The Criminal Justice System Essay Example for Free

The Criminal Justice System Essay America imprisons 756 inmates per 100,000 residents, a rate nearly five times the worlds average. About one in every 31 adults in this country is in jail or on supervised release. Either we are the most evil people on earth or we are doing something very wrong. (Webb, 2009, p. 4) This paper will look at basic criminal law, the reasons for lives of crime, a brief outline of the modern criminal justice system, and its future. Criminal LawCriminal law seeks to protect the public from harm by inflicting punishment upon those who have already done harm and by threatening with punishment those who are tempted to do harm. Most people accept that there are consequences for criminal conduct. The consequences are generally unpleasant and take away from the law breaker either his liberty or his property. One purpose of criminal law is to respond to harmful acts committed by individuals. However, each type of law provides different responses. A person who acts in a way that is considered harmful to society in general may be prosecuted by the government in a criminal case. If the individual is convicted (found guilty) of the crime, he or she will be punished under criminal law by a fine, imprisonment, or death. Once someone is found guilty of a crime, either a felony or a misdemeanor, punishment is imposed. The reasons for punishing law breakers are varied, and in some instances the reason may vary with the crime. Each reason has its own purpose, with the principal reasons being: Deterrence, Incapacitation, Retribution, and Rehabilitation. (Davenport, 2009)DeterrenceImposing a penalty for a criminal act is also intended to deter that person from repeating the act. If the penalty is significant enough, the law breaker will think twice before doing it again. Also, when the penalties are well known and there is public dissemination of penalties for a particular crime, it is expected that others who might contemplate the crime would be deterred from engaging in the prohibited activity. (Clarkson, 2005, p. 38) When there is a trial, sentencing, and punishment imposed, there is often a lot of publicity. This publicity is part of the deterrent factor in imposing a criminal penalty. Deterrence is frequently an  argument used to support the death penalty. IncapacitationJail or prison terms generally lengthen with the seriousness of the crime. The longer sentences serve as both revenge and deterrence, and also can serve another purpose. The longer a person is in custody, the less opportunity that person has to commit new crimes. This is particularly true of repeat offenders, which is why there has been a movement toward laws known as three strikes which impose long prison terms or even life sentences on individuals with multiple convictions. When an offender has not been deterred by prior penalties, protection of potential victims from that offender becomes an important consideration. Long jail or prison terms for individuals with multiple DUIs are becoming common as a protection for society. At some point it is in societys best interest to protect itself by certifying that a dangerous person is unable to harm others and incapacitation through custody serves that interest. (Farrington, 2003)RetributionA crime is considered an act that not only injures the specific victim, but also harms society at large. (Davenport, 2009, p. 12) A persons harmful acts may outrage the society as a whole. This gives rise to a desire for revenge, and punishing the criminal tends to satisfy that need. Additionally, having a person punished by society provides some measure of revenge for the specific victim of the act. If society provides an adequate punishment, the need for an individual to seek revenge personally is diminished and provides incentive to seek retribution through law enforcement. (Davenport, 2009)RehabilitationThere is also a value that every human life has meaning and worth, that there is a spark of good in everyone, even those who have chosen to break the laws of society. With that thought in mind, places that were previously known as jail or prison have become Departments of Correction. Some rehabilitation may come from within a person who is incarcerated. Criminals who are imprisoned may evaluate their actions and reshape their behavior so that when their liberty is restored they are able to readjust to  the boundaries of the law. Often programs are offered to offenders to assist in dealing with certain problems. Participation in programs such as drug and alcohol counseling or domestic violence education serves to potentially rehabilitate an individual. Involvement in such programs is often a condition of either continued freedom or reduction of jail time. (Davenport, 2009, p. 41)Justification for criminal punishment is not mutually exclusive. A particular punishment may advance several goals at the same time. A term of imprisonment, for example, may serve to incapacitate the offender, deter others in society from committing similar acts, and, at the same time, provide an opportunity for rehabilitative treatment of the offender. On the other hand, the goals of punishment may at times conflict. Retribution and deterrence call for the infliction of unpleasant experiences upon the criminal, including harsh prison treatment; but the prison environment may not be conducive to, or may even defeat, rehabilitation. Some offenders may even learn to become better criminals while incarcerated. Criminal CareersWhy do criminals pursue careers in crime? To understand the life of a career criminal we must first look at some Historical Backgrounds and Criminal Career Patterns. Historical BackgroundsThere are many theories as to why criminal activity occurs. The classical school theory has five basic concepts. One; everyone has free will. This means that a person chooses to do right or wrong. It also states that the two main determinates of human behavior are pleasure and pain. This theory also states that crime is immoral because of the bond that the act puts between the individual and their society. Also, that punishment is a necessary evil that can keep violators from repeating the crimes and sets examples for others. Finally they believe crime prevention helps to offset the gains of criminal behavior. (Davenport, 2009)Criminal Career PatternsThere appear to be ten widely accepted conclusions about the development of offending (Farrington, 2003):1 The age of onset of offending is most typically between ages 8 and 14, earlier with self-report data and later with official records, while the age of desistance from offending is  typically between 20 and 29 (though a small subset of offenders continue well into adulthood). 