Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Theories for Youth Gang Crime

Theories for Youth Gang Crime Reasons Why Teens Engage in Street Gang Related Crime Introduction The rapid increase of criminal gangs in the United States of America has been alarming in the recent past. It had been reported that these criminal gangs have been recruiting juveniles as members of the gang  (Howell, 2015). Due to this tremendous increase, there has become the need to address this issue critically and extensively. The issue of radicalization of the youth can also be addressed on this topic  (Howell, 2015). Most youths have enrolled themselves in these gangs for a couple of reasons such as the need for affiliation and peer pressure, weak social; control structures among others. The thirst of power for these youngsters can also be seen as a driving factor to the enrolment to this criminal gang. The gangs have structures that are determined by the ability and willingness to commit crimes  (Howell, 2015). These gangs are a major heat to the well-being of the people they operate around due to their actions of robbery, assaults and uncontrolled killings. Failure of the federal government to implement harsh laws on criminals bears all the blame for the increase in street gangs. Structure of gangs Most types of gangs form the general structure of the organized group.   The group members, as derived from the definition of a gang, are from a similar background and share a common interest  (Ratcliffe, 2016). The members of these groups are arranged in hierarchies which are determined by specific factors such as the ability to fight, physical structure, the willingness to commit crimes among others.   Most gangs operate informally having their leadership falling on whoever takes control. The structure depends on their primary size which in most times ranges from five to thousand  (Krohn & Eassey, 2015). The structure of gangs may also depend on the mission of the gang. It may have subgroups in itself that report to the main group. Research done by the federal board of investigations indicates that about thirty-three thousand criminal gangs operate in the United States of America. These gangs have been reported to enroll about 1.4 million members in the past fourteen years  (Ratcliffe, 2016). Another study by statistic brain found that about forty percent of the gangs in the US are below eighteen years of age. It further analyzed that about eight percent of the gang members are females. Large cities and their suburbs remains the hub of street gangs in the United States America having about forty-one and twenty-five percent respectively  (Phillips, 2015). Street gangs cost the government about one million dollars to establish the gang risk intervention program that was initiated in the Los Angeles school system Social control theory postulates that most people would commit crimes if not for the controls that the society puts on them  (Krohn & Eassey, 2015). In this case, most children will engage themselves in crimes since the society has less strict rules that guide the conduct of the children. The society may lack the fundamental structures that control the children such as the school. Due to this, the children are likely to be pulled by their peers to enter into crime and criminal related activities to so as to quench their thirst of affiliation  (Krohn & Eassey, 2015). The failure of the school to develop affirmative guidelines to control the behavior of the students can lead the students to crimes. Strain theory assumes that the society sets goals for the people to achieve. The people are guided by the societal values so as to achieve that target. When people fail to achieve the targets in the most moral ways, they use every means to make sure that they at least accomplish what the society expects regardless of the moral drive  (Krohn & Eassey, 2015). By so doing, they find themselves engaging in criminal acts. In most times most people who engage themselves in crimes do not like hard work and delayed gratification, therefore, thy look for a better and faster way of achieving their goal. Social disorganization theory postulates that a child’s physical and social environments are key factors that shape the behavior of the child. A society that has weak structures is likely to mold people who are weak in their morality. In this theory, the society a person lives in is held into account of the person’s choices  (Howell, 2015). A society that is characterized by poor schools, high rate of unemployment, and a mix of the residential and commercial property is likely to have many young people developing criminal behaviors. For example, a child living in a filthy environment will tend to have a behavior that leans towards crime while that who lives in a physically and morally clean environment is likely to have a behavior that leads the towards morality and deviance to crimes. Engaging in crimes violates the law. Gang violence is a threat to the social and economic welfare of the country. Gang violence drives away investors since they threaten investment. People who engage themselves in crimes are an economic liability to the society  (Krohn & Eassey, 2015). Also, the cost of incarcerating gang members is very high and strains the public finance for the federal government. The other problem of young people engaging in crimes is that they act as a threat to security. Young people are usually very energetic, and if engaged in criminal activities they can cause high insecurity to the lives of peoples and their property. Criminal gangs dissolve the societies’ values but acting in defiance of the set rules. The meaning of the laws set by