Theories of Criminology and the Departed free essay sample

Theories of Criminology and The Departed Martin Scorceses film, The Departed, gives a great depiction of contrasting theories of the origins of crime, and how they may be applied to each character. Each of the four major theories, Choice Theory, Trait Theory, Social Structure Theory, and Social Process Theory can be seen to be accurate at one or more points in the film, but the film ultimately advocates for Choice Theory. We will write a custom essay sample on Theories of Criminology and the Departed or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Each of the major characters has the opportunity to choose who they ultimately want to be. From the moment that the over-arching villain of the film, Frank Costello, is introduced it is apparent how he understand his place in the framework of things. He states, l dont want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me. In this one statement he refutes the effect of Social Structure and Social Process theories on himself, and advocates for Choice Theory. He has made the choice to become who he is, and to engage in criminal activities. He did not have it dictated to him because of his environment, or his exposure to criminal ctivities. It was a choice. This is contrasted with the two central figures in the film, undercover state police officer Billy Costigan, and Costellos mole on the inside of the state police, Colin Sullivan. Fresh out of the police academy Costigan is confronted not only with his past and upbringing, as a two parent, two accent, mixture of North shore and South Boston, but also with his family connections with South Boston organized crime through his fathers side of the family. He has the family traits to Justify his being nvolved in criminal activities, but lacked the poor upbringing (Social Structure) that could have been expected for someone with his connections. It isnt until he is sent undercover, through the prison system and his low level criminal cousin, that he exposed to criminal activities in a major way (Social Process). Even as he becomes more involved in the day to day criminal activities of the Costello organization, he makes a choice to remain a loyal state police officer and completes his assignment, ven to the point where it leads to his death. Sullivan is the opposite story. He was raised in the poor area of South Boston, that was under the sway of the Costello organization (Social Structure), but did not have the family connections of Costigan. He was groomed into the inner circles of the organization by Costello himself from a very early age, getting frequent and early exposure to criminal activities (Social Process), with the ultimate idea that he would become an informant on the inside of the state police. He grows up being completely oyal to the organization that he grew up in, but when presented with the chance to stop functioning in the criminal enterprise, and become legitimate upon Costellos death, he makes the attempt to. He chooses to leave crime behind until he is confronted and threatened by Costigans undercover work. Each of these major characters could have been explained by competing theories of criminology, but ultimately the film portrays a situation where they are all making a choice of who they are and what theyll do. Theories of Criminology and the Departed By macbezz

The Super Project Essay Example

The Super Project Essay Example The Super Project Essay The Super Project Essay Similarly, had the firm not engaged this excess capacity in the production of Super, it is likely that it would have been put to another productive use (probably In the production of Jell-O, a product line whose production levels have recently Increased substantially). For these reasons, the proportional use of the costs associated with the Jell-O building (66. 6%) and agglomerate (50%) must be added as Opportunity Costs; this also necessitates certain assumptions regarding CA tax shields and depreciation (see Appendix 8). Overhead Cost Allocation: The Stand Alone principle requires that a reject par If It is using resources from other departments. However, since overhead spending decisions at SGF are made separately from decisions to Increase volume (p. 444), projects should be evaluated on an Incremental basis. Since overhead cash flows (utilities, etc. ) are the same whether or not the project is accepted, charging overhead to the project would be inappropriate in this case. ROOF: ROOF at SGF is calculated by dividing the 10-year average profit before taxes by 10-year average funds employed. In essence, SGF Is using the Average Accounting Return (EAR). There are 3 major problems with this approach: first, the method uses accounting numbers rather than real cash flows; second, because It Is an average, the timing of cash flows (I. E. When inflows/outflows occur) is not taken into account; third, the 40% ROOF is chosen somewhat arbitrarily. The EAR method may entice managers to only choose projects that are profitable in the near term, rather than evaluating them based on their long-term value and contribution. The first period only depreciates by 5% while the next nine will depreciate by 10%. After all the depreciation has occurred there will just be the salvage value remaining for the capital asset. With depreciation being paid each year there is a tax shield created. A tax shield is a deduction in income taxes that result from taking an allowable deduction from taxable income. To find out how much the tax shield the Super Project has, just take the amount of depreciation for that period and multiple it by the tax rate (52%). The tax rate used was the average tax rate over the past 10 years. Cost of Debt and cost of equity help get different rates that are an important factor in figuring out the weighted average cost of capital (WACC). Cost of debt gives the interest rate General Foods would pay for all the current debts. While the cost of equity is the minimum rate of return that they must offer shareholders to keep them investing in their company. The Super Project has cost of debt of 1. 57% and cost of equity of 13%. This helps figure out the WACC which is the rate we expect to pay on average to all security holders to finance our assets. The WACC for the super project is 11. 77% which is less than the 13% rate of return that the shareholders are looking for. This tells us that the Super Project might not be the best idea. NPV is still the best measure for capital budgeting so we went ahead and did the calculations for it. To figure out the net present value we have to first figure out the cash flow. In 1968 we get earnings before income taxes of $283. This is the $643 total investment minus the $360 cost for test markets that we see as a sunk cost and are not including it as part of the Super Project. The cash flow generates positive revenue for the Super Project but we still have to factor in that the Super Project is eroding 20% of Jell-O causing their revenues to decrease along with their cash flow. After cash flow is figured out we are finally able to see what the NPV is. When calculating NPV you have to get the sum of discounted cash flows and add it to the initial investment. For the Super Project we get $298. 4 discounted cash flow + (653) fixed investment = (354. 6) NPV. With the NPV being a negative number, we know to reject the super project.

