History of Pension Abuses

Table of Contents Introduction History of Pensions Pension Abuse Prevention of Abuses Conclusion Works Cited Introduction In traditional times, the welfare of the elderly was taken care of by the tightly knit family set up in which they lived. However, the structure of the community has largely changed and this traditional set up seldom exists. This combined with the fact that we are living in a time where the average life-span has significantly lengthened therefore leading to the presence of a significant aged population has resulted in the need for an apparatus to guarantee the welfare of the elderly. Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on History of Pension Abuses specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Pension schemes present such a platform since they create a means through which the elderly who suffer diminishing power can acquire some form of economic and social security (Blackburn 4). Consequently, the is sue of pension benefit remains on the foreground of many governments’ policies as increased benefits of security in retirements is sought after. However, the issue of pension abuse threatens the very foundation of the pension institute. Considering the significant role that pensions play in the lives of the elderly, it is important that these abusive practices be contained. This paper shall set out to provide an informative discussion on the history of pension abuses in our country. The manners in which these detrimental practices can be prevented will also be explored. History of Pensions Pension funds are in essence an â€Å"agreement by a sponsor to provide income to participants upon their retirements† therefore guaranteeing their well being after they are out of the work industry (Blackburn 5). While the earnings made in the pension scheme are significantly less than those made while in employment, they ensure that the retired person can live comfortably without working. Jeszeck documents that over 50% of the private sector workforce participate in some form of pension scheme (6). As a result of this, the pension industry has gained such prominence in modern life that those who manage pension products have become big players in the financial world. Pension funds are vulnerable to fraud and corruption mostly because of a flawed enforcement policy that results in abuse by those who are responsible for the funds (Ferguson and Blackwell 92). As of 1950, the government implemented the Pension Plans Disclosure Act which was meant to ensure that pension plans disclosed more financial information to the Labor Department and to the plan participants (Howard 124). In recognition that employers had too much power over the pension funds, congress in the 1970s sought ways to reduce this. The formation of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation which was responsible for regulations governing vesting and funding standards was set up. This body required the reporting and disclosure of pension plans by the employers.Advertising Looking for research paper on labor law? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 resulted in the Department of Labor being charged with the task of administering and enforcing fiduciary requirements, an act which resulted in the fragmentation of the pension interests therefore ensuring that no one body could exploit the pension funds. Defined benefit pension plans must meet the requirements set by the Internal Revenue Code, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Pension Protection Act (PPA) (Sipe, Metrejean and Donaldson, 177). The most recent act, the PPA is particularly significant since it obligates companies to ensure that their pension schemes are fully funded and if not, penalties are imposed on the said companies. Pension Abuse The American system allows companies to manage their employee’s pension funds in whichever way they deem appropriate. While it is assumed that the organization will have the employee’s best interest at heart, this is not always the case and there are instances whereby the company uses the pension funds in ways that are beneficial to the company but detrimental to the employees. Perhaps the best example of such behavior is the Enron scandal in which the company utilized money from employee pension funds to inflate its share capital (Blackburn 202). When the Enron scandal was made public, the share prices of the company plummeted and as such, employee pension plans could no longer be paid. Pension funds are often invested in company shares which makes them open to falling prey of corporate greed and indulgence which has resulted in the collapse of many companies in America. Many U.S. corporations are notorious for their extravagant top executive compensation schemes. The motivation for this is to align the interests of e xecutives with those of the shareholders therefore resulted in huge profits for the company through rising share valuations. This set up often results in executives looking for ways to boost share prices so that they can benefit themselves. This short-term boost might have a negative effect on the long-tern health of the company which constitutes fraudulent behavior (Blackburn 202). The cost of this share price manipulation by executives will affect the employees who have invested their pensions of the same company.