the society is lessened by the criminal activities  (Krohn & Eassey, 2015). Criminal gangs tamper with the social order. They change the usual way of living and after that dismantle the already existing social structures. These gangs give teachers and the law enforcers a hard time during their correction. The social structures such as the school should be made stronger so as to prevent radicalization of the youth. They should have an elaborate structure of governance that offers strict rules and regulations to be used as a guidance tool for the conduct of the young children. Teachers, for example, should conduct themselves in a way that is worth copying by the children  (Howell, 2015). They should act as role models for the children to emulate and embrace their behavior. The school should have mechanisms that control the children behavior not only in the school environment but also in their entire interactions in the society at large. The federal government of the United States of America has set up the National gang intelligence center with the aim of curbing the growth of criminal gangs which have been reportedly increasing tremendously. The NGIC has the mandate to integrate the gang intelligence across the individual states and the local law enforcement agencies  (Ratcliffe, 2016). The center provides timely and accurate information by ensuring that it provides strategic analysis of intelligence. The The Transnational Anti-Gang task force has been established to curb the MS-13 and the 18th street gangs which are very popular in the United States. The mission of this force is to investigate interrupt and dismantle any of these transnational gangs  (Howell, 2015). This force operates as a team with the FBI. The government should also ensure that they initiate the safe neighborhood projects that will help in reporting crimes when the gangs start to form. This will help combat the criminal gangs from the grassroots. Recommendation Parents must be provided with the necessary education on how to spot the signs of aging associations of their children. They should also be taught on how to work with their children to make the value of the gangs seem less fashionable.   Families also need help to deal with their children who show aspects of deviance by joining street gangs  (Krohn & Eassey, 2015). The school also should put in place viable measures that will help in reducing the pressure for the children to join the street gangs. The school should provide the law enforcers with the right information on the development of gangs in the schools.it should also give accurate information on drugs to the students  (Phillips, 2015). The teachers should also teach the students on how to â€Å"say no† to drugs and other crimes. Conclusion As from the above statistics, street gangs are very dangerous and bring about extensive problems  (Howell, 2015). They are very critical, and they should be dealt with immediate effect because they get bigger and worse when they realize that there is no action being taken against them. Even after the efforts of the government, and the social structures to combat the gangs, the gangs have continued to grow tremendously in the United States of America  (Phillips, 2015). The above recommendation is believed to bring an amicable solution if put in place since they deal with the criminal gangs at the grassroots. References Howell, J. (2015). The history of street gangs in the United States: their origins and transformations. New York: Lexington Books. Krohn, M., & Eassey, J. (2015). Integrated theories of crime. The encyclopedia of theoretical criminology, 81-94. Phillips, S. (2015). The Gang-Drug Nexus: Violence, FBI Safe Streets Task Force. In New Approaches to Drug Policies. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. Ratcliffe, J. (2016). Intelligence-led policing. London, UK: Routledge.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Women in Sports - NCAA vs. AIAW :: Sports Essays Women

NCAA vs. AIAW Women have faced an uphill battle throughout the history of sports whether it is to be able to compete in sports, to attain equal funding for programs, to have access to facilities, or a number of other obstacles that have been thrown in their ways. Women have had to organize and administer their own sports structure rather than compete within the men's structure that existed. The sheer strength and determination of many women sports heroes is what propels women's sport to keep going. One theme that has predominantly surfaced in this fight though is the merging of women's programs with men's, oftentimes only when they are successful enough to stand alone on their own. When female athletes wanted to participate in tournaments and intercollegiate play they had to form their own league, since the NCAA would not accept women's teams. Many women fought long and hard in order to form the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) in 1972, and even harder to make it the successful league it eventually became. The AIAW gained corporate sponsors and television coverage of their national championship and also catapulted women's basketball into the forefront of athletics worldwide. In 1976, just four years after the formation of the AIAW, women's basketball debuted at the Olympics. At the end of its reign the AIAW had created 42 national championships and moved from a 276 charter member institution into an organization consisting of 971 institutional members (Hult). In 1979 Title IX was passed, giving female athletes a huge step towards achieving their goals but possibly giving the AIAW it's defeating blow. With the passage of Title IX came funding for women's sports that was not present prior to this. Suddenly women's athletics were more than just a game, they were profitable sports and men took note of this. Most educational institutions merged their men's and women's physical education and athletic departments. Since this new athletic department had twice the staff that was needed, women athletic director and administrators were sent down to secondary positions. Men were now controlling women's athletics, one domain where women had ruled for the past decade. Male coaches weren't the only ones to notice the potential profit included in women's athletics; the NCAA began to make serious offers to AIAW about merging. Because the NCAA had not prior to this considered the AIAW an equal until women's athletics had potential for television contracts and national championships, the AIAW refused these offers.