Statistics for Leap Day on February 29

Statistics for Leap Day on February 29 The following explore different statistical aspects of a leap year.  Leap years have one extra day due to an astronomical fact about the earth’s revolution around the sun.  Almost every four years it’s a leap year. It takes roughly 365 and one-quarter days for the earth to revolve around the sun, however, the standard calendar year lasts only 365 days. Were we to ignore the extra quarter of a day, strange things would eventually happen to our seasons - like winter and snow in July in the northern hemisphere. To counteract the accumulation of additional quarters of a day, the Gregorian calendar adds an extra day of February 29 nearly every four years. These years are called leap years, and February 29th is known as leap day. Birthday Probabilities Assuming that birthdays are spread uniformly throughout the year, a leap day birthday on February 29 is the least probable of all birthdays. But what is the probability and how could we calculate it? We start by counting the number of calendar days in a four-year cycle. Three of these years have 365 days in them. The fourth year, a leap year has 366 days. The sum of all of these is 365365365366 1461. Only one of these days is a leap day. Therefore the probability of a leap day birthday is 1/1461. This means that less than 0.07% of the world’s population was born on a leap day. Given current population data from the U.S. Census Bureau, only about 205,000 people in the U.S. have a February 29th birthday. For the world‘s population approximate 4.8 million have a February 29th birthday. For comparison, we can just as easily calculate the probability of a birthday on any other day of the year. Here we still have a total of 1461 days for every four years. Any day other than February 29 occurs four times in four years. Thus these other birthdays have a probability of 4/1461. The decimal representation of the first eight digits of this probability is 0.00273785. We could have also estimated this probability by calculating 1/365, one day out of the 365 days in a common year. The decimal representation of the first eight digits of this probability is 0.00273972. As we can see, these values match each other up to five decimal places. No matter which probability we use, this means that around 0.27% of the worlds population was born on a particular non-leap day. Counting Leap Years Since the institution of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, there have been a total of 104 leap days. Despite the common belief that any year that is divisible by four is a leap year, it’s not really true to say that every four years is a leap year. Century years, referring to years that end in two zeros such as 1800 and 1600 are divisible by four, but may not be leap years.  These century years count as leap years only if they are divisible by 400. As a result, only one out of every four years that end in two zeros is a leap year. The year 2000 was a leap year, however, 1800 and 1900 were not. The years 2100, 2200 and 2300 will not be leap years. Mean Solar Year The reason that 1900 was not a leap year has to do with the precise measurement of the average length of earth’s orbit. The solar year, or amount of time that it takes the earth to revolve around the sun, varies slightly over time. it is possible and helpful to find the mean of this variation.   The mean length of revolution is not 365 days and 6 hours, but instead 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds. A leap year every four years for 400 years will result in three too many days being added during this time period. The century year rule was instituted to correct this overcounting.