2 The prevalence of offending peaks in the late teenage years: between ages 15 and 19. 3 An early age of onset predicts a relatively long criminal career duration and the commission of relatively more offenses. 4 There is marked continuity in offending and antisocial behavior from childhood to the teenage years and adulthood. In other words, there is relative stability of the ordering of people on some measure of antisocial behavior over time, and people who commit relatively many offenses during one age range have a high probability of also committing relatively many offenses during a later age range. 5 A small fraction of the population (chronic offenders) commit a large fraction of all crimes; chronic offenders tend to have an early onset, a high individual offending frequency, and a long criminal career. 6 Offending is more versatile than specialized; violent offenders in particular appear to offend frequently in other kinds of offenses. 7 The types of acts defined as offenses are elements of a larger syndrome of antisocial behavior that includes heavy drinking, reckless driving, promiscuous sex, and so forth. 8 It appears that, as people enter adulthood, they change from group to lone offending. In fact, most offenses up to the late teenage years are committed with others, whereas most offenses from age 20 onward are committed alone. 9 The reasons given for offending up to the late teenage years are quite variable, including excitement/enjoyment, boredom, and/or emotional or utilitarian reasons. From age 20 onward, utilitarian motives become increasingly dominant. 10 Different types of offenses tend to be first committed at distinctively different ages. This sort of progression is such that shoplifting tends to be committed before burglary, burglary before robbery, and so forth. In general, diversification increases up to age 20; but after age 20, diversification decreases and specialization increases. Analysis of criminal careers has great value. Understanding why or how offenders get involved in a life of crime can lead to policies and procedures that can prevent criminal careers from developing. I have asked offenders in the prison I work in why they did their crime. Most answered that they needed money, some were gang related, and others done out of fits of rage. Most of them thought they would not get caught while some others just did not care or showed no remorse those are the scary ones. The Criminal Justice SystemThe criminal justice system has three component subsystems, they are: Police, Courts, and Corrections (Schmalleger, 2007). PoliceThe first step in the criminal justice system is the police officers or federal agents. When a crime is committed the police investigate the crime scene and if the suspect is still present they arrest the person. The police officer must always read the suspect his/her rights before questioning. During the questioning the suspect has the right to refuse to answer any questions at anytime during the questioning and ask for a lawyer. If the suspect is not at the scene of a crime, after an investigation the police will make a report and a judge or magistrate will issue a warrant for the suspects arrest. After an arrest the suspect is booked. This is a process where he/she has a picture taken, finger printed, and personal information is recorded (Schmalleger, 2007). CourtsThe prosecutors office becomes involved after an arrest. The information that is collected at the scene of the crime is turned over to the prosecutions office so they can determine if enough evidence exists for a conviction. It is not a good idea for a prosecutor to be involved in the beginning of an investigation because the defense counsel does not have the  opportunity till after they are either hired by the defendant or appointed one to them. The defense attorney is not involved in a criminal case until he/she is appointed or hired by the defendant. They cannot be involved prior to an indictment or arrest. At a preliminary hearing the defense attorney will hear the evidence presented and then determine if the evidence presented by the prosecution is strong enough for a plea bargain or a trial (Schmalleger, 2007). A judge or magistrates function begins with issuing a warrant if one is needed. A warrant is needed only if the criminal has not already been arrested. After a criminal defendant has been arrested, he/she is brought before a judge for a first appearance. This is when the judge will inform the defendant of the charges brought against him/her, read the defendant his/her rights again, and sometimes provide the defendant the opportunity to make bail. The next step for the criminal defendant is the preliminary hearing. During the preliminary hearing a judge will determine if there is probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed and if there is enough evidence to show the defendant committed the crime. This is when the prosecution presents the evidence to the judge and the defendant has the right to hire an attorney or if he/she cannot afford one the court will appoint the defendant a defense attorney (Schmalleger, 2007). The first appearance for a criminal defendant before the court that has the authority to conduct a trial, is called an arraignment (Schmalleger, 2007, p. 18). In this process the judge will hear the information (charges) and read it to the defendant, and again his/her rights are read to him/her by the judge. This is when the criminal defendant will enter a plea of either; not guilty, guilty, or no contest (Schmalleger, 2007). CorrectionsOffenders are then turned over to the correctional authorities, from the court system after the accused has been found guilty. Depending on the sentence, offenders will serve their time either in a jail or a prison. Jail is where you are held until you are sentenced. Jails are maintained by  municipalities or counties, and are generally used