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Ethics in Public Administration Essay

â€Å"The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust. The elective mode of obtaining rulers is the characteristic policy of republican government. The means relied on in this form of government for preventing their degeneracy are numerous and various. The most effectual one, is such a limitation of the term of appointments as will maintain a proper responsibility to the people.1† How does one maintain proper responsibility to the people? Public Administration is a major contributor to democratic life. Its success advances to the building and maintaining of public trust built in democracy2. One of the greatest obstacles a public administrator is faced with are political and personal responsibilities. Friedrich believes that political and personal responsibilities are acquired through reasoned communication based on scientific knowledge3, while Finer argues that strict obedience to political administration superiors are ones political and personal responsibilities4. Finer also questions if there is such thing as being overly educated, and if those that are highly educated being scared away from governmental positions, thus leaving sub par people to take those roles5. The thought is that if there were better personnel in government positions than there would be a better political system; therefore a more ethically inclined system. Eric Raile agrees with Friedrich’s approach of reasoned communication; being  educated on ethics through training, personal interactions, and perceived knowledge will influence perceptions of ethical climate6. An interesting discovery though was that work tenure actually lessened the perception. This thought process of education is considered to be public ethics. Public ethics is the belief that results are gained from experience from care-oriented tasks7. Experience compared with a person’s age to how long he/she has been in office. The government has two types of approaches to determine ethics through efficiency and performance versus legal and democratic values. These two approaches are the legalistic approach and the managerialistic approach. The legalistic approach is just that, based on law. It relies on law-based priorities and processes to balance discretionary innovation and accountability. The managerialistic approach relies on innovation and efficiency to balance discretionary innovation and accountability. Whistle-blowing is an area of ethics that is often the most intimidating. While an employee is supposed to be protected it is not often guaranteed. There is a huge risk for not only the employee who reports perceived unethical behavior, but also to the company involved. Since there is always a question of whether one should report unethical behavior it is also interesting to examine what makes a person choose whether or not to report those behaviors. One study revolved around auditors, but its conclusion shows how the findings can be applied to public administration: to determine the likelihood of a person to report unethical behavior one must examine that person’s professional commitment and the organizations commitment versus colleague commitment and moral intensity of the unethical behavior9. The findings in the study of the auditors showed that moral intensity relates to both; higher level of professional identity increases as the commitment to the organization provides mo tivation. Another study showed results for where an employee is likely to report these incidences to: executives of larger organizations showed a higher level of employees voicing concerns to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and external  whistle-blowing. Executives with union workers showed a higher level of employees voicing concerns to EEOC, the media, and external whistle-blowing. Executives in the manufacturing industry showed a higher level of employees voicing concerns to OSHA10. While the results are not one hundred percent, and further investigation needs to be done, this study showed that employees are more likely to voice concerns to outside parties, rather than internally. Bibliography: Barnett, Tim. (1992). â€Å"A Preliminary Investigation of the Relationship between Selected Organizational Characteristics and External Whistleblowing by Employees.† Journal of Business Ethics. 11. Brady, F. Neil. (2003). â€Å"’Publics’ Administration and the Ethics of Particularity.† Public Administration Review. 63. Christensen, Robert K., Holly T. Goerdel, and Sean Nicholson-Crotty. (2011). â€Å"Management, Law, and the Pursuit of the Public Good in Public Administration.† Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. 21. Finer, Herman. (1936) â€Å"Better Government Personnel.† Political Science Quarterly. 51. Finer, Herman (1941). â€Å"Administrative Responsibility in Democratic Government.