Sunday, August 24, 2008

Crime and Economic Conditions

The goal of this paper is to decide whether there is a relationship between crime and economic conditions. To further expand upon that idea, I will discuss the relationship between crime and the economic conditions. The argument is that crime is being caused by people’s lack of economic resources, meaning that the theory states that crime is caused by poverty.

From the reading, it appears that research is inconclusive. Some research would agree that there is a relationship between crime and economic conditions. Other research says that there is no relationship between the two and that they are two factors that do not affect each other.

The first study on this topic was performed in France in which the researchers wanted to compare rich areas of the nation with areas of the nation that were poor. They were hoping to find that the poor areas of the nation would have more crime than the rich areas. However, the research showed them that wasn’t the truth. From the data they gathered, they found out that the rich areas had a higher amount of crime against property. The conclusion is that since the rich individuals have more money, they have nicer possessions, so there are more situations in which other people can steal these material goods.

There have been numerous studies on whether or not there is a relationship between unemployment and crime among adults. The results from these studies seem to be inconclusive, as well. Some of these studies say there is a relationship, others say there isn’t, and some say there is a relationship between the two but that it is an insignificant one. However, it appears that “increased hourly wages, higher quality jobs, and jobs that last for longer periods of time are associated with decreased property crime” (Vold and Bernard and Snipes, 2002: 89).

A possible reason for the inconclusiveness of a lot of these studies may lie in how the studies define poverty. Different studies use different economic values for what they are going to define as poverty, so that makes it difficult for there to be conclusive evidence when one study uses one numerical figure and another study uses a completely different numerical figure to define the parameters of poverty.

Even though there is some conflicting evidence on whether or not the two factors have a relationship, “at the present time, a reasonably strong case can be made that the economic inequality in a society – i.e., the gap between the richest and the poorest – has a causal impact on the level of violence in that society” (Vold and Bernard and Snipes, 2002: 98). This means that individuals who don’t have the economic resources are more likely to commit criminal actions against those individuals who have a higher income and thus higher social class than the offender does. This seems to be apparent from the first study about this topic that was performed in France. The poor individuals that lived within the wealthy areas were more likely to commit crimes than the other poor individuals with similar conditions but only living in a poor area of the country.

Crime doesn’t appear to rise and fall along with the rising and falling of the number of poor individuals. It isn’t simply just poverty that causes crime, there are other factors that are involved within the situation, such as unemployment, that may increase the likelihood of crimes increasing.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Scared Straight Programs

The goal of this paper is to discover whether or not the scared straight programs are deterrents to juvenile delinquency. “The underlying theory of programs like Scared Straight is deterrence. Program advocates and others believe that realistic depictions of life in prison and presentations by inmates will deter juvenile offenders (or children at risk of becoming delinquent) from further involvement with crime” (Petrosino and Turpin-Petrosino and Buehler, 2003: 42).

“A randomized controlled trial of the New Jersey program in 1982, however, reported no effect on the criminal behavior of participants in comparison with a no-treatment control group. In fact, Finckenauer reported that participants in the experimental group were more likely to be arrested (Petrosino and Turpin-Petrosino and Buehler, 2003: 43). The thought was that with these programs, juvenile delinquents or possible offenders would see the situation with prisons and be socialized into having a mindset that they did not want to be involved within the situation. However, it appears that the exact opposite happened. Individuals were socialized into a role of committing crimes, they learned from the criminals that were in jail how to perform criminal activities and basically how to become like them.

“Consistent with these findings, reviewers of research on the effects of crime prevention programs have not found deterrence-oriented programs like Scared Straight effective” (Petrosino and Turpin-Petrosino and Buehler, 2003: 43). A study performed by the University of Maryland that examined more than five-hundred programs that attempt to prevent crime stated that Scared Straight was one of the programs that didn’t work for its intended mission.

There was a film in 1979 and one released 20 years after the initial film that both stated the Scared Straight programs to be effective at deterring crime. However, these films only looked at small numbers of cases, and did not use control groups to compare the data. “They [Petrosino and his colleagues] found that Scared Straight and like interventions generally increased crime between one and twenty-eight percent when compared to a no-intervention control group” (Petrosino and Turpin-Petrosino and Buehler, 2003: 44).

The individuals writing this journal article examined nine Scared Straight programs throughout the nation. While examining these programs, they concluded that “whether relying on the actual data reported or measures of statistical significance, the nine trials do not yield evidence for a positive effect for Scared Straight and other juvenile awareness programs on subsequent delinquency” (Petrosino and Turpin-Petrosino and Buehler, 2003: 52). The journal article also concludes that “despite the variability in the type of intervention used, on average these programs result in an increase in criminality in the experimental group when compared to a no-treatment control. According to these experiments, doing nothing would have been better than exposing juvenile to the program” (Petrosino and Turpin-Petrosino and Buehler, 2003: 53).

On paper, the Scared Straight programs appear to be a possible answer to lowering juvenile crime rates. However, research states that the juveniles are actually more likely to commit crimes because of having being involved within the program. It appears that the individuals who participate in these kind of programs are socialized into committing more crimes because of the actions that they witness.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Theories of Deterrence

The three theories of deterrence are the deterrence theory, routine activities theory, and rational choice theory, and with each theory having ideas for how to lower the crime rate.

The first theory is the deterrence theory which arose from the classical criminology approach states “punishments should be proportional to the seriousness of offenses so that the cost of crime always exceeds its reward. Potential offenders then would be deterred – i.e., rational calculation would lead them to avoid committing crime” (Vold and Bernard and Snipes, 2002:176). This theory was commonly held as the method to follow for early criminologists, then another theory, positivism emerged as the leading method. However, the positivist theory died out and a contemporary classical approach theory came to the front of the methods to be used to examine crime. The reemergence of the theory came with deterrence being the focus on the theory.

In the late 1970s, a new approach was proposed, the routine activities theory. This theory states “rationally-calculating potential offenders respond to opportunities to commit crimes, and that these opportunities are systematically related to the ‘routine activities’ by which people live their lives” (Vold and Bernard and Snipes, 2002:176). This theory argues that individuals act differently from person to person, and some lifestyles are more likely to put an individual into situations that may cause them risk. This relates to modern times with individuals spending more time away from home, whether it is working longer hours or doing leisure activities, putting them at a higher risk of being the individual who is targeted for a robbery. This comes about since many individuals perform the same daily activities one day to the next. It provides potential offenders with more targets since so many individuals are spending more time away from their homes.