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on History of Pension Abuses specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Another danger that pension schemes suffer from is pension buyouts by financial entities. Purcell, Orszag and Net reveal that buyouts create new risks that could adversely affect the welfare of the workers (137). In addition to this, such buyouts results in the creation of a third-party sponsor who do es not have an incentive to manage the plan in the interest of the employees. This is as opposed to a pension scheme that is sponsored by the company which will have an incentive to properly manage the plan so as to maintain a good working relationship with the employees. Prevention of Abuses Blackburn asserts that while a good pension scheme can help reinforce a healthy and sustainable economy, a bad one results in economic dangers and social dis-tempers (4). Pension fraud results in a bad pension scheme and therefore threatens the economy and social harmony. It is therefore of uttermost importance for means to be sought through which pension fraud can be prevented altogether or mitigated at the very least. Stewart reveals that most workers are highly exposed to risks such as insolvency by the plan sponsors. Owing to the significance of pension funds to the lives of the people who make the investments, it is of great importance to ensure that the said funds to no fail. One of th e manners through which this can be ensured is through Pension Benefit Guarantee Schemes (PBGS). Stewart articulates that PBGSs are insurance type arrangements which â€Å"take on outstanding obligations which cannot be met by the insolvent plan sponsors (2). Such safeguards are especially vital in a volatile market where the health of a company may not be guaranteed. The PBGS in recent years bailed out over 4000 failed pension plans therefore ensuring that the employees who had been investing in the fund were not affected by the plans failures (Sipe, Metrejean and Donaldson, 186).Advertising Looking for research paper on labor law? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Another proposed solution for ensuring that pension abuse does not occur is by imposing of strict rules that ensure that the pensions are at all times funded. Stewart reveals that in Dutch where such a system has been adopted, all pension funds are required to have a certain minimal percentage of funds at all times (9). While it has been demonstrated that having a 100% funded pension may not be feasible as a result of deterioration of investment returns and other unexpected outcomes, the higher the percentage of minimal funding the lower the risks of a the pension fund collapsing. The U.S. also has such a policy in place through the PPA which not only dictates that pension is fully funded but it also increases the disclosure requirements for employers funding private pension funds. Conclusion Given today’s economic realities, it is important to ensure that the pension funds are safeguarded from fraud. This paper set out to give a brief history of pension funds, the abuses t hat can be perpetrated against the funds and possible preventions. From this paper, it is evident that pensions continue to be vulnerable as a result of fraudulent behavior by the funds managers as well as little policing efforts to ensure that the funds are kept in the right order. This paper has outlined the various methods which can be used to perpetrate abuses of pensions. All this methods result in the employees losing a significant or even all of their pension. However, proactive steps have been taken so as to ensure the prevention and detection of pension fraud. These methods such as the PBGS and the PPA is properly implemented will result in the safeguarding of pensions from fraudulent persons. This will not only ensure the protection of the future welfare of the employees but it will also have a positive impact on the country’s economy. Works Cited Blackburn, Robin. Banking on death: or, investing in life: the history and future of pensions. Verso, 2003. Print. Fer guson, Karen and Blackwell, Kate. The pension book: what you need to know to prepare for retirement. Arcade publishing, 1996. Print. Jeszeck, Charles. Retirement income: challenges for ensuring income throughout retirement. Diane Publishing, 2010. Print. Sipe, Stephanie. Metrejean, Cheryl and Donaldson, William. â€Å"Defined Benefit Pension Fraud: A ticking time bomb.† Journal of Forensic Investigative Accounting Vol. 2, Issue 2. Stewart, F. â€Å"Benefit Security Pension Fund Guarantee Schemes†. OECD Working Papers on Insurance and Private Pensions, No. 5, OECD Publishing. Purcell, Patrick and Orszag, Peter. Underfunded pensions, pension dumping and retirement security. The Capitol Net Inc, 2009. Print. This research paper on History of Pension Abuses was written and submitted by user Dem0g0bl1n to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

