Corporate Governance Dilemma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Corporate Governance Dilemma - Essay Example The ‘shareholding’ paradigm involved the maximization of shareholders’ value while the ‘stakeholding’ paradigm involved satisfaction of stakeholders’ interests. This created the conceptual dichotomy over ‘individual liberty’ and ‘justice for everyone’ when making important business decisions (Sullivan and Conlon, 1997). A prime example of this decision making model is the successful multinational furniture manufacturer Ikea (IKEA, 2012) . While starting as a small family business in Sweden, it gradually became the world’s largest home furnishing retailer with a reputation of low prices and novel design. The company’s internal costs were attributed to the fact most of the products were manufactured in factories from Asian and eastern European countries. However, in early 1998 a scandal ensued stating that Ikea was tolerating appalling working conditions in its suppliers’ factories in Eastern Eur ope and quickly signed an agreement that would stop exploitation of the workers. Later that year, a TV documentary was shown depicting images of child labour and unhealthy working conditions in factories in India producing IKEA textiles and garments causing uproar in Sweden. Despite the subsequent debates and campaigns from the Socialist Party (SP), the company failed to acknowledge the problem and refused inspection by third parties. Ikea also didn’t adopt the Rugmark foundation label, which validated the eradication of child labour and was already adopted by many companies at that time. Customer complaints in the following year ensued and yellow cards were signed but in response the company still claimed that it would take measures for child labour but didn’t satisfy the SP’s demands for proper control. This in turn caused the intensification of the campaigns spreading to other European countries like Austria and Belgium, ultimately leading to the signing of 5 3.300 red cards on the 3rd of June 1999 which banned the purchase of any Indian rugs or textiles from Ikea. The result was the compliance of Ikea on the 7th of July 1999 with the terms of the SP, which involved stronger measures against child labour and hiring a third party firm to evaluate the process. Ikea also adopted a code of conduct in September 2000, called ‘The Ikea Way of Purchasing Home Furnishing Products’ (IWAY), clearly stating against forced labour and hazardous work conditions (IKEA, 2012). On one hand, Ikea’s practices displayed a non-professional approach to the company’s problems which was the cause of the subsequent campaigns and product sales ban. The denial of the problem’s existence significantly damaged company’s consumer market by raising questions and awareness of the manufacturing processes of the products. Additionally, the failure of taking initiatives and allowing third party evaluation, raised criticisms for ot her practices such as tax evasion, further damaging its reputation. The image of a child-friendly reputation was critically damaged which might affected the sales and market expansion of the company. On the other hand, despite the delayed response from Ikea, various initiatives were taken to restore the company’s image. In addition to introducing the IWAY code of conduct against forced la

Delivering a business strategy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Delivering a business strategy - Case Study Example Employment of staff in an organization plays a major role in the running of the activities. It also dictates the rate of success. TNT puts this fact into consideration by ensuring that they have the best staffs for their various working areas in order to ensure an insight on the service delivery to their customers. TNT’s strategy is quite comprehensive in both ensuring good services and the outstanding difference of offering services. The stakeholder’s model of thinking is the core principle guiding the business plan of TNT. The strategy map depicts an environment of vetting to identify the legitimacy of the different categories of services. In so doing, the plan has been able to outline customer satisfaction as the end of the organization. Consequently, this earns the organization trust from the customers. A business strategy should aim to ensure improved continuity of the business. Customer satisfaction is one important factor that ensures royalty and consequent boosting of business. TNT plan has gone to an extra extend to offer solutions that are beyond the expectations of the customer. It has devised techniques that enable its customers to keep track on their working. It has incorporated technology to achieve this objective. The employment of professionals by the organization also enables it to be a step ahead of the customers’ expectations that earns it market security. Operational success stems on good services and products of an organization. The success of services in the market is highly dependent on innovativeness. This value ensures that there are constant but temporary competitive advantages in the market. This aspect reflects TNTs planning due to the flexibility of their plan. The organization can change its plan when necessary in order to counteract any emerging problem, which in business can be its proper running. TNT income growth is from its services. An effective sale of

Major Differencies Between Eastern and Western Philosophies as the Basis for Adult Education Essay Example for Free

Major Differencies Between Eastern and Western Philosophies as the Basis for Adult Education Essay Western philosophy has its roots in Athens, Rome and Judeo ­Christianity while Eastern philosophy is derived from Confucianism, Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism. As Greek and Latin are to Western civilisation, so classical Chinese is to East Asian civilisation. I will focus on four major differences between Eastern and Western philosophies. 1. Western Individualism and Eastern Collectivism In the Greco‑Roman tradition, the image of Prometheus powerfully illustrates the struggle for individual freedom. Prometheus had gone against Zeus, the all powerful god who ruled the sky from Mt. Olympus. Prometheus annoyed Zeus by creating human beings. To protect the human beings from Zeus, he stole fire from Hephaestos, the blackmith god and gave it to the human beings. This angered Zeus to the extent that Prometheus was chained to a rock and an eagle tore out his liver. In European consciousness, Prometheus had become the hero who: defied the patriarchy in the name of individual freedom, who brought light into our darkness. He was the saviour who sacrificed himself for the sake of mankind, the benefactor who brought the gift of technology down from heaven, the teacher who taught us that we are not at the whims of the gods any more, who showed us how to use our intelligence to take control of the world. The Christian tradition has also reinforced the notion of individual rights. The Bible speaks of God creating Man in His own image and letting him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle and over all the earth, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth (Genesis 1:26). By comparison, the Chinese live in a world of obligations: obligations to serve the ruler, obligations to work for the family, obligations to obey elders, obligations to help relatives, obligations to do well to glorify the name of ancestors, obligations to defend the country in times of trouble, and obligations to oneself to cultivate ones own virtue. It would also seem that rights only belong to one individual ‑ the Son of Heaven. Confucianism promotes conservatism and this stifles creativity and robs the people of self‑introspection. 