In the mid-1980s, the rational choice approach theory arose. This theory “developed a more complex view of how offenders in particular situations calculate their costs and benefits” (Vold and Bernard and Snipes, 2002:176-177). This theory assumes that offenders take into the consideration the risks and rewards of their actions. The rational choice theory assumes that there are always potential offenders that are willing to commit crimes when the rewards are higher than the risks. This theory proposes that raising the level of possible cost to the offender and lowering the chance of possible rewards of the criminal will make the situation less desirable to be committed.

The common theme of these three theories of deterrence is that they are all based on a human’s decision to choose. They all assume that individual’s will look at a given situation and decide whether or not to commit crimes. These theories assume that criminals are rationally thinking people which is not always the situation. These theories don’t take into consideration that individuals may get caught in situations that cause them to get extremely angered which may lessen the possibilities of thinking in a rational sense.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Biological Theory of Crime

The common assumptions of the biological theories of crime are that physical attributes can lead an individual to criminal activities. Generally, the thought was that certain physical attributes were passed down from parent to child, making the child more at risk of committing crimes. These earlier theories of crime focused on heredity, and were quick to make assumptions about the findings of the research.

Johan Caspar Lavater believed that the shape of the skull and other facial features impacted human conduct. Cesare Lombroso took these ideas to a new level and began examining other parts of the body and not just the facial features and skull shape. Lombroso wanted to look at other characteristics, such as ear size, amount of hair, length of hair, etc. to compare the characteristics of criminals to other animals that were considered to be more primitive.

Charles Goring attempted to expand upon Cesare Lombroso’s research to discover if it held any truth. Goring developed a study that compared prisoners with members of the Royal Engineers of London and found no differences in facial features or skull sizes between the two groups. However, Goring did conclude that he prisoners tended to have “inferiority in stature and in body weight” (Vold and Bernard and Snipes, 2002:34-35). However, modern criminologists tend to disregard the research stating that it was enough of a difference between stature and body weight to be significant. These previous biological theories generally did not take social factors into consideration when conducting their research, which results in many individuals feeling as if the data is flawed.

More recent research into the biological theories of crime examine neurotransmitters, hormones, the central nervous system, and the autonomic nervous system. These theories do accept some social factors into the given thoughts. However, these theories still focus on the biological aspect of why crimes are committed. For neurotransmitters, there is the belief that those with lower levels of specific kinds of neurotransmitters are more likely to be anti-social.

There is a belief that when certain hormones are released it makes the individual more likely to act in an aggressive way. Some individuals believe that problems can occur in the central nervous system, specifically in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. It is believed that problems within the frontal lobe can lead the individual to be more violent, whereas irregularities within the temporal lobe can lead an individual to be more sexual offending.

Others believe that the “fight or flight” response in the autonomic nervous system may not work properly in some individuals making them more likely to be involved in criminal behavior.
I thought that the most surprising aspect of the chapter was that individuals were so quick to follow the earlier biological theories of crime when the research was broad, difficult to reproduce, and didn’t examine sociological manners in any detail. I think that these individuals wanted a quick an easy answer to why crime occurs, and this was the easiest answer for people to believe.
However, in my opinion, criminal behavior is a vast topic that doesn’t just have one simple answer to why it occurs. It has many different possible answers and outcomes, and each situation may have a different reason for the actions occurring.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Book Review of Why Americans Still Don't Vote

There are three main thoughts to why individuals do not vote. There are two thoughts derived from political science that suggest differing factors within the political atmosphere to be reasons for individuals lack of voting. The other viewpoint is a sociological viewpoint that suggests the individuals who do not vote do not have the same access to resources as others thus they do not receive a proper education.

One of the political science thoughts suggests there to be a lack of voter turnout because of the decreasing competition between the two parties. Even though the parties are often at the throats of one another, the two parties have fairly similar beliefs on certain issues. Once the parties began to have more similar viewpoints, it provided fewer viewpoints for the average individual to be able to vote on. This causes individuals to feel as if there isn’t a candidate who represents them.

The other thought that is derived from political science suggests that it is the law requirements and ballot form that cause there to be declines in voting. The authors suggest that the laws for how to register to vote, when the last days to register to vote before elections, and the way the ballot is set up as causes of declines in voting. There was research performed that suggested the way a ballot was organized would make it more or less likely for individuals to vote straight ticket or split ticket. There were states that had ballots in which all the voter had to do was check one box to vote straight ticket for the specific party.

The sociological perspective on why individuals don’t vote is rooted in the social structure, mainly that they do not receive the same access to resources such as education. This results in individuals not developing an interest in politics and can cause them to feel as if voting doesn’t matter one way or the other. With the lack of education, it makes it more difficult for these individuals to go through information about candidates and decide which one would better represent them. If they received a poor education, they may not understand forms that need to be filled out, or how to meet proper time restraints on when to register.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Book Review of Regulating the Poor

The goal of this part of the paper is to discuss the main thesis of this book, and to give examples of this thesis. The main thesis of the area of this book that I read would be that the governmental power doesn’t provide relief for poverty because there is a sincere care about the individual, but because those that had power feared if there wasn’t anything done in times of high levels of poverty that there would be great political turmoil and individuals of lower classes would rise up and revolt against the government. Once the government provided aid to those individuals in poverty in these times of high dissentment, the average individual would be able to gain a job and somewhat get back on their feet. When this occurred, the government would slowly discontinue the amount of aid given to individuals. So even though individuals still may have been in poverty, the amount was less, and since the government had tried to fix the problem, the amount of political dissatisfaction had decreased.

A main example of this situation is during the Great Depression when there were large amounts of people that were unemployed. If individuals were lucky enough to have jobs, they weren’t paid very well and still suffered in the life of poverty. The government began doing work projects to provide individuals with jobs. The New Deal was an attempt to greatly affect the problems of poverty.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Book Review of Global Networks

Mark Lombardi termed his art “Narrative Structures” which were an extension of art known as history art. This form of art generally represented historic events or political actions that affected the world. Mark Lombardi’s art wasn’t nearly as detailed in the sense of artwork, but was greatly more detailed in the research that he performed and the connections he made from corporate individual to other corporate individual.

Lombardi had great interest in the topic of globalism, and wanted to show this through his art. This is why he made the connections of many different corporate individuals to each other, even when they appeared on the surface to possibly have no connections at all. He was very involved in his work and wanted to show the connections that individuals had to one another even when they were from different parts of the world.