Ethics & It's Role in International Business - Specifically as it Term Paper

Ethics & It's Role in International Business - Specifically as it Applies to Arabic Countries - Term Paper Example The expectations with ethics and culture contribute to misunderstandings and gaps in establishing stronger relationships. Understanding the main problems and creating influential ways of establishing stronger ties between countries can provide both countries with alternatives to growth and development at an international level. Arabic Countries and Ethics in Business The ethics which are included in businesses within Arabic countries are established first by the expectations that are regulated through the government of the various areas. The various establishments expect to have legalities and activities defined by tax, regulations in activities and fair trade practices that are used by the government. More important, the ethical considerations are driven by the Arabic countries having direct influence over the religious and moral influences of the area. The different regions are known for having a basis in Islamic practices, which carries a direct link to what is equitable in busine ss practices. The Islamic practices include regulations on trade agreements, how to define fair business and regulations in terms of payments to the government or other corporations. This is established through the Shar’iah, which defines the laws of trade and business between those in the country. Most Arabic countries and businesses continue to practice these laws with the economic value offering more alternatives because of the ethics which are practiced in the countries (Perry, 2007). The different concepts that apply through the Shar’iah not only create establishments with the way in which fair trade should take place. Arabic countries have established

Understanding how asset classes and systematic strategies behave and Thesis - 1

Understanding how asset classes and systematic strategies behave and perform during different macroeconomic environments - Thesis Example The CLI system uses a predefined system of indicators and uses their composite measure to predict the future economic activities. The movement of CLI is in the same direction of movement of the business cycle and they are specially designed to recognize the turning point. However, CLIs cannot be used to predict the intensity of recovery of the business cycle. The importance of this method has increased even more after the global financial crisis of 2008 as it has become very important for the policy makers, economists and other agents related to the business cycle to analyze the economic condition correctly (OECD, 2009). In case of the CLI OECD indicators it has been observed that the CLI results are mainly used by the in-house users. Analysts have mainly used this method to determine the current state of the economy. This paper focuses on the use of CLI indicators in predicting the future pattern of economic growth in a number of economies. This is done by reviewing the existing literature. The final part of the paper focuses on the behaviour of the asset classes and its relation to the business cycle. The CLI indicators was introduced in 1938 and has been modified a number of times to improve its efficiency over time. It has been stated that CLIs are mainly constructed by using reference series as it represents a composite of many other indicators. As in most of the other composite indicators Gross Domestic Product was expected to be one of the major indicators to be used as reference series in constructing CLI. However, in practice it has been observed that Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is taken as the primary reference series. The rationale behind involving IIP is that this is measured on a monthly basis whereas GDP is measured at a quarterly basis. It is for this reason that IIP is found to show the way in which GDP will behave in the subsequent months. In case of OECD countries the concept of leading

The Allure of Vampires and Immortality :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

The Allure of Vampires and Immortality    Humanity has always been fascinated with the allure of immortality and although in the beginning vampires were not a symbol of this, as time passed and society changed so did the ideas and perceptions surrounding them. The most important thing to ask yourself at this point is 'What is immortality?' Unfortunately this isn't as easily answered as asked. The Merriam Webster Dictionary says immortality is 'the quality or state of being immortal; esp : unending existence' while The World Book Encyclopedia states it as 'the continued and eternal life of a human being after the death of the body.' A more humorous definition can be found in The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce:    'A toy which people cry for, And on their knees apply for, Dispute, contend and lie for, And if allowed Would be right proud Eternally to die for.'    While all of these are accurate interpretations to some extent none of them encompass all of what immortality really is. The reason for this is simple; there is no true definition or guideline by which to follow. Immortality means something different to each and every person on this earth. Down through the ages people have been immortalized by deeds, words, songs, poetry, and a number of other endeavors, but some have always sought the elusive Philosopher's Stone; the answer to true immortality    Since the beginning of recorded history, everlasting life has been pursued by old and young, rich and poor. One need only look to the Gilgamesh Epic, the oldest story in the world, to discover where these roots lay. Gilgemesh, the mighty king and warrior, fearing his own demise, seeks out Utnapishtim, a mortal made immortal by the gods, in the hopes that he'll reveal the secret of eternal life. The immortal tells the king of a flower, which when eaten, bestows eternal life. Note that the answer is tangible and real, something that can be seen and held. Not immortality for the soul, but for the body. In the end Gilgamesh fails at his quest, but he is all the wiser for his journeys. The Greeks, too, sought immortality, but it tended to be of a spiritual nature only, because generally the gods were the only ones considered to be true immortals.

