Flaws in utilitarian theories of punishment
Thesis - 3 pages - Political science
In law and ethics, there is a well known theory that the punishment should fit the crime. In other words, the severity of the punishment should be reasonable and proportional to the severity of the crime. This is the theory of punishment that much of the world adheres to, although the...
The use of political force
Thesis - 3 pages - Political science
The state has a monopoly on the legitimate use of force, but citizens sometimes also resort to force for political ends. This essay will discuss the circumstances under which this type of force is politically justified, and whether violence has ever led to positive social change. From this it...
Prevention, treatment and punishment of youth gangs
Thesis - 10 pages - Social, moral & civic education
The prevalence of youth gangs is steadily increasing in the United States, with increased gang involvement and violence creating serious implications for both the adolescent population and communities as a whole. An article entitled “Childhood Risk Factors for Adolescent Gang...
It's a Mans' Man's World
Thesis - 6 pages - Social, moral & civic education
Taking James Brown's suggestion, I had already “faced the facts” long ago. However, through learning about sexual deviance, gender deviance, and even gender variance, this point seems to have only been underscored even more. I've come to realize just how intricately this has been...
Transphobia from transliberators
Thesis - 9 pages - Social, moral & civic education
After beginning a course devoted to sexual identities, and seeing the breakdown of each on the syllabus, I noticed one omission from the standard group of letters I'd been accustomed to seeing. There was the ‘L' for lesbian, ‘G' for gay, ‘B' for bisexual, and even a ‘Q' for...
Capital punishment: Is it morally justified?
Thesis - 5 pages - Social, moral & civic education
Capital Punishment is defined as “The penalty of death for the commission of a crime.” The history of the first death penalty laws dates all the way back to the Eighteenth Century B.C. King Hammurabi of Babylon was among the first rulers to implement the death penalty with his Code of...
Education and the disabled
Case study - 18 pages - Social, moral & civic education
From everything I have been exposed to this semester I feel that I have a good understanding of what is necessary to achieve excellence in teaching. The teacher must be attentive to the needs of the students, be able to relate to them in some way, be willing to dedicate extra time and energy to...
Social security in America
Thesis - 7 pages - Social, moral & civic education
Social Security is one of America's most important and successful programs. It has, since 1935, helped to reduce the poverty rate of those 65 and older drastically, having a greater impact than any other anti-poverty measure. Increasing Social Security expenditures since 1960 have reduced it...
The failure of America's health care system
Thesis - 16 pages - Political science
America's health care system is in trouble. More money is spent on health care in the U.S. than any other country in the world. Our terminally privatized and competitive health system is the most expensive, yielding some of the poorest results. Health care spending is spiraling out of control,...
An analysis of the policy on AIDS related material
Thesis - 4 pages - Social, moral & civic education
The AIDS epidemic has been a fact of life in the United States for over 20 years, yet there is still debate about the origin of this disease and the best ways to combat its spread. Information obtained using the scientific method points to details about the nature of HIV, the virus that causes...
Rx: The affects of drug abuse
Thesis - 4 pages - Social, moral & civic education
At the beginning of the twentieth century, a man named Dr. Knock quoted, “Every well person is a sick person who doesn't know it”, and started luring the people of Saint Maurice into unneeded medical treatment. Ever since then, prescription medications have continued to become...
Poignant prejudice
Thesis - 4 pages - Social, moral & civic education
Arthur Schopenhauer, a German philosopher of the late 18th century once said, ?The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by...
The millennium of peace
Thesis - 5 pages - Social, moral & civic education
The word millennium comes from the Latin words mille (1000) and annus (year), and means a thousand-year period of time. The word millennium, or its Greek equivalent, does not appear anywhere in the bible, but The Revelation to John mentions a period of time lasting 1,000 years six times in...
Manipulation of surveys: Plasticity and priming responses
Thesis - 4 pages - Social, moral & civic education
Philip K. Dick, American science fiction writer, once said, ?The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.? Although Dick wasn?t talking specifically about surveys, this idea...
Playing into the expectations
Thesis - 3 pages - Social, moral & civic education
Björk Guðmundsdóttir, Icelandic singer-songwriter, once explained, ?There is this stereotype of Icelanders all believing in spirits, and I?ve played up that a bit in interviews? (Bjork Quotes). Although Bjork has recognized that she does this, what about the individuals that subconsciously...
Conk- The fake equalizer
Thesis - 4 pages - Social, moral & civic education
African Americans from the 1920's through the 1960's wore a style of hair known as a conk. The conk was is most notable for making the normally kinky hair of the wearer become as straight and smooth as white people's hair. By being black and by logically having black features unique to African...
