Nexity and the Us Banking Industry

Introduction of Nexity3 I. External Analysis3 A. Industry and Demand Analysis3 B. PEST Analysis6 II. INTERNAL ANALYSIS9 A. Resources View Analysis. 9 B. Value chain analysis10 III. Nexity Financial analysis12 A. Nexity bank business model and strategies. 12 B. Nexity Financial Analysis. 13 IV. SWOT ANALYSIS15 V. TOWS ANALYSIS16 Conclusion17 Introduction of Nexity Nexity is an online bank, which was initially called the People State of Grand and it was opened in February 2000. Its headquarters are located in Birmingham, Alabama, USA.Currently, David Long is the President of Nexity and Greg Lee the CEO. The turnover represented an amount of $13,018 millions in 2003. Banking online is a very good opportunity for the banking industry, there was a projection of 67 million of American using it by 2007 compared to 38 millions by 2003. There were a lot of players in this competitive market but Nexity had a generic strategy of differentiation by spreading its geographic and demographic custom er base throughout the US. External Analysis Industry and Demand AnalysisHistorically, there was a rebound of the banking industry and rapid growth in this area after the Great Depression and World War II, with the hope to keep the industry from being highly concentrated. Indeed, the US banking industry was a fragmented and dispersed system but it changed in the 1980’s. These changes were due to financial legislation which wanted to lead to a more integrated financial system in US in terms of activities and products The deregulation led to consolidation and consequently to new rivalry.Helped by the Gramm Leach Bliley’s Act offering extended banking but also by the changes in communication and information technologies, the US banking industry knew a merger mania and a lot of acquisitions were done. All had the same goal : to develop a more national brand recognition in a market newly concentrated. But scandals also appeared due to these new changes. Concerning the size of the industry, it is obvious that the concentration could be seen between 1980 and 2002.Number of institutions declined from 14,434 to 7,887 contrary to their branches which raised a lot from 38,738 to 66,185. However it is important to make the distinction here between two types of banks. At first, there were the brick-and-mortar banks and then appeared the virtual ones, such as Nexity. Now, let’s compare Nexity in the US virtual banking environment by a review of the main actors performances in 2002. |Institution |Assets (in thousands) |Deposits (in thousands) | |E*Trade Bank $17,453,676 |$9,157,328 | |ING Direct |16,142,091 |13,112,826 | |NetBank |4,280,899 |2,479,421 | |Principal Bank |1,967,342 |1,826,018 | |BMW Bank of North America |1,149,732 |156,983 | |National Interbank |645,448 |528,516 | |Nexity Bank |501,167 |368,523 | |American Bank |472,181 |336,288 | Here we can see that Nexity is the 7th virtual bank on the market in terms of assets. More important, we also notice that E*Trade Bank and ING Direct are the first and second ones, with a huge gap separating them from the others, among which competition is really hard. Porter’s five forcesEven though there are less and less institutions since the 1980’s, there is still a high rivalry among the competitors in virtual banks. Clients are more and more oriented to the more rentable channels like internet and ATMs. Virtual banks consequently deliver a lot of services but only through internet that allow to reduce costs in occupancy and salaries in order to offer better rates of interest (to 3 times better than averages). Virtual low-costs positioned banks compete against other virtual banks with good customer service, in-house costumer data and service center operations, strong management teams, a good mix of attractively priced products, and low marketing costs.It’s a price competition which includes lower margins directly. What about the entry barriers with potential entr ants? It is a low threat. The largest barrier to entry is the expenses in founding a bank: a new bank needs to raise 8-12 million to begin operations. But start-up costs for virtual banks are much less expensive than for traditional banks: virtual banks could begin operations for millions less than traditional banks (no offices, etc. ) , even though they’ll have to invest a lot in marketing and advertising budgets in order to attract depositors at the start-up time. The second barrier is loyalty to older, larger, and more established brand-name banks.Here we can talk about a network effect. And third, an existing bank holding company provides investments and backing for the new bank by spinning off a separate banking entity. Concerning the substitutes, the only ones could be traditional banks because people need safety and want to be sure about their money by advices. There would be a switch from virtual banks to brick-and-mortar ones, because people are deceived or want to e xperiment again the first one, with a better consideration of its advantages. But there is less possibility for this than the opposite because people want more and more to gain time. That’s why there is a low threat of substitutes. Clients are the buyers.They have a relative bargaining power especially on the rate of interest on borrows. The first have an interest to bargain and have a bargaining power because of the rate of interest as a complement revenue and because banks need liquidity to operate. He can have some influence on the bank with other clients. Word of mouth works a lot with a service you use daily. Brand recognition also can be negative. Suppliers: They are the companies that provide inputs/services that banks purchase in order to be able to borrow and lend money. It can be a safety certificate for online web, labels†¦etc. With an environment impacted by scandals, they can have a bargaining power but it is still relative because there are a lot of supplie rs. ==> Internal rivalry, Buyers and Suppliers are the strongest forces in the US online bank industry, whereas potential entrances and substitutes are the weakest.Key Success Factors can consequently be defined for this industry: forecasting all the marketing and communication budget for implementing and then keeping talking about the bank for new customers; using the more rentable channels for the customers; offering low rate of interest in borrowing and high for revenues to client and convincing people of the value of virtual banks ; implementing more and more safety with technologies. PEST Analysis One of the main points in the external analysis is the PEST analysis. The goal of this part is to determine which are the main external forces affecting the US banking industry.Then, we will introduce and analyse in the following development which factors impact directly positively or negatively this sector in dividing them on the political, economic, social and technological views . On the political view, the US government has a place of protagonist in the current US banking system. In fact, US government launched series of laws which have completely changed the US banking landscape such as the Reigle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. The first one allowed a bank holding company to buy another bank anywhere through the United States without taking into account the state law. The second one allowed affiliation between banks, securities firms and insurance company.Logically, this deregulation, or the opening of state market that it includes, has strongly impacted the US landscape in increasing the competition on the national area. Moreover, the deregulation led to a merger mania that is to say institutions use a process mergers and acquisitions in integrating vertically and/or horizontally in order to have more costumers and so to gain market shares, and to develop the range of products and services. Finally, t he impact of the US government could be seen as an opportunity for banks (the biggest currently) which got out as leaders to the deregulation and merger mania because the market is bigger but as an threat for banks which went to bankrupt.It’s significant to notice how the Fed affects the economy and the US banking system through the actions on the real interest rates. In fact, because the Fed can set the nominal funds rate as a sole supplier of reserves for US banks. But it can influence too the real interest rate thanks to the set of the monetary policy that will operate in the future (the monetary policy of tomorrow influences the real interest rate of today). Then, the Fed has a direct impact on the level of the real rates and consequently on the whole of economy. For example, if the real rates are lower, the activity of banks will increase because borrowing costs will decrease and investments from households will increase in order to buy goods or services.Increasing of co nsumption from householders will boost the different industries which will invest in capital, in production capacity or in labour (decrease of unemployment). Reducing real rates will get investments as common stock more attractive and will boost the US internal business in limiting imports because the foreign exchange value of the dollar is reduced and so, the foreign product get more expensive. On the economic point of view, multiple factors should be taken into account. One of the most significant points is the interest rate which is developed upside. Finally, that represents an opportunity if the real rates are declining and rather a threat if it is growing. Moreover, other non-negligible point is the purchasing power of households.In fact, according to some economic theories, an increasing part of households’ consumption is oriented to service expenses on the one hand, and, on the other hand, other certain part of it matches to savings. Generally speaking, a growing purch asing power represents an opportunity for banks because deposits increase and the banks are more resources for investments on financial markets. But it’s essential to notice that two significant elements have a direct impact on the purchasing power of households: the unemployment rate and the inflation rate. Effectively, if the unemployment rate is increasing and/or if the inflation rate is superior to the increasing rate of wages means that the global purchasing power is decreasing.Social factors impact directly the US banking system because of the diversity of the population, the demography, the differences of client expectations concerning bank services†¦ all of these elements play a role on the behaviour of the clients. The first point that we have to take into account is the fact that an average costumer want to have trust and confidence in his financial institution. That’s why banks have to reassure their clients about the financial health of the institution , about the quality of the offered services and about the security of the operating system. That is a positive impact for oldest bank which have developed a brand name and focused on a client-loyalty strategy or for biggest institution which bring proof to the financial health. But through the analysis of the demography, we can categorise the population.For example, old people prefer to keep a physical contact with the banker in opposition to youngest people which have more confidence and more ability to make financial operations on new channels as internet. Moreover, we can distinguish clients in function of their expectations: long-term engagement combined with quality of services against short-term engagement with profitability (hit-an-run costumer for example). This categorisation of the population linked to a particular behaviour can be seen in parallel to the age, race, social level, kind of job occupied†¦ then we can say that it’s more an opportunity for tradition al banks which offer a largest range of products and channels.Concerning the technological factors what is significant to put in relief is the technological improvements perceived as an opportunity for banks and the threat of hackers linked to this news technologies. In fact, thanks to the technological improvements, banks have more and more ways to meet the consumers themselves and these needs. Banks use different ways to satisfy clients such as ATMs, debit cards, call centers and telephone banking, wireless banking and internet sites. These are channels to keep a constant contact with the client for different reasons and to be all the time available to respond to any demand. Moreover, banks develop strategic technology partnerships (like Fiserv for Nexity for example) in order to save the cost of technology and to have the last updated software.Updating software limits the risk of hacking and restores confidence of clients about the security on the account financial information. B ut even if a regular updating software and a reinforcement of the security, the threat of hacking stays pervasive. Furthermore, with the development of internet, we have seen emerged a new kind of competitors for the traditional banks which are the virtual banks as Nexity or ING Direct. INTERNAL ANALYSIS Nexity gets the opportunity to growth quite fast and its profitability could be High. In order to understand the most appropriate strategy of the company, we will try to highlight its different aspects by presenting its Resources View Analysis and its Value Chain. A. Resources View Analysis.As the matrix exhibit 7 shows us, the company benefit of a high improvement of its assets that reinforce its capacity to provide a high level quality range of products Tangible asset: Due to its activity, the company owns few tangible asset. In fact, its services allow it to only get some offices from its acquisition