2. Fragmentary and Holistic According to Fritjof Capra, the emphasis of rational thought is epitomised in Descartes celebrated statement,Cognito, ergo sum ‑ I think, therefore, I exist. This has forcefully encouraged Westerners to equate their identity with their rational mind rather than with the whole organism. This division between the mind and the body has led to a view of the universe as a mechanical system consisting of separate objects, which in turn were reduced to fundamental building blocks whose properties and interactions were thought to completely determine all natural phenomena. This mechanistic conception of the whole world is still the basis of most of our sciences and continues to have a tremendous influence on our lives. Academic disciplines become fragmented and this has served as a rationale for treating the universe as if it consisted of separate parts to be exploited by different groups. The essence of the Eastern world view is the awareness of the unity and the mutual inter‑relation of all things and events, the experience of all phenomena in the world as manifestation of a basic oneness. All things are seen as independent and inseparable parts of a cosmic whole, as different manifestations of the same ultimate reality. The Eastern traditions refer to this ultimate, indivisible reality as Brahman in Hinduism, Dharmakaya in Buddhism and Tao in Taoism. 3. Conflict and Harmony The Marxist view of history saw change as arising from a dialectic interplay of opposites ‑hence class struggle and conflict. Western civilisation based itself on the struggle between the Good and Evil, God and Satan or Psyche and Cupid. Eastern philosophical thought is based on this notion of the Yin and the Yang. Frithjof Capra describes the Yang as the strong,male creative power associated with Heaven while yin is the dark,receptive, female and maternal element. The dark yin and the bright yang are arranged in a symmetrical manner. They are dynamic ‑ a rotating symmetry suggesting very forcefully a continuous cyclic movement.The two dots in the diagram symbolise the idea that each one of the forces reaches its extreme, it contains in itself the seed of the opposite.Life says Chuang Tzuis the blended harmony of the yin and the yang. Taoism permeates the economic and social lives of the Chinese through geomancy, qigong, Chinese medicine and idol worship. As Chan observes:Almost every hotel, office and commercial building that has gone up within the last decade adheres to certain principles of geomancy or Fengshui ‑ the art and science of harmonising man and nature. 4. Idealism and Pragmatism. The Western idea of democracy does not fit into the Eastern scheme of things easily. In an interview by the Daily Telegraph on 16 October 1989 the former Prime Minister remarked that: I think in a mainly Chinese electorate, the idea of a loyal opposition and an alternative government does not come easily. Youre either for or against the government. The Confucianistic idea of social hierarchy where a persons existence is relational, extending from his family, society and country. The pragmatism of the East is exemplied in the way Confucianism has been used to emphasize order through social hierarchy and the rules and conventions. Taoism provided the meaning of life and thus compliment Confucianism. Confucius preached the doctrine of the here and now. The emphasis is one of life and life and not life and death. The sage hoped to hear the right way in the morning, and die in the evening without regret. What lays the foundation of life for the Chinese is the family and the continuation of the family also means the passing on of experience, culture and thought. The Taoists has an equal view of life and death seeing life and death as the coming out and going back of a human form of existence. Chuang Tsu talks of coming and going . Lao Tzu said,out to life, in to death. The crux of the matter is to make the best of the present.

Separation of Photosynthetic Pigments: Paper Chromatography

Separation of Photosynthetic Pigments: Paper Chromatography Plant pigments have the ability to absorb visible light, which can be used in order to harvest energy for photochemical reactions. There are a variety of pigments present in plants, and for this experiment, these pigments were separated using paper chromatography. Absorbance spectrophotometry was also used in order to obtain the different absorbances of the pigments. The data was then used to compare relative chlorophyll content in both old and young leaves, and to identify the pigments present in the leaves. It was seen that chlorophyll a and b were present, and young leaves yielded more chlorophyll than old leaves as reflected by the high absorbance of the young leaf extract as compared to the old leaf extract. The performance of this experiment can be deemed successful in separating pigments, however identification of the pigment concentration could also be done to better quantify the amount of pigment in the leaves. INTRODUCTION Chromatography is a technique used to separate complex mixtures between a stationary phase and a mobile phase. (Craig) There are several types of chromatography, namely: gas chromatography, liquid chromatography, ion exchange chromatography, affinity chromatography, adsorption chromatography, partition chromatography, and molecular exclusion chromatography. (Carrier, Bordonaro and Yip) The concept behind this process is that the smaller the affinity a molecule has for the stationary phase, the faster it migrates. The stationary phase varies depending on the type of chromatography used (Carrier, Bordonaro and Yip). Most of the time, chromatography is used for purification techniques. The process is also used in separation of substances, an example of which is plant pigments. The result of chromatography is a chromatogram. From the chromatogram, different information about the test sample can be attained. By counting the number of peaks in the chromatogram, one can deduce the complexity of the mixture. The more peaks there are, the more complex the mixture is. Also, qualitative information about the composition of the mixture can be deduced by comparing the peak positions with a standard. Quantitative assessment of the relative concentration of the components can also be attained by comparing the peak areas (Carrier, Bordonaro and Yip). In this experiment, chromatography was used to separate pigments extracted from old and young leaves. The pigments were further identified using absorbance spectrophotometry. MATERIALS AND METHODS For this experiment, photosynthetic pigments were separated through paper chromatography and the absorption spectra of these were measured through absorbance spectrophotometry. Pigment Extraction Old and young leaf samples were obtained around the UP campus. Each set of samples was shredded into smaller pieces and weighed to twenty grams. Using mortar and pestle, each sample was immersed in 50 ml acetone and ground thoroughly to fully extract the chloroplast pigments. After this, the extracts were filtered by using filter paper and Buchner funnel. The eluted extracts were collected in separate beakers and transferred into separate test tubes, and labelled accordingly as OLD and YOUNG. Paper Chromatography The extract from young leaves was subjected to paper chromatography. Three pieces of 3cm x 11cm Whatman no. 42 filter paper were cut out. The sheets of paper were marked 3 cm from one end, and 2 cm from the other. The 3cm-point served as the point where the extract would be loaded, while the 2cm-point dictates the point of termination of the chromatogram. This end was tied with a string so that it could easily be suspended on a Gatorade bottle cap. With a Pasteur pipette, one drop of extract was loaded on each sheet of the filter paper. To further saturate the loading, the filter paper sheets were loaded ten times. However, for each loading, the previous spot was allowed to dry before an additional drop of extract was added. Developing solvent of petroleum ether was prepared. The solvent was then poured into three Gatorade bottles, filling only up to two centimetres of the bottle. The paper strips were then secured on the bottle caps with tape and hung, with its end touching the developing solvent, but not the loaded extract. The development of the chromatogram was terminated after the pigments or the developing solvent has reached the 2cm-line. Of the three chromatograms, only one was presented for the results because it has the clearest separation. Absorbance Spectrophotometry Absorbance spectrophotometry was also done to obtain absorbance spectra of the different pigments present in leaves. Both the old and young leaf extracts were used and the absorbances of extracts were obtained for the following wavelengths (nm): 400, 450, 470, 500, 550, 600, 647, 650, 663, 700. Two trials were done per leaf sample. The absorbances obtained were then plotted against wavelength. