Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) Essay -- essays research papers

Youth crime is a growing epidemic that affects most teenagers at one point in their life. There is no question in society to whether or not youths are committing crimes. It has been shown that since 1986 to 1998 violent crime committed by youth jumped approximately 120% (CITE). The most controversial debate in Canadian history would have to be about the Young Offenders Act (YOA). In 1982, Parliament passed the Young Offenders Act (YOA). Effective since 1984, the Young Offenders Act replaced the most recent version of the Juvenile Delinquents Act (JDA). The Young Offenders Act’s purpose was to shift from a social welfare approach to making youth take responsibility for their actions. It also addressed concerns that the paternalistic treatment of children under the JDA did not conform to Canadian human rights legislation (Mapleleaf). It remained a heated debate until the new legislation passed the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Some thought a complete overhaul was needed, others t hought minor changes would suffice, and still others felt that the Young Offenders Act was best left alone. In February 2002, the House of Commons passed the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA). The Act came into effect in April 2003, replacing the Young Offenders Act (Mapleleaf). The new legislation attempts to balance the legalistic framework of the Young Offenders Act and the social needs approach underlying the Juvenile Delinquents Act. This goal is apparent in the Declaration of Principle stating th...

Trouble With Bill Clintons Character :: essays research papers

Trouble With Bill Clinton's Character In the article, "The Trouble With Character" from Time magazine , writer Richard Stengel describes Bob Dole's attacks on President Bill Clinton's character during the second Presidential debate and explains why Dole's criticisms did not affect Clinton. Stengel begins the article by discussing how American parents do not want their children to aspire to become President as much as they used to. Most Americans feel that someone else should do the job, and this person is no moralistic model. Stengel says that the people's negative portrait of the President is demonstrated in the roles the President plays in various movies and novels. Stengel then discusses the second Presidential debate in which Dole said that Clinton "single-handedly contaminated the highest office in the land" and is the leading cause of the public's distrust of the government. The focus of Dole's campaign was not Clinton's issues, but his moral pertinence. The press were surprised by the fact that most people think that Dole has a better character than Clinton, but they still prefer Clinton as President. This notion comes from the reasoning that most Americans are only concerned with whether or not the country and its citizens are taken care of, and so disregard the President's moral imperfections which, in the people's opinion, have very little to do with the issues. So the President can cheat on his taxes or even his wife and the Americans will overlook it as long as he is getting the job done. Claims such as these lead some to believe that Americans' standards of acceptable moral behavior are going down. Stengel mentions examples of different presidents and the issues that gave them a bad reputation to demonstrate the fact that the people's expectations of the President have fallen. When it comes to politics, Americans are becoming more European – that is, they are becoming more and more tolerant of the flaws in their leaders. This is why Dole's complaints are ineffective in convincing voters. In my opinion, I think that Stengel is correct in saying that the reason why Dole's attacks are not working is voters are not concerned with the President's personal shortcomings, but rather his capability of running the country, and the two are not always closely related. I think that Bob Dole is going about the whole issue all wrong, and his tactics are not practical and may even backfire. He is trying to make Clinton look bad by insulting his character, but in doing so, Dole is revealing a lot about his own. Take for instance the issue of Clinton and his playful attitude