of People bank of Alabama with 30$ in asset. The company have also a competitive advantage thanks to the location of its call centre that facilitate the exchange of data between the main office and the call centre. Intangible asset: By getting a top tier award from Bankrate for its High yield on money market accounts and certificate of deposit, the company proves to its customers its efficiency and in capacity to provide good quality products.By acquiring People bank of Alabama, Nexity has get as well a know-how of over 100 years, which gives it a significant advantage compare to its competitors, as it has enjoyed the different expertises made by the former company so it has been able to produce High quality products but also reinforce the formers one adapting them to the new requirement of the market, and it remains also a good point for its advertising with it customers: they can focus it with the over 100 year of experience which people are sensitive with. It also ahs the Web Trust Seal accreditation that is a certification from the services of the American Institute of Certificate Public Accountant and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accounts. It proves that its website delivers safe services. So it reinforces the trust its customers give it but also can be very useful in order to attract new one and to spread its market.Capabilities  : By getting its break-even point in only 18 month, Nexity has a strong competitive advantage compare to most of its competitors that usually get it in 3 years average. That is to say the company can invest money in R&D for example in order to create and provide highest quality product. It proves that the company realises large economy of scale, that it is highly efficient to get result and it is as well relevant that it is very successful. Its renowned customer service, which has a very good image with its Customer, as it remains friendly and quick, allow the company to keep its customers as they trust it to give them High quality services.It is the result of the proximity between the main office and the call centre: employees are able to provide High quality answers to customers as they keep being updated about the characteristics of the products and services and the evolution of them. The competitors cannot give as quick answer as Nexity does because they might have their call centre farer away from their office, and maybe abroad, sot hey cannot give more relevant answer as Nexity does. By reimbursing customers using other ATM than Nexity’s ones, the company can meet some weaknesses as it costs it quite a lot of money Value chain analysis Firm infrastructure: The firm has a main office with all the facility costs to support, and its call centre with the same type of costs.So all those generic costs are not a constraint for Nexity and they can concentrate their budget to the R&D or to the improvement of its strengths such as the customers service. Human resources management: The main cost is due to the call centre as the company is very focused to give a high custome r service. Technology development: Nexity website is highly renowned as it gets the Web Trust Seal accreditation, which is a proof of quality for a company that uses the Internet for its distribution channel Inbound logistics: As the company provides services, it only has to increase if necessary its tangible and intangible assets. So it has not have to deal with any inbound logistic and it is a strength for its economy of scale politic. Operation:This might be the main department of the company as employees from the call centre with present the different product but also supply strong customer services; and those to point are the most important one for the firm to provide a competitive advantage compare to its rival. Marketing and sales Focusing on an Internet-based advertising channel like Bankrate. com, the company invest quite a lot to improve its visibility in order to attract as many people as possible throughout the 50 states of the USA. The fact that Nexity proposes a lot of products and services constraints them to spend a lot because they want to provide the best services. This is the result of adopting a differentiation strategy based on reducing costs. Services:The company provides a strong customer service in order to keep them as they can be very versatile and find another bank if they are unsatisfied. So it is very important for Nexity to be focused on that and the fact that call centre employees are close to the main office give them a qualitative advantage as people mainly remains satisfied. Nexity Financial analysis A. Nexity bank business model and strategies. Nexity bank is a virtual bank wich works only on internet and earns money from interests rates based on loans. Nexity is build from traditional banking practices, that means this bank is able to deliver all the advantages and financial products[1] as a normal bank but with no branche.David Long and the others managers decided to applied for their bank the  «Ã‚  Blue Ocean Strategy  Ã‚ » wich links at the same time  «Ã‚  differentiation and low costs strategies  Ã‚ ». One can talk about blue ocean strategy, because the market was not established and competitors were not really present in this sector. This strategy aims to create a new market space and to make competition irrelevant. Nexity’s builders knew that, if they were able to propose at the same time good quality products with attractive interest rates coupled with an efficient call centre they will earn market shares and money. These criterias permited to develop the Nexity’s strengh, and one can observe that the differenciation is based on these same criterias  : an efficient call center and good quality product at the lowest price.If Nexity has attractive interest rates, is just because, it doesn’t have to pay high overhead costs (no branche) so Nexity can pay more interest on deposits and charge lower rates on loans. This is the second part of the  «Ã‚  bleu ocean strateg y  Ã‚ », the  «Ã‚  low costs  Ã‚ » strategy because adopting this concept Nexity attracts price-sensitive consumers. Nexity has the lowest interest rate for the cheking but has the highest for One-year Certificate Deposit and Money Market. That means, Nexity wants to keep its consumer. Nexity doesn’t want to be a simple bank where consumers only want to check their accounts. Nexity prefers to have people whose need loans and are engaged with the bank. Moreover, Nexity proposes bank’s services and bill pay online.With these offers, the bank aims to work with people between 32 and 49 years old, with an income average of $81,600 and investible assets of $320,300 and these persons spend at minimum 27 hours per week on the internet. So these people have money and spend many time on the internet that permits to the bank to benefit of  «Ã‚  good quality  Ã‚ » consumers. Finally one can underline that Nexity adopt also the  «Ã‚  low cost strategy  Ã‚ » for its ad vertising. In fact they did all their advertising on the Internet so they benefited of a huge advertising compaign at the lowest price. Nexity Financial Analysis. Previously, one observed the strategies employed by Nexity in order to become an important actor in the US (virtual) banking industry. Now, it’s important to know if these strategies are efficients or not.Firstly, if one look at the bank net income growth, one can observed that the net income had grown by 181% in 3 years, from $-3,032,000 in 2000 to a profit of $2,461,000 in 2003. This is really important growth wich reflects the good health of the business. [pic] Evolution of the net income between 2000 and 2003 One can also observe if the bank respects its strategies. The turnover has grown by 250% in three years wheras the overheads grown by only 16%. So Nexity respects the strategy of keeping overheads costs low in order to offer interesting interest rates. If one looks at the distribution of the turnover betwee n the interest income and noninterest income, it can observe that the Nexity makes 97. 1% of its turnover with interest rates and only 2. 79% with the noninterest rates. Secondly, it is interesting to observe some financial ratios  : – The coumpound annual growth wich gives the annual growth rate. And for Nexity, this ratio is around 30%. It is a good indicator for the company’s development. – The return on equity, wich is relevant for a bank because it gives the bank’s profitability by revealing how much profit the bank generates with the money shareholders have invested. For Nexity, the ROE passed from -32,71 in 2000 to 12,99 in 2003. One can easily observed that in three years Nexity learnt how to make money with shareholders investments. The efficiency ratio evaluates the overhead efficiency structure of a Financial institution. Banking is no different from any industry. If the bank wants to survive the bank has to keep overhead costs down.The effic iency ration permits to measure how the bank is operating, how much money the bank must spend to generate each dollar its bring on. In the Nexity case, this ratio is getting lower and it is good for the bank ans its shareholder. . In fact the ratio passed from 230. 69 in 2000 to 63. 54 in 2003. Lower the ratio, better it is for the bank. So, one can conclude that Nexity respects its commitments because the bank makes money from interest rates and keeps its overhead costs low. SWOT ANALYSIS STRENGHTS |Large range of product | | |High satisfaction of customers | | |High quality of customer services | | |Many awards from Bankrate( high quality of products | | |High efficiency of the website( Web Trust Seal Accreditation | | |Strong expertise thanks to the acquisition of People’s bank of Alabama (over 100 years of | | |experience in the Banking sector) | | |Growth of its assets (over + 400% from July 00 to July 2003) | | Good compound annual growth | |WEAKNESSES |Some costs can b e avoid (ATM reimbursements) | | |Increase of other borrowed funds that has to be controlled | |OPPORTUNITIES |Impact of the American government with the deregulation of the market ( advantages for | | |leaders | | |Internal rivalry buyers and suppliers | | |Forecasting all the marketing and communication budget | | |Bank and bill pay online customers present the most interesting profiles (high income and | | |lots of investable assets) | |THREATS |Hard to attract new customers as they rely a lot on their old financial institutions. | | |Hackers | | |New competitors should appear | TOWS ANALYSIS |STRENGHTS |WEAKNESSES | | |Large range of product |Some costs can be avoid (ATM | | |High satisfaction of customers |reimbursements) | | |High quality of customer services |Increase of other borrowed funds that has| | |Many awards from Bankrate( high quality of products |to be controlled | |High efficiency of the website( Web Trust Seal Accreditation | | | |Strong expertise thanks to the ac quisition of People’s bank of | | | |Alabama (over 100 years of experience in the Banking sector) | | | |Growth of its assets (over + 400% from July 00 to July 2003) | | | |Good compound annual growth | | |OPPORTUNITIES |Improve the advertising on internet and traditional media channel in |Open a new office in another state in | |Impact of the American government with the deregulation |order to get new customers |order to understand the market of the | |of the market ( advantages for leaders |Make advertising on the financial media (magazine, news papers†¦) in |western state that have a different | |Internal rivalry buyers and suppliers |order to target a segment that have high income and asset to invest |demography (different insurance depending| |Forecasting all the marketing and communication budget |(managers, directors, institutions†¦) |on the state( natural disaster) | |Bank and bill pay online customers present the most |To hire a good communication manager t o improve the visibility | | |interesting profiles (high income and lots of investable|Propose investment solutions in order to propose high yield products | | |assets) |(for institutions and high income) | | | |Improve more and more the quality of services given by the call | | | |centre to customers | | |THREATS | | |Impact of the American government with the deregulation | | | |of the market ( advantages for leaders | | | |Internal rivalry buyers and suppliers | | | |Forecasting all the marketing and communication budget |Improvement of the quality of the web platform in order to propose |Invest in getting its own ATM system in | |Bank and bill pay online customers present the most |safe services |order to avoid reimbursement and do | |interesting profiles (high income and lots of investable|Improvement of the back up system |economy in long term keep doing its | |assets) | |strategy based on low costs | |People are mistrustful with bank on line | | | | | | |Even if we could sugg est many recommendations, we would choose the SO strategy: the company has to reinforce his strengths as the market can involve positively and it can really propose a competitive advantage compare to its competitors based on the low prices of its products. Nexity would need to be focused on improving its marketing and communication but as well the quality of the websites to win the trust of customers. Conclusion As one said in this paper, Nexity bank has many strenghts which allow it to be one of the learder on the market. Moreover they apply correctly the blue ocean strategy which allow them to generate more profits and to count more clients, but senior executive can not stay on these basis. If they want Nexity to be the number one into this business they have to improve their capacity of attractiveness towards potentials clients.