I believe that Lombardi’s art is an example of Conflict Theory. It shows that there are individuals who have a great amount of power, and these individuals are often connected in various forms to other individuals who have similar levels of power. This shows that there are individuals with the resources, the haves, that use their power to maintain the resources that have and make it more difficult for others to gain power and or resources.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Book Review of Who Rules America?

According to Domhoff, power is based on who has the money and resources. Wealth and income play an important role in determining who has the power. The individuals that occupy prestigious positions and take part in making decisions hold a great amount of power. Groups that are strongly represented are said to have a great amount of power since their viewpoints can be put into effect, whereas groups that have little to no representation have little to no power since their ideas are not heard. The upper class is over-represented in many institutions which gives them a great deal of power to determine what will happen in certain situations. The lower class and women are often under-represented thus giving them little influence in making decisions.

Power is built by the winner take all political system that gives the power to those who win those positions, there is no proportional representation in the United States, thus the individuals who win the positions are the ones that can make the decisions and downplay the decisions they disagree with. Lobbyists play an important role in this part of politics, they often try to convince legislators to vote certain ways. These lobbyists generally work for large corporations and attempt to sway the Congress people minds on a specific bill in order to help the corporation.

The political parties select individuals to be candidates based upon that individual’s devotion to the power. If the individual does not go with the party’s plans, then the person is not going to be a candidate for a political position. The individuals in power want to maintain this power, so they want to shape the opinions of the public. They do this by having ads and commercials that focus on the audience that they are wanting to influence. These corporations focus the majority of their time on the middle class, since there are so many individuals in that social class, so it is most beneficial to sway this group’s opinions in favor of certain acts and legislation.

Domhoff believes that the best way for the social change to occur within the political since to decentralize the power and make it so that average individuals can share in that power is to use a clean money system in the elections. This rids politicians of their ties to corporations since the state provides a specific amount of money to each candidate running for the political position. Each individual running for office would have the same amount of money to run their campaign. This would prevent large corporations from being able to buy elections then demand the politician to repay them by voting specific ways. With the clean money system it allows average individuals to run for office so this would allow for more ideas to get into the political atmosphere.

The first article titled “Lines of Power in Exchange Networks” by Jeffrey W. Lucas and others states that power is defined by social networks, the amount of resources that the individuals have and how the resources are connected to their network’s resources, and how these resources can exclude others from being able to gain these resources. Strong power refers to the networking and how individuals in the network have differing amounts of resources and do not exclude each other, but may exclude other individuals. The resources can be shared between the individuals, but access is denied to other individuals. However, in a weak power system the amount of resources are similar from individual to individual, so there is either a large amount of exchange between the network or there is no exchange whatsoever.

The second article titled “Power and resistance” by J.M. Barbalet suggests that power is when one individual has the ability to do their own wishes even though there is a possibility of resistance. This means that an individual has the resources to be able to fight against a resistance if there were one to rise up. However, the resistance in itself is a check on the individual that holds the power to make sure that they do not step too far out of line, otherwise the resistance would turn into a form of conflict or rebellion.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Review of Communist Manifesto

The goal of this aspect of the paper is to discuss Karl Marx’s theory for social change. To expand upon that idea, I will go into detail on how capitalism will end and how communism will emerge. I will talk about how people in the United States fail to recognize the “collective experience” of
inequality/poverty. I will then discuss the American hegemonic feelings towards welfare.

According to Karl Marx, capitalism begins when feudalism ends. Industry arises and begins to be held in the hands of the elite, the bourgeoisie. The workers of these industries are termed, the proletariat. According to Marx, the proletariat would rise up and revolt against their oppressors, the bourgeoisie. Marx believed this would result because capitalism would fold upon itself and become its own end. Once this occurs, communism will emerge as the form of social change. Property will no longer be held by individuals, but by society as a whole. Property lines would end and eventually borders of nations would disappear.

Socialism was attempts this social change, but wasn’t pushed to the full extents. According to Marx, the bourgeoisie were still involved in many of the different forms of socialism. Marx somewhat downplays the numerous forms of socialism for retaining aspects of the capitalist society. Marx states that the bourgeoisie controlled many of the socialist revolutions, but wanted to make it appear as if the proletariat were gaining power, when in actuality the proletariat gaining little.

Communism, historically, never occurred the way Marx predicted it to occur. Marx believed it would occur once capitalism destroyed itself. However, in history, communism has emerged from serfdom, despotism, and the end of colonial control. It came about in Russia after the end of serfdom, occurred in China in response to serfdom and the end of Japanese control, occurred in Cuba after despotism, occurred in Vietnam after the end of French control of the area, and occurred within North Korea after the end of Japanese control after World War II. Never has it occurred because of capitalism folding upon itself. So Karl Marx’s idea of the social change has yet to occur.

It could be possibly occurring with many European nations having Social Democratic parties that have power, but that would be a stretch to make that argument. Those parties have strongly different views than communism, but it might be a step in the direction of communism emerging as a form of social change.

The term “fetish of capitalism” refers to how capitalist societies are obsessed with having property and owning material goods. There is money involved in all sorts of transactions. This distances people from each other. It is no longer trade one good for another. One has money, a form of currency, and you give it in exchange for another property, the desired good. Neither side realizes the power involved in the situation and become distanced. The fetish of commodity has become the basic unit of capitalism.

There is a failure to recognize the “collective experience” of inequality/poverty within the United States because the majority of people are in the middle class. The American agenda is high individualistic and the theme is to work hard to reach one’s highest possibility. There is little feeling for those on the lower end of the social ladder. Many individuals feel as if those people suffering from inequality or power do not work hard enough to earn resources, they don’t try hard enough at school or at their jobs to better their lives. It is deep-rooted in American society to care about oneself over the well-being of others.