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Pigments are defined as substances in plants that are able to absorb visible light. These can be classified into three basic groups. (University of California Berkeley, 2006) The first are the chlorophylls which are greenish pigments containing a porphyrin ring. The ring contains several double bonds which makes it stable, and at the same time allows free migration of electrons. In this way, when sunlight strikes the plant surface, electrons in the pigment molecules of the chloroplast thylakoid become excited which in turn pass on this excitation to the photosystems that begins the series of cellular events that generate oxygen and sugar. Four species of chlorophyll a, b, c, and d are known. Chlorophyll a is the primary photosynthetic pigment in all higher plants, algae, and the cyanobacteria. Chlorophyll b is found virtually in all higher plants and green algae, differing from the former only in that a formyl group substitutes for the methyl group in ring II. Chlorophyll c is meanwhile found in the diatoms, dinoflagellates, and brown algae and lacks the phytol tail of chlorophyll a. Lastly, chlorophyll d is found only in the red algae and has an (-O-CHO) group in place of the (-CH=CH2) group on ring I of chlorophyll a. (Taiz and Zeiger, 2008) The second class of pigments are the carotenoids. They are usually red, orange, or yellow pigments composed of two small six-carbon rings connected by a chain of carbon atoms. Their high carbon content prevents them from dissolving in water and as such they must be attached to membranes within the cell. They have several functions, including the broadening of the spectrum of colors able to drive photosynthesis (especially in seasons with shortened days such as fall and winter), and in photoprotection; they are able to absorb and dissipate excessive light energy that can otherwise damage chlorophyll or interact with oxygen to produce reactive oxidative molecules that can damage the cell. (Cain, et. Al, 2011) The third class of pigments are the phycobilins. They are water-soluble pigments found in the chloroplast stroma or the cell cytoplasm. Occurring only in the Cyanobacteria and Rhodophyta, they are efficient in absorbing light wavelengths that are not well absorbed by chlorophyll a. These pigments are bound to phycobiliproteins which pass on the absorbed light energy to chloroplasts for photosynthesis. Knowledge of which types of pigments are present in a plant is useful in the field of agriculture. Using this information, lights that promoting the optimal growth of plants having certain pigments can be developed, increasing their yield. Additionally, pigments extracted from plants can be used as dyes in scientific research. One way of determining the pigments present in a plant sample is through paper chromatography. Paper chromatography separates pigments present in the plant sample based on their solubilities in the solvent; compounds which are very soluble move along with the advancing solvent front, while less soluble compounds travel slowly through the paper, well behind the solvent front. Chlorophyll a is slightly soluble in a 3:1:1 mixture of petroleum ether, acetone, and water (which was the resulting mixture used in the study), while carotenoids are very soluble in this system. This difference in solubility should allow the separation of chlorophyll a from the carotenoids and chlorophyll b, which is less soluble than chlorophyll a. (Bowen and Baxter, 1980) The following chromatogram was obtained from the chromatography done in the study. chlorophyll B chlorophyll A carotenoid Figure 1. Obtained chromatogram from the paper chromatography of (young or old?) leaf extracts. Only one trial was used in the identification of pigments, with the topmost band determined to be a carotenoid, followed by chlorophyll A and chlorophyll B. The first pigment band was identified as a carotenoid due to its yellow-orange color, the second band identified as chlorophyll A due to its darker green color, and the third band identified as chlorophyll B due to its yellow-green color. The study is said to be a success in this respect as the results obtained matched the theoretical results. Additionally, pigments can also be identified based on the value of their retention factor; the retention factor (Rf) is calculated as the distance the pigment travels (in centimeters) divided by the distance the solvent travels (in centimeters). Standard values of the Rf are compared to the calculated values and the closest standard value that matches the calculated value is used to identify the pigment. This step however, was no longer done in the study. Figure 2. A graph showing the absorbance obtained from the old and young leaf extracts through absorptive spectrophotometry. Spectrophotometry can be utilized for measuring the chlorophyll content of a leaf by measuring the absorbances of the plant extract at red and far red regions of the visible light spectrum. The absorbance of the extract is directly proportional to its chlorophyll content. The experiment measured the absorbances of old and young leaves coming from the same plant in order to compare their chlorophyll content. In the experiment, the pigments from old and young plants were subjected to spectrophotometry to identify which wavelength would yield the highest absorption therefore identifying the pigments present, and also compare at which level of maturity plants would yield more chlorophyll. The former is possible because plant pigments participate in photosynthesis by absorbing light, and there is the optimal wavelength wherein they can absorb the most amount of light and can therefore enhance the process of photosynthesis. Pigments in seed plants may be present as chlorophyll a, b, and carotenoids, all with varying abundance. For the old and leaf samples, it can be seen that the measured absorbances peaked at two wavelengths (Figure 2). The first peak is around 450-470 nm while the second peak is around 663 nm. This data implies that most of the pigment extracted must be from chlorophyll a and b, since theoretically, these pigments peak at 430-450 nm and 640-660 nm. It should also be remembered that peaks in an absorbance vs. wavelength pigment spectra means that these pigments absorb and utilize light best in these wavelengths. In Figure 3 below, the other pigments and corresponding peak wavelengths can be seen. Figure 3. Absorption spectra of pigments found in seed plants Aside from knowing the pigments present in the leaves, the graph could also show the relative amount of chlorophyll present in the leaves. Theoretically, older leaves contain much more chlorophyll than younger leaves; this is contrary to the results as depicted by Fig. 2. These results can only make sense if the plant from which the extract was taken from has a magnesium deficiency, assuming that no methodological error was committed. Plant with Mg deficiency tend to sequester Mg from old leaves by degrading chlorophyll and then transporting the retrieved Mg to the younger leaves which have higher photosynthetic needs. Other methods of measuring the pigment content of leaves include using chlorophyll content meters, which do not require an extract to be prepared, and the more superior technique known as chlorophyll fluorescence where the ratio of chlorophyll fluorescence at certain wavelengths give a linearly proportional estimation of the chlorophyll content. Literature Cited Hopkins, W.G. HÃ ¼ner, N.P.A. (2009). Introduction to plant physiology (4th ed). Ontario, Canada: John Wiley Sons. Cain, M. L, Jackson, R.B., Minorsky, P.V., Reece, J.B., Urry, L.A., Wasserman, S.A. (2011). Campbell biology (9th ed). San Francisco, USA: Benjamin/Cummings. University of California Berkeley. (2006). Photosynthetic pigments. Retrieved from http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/g lossary/gloss3/pigments.html on August 23, 2012. Bowen, W. R., Baxter, W. D. (1980). Experimental cell biology: an integrated laboratory guide and text. New York, USA: Macmillan Publishing Co. Taiz L and Zeiger E. (2008). Plant Physiology. 3rd ed. Sinauer Associates, Inc. Hermans C.; Vuylsteke F.; Coppens F.. 2009. Systems Analysis of the responses to long-term magnesium deficiency and restoration in Arabidopsis thaliana.ÂÂ  New PhytologistÂÂ  187: 132-144. Carrier, Rebecca, Julie Bordonaro and Kevin Yip. Chromatography. 1997. 23 August 2012 Retrieved from:http://www.rpi.edu/dept/ chem-eng/Biotech Environ/CHROMO/chromintro. html. Craig, Paul A. Chromatography. 