The One Percent Research Paper

Running Head: THE ONE PERCENTPage 1 THE ONE PERCENT Ryan M. Kerrick March 18, 2012 THE ONE PERCENTPage 2 Ryan M. Kerrick Mr. Richard Cannella English Composition II March 18, 2012 A good friend of mine recently recommended me to watch a documentary called â€Å"The One Percent. † I do not usually watch documentaries unless I am gaining some type of knowledge out of the information presented. Unsure of what it was about and what I was going to get out of it, I turned on NetFlix and proceeded to watch the film. I soon came to realize I was enamored by this film, â€Å"The One Percent,† and it remains one of my favorite documentaries of all time.The documentary deals with the disparity between the wealthy elite and the citizenry and how they are both so far removed from one another. â€Å"As of 2010, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 35. 4% of all privately held wealth. † (Domhoff, 2010, The Wealth Distribution, para. 1). The producer and interviewer presents this film through many wealthy American businessmen, critics, economists and even his own family to explain this major social gap that exists on our home front. When looking at the differences side-by-side, it is hard to grasp that we all live in the same place, the United States of America.The film was created by Jamie Johnson, the heir to one of America’s most affluent families. Being born with a â€Å"silver spoon,† Jamie never really had anything to worry about in life– from private schools to private jets, equestrian clubs and charitable dinner parties. But, he always felt something was missing in his life and he couldn’t quite put a finger on it. The fortune that Jamie inherited on his 21st birthday was from one of the wealthiest family-owned companies in the United States, Johnson and Johnson. THE ONE PERCENTPage 3 Ryan M. Kerrick Mr. Richard CannellaEnglish Composition II March 18, 2012 His great grandfather â€Å"started the company in 1886† (Johnson and Johnson, 1997) and it continued to grow well beyond imagination. Jamie would always wonder what made him deserve this prosperous lifestyle. After self-examination, Jamie was determined to investigate some of the questions haunting him in his head about the wealth disparity in America. Attempting to bring his mind to ease, he decided to create this documentary, â€Å"The One Percent. † Within the first few minutes of the film I noticed a sign labeled â€Å"Private Property Members Only. To me the sign is showing how the wealthy pride themselves in being part of such an elite club. Meanwhile, on the other side of the spectrum, the working class feel like they are not truly part of society at all. In the beginning of the documentary you see the Johnson’s having a family meeting. At first it looks normal, but they are not discussing chores around the house. It is a â€Å"family meeting† with their financial wealth and money management advis ors. The meeting is centered on managing their wealth and assets and essentially turning their millions in to more millions.The consensus from the advisors is that every year the family fortune tenfold and they continue to become richer and richer. Jamie seems to be upsetting his father with the making of this documentary and the advisors seem hesitant to talk about money and wealth on camera. THE ONE PERCENTPage 4 Ryan M. Kerrick Mr. Richard Cannella English Composition II March 18, 2012 His father’s initial reaction is that his son’s documentary is nonsense, but something that might have a huge ripple effect if taken seriously. Jamie does a great job trying to get answers and asking difficult questions to the wealthy elite of America.The footage he presents is of people giving their most honest views and thoughts and it is evident there is a huge gap between the wealthy and the poor. Jamie Johnson interviewed numerous people within different social classes. They rang ed from Milton Freedman and Steve Forbes, who owns his own private cruise ship, to some local residents of the south side of Chicago, who live in poverty without locks on their mailboxes. Jamie is presenting the social gap with visuals– broken down buildings compared to mansions, a homeless man asking for money compared to fancy beach resorts and post hurricane Katrina victims with private country clubs.A poignant moment that stood out to me in the documentary was when Jamie interviewed Nicole Buffet, the granddaughter of Warren Buffet through marriage (his son Peter’s ex-wife’s daughter. ) It was comforting to watch and I feel even Jamie felt a sense of self-awareness as he interviewed the young female. She seemed so confident in who she was but most of all peaceful, content and happy with the simple things in life. In this situation, you can see money seems to be the root of all evil. Even to the point of ridding someone of your family that has great memories of you. THE ONE PERCENTPage 5 Ryan M. Kerrick Mr.Richard Cannella English Composition II March 18, 2012 She talked of her â€Å"grandpa† as the loving man she knows him as (not as multimillion dollar business man. ) In