Now, I will explain the American hegemonic feelings towards welfare. Those in power aren’t too happy about welfare. Many feel as if the tax payer is paying for an individual to be lazy and not find a job. The power elite feel as if the individuals aren’t always worthy of the welfare they receive. Hegemonic powers feel as if money is “given” to these lazy people then it may foster others to be lazy and want to receive free money and not work. This goes back to the thought that the hegemonic powers have ideas about working hard to receive money and other resources.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Hegemony in Television Shows

Hegemony in the sense of communication and the mass media is when the media portrays the ideology of the elites and quiets differing views. The media intends to keep groups without power from gaining that power. This output of one idea is called dominant ideology. (Trenholm, p. 292)

The first show that I chose to watch was a cartoon called “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.” In this show the characters with high status are Madame Foster and Mr. Herriman. Madame Foster is a human and the owner of the mansion for imaginary friends that have been discarded. Mr. Herriman is a large rabbit and Madame Foster’s imaginary friend from her childhood. Mr. Herriman is the president of the house and has a long list of rules that he believes should be followed. Mr. Herriman has a sophisticated etiquette and wears a tuxedo coat and a top hat.

The characters that have middle status are Mac and Frankie Foster are human characters. They both wear the clothing of an average individual. Frankie Foster wears shorts, a white shirt, and a green jacket. Mac wears brown jeans and a red shirt. Frankie Foster assists her grandmother in operating the house. Mac is a child who refuses to completely abandon his imaginary friend, Bloo.
The women characters play stereotypical roles. Madame Foster owns the mansion but acts very friendly and can start going on and on in her conversations like a stereotypical older woman. Frankie Foster performs most of the household duties, such as cooking and cleaning. She gets angry when others don’t to their part.

There didn’t seem to be a victimization of women more than men in this cartoon. The women characters run the house, so they are rarely victimized. There are two male characters that are imaginary friends that are often victimized, Wilt and Eduardo. Wilt is an imaginary friend in the form of a basketball player with a short arm and a crooked eye. He can not say no to anyone. In one of the episodes he is trying to watch television and other characters constantly ask him to do them favors and he repeatedly says yes when he clearly wants to say no. The other character that is victimized is Eduardo. He is an ogre-like imaginary friend that has a Hispanic accent. He is scared by many things and other characters take advantage of this at times.

Some minorities are underrepresented in this show. There are no characters that are explicitly African American. None of the human characters are anything but white. Eduardo is a character with a Hispanic accent. There is a minor character that has a Middle Eastern accent. Wilt is a basketball player and most likely represents Wilt Chamberlain who was black, but Wilt the character has a red-colored skin.

In the advertisements that are present during the episodes that I watched, there were a large assortment of commercials aimed at children, since this show is a cartoon on Cartoon Network. There were commercials advertising cereals and toys. In this advertisements, children are either eating the cereal or playing with the toys. While doing either of these activities they are smiling and commenting on how good the cereal is and how fun and cool the toys are.

The second show that I chose to watch was “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.” All of the characters are of a middle to higher class. They all work as detectives or doctors. One of the doctor characters seems to be of the highest class of all the characters. George Huang is the psychologist and knows a large array of knowledge about his area of expertise.

The status of the characters was marked by the clothing they wear. All of the characters dress professionally, except for the medical examiner who wears a white coat. Knowledge is another thing that marks the status of the characters.
In this show the female characters are just as active as the male characters. One of the two man characters is a female and the other a male. One of the two doctors on the show is a female character, the medical examiner. The assistant district attorney is played by a female character and she does the prosecuting against the criminals.

In this show the majority of the victims are women since it is a special victims unit. The show details with women who are raped, beaten, kidnapped, or murdered. The show rarely has men that are victims. One of the episodes that I watched had young boys being victimized.
This show does a good job at representing minorities. One of the detectives is an African American, detective Odafin Tutuola. The psychologist character is played by an Asian American. One of the detectives is a Jewish man.

The advertisements for the show have a wide target audience. There are some car commercials, beer commercials, restaurant commercials. The car commercials show the drivers driving their cars and smiling and being happy with the new vehicle they just purchased. The beer commercials show people having alcoholic beverages and enjoying themselves greatly. They always smile when they have the beer in their hands and they show a jolt of happiness when they open the bottle or can. The restaurant commercials illustrate the products that they have, the deals that are going on, and someone eating food from the restaurant and having a big smile on their face and seeming to be satisfied with the taste of their dinner.

The television shows that I watched were extremely different. They had a completely different target audience. One was a cartoon that involved humor, the other was a show about detectives that had a more serious tone. Neither show focused on the lower status of individuals. In “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” the characters are of high status, in “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” the majority of characters are of slightly high status or middle class. In “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” women didn’t necessarily fill the stereotypical roles, but gave women a more powerful role in the show. In “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” women played a more stereotypical role. In “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” minorities are well represented. In “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” minority characters are underrepresented. There were few minorities in this cartoon. The advertisements for the shows were completely different because of the target audiences. “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” had advertisements that were mainly for children, such as cereal and toy commercials. “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” has advertisements that are generally for an older audience. The commercials were for cars, beer, and restaurants.

I chose these two shows because they are two of the few shows that I watch on a regular basis and they are very different. So I thought that they would be good contrasts to each other. I thought that one was a little bit more stereotypical than the other. “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” was the show that was more stereotypical than “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.”

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Book Review on Blindness

The goal of this paper is to review the book titled “Blindness” by Jose Saramago that was originally written in Portuguese in 1995, and translated into English by Giovanni Pontiero in 1997. I will examine why the book was written and what the main themes of the book are. I will discuss the aspects of the novel that I found to be most interesting and thought-provoking. Then I will discuss how it relates to criminology and why individuals should care about that novel.

I believe this novel was written to provide social commentary on a situation that affects many societies of the world. I believe the physical blindness that occurs within the book reflects how society is often blind to issues that are affecting many individuals. With the physical blindness that occurs within the novel, individuals could no longer form a preconceived judgment of what the individual will be like just based upon their skin color, ethnicity, or social class. However, in society today, individuals judge others and form opinions just based upon these issues. I think the novel wanted to point out this issue to open individuals’ minds to what is really going on.

The doctor’s wife is the only one that doesn’t seem to be inflicted by the blindness that sweeps throughout the community. I believe she represents the individuals within society who realize there are social problems that need to be fixed. The individuals that are blinded are placed into the asylum and are forced to stay there. I believe that this situation shows that at times the overall group is more important at times than the individual or small group of people. Those in power didn’t want the blindness to inflict anymore individuals so those who had been blinded were rounded up and placed into the asylum area. Eventually it comes to the point where those in power no longer provide assistance to the blind, thus they have deemed the group no longer important. This thought could be applied to society and how the government and those in power often don’t care about certain groups and if these groups have enough resources to function.