for incarceration sentences of less than one year. In most states, jail is for pre-trial detention for those who cannot raise bail (if bail is available), and also for post-conviction detention of those convicted on misdemeanor charges, which are defined as those convictions carrying a sentence of a year or less. Jails are generally run by counties, and every countys system will be different. Prisons are maintained by states or the federal government, and are used for sentences longer than one year. Prison is for post-conviction only, and is exclusively for felony convictions, that is, those charges with a sentence of a year or more. Prisons are operated by a states department of corrections (or equivalent agency), and tend to be more standardized; manning them are corrections officers from a statewide pool. The FutureLocal, state, and federal spending on corrections adds up to about $68 billion a year. Our overcrowded, ill managed prison systems are places of violence, physical abuse, and hate, making them breeding grounds that perpetuate and magnify the same types of behavior that they are intended to prevent. (Webb, 2009) One way that we can reverse this trend is through privatization. Corporations can bring more effective management and turn a tax drain into a profitable business. This can be done by employing the inmates as labor and giving them job skills at the same time. Another way we can reduce costs and prison overcrowding is by legalization and decriminalization of certain drugs. Drug offenders, most of them passive users or minor dealers, are swamping our prisons. According to data supplied to Congress Joint Economic Committee, those imprisoned for drug offenses rose from 10% of the inmate population to approximately 33% between 1984 and 2002. Experts estimate that this increase accounts for about half of the dramatic escalation in the total number imprisoned over that period. Justice statistics also show that 47.5% of all the drug arrests in our country in 2007 were for marijuana offenses. Additionally, nearly 60% of the people in state prisons serving time for a drug offense had no history of violence or of any significant selling activity. We need to save prisons and jails for  the more violent offenders. It is time to change the law. As a Correctional Officer, I have witnessed firsthand the results of the modern legal system. While there is clearly a lot of progress to be made there is also many educational and vocational programs available to offenders. The largest obstacle to their reform, however, is that the offender has to want to change. He must develop a conscious and be aware of the harm he has inflicted upon others. More importantly, he must have a desire to live productively, peacefully, and within the laws of society. References Clarkson, C. (2005). Understanding Criminal Law. London: Sweet Maxwell Ltd. Conklin, J. (2009). Criminology. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. Davenport, A. (2009). Basic Criminal Law: The Constitution, Procedure, and Crimes. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Press. Farrington, D. (2003). Evidence-based Crime Prevention. New York: Routledge PressSchmalleger, F. (2007). Criminal Justice Today. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall Publishing. Webb, J. (2009, March 29). Whats Wrong With Our Prisons? Parade, 4-5.

A Web Based Meeting Scheduler Information Technology Essay

A Web Based Meeting Scheduler Information Technology Essay The web based meeting scheduler (WMS) is a user friendly tool developed to assists humans in office environments to schedule meetings efficiently. The algorithm used in the distributed meeting scheduler paves way for negotiation of various processes on behalf of their users and comes up with an agreement on a common meeting time that is acceptable to all the users and abides by all the constraints set by the hosts and attendees. The motive of the algorithm is to obtain a solution based on the knowledge it acquires during the process. In summary the Web-based Meeting Scheduler follows a decision oriented methodology that depends on knowledge based approach. The purpose of WMS is to support the organization of meetings and to determine for each meeting request, a meeting date and location so that most of the intended participants shall effectively participate. The principal users of this system are the Meeting Initiator and Meeting Attendees/Participants. Each user is going to have their own login IDs and passwords. It is the responsibility of the meeting initiator to schedule the meeting based on the availability of the attendees along with the constraints expressed by the attendees/participants. The meeting scheduler system shall have the ability to handler several meeting requests in parallel and resolve conflicts. The key functionalities of this system are: Schedule or plan meetings, re-planning of meetings to support changing user constraints, support conflict resolution, keep participants informed of the meeting schedules and any changes, and to cancel meetings. Problem Context Despite the advances in technology, scheduling a meeting is not as simple as it looks. There is a lot of judgment involved. Anytime you bring together a group of people, there are many factors to consider. You have to consider pecking order. Some members of the group are more important, so others must change their schedules to accommodate. But with the right system, meeting scheduling can be quick, easy and super efficient. Therefore, a web-based system meeting scheduler system will be developed to allow individuals or organizations to easily, efficiently, and precisely schedule meetings in accordance with practical limitations of virtual and real-world meetings. This project does on how the software system will try to achieve what it is intended to do, by describing requirements such as security, reliability, maintainability, usability and performance. Rationale Now that the problem has been identified, once implemented, the system could bring about significant tangible and intangible benefits. It is anticipated that the system could be the best solution to the existing problems that meeting planners or organizers encounter when running meetings. The following are the tangible and intangible benefits of the system: Meetings are vital