2007. 23 August 2012 Retrieved from: http://people.rit.edu/pac8612/ webionex/website/html/ione8h o9.html. Domestic violence: Prevention and treatment Domestic violence: Prevention and treatment Introduction Domestic violence is a universal phenomenon and more and more governments play importance on it. There are three major types of domestic violence including violent against women, child abuse and elder abuse. Since domestic violence includes primarily of violence against women, we will going to review the situation of violent against women in Hong Kong in this paper. In this study, the term of violence against women will be used instead of wife abuse because violence against women consists not only women who are married legally with the abuser, but also the co-habitees or separated partners, since violence could be continued even the relationship ended. Definitions of violence against women Although the United Nations found violence against women as the major obstacle to the achievement of equality, development and peace for women in 1985 (1), the nations didnt seem to emphasis it. Research showed that every one of three women in the global had ever experienced violence in an intimate relationship. (World Health Organization, 1997)(12) Generally speaking, violence against women refers to those acts totally committed violent against women. In the United Nations General Assembly 1994, violence against women had been defined as any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. UN had a rather feminist view that violence against women is an expression of sex inequality and is used to uphold the domination over women and to keep discrimination against women by men. (UN, 1995) The severity of violence against women According to the data of Social Welfare Department of HK, there is an increase in the number of spouse battering from 1,906 in 1998 up to 6,483 in 2008. (SWD, HK. 2008) Over 80% of them are women abuse. The researches related to violence against women in Hong Kong were very rare, they asserted that the situation is getting worse and the government should take it seriously, however. It is about two-third of Tangs survey respondents had at least one time of verbal abuse, (Tang, 1999) Researches showed that around 10% of the survey respondents had experienced at least one time of physical abuse by their male partners. (Tang, 1999; Chan, 2005) Chan (2000, 2005) also noticed that a rather high proportion of victims were having little schooling as well as homemakers. Studies revealed the fact that over 50% of battered women were at the age range of 31 to 40 (Harmony House Report 2007; Chan, 2000) and over 80% were new migrants from Mainland China. (Harmony House Report 2007) Majority of women who experience intimate violence do not report it to the police. (Backman and Coker, 1995) Outline of this paper In the following, we will first go through the forms of violence against women including physical abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse. Then, the theories related to violence against women Family perspective and Feminist perspective will be discussed, and the idea of Patriarchal ideology and Confucianism will be addressed. After that, we will look deep into the existing situation in Hong Kong which consist the services provided for the victims and the abusers, the difficulties the victims face, and how Hong Kong government handle domestic violence. In the last part, the intervention strategies like resource allocation, legislation and education that combating this violence issue will be encountered. Forms of violence against women There are three forms of abuse: Physical abuse, psychological abuse and sexual abuse, in which physical abuse is the most common form that abuse men give to their female partners. Physical abuse Physical abuse refers to a physical assault or violent act that attacks the victims physical integrity, like pushes, slaps, pinches, punches, spits, kicks, burns, fractures, locked women in the house, put women in an unsafe places or murder. (Chan, 2000) Dobash et al., (1985) stated that only 3% of assaults are low in physical severity the rest are medium or high. (as cited in Mullender, 1996) Physical abuse usually accompanied by emotional abuse. Psychological or emotional abuse Psychological abuse, also referred to as emotional abuse, is a kind of emotional or psychological attacks or the neglect of psychological or emotional needs, described a person subjecting or exposing another to behavior that is psychologically harmful. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_abuse) Actually, there is no universal accepted definition for emotional abuse. Here I adopted the definition from U.S. Department of Justice that emotional abuse is causing fear by intimidation, verbal or non-verbal, threatening physical harm to self, partner, children, or partners family or friends, destruction of pets and property, forcing isolation from family, friends, or school or work.(U.S. Department of Justice, Edleson, 1984) Emotional abuse, differ from physical abuse and sexual abuse, is a continued and repetitive behavior, used to harden fear to reinforce the control of the abuser so as to strengthen the obedience and passive acceptance to the abuser. Sexual abuse Sexual abuse is a dissented and pressurized sexual behavior or acts, forced by one person upon another. Sometimes the abuser compels unwanted sexual activity without physical force by using their position of trust but mostly physical abuse comes with sexual abuse. According to Chan (2000), those behaviors includes rape or sexual assault, incest coerced by force, inappropriate touching, exposure of genitalia, force the partner to have sexy dressing or ignoring ones sexual character. Russell (1990) reminded us that spousal sexual abuse is one kind of domestic violence which may sometimes constitute marital rape or an assault. Causes of the problem Theories related to Violence against women The universality of domestic violence caused many scholars to explore the reasons for violence against women. Family perspective Family perspective is one of the perspectives the scholars like to adopt. This approach believed that the behavior of a family member is influenced by the responses or feedback of other members. It seemed violence as a symmetrical between both sexes, and viewed individual and family relation as the core for the explanation for domestic violence, suggested a reduction in structural stresses and work on individual pathologies in dealing with the problem. Obviously the Hong Kong government had adapted this perspective in explaining the causes of domestic violence as it stressed on maintaining the function of the family or improving marital relationships. (Leung, 2008) Feminist perspective On the other hand, some scholars explained violence against women abuse from the view of feminist theory which locates the root of violence against women in a social-structural context rather than a private or family problem. (United Nation, 1989; Adam, 1998) This approach believed that women do not have equal rights and do not have institutional power, instead, women are considered as inferior and subordinate, and more serious, the properties to men. (United Nation, 1989) As the tolerance for violence act against women are vary across culture, the feminist give explanation that it is due to different levels of patriarchal values across cultures. (Bui Morash, 1999; Nayak et al.2003) The endorsement of the beliefs regarding rape and spousal physical violence and the tendency of blaming the victim showed that both gender and sociocultural factors had great impact on the attitudes toward violence against women. (Nayak et al. 2003) Tang (1999) recommended patriarchy theory in explaining violence against women in Chinese societies. Patriarchal ideology Patriarchy Patriarchy is a system of society in which men holding the determination power over women and children of the household. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarchy) Feminists believed that violence against women is rooted in a patriarchal system which men keep women in a subordinate position through the use of control, usually enhanced through existing economics, social, and political, and legal dimensions. Socialization process help strengthen men to subordinate women. (Sugarmen and Frankel, 1996) Many scholars agreed that the social structure created and maintained under the patriarchy keep on justified the male dominant beliefs of womens inferior status. (Tang, 1999; Anderson, 1988; Sugarmen and Frankel, 1996) Patriarchal ideology and Confucianism Confucianism which strengthens patriarchal system had great impact in Chinese society. Women lived under the ethical norms of Confucianism were suppressed into inferior, dependent, and submissive status, and are expected to obey the men. In the past thousand years, Chinese women followed womanhood decencies like san cong si de (three obedience and four virtues) and xian qi liang mu, (a virtuous wife and a good mother) (Tang, 1999) see contributing male offsprings to their husbands lineage and serving her husband as her responsibilities. The social norms in Chinese society accept using physical force to discipline female family members, for those fail to live up their prescribed roles will result in patraiarchal brutality under the rules of the family. Therefore, it is legal for a man to afford all forms of violence against women, usually physical abuse. On the other hand, the Chinese culture of interpersonal harmony forced wives to keep on tolerating the inequality so as to protect the reputation and stability of their families. Research showed that around half of the surveyed women mentioned cultural reasons for staying with their partner. (Adam, 1998) Therefore, the extent of violence against women has been largely hidden and widely denied by our society. Though Chinese women had greater opportunities for education in recent decades, and there is an increase in the acceptance of a greater flexibility of gender norms, decision making power in the household matter still holding in the mens hand. More and more female go out to work, yet they have to do most of the housework. (Choi and Lee, 1997) Chan and Lee believed that traditional patriarchal values are deeply permeated into Chinese family system. Therefore, when wives ask for more gender equality, the husbands may understand as their domination and superiority in the family had been defied, and may react with use of violence. Tang (1999) As the society tolerate towards domestic violence, and the experience of being discrimination when seeking for help, the abused women remained in the relationship. The existing situation in Hong Kong Violence against women in Hong Kong In the past 10 years, there was a rapid increase in spousal abuse. Importantly, more than 80% of victims of spousal abuse in 2008 were female, 60% of the female victims were suffering from physical abuse (SWD, HK, 2008) Harmony House reported that 71% of women had been subjected to violence for over three years. (Harmony House Annual Report 2008-2009) Pahl(1985a) and Binneyet al. (1988) got similar findings. (As cited in Mullender, 1996) Harmony House (Harmony House, 1996/1997 Annual Report) pointed out 41.7% of female victims suffered from both physical and sex abuse, and 24.1% suffered physical, psychological and sexual abuse at the same time. Chan (2000) found that 63.6% of his survey respondents viewed male chauvinism as the major cause of domestic violence which request obedience of the women. It is concluded as influenced by the traditional culture of patriarchal ideology in which female were in an inferior status. It is rather problematic that the mass as well as the front-line professionals such as police officers and social workers were likely to endorse that wife abuse is a private matter or family issue. (Tang, 2005; Leung, 2008) Leung (2008) stated that the occurrence of domestic violence, in the current view of Hong Kong society, is due to lack of communication between family members or because of individuals under pressure. The mainstream believed that both men and women have equal chance of spousal abuse. Therefore, the government did not consider the hidden gender power imbalances in domestic violence during the policy formulating process. Under such ideologies, the services related to domestic violence focus on how to maintain the unity of the family rather the safety of the victims; the police officers view domestic violence as low priority to handle, and discouraged abused women to file their complaints (Leung, 2008), and legal system continue to treat battering as an individual problem rather than criminal behavior (Ferraro, 1989; Leung, 2008) In result, the victims who are in the subordinate status would rather keep quite, while the abusers violent act was intensified. (Leung, 2006)(Tam and Tang, 2005) Service provided for the victims and the abusers There are certain NGOs in Hong Kong care and pay effort in the fighting against domestic violence, providing shelters and services for victims and male batterers, arranging prevention programmes and community education. Due to limited resources, their services are unable to handle the needs. Leung (2009) explained the Hong Kong government has increase the budget on family service in the past years in order to recruit more staff to carry out the family support projects, nevertheless, the fund did not specifically designate to the use of handling cases of domestic violence. SWD had increase resources on the accommodation beds in the shelter from 180 in 2007-2008 to 260 in 2008-2009, and to prolong the working hour of the shelters so as to provide better service for the victims. But it is regrettable that there are too little resources for measures to combat gender-based violence in the home. The difficulties the victims face Researchers found that the abused women in Hong Kong had great difficulties in seeking help from neither police officers nor social workers. (Leung, 2008; Hong Kong Womens Coalition on Equal Opportunities, 2005; Tam and Tang, 2005) It is very common for the front-line professionals to endorse that wife abuse is a private matter or family issue. (Tang, 2005; Leung, 2008) Leung (2008) pointed out that abused women always had bad experience when they seek help from the police. Most of the police perceive violence against women as a family issue and pay less attention to it, they usually persuade the victims to close the files. Even though the police are willing to handle the case, for domestic violence usually seems as family disputes which may not involved in criminal act that the police could take action, the case would most be disregarded. On the other hand, some front-line social workers paid inadequate support and empathy to the victims. It is largely because of the common bias att itudes towards the abused women especially those came from Mainland China. Some other social workers use family therapy that emphasis unity of the family to handle domestic violence cases that force the abused woman to go back to the abuser. It is inevitable that rare of legislator, social worker or police may suggest the abused women to apply injunction order. It revealed that the front-line professionals were lack of gender sensitivity in dealing the cases. The abused women often found housing problem. Compassionate rehousing could only offer by the social workers of SWD which relied on strong social ground defined by the social workers themselves. However, most social workers had bias that those women were taking advantage during the process. The policies of CSSA restrict the application for those new arrivals that were lived in Hong Kong for less than seven years even those they suffered from abuse. How Hong Kong government handle Domestic Violence There was a great reaction in the society after Tin Sui Wai Family Tragedy happened in 2004 and the government was forced to deal with it. According to the Report of Review Panel on Family Services in Tin Shui Wai (2004), 25 suggestions were addressed, including the measures of three-tiered structure established by the police provide a graded response to investigating domestic violence. Relevant information is input into the Central Domestic Violence Database, district supervisory officers will look into those repeated cases occurring within 12 months. However, the prosecution rate of spouse battering remains low. In 2005, the police recorded 1,274 cases of spouse battering, in which 1,159 cases were arrested due to their criminal act, but only 10% were finally convicted. (Hong Kong Amnesty International, 2006) The Domestic Violence Ordinance (DVO) was enacted in 1986 in Hong Kong. At that time, the scope of definition of domestic violence is narrow to those live in matrimonial