An Overview Of The Prison Systems

This critique on the criminal justice system is going to focus on prisons. Prisons are institutions for the confinement of persons convicted of criminal offenses. This paper is going to discuss the early history of prisons, early American prisons, goals of prisons, North Carolina prisons, and an overall overview of the prison system. Throughout history, most societies have built places in which to hold persons accused of criminal acts pending some form of trial. But the confinement of persons/criminals after a trial for punishment is relatively new. In ancient times (around the 15th century), the penalties for crime were often some type of corporal punishment. Whipping, drawn and quartered, broken on the wheel, burned at the stake, beheaded, hanged, or stretched on the rack. In the 16th century England, vagrants and petty offenders were committed to correctional institutions known as workhouses, a correctional facility for persons guilty of minor criminal violations. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the government began to transport convicted felons to the English colonies. The punishment was initially thought of as the hard labor to which the prisoners were consigned. However, the idea that persons convicted of crime could be punished and then released after a relatively long period of time, was a new concept. Jails were first used as collection points for criminals awaiting transportation. Early jails were mostly dark, overcrowded, and filthy. The prisoners were held together indiscriminately, no separation of men and women, the young and old, the convicted and the unconvicted, or the sane and the insane. In America, the concept of imprisonment became a realization. The English Quaker, William Penn, abolished the death penalty for most crimes in the late 1600s, substituting imprisonment as a punishment. After battling between the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1718 and the replacement with incarceration in 1789, the Walnut Street Goal (Philadelphia) became the first prison in the United States. By the mid 19th century, most of the other states had followed. Two prison models soon emerged in the U.S. The first system, known as the Auburn Model, began in New York in 1817. The prisoners worked together in total silence during the day, but were housed separately at night. Very strict discipline was enforced, and violators were subjected to severe reprisals. The second model, Pennsylvania, began in 1829 at Cherry Hill (Eastern State Penitentiary). The Pennsylvania model was based on solitary confinement for convicts both day and night. The two models were both criticized very vigorously. Proponents of the Pennsylvania model focused on its hope of rehabilitation. The theory of being a felon and locked up alone all day in a cell with nothing but a Bible to read, would help out drastically. The Auburn model was criticized as being virtual slavery. This was thought because of the fact that the prisoners were often put to work for private entrepreneurs who had contracted with the state for their labor. Prisoners were never paid, leaving profits for the business owners and the state. Advocates of the Auburn model alleged that the idleness of the prisoners in the Cherry Hill penitentiary sometimes caused madness. Proponents stressed the activity of the prisoners and the profits from their labor, which meant that the states did not have to finance the prison. Rehabilitation was the systems main goal. In 1870, the National Congress on Penitentiary and Reformatory Discipline (known as the American Correctional Association) met for the first time in Cincinnati, Ohio. The congress adopted a set of principles for corrections, chief of which was the primary goal of rehabilitation. This led to the juvenile reformatories. Although the attempts to rehabilitate were relatively unsuccessful, the goal of rehabilitation changed the criminal justice system in the following decades. Probation and parole, work release, community corrections, and even a separate system of procedures and courts for dealing with juveniles, can all be traced to what was discussed at the first meeting in 1870. The Rehabilitation programs such as vocational training, guidance counseling, and psychotherapy began as part of the whole rehabilitation goal. In 1975, a study of more than 240 such programs essentially concluded that none was truly successful in reducing the recidivism rate (relapse into criminal behavior). Although there have been much criticism to this study, many believe the basic conclusion that participation in these programs was often not really voluntary, because prisoners hoped parole boards would look favorably on those who enrolled. Most penologist (a branch of criminology dealing with prison management and the treatment of offenders) now agree that rehabilitation is not a proper reason for imprisoning someone. Thus, rehabilitation is no longer the only, or even the main objective of correction agencies. In North Carolina, it wasn†t until 1868 that the state adopted a new constitution that provided for a state penitentiary. Inmates began building North Carolinas first prison, Central Prison, in 1870. It was a completed castle-like structure near the state capitol. It was finished in December 1884, when the prisoners started moving in.  · In 1875, these same inmates were leased to private employers as laborers and farmers. Under the lease, businesses had complete responsibility for the inmates. Many worked in rock quarries and built railways, while others farmed two tracts of land that the state leased.  · In 1901, inmates began working on state roads. They were moved from work sight to work sight in horse-drawn prison cages. In 1910, the incentive wage system began and inmates could then earn up to 15 cents a day, paid upon release, for the work that was being done.  · In 1925, the General Assembly enacted a law changing the state†s prison from a corporation to a department of state government. At the time, the state prison system included Central Prison, Caledonia Prison Farm, Camp Polk Prison Farm and eight road camps. Then, due to lack of regular maintenance and repair, the conditions were diminishing. The state took over the control of the prisons and the inmates, and provided new construction money from the Highway Fund for prison renovation.  · In 1935, women inmates form Central Prison moved to a south Raleigh prison camp, the site of today†s Correctional Institution for Women. Women from the Caledonia Prison Farm moved to the Raleigh facility permanently in 1956.  · In 1957, North Carolina became the first state to initiate a work release program that allowed inmates to work in private employment during the day and return to confinement at night.  · In 1958, striped prison clothing was replaced with gray uniforms for close custody, brown for medium, and green for minimum.  · In 1965, all prisons were desegregated and mental health services were established in prisons. Prisoners in North Carolina have numerous things they can do. Prisoners can work, volunteer, go to the correctional chaplain, work out, or just about anything. These inmates work in many different places. Food Services, Unit Services, Work Release, Prison Industry, Road Squads, Construction, State Agencies, Local Agencies, Community Work Crews, Vocational Education, and Academic Education. Other inmates take part in substance abuse treatment, have health problems, or are being admitted into prison. Ministry to the incarcerated is as old as incarceration itself. Chaplincy in North Carolina dates back to 1876. In the spring of 2000, over 100 chaplains were serving the inmate population. Annually, countless numbers of worship services, scripture studies, seminars, counseling sessions, segregation visits, and chaplains conduct special events. Prison chaplaincy is a special ministry of opportunity. It can be a rewarding spiritual endeavor for those persons who have felt a divine call to this challenging ministry. At the beginning of 2001, North Carolina†s prison system consisted of 78 prison units of various sizes with eight of the units having a standard operating capacity of less than 90 inmates. However, the largest facility, Central Prison, has a capacity of 937. The cost of North Carolina†s prison system varies from different forms of custody. For the Fiscal Year 1999-2000, the daily operating cost of the 64 bed medium security prison unit at Cleveland County was $54.06 per inmate per day, compared to the $36.44 per inmate daily cost of the 832 bed medium security unit at Brown Creek. The cost goes by prison security level. The system wide average operational cost for housing inmates in North Carolina prisons in Fiscal Year 1999-2000 was $65.65 per day. It is broken down into:  · Minimum Custody at $52.52 per day In theory, the U.S. prison system today consists of a variety of institutions (minimum, medium, maximum, jails, and federal institutions) each adapted to the characteristics and risks posed by its population. Minimum-security prisons are often built on a campus like arrangement, which allows the prisoners autonomy and freedom within broad bounds. It is a prison facility with the lowest level of security for nondangerous, stable offenders. Prisoners may have rooms with opaque doors rather than cells that are under constant surveillance. Visits are normally private, where close contact with visitors is encouraged in order to enhance their prisoner†s ties with the family and community. Medium-security prisons are a middle-level prison facility with a more relaxed security measures and fewer inmates. Maximum-security prisons (the most secure prison facility) are often massive buildings, with high masonry walls or electrified fences, where the primary concern is security. Prisoners are under constant surveillance where their movements are severely restricted, and many are required to remain in their cells almost the entire day. Outdoor recreation is minimal, and visits, when allowed, are often conducted by telephone, with a glass partition between the prisoner and the visitor. There are about 130 of these maximum-security prisons that collectively house more than 100,000 prisoners. Jails, a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody: such a place under the jurisdiction of a local government (as a county) for the confinement of persons awaiting trial or those convicted of minor crimes , are typically not part of the state prison system. They are often managed individually by the districts or counties in which they are located. Many criticize the jail, saying that is the worst part of the U.S. penal organization. In recent decades, most prison systems in the U.S. have come under legal scrutiny, and the courts have found them severely wanting. Many have been declared unconstitutional in the sense that the conditions- including idleness, overcrowding, poor medical care, substantial violence, and lack of rights accorded prisoners- render confinement in these institutions â€Å"cruel and unusual† punishment and hence in violation of the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, (Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted ). Such judicial decisions have increased the pressure on state prison authorities to replace their antiquated prison facilities with more modern and humane institutions, in keeping with the ideals set forth by penologists a century ago.