for communication and management. Properly run meetings save time, increase motivation, productivity, and solve problems. Plan, run and follow up meetings properly, and they will repay the cost many times over because there is still no substitute for physical face-to-face meetings Description of Problem Area Holding meetings is an increasingly expensive activity, hence the need to run meetings well. Badly run meetings waste time, money, resources and are worse than having no meetings at all. The following are common problems that occur when scheduling a meeting: The meeting is scheduled and after everyone had been invited you discover that some important participants cant attend. Another date has to be found. This can lead to a cycle of invitations and revisions. A meeting is confirmed but then needs to be changed. A meeting location is specified and then later changed in a subsequent meeting notice. Some of the attendees follow the original meeting notice and end up in a wring room. Repeated meeting notices and revisions are sent out, so everyone is confused about the meeting. You use an internet based meeting scheduling system, but outside participants dont have the same software. A meeting is scheduled and confirmed, but the location is already booked. No one sends a meeting reminder, and several attendees forget about the meeting. People are invited to a meeting but the meeting organizer did not say what it is about, so they show up unprepared Nature of Challenge The hardest single part of building a software system is deciding precisely what to build. No other part of the conceptual work is as difficult as establishing the detail technical requirements, including the entire interface to people, to machines, and to other software systems. No part of the work so cripples the resulting system if done wrong. No other part is more difficult to rectify later.[Brooks, 1987] We consider the problem of determining suitable meeting times and locations for a group of participants wishing to schedule a meeting subject to already scheduled meetings possibly held at a number of different locations. Each participant must be able to reach the new meeting location, attend for the entire duration, and reach the next meeting on time. Major problem will be in deriving efficient algorithms for solving general meeting scheduling problems, to find approximate solutions, where appropriate implement the solutions and to integrate them into applications that allow users who are connected over a network to schedule meetings. Currently meeting scheduling systems take into consideration only time and not location or geometry. C. Brief description of project objectives. (i.e. scope of proposal and deliverables) Scope The scope of the project shall include scheduling meetings in an efficient way, gathering the feedback from attendees, cancelling the meeting, changing the schedule and/or location, scheduling concurrent meetings in timely manner, conducting virtual meeting, confirming the location and time of the meeting and last but not the least minimize users effort in coordinating and scheduling meetings. Core Modules This is the main functionality of my project. It has to do the following: Automate the meeting schedule process to enable efficient use of the time and efforts of meeting organizer. Select a date and time according to the availability of the participants. Allocate the location that is convenient to all the participants. Send reminders to the participants about the meeting and any schedule changes. Re-organize and modify the meeting schedule if required. Enhanced Features This are the additional features I plan to include in my project: Adding members of the meeting Administrator has privilege to edit users profile. Search for members of the meeting and see who is free and who is not, and who is coming for the meeting Generation of appropriate reports to show meeting attendees and the meeting agendas Attendees photos for verification incase of same information. Participants option for denying the invitation. User need to register. Special Features Based on my research and if I have the time and ability, these are the features I am going to attempt to implement: Make the system work on diverse platforms (Windows, Blackberry, iPhone and other Smartphone compatibility). Participants choice of getting reminder in pop-up window or mail. Facility to book conference bridge (conference bridge is a phone) and editing reserved bridge. Assumptions and Dependencies The following will be major assumptions of this project: Will ensure that I am available as needed to complete project tasks and objectives. Will abide by the guidelines identified within this plan. Project plan might change on new information revealed or issues encountered. Availability of participants for meetings and training. Constraints The project has the below three constraints: Time: time frame within which the project should be completed. Cost: cost of developing the system within the estimated budget. Quality: level of quality to be met as per the requirements of the users. D. Brief description of the resources needed by the proposal. (i.e. hardware, software, access to information / expertise, user involvement etc.) Hardware requirements A standard PC with minimum 40gig hard disk and 256MB RAM. A Smartphone. Software requirements The system shall be developed using n-tier architecture consisting of the presentation (web layer), business layer and Data Access layer. Integrated Development Environment : Netbeans IDE Development using Java 1.6, J2ee, Ajax, JavaScript Database Management : SQL server 2005 The web-based interface for the WMS shall run in the below internet browsers Internet Explorer 64.x and above Firefox Access to information or Expertise Mostly books are used as a source of information for this project. However websites and research paper also play a major role as a source of reference. User Involvement Knowledge and experience of people who have used the existing Web-based Meeting Schedulers is respected, valued and drawn upon to influence and shape the work of the proposed system. They would help to understand the requirements hence building a better system. These information can be gathered by using some research methods such as interviews, questionnaires or even case studies. E. Academic