Food Idioms

Food Idioms Food Idioms Food Idioms By Maeve Maddox A universal preoccupation with food is apparent in the many idioms based on it. Here are just ten: 1. apples and oranges: two things that are inherently different or incompatible. For example, â€Å"To compare The Chronicles of Narnia to the Twilight series is to compare apples to oranges.† 2. bad apple: a negative or corrupting influence on others; a troublesome or despicable person. For example, â€Å"One official of a national motorcycle organization argued that a few bad apples shouldnt be allowed to ruin all motorcyclists reputations† 3. bring home the bacon: to bring home the prize, to achieve success. In American usage â€Å"to bring home the bacon† means â€Å"to earn the living for a household.† The expression probably originated from the custom/legend of the Dunmow Flitch. A â€Å"flitch of bacon† is a side of bacon, salted and cured. Married visitors to the town of Dunmow in Essex who knelt on two sharp stones and could swear that during the past twelvemonth they’d never quarreled with their spouse or wished themselves unmarried could claim a free flitch of bacon. Another possibility is that the expression derives from greased pig contests at county fairs. The contestant who succeeded in catching the pig â€Å"brought home the bacon.† 4. chew the fat: originally the expression meant to argue over a point, perhaps because people arguing make energetic mouth movements similar to what is required to masticate gristle. In British usage, both â€Å"chew the fat† and â€Å"chew the rag† mean to argue or grumble. In American usage, the expressions mean â€Å"to engage in friendly conversation.† 5. cream puff: literally, a cream puff is a shell of puff pastry with a cream filling. In British usage, a â€Å"cream puff† is an effeminate person. In American usage, a â€Å"cream puff â€Å"is a used car in especially good condition. 6. cup of tea: something that suits a person’s disposition The expression is used in both positive and negative contexts: â€Å"A Mozart concert? Just my cup of tea!† â€Å"A ball game? Sorry, football is not my cup of tea.† 7. a pretty/fine kettle of fish: an awkward state of affairs; a mess or a muddle. For example, â€Å"As the crisis dragged on to the eleventh month, Bishop Segun introduced a pretty kettle of fish to the whole matter when he instituted an ecclesiastical court† In researching this post, I discovered that the expression â€Å"a pretty kettle of fish† (with the meaning â€Å"a fine mess†) seems to be morphing into â€Å"a different kettle of fish† or â€Å"another kettle of fish† with the meaning â€Å"something else entirely.† For example, â€Å"Your website needs to be a whole different kettle of fish.† 8. a lemon: something that is bad or undesirable. Anything that fails to meet expectations can be called a lemon. For example, â€Å"Her first husband was a lemon.† Most often, the term is used to describe a car that has problems from its time of purchase. Individual states have â€Å"lemon laws† intended to protect consumers from substandard vehicles. The federal lemon law (the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act) was enacted in 1975 and protects citizens of all states. 9. full of beans: full of energy and high spirits. For example, this headline: â€Å"Hollins still full of beans as he settles in at Crawley Town† In current usage the expression â€Å"full of beans† is so frequently associated with children that it has been adopted as a brand name by child care centers and a children’s clothing store. I’ve always assumed that the expression derived from the idea of a frisky bean-fed horse, but recently I read that at one time beans were considered an aphrodisiac. 10. hot potato: a delicate situation that must be handled with great care. For example, this headline: â€Å"Herberts Healthy Utah Plan Could be a Political Hot Potato† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:The Meaning of "To a T"10 Colloquial Terms and Their MeaningsGrammatical Case in English

Pharmacy as a Career Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pharmacy as a Career - Essay Example Currently, I am pursuing a Bachelor in Biochemistry at Middle Tennessee State University. It has given me a strong grounding of medicinal chemistry and pharmaceuticals, pharmacy, pharmaceutics practice and pharmacology. My areas of interest include cell and molecular biology, medicines design, disease pathology, pharmacology and systematic physiology. Studying Biochemistry, I have learned that my strength lies in the field of pharmacy and pursuing a Doctor of Pharmacy degree will help fulfill my goals in the future. My educational background has assisted much in shaping my career goals and interests. I have worked as a CVS for two years as a Pharmacy Technician. While working in this position, I was responsible, diligent, paid attention to details pertaining to the job. I worked with a large number of patients with diverse health conditions and offered unwavering assistance in improving and maintaining their health. By offering assistance to patients I gained positive interpersonal a nd professional skills in dealing with patients. I am also a member of pre-script, a club of medical pre-professionals, where I enjoy meeting new people allowing me to acquire a greater understanding of their perception, theories, and ideas in the field of pharmacy. Undertaking self-development, work-based and research assignments, I will manage projects, which can contribute to the field of pharmacy, while working in the clinic or the laboratory environment. I am eagerly anticipating the challenge of a career involving lifelong learning.