How To Give Advice in Spanish

How To Give Advice in Spanish There are at least four ways you can offer advice in Spanish, depending partly on how direct you wish to be. Statements of advice can be in the form of a command, in the form of telling a person what he or she is obligated to do, as a statement of advice followed by the subjunctive mood, and as a n impersonal statement followed by the subjunctive mood. All four methods have parallels in English. Giving Advice Using Commands Commands may go beyond the point of being advisory, depending on the context, tone of voice and whether your command is direct or indirect. In context, commands (also known as  the imperative mood) such as these can be understood as either advice or a demand: Habla tà º a la policà ­a, y diles que tu vecina est loca. (Talk to the police and tell them your neighbor is crazy.)Compre el producto, no el proveedor. (Buy the product, not the provider.)No salgas ahora. (Dont leave now.) The future tense can substitute for the imperative in making directing commands, as it can in English. But such commands are extremely forceful and thus would not usually be understood as advisory.  ¡Comers todo el almuerzo! (You will eat all of your lunch!) ¡Saldr ahora mismo! (You will leave right now!) Giving Advice by Expressing Obligation Like direct commands, whether statements of obligation (such as You should do this in English) are understood as advice - or potentially as rude - depends on context, including the tone of voice. The common ways of expressing obligation are the uses of tener que infinitive and deber infinitive. When giving advice, you can soften the tone by using a conditional form of deber: Deberà ­as estudiar un poco acerca de las opciones. (You ought to study a little bit about the choices.)No deberà ­as escoger productos lcteos que son altos en grasas. (You shouldnt choose dairy products that are high in fat.)Deberà ­an ustedes ser ms positivos. (You should be more positive.) Using Verbs of Advice With the Subjunctive Because giving advice is often a way of expressing a wish or a desire - or certainly of referring to an event that may or may not occur - the subjunctive mood is used after the verb of advice. Common verbs of advice and possible translations include: aconsejar: to advisesugerir: to suggestproponer: to propose, to put forward (an idea) These verbs should not be confused with verbs such as notificar and informar, which can be translated as advise, but only in the sense of to inform. Some examples: Te aconsejo que me olvides. (I suggest that you forget me.)Te aconsejo que te cases en tu propio paà ­s. (I advise you to get married in your own country.)Sugiero que se pueda desactivar el foro. (I suggest that you deactivate the forum.)Le sugerimos que visite nuestro sitio regularmente. (We suggest that you visit our site regularly.)Sugiero que te comuniques con el centro meteorolà ³gico de tu ciudad. (I suggest you communicate with your citys weather center.)Te propongo que escribas un articulo con lo que sabes de este seà ±or. (I suggest you write an article based on what you know about this gentleman.)Te proponemos que dediques 3 minutitos a contestar este cuestionario. (We ask you to spend just three short minutes answering this questionnaire.) Using Impersonal Statements as Advice An even less direct way of giving advice is to use impersonal statements, typically followed by the subjunctive. Examples of impersonal statements used in advice include es importante (it is important) and es necesario (it is necessary); like verbs of advice, they are followed by a verb in the subjunctive mood. And as in the fourth example below, you can make statements of how you would react as a way of advising. Es importante que participes en clase. (It is important that you participate in class.)Creemos que es necesario que tenga un coche fiable. (We believe it is important that you have a reliable car.)Serà ­a provechoso si pudià ©ramos examinar ese problema. (It would be helpful if we could examine that problem.)Me gustarà ­a si me escribes de vez en cuando. (It would please me if you write to me once in a while.) Key Takeaways The most direct way of giving advice is to use the imperative mood or the future tense, although such ways of giving advice can come across as too forceful to be considered advice.Verbs of advice are typically followed by que and a verb in the subjunctive mood.Impersonal statements followed by a verb in the subjunctive mood can be used to give advice indirectly.

Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty - Research Paper Example From 1819, Panama was some piece of the league or a federation and nation of Colombia however when Colombia rejected United States arrangements to assemble a channel over the Isthmus of Panama, the U.S. upheld a transformation that prompted the autonomy of Panama in 1903. The new Panamanian government sanctioned French specialist Philippe Bunau-Varilla, to arrange a bargain with the United States. The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty permitted the U.S. to assemble the Panama Canal and accommodate interminable control of zone five-miles wide on either side of the trench. Despite the fact that the French had endeavored development of a trench in the 1880s, the Panama Canal was effectively manufactured from 1904 to 1914. When the channel was finished the U.S. held a swath of area running the roughly 50 miles over the Isthmus of Panama. The division of the nation of Panama into two parts by the U.S. domain of the Canal Zone brought about strain all around the twentieth century. Also, the independent Canal Zone (the authority name for the U.S. region in Panama) helped little to the Panamanian economy. The occupants of the Canal Zone were essential U.S. natives and West Indians who worked in the Zone and on the channel3. Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty was marked or signed on 18 November 1903 by Secretary of State John M. Feed and Philippe Bunau-Varilla, a French waterway guru who had helped arrange the Panamanian rebel against Colombia and went about as the new managing juntas emissary to Washington. The bargain gave that the United States ensure the autonomy of Panama, while getting in interminability a ten-all inclusive portion of domain for the development of a trench. The United States was made completely sovereign over this zone and held the right to mediate somewhere else in Panama as important to keep request. In exchange,

Critically assess the implications of Social Contrant Theory (SCT) for Essay

Critically assess the implications of Social Contrant Theory (SCT) for relations between the individual and state - Essay Example overnment and state in the current times, and provides a strong justification of the limitation of the power of the state against the citizens, and the corresponding authority of the people to establish a government that will serve the common good and embody the people’s ideals and aspirations. Thomas Hobbes’ political philosophy of social contract theory is outlined in the hypothetical State of Nature. In his Leviathan published in 1651, he articulated on a particular theory of human nature that gives a rise to a particular view of morality and politics (Gauthier 1988). He rejects the theory of Divine Rights of Kings, indirectly refuting Filmer’s claim that a king’s authority is invested in him by God, enjoys an absolute authority, in which the basis of political obligation lays in an individual’s obligation to obey God absolutely. Hence, this theory of Filmer, which Hobbes rejects in his social Contract theory, states that political obligation is subsumed under religious obligation (ibid). Rather, Hobbes argued that obligation and political authority are dependent upon the individual’s self-interests of members of society who are taken as equals of the others, with no single individual given an absolute authority to rule over the rest, while at the same time, poses that if society is to survive, the Monarch (Sovereign), must be given absolute authority (Baier 1994). Hobbes describes the human being as exclusively self-interested and reasonable, possessing the rational capacity to pursue his dreams as maximally as possible. He argues that man’s reason does not evaluate their given ends; rather it merely finds the way to the things Desired, describing rationality as purely instrumental (ibid). It is from these premises that Hobbes is able to construct a provocative and compelling argument for why individuals would tend to be willing to submit themselves to a political authority. He explains this through his discussion of the State of Nature, in which

New technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

New technology - Essay Example It is also a transition from the static HTML pages to dynamic web pages that are organized and it is based on serving the web application to users. It is no longer a ‘medium’ that people visit. Information can easily flow in and out of the web services. There are various forms in which the people use this technology. Some of the frequently used applications of web2.0 technology include Blogs and Wikis, IM Chat, tagging, RSS Feeds, Google Maps and Google Docs. Photos and video sharing and social networking are the web 2.0 tools, social office suites and podcasts. Through this technology people can create websites that look like and act as desktop programs. Thus people use this technology mostly for creating their own blogs, for social networking and video and photo sharing. Blogs is the short form of weblogs and is more like a personal diary which people maintain on the internet (Gill 2004). The