research being carried out and other information, techniques being learnt. (i.e. what are the names of books you are going to read / data sets you are going to use) The following are some of the books I am going to read in conjuction with the information gathered online as I will be doing this project: Dawson, C.W. (2009) Projects in Computing and Information Systems : A Student Guide Tudor, D.J. and Tudor I.J. (1999)Â  System Analysis and Design: A Comparison of Structured Methods, New Edition. Palgrave Macmillan Software Hughes, B. Cotterell, M. (3rd Ed)(2009) Software Project Management Sommerville, I. (6th Ed) (2000) Software Engineering by Ian Sommerville Philips, J. Project (3rd Ed) Management Professional Study Guide Hall, E. Johnson, J. (2002)Integrated Project Management Prentice Hall F. Brief description of the development plan for the proposed project. (i.e. which software methodology and why, the major areas of functions to be developed and the order in which developed) After reading and making researches, I strong-willed to do this project using Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC). It is a conceptual model used in project management that unlike other methodologies describes the stages involved in an information system development project, from an initial feasibility study through maintenance of the completed application. Although SDLC has different forms and models, it follows certain steps. These steps could have the same meaning in one methodology but they are treated in a different manner or could lead to something different. It is chosen because of its ability to cater for the project as a whole and part of it that involves an application that is going to be developed on the web. These following steps are for the project: Planning- Everything starts with a concept or with a question such as what do you want? being asked to certain people so as to know what they want and decide to create an answer. Design- Once planning is done; one can now design or create a rough plan regarding the software. Will decide on the initial specifics of the software to be created, decide what platform or programming language to use. Implementation- When the design and all the things that I need have been laid out, it is time to work on the plan and present it for approval. Testing- Two types of testing are going to be performed, one which will be the actual testing by users. Once the stage is completed the WMS will be tested by professionals in the field. Acceptance- When the software is released to be used by a certain company, acceptance means the software is implemented. Maintenance- When the software is implemented, it does not mean that the software is good as it is. Maintenance is included since there is absolutely no way that the software will be working perfectly. Disposal- When a software is outmoded, it is not just all deletion of files, affected files should be looked at and determine which file to protect and dispose. And the following are web development stages: Analysis, Initial design, Design approval, Web development, Prototype, Launching, and Maintenance. G. Brief description of the evaluation and test plan for the proposed project. (i.e. what is the success criteria and how will be evaluated implementation will be tested, indicate the estimated size of the demonstration/test database) Testing Testing refers to the process of exercising a product to identify differences between expected and actual behavior. It is the means by which the presence, quality or genuineness of anything is determined; a means of trial. The project will be successful it if manages to perform all the key functionalities. It will be tested by me and as I will be developing the system with both black-box and white-box testing methodologies while my supervisor will use White-box testing which provides a degree of sophistication that is not available with black-box testing as the tester is able to refer to and interact with the objects that comprise an application rather than only having access to the user interface to check if all the functionalities, deliverables and objectives are met. Evaluation Evaluation is a systematic determination of merit, worth and significance of something or someone using criteria against a set of standards. Without an evaluation process a product reaching consumers would be untried. It would reflect the intentions of its designer but there would be no study of the relationship between design and use. The two main types of evaluation, Formative and Summative evaluation are going to be used to evaluate Web based meeting scheduler that is going to be developed in this project. The Web-based Meeting Scheduler will have approximately 20 people in its database. They will be used for testing some of the functionalities of the system. For example if one person is invited to a meeting that clashes with another meeting that he or she has already been invited to, and the person showed that they will be attending it, an error message should be displayed to show that the person will not manage to attend that one. Or if meetings that should have the same attendees clash, an error message should be displayed also.

Year Round Schooling Speech -- Education

Year Round Schooling Speech Have you ever thought about what life would be like having to go to school year round? Well kids today feel that with all the pressure and work they have during the school year, they need the 3 month break time period in order to regroup themselves and have a change of scenery. Year round schooling in the past few years has become a trend that is sweeping the nation, and I am going to tell you why year round schooling IS NOT a way to send the children of America through school. Not only does year round schooling affect the children of America but, it also affects the parents of students, the personal growth and maturity of the students, and the experiences that each child should encounter in-order to develop their own self. Year round schooling affects the parents of students almost as much as the student themselves. Now, I know you guys are thinking, how does this affect parents when we are the ones actually going to school? Well according to the American School Board Journal, parents "turn thumbs down" to year round schooling. Parents...