Via Negativa: A Way of Talking to God

Vla Negatlva Is a way of talking about God In only negative terms. For example, God Is not mortal; or God is not human. Both of these tell what God is not, instead of what he is. This is because our knowledge of God is limited by our finite human understanding, therefore. as God is out of this Universe, we find it extremely hard to talk about him. Saint Augustine said â€Å"If you comprehend, it is not God. If you are able to comprehend, It is because you mistake something else for God. Vla Negatlva allows us to compare God to things within our Universe that we understand, allowing s a sense of recognition with God, however not allowing us to reach a full understanding. This simple recognition Is meaningful enough for many, Including the like of Maimonides and Pseudo-Dionysius. Other philosophers believe that this negative way of speaking about God, is not the only meaningful way to talk of him. These will be discussed further within the essay. Moses Maimonides said that Via Negativ a was the only true way to speak of God.God is transcendent, so it is impossible to say what God is, we don't know. He herefore decided the only way we could speak of him, Is to talk In negatives. He gave the example of ‘God is not a human being. This Is because he Is transcendent, so cannot have a body. ‘ Maimonides believes that by giving positive ideas to God, we are lowering God to our human level of understanding. Words like ‘good' or ‘loving', which are often used to describe God, are simply are interpretations of those words, God is transcendent so in no way is he confined to this basic understanding. sing Via Positiva is Improper and disrespectful. However, Maimonides agrees that one positive tatement can be made about God, and this is that he exists, this is because the whole principle of Vla Negativa is based on the Idea that God exists. Pseudo- Dionysius follows the same belief as Maimonides, also stating that God is beyond assertion and beyond den ial, meaning that whatever you say about God, even if negative, doesnt ultimately tell us what God Is, It simply provides us with spiritual understanding of Him.This way of negatively speaking still allows us to recognise God as ‘good'. Even If we say ‘God Is not good,' this can made that God Is more than ust good, he may be wholly perfect So this account of speaking still allows for God being transcendent. It also accepts the fact that the finite cannot get a true grasp of the infinite. However, there are a few Issues with this view. This theory simple assumes that there is a God to talk about when there is no proof of this; some believe that the fact we cannot describe God, suggests there Is not anything to be descrlblng.If we were to only ever talk about objects in a negative manner, we would never grasp truly what an object was, only what it was not. Finally, many religious people believe that it is important to view God as positive and good, so Via Negativa removes this idea for the religious followers. Other philosophers take the complete opposite view of religious language, saying there is absolutely no meaningful way to talk about God. This view was taken by the Vienna Circle who believed that only analytic propositions and synthetic propositions 1 OF3 are meanlngTul. Analytic Decause tne Knowledge comes tnrougn logical reasoning, eg. he man was dead, so was not alive; synthetic principles because they can b proven o be true or false, so there meaningfulness can easily be shown, eg. The water is 27 degrees. The Vienna Circle followed the Verification Principle; this suggested that only empirically verifiable statements are meaningful, one that can be verified by sense experience. Meaningful language involves discussing things that exist only in reality. Therefore God does not fit into this category since he exists outside of our reality. Simply put, the Vienna Circle believe that there is no meaningful way to discuss talk.However, the princ iple allows historical facts to be meaningful, as they ould be verified at the time. Therefore, could not some of God's existence be verified? For example, ‘Jesus was raised from the dead,' is a historical fact and was verified by many at the time. There is room for God to exist within the principle, so their idea was weak. There are also issues with the fact that the principle itself is not verifiable, so therefore is a bunch of meaningless opinions. Hereby the Vienna Circle and their ideas are often overlooked. Paul Tillich is a philosopher of symbolism.He believes that symbols open up ealms of understanding that we often cannot access. A symbols stands for something other than whatever is represented, he gives the example of the American Flag; not only does it represent America, but it shows the unity and the strength of the nation. These secondary meanings are often things that we would struggle to explain, but a symbols makes it easy for us to recognise them and then disp lay them to others. Another example is a simple love heart; that heart can mean a lot of things too many different people, Justice, peace, love, safety†¦ Symbols allow personal nderstanding.Tillich therefore believes that symbols can be used to talk about God in a meaningful way. He suggests that religion and God are things of Ultimate Concern, things that we should strive to understand. God is a representation of many things like Justice, love and infinity. We struggle to understand these things normally, but religion symbolises these things and allows us to understand. Therefore, religious faith is a way of accepting these symbols, providing a great deal of meaning to God. Tillich then suggests that God can be spoken about in a meaningful way, by sing symbols to explain many of his known features.However, people find issues with this idea, mainly that religion is symbolising other things and isn't really in existence. It appears to lower God's power by simply saying that he i s used as an object of representation, rather than of his own great importance. Many religious people dislike this view, saying that God is the ultimate power and should not be lowered to such standards. There are many other theories on how to speak of God and whether it is meaningful or not; Aquinas' view on analogy, Hare's blik†¦ but I find Tillich's view on eligious language to be the best.