Conflict theory arises within this book when the institutions begin to be the ones who create crimes. Those in power move all of the inflicted blind individuals into the asylum, which turns it into a situation of those who have resources and those who have little to no resources. The blinded individuals receive rations on food and other needed products. This results in there being individuals within the asylum who have the resources and those who don’t, thus creating a similar situation as what is going on in society.

Social disorganization occurs when the individuals are forced to move into the asylum, thus breaking down the social relationships that the individuals had within their community. This results in more crime, and causes individuals to band together to form gangs and then
commit rapes.

Differential Association Theory arises when the blinded individuals are lumped together and some individuals begin to commit crimes. This causes individuals within the same group to be more likely to commit crimes. It comes to the point where the group does not consider crimes to be delinquent behaviors thus it is socializing the members of the group to commit more criminal offenses.

The theory of anomie becomes relevant when there is the breakdown of the social organizations and the asylum becomes an area that has a lack of norms and law enforcement. I would suggest that the blinded individuals who commit crimes were being innovators because they believed that the legitimate ways of receiving resources were no longer available to them. This causes the individuals to be more deviant in their actions in order to reach their goals and or gain access to resources.

Rational choice theory can be looked at when addressing this novel when it comes to individuals and their decisions whether or not to commit the crimes. It is especially noticeable with the women when they wish to receive food begin allowing themselves to be gang-raped by the thugs who control the rations of food. The women see this situation as even though they are gang-raped, the benefits of gaining food and other resources are much better than the pain of the situation.

I thought the most interesting part of the novel was that the one woman, the doctor’s wife, did not go blind, but had to act like she was. I believe she serves as a representation of the ray of hope that exists even when society appears to be at its worst. She was never affected with the blindness and it probably would have been easier for her to escape the entire situation, but she ends up helping her husband, and her friends that she meets along the way. She assists in an attempt to rebuild the lives of her group and then suddenly the blindness disappears from the entire area and people are able to see again.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Book Review of Cat's Cradle

The goal of this paper is to discuss aspects of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s “Cat’s Cradle” which was copyrighted in 1963. I will expand on this by describing why it was written and what the main themes of the book are. Then I will discuss what shocked me about this novel. Finally, I will end with going into detail on why people would care about the book.
I believe that Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is providing social commentary on science, technology, and religion. With science and technology, he is suggesting that people often desire more and more advancements within science and technology to eventually reach the ultimate “truth” of humanity. To find all the answers to every question is the desire for science and technology. Some can view this as science being similar to a religion since it provides the individuals with hope and provides a pathway for individuals to follow. However, Vonnegut would suggest from this work that this reach to the supreme limitless aspects of science and technology will eventually lead to the downfall of humanity.
After the creation of the atomic bomb and other weapons that were devised in order to end wars had the reverse effect. These weapons just end up and make wars more devastating. I think that Vonnegut is suggesting that these advances in science and technology were done by individuals who didn’t necessarily think about the ramifications of what they were developing. I would suggest the Kurt Vonnegut Jr. had an overall lack of trust of science and technology.
Felix creates the ice-nine, a device to freeze mud, after being ordered to by a military official. However, Felix never kept records of this scientific advancement, only leaving the technological discovery to his children after his death. I believe this aspect respects that the scientists are putting the work into advancements and then pass the information along to further generations to do with it what they please. Two of his children use the ice-nine to their own advantages to further their lives, and the other child has his stolen from him. I would say that Vonnegut was suggesting that scientists have a lack of morals, they may think that their discoveries will be used for good, but if they are creating something for war then it most likely will be used to kill or assist in the killing of individuals.
The irony of this novel is that John, the author of “The Day the World Ended” actually played a role in the day that the world did end. The dictator of the San Lorenzo island had swallowed some of the ice-nine, and there was an attempt to melt the rest of the ice-nine that was there, and to burn the bodies of the individuals that had swallowed it. But John, and Felix’s children that were there decided to stop what they were doing to go begin the “Hundred Martyrs to Democracy” ceremony. While the ceremony was going on there was a crash that resulted in a landslide which then swept the rest of the ice-nine into the ocean, thus freezing all of the ocean water. I believe that this symbolizes that the search for ultimate truth in science and technology will be the downfall for humanity. That if these devices are created, they are left in the hands of reckless people who seem to be inconsiderate of the responsibilities that they have, and thus the devices can cause great havoc. This is the aspect of the book that I found most shocking, I had heard people talking that humans would eventually lead to their own demise, but I had never read it in suggest detail by a talented author. This put the situation into a perspective that was easier to understand than people I know complaining about humans leading to the end of the world.
When John travels to San Lorenzo, he discovers that all of the island’s inhabitants belong to a religion known as Bokononism. This religion was based upon lies and that individuals could never realize God’s plan. I believe this is social commentary on religion with passages conflicting and being contradictory at times. Within Bokonism, if the religion is based upon lies, it is a lie that individuals could never realize God’s plan, and to go to the extent then it is a lie that the religion is based upon lies. The Bokononism was based upon the thought that an individual really does understand, but really just believes in a bunch of lies. Even though individuals of the religion know this is true, it still gives them a form of hope, even if the hope that is provided is a false hope.
The leaders of the island used Bokononism to control the inhabitants of the island. They had the religion created and then outlawed it and gave the death penalty to individuals who would practice the religion. However, by doing this they created a strong sense of community with the islanders and it hooked these individuals on the religion. There was a strong sense of pressure on the religion, this causes the individuals who to believe in it to feel threatened and thus they group together and develop a stronger sense of community. I believe the Bokononism was used as a form of social control. Conflict theory came to mind when I was reading this novel. The religion became “an opiate of the masses” and used like a drug to keep people in line. The ruling power uses the religion to focus attention off of other aspects of life that may not be going so well, such as poverty on the island.

Monday, August 4, 2008

NBA Referees Foul Calling

I wrote this about the study that concluded that NBA Referees were calling more fouls against members of the African American race...

There was an independent study performed by a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a graduate student at Cornell University. The research concluded that the NBA called more fouls against African American individuals. This independent study examined seasons 1991 through 2004. After hearing word of the independent study, the National Basketball Association conducted its own study, and they concluded that they distinguished no difference in the number of fouls called based on an individual’s race. The NBA’s study ranged from November of 2004 until January of 2007.

The independent study showed that African American players account for eighty-three percent of the minutes played, but only sixty-eight percent of referring officials were white. Players who played the same position and had similar numbers of points, rebounds, and assists received more fouls called against them of up to a four-and-half percent difference based upon the race of the referring crew. The three person referring crews were entirely white 30% of the time, made up of two white officials 47 % of the time, contained two black officials 20% of the time, and were all African American 3% of the time (Schwarz, 2007).