Salary assignment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Salary assignment - Research Paper Example The Alberta wage survey is said to cover 400 occupations providing information about the salaries and wages for both full time and part-time employees. This has been an analysis taken in 2011. The information provided, on the other hand, is based on the occupation, geographical areas of the employees and the industry group in Alberta (WAGEinfo., 2012). The survey is said to have played and still does play a great role to the lives of the individuals in Alberta. Its role, therefore, is to help them make both their career and educational plans. The survey also determines the pay scales and, hence, developing effective public policy. Lastly, the survey is responsible for the provision of the skill shortages (Government of Alberta, 2012). Embarking on the survey conducted in 2009, we are notified that the employment and the immigration department in Alberta collaborated with the service from Canada to conduct a survey on the Alberta wages and salaries every 2 years (Government of Alberta, 2012). The survey, conversely, is meant to gather the information about the employees both full time and part time depending on their occupation, geographical area and industry group. The information gathered was meant to help the people in Alberta for ‘transition into the workforce’ (ERL, 2012). Therefore, from the above table we can deduce that the minimum starting salary for a cabinetmaker is $12, while the highest salary is $23. This leads to an average salary of $17.24. On the other hand, the top salary a cabinetmaker can get is a minimum of $22 while the highest salary is $27 leading to an average of $35 (Clark, 1998). According to Clark (1998), the minimum starting salary of a carpenter is $14 while the highest is $38.63. The average starting salary is $22.74. In addition, the top salary of a carpenter is a minimum of $25 and a maximum of $45 leading to an average salary of $32.61. The chefs get a minimum starting salary

A streetcar named desire Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

A streetcar named desire - Movie Review Example In fact, this led to stoppage of production for the older version that had been edited, since the film had been converted into two-television movie and an opera (McCarthy, 2011). There are efforts made by produces and movie studio aimed at making this film a blockbuster during the summer of 1949, thereby focused on Broadway production in month of December 1949 (McCarthy, 2011). Therefore, some of other cinematic changes made on the film were censorship approvals that led to the film becoming a failure and subject to artistic mockery. The other changes involved setting the first scene; for example in the original text, Blanche’s was nervously waiting for her to arrive, while in film her sister ventures down to bowling alley in order to find her sister (McCarthy, 2011). Therefore, these changes were a form of expanding the settings of the scene in a way that would increase viewers’ image regarding characters environment. Besides, this would also give the viewers glimpses in to characters lives, thereby avoiding perception that they are group of players. These changes were made in order to convert the play into a film through Motion Picture Production Code of time. On the other hand, there were other changes made in order to reduce the level of sexuality that had to be changed in order to facilitate approval of the film in regions dominated by a powerful Roman Catholic Church group and Legion of Decency in America (McCarthy, 2011). Apparently, these alterations were meant to impose business impact would lead to satisfaction. There were other changes made due to objections, for instance in 1993, there was a restoration of this film after changes were made on the original version in Legion that had been disbanded (McCarthy, 2011). There were other changes made in order to prevent certain characters such as Blanche, from portraying their frenetic nature of decency into maelstrom of madness. Furthermore, changes made on scene settings were aimed at increasing

Hot L Baltimore - Who is your favourite character and why Essay

Hot L Baltimore - Who is your favourite character and why - Essay Example Immediately the audience can understand the occupation, age and character of the young minx. She has no name, only an age: nineteen. Wilson gives her a tender age and makes her a prostitute at the same time. Maybe this is to reveal to the audience the cruelty of our age. Yet, nameless she presides over the entire three-act play, helping in any way possible. The most predominant emotions in her, makes the play embrace her as she wins over the audience with her charm and care. One of the most individualistic qualities about the Girl is her inability to reach a conclusion on anything she states. She is confused and regularly keeps changing her name and personality. This can also be one of the most alluring aspects about her because with her nothing stays definite. She changes like a chameleon making those around her incapable of deciphering her personality. It is evident that despite being in a profession that should harden one against the world, Girl is still as emotional and positive as possible. She feels this constant obligation to assist wherever and whenever possible. Sometimes enough so that sometimes she causes irritation such as the moment when in her attempts to help Bill she frustrates him into moving out of the way and distributing the mail. This is not the only instant her care shows because as soon as she discovers the mail contains eviction notices she immediately refuses to distribute it, claiming her disassociation with anything so negative. The Girl is not just caring, she is also very curious. This factor might be because of her age but this does not explain her desire to know anything that catches her attention. She wants to know about the ghosts in hotels in great detail and insists on asking a continuous series of questions regarding ghosts, their habitat and activities. This attracts the audience towards her because it

Career goals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Career goals - Essay Example To ensure my goal is achievable, I have an exceptional advantage in business as my father,The most advantaged superiority for me to achieve the career goal is that my father, Mr. Duan Yongji, who is one of the most successful and famous entrepreneurs in China, and is extremely supportive of my business goals and academic pursuits. will support me. MMy father is the As a founder of Stone Group and SINA Corporation , heand currently serves as both of these two companies as Chairmanperson and He is also the President of Zhongguanchun Development, considered the "Silicon Valley" in Beijing. His different business activities include: Throughout my father's twenty-three years in the business field, he has had plenty of experience dealing in both practical and entrepreneurial management skills. His refusal to work within state operated companies in the early 1970s laid the groundwork for starting his own business. He has also experienced By endeavoured in the business field for about 23 years, my father is full of experiences with practical project management skills and entrepreneurship. He was one of the first few of people who refused to work in the state operated companies and switched to ran their own businesses in the beginning of 1970s. He experienced the the whole process of seeing the Chinese economy move from athe closed market to anthe open market, which has only added to his skills in . Those precious experiences makes him sharpen in proper opportunity evaluation as well as the knowledge that isare required to run turn an idea into a sound business opportunity. Those preciousness experiences are also ve ry important for me in the same time. As you know, my country's economy has been growing as the worlds fastest for almost two decades; the marketing is also changing fast. Then to make a reliable perspective proposal before start seems more and more important than ever before. Through utilizing my father's advice on business decisions along with my education, I feel that My advantage is that I can get so many important information and valuable advices from discussing my proposal with my father andI can make a dependable plan for my future steps which is so important for a start-up company. And I could also share my father's

Innovation & Entrepreneurship Assessment Assignment

Innovation & Entrepreneurship Assessment - Assignment Example This will be determined by people who will make purchases from the online program The first product is an online shopping service utilised by online shoppers. Consumers are able to analyse prices of different products and make a purchase. This product will save the customer time; buying many goods at once and money because customers can compare prices from different retailers and pick one that best suits them. The second activity is a juice bar (Crumpton, 2012). The bar will offer a variety of mixtures of fruit juices that are best described as tantalising. The juice bar targets consumers that are health conscious and are ‘going organic’. With the introduction of internet use in the present day, the mode of shopping is fast changing to e-shopping. Many people prefer to do shopping in the comfort of their homes. This online shopping service will allow the general public, who are the target buyers a chance to not only shop in the comforts of their homes without having to walk to the shopping centres. Many people are now aware that eating healthy will result in better health and they are going organic. The target buyers include all age groups and the entire population who are health conscious. Juice drinking has often logged strong sales in established and evolving markets in even in the face of economic recession; this goes to show that the demand for natural juice is high. For online shopping service, customers will be charged a registration fee. All advertisements that will be received from different products will also be charged a fee to advertise their product. The online shopping service will be promoted by advertising online, in newspapers and televisions. Pricing of the juice will be done according to demand and its availability. Promotion of the wide variety of juice being sold at the juice bar will be done online, using billboards, through newspapers and the