Making Good Choices

James Anderson Making good choices Making right choices is crucial for the direction that you want to go in in life, but sometimes it can be very hard to choose the right thing. Sometimes you do not make the right choice and there are consequences for those actions. Before you make a decision about doing something ask yourself a couple of questions. Would I tell my closest friend or relative about it? Will it have consequences? Will it cause harm? Think about what you are doing, before you do it. Whether it is about a relationship, personal issues with family, or even what you are going to have for lunch today.Do not do anything rash without thinking about the results, and planning how you will deal with the results. Some consequences can be severe, but sometimes it's worth it, that's what you have to decide for yourself. Avoid rash decisions. Don't do something out of feelings in the moment, take some time to be sure about what you want, and wait to calm down and relax before you ma ke the final decision and do something about it. It's a good idea to confide in someone and get some opinions on what you could do (ex. Your brother/sister, your bestfriend). Do not over-think everything.Don't get nervous at small things, that requires small decisions, that will not affect your life further. You should know what is important enough to be thinking well about it. Over-thinking everything can cause stress, which is very bad for you Trust yourself. Go with your gut, but always think any big and Hucrucial decision through. Have faith in yourself and in your instincts. After all, the only person you can trust to want the best for you is yourself. The choices we make throughout our lives determine our futures but the problem is, that we are not always wise enough now to make the choices we should for the people we want to become.When we are young and need to make important choices for our financial future, such as which subjects we should study and how to get good grades, we are not sufficiently wise to realise that a little pain now gives great gain in the future. We also want the pleasure that comes from eating forbidden fruit, from pigging out on confectionery or trying the adult pleasures that can ruin our health for life. We see adults smoking or consuming alcohol and saying that they enjoy it or get pleasure from it or need it to overcome the stress of the day.We are not wise enough to know that what adults say gives them pleasure also causes future ill health problems or that advertising is not reminding us to make healthy choices but trying to put money in other people's pockets. When we become adults, we will know what choices we should have made and will wish that we had made them long ago, when we were young. But the only way in which we will then be able to make good choices, will be to help and educate our own children to make the choices that we wish we had made when we were their age. Why good choices? Why not?Haven’t you ever h eard that if you’re going to do something, you might as well do it right? Well, it’s the same thing with choices. We’re not talking about preparing a meal or making a dress. This is your LIFE! You have the right to make your own choices, but you don’t have the right to choose the consequences. You may decide to stick your hand in the fire, but you’re probably going to get burned. We’ve all had the opportunity to make choices. Some of them were not so good. We’ve allowed other people to influence our lives, and sometimes what seemed like a good idea in the moment, turned out to be a huge mistake.As a teenager did you ever borrow the family car without permission? What did your parents do? They probably took the keys away from you and sent you to your room. Maybe you were grounded. Maybe that meant missing the prom or something else that was important to you. If so, you probably learned a lesson that has stuck with you. Other choices tu rn out to be much more serious. In fact, they may be serious enough that they will affect you for the rest of your life. What if you’re that teenager who borrowed the family car and wrecked it? Were you drinking? Texting? Talking on the phone?Just simply not paying attention? Was anyone else harmed, or even killed? If so, then that changes everything. Instead of being sent to your room, you were judged according to the laws of the land. You were probably taken to jail, and maybe even sent to prison, but even that won’t take away the consequences of knowing you injured or ended a life. People get married without a guide book and children don’t come with directions. Parents do the best they can but sometimes they just don’t provide the guidance a child needs. It’s not generally that they’re bad people.It’s just that they really just don’t know what a particular child needs. Sometimes parents have enough problems of their own and just simply don’t have what it takes to be good role models. As an example, I had parents who were good people. Charming, attractive, full of charisma. My birth was the event of the century for our family. I was the first child, and the first grandchild for my father’s parents. I remember everyone thinking I was pretty wonderful. When I look back at this time in my early childhood, I seem to settle on the happiness and security I felt at about age three.After that, things started going