† Public Administration Review 1. Fredericksen, Patricia J. and Daniel Levin. (2004). â€Å"Accountability and the Use of Volunteer Officers in Public Safety Organizations.† Public Performance and Management Review. 27. Gobert , James and Maurice Punch. (2000). â€Å"Whistleblowers, the Pulic Interest, and the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.† The Modern Law Review. 63. Goodsell, Charles T. (2006). â€Å"A New Vision for Public Administration.† Public Administration Review. 66. Grant, Ruth W. and Robert O. Keohane. (2005). â€Å"Accountability and Abuses of Power in World Politics.† The American Political Science Review. 99. Huang, Yi-Hui (2001). â€Å"Should a Public Relations Code of Ethics be Enforced?† Journal of Business Ethics. 31. Huddleston, Mark W. and Joseph C. Sands. (1995). â€Å"Enforcing Administrative Ethics.† Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 537. Jos, Philip H., Mark E. Tompkins, and Steven W. Hays. (1989). â€Å"In Praise of Difficult People: A Portrait of the Committed Whistleblower.† Public Administration Review. 49. Kettl, Donald F. (2009). â€Å"Administrative Accountability and the Rule of Law.† PS: P olitical Science and Politics. 42. Kim, Seok-Eun. (2005). â€Å"Balancing Competing Accountability Requirements: Challenges in Performance Improvement of the Nonprofit Human Services Agency.† Public Performance and Management Review. 29. Luo, Yadong. (2006). â€Å"Political Behavior, Social Responsibility, and Perceived Corruption: A Structuration Perspective.† Journal of International Business Studies. 37. Madison, James. (1788) â€Å"The Alleged Tendency of the New Plan to Elevate the Few at the Expense of the Many Considered in Connection with Representation.† New York Packet. The Federalist. McNamee, Michael John and Scott Fleming. (2007). â€Å"Ethics Audits and Corporate Governance: The Case of Public Sector Sports Organizations.† Journal of Business Ethics. 73. Plant, Jeremy F. (2011). â€Å"Carl J. Friedrich on Responsibility and Authority.† Public Administration Review. 71 Raile, Eric D. (2013). â€Å"Building Ethical Capital: Perceptions of Ethical Climate in the Public Sector.† Public Administration Review. 73. Rodgers, Robert and Nanette Rodg ers. (2000) â€Å"Defining the Boundaries of Public Administration: Undisciplined Mongrels versus Disciplined Purists.† Public Administration Review. 60. Sayre, Wallace S. (1948). â€Å"The Triumph of Techniques over Purpose.† Public Administration Review. 8. Shanahan, Kevin J. and Michael R. Hyman. (2003). â€Å"The Development of a Virtue Ethics Scale.† Journal of Business Ethics. 42. Smith, Robert W. (2003). â€Å" Enforcement or Ethical Capacity: Considering the Role of State Ethics Commissions at the Millennium.† Public Administration Review. 63. Smith, Rogers M. (2008).â€Å"Religious Rhetoric and the Ethics of Public Discourse: The Case of George W. Bush.† Political Theory. 36. Stensota, Helena Olofsdotter. (2010). â€Å"The Conditions of Care: Reframing the Debate about Public Sector Ethics.† Public Administration Review. 70. Taylor, Eileen Z. and Mary B. Curtis. (2010). â€Å"An Examination of the Layers of Workplace Influences in Ethical Judgments: Whistleblowing Likelihood and Perseverance in Public Accounting.† Journal of Business Ethics. 93. Thompson, Dennis F. (1985). â€Å"The Possibility of Administrative Ethics.† Public Administration Review. 45.

Friday, January 3, 2020

Diabetes A Health Condition - 948 Words

Diabetes is a health condition that described with elevated level of glucose in the blood as a result of the body’s inability to produce any or not enough insulin causing hyperglycemia. In fact, diabetes is the sixth factor of causing in death in the U.S due to its correlation to cardiovascular diseases (Hummel Schnell, 2009). Not to mention that diabetes has its health complication: Kidney failure, blindness, and lower limb amputations. In 2014, Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the number of diabetic reached 29.1 million people in the U.S, which is a 9.3 % of the total population. In fact, in the same report pointed out that 37% of the total U.S population (adults aged 20 and older) is prediabetic based on†¦show more content†¦In fact, chromium plays a role in glucose and insulin homeostasis. This mechanism is as result of the role of chromodulin that activates insulin receptor kinase activity. This activation happens when a chromium ion transport to the insulin dependent cell by transferrin. When chromium binds to Apochromodulin forming chromodulin that mediates and activates the insulin receptor IR and leads to glucose uptake (Vincent, 2000). In 2012, Basaki et al. investigates the chromium serum levels and other minerals: Zinc, copper, and iron as well in both diabetic and normal subjects. He found that diabetic subjects were deficient in all these minerals compared with non-diabetic ones. In fact, that chromium level is decreased by age (Havel, 2004). Hence chromium supplementation could be a therapeutic approach for treating diabetes or at least decrease medication dose. Chromium Supplementation in diabetes The efficacy of chromium supplementation is debatable; however, in a systemic review of 15 studies that conducted by Broadhurst and Domenico 2006 found 13 of 15 studies have found significant outcome in glycemic control. All the 15 studies found a significant benefit of using chromium picolinate supplement in at least one of the following: Dyslipidemia, reduced blood glucose, insulin, cholesterol, and the requirement of hypoglycemic medication. The most efficient form of chromium that used as supplementation is chromium picolinate that linked to insulin sensitivity