Article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Article - Essay Example The article begins its focus on the nature of the universe and the relation between the supernatural and the scientific world in the context of G-d’s existence. Despite the fact that they are affiliated with different religions, the four authors mentioned in the article believe that the existence of G-d is merely a subject of conversation. It shows that they believe G-d does not exist in this world of science. On further note with respect to the article, it was revealed that, some think G-d is a creature like human beings while others think G-d to be fictional. Moreover, few believe that, the existence of G-d would have been abolished if language had not been invented. Furthermore, the article reflects about history, which tends to reveal the atrocities committed by the theists against the atheists. Correspondingly, this article has provided valuable information with regard to the existence of G-d. Based on information from the article, the existence of G-d is viewed as a system of symbols and purpose by many people. Furthermore, this particular article has revealed that the views of the authors remain the same despite the fact that they belong to different religions and systems of faith. The article has also reviewed various motives and objections of people regarding organized religion and the existence of G-d. There prevail various dominant ideologies or the perception about the topic of the debate conducted. The ideologies are the similar belief or thinking of a group of people in the same society. The subject of this paper is quite similar to the meaning of the term ideology. The main focal point of the article is atheism; which is a non belief or rejection in the survival of G-d or deities. In the article two of the authors i.e., Anthony Lowenstein and Jane Caro are atheists and are providing their views with regard

Development of the learning process of students for progress through after school program Essay Example for Free

Development of the learning process of students for progress through after school program Essay The question of development of students in their childhood is extremely vital that has to be tackled carefully, if not various problems will arise not only at the individual level but also at the national level. To improve the condition, the sanction of fund by the government alone is not sufficient to solve the problems but question remains at the top for its use in right direction at the right time in right amount with consideration of grant, method of constructing the children in the limitation of time and space of adults, the capacity of the children for their success, the implementation of art in their education life with the question of implementation of their education in the development of the community with the help of after school program. If the problem is solved tactfully and effectively, the manifold benefit can be had for the development of the students. The proper implementation of the after school program will bring out the goodness in the students to the society in proper manner. The creativity, which is present in every student by birth, will come out to the society to give strength not only to the students themselves but also to the nation. The article ‘Children At Risk: Constructions of Childhood in the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Federal After-School Program’ by Sharon Verner Chappell is not only an informative one but also a fine creation of work of literature. This article may be termed as a vital literature, though it an article, in the contemporary situation due its wide range of data and analysis of the situation of the students of any country. The effectiveness of the article is without the any boundary of the community, language and the nations. The sanction of $4. 5 billion by U. S. government for after school programs through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (Chappell, S. V. 2006) is an independent variable if we consider the fact about the budget allocation. The amount is decided at the time of budget and at the time of budget preparation other needs are not taken into accounts. Though the actual amount spent will become dependent variable when the number of school and students are taken into consideration. Another example of dependant variable can be seen as the number of good performing students that is directly proportional to increased skill in study and inversely proportional to decreased number of adverse behavior like teen pregnancy. Sanctioning money is very much essential for any project to be completed, considering this assumption the US government has sanctioned the money amount. This may be considered as an important hypothesis. A hypothesis that â€Å"children are active and academically successful (i. e. productive) when they attend a state regulated educational program, whereas those children who do not attend such programs are passive, unproductive, unsuccessful, and by extension, perhaps, not good people† is cited in the article by Chappell (2006). This Operational Research Question is universally acclaimed and it is studied here in the context appropriately. â€Å"The students and the parents both are needed high attention of care and support when they are from high poverty family†. This thought is also implemented in the article. When students are in low-performing school their self-performance is also decreased. In addition to this hypothesis another one like â€Å"when art is introduced in the curriculum, the performance of the students are better many fold from previous†. Another citation by Chappell (2006) from Vadeboncoeur (2005,123), is as ‘notions of time and space can be used to map institutional and narrative landscapes of students. ‘ This is also an important operational research. The definition of term by the article writer is provided in between the sentence by proper explanation in next step in the advancement of the description. After stating some policy, additional information is provided to describe the policy, which act as invisible definition of the term in the article. Some time the definition is given in bracket as in â€Å"reduce the number of children in self-care (latchkey children who take care of themselves)†. The meaning of implemented sentence â€Å"reduce the number of children in self-care† in given in the bracket in later part. Population and sampling procedure is informative and given in between sentence without any tabular form. This keeps the flow of the article readable and enjoyable. One example of this in article is â€Å" Since 2003, 6,800 rural and urban public schools have been served around the country†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . Another sampling in the article is given at proper time and places with proper citation method to avoid the ambiguity due to copyright with gives the article a good ornamental decorating. Data source are very huge and the data are collected from the scholarly and valuable articles all related to the subject matter of the article. The tireless, extensive and enthusiastic efforts are given to collect the data from various books, magazines and the websites. The proper care has been taken to collect the data after exhaustive study of the collected materials to produce the article. The data are collected with proper estimation and measurement and the authenticity cannot be suspected as the whole matter is taken from the scholarly articles, authentic magazines and popular books. The psychological and mental estimation of the children are provided with the article with various hypothesis and theory. The data are not provided in any tabular form but are scattered throughout the articles in the manner of information with full lucrative and informative sentence. In the beginning of the article â€Å"amount of $4. 5 million† is mentioned as the sanctioned amount for 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC). Another data is â€Å"6800 rural and public school† but in no any data table. Presentation and interpretation of findings are in very intelligent and economical manner. The various divisions have been done with different sub-heading the article to provide the information in proper and chorological manner. The required data and information can be easily had due to the excellent presentation of the article. Findings have proper interpretation and placed at appropriate place. In this article main theme is the construction of childhood with the help of the ‘after school programs’ to be implemented with the help of various funds allocations by concerned institutions. The methods are described to obtained good results by good students. The need for improvement of economically improvised school along with the economically downtrodden family is emphasized. The need of arts is very much essential for the student to become a good student. Though the article is exhaustive in information and description in the problems mentioned in the titles, the need for further Research cannot be denied. There is a need to study the personal behavior of the students at the time of after school program. Many students may not be interested in such program. So they cannot be forced to do the implemented programs but s/he should be given proper attention to find out the actual need and interest of the students. There is need to conduct the research in the area of students behavior and their interests in the study at the very early age. Strength of the study remains in the area of research. The extensive and exhaustive research is done in proper subject matter. The method of citation is proper and the information put at proper places with the good structure of the paragraph with the flow of the information in one proper direction is always advancing. Weakness of the study is in the method of representation of the data in tabular forms without any comparison method. The compared data would have given better understanding of the situation of the students. The poverty level of the parents of the students and the economically degraded school with opposite situation could have been compared in tabular form for better understanding. The various opinions of the parents and the students could have given better improvement in the study.