haywire. Alcohol played a huge part in the unhappiness of my parents and they decided they just couldn’t stay married. They still loved each other, but pride had gotten in the way and neither of them were willing (or able) to make the necessary changes to keep us all together. By the time I was seven, my parents officially divorced, and my sister and I, along with our father, went to live with our paternal grandparents. Thank goodness for grandparents who are willing to step in wh en there is a need. They became the parents to all three of us! Life was good with our grandparents.In fact, I’m sure my sister would agree that the three years with them were the most secure years of our childhood. At the end of those three years, our father remarried and expected a new â€Å"mother† to raise us. Our own mother had moved away, believing that we would be better off without her. Had she asked me what I thought about that, I would have begged her to stay. Things weren’t better without her. This new woman we now lived with didn’t want to raise someone else’s children and she made that pretty clear. For me, reading was a way to escape. I was a good student and didn’t do anything to cause problems.Being the peacemaker, I smiled on the outside, but inside, I was terribly unhappy. I dreamed about running away and never coming back. When I was seventeen, that’s just what I did. I got married, graduated from high school, and h ad my first baby in the same year. Did I know what I was doing? Heck no! Do I wish I’d have made better choices? Absolutely! That marriage was short-lived and only added to my trials. Not only do I have regrets, but I’ve also suffered with the â€Å"what might have been. † The best thing about it is the daughter who came from it all. She was always my strength and my reason for living.The worst thing is what I went through to get to where I am today. On the outside, I look like a pretty normal person. There are scars on the inside but they’re barely visible anymore. They say time heals all wounds, but without love and forgiveness, they will just continue to fester and bleed. You can apply bandages but until you heal the wound from the inside, it will only continue to cause pain. A few things have helped me on my road to freedom. 1. Good friends. If you only have one person you can count on in life, consider yourself blessed. Two childhood friends appeared when I needed them most and I credit them ith my ability to live through the worst time of my life. 2. Learning the meaning of the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my life. He suffered not only for my sins (and my lack of good choices) but He also suffered my pain. Too many times I think we think only of the crucifixion and not the precious gift He offered in the Garden of Gesthemane. When times get hard, I realize that He truly understands my pain because He has suffered it not only for all mankind, but just for ME. 3. Making the decision to forgive. I haven’t forgotten, but I have forgiven. The memories help me remember how important it is to make the right choices in life.If I didn’t have them, what would stop me from continuing to make them? Forgiveness helps remove the pain. It’s part of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He forgave. If I am unwilling to forgive those who have hurt me, then I am bringing my own condemnation. Christ will be the one, in the end, to judge. 3. Journaling. Early on, I knew I had to write my story. The process of recording it had a few benefits. Therapy for me. A record for mchildren It’s the story of a young girl with a good heart who got sucked into a life that forced her to grow up faster than she wanted.She learned she couldn’t trust the people who were supposed to love her. You just have to read it to learn more about her and determine for yourself whether or not she succeeded. I don’t know what lead you to this website, but I do know that everyone on this beautiful planet we call Mother Earth has made some choices they regret. You don’t have to live with a life of pain. The past does not determine who you are today. When you make good choices and decisions, you reap the rewards. When you make poor choices and decisions, you suffer the consequences. In high school, you have more freedom and more independence than you’ve ever had before.Of course, with this greater freedom an d independence comes greater responsibility. Learning to accept responsibility for your actions and for the choices that you make is an important part of growing up. You will have many decisions to make in high school. It is therefore important that you have good decisions-making skills. Try following these steps whenever you have a decision to make: -determine your options write down the positive and negative aspects of each option make sure that you have all the information you need to make an informed decision carefully consider the positive and negative aspects of each option make your decionRemember that whatever you do, it's not the end of the world, there's always a solution for everything. Make your own decisions, it's okay to know someone's opinion, but the decision is yours to make. Always consider the good things and the bad things about your decision, and the results of it. It's natural to take the wrong decision sometimes. We learn from our mistakes, don't get too upset about it.