home, but excludes some other intimate relationships like co-habitees, separated partners or same sex partners. And the domestic violence is seemed as molest in this ordinance that restricted domestic violence to civil act. The limited scope of definition of domestic violence led to low utilization rate of DVO and low application of injunction order. Amendments of DVO came after more and more criticism in recent years in 2008 and 2009. Amendments includes the scope of definition of domestic violence extend to co-habitees, separated partners and same sex cohabitants and the Batterer Intervention Programme was enforced. The Womens Commission, a central mechanism plays a strategic role in advising Hong Kong Government on policy direction on women issues, addressed a policy paper in 2006 to outline a strategy to address victims empowerment, prevention of violence, timely and effective intervention, community education and support. The paper provided a lot of suggestions related to various aspects, including legislation reform, services, promotion, database, training for professionals, training on gender mainstream, early identification and intervention and community networks. The paper is comprehensive, yet the Commission has not legal authorities to implement the suggestions. In response to the rapid increase of domestic violence in past decades, Working Group on Combating Violence (WGCV), coordinated by the SWD, comprises representatives from related bureaux, government departments and non-governmental organizations, is formed for mapping out strategies to address the problem of spouse battering and sexual violence. (www.swd.gov.hk) Due to limited authority, the WGCV seems unable to coordinate the cooperation among different sectors of the government departments that no body function in policy making, coordination, and supervising (Leung, 2008) Leung (2008) criticized that the work done by the Hong Kong government in the fighting against domestic violence was unsatisfactory, the most critical problem is that the Hong Kong government and most of the policy makers did not view violence against women at home as a gender issue or human right issue but only family issue. For this reason, no comprehensive policy base on the gender mainstream was set to handle the domestic violence. (Leung, 2006; Hong Kong Womens Coalition on Equal Opportunities) The SWD report (2005) confirmed that domestic violence is a family matter by mentioned that family violence amongst those who used violence, such as low self-esteem, lack of empathy, alcohol or drug addiction, a history of abuse and neglect as a child, social isolation etc.. Such viewpoint makes people ignore how serious women abuse is in Hong Kong, and force the abused women to remain in the relationship. Actually domestic violence rooted in patriarchal ideology that is widespread over t he community that the violent act of the abuser is literally an offense of manipulation of male against women. Leung (2008) found that there are two main obstacles in putting the concept of gender mainstream into the domestic violence policies. The first one is that both the front-line professional and the policy makers were lack of gender sensitivity; secondly, inadequate resource and service coordination is put and insufficient staff and authority of coordinating framework to organize, and to coordinate and supervise the policies of domestic violence and its implementation. (Leung, 2008, P70) Besides, the government has not made any specific action plan on how to carry out the gender mainstreaming policy. Intervention strategies to combat the violence issue Legislation and judicial procedures It is necessary to review the current measures on domestic violence if we want to resolve the issue of violence against women in the long-run. In the aspect of legislation and judicial procedures, the government should take a deep review the law on domestic violence so that violence against women could be classified as criminal act. Simplify and improve the judicial protection orders like lengthen the duration of injunction order would be helpful. Also, improvement to the measures of support for victims of domestic violence would reinforce the prosecution. It is rather difficult for the victims to testify against their husbands face to face in the court. The Hong Kong Council of Social Service (2007) thus suggested providing supporting worker for the victims who would accompany with victims during the hearing, provide relevant legal information actively, and contact with the prosecutors and the court to keep updated the process of the case. Comprehensive information for victims is vi tal. For most of the victims do not know their right, it is rather helpful if the front-line professional would provide appropriate information and service such as shelters and application for injunction order. Resources It is certainly that government should enhance the availability and accessibility of the shelters at the same time. For the perpetrators, compulsory batterer intervention program (BIP) seems to be effective and should be enforced. On the other hand, Tin Sui Wai Family Tragedy revealed that professional training for handling domestic violence must be strengthened. As a matter of fact, social welfare agencies are lack of resources and support from the government to combat gender-based violence in the home. Therefore, it is unable for them to deepen the intervention and therapies on domestic violence. The government should add the specific matching grants of domestic violence. Although extra HKD 22 million has budgeted to recruit additional staff to implement family support projects, no designation for the fund to handle cases of domestic violence, in result, no advancement to the service on domestic violence. The change of ideology Other than resource and legislation and judicial procedures, the change of ideology is most significant. In recent years, governments in many western countries agreed that domestic violence is a gender issue and bring it to the criminal level. Similar arguments also found in Hong Kong (The Womens Commission, 2006; Leung, 2006, 2008) Leung (2008) stressed that the best way to protect women from abuse is to take the concept of gender mainstream into account when handling the issue of domestic violence. The concept of gender mainstreaming having been developed after the 1985 3rd World Conference on Women in Nairobi and was formally featured in the Platform for Action of the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. (centers.law.nyu.edu) Gender mainstreaming is defined as the public policy concept of the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making womens as well as mens concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality. (Un ited Nations, 1997) In response to the ineffective of WGCV, Leungs suggestions are worthy to mention. Leung (2008) suggested the government should adopt the definition of gender mainstreaming and its practice guidelines offered by international organizations; to develop a comprehensive policy of domestic violence and strategy execution according to gender mainstream; and to establish a high ranking coordinating body to work out an action plan for combating and preventing domestic violence; to improve the central data collection and the information dissemination systems; to consolidate the collaboration system between government and NGOs to ensure the resources had been used in combating against violence, to set up crisis intervention team with the collaboration of police and social workers; to meliorate the service coordination within different social service organizations; to strengthen the education on gender sensitivity for the frontline professionals. Reference Chan, K.L. (2000) The Impact of Family Violence to Women and their Children, Hong Kong: Hong Kong Christian Family Service and Hong Kong University, Department of Social Work and Social Administration. Leung, L.C. (2008) The possibilities of Gender Mainstreaming Domestic Violence Policy in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong, Department of Applied Social Science. (centers.law.nyu.edu/jeanmonnet/papers/00/000201) United Nations. Report of the Economic and Social Council for 1997. A/52/3.18 September 1997. Backman, R., Coker, A. (1995). Police involvement in domestic violence: The interactive effects of victim injury, offenders history of violence, and