German Management System :: essays research papers

German management, as it has evolved over the centuries and has established itself since World War II, has a distinct style and culture. Like so many things German, it goes back to the medieval guild and merchant tradition, but it also has a sense of the future and of the long term. The German style of competition is rigorous but not ruinous. Although companies might compete for the same general market, as Daimler-Benz and BMW do, they generally seek market share rather than market domination. Many compete for a specific niche. German companies despise price competition. Instead, they engage in what German managers describe as Leistungswettbewerb, competition on the basis of excellence in their products and services. They compete on a price basis only when it is necessary, as in the sale of bulk materials like chemicals or steel. The German manager concentrates intensely on two objectives: product quality and product service. He wants his company to be the best, and he wants it to have the best products. The manager and his entire team are strongly product oriented, confident that a good product will sell itself. But the manager also places a high premium on customer satisfaction, and Germans are ready to style a product to suit a customer's wishes. The watchwords for most German managers and companies are quality, responsiveness, dedication, and follow-up. Product orientation usually also means production orientation. Most German managers, even at senior levels, know their production lines. They follow production methods closely and know their shop floors intimately. They cannot understand managers in the United States who want only to see financial statements and "the bottom line" rather than inspect a plant's production processes. A German manager believes deeply that a good-quality production line and a good-quality product will do more for the bottom line than anything else. Relations between German managers and workers are often close, because they believe that they are working together to create a good product. If there is a third objective beyond quality and service, it is cooperation--or at least coordination--with government. German industry works closely with government. German management is sensitive to government standards, government policies, and government regulations. Virtually all German products are subject to norms--the German Industrial Norms (Deutsche Industrie Normen--DIN)--established through consultation between industry and government but with strong inputs from the management associations, chambers of commerce, and trade unions. As a result of these practices, the concept of private initiative operating within a public framework lies firmly imbedded in the consciousness of German managers.

Essay --

Ans. Today a typical operation spends and takes in several hundred thousand dollars per year , and income over a million dollars are not uncommon. The irregularity of income and expenses, and the use of intensive technologies have become very capital have adequate funding in the key to the success of a business right time. The use of capital and credit has modern investors with a series of decisions to make : †¢ How much to invest? †¢ Where to get capital? †¢ What combination of equity and debt to use? †¢ How to negotiate rates and terms of the credit? †¢ How much financial risk to take ? Making good financial decisions is often the difference between a thriving economy , growing farm business and is constantly wondering how to pay the next bill. The modules in this course of professional study will address the above decisions , and more. Although the modules are arranged in a logical sequence , can be completed in any order you want. According keeper and ambrosio , " Financial Management is the application of the functions of planning and control of the finance function. " ï  ® Financial decisions are decisions concerning the financial matters of a Firm. The financial decisions are grouped into three categories. 1. Investment decisions. 2. Financing decisions. 3. Dividend decisions. Investment decisions An investment decision revolves around the capital expenditure assets that produce the best performance of the company over a period of time desired . In other words , the decision is about what to buy for the company will get the maximum value. To do this, the company has to find a balance between your short term and long term. In the very short term , a company needs money to pay your bills, but keeping all your cash means you ... ...ned as: WACC= [kd(D/D+E) + ke (E/D+E)] D= Dividend E= Equity Kd= cost of debt Ke= cost of equity WACC= value of the firm The WACC for the firm may be calculated as follows: % 0f Equity % of Debt Cost Of Debt Cost Of Equity Cost of capital of Debt Cost of capital of Equity WACC 100% 0% 5% 12% 0.00% 12.00% 12.00% 90% 10% 5% 12% 0.50% 10.80% 11.30% 80% 20% 5% 12.50% 1.00% 10.00% 11.00% 70% 30% 5.50% 13% 1.65% 9.10% 10.75% 60% 40% 6% 14% 2.40% 8.40% 10.80% 50% 50% 6.50% 16% 3.25% 8.00% 11.25% 40% 60% 7% 20% 4.20% 8.00% 12.20% The optimal debt equity mix for the company occurs at a point when the overall cost of capital, ko, is minimum. The above calculations show that the ko is minimum at a point when the debt is 30% of the total capital employed. Therefore, the firm should use 30% debt and 70% equity in its capital structure and its ko would be 10.75%.