48 Shades of Brown

q Life for a 16 old teenage boy was all about to be different. Dan, a typical teenager has all the interests a normal male would. While Dan’s parents are in Geneva, he stays with his aunt Jacq, a fashionable, and techno flavored, short haired, 23 year old uni student, in Brisbane. While staying there, he encounters a test of adult responsibilities, first love and battling through adolescence. Teenagers have been pressured into doing things they don’t want to do, Dan gives us an example of teenagers giving into peer pressure, forced to say that he was a student studying law at University. Teens who are being pressured by their peers think that they will become more popular if they do the [pic] ‘cool’ thing even if it can cause themselves harm. Teenagers these days are dealing with peer pressure every day, from mates telling them to lie to their friends and family, drinking when they are underage and/or don’t want too. Dan discovers that his life isn’t that easy, winning people’s hearts, remembering 48 shades of brown, drinking under age and peer pressure. This play shows how teenagers relate to real life, what they go through every day, what challenges they have to pass through, even what things they need to remember, such as passing school, remembering things for exams, juggling schoolwork and a social life. Dan’s first love starts right at the start of the book with one of Jacq’s uni friends who is currently a second-year Psychology student, Naomi, a pretty blonde 18 year old. Dan quickly realizes that Naomi has a thing for people who can name things, such as naming trees. When Dan realizes this, he tries to learn every shade of brown to impress the girl and win her heart. Teens will do anything to impress their ‘first loves’ from remembering things for them, to impressing them with flowers, teens these days think that the other gender has a big impact in their lives, but sometimes this can cause them to forget the real things in life, like study and family. People forget what things are important in life as well, like school work, getting good grades to maintain a good OP, to set you up in life, but don’t forget family, family is something you need to be by your side, teenagers continue to forget what family they have, parent and siblings are wondering why teenagers are changing. While at Jacq’s uni party, Dan gets himself into a sticky situation, he is pressured into lying to a girl called Imogen who is intoxicated, who continues to flirt with Dan while he is interested in Naomi. Dan goes with the flow and allows her to make out with him in his room, until Imogen becomes not to well and throws up all over him. This is happening more regularly, people drink too much, dance a little, make out a little, and become sick. Teens are continuing drink more and more every weekend, we are continuing to hear about parties that are going wrong, people who are drunk and becoming violent or just being taken to hospital for drinking too much and having their stomach pumped. In this play, Philip Dean, has shown the relevance to what a normal teenager’s life would be, with a couple of bumps on the way. From love, to adolescences, he has shown the real way a male teenagers mind would work, what challenges in life, what things they need to remember; just like ‘48 Shades of Brown’.