race. Violence and Victims, 10(2), 91- 106. Other information Definitions of domestic violence Intimate partner violence (IPV), also termed domestic violence, is the most common form of violence against women. (Watt and Zimmerman, 2002) Wesley defined domestic violence as any behavior which is intended to cause unwanted harm, either physical (e.g., sexual or physical assault, and murder) or nonphysical (e.g., intimidation malicious insults) to a romantic partner. (Wesley et al, 2006) Adams gave a rather completed definition, the repeated, habitual or random use of aggression, whether physical, verbal, social, sexual, emotional, psychological or economic, by an individual on a partner or ex-partner in an existing or previous domestic relationship to force submission to that persons demands, thus depriving the partner of personal liberty and basic human rights. (Adam, 1998) Continuums of abuse Apart from the forms of abuse, we should consider the level of severity of abuse when we look into a case whether it is an abuse or not. The following table showed different levels of abuse from least to most severe. Assumed relationship between Patriarchal ideology and Attitude towards violence against women Sugarman and Frankel (1996) in their study examining how wide the patriarchy ideology molds the individuals experiences in terms of domestic violence, showed that previous researches on wife abuse done by Dobash and Dobash (1979), Kurz (1989) and Schechter (1982) conjectured that acceptance of traditional gender ideals and expectations about women serves to maintain subordination of women and is a primary source of violence against women (Sugarman and Frankel, 1996) Pagelow (1984) even suggested that traditional gender belief system could be retain since the assaultive husbands adopt the patriarchal conception of family. (Sugarman and Frankel, 1996) Findings verified that assaultive husbands showed more positive attitudes toward marital violence than nonassaultive husbands (Sugarman and Frankel, 1996) However, until 2005, the United Nations still found that women subjected to violence, including physical violence, psychological violence or sexual violence is a very common phenomenon. Research report Health Canada (1996) tended to believe that emotional abuse is based on power and control and characterized it into six forms: rejecting, degrading, terrorizing, isolating, corrupting/exploiting and denying emotional responsiveness Tomison and Tucci (1997) mentioned that emotional abuse is characterised by a climate or pattern of behaviour(s) occurring over time. Physical abuse always accompany with emotional abuse contains words and actions to break the womans spirit and destroy her self-image and self-esteem. (Mullender, 1996) It also includes imposing any kind of intimacy while the woman is still hurting from the violence, and physical or verbal harassment. (Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2001, Alic, Margaret; Burstow; Mullender, 1996; Wikipedia) Most of the scholars explained violence against women from mainly two different views of theories, one is from the view of individual or family ground, and another is from the view of society or social structure. Psychological theories emphasis on assertively uncontrollable anger which is seen as rooted in unresolved family conflicts, primitive aggressive reactions, the submerged fear of the bully, insecure dependence on women, or any other form of internal stress (Mullender, 1996, summarized by Dobash and Dobash, 1992, p237) Feminists view that violence against women as a typical behavior and brooked by the society with the approval of social rules supporting male domination. (Adam, 1998) United Nation (1989) believed the interconnection of economic, social and political factors creating a structure placed the women with low economic status in a weakness position to violence within the household. Adam stressed that the masculine values in capitalist system apt to value women as mother, housewives or sexual objects Nayak et al. (2003) examined the attitudes of undergraduates from four countries toward violence against women, and discovered that groups with different values or attitudes also differ in violence acts, and would have different level of acceptance of violence. It refers not only the power of male in the household, but also refers to the dominance of men in social or cultural systems. Feminist theory stresses that the structure of modern cultural and political systems under patriarchy are totally ruled by men. (Wikipedia) (Castro, Ginette. American Feminism: a contemporary history, p. 31.) Obviously, violence against women seemed as normal under the development of dominant-submissive power relations. such that they have little or no independent status and transgressions outside the family and male authority expose them to swift retributions and confirm their vulnerability. Adams (1998) Researches demonstrated that patriarchy involves concepts of feminism and male domination in society and within the family. (Tang, 1999; Adam, 1998; Sugarmen and Frankel, 1996) The violence against women is the product of the interrelated and complex values wherein women are considered as inferior and subordinate to men, in result male is allowed to view female partners as his properties, and handling it within the privacy and autonomy of the family. (United Nation, 1989) Adams (1998) agreed with Mama that women are strongly fixed into the familial structure and hierarchic gender relations in the socialization process. Yllo also found that there is a positive correlation between more patriarchal social structure and higher level of women abuse. (Yllo, 1983, 1984) Research also found that traditional gender role soc

Social Psychology Essay -- Psychology

Social psychology is a science that study social thinking (how we perceive ourselves and others, judgement we make and our attitudes); social influence (such as pressure to conform, group of people) and social relations such as aggression and helping (David G. Myers, 2008). Social psychological research methods vary by location: in the laboratory or in the field. Also, it varies by method: correlational or experimental (David G. Myers, 2008). A field research method is everyday situations, for example, Piliavin et al. (1969) Good Samaritanism. Laboratory research method is a controlled situation; for example, Zimbardo (1973) Stanford Prison Experiment. A correlational method measure relationship between two or more variables: independent variable(s) and dependent variable. The independent variables are the experimental factors that the researcher can manipulate, while dependent variables are the things that the experimenter no control over, that include the outcome of the experiment (Class notes). The experimental method explores cause and effect of the study (David G. Myers, 2008). In a decent city of New York, Kitty Genovese on her home was brutally murdered. Within half hour, on two separate occasions, she was sexually molested and stabbed to death by a man (Malim and Birch, 1998). The fact that she was crying for help must have conveyed to the 38 people who heard her screams that no-one else had gone to help her. The event spurred Lantene and Darley (1970) to conduct a Laboratory experiment, investigating two important concepts: diffusion of responsibility and pluralistic ignorance. Diffusion of responsibility is the idea that people are less likely to help when there are others; no one helps because everyone is thinkin... ...08). Social psychology. 9th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies,Inc.,. 3-29, 187-269,427. Kendra Cherry (2012). About.com. (A part of The New York Times Company) What Is Social Psychology? Available: http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/f/socialpsych.htm. Last accessed 14/02/2012 Mark Holah. (2008). Piliavin, Irving., Rodin, Judith., & Piliavin, Jane. (1969). Available: http://www.holah.karoo.net/piliavinstudy.htm. Last accessed 7th March 2012. MalimTony and Birch Ann (1998). Introduction to psychology. London and New York : Palgrave Macmillan. 102-105, 640-642,826, 830. Richard Gross . (February 2012). Bystander intervention in the New York subway. Psychology Review. 17 (3), 11-13. Www. Phillipallan.co.uk/magazines. Saul Mcleod. (2007). Simply Psychology. Available: http://www.simplypsychology.org/research-methods.html. Last accessed 14/02/2012.