Children Rights for Education

In John Holts essay, â€Å"Freedom for Children† he discusses how children should have their own right to decide how much, when, and what to learn. Holt states that by taking children†s right to learn, we are taking a fundamental right away from them. He also states that, to adults, the right to decide what does and does not interest us is taken for granted and that we are unknowingly taking this right away from children. Holt also states that by sending children to school six hours a day, 180 days a year, for about 10 years we are limiting them. Holt concludes that children are no longer learning, but rather are taught what adults think they should know. I personally disagree with Holts on this matter. If children had the right to control their education, what would stop them from even going or learning things that could be damaging to society? I feel the have plenty of rights as it is. Children today have many rights already in the field of education. In elementary school, no one forces them to stop learning. They can always choose to further their education, by reading perhaps. In high school, there are a variety of classes a student can choose from. All these classes can be selected to fit an individual student. Classes ranging from art and drama all the way up to advanced placement physics are at the disposal of those who want to learn. No one forces children to take these classes. Students take these classes of their own free will. Once in college, a student has the right to choose whatever major they feel fit to be in. If they don†t like that major, they can always change it. What would happen if students were allowed to come and go as they please? All too often, students would never go to class. They would abuse their right and spend their days having fun. I have personally seen friends leave school because they don†t want to be there. If they didn†t have to be there they would not have come in the first place. There are certain things that students should know. Basic math and English skills are required jus to get by in today†s society. If these basic skills are never learned, we risk having an underdeveloped society full of uneducated people. Our world would literally crumble because we run the chance of people not knowing anything. Limiting what children learn today is not the way we want to have them grow up. If we did that, we would have them grow up with a natural tendency to learn what is harmful or wrong to society. What we are trying to do is guide them in life so what they can make the right decisions in life. Exposing them to what is right in the world will help them open up to new opportunities and experiences. As we can see, we are not limiting on what a person can learn, but only protecting that person from abusing it. So many things can go wrong if a person were allowed to take control of their own education. Abuse and neglect are only a few possibilities. The way education is now was designed to be the best for those willing and even unwilling to learn. Those willing can receive the best education their mind is able to give them. The unwilling receive the basics and don†t become a burden on society. Holts† idea of unhindered learning may be an idealistic one, but in the end there are too many flaws and loopholes. An education like that could be societies downfall when our system is extremely efficient now.

Insight on Macro Economics

Question 1: financial globalization Over the years since World War 2 we have seen economists battle on the idea for and against of financial globalization. The topic had been there during previous years but not much attention was paid into it, it only attracted attention after the effects of World War 2 let to social unification. This is idea suggests that all the countries of the world should unite economically by setting up a global financial institution to standardize al the economic activities of the world. The pros and cones have laid out with case studies on regional bodies and domestic financial institutions being cited to back up various claims that take different stands on the issue.Both Mishkin and Rogoff acknowledged that if the world would be a better place if it had a global financial institution. Even with this in mind, they never failed to say that the idea is a pipe dream as there are many economic, social and political variables round it. Unifying all the three factors would be daunting even from the onset and it would be a miracle if the unification worked. They stated that even if all odds were beaten and the institution was formed; developing countries would end up losing market and money as the developed countries would exploit them. The two agreed that if formed, the international institution would be more successful as it will have many investors from developing countries and be disbursing high return interest loans to developed countries for them to invest in developing countries. Professor Kling agrees with the two economists up to the point that formation of a global financial institution is an imaginary (Lawrence-2001) object but takes a turn on the point that the institution would be more successful. Kling argues that economic problems domestic institutions face are the exact one the global institution will face but a larger and much devastating state.If a crisis arises, the international institution would cut the money it loans and raise the interests on the money. This would not be harsh stance as just like any business, the institution would want to grow its profit base and reduce risks. Developing countries that would by then be so dependant to the institution will be affected terribly as the probability of their economies collapsing would be so high. Mishkin, Rogoff and Kling all agree with this theory and each of them made reference to the behavior of the international monetary fund when an economic crisis arises. Benefits that the international institution will pass to the global community fixed. It would quickly restore liquidity if asked to because it would have a perpetual stability and flow of cash. Making available long term loans will be an easy task for the institution (chui-2002). Opening markets will be among the merits of an international as all countries will be operating under the same economic laws. Diversifying the market base will be another benefit as there will be numerous markets for different goods. Note; the previous statement will work if the global community allows production specialization policy to work. All these benefits have been agreed to by Mishkin and Rogof but Kling refutes the point that loans will be available to all countries. He says that is an impractical suggestion. There are elaborate disadvantages of the international institution if it is formed. Huge