The study found that African American players had .12 to .2 more fouls called on them per game. The study suggests that for every black player starting for a team, the percentage of winning decreases by 1%. This results in a team with more black players losing approximately two more games per season. For the thirteen years studied, teams with black players playing more percentages of the game won 48.6% of the games played (Schwarz, 2007).
Mr. Wolfers, a member who conducted the independent study, stated that “basically, it suggests that if you spray-painted one of your starters white, you’d win a few more games” (Schwarz, 2007). The NBA commissioner David Stern argues that their assessment of the situation is “more powerful, more robust, and demonstrates that there is no bias” (Schwarz, 2007).

Owners, coaches, and players were asked about the issue and had mixed thoughts on the study. Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is not afraid to voice his opinions on the NBA’s officiating. He said in a phone interview, “We’re all human. We all have our own prejudice. That’s the point of doing statistical analysis. It bears it out in this application, as in a thousand others” (Schwarz, 2007). He was asked if he believed there was racial bias by referees and he responded with “No comment” (Schwarz, 2007). Two veteran, African-American players, Mike James and Alan Henderson stated that they did not feel as if they had been treated differently by referees. Two African American coaches, Doc Rivers and Maurice Cheeks responded with a statement of no comment when asked what their opinions were on the situation. Rod Thorn, the president of the New Jersey Nets, said that he did not believe the study and that he believed that referees get the majority of calls right but that they do make mistakes (Schwarz, 2007).

There was a difference in the way the independent study and the study by the NBA were conducted. The independent study did not receive official word on the race of the individual athlete or the referring crew. They examined photographs that were available to the public in deciding the race of the individual. The independent study then used box scores to distinguish what athlete committed the foul and which referring official made the foul call against the athlete. This may bring about a problem when there are players who do not appear physically to be a member of a specific race but are indeed a member of that ethnicity. For example, Jason Kidd, a point guard for the Dallas Mavericks, is mixed with white and African American heritage, so I’m not sure how the study would distinguish players like this as white or black.

This article also makes me wonder if there are distinguishable differences in the fouls called against white players that are from Europe, since there has been a recent influx of these players into the NBA. These players appear white, but speak different languages, or if they speak English they still have a thick accent which distinguishes them from the native born American citizens. I could see the same kind of bias being showed towards African Americans showed towards these individuals from other nations in the idea that they are still considered different in some way.

I remember when this topic was discussed in popular culture on the ESPN television channel, where the majority of analogists would argue that the independent study was bogus with their argument being that more fouls should be called against African Americans since the league is predominantly made up of blacks.

1. Schwarz, Alan. “Study of N.B.A. Sees Racial Bias in Calling Fouls” New York Times May, 2007. Webpage Accessed April, 9, 2007 [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/sports/basketball/02refs.html?_r=1&oref=slogin]

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Increase Voter Turnout

Some of my personal suggestions to increase voter turnout is to better educate individuals on how to register to vote. There needs to be information giving out on news stations, television ads, newspaper ads, and billboards about where the locations are for people to register to vote. There also needs to be more attention devoted to advanced balloting since some individuals are not able to make it to the polling stations on the day of elections. I would suggest that there be more locations for individuals to pick up voter registration and advanced ballot forms and someone there to explain what the individuals need to do if they do not understand.

I would suggest having voter registration and advanced balloting booths set up in places that individuals frequently visit, such as grocery or department stores. A possible method for slightly increasing younger aged individuals voter registration would be to have forms available at high schools and college campuses, and have a great deal of emphasis placed on where these locations are so individuals can go vote.

At times, individuals are registered to vote, but they do not go to the polling station because they are unsure of where they are supposed to vote. So there needs to be more community organization in which individuals are told where they go vote and directions if they are unsure of the location.

Another way to increase voter turnout would be to provide more options for individuals to vote on, with issues and candidates. The clean money system would be a good method of getting some of the money out of politics and placing more power back in the hands of the average individual. This would allow average people to be able to run for office and have political powers to get their viewpoints out to the public.

I have some ideas of possible ways of increasing voter turnout that will not be beneficial to the nation. I’ve heard of thoughts of paying individuals to vote, like a plasma center pays individuals to give plasma. This may increase voter turnout, but it would be selling out democracy in the same kind of sense as corporations buying elections, but with different outcomes. I’ve also heard of proposed mandatory voting, which is done in Australia, to force individuals to go to the polling station or they will be convicted of a crime. This doesn’t seem like it would work, people that don’t want to vote wouldn’t vote anyways because the penalty for not voting couldn’t be too severe. If this was made into a law, where would the money come from for law enforcement to track down all of the individuals who do not vote. And with time restrictions on when individuals would have to register by, it would make it difficult for people who frequently move to register and vote.

Death Penalty Rebuttal

A rebuttal I wrote to the previous blog entry.

