved as desired.