Does the jury system fits the Qatari legal system Research Paper

Does the jury system fits the Qatari legal system - Research Paper Example Qatari Legal System The Qatar Legal System, which is a unique one, is marked by the two unique features. Firstly, being a conservative Muslim country, Qatar’s legal system is based upon the Islamic Law, which is known as Sharia. Next, subsequent to the country’s independence in 1971, the civil court (Adlia Court) was formed, to address issues resulting from the end of the British control. (1) The legal scene of Qatar is in start contrast to that of the four neighboring Islamic societies: United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain. In these four zones, special courts or committees regulate the matters of non-Muslim citizens. But it Qatar, it is the aforementioned Adlia Court that is empowered to pass all laws and regulations governing people belonging to religions other than Islam. (1) For the duration of the preceding few centuries, Qatar’s legal system evolved through three phases and reached its present position. The following are the three patterns of law that had governed the three phases: tribal law, sharia law and modern law. During the phase of the tribal law, some of the judgments handed out were barbaric, to say the least. In that stage, the tribal laws and customs were enforced with utmost severity. Subsequently, there was the advent of the stage where, the Sharia, which is the divine revelation of the regulations to be followed, was adhered to. After that, the British ruled Qatar for the period 1916-1971, and during this time, their (British) laws were the ones that governed the country. And after end of the British regime, the Sharia Law regained its position of supremacy, in the country’s realm of Law. (1) It was almost at the time of independence that the revenue that Qatar derived from oil started to display a rapid growth, and thus paving the way for modernization. And along with this modernization came many new problems warranting immediate attention. As mentioned earlier, the Adlia Court came into being primarily with the objective of addressing these problems. (1) Absence of Jury It has been seen that the modern-day legal system of Qatar is the one that is based on Sharia, which is the word of God. Owing to that, the aspect of referring to previous cases, for arriving at the judgment is conspicuous by its absence in the nation’s legal scenario. To put it in other words, as the Sharia is the law given by the Almighty, there is no scope for both ambiguity and also seeking other sources for guidance, in legal matters. In Qatar Courts, the judge arrives at his decision, fully relying upon their knowledge of the Holy Shraia, and hence this judgment cannot be challenged. As it is the divine word that is the source of the country’s (Qatar) law, both the plaintiffs and defendants cannot use the services of lawyers. They (plaintiffs and defendants) are necessitated to directly present their respective arguments, on their own. (2) At this juncture, it needs to be noted that ju ry was not followed by Qatar, in any of the three stages of the legal system. The reason behind that is very simple to understand. When it is divine revelation that is the foundation on which the law rests, there is no scope for too many arguments in the courts. The word of God cannot be questioned. At this point of this write-up, it won’t be out of place in having a brief look at the jury system that is being followed in the United States. This would be of

Epidemiology of Childhood Obesity Research Paper

Epidemiology of Childhood Obesity - Research Paper Example In epidemiology, there are certain steps done systematically to successfully cure diseases (Page, Cole & Timmreck, 1995). The first step is to identify the problem, or the disease, then make a community or a population assessment by determining whether there are actual or potential health problems present. In this step, questions such as which among the population is the least or the most susceptible is determined. By performing demographic profiling, it can determine the percentage of individuals affected, and can be a reliable indicator of the overall health of the population (Yarnell, 2007). This step is followed by the determination of the causes of the disease. After having a conclusion as to how an ailment affects individuals, epidemiologists give out information on what the disease is, as well as causes, effects and prevention methods. The last step would be on the hands of an individual and his or her personal decisions after being informed about a certain disease. The person can choose whether to do actions that could prevent the onset of the disease or just do nothing to prevent it (Page et al., 1995). Diseases can be studied either by the number of affected individuals in a given population (quantitative epidemiology) or by studying the causes and effects of the disease in the affected individuals (qualitative epidemiology), which are both important in determining risk factors (Yarnell, 2007). In order to search for the causes of diseases, a model is used in determining those factors. Figure 1. The Epidemiology Triangle The epidemiology triangle is a traditional model used in determining the causes of diseases (Page et al., 1995). The vertices consist of the host, or the carrier of the disease, the agent or the cause of the disease, and the environment where the host and the agent are brought together (ibid.). Another part of the triangle is TIME, or the incubation period before a disease becomes full blown (Merril & Timmreck, 2006). After all compon ents of the formation of the disease are identified properly, epidemiologists break the legs of the triangle, disrupting the connections between environment, host and agent in order to prevent the outbreak of the disease and prevent it from spreading. However, in non-infectious diseases this triangle model is not always reliable due to some particular components that are not easily classifiable whether they are agents or environmental (Page et al., 1995). This paper would be tackling the growing epidemic of childhood obesity, and attempt to create a disease model as well as to list the steps in its prevention, focusing on presentation of qualitative obesity epidemiology. Definition of Obesity Body mass index or BMI is used to determine whether a person’s weight is below normal, normal, or above normal, which can be overweight, obese or morbidly obese (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2011). A percentage of at least 25-30% fat in the body can consider a child as fat (Williams et al., 1992). BMI that is 25 up to 29.9 is overweight, and beyond that is considered obese. Being obese, or obesity is defined as an excessive or abnormal accumulation of fat that presents various risks to health (WHO, n.d.). Problems that can arise from excessive fat include high blood pressure and cholesterol, increased impaired glucose tolerance, type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance, breathing