act of adding an entry or updating the blog is called ‘blogging’ and the one who writes blogs is known as a ‘blogger’. Sometimes blogs are characterized by their technology like Blogger, Greymatter, LiveJournal, Manila, Movable Type, or UserLand. Bolggers write about topics that matter to them and they invite comments on their postings. The contact details of the blogger is also provide so anyone interested can exchange personal emails instead of posting messages that can be read by all visitors to the blog. The posts on the blog are permanent and only the author who owns it can edit it. The Primary characteristics of a blog include: Blogging started as a pastime in America but has now evolved and is used as a platform for various purposes. Most bloggers are young and have one author whose purpose is to express personal content. Not all bloggers give their true identification on the blogs and hence it serves to maintain anonymity

Children Within the Juvenile Criminal Justice System

Children Within the Juvenile Criminal Justice System The conceptualisation of children within the juvenile criminal justice system. Introduction In 2006 to 2007, statistics have shown that there were approximately 3,500 crimes per 100,000 individual’s conducted by juveniles in Australia, almost double the number carried out by adults (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2009). Before the 19th century, there was no category that separated juvenile offenders from adult offenders in Australia’s legal systems and children as young as six were sent to prison (Cunneen White 2007; Carrington Pereira 2009). In modern Australia however, it is widely accepted and acknowledged that juveniles should be treated differently within the criminal legal system so that their inexperience and immaturity can be considered (Richards, 2011). Consequently, juveniles are not dealt with as adults within the judicial system as they are treated more leniently than their adult counterparts. In Australia, the use of detention as a criminal punishment for youths is used as a last resort, after methods such as police cautioning and restorative youth programmes (Richards, 2011). Richards (2011a) suggests that youths are uniquely different to adults and as such this makes them incredibly receptive to rehabilitation in preventing them from further criminal acts. Richards (2011a, np.) argues that a‘range of factors, including juveniles’ lack of maturity, propensity to take risks and susceptibility to peer influence, as well as intellectual disability, mental illness and victimisation, increase juveniles’ risks of contact with the criminal justice system’. This essay will attempt to examine how children are positioned and conceptualised within Australia’s criminal justice system in contrast to the UK criminal system, examining in particular the concept of ‘childhood’ and ‘child’ discourses as well as considering the potential abuse of the juvenile criminal justice system. Discourses of childhood Historically, three key dominant discourses have been conceptualised around childhood and the child, which influences the ways in which children’s behaviour, capabilities and inherent characteristics can be understood (Kehily, 2009). The romantic discourse of childhood described by Jean Jacques Rousseau, views children as being innocent, pure and exuding inherent goodness, of which is harmed or corrupted through contact with the social world (Kehily, 2009). Romantic discursive representations perpetuates the understanding that children need to be protected from potential risk factors in the environment that could be dangerous to their inherent innocence. The acts of criminality from such a discourse are seen as being caused through the influence of the world around them (Kehily, 2009). As Richards (2011a) suggested, juveniles can be influenced by their peers into committing crimes, therefore the child’s inherent goodness has been tainted and corrupted. Also, in the digital age of modern childhood, a child’s early exposure to various forms of media such as the useful, but dangerous Internet, as well as games and movies with violence and crime increase the risk of corruption to their inherent goodness. In contrast, puritan discourse portrays children as possessing an innate capacity for evil or wicked behaviours that is in need of constant checking, observation, reprimand and guidance (Kehily, 2009). This viewpoint regards children as in need of saving from themselves and that childhood is a time in which children must be given moral education to deter their natural potential for wickedness (Kehily, 2009). Richards (2011a) described children’s natural propensity to take risks as a possible factor in criminal behaviour and as such this can be viewed in relation to the puritan discourse. The tabula rasa discourse postulated by John Locke however, portrays children as coming into the world as a blank slate that with effective education and support, can develop successfully into full adulthood (Kehily, 2009). From this viewpoint, factors such as poor education, family support and as Richards (2011a) describes ‘intellectual disability’ can be