Teaching Assistant Diploma Course Essay Example for Free

Teaching Assistant Diploma Course Essay Questions On Assignment One 1.Describe how you might contribute to a lesson given to a group of seven year old children learning to play percussion instruments. I would contribute to the lesson by firstly conversing with the teacher for guidance in which areas that they would like me to assist them. By working together we could make the whole learning process a fun and educational experience. With me being there to help, it would take the pressure off the teacher and enable them to have more free quality time for teaching. I would make sure the environment was safe hazard free in advance so that when the children came for their lesson all health safety measures would be in place and adhered to. The instruments would be ready for the children to use and I would be there for any additional assistance that was required by the teacher or the children. I would also prepare posters or handouts of the instruments that the children were going to be using so that they would know the names of the instruments, the groups that they belonged to and any other additional information that suited that age group about the lesson. My role overall in the lesson would be to contribute by assisting, maintaining the classroom, supporting both the teacher and children, encouraging the children in their activities, making sure the environment was safe and secure, ensuring any work that the children produced was mounted and displayed and that the classroom was clean and tidy before and after the lesson. 2.What might your role be in organising, using and maintaining the learning resources, material and equipment for this percussion lesson? My job is to make sure that the resources, materials and equipment that is needed for the lesson is ready and available. I would ensure this by firstly liaising with the teacher to check the materials, resources and equipment that would be required for the lesson. This would be done in advance, at least a few days before the lesson to ensure sufficient time to acquire them if they were not available at that time. I would then check to see if we had everything we needed and that it was in good working order, not broken, ripped, pages missing or parts missing. The classroom would also be checked to see that it reached health and safety standards. I would count and check all the resources so that at the end of the lesson I could account for any missing or damaged. Also, so that it would make it easier if I needed to report any losses or breakages to the teacher. Once I had checked through it all, the learning resources would then be ready for the children to use in their lesson. I would set them out or distribute them in accordance with the teachers instructions. I would be on hand to assist the children in their activities and to help them with their instruments should they not be sure of how they were played or used. This would be in accordance with the manufacturers instructions. The children would be made aware of the health and safety guidelines for their own sake and the schools when using the instruments. When the lesson was finished, the children would then be encouraged to return the instruments and any additional learning resources that they needed to a set point in the class or myself. Once this had been completed, I would then count and check each individual resource for damage and cleanliness. When that had been done, they would then be placed back where they had been stored along with the inventory for them and secured. My last job would be to ensure the classroom was clean and hazard free ready for use again. 3.Describe how you act in class in order to be an effective role model for the standards of behaviour expected in pupils? I would ensure that my behaviour and demeanour reflected the policies set by the school at all times to show the pupils consistency. Both me and the teacher should work together on how to interpret the rules, so that we both had clear guidelines on how to deal with all situations that may arise. All the staff would be expected to set a certain standard of behaviour which we all should be made aware of. This should help to promote positivity and a feeling of security. I would always make clear to the pupils what was expected of them from the school and myself as an individual. For good behaviour that they would receive rewards and for bad behaviour sanctions. The school policies would be in a prominent position so that all pupils had a constant reminder of the manner in which they are expected to conduct themselves. This gives boundaries, which I believe is a very important and effective practice, not only at school but in all areas of life. These rules would continually be repeated to the pupils so that they didnt forget and that would in turn reinforce our expectations of them. By making high quality relationships with the pupils, showing positivity and achieving successful learning, this should all lead to my ability to help any pupil gain their full potential in all areas of their school lives. Also by giving respect and listening to one another, would help develop a good rapport between the teacher and pupils. Children learn behaviour from those around them and being a child the majority of your time is spent between school and home. Therefore the greatest influences on a childs life lays between those two areas. So generally, but not always if the child has a good balance between both, then the behavioural outcome would be good. So to sum up my actions on how I would be an effective role model, I would be fair, polite, attentive, respectful, helpful, consistent, follow all rules given by the school in all areas and enforce them where necessary. 4.What strategies might you employ to encourage pupils to behave appropriately? Describe how you might react to incidents of bullying and violence. Any strategies that I may use would be in line with school policies and would be to teach and promote positive behaviour. Â ·Praise and encouragement at relevant times. Â ·Ensuring the schools behaviour policy is followed by enforcing the schools guidelines on expected behaviour. Â ·Encouraging concentration and attention in class on school work tasks. Â ·Helping and supporting the pupils to follow instructions and routines given by the school. Â ·Encouraging pupils behaviour to be of a good standard at all times. Â ·Showing respect and listening to one another. Again alongside these, the school behaviour policy that would be displayed in the classroom would be consistently referred to, to encourage the correct behaviour. Any strategies that I may use would be discussed first with the teacher/teaching staff in school to ensure that we all followed the same procedure and intrepretation of the policies. That way all pupils would expect the same approach towards behaviour from all members of staff. Bullying is an awful form of behaviour and can have a lasting effect on some people when the cases are severe. Firstly, I would liase with the teacher about how the matter should be dealt with. There are policies in every school about bullying and there should be a zero tolerance programme designed to deal with matters that may arise concerning this. It would be made clear to the party involved that this form of behaviour would not be tolerated in any way, shape or form. They would be informed that due to their actions consequences would ensue. Bullying is a serious matter and should be treated as such. The situaton would be dealt with age appropriately and according to the particular pupils understanding. I would do the following; Â ·Each incident would be dealt with indivdually and the pupils involved assessed separately. Â ·There would be made available to the pupils a safe place where they could discuss any incidents privately. Â ·Make sure all pupils were aware that bullying is always a serious matter. Â ·Respond to all incidents in the same consistent, calm manner. Â ·Inform the pupils that the individuals involved would be safe and supported by the school whilst the matter was looked into trying to be resolved. Â ·Provide programmes to help deal with underlying issues or problems that the individuals may have. Â ·Make sure all incidents are recorded and dealt with quickly and efficiently to help lessen the stress of the matter. Violence again is another damaging behaviour but more importantly a learned one. The school would have plans and strategies in place for all staff to use should violence occur so that the matter could be dealt with quickly and calmly. Â ·I should try to calm the situation between the parties involved and immediately get help to assist should it be required. Â ·I should remain calm and composed as not to aggrevate the situation further. Low voice, direct eye contact and distance between you and them. Â ·Direct any other students to leave the area for their safety and to not cause any more aggrevation to the people involved. If required for them to fetch help to assist the situation. Â ·I should talk to the party involved and inform them that their actions were unacceptable and that they needed to calm themselves. I should then suggest to continue the conversation in somewhere more private such as the Head Masters office. Â ·Once assistance had arrived, I should keep trying to diffuse the situation and motion them towards the Head Masters office to discuss matters further. These type of situations must be handled carefully and brought to a conclusion in the fastest way possible. Reports and notes should be made for future reference and to bring things to a satisfactory conclusion. Any witnesses must be spoken to so that their account of the incident may be reported and held as additional evidence. 5. Describe how you might appropriately observe the physical abilities and skills of a nine year old boy. To begin with I should discuss with the teacher which format that they would suggest would be more suitable to the task in hand and we could come to the best solution. In order to do this, firstly I would plan how I wished to perform the observations, such as times that are best and in the best circumstances that would answer the question. I would do my best to ensure that the pupil being observed wasnt directly aware of being observed, as this may cause him to behave in an unnatural manner, which would deem the observation void. My personal choice of observations to complete the task would be a combination of Time Sampling and Participative observation. The reasons I would choose these two in particular are because of the following. Time sampling because I could choose particular times to concentrate on the physical abilities and skills the boy had by observing him at break time or in a physical education lesson. My notes would consist of what the boy was doing/trying to do and any help they seemed to need. Participative observation because I could do a task along side the boy or watch him do a task such as playing a game, reading a story or joining in role play. Obviously playing a game and joining in role play would give me more of an insight into the boys physical ablities and skills. I would need to make notes consisting of what the boy was doing or achieving, what he could almost do or needed help with, what he was saying and how he interacted with the other pupils or myself. I believe these would be the best observational methods to carry out to assess this boys physical abilities and skills.