response to her participation in the documentary, he wrote to her â€Å"I have not emotionally or legally adopted you as a grandchild, nor have the rest of my family adopted you as a niece of cousin. † (Schroeder, 2008, p. 976) He disclaims her as a granddaughter despite all the good she says about him just because of her role in the film. People argue that Buffet was not out of place because Nicole was adopted or a step child and was not part of his immediate family.I thought the same until I stumbled upon an article written in The Wall Street Journal. The article stated â€Å"Susan Buffett, Warren's first wife, who died in 2004, named Nicole in her will as one of her â€Å"adored grandchildren† and left her $100,000. She added that Nicole †Å"shall have the same status and benefits †¦ as if they were children of my son, Peter A. Buffett. † Also, â€Å"a source close to the family says Nicole spent â€Å"very little time† with Warren Buffett over the years but that he paid for Nicole's school and living expenses until she was 28. Nicole says that Mr.Buffett's reaction may have reflected his philosophy about wealth. â€Å"Sharing my experience as a Buffett was stepping outside the box,† she says. † (Frank, R. 2008). Another part of the film that stood out to me is when Jamie interviewed the taxi cab driver and I did like what the man had to say. He said, â€Å"My family is one of the richest families in the world, but not with money. With love, kindness, tolerance and patience. Qualities that are worth more than money and you can’t buy that. † THE ONE PERCENTPage 6 Ryan M. Kerrick Mr. Richard Cannella English Composition II March 18, 2012This showed the much clear distinction in values between the rich and the working class. Comparing what the taxi driver had said to the values of Warren Buffet who wrote his granddaughter disclaiming because she did not support the family lifestyle, which would you prefer? Watching this documentary I came to find that with money also comes a fear of losing that money and becoming consumed by it. Along with money comes the changing of your values and whole aspect on life. It allows families in America to move up in class, often times allowing them to adopt different ideas and different family values.After viewing this documentary my analysis on the disparity of the wealth gap is that it is reality and there isn’t much we can do about it. I am able to see what people have to go through to make it to the top. Business men do not become who they are by being nice to people. They have to be aggressive in the business world, cut throat, sharp and willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their dreams. That might come with risks or even mean walking all over people. But, sometimes to make a difference, you have to ride through hell to make it to heaven.This might be a hard pill for some people to swallow, but, it is reality and it is the truth. People have not become moguls overnight singing KUM-BAH-YA and dancing around a fire. Las Vegas was built on mob money before it was cleaned up and presented with a new face by entrepreneur investing. This is business. You have to be able to stomach it and it is not for the weak hearted. I would therefore have to agree with what I have seen in the documentary regarding Jamie’s father and his behavior. THE ONE PERCENTPage 7 Ryan M. Kerrick Mr. Richard Cannella English Composition IIMarch 18, 2012 He did what he had to do to get to where he is today even though he inherited his thrown. In my personal opinion, if you look hard enough you will always find dirt and the top of the social ladder. You do not only have to be rich for that either, all of huma nity is flawed in its own way. I do not believe that everyone was born to be a millionaire. However, I do believe that in our own way, if we preserve and strive to work hard, we are all able to be â€Å"millionaires† in our own eyes and live fulfilling lives and contribute to making our society a better place to live.Being unemployed, uneducated and living off welfare is not fair to the people who work hard to pay taxes to support their fellow citizens. I consider it to be a lazy and irresponsible way of life. However, it is a choice in life you have. The money is out there for the taking so it is also your prerogative whether you choose to go out and get it or not. Make your decision wisely and keep your values in mind while climbing the social ladder if that is the route you decide to take. THE ONE PERCENTPage 8 Ryan M. Kerrick Mr. Richard CannellaEnglish Composition II March 18, 2012 REFERENCES Johnson and Johnson. (1997). History of Johnson and Johnson. Retrieved from htt p://www. jnj. com/connect/about-jnj/company-history/ Schroeder, A. (2008). The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business of Life. Domhoff, G. (2010). Wealth, Income, and Power: The Wealth Distribution. Retrieved from http://whorulesamerica. net/power/wealth. html Frank, R. (2008). The Wall Street Journal: The Rich Man’s Michael Moore. Retrieved from http://online. wsj. com/article/SB120371859381786725. html? mod=fpa_mostpop