seen as leading children to crime. Each of these discourses have emerged in different periods of history as more dominant according to social and cultural factors; all three discourses however can be seen to different extents meshed within health care, education policy and practice and within the criminal justice system in addressing and preventing crime amongst young offenders. Australia’s juvenile criminal justice system The United Nations’ Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (1985) places importance on all nations developing laws, rules and provisions that are specifically catered to the needs of juvenile offenders, whilst simultaneously upholding their rights. All Australian jurisdictions (except Queensland) define a juvenile as being aged between 10 and 17; in Queensland it is between 10 and 16 (Richards, 2011). All children under the age of ten are viewed as being unable to be held legally responsible for their actions. This suggests that if a child under ten commits a crime then it is no fault of their own, but that something must have happened to them, such as Richards (2011a) highlighted, peer influence or lack of correct education, support and guidance. This concept of childhood utilises the discourses of romantic and tabula rasa, as children are being identified as inherently good, and only bad behaviour such as crime being committed through the influence of environmental factors (Kehily, 2009). The tabula rasa discourse is evident, in that it is the lack of appropriate guidance, education and support from others around the child, which has led to the child’s criminal behaviour (Kehily, 2009). Whilst Australia adopts such representations and discourses of children into its legal policies that determine how children are dealt with in the legal system, not all countries adopt the same viewpoint. In the United Kingdom, children can be seen to be viewed much differently, due to shifts of discursive representation following high profile criminal behaviours of children. UK juvenile crime policy Faulkner (2010) critiqued the UK Criminal Justice Act (1991), identifying that the UK criminal justice system had become ineffective, due to inconsistencies in how juveniles were dealt with judicially, stating there was a need to address increasing punishment. Faulkner (2010) stated that in response to rising juvenile crime, children should be dealt with as adults are treated, requiring increased punishment. In the UK, the murder of a two year old child, Jamie Bulger, in 1990, by a pair of ten years old boys led to the public outcry for a need for more severe punishments (Sereny, 1994). UK society was shocked by the criminal actions of the two young children and the media supported the public’s disbelief through representing the boys as child killers (Sereny, 1994). The puritan discourse could be seen in action, as the children were describes as being inherently evil, viewing the murder as premeditated and cold (Sereny, 1994; Kehily, 2009). Public pressure and media coverage c ried out for the two ten year old boys to be treated as adults and jailed for life (Sereny, 1994; Franklyn Petley, 1996). However, being juveniles, the boys were not subjected to life sentences in the UK criminal justice system, due to being viewed as being not fully responsible for their actions, they were however institutionalised with the aim of rehabilitation. The case of Jamie Bulger’s murder provides good evidence of how different discourses can be used within society and social and political systems, such as the criminal justice system. These discourses conceptualise how children and their behaviour come to be understood and, in law, how such behaviour is dealt with (Kehily, 2009). In society and the media, the boys were viewed as cold blooded killers, innately possessing some flawed, evil mind that led to their murderous behaviour (Seveny, 1994). However, the UK judicial system used a contrasting romantic discourse in viewing that ‘something’ had caused the children to behave as they did and that in applying a tabula rasa discourse, the children could be educated through rehabilitation into returning to the ‘natural’ goodness associated with a romantic discourse of childhood (Kehily, 2009). If this crime had occurred however in Australia, being 10 years old, the children would have been unable to have b een criminally charged or trialled for the murder of the two year old, as the law does not apply to ten year olds (Richards, 2011a). Australian law utilising a romantic discourse, viewing the children as wholly innocent and therefore the behaviour must be a result of external causes and influence (Kehily, 2009; Richards, 2011) Interestingly in the UK, there has been an introduction of ‘parenting orders’ given to the parents of children who offend (Home Office, 2003). Demonstrating the romantic discourse similar to Australia, it locates the behaviour of the child as a result of inadequate and poor parenting. Parenting orders are designed to change the behaviours of the parents through re-education so that they can then influence and support their children more effectively (Crime and Disorder Act, 