Chemical Physical And Biological Evidence Biology Essay

Chemical Physical And Biological Evidence Biology Essay There are many different types of evidence that can be found at a crime scene, these can be categorised into chemical, physical and biological evidence. Physical evidence can be collected at the crime scene and are mainly physical objects such as a murder weapon or a broken window. Chemical evidence is any residue from liquids that could have been used to assist with the crime such as poison and drugs, finally biological evidence is when hair or skin from a persons body has been transferred to a physical surface and then be collected and tested. When such evidence is collected it can be used to find what exactly happened in the crime, the history behind the crime and who was involved and could have committed it. All evidence can be tested and analysed and is vital when finding out the various incidences that happened at a crime scene, some examples of evidence are shown below: Chemical Physical Biological Water Cuts Blood Chromatography Bang on head Hair Soil Finger print Lip Print Rain water Shoe prints Sweat Petrol Murder weapon Skin Fluids Broken windows/doors Saliva Poison Clothing Nails Drugs Fibres Gun residue Skeletal remains Alcohol DNA cosmetics Paint Serial Numbers Some evidence can be overlapped into two categories once it has been tested an example of this would be finger prints as it is both physical evidence and biological evidence. Health and Safety The Health and Safety at work act all employees have the right to be safe in their working environment to stop them from getting hurt while doing their job, if someone does get hurt while they are doing their job then they will have to receive compensation from the company because they would probably have to take a long time off work and it wouldnt be their fault it would be the companys fault for not providing a safe working environment for their employees to work in. This act is extremely important for people who work in forensic science and a crime scene this is because employees have to be trained to wear protective equipment to stop them from being contaminated by any substances in a crime scene. Employees also have to be trained to collect evidence properly without contaminating any evidence; this is because evidence cannot be used in a court case or to prosecute somebody. COSHH The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. COSHH is there to prevent ill health of companys employees that are carrying out experiments that involve hazardous chemicals. If COSHH was not there then people would not know how to handle experiments and what they should do if an accident arises. COSHH provides eight very important steps that should be placed somewhere in a work place to keep employees informed about what chemicals they are using or could potentially come across. Step 1: Assess the risk Step 2: Decide what precautions are needed Step 3: Prevent or adequately control exposure Step 4: Ensure that control measures are used and maintained. Step 5: Monitor the exposure. Step 6: Carry out appropriate health surveillance. Step 7: Prepare plans and procedures to deal with accidents, incidents and emergencies. Step 8: Ensure employees are properly informed, trained and supervised. COSHH states that employees have to be trained into dealing with bodily fluids and other hazardous substances, this is because the people collecting evidence and moving a body at a crime scene can be contaminated, and to ensure this the employees do not become contaminated by an substances they have to wear gloves, goggles, suits and masks so that no substance can be touched or breathed in. Management of health and safety at work The Crime Scene When a crime scene is discovered, I think this is the series of events that will happen, the cleaner will see the broken glass when they have come into work and go over to investigate the area, the cleaner will the go through the door and see the body of the victim. They will check to see if there are any life signs from the victim and then look around to see if there is anyone else in the area. After this the police will be called to investigate further When a crime scene of a murder scene is discovered by an individual, the police come to investigate that there is actually a crime scene. When this has been assessed the Scene of Crime Officer will be the first onto the scene and they will cordon off the area, the best point of access will then be chosen and that will also be cordoned off, this is so that no one who should not be there will not gain entry to the crime scene and contaminate the crime scene or the evidence within it the access point has to be so that it is not the same as the access point the suspect has used so the evidence is not contaminated. The scene of crime officer will then have the responsibility to set up and inner and outer cordon, this is because the inner cordon will be around the evidence to ensure that it will not be touched and contaminated, the outer cordon will be around the area, this is so that evidence such as footprints are not contaminated. There are six different types of people that can appear at the scene of the crime to investigate the area and scan the scene for evidence, these are: The Public: the public are most likely to appear on the scene of the crime first, this is because they generally want to know exactly what is going on, when the scene turns into an investigation the area has to be specially cordoned off to prevent the public from entering the area and accidentally destroying evidence. First Officer: The first officer or constable checks the scene for any visible evidence and has to take note of the environment such as the weather and any strange smells in the area. The First Officer also cordons off the evidence from public view. Crime Scene Manager/Investigating Officer is responsible for the crime until the case is ended such as someone being convicted or the case being dropped. The Scene of Crime Officer cordons off the inner and outer area and collects the evidence. Scientific Support: The scientific support put the evidence in bags and labelled them and then sends it to the forensic scientists for further analysis. Scientific Support is paid by the Scene of Crime Officer. Others: The other people that can appear on the scene is the media to report to the public on what happened. The army, fire arms experts, paramedics and anthropologists can also be present on a crime scene. Our crime scene: After school has finished, every Thursday evening between the hours 4:00pm 6:00pm there is a rock climbing club that takes place in the school gym. On Friday 13th November at 7:26am the school cleaner discovers the body of 18 year old Harriet Oaks who is a consistent member of the rock climbing club. Various evidence was found at the crime scene, the body was found on the floor next to the rock climbing wall with a rope around the neck which have caused strangulation marks, fibres from a jumper was found in her mouth and throat, these fibres were from a jumper that was also left at the crime scene. It was also found that there was pollen on the jumper which will be used for further evidence. The body was found still wearing rock climbing clothing, in the pockets of her tracksuit bottoms a fine white powder was found, in the alternative pocket a letter was found addressed to one of the suspects, the rock climbing teacher Mr Ross Hill who it was also found that they were having an affair. Outside of the crime scene there were other various evidence that can contribute to the finding of the suspect. The evidence that was found was paint on a bollard which is assumed to be from a car, maybe the car of the suspect, the other evidence was found was soil footprints that was found inside of the building and also a blood splatter that could have been from the suspect when they had broken in. CCTV footage was also found that could contain evidence from the crime scene. This was the evidence that was found: -Pollen -Letter -White powder in the pocket -Finger Prints -CCTV footage Evidence How its collected Why was it collected How is it stored Blood on the window I would use a cotton bud to scrape the blood from the surface. It can be DNA tested and find instant evidence on who the suspect could be. Tyre marks and footprints Tyre and footprints are collected in the same way by me; a plaster cast is taken of the soil. Footprints are very important because it can be used to tell what type of shoes the suspect was wearing, if the suspect was male or female, how tall they are and how much the suspect weights. When the cast has dried it is sealed in a plastic bag and then labelled, this is to prevent cross contamination. The bag that will be used is made out of strong plastic and is used to keep the evidence safe and intact. Paint Paint on a surface can be scraped from the surface, the flake of paint can be used to be analysed. I would also use a cotton bud to collect wet paint. The police would use this as evidence because it can be used to tell which car was used to commit the crime, this is because most cars have different paint on them so it can be used to decipher what car was used. The paint will be placed inside of a bag and then labelled. This is because the bag will prevent the paint from being cross contaminated or damaged. Soil If the footprint is found inside then I would have to take a photograph of the footprint because it can be psychically collected. The photo of the footprint can be used to decipher what type of shoe the suspect was wearing at the time of the crime. The photo will be placed in a plastic bag so that it can be examined and looked at with out the photo being damaged or contaminated. Fibres If I found fibres in the victims throat would be taken out with tweezers and placed in a container. However if fibres are found on clothing then the whole piece of clothing would be collected. Fibres can be anaylsed to see if the fibres match any items worn by the suspect. Fibres are stored in a brown paper bag this is so that they do not become contaminated and so that the clothing can breathe as it will be stored for a long period of time. Pollen Pollen that was found in the victims throat would be taken out with a cotton bud and placed in a container. However if the pollens are found on clothing then the whole piece of clothing would be collected. Pollen is collected because it can be used to tell where the suspect has been at the time the crime had taken place or how they have escaped the crime scene. This is because pollen is different from different flowers so it can easily be used to decipher which flowers the suspect has been near to. Pollen that has been found on clothing will be stored in a brown paper bag to allow the clothing to breath and prevent cross contamination. Finger prints Finger prints are invisible to the naked eye, so to collect them a light has to be shone onto the finger print with a powder sprinkled on it. This is so the print becomes visible and then I would have to take a photograph. Everyone has different fingerprints so the print can be used to tell exactly who committed the crime. The photo will be placed in a plastic bag so that it can be examined and looked at with out the photo being damaged or contaminated. White Powder The powder is placed into a pot and then experiments are conducted on it to see what kind of powder it was The powder can be analysed to see what it was and it may be able to help contribute to the crime case. It is put in a pot and sealed to prevent cross contamination or lost. Letter The letter will be taken out of the victims pocket and then placed in a paper bag The letter is collected to give further evidence about the victims personal life and also the victims handwriting can also be analysed. The letter will be kept in a plastic bag to ensure that it does not become damaged or contaminated. It also means that the letter can be read and analysed without being taken out of the bag Searching for evidence There are a variety of different ways to search for evidence at a crime scene, if a crime has taken place in a large field or open area a large amount of police are gathered into a series of parallel lines to scan the area for evidence, this will ensure that every inch of space is searched so no evidence can go amiss. If a crime has taken place in an indoor area the spiral method will be used to search for evidence, this means the police will go from the outer cordon and spiral inwards to cover the whole area; this is so that no evidence can be contaminated or broken. The last search method is dividing into grids, this ensures that each section is covered so no evidence can be missed or contaminated. The grid division method is mainly used in indoor environments because it means every inch of area will be searched. Collecting evidence pollen Testing pollen is essential to finding out who could have possibly committed a crime. A Forensic Botanist which is a plant scientist extracts grains of pollen from a piece of clothing that could have been worn by the suspect, pollen is used because the suspect rarely even remembers that pollen could be used as a piece of evidence. The forensic Botanist can therefore use key identification to understand what type of pollen has been on the suspect and from which species of flower, this will then be used to identify if the suspect has been at the crime scene at any given time. Analysing footprint and tyre prints Distinction Justify why the procedure is done? Possible Errors: Dont get the whole imprint of a clear footprint -If you spray hairspray too close the soil will be moved. weather can affect the footprint. If you do not move quickly enough the plaster will set before it is poured into the footprint. -If the plaster is of the wrong consistency then it will not set if there is too much water and if there is too much plaster the liquid will not pour over footprint Experiment I first mixed three parts of plaster of Paris and two parts water, then mixed thoroughly together to create the plaster and it is completely liquefied. I put a dam around the plaster so it does not run out of it As the soil is loose I put hairspray on so the soil does not move away. If I put it too close to the hairspray will move the soil. I then poured the plaster slowly and evenly over the footprint by not pouring directly on the footprint, this is done by holding a spatula underneath the plaster and letting the plaster run over it smoothly before it falls onto the footprint. I then waited for the plaster to set When the cast has been set the forensics analyst looks at various things within the footprint to help them in catching the suspect. This