The death penalty is at times the only way to ensure justice. The individuals on death row are there for a reason, they committed serious crimes and thus must be executed in order to ensure the safety of others. These criminals who have committed crimes against their victims must suffer the consequences of their actions. These consequences must be to put the criminal to death for the crime or crimes that they have committed.
These criminals strike fear into the average individual because of the sadistic nature of their actions. The average, everyday, law-abiding citizen should not be put into a situation in which they should have to suffer from fear of the potential aggressive acts being performed upon them by the criminal. Most individuals follow the rules of this nation, and should have been forced into a situation where they should fear the man next to them. One person should not have to fear that the individual next to them is a murderer who is going to commit heinous acts upon an innocent person. These sadistic individuals who commit such disgusting acts against an innocent person must be put to death for what they do.
The victims need to be taken into consideration when examining issues with the death penalty. There is often much press attention dedicated towards the individuals who are on trial for such unlawful actions, however the victims and their families don’t benefit from this in anyway. It only serves as a constant reminder of the brutality that once occurred to these individuals and their loved ones.
The death penalty is not about retribution or vengeance, it is about justice. When a severe crime is committed against a victim, it not only affects them but their family and the community, as well. There needs to be justice for the victims and their families, and justice for the community. There have been serious crimes committed against people and the community, and those actions should receive the punishment that they deserve. The use of capital punishment can serve as a way for the victim’s friends, family, and community to have closure with the situation.
The thought that the death penalty does not act as a deterrent needs more evaluation. There is conflicting evidence to whether or not the death penalty deters people from wanting to commit crimes. Some recent research goes against the common mold of the days, and states that there is a possibility that capital punishment does indeed act as a deterrent to prevent serious crimes from being committed (Pew Forum).
At times, convicting a person to life in prison is not enough for the context of the situation. The individual may be the worst of the worst and must suffer the consequences of their actions. If the individual is not convicted so suffer death, then there is a possibility of them still carrying out their sadistic crimes while they are in jail, or there is a small possibility of escaping where they could continue to inflict fear upon people. For these kinds of situations, it is more proper to put the individual to death, otherwise there could be more innocent lives lost if the criminal offender is allowed to live in prison with a life sentence.
If one of these extremely heinous individuals is allowed to receive only life in prison, the possibilities of their sadistic actions reaching more individuals increases. There is an increase in the possibility of the criminal offender teaching his ways to those serving lesser crime sentences. The heinous criminal offender can thus “educate” other criminals in how to commit more devastating crimes, thus increasing the possibilities of the criminal activities occurring even though the original offender is serving life sentences. Another situation is the criminal offender speaks with individuals on the outside and spreads his sick message to other potential criminals that may then carry out the murders in similar ways.
With recent developments in technology, especially within the field of ballistics and DNA testing, it eliminates the possibility of innocent individuals being convicted of crimes that they did not commit. As a result of these advances, innocent individuals who were thought to be the offenders of serious crimes were found to be innocent and set free. These increases in technology allow for more evidence against a criminal to be brought to the trial, so that the jury can fully understand the situation within its given context, and thus the offender can be sentenced justly for the actions that they have committed.
There tends to be great support for the death penalty by American citizens. “Recent support for the death penalty reached its peak in the late 1980s and early 1990s… the number of people in favor of executing convicted murderers climbed as high as 80 percent” (qtd from Pew Forum). The numbers have dropped since that time period, “today, 62 percent of the public supports capital punishment for people convicted of murder” (qtd from Pew Forum). This doesn’t show a reason for supporting the death penalty, but shows the statistics that a great deal of American citizens support the act of putting a convicted criminal to death for their unforgivable actions. With a large number of individuals supporting the legislation, it appears that it will be difficult for the death penalty to be reversed any time in the near future.
In the past few days, the most common form of capital punishment, lethal injection, was on trial for being considered cruel and unusual punishment. However, the Supreme Court ruled that the drug used for lethal injection did not cause enough pain to fit under the statement of being cruel and unusual punishment (qtd from Pew Forum). This means that the lethal injection is still considered a constitutional act.

Works Cited:
1. Fears, Darryl. “After Court Ruling, States to Proceed With Executions.” Washington Post
April 2008. Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. April, 27, 2008.
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2. Masci, David. “An Impassioned Debate: An Overview of the Death Penalty in America.”
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. 2008. April, 27, 2008
< http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=270>.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Death Penalty

“To Kill Or Not To Kill, That Is The Question?”
The death penalty is questioned on whether or not it is deterrence to crime. Does the death penalty prevent crime from happening? Does the death penalty have other issues associated with it besides, to kill or not to kill? Is race or economic status a relevant term to be discussed within the context of the death penalty?
Once the death penalty was reinstated 1976, many individuals felt like it would be used for the worst of the worst, but it appeared that this was not the case. Race began to become an issue with how death penalty cases were decided. The majority of analysis performed stated that “the death penalty is three to four times more likely to be imposed in cases in which the victim is white rather than black” (Radelet and Borg 47). Amnesty International stated that capital punishment “is applied disproportionately on the basis of race, ethnicity, and social status” (qtd. in Radelet and Borg 48). A study performed in Georgia in the 1970s and 1980s stated that “the odds of a death sentence for those who kill whites in Georgia are 4.3 times higher than the odds of a death sentence for those who kill blacks” (qtd. in Radelet and Borg 48).
The older research performed on the topic of the death penalty attempted to argue that the death penalty was a deterrence of committing homicide. More recent research states that the policy of capital punishment does not deter people from crime anymore than putting an individual in prison for their entire life. There was a survey of 70 current and former presidents of professional organizations of criminology, and 85% of these individuals felt that the research on the death penalty as a deterrence to unlawful actions, “never has been, is not, and never could be superior to long prison sentences,” (qtd. in Radelet and Borg 45). A survey in 1995 of 400 police chiefs and county sheriffs was conducted, and approximately two-thirds of these individuals felt as if the death penalty did not lower murders, thus they felt as if it was not acting as deterrence to criminal actions. Soon after these kinds of research were known about by the general public, the public opinion on the death penalty began to drop slightly from favoring it to more of the direction of believing it is wrong.
The death penalty is a form of social control, but not for its intended use in crime, but to keep individuals of lower class or African American heritage from being able to reach their full potential. The death penalty is supposed to be used for the worst of the worst, those individuals who commit such heinous crimes that they are no longer deemed to be allowed to function in society or have their life any longer. However, it appears that there are many situations in which individuals who don’t fit into the category of the worst of the worst are put to death. When this situation is examined with blacks and individuals of a lower social class being put to death more often than whites and those of upper classes, it seems like things aren’t going the proper way that they should be. It seems like it has boiled down to the issue that certain individuals aren’t deemed productive enough by those in power, and those individuals who are stigmatized as less worthy are put to death.
There was a college journalism class in Illinois that decided to do projects involving the re-examining of courtroom information and documents from individuals who were on death row, and in this process in one semester the class had found out that three of these individuals were actually innocent of the crimes that they were on death row for committing (Chevigny and Johnson).
This class and its findings make it apparent that there are some issues within the death penalty cases that need to be re-evaluated to figure out why there are individuals falsely accused sitting on death row. The students simply just tracked down individuals who were supposed eye witnesses and found out that the people couldn’t have seen what they thought they saw. The students found small errors that occurred that ended up and saved innocent individuals lives (Chevigny and Johnson).
This brings about the issue that there needs to be re-evaluation down within the availability of resources for individuals who are accused of devastating crimes. If the suspected person can’t afford a lawyer, then one is assigned to them. However, these lawyers generally have many other cases that they have to be working on, so they don’t have the time to dedicate to trial which is needed. There needs to be lawyers that are assigned to these cases in which the lawyer can dedicate all their time and effort into finding out the details of the case. This is a situation in which some of the falsely charged individuals can be found innocent without having to serve time for crimes they do not commit.
This brings about situations in which individual’s liberties are being violated, there could be extreme situations where the individual is in prison for an extended period of time, such as twenty years, when they did not commit the crime that they were accused of. It is more tax payers’ money to give them a large settlement after being falsely accused and jailed for a long period of time than to devote more tax payers’ money into the funds for assigning lawyers to represent the individuals if they cannot afford to represent themselves.
One of the worst situations that could happen in this context would be to execute an individual who never committed the crimes they were put to death for. I don’t believe there are many individuals out there who would want to have an innocent individual suffer the penalty of death.
There are mixed belief by family members of victims on how to handle the situations of the death penalty, it is either vengeance or forgiveness. Some individuals would feel as if it was an insult to the victim’s family and the surrounding community if the offender is not put to death. However, the opposite side of the situation would be that there are family members of victims who don’t want the offenders to receive the death penalty, either because they personally dislike capital punishment or they knew that there deceased loved one wouldn’t want to seek vengeance upon the criminal. It seems more common that the media focuses on the family members who want to put the criminal to death. This shows favoritism towards the victim’s family instead of looking at the situation from all points of view (Chevigny and Johnson).
Something that most individuals don’t think about when they debate this topic is the situation with the individuals who pull or push the buttons to have the criminal executed. In the film, “Deadline” a warden mentions that he had difficulty assigning this job to individuals because if they were too eager to perform the task he thought they weren’t proper for the job. This warden comments that he believed that some of the individuals who had executed the most individuals were people that would be against the death penalty. These people would be against the death penalty because they see the realities of it from day to day in their job. They know the worst aspect of the situation, and many people couldn’t imagine being the one to pull the switch the ends the life of another person (Chevigny and Johnson).