disparities in economic growth would be inevitable. We would see developing countries grow in economy as the developing counties would be seeing a drop in their GDP. The institution will cause an increase of taxes globally incase an economic bomb explodes and its liquidity goes down. The institution will kill productivity of small countries if it does not make policies that facilitate the smooth transfer of technology from developed to developing countries. Most of the skilled and unskilled labor force in developed countries will be left jobless as their companies will prefer manufacturing products in less developed countries that have low wage payouts.Question B1: contrast on transmission mechanismsTaylor and Lucas are profound economists that have made phenomenal economic revelations and added spice to works of Meynerd Keynes. Their insight on transmission mechanism is what staged their professionalism and expertise in the field of economics. They have divergent and convergent views relating to the topic; let us analyze them. The similarity they hold is that they both support the use of short term interest rates and investment on short term high return bonds and securities to propel economic growth, better known as financial market price review (taylor-1995). They say this is the only way the American banks maintain their liquidity. They also agree that how money is transferred between accounts and the number of times it circulates should be increased so as to maximize its efficiency; this is known as limited participation (tobin-1969). Credit view is one of the clashing points between the two professionals; Taylor fully supports the policy but Lucas admonishes it. Taylor advocates for unison change in lending rate policies among banks as Lucas stands for free financial flowing activities. Question B2: not what they had in mindKlings books explains a chronological order of events that led to the 2007/2008 financial crises that left many big companies bankrupt and with large debts, this is the year in united states history that stock prices shot and the exchange market remained shocked. He states that it is also a year to be remembered as there was widespread public outcry because people were being kicked out of their mortgages (kling-2009). It depicts how the bad economic policies made by previous governments led to the catastrophic time. He compares the laws of the times from 1930 to 1970 then 2001 when the policies were changed but that that could not save or salvage the 2008 disruption from taking place. The title highlights that the thoughts that were behind the previous policy makers did not come to be as they made poor economic judgments. The general idea is that the policies be changed and that companies customize the laws according to their own needs to avoid a scenario similar to the 2007/2008 one. The book gives insights and acts as a wake up to the policy makers, the banking and insurance companies and the general public; main consumers.Mr Kling urged the public to come up with innovations that would help cruise through bad economic times like the one in 2007/2008. He also urges the government to thoroughly scrutinize bills before passing them into laws as they would turn to be harmful in future times. He made the previous as a sig to acknowledge that economic forces are not static and they require revision from time to time. Here he lay an example that innovation would help reduce future effects as they did by helping quash the Glass-Stealgall act of 1933 (krugman-2002). The act prohibited interstate banking and also outlawed the merging of investment and commercial banks. Many economists including Kling said that the policy makers of that time passed the act as they thought that if banks were allowed to operate nationally they would be more powerful than other federal agencies. They also thought that merging of banks would create a monopoly and catalyze an economic breakdown.By equity finance; financial institutions would be reducing the economic burden by sharing risks. Kling sees this method work more efficiently if financial institutions merge. He also adds the money to be placed in the investment should be given I bits. This will allow the institution to study the market as the venture grows, in case they notice a downward or predict a loss the company can always pull out of the deal safely. This method has fewer sets of threats to loss than giving out all the cash for investment in one bit. Equity he says will prevent a coming from running out of liquidity. If the investment return is high, an institution can always remain in service even if it is funding different projects from different parties. In his introduction Mr Kling named bad bets and excessive leverage to be among the four practices financial institutions engaged in that led to the crisis. Prior to 2008 many lenders would typically really on institution credit scores before giving out loans; if they noticed that the borrower had good scores they would not hesitate giving him the loan in one sum. They did this even before assessing investment they were funding. The financial institutions would later come back to collect the money or claim the property, this is what led to the collapse of minor banks in the US. In his analysis if the matter he states that equity finance can help counter this effect as institutions that use it will save money and reduce the risk of becoming bankrupt by 40%. It is the excessive bets placed on none return investments that lead to excessive leverage. He structures the equity funding policy as a way of keeping the financial institutions in check with their investments. The actions that I would propose to the state is; creation of a federal body that will be mandated to assess the market viability of projects and investment opportunities. This body should then approve and certify that the project is truly worth the money requested in the quotation. I also recommend that banks be more open with their liquidity information and hand it over to the body that certifies projects. After certification the body will now recommend the project owner to an institution with that kind of money. This action will save many banks from collapse as many of them succumb to greed; bad bets.ReferencesBook written by Michael Chui in 2002Sovereignty liquidity crisis; analysis and complications for public policyBook written by A Lawrence in 2001International financial crisis; causes prevention and curesOnline Article from the new York times newspaperhttps;//www.nytimes/2002/08/02/opinion/duby-s-double-dip.htmlBook written by professor Kling'Not what they thought'Book written by Tobin in 1968 and published in 1969Theory of investmentBook written by Ando in 1958 and published in 1963'The life cycle theory of consumption'