Long Range Effects of the Internet on Society :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Long Range Effects of the Internet on Society Whenever any major development in society is conceived, such as when phoneswere introduced, problems ensue. The internet, because of it's modern nature is not really well dealt with when it comes to existing legislation. The solutions to anyproblems with the 'net are so complex that any legislation that could ensue might threatento infringe upon the rights and privileges that Americans enjoy today. "Virtualcommunities could help citizens revitalize democracy, or they could be luring us into anattractively packaged substitute for democratic discourse."(Rheingold 276) "What if thehopes for a quick technological fix of what is wrong with democracy constitute nothingmore than another way to distract the attention of the suckers while the big boys divideup the power and the loot."(Rheingold 278) "All too often the regulatory and policymechanisms of government have been subverted by the industries they exist to control. Although this takeover has not usually been intended by the formulators of thesemechanisms or the laws setting up agencies, many factors lead to this corporatedomination when the regulation involves a rapidly changing area."(Hiltz 445) Accordingto Rheingold, everything is eventually somehow commodified. "The First Amendmentof the Constitution's Bill of Rights protects the citizens from government interference intheir communications-the rights of speech, press, and assembly are communicationrights. Without those rights, there is no public sphere. Ask any citizen of Prague, Budapest, or Moscow."(Rheingold 282) "Just as the ability to read and write and freelycommunicate gives power to communicate gives power to citizens that protects themfrom the powers of the state, the ability to surveil, to invade the citizen's privacy, givesthe state the power to confuse, coerce and control citizens. Uneducated citizens cannotrule themselves, but tyrannies can control even educated populations, givensophisticated means of surveillance."(Rheingold 289) "This assault on privacy, invisibleto most, takes place in the broad daylight of everyday life. The weapons are cashregisters and credit cards. When Big Brother arrives, don't be surprised if he looks like agrocery clerk, because privacy has been turning into a commodity, courtesy of betterand better information networks, for years."(Rheingold 291) "The most insidious attackson our rights to a reasonable degree of privacy might come not from a politicaldictatorship but from the marketplace.

Courtroom Visit Essay

The Judiciary’s role is to give everyone fair access to the courts to solve legal problems fairly and efficiently, decide justly the guilt or innocence of anyone charged with a crime, and interpret the laws and protect the rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitutions of California and the United States. Criminal court is where you go when the state believes you have committed a crime and it files charges against you. The Criminal Court has jurisdiction over infraction, misdemeanor and felony cases. The Criminal Court conducts trials, motions, arraignments, preliminary hearings, probation hearings, mental health proceedings, and other types of criminal proceedings. In this essay I will be discussing my visit to the Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana on March 26, 2014 and my observations of the criminal proceedings in Department C58. In the courtroom were the public defenders, the district attorneys, private attorneys, court clerks, a court reporter, a bailiff, a resident probation officer, the judge, in custody defendants, out of custody defendants, spectators in the audience and when needed an interpreter. The defendants were charged with a variety of different crimes including petty theft, drunk in public, under the influence of a controlled substance, possession of paraphernalia and more serious crimes including possession of a controlled substance for sales, possession of a fire arm, commercial burglary, forgery, fraud and counterfeiting as well as probation violations. The judge took the bench at around 9:30 am and started with the defendants that were charged with misdemeanor offenses. The judge called each defendant’s name; each defendant would step up to the podium, the judge then gave notice of the charges the defendant was currently being accused of. On several occasions the judge called the name of a defendant that was not present, she then issued an arrest warrant for the defendant, revoking their current bail, in some cases a new bail was set but the majority of the warrant’s had no bail amount. For the defendants that were present out of custody the judge would offer the defendant a sentence for the charges and asked for the defendant’s plea to the charges. If the defendant wished to plead not guilty to the charges, which commonly occurred, the judge then appointed the public defender’s office to represent the defendant for the  matter. In several cases the defendants were charged with a misdemeanor including under the influence of a controlled substance (HS 11550 a), possession of paraphernalia (HS 11364), petty theft (PC 484 a) and drunk in public (PC 647), these defendants provided the county with a sample of their DNA, they were required to pay a $75 collection fee and then charges against them were dismissed. After the judge completed the misdemeanor cases she moved on to the felony cases, which were more complex. Just like with the misdemeanor cases, the judge would call the name of the defendant and have them step up to the podium, she would then give them notice of the charges against them and ask if they were able to afford an attorney if they were not able to do so she then would appoint the public defender’s to represent the defendant. The cases that I observed were in a variety of different stages of the criminal case proceedings. Theses stages included arraignments, pre trials, preliminary hearing and sentencing. In most of the cases the judge would calendar the case for a further date. In these cases the defendant is notified of their constitutional right to a speedy trial and in order to set the case for a continuance the defendant had to agree to waive this right. The defendant’s that decided to plead guilty to their charges were notified of their constitutional rights that they would be giving up by pleading guilty to the charges these rights included the right to a jury trial, their right to a speedy trial and their right to confrontation. The judge sentenced the defendant’s to a variety of sentences including fines, restitution, diversion programs, classes, county jail time, probation and state prison. The defendant’s that were in custody and were sentenced to jail time the judge would notify the defendant of his actual credits and his good time and give the defendant how many credits he/she had towards their sentence. If the defendant’s sentence included probation, the defendant had to agree to the terms and conditions of their probation and the judge reviewed the rights that they were giving up to be placed on probation, including the right to own a fire arm and the defendant’s search and seizure rights. In conclusion, I found my courtroom visit to be great learning  experience. More specifically after visiting the courthouse and seeing our criminal justice system firsthand, I feel that I have a greater understanding of the different topics we have been learning about in class including the different stages of the criminal court proceedings, the constitutional rights each person has when charged with committing a crime and the different people involved with the criminal courts.