Works Cited
1. “Deadline” Dir. Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson. Big Mouth Productions. 2004.
2. Radelet, Michael L. and Marian J Borg. “The Changing Nature of Death Penalty
Debates.” Annual Review of Sociology 26 (2000): 43-61.

Voting

When I was in high school, politics were something that meant little to nothing to me. Like most high school seniors, I had to take a government class in order to graduate. This class occurred during concurrent times with the presidential election of 2004. Assignments for the class included discussing the candidates viewpoints, watching the debates, and writing summaries of these two topics. This was the first step in the process of becoming interested in politics, even though it was a small step. The class strongly encourage everyone of legal voting age to travel to their polling station on election day and cast a vote in favor of the candidate who best represented their political ideology. When the first Tuesday of November 2004 rolled around, I went to my polling station located a few blocks from my house, and cast my vote for the candidates that I preferred.
At this time period, my interest in politics wasn’t too developed. I felt it was my duty to vote and that was the reason I went to the polling station on that special day. This was my attitude towards politics for the next year and a half. However, I began working for the Kansas Democratic Party, being introduced to the job through a friend. My friend’s father knew of this job due to his acquaintances doing some volunteer work, and the information traveled through the grapevines and reached my friend and myself.
When I first began working this job, I still didn’t have much more interest in politics than I had when I was a senior in high school. For this job, I would canvass neighborhoods, walking around talking to individuals and asking them a few quick questions. The job began to grow on me, and with that my interest in politics began to increase. At first, I just did enough at the job to get by, but then after talking to people on a regular basis, I realized that being interested in politics and going out to vote was an important thing for an individual’s life. From day to day, I would hear so many different thoughts and opinions on politics, some that I agreed with and others I disagreed with. These actions made me think that I needed to make sure my thoughts and opinions were voiced in the political atmosphere.
The best way to voice one’s politic opinions is to go to the polling station on election day and vote for the candidates that best represent the individual voting and their opinions. There are other ways of voicing political ideas, but voting is the one that occurs most often. However, there are a large number of individuals within our country that have a strong disconnection with politics. Whether they are uneducated in the topic of politics, they don’t care about politics, or they feel as if they are not being truly represented by politicians, there is the group of individuals who do not vote.
In recent times within the United States of America, there has been an increase in patriotism. Individuals proudly hang the flag of our nation and have magnets that proclaim a support for the troops. These individuals “wear their patriotism on their sleeves.” However, with this increase in patriotism, I don’t see an increase in the feelings towards voting. People don’t proclaim out their status on how they voted in the most recent elections, there aren’t bumper stickers stating individuals love to vote. I would make the statement that voting is an important part of being an American, especially if one is to be considered patriot. I wonder why this increase in political interest doesn’t go hand in hand with this recent surge in patriotism. Voting is a form of patriotism. I believe that this topic of individuals being more patriotic could be used to have individuals become more patriotic.
I believe that with the elections coming up within the next year, there has been an increase in political involvement, but I believe it is more based upon the issues that are going on within our nation and the interest of new individuals running for the presidency. I hope that this increase in interest in politics continues through the future. There are numerous possibilities for increasing voter turnout in the elections. There can be more information presented to individuals about voting by advanced ballots or absentee ballots. Advanced ballots allow an individual to vote prior to the election in case they are busy on the specific day, or if they are unable to make it the polling stations. An absentee ballot allows an individual that has a permanent address at one location and wishes to vote there, but lives in another location. The advanced ballot makes it easier for elderly individuals to vote, and the absentee ballot allows college students and military forces to vote if they are not able to return home for the elections.
I believe there needs to be an overall increase in education for the topic of politics. It needs to be something that individuals learn about for more than just a semester in high school. Voting and being politically active is an important part of being a contributing citizen to society. It is difficult to force individuals to care about something that they feel there is a disconnection with, so it would be an important part of the process to make it more of a representative process so that these individuals who feel are not represented change their opinions. This could be resolved by slightly changing the system and make it more accessible for third party individuals to be able to run for office and be elected. This would make it so there is more than just two options for individuals to choose from when voting for a candidate that is going to represent them.
Voting can be considered a form of patriotism, and if it is connected with that thought there will be more individuals who are want to be more likely to vote. There could be an increase in the number of advanced and absentee ballots. Education about politics can cause individuals to be more interested in the subject that affects individuals’ lives each and every day. If individuals feel as if they experience political disconnection, then there needs to be some changes done to the political system in order to allow other political ideas to enter into the main stream political arena so that those individuals who feel as if they aren’t represented have the opportunity to vote for individuals who will represent them in a better way than the two party system that is currently prevalent in the United States of America.

Jason