Fossil fuels or nuclear energy: Which is more eco-friendly?
Thesis - 8 pages - Ecology & environment
Human populations are growing at the fastest rates ever, and with this boom in population and standards of living, electricity consumption is growing. In 2007, there were 3891.7 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity used, which is a 1000 billion kilowatt-hours or a 37.17% increase in use compared...
The debate on global warming
Thesis - 6 pages - Ecology & environment
It seems like every night in the news for the past several years a similar story is being reported. All these stories, of course, have something to do with the issue of global warming. Global warming is a potentially dangerous problem for all people of the Earth, but is it real? Al Gore in his...
The conquest of Mexico: Indigenous actions, Iberian Influence and hegemony
Thesis - 3 pages - Political science
Throughout history, nations and states sought to dominate subordinate groups under many different circumstances. In the first quarter of the sixteenth century, the Spanish Conquistadors began to conquer and colonize the area that would become Mexico (this essay will primarily discuss the events...
The history of Vampires
Thesis - 5 pages - Social, moral & civic education
The vampire sprang into popularity with the 1897 publications of Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula. The popular imagination was captured by this suave and deadly count, and Dracula eventually became the star of many movies. Reportedly Sherlock Holmes is the only fictional character who has starred in...
Religious and personal development in freemasonry
Thesis - 6 pages - Social, moral & civic education
Freemasonry started in the 16th century as an organization for spiritual and personal development for free thinkers. At a time when whole new conceptions of the world were opening up, some people wanted to explore new realms of personal evolution. Freemasonry provided a place for such people to...
The history of freemasonry in Europe and America
Thesis - 7 pages - Social, moral & civic education
Organizational rules, called Old Charges, from groups or guilds of European stonemasons date back to the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries according to some historians, while others date these guilds as far back as 1057 in Scotland and 1220 in England. The first records of the speculative...
Economic parallels and self-fulfilling prophecies
Thesis - 4 pages - Social, moral & civic education
The American culture has always been utterly and completely obsessed with the economy. It envelops us and constantly pushes itself to the forefront of our thoughts. Unfortunately, we can?t always be perfectly in tune with our economy. When we mess up, the economy falls to its knees and can, with...
Oppression, as directed toward immigrant and migrant youth
Thesis - 6 pages - Social, moral & civic education
Youth develop an understanding of themselves based mainly on their heritage and the cultural circumstances in which they are raised. For immigrant and street youth, this sense of self-understanding is greatly impacted by how others treat them and how society views the community of which they are...
Terrorism in Sri Lanka: Three decades of civil war
Thesis - 6 pages - Political science
The history of terrorism in Sri Lanka is mainly a history of the Tamil Tigers and their use of suicide attacks to promote an independent Tamil State, but there is also another terrorist history that the country has dealt with, and that is the uprising and insurgencies of the JVP party of...
A review of George Washington's presidency
Thesis - 5 pages - Social, moral & civic education
George Washington, born in 1732 into a Virginia planter family, inherited his famous Mt. Vernon estate at the age of 20, and until the outbreak of the American Revolution managed this estate and associated himself with the Virginia House of Burgesses. He was married to a widow, Martha Dandridge...
Symbols in European myth
Thesis - 5 pages - Social, moral & civic education
Pentagrams, or five-pointed stars, are ancient symbols and have been found on broken fragments of pottery in Palestine from around 4000 BCE and in Sumerian excavations from around 2700 BCE. A vase, spindle whorl, and clay tablet with the pentagram dated around 4500?3100 BCE have been found in...
Mother Teresa: Controversy and criticism
Thesis - 7 pages - Social, moral & civic education
Mother Teresa was a very conservative Catholic for the post-Vatican II twentieth century Church. Though she bowed publicly in obedience to the decisions of the Second Vatican Council, she privately disapproved of priests who did not wear vestments at Mass or nuns and priests who did not wear...
Customary law and gender renegotiation in Africa
Thesis - 5 pages - Social, moral & civic education
The Colonial Period brought various and drastic measures of control to African communities which had previously been autonomous and self-regulated. The creation of colonial governments, institutions and courts brought radical and lasting change to individual lives and African societies as a...
Greed and corruption: The emergence of corporate fraud in North America
Thesis - 4 pages - Political science
Corporations are the cornerstone of the North American economy. While they were first formed as non-profit organizations created for the public good in European societies, by the 17th century, the focus for many corporations changed and the drive to make money took precedence over working for...