1991). This also demonstrates a shift to a tabula rasa discourse in which children are at risk of poor parenting and in need of moral guidance and education (Kehily, 2009). This use of romantic and tabula rasa discourses in the UK juvenile criminal justice system concurs with Australia’s approach to addressing juvenile crime also. Richards (2011a) identifies that juveniles due to their age are very responsive to rehabilitation to promote non-criminal behaviour. This portrays childhood as a parti cular time that requires education and guidance, a view upheld within tabula rasa discourse. Studies have even been used to offer evidence that childhood is a qualitatively different state of being to that of adulthood, in which children have not cognitively acquired the skills needed to make appropriate decisions, determine risk and regulate emotions (Steinberg, 2005). This reflects a romantic discourse, which conceptualises children as essentially innocent, because they have not acquired the necessary cognitive functions to correctly know right from wrong. Murray (2009) states that Australian policy must reflect the need for interventions that can help juveniles grow out of crime, so linking the need for youths to be educated, supported and rehabilitated so that they develop into lawful abiding citizens. Richards (2011) suggests that juveniles have greater complex needs than adults, due to their psycho-social immaturity, being more under the influence of peer group pressure, drugs and alcohol. Childhood is conceptualised within Australian policy as a time in which children need to be protected from external environmental factors that can harm their inherent goodness and innocence (Kehily, 2009). Criminal behaviour is therefore being understood as a result of society’s failure to save these children from the negative influences of the outside world (Murray, 2009). Particular understandings have been identified through the examining of conceptualisation and discursive representation of childhood within the juvenile criminal systems of Australia and the United Kingdom. It is evident that children within the juvenile criminal system are not seen through puritan discourse. However, public anger to severe criminal offences such as murders undertaken by children can reflect this view of children as inherently evil. Through identifying how romantic, puritan and tabula rasa discourses are used within societies as a whole and perpetuated within media, policy and legislation, it has demonstrated how these can influence how children are treated with within the juvenile criminal systems. The dominant discourses found within Australia and the UK policies are that of a romantic and tabula rasa discourse, in which children are viewed as inherently innocent and good, criminal behaviour being seen as resulting from the influence of eternal environmental factor s. In managing and preventing juvenile crime, children are seen to require guidance, support and rehabilitation, viewing children through the tabula rasa discourse. From the understandings identified above, wide acceptance and acknowledgement that juveniles are to be treated more leniently due to considerations of their immaturity and inexperience may lead to potential abuse of the system by various parties. Potential abuse of the Juvenile Criminal Justice System As modern day children are getting smarter and exposed to technology at a younger age, from the puritan discourse, exposure to knowledge of how courts make rulings regarding juvenile crime, either through the internet or peer influence, may lead to a child’s potential exploitation of the system knowing that they can get away with petty crimes easily. In some cases, a child may play into their immaturity and risk-taking propensity, to commit crime such as theft to satisfy material needs. Similarly from the tabula rasa and romanticised viewpoint, ‘intellectual disability’ as described by Richards (2011a) can be transformed into a view of ‘intellectually shrewd’ children abusing the system due to corruption through contact with the social world, ineffective moral education and support. In extreme cases, there is also a possibility of adults or delinquent parents with knowledge of the system taking advantage of the innocence and immaturity of a child, either by threatening or inducing a child to commit crime on their behalf through means of rewards. This is perhaps a cause for concern due to the potential exploitation of such a loophole in the juvenile justice system. While Richards (2011a) suggests that children are more receptive to rehabilitation in preventing them from further criminal acts, prevention is better than cure. So why allow it to happen in the first place and follow up with corrective measures even though children are more receptive to rehabilitation? Support and guidance from family and school is ideal to keep a child in check. In scenarios where a child is from a broken family, where certain studies have shown a link between child delinquency and broken homes, schools should step in to provide more guidance and support for the child. Perhaps more can be done to educate children against such behaviour and raise awareness on this issue. Also, a helpline to combat scenarios where children are pressured into committing crime can potentially help. References Australian Institute of Criminology (2009) Juvenile crime. Retrieved from: http://www.aic.gov.au/statistics/criminaljustice/juveniles.html (Accessed 16th May, 2014) Carrington, K. Pereira, M. (2009)Offending youth: Sex, crime and justice. Leichhard, Federation Press Cunneen C White R (2007)Juvenile justice: Youth and crime in Australia, 3rd ed. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press Faulkner, D. (2010) Criminal law and justice at a time of austerity. London: Criminal Justice Alliance. Franklin, B. Petley, J. (1996) Killing the age of innocence: newspaper reporting of the death ofJames Bulger in J. Pilcher and S. Wagg (eds) Thatchers Children: Politics, Childhood and Society in the 1980s and 1990s, London: Falmer. Home Office (1998) Crime and Disorder Act, London: HMSO Home Office (2003) Respect and Responsibility: Taking a stand against Anti-Social Behaviour, London: HMSO Kehily, M, J. (2009) An Introduction to childhood studies, Berkshire: McGraw-Hill. Murray, C. (2009) Typologies of young resisters and desisters.Youth Justice9, (2), 115–129. Richards, K. (2011) Trends in juvenile detention in Australia. Retrieved from: http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/tandi/401-420/tandi416.html (Accessed 16th May, 2014) Richards, K. (2011a) What makes juvenile offenders different to adult offenders. Australian Institute of Criminology. Retrieved from: http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/tandi/401-420/tandi409.html (Accessed 15th May, 2014) Sereny, G. (1994) The Independent, Retrieved from: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/reexamining-the-evidence-a-year-ago-this-week-james-bulger-was-murdered-by-two-11yearold-boys-the-crime-shook-the-nation-the-boys-were-tried-convicted-and-locked-away-but-what-do-we-know-about-them-do-we-know-why-they-did-it-after-months-of-research-including-interviews-with-parents-of-both-boys-we-publish-in-two-parts-the-story-that-has-not-been-told-1392400.html (Accessed 3rd May, 2014). Steinberg, L. (2005). Cognitive and affective development in adolescence.Trends in Cognitive Sciences9, (2), 69–74 United Nations (1985)United Nations standard minimum rules for the administration of juvenile justice (the Beijing rules). Adopted by General Assembly resolution 40/33 of 29 November 1985. Retrieved from: http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/40/a40r033.htm (Accessed 12th May, 2014) 1

Old and Young Frankenstein Essay -- Frankenstein essays

Old and Young Frankenstein      Ã‚   Something that interested me greatly about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was the treatment that the creature received from Frankenstein and the other people around him. I often wonder how things would have turned out had he been treated with a little bit of humanism and compassion, especially by his creator. What if Frankenstein had taken the responsibility as the creature's parent and created him with a little humanism and kindness? Would the creature have vowed such revenge and killed everyone Victor cared about? I'm going to use the film Young Frankenstein from 1974 to show what happened when the creature, created this time by Victor's grandson, Frederick, received better treatment. Although the film is meant as a parody of all the films based on the novel, underlying this humor are more serious points, one of which is the concern with the way the creature is considered.    The first step is to make a comparison between the film and the novel, and to look at the 1931 film version, since the humor in Young Frankenstein seems to be greatly parodying that film. The Frankenstein in this film version is Frederick, the grandson of Victor, who is a lecturer on neurosurgeons in New York. He receives news of his grandfather's will, and he goes off to Transylvania to claim his ancestral estate, there finding the plans of his grandfather's for the construction of a creature. The plot is very loosely based on Shelley's Frankenstein as a model, but it's continued into the twentieth century with a different generation. Of course, when looking at the novel, it seems quite impossible that Victor could possibly have had a ... ...ral times, at the risk of his own life, as most parent would do for their children. Victor from Shelley's novel never even considered the creature a fellow being and showed no responsibility whatsoever to the creature. This creature felt unloved by his father, and plotted revenge on Victor, taking his family away, a family the creature could never experience. This comparison shows how if Victor had once considered the feelings of the creature, everything could have turned out so much differently.    Works Cited Alpert, Hollis. "Comedy: The New King." Saturday Review World 2 Nov. 1974: 52- 3. "Blazing Brooks." Show Business and TV. Time 13 Jan. 1975: 56. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1992. Young Frankenstein. Dir. Mel Brooks. 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, 1974