is done by looking at the size of the shoe which can help determine the gender and the height of the culprit. The type of print can also help tell if the culprit was running or walking through the scene of the crime and whether or not there is any definitive aspects to the shoe the suspect was wearing such as the make of the shoe and any ridges or other features on the shoe. Fibres Another experiment that I have conducted is collecting evidence that consist of fibres from clothing items and seeing what they look like under a microscope. The method is exactly the same as the pollen collection however instead of brushing the fibres onto a piece of fabric, I had to pull the fibres off one by one and spread them out as thinly as possible so that I could get a clearer look. The polyester and acrylic fibers looked exactly the same however but the cotton fibre looked very different. Fibres will be used as evidence as clothing from the suspect could rub off onto the victim or the environment. Fingerprints I also conducted a fourth experiment to evaluate the collection of evidence by taking fingerprints. The fourth experiment that I conducted to research the taking of evidence was by taking fingerprints. The class had two community police officers in to explain the processes on a crime scene in which the ways all types of evidence is collected. They gave us sheets that are used when taking fingerprints and they also gave us ink pads. Fingerprints are taken by making one rolling movement with each finger on the ink pad then the same movement onto the sheet. The first set of fingerprints taken is of the tips of each finger on both hands, it is then done with the four pads of the fingers together and the pads of the thumbs separately. Finally, the side print of the hand is taken. Although this experiment that I conducted has been used a lot in the past and is still used, there is new technology that allows police to scan the criminals fingerprints without the use of ink and paper. This means it is much more reliable, less messy and easy to do if the criminal refuses. Below are images of different types of finger prints; Police Notes: The police were called into the school lab; the evidence that was found was hairspray, cigarette butt, coat and a coffee cup. The hairspray that was found was sprayed with aluminium powder and a fingerprint was found, however this fingerprint cannot be used as evidence as it is known that the fingerprint is that of a police person, this is known because every member of the police force have to have their fingerprints taken when they first join the police. However if a gloved had of been used they would not know if the evidence from the glove belonged to the suspected criminal or a member of the police collecting evidence. The coffee cups that have been found have to be emptied of their contents and sealed into packaging for later testing, the packaging has to be marked as fragile because if the cup is destroyed the DNA will be harder to obtain. When collecting evidence from the coat it has to be done quickly as the coat could go mouldy if it is placed into an evidence bag, so the coat is therefore taken to the station and hung to dry and then placed into a brown paper bag, this will therefore allow the coat to breath. Both shoes and clothing items are packed in this way, however shoes will have to be packed separately as different shoes may have different evidence on them, this will stop both of the shoes from cross contaminating one another so they can be used in court. A knife is found with blood on it, it was found that the offender was suicidal and tried to commit suicide by cutting their wrists as they were addicted to drugs, it was then discovered that the crime was committed as the offender needed money to buy drugs. This is called acquisitive crimes and consists of a total of 7 out of 10 crimes committed today; these are crimes such as theft, burglary and shop lifting just to get money to feed a drug addiction. However, if a serious crime was committed with this knife such as a stabbing the community police will have no involvement as SOCO will have to be called in to deal with proceedings. The knife will be collected by placing it into a plastic tube and then that is placed inside of a bag and secured safely. If a tube is not available then SOCO have to improvise by securing the weapon in a box with wire then in a bag. Bags will always be reused and every piece of evidence is secured inside of one to be taken back to the station for further analysis. Method for coffee cup collecting and packaging:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Pour liquid contents into the sink holding the handle with one finger hooked through to make liquid pour out the opposite side.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Get bag and fill in the outside labels.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Put mug into the bag the same way the cup was held when being emptied of any content.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Remove the blue tape and seal. Blood Splatter Experiment I conducted an experiment to test the way a person can tell which way blood has splattered on to a surface. The experiment was tested with watered down poster paint. I tested the drips on five different angles. These were 25 °, 45 °, 60 °, 70 ° and 90 °. If there is blood found at a crime scene the people responsible for testing it would look at the evenness as well as the course in which the blood had come from, this is because if the blood appears to be of a thick consistency it will mean that the blood has been on the surface for a long period of time, However if the blood appears to be very thin it will mean that the blood has been splattered onto the surface recently. The forensic analysis would want to look for the direction in which the drops had come in to identify where the victim had been attacked from, as this could also help to find out what the casualty was hit with depending on the quantity of blood and the distance from the impact it is. Equipment: A retort stand A clamp One pipette A wood block with slits in at each degree angle 15 sheets of A5 paper 1 sheet of A5 card Red poster paint 1 beaker 1 newspaper sheet Ruler Group Results: Angle Distance travelled 1 Distance travelled 2 Distance travelled 3 Average 25 2.5cm 2cm 3cm 2.5cm 45 2.5cm 1cm 2cm 1.8cm 60 1.2cm 2.3cm 1cm 1.5cm 70 1.8cm 1.9cm 1cm 1.6cm 90 1.5cm 1cm 0.8cm 1.1cm Class Results: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Average 25 2.33 1.3 2.5 2.06 1.6 1.23 2.5 1,93 45 0.83 0.93 2.1 1.36 0.9 1 1.8 1.27 60 0.67 1.06 0.9 1.2 1.13 0.8 1.5 1.03 70 1 1 0.6 1.36 0.8 0.93 1.6 90 0.9 1.2 0.7 1.13 1.03 0.73 1.1 I first started by setting up the apparatus, this was a retort stand with the clamp attached and the pipette held insecurely in the clamp as this would ensure an precise drop of paint. By putting the pipette loosely in the clamp an error may be caused as the pipette will be able to move too freely and the blood will get splattered inaccurately. This error is hard to prevent because if the clamp is twisted tighter to secure the pipette firmly then it will cause the pipette to be bent and the drop will fail to drop as the pipette will be blocked or the splatter may not end up in the same place. To recover this error, the clam should be left in a loose position and should also be kept steady when the drop is being made, this will therefore prevent the drop from being inaccurate The clamp was placed at 50 cm along the retort stand to make the experiment more accurate as it would not be moved after each drop. Underneath I placed some newspaper down onto the table to prevent it from becoming contaminated and to also so I could draw around a wooden block that I had placed over it. An error that could occur here is that if the newspaper moves through the experiment it may move the apparatus on the top which will mean the experiment will be in a different angle and will therefore make the experiment less accurate. This error can be prevented by sticking the newspaper down securely to prevent the apparatus from moving; the apparatus should also be constantly checked throughout the duration of the experiment to ensure that it has not been misplaced. I placed a wooden block under where the pipette will drip and drew around the bottom of it to make sure it is placed back in the same place every time the paper is changed around, this will ensure that the experiment is more accurate and ensure valid results. Next, I poured paint into a beaker and then used the pipette which is secured in the clamp to gather the paint and to then create a drop. I then wrote on each piece of paper the degree it will be used on and the number it was on that angle. After this I set up the paper in the wood block by taking the piece of card and a piece of paper fitting to the number and angle and securing them both together in the 25 ° slot. The card is used to make sure the paper does not move around when the drop hits the surface which will mean the results of the experiment will be reliable. Once all apparatus was set up and put in the right places I made the first drop onto the paper, waited for it to stop running down the sheet and then prepared to make the next drop. An error could be made if the paint is not left running because it will render the results inaccurate. I then carried this method out again three times each but at different angles, this was done so it would easier to find an average length for each angle.The class then took their results and put them up on the board to create an overall average. Main techniques for analysing chemical, physical and biological evidence Chemical Evidence UV spectrometer UV/visible spectrometry is used for the determination of the concentration of UV or light-absorbing substances in a solution. It works by a light passing through a solution; the higher the Mol concentration of the solution the more light is absorbed. The percentage of transmittance helps analysing the Mol concentration. This specific piece of kit is used because it simple and effective to use because it is all used on computers and therefore anyone can use it with minimal training. There are some problems and variables to using a UV spectrometer to measure light absorbing substances in a solution and that is that it cannot transfer light through glass because glass does not absorb any of the light. Furthermore when the substance is being tested it will need to have a covering placed over it to ensure that the substance does not evaporate when the UV light is shined onto it. Another problem that could arise is that there may not be enough samples to carry the test so a large substance will be needed. Furthermore, there is a chance that the machine could break down. I chose this piece of equipment because this piece of equipment is reliable as it give accurate results, however there is a great chance of human error because the plates can be touched which will therefore give unreliable results. Risk Assessment: The UV spectrometer can cause electrical shock chemical spillage and contact with moving parts. When using this equipment make sure that you wear gloves to avoid skin contact with chemicals. Do not touch any of the wires while the machine is turned on to avoid electrical shocks and do not touch the inside of the machine while it is determining the concentration of UV. Also when using this piece of equipment make sure that it is placed in the middle of the working surface to ensure that the machine cannot be knocked off and hurt somebody. The user of this machine should also wear gloves to protect the skin from absorbing any of the UV and visible light frequencies. Sulphuric Acid: Sulphuric acid is a corrosive chemical that can severely burn the eyes and skin if it comes into contact. At worst it can cause third degree burns and blindness to the victim. In its vapour form it can cause damage to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs, this can be very dangerous especially for Asthmatics because the vapour can cause a build up of fluid in the lungs. If sulphuric acid is ingested vomiting should not be induced, the victim should be given large quantities of water and should seek immediate medical attention. In case of skin contact, immediately flush skin with plenty of water for at least 15 minutes while removing contaminated clothing and shoes. Wash clothing before reuse. Excess acid on skin can be neutralized with a 2% solution of bicarbonate of soda. The victim should then seek medical attention. If sulphuric acid contaminates the eyes, then the eyes should be washed with a constant flow of water for 15 minutes occasionally lifting the lower and uppe r eyelids. To prevent these accidents from happening the user of this chemical should wear goggles, gloves and protective clothing to prevent any contamination. Potassium Manganate: This chemical is very corrosive. Harmful if inhaled, swallowed or absorbed through the skin. Inhalation may result in spasm, inflammation and oedema of the larynx and bronchi, chemical pulmonary oedema. Symptoms of exposure may include burning sensation, coughing, wheezing, and laryngitis, shortness of breath, headache, nausea and vomiting. In case of skin contact, immediately flush skin with copious amounts of water for at least 15 minutes while removing contaminated clothing and shoes. If this chemical is inhaled, remove to fresh air. If not breathing give artificial respiration. If breathing is difficult give oxygen. If swallowed, wash out mouth with water provided person is conscious. Seek medical attention and do not induce vomiting. If the chemical is spilt on clothing wash contaminated clothing before reuse. Method 1. Take 3 plastic cuvettes. Fill one (~3/4 full) with 1M sulphuric acid solutions, fill one with potassium manganate (VII) solution and fill the third with potassium dichromate (VI) solution. 2. Place the cuvette containing the acid into the spectrophotometer. Ensure that the clear/transparent sides of the cuvette are in the beam (not the opaque sides) 3. Set the absorbance wavelength to 400nm. 4. Set the reading to zero. (This is the baseline in which all measurements are made against) 5. Place the cuvette containing potassium manganate (VII) solution into the spectrophotometer and record the absorbance reading in Table 1. 6. Place the cuvette containing potassium manganate (VII) solution into the spectrophotometer and record the absorbance reading in Table 1. UV- visible Spectrophotomerty Table 1: Absorbance Data Wavelength (nm) Absorbance Manganate (VII) Absorbance Dichromate (VI) 400 0.076 1 420 0.035 1.157 440 0.062 1.061 460 0.162 0.848 480 0.408 0.490 500 0.763 0.219 520 1.114