Oprtions Mngement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Oprtions Mngement - Essay Example The contribution of n opertions strtegy is lso outlined s prt of hierrchy of strtegies tht we might find in ech firm. It gives n insight into wht is exctly n opertions strtegy nd wht re its components, how esy is it to implement such strtegy nd wht cn n orgnistion expect from it. Bsiclly, the pper discusses the question of diversity of tsks tht opertions mngement incorportes nd tht these tsks should be combined to rech the potentil of opertions executed. Opertions mngement hs its origins in the study of 'production' or 'mnufcturing mngement'. (Pine, Boynton, 2003) These terms still very much pply to mnufcturing orgnistions tht will hve distinct opertionl ctivities tht convert sy, bens nd rich tomto suce into cns of bked bens to be sold by retiler. Thus, we cn initilly think of opertions mngement s being prt of distinct function producing product nd service combintion, just s we hve mrketing nd ccounting functions in mny orgnistions. The first definition of opertions mngement is therefore: Every orgnistion tht offers goods or services hs n opertions ctivity. s fr s the orgnistion structure is concerned, some firms will hve discrete opertions function. This might be clled mnufcturing deprtment, n opertions system, or hve no identifible nme t ll. However, like mrketing nd ccounting, it is fundmentl function of the firm with professionlly trined opertions or production mngers responsible for conversion of resources into the required product nd service combintions. In some orgnistions such mngers will hve different titles, store mnger for retiler, dministrtive mngers within hospitl or distribution mngers in logistics compny. This first definition tends to be rther nrrow s it pplies to core conversion processes (mostly mnufcturing). We need therefore to widen the definition of opertions mngement to second level: The design, opertion nd improvement of the internl nd externl systems, resources nd technologies tht crete

Global Warming Video Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Global Warming Video Analysis - Essay Example Inhofe’s view is that although he initially accepted the understanding that humans were the primary culprits in global climate change (then called global warming), the recent data which has come to light indicates that in fact humans only account for but a very small percentage of total C02 emissions. As such, Inhofe goes on to state that the fact of the matter is that the Kyoto Accords have become a massive liability to the American civilian in the form of costing him/her many thousands of dollars each and every year as a function of the deadweight loss that is attributed to any nation that signs onto the Accords. Furthermore, Inhofe goes on to state that a large number of the scientists who originally bandwagon together and signaled their agreement with the human causation of global warming and supported such a belief have since, almost to the individual, begun to back down and take a more tempered approach to the issue. Although few are coming out denying that humanity has little if anything to do with climate change, few among those initial activists that pushed for the Kyoto Accords are continuing to argue for the same logic that initially persuaded them to become active during that period. An obvious criticism of Inhofe’s point of view is, of course, the fact that even though human beings do not contribute to the lion’s share of CO2 emissions, the fact remains that humanity is responsible for a larger and larger percentage of total CO2 output. As such, it is only logical to assume that the Earth’s ability to convert this back to oxygen as forests continue to be decimated and a higher and higher ratio of industrial nations belch out metric ton after metric ton of CO2 each and every year.  

Impact of Alcohol Misuse on Parenting Capacity

Impact of Alcohol Misuse on Parenting Capacity Introduction: Alcohol and substance abuse has been found to adversely affect the ability of parents to attend to the emotional, developmental and physical necessities of children. Several governmental and health policies have provisions of services to support parents who engage in substance misuse or neglect children (NHS, 2005). Most research focus on the implications of mothers using drugs and the usual treatment method is counselling or residential programmes. Very few research studies have evaluated the impact of substance misuse on parenting capacity along with other disadvantageous conditions such as poverty and unemployment. For parental support services confidentiality is maintained about the parental condition although children often get to know of their parents’ misuse and may feel a sense of shame at their parents condition and at the same time have a fear of being separated from their parents (Barnard, 1999). A recent government framework document has defined parenting capacity as ‘the ability of parents or caregivers to ensure that the child’s developmental needs are being appropriately and adequately responded to, to be able to adapt to the child’s changing needs over time.’ The child’s needs include providing the basic physical needs as well as ‘ensuring the child’s emotional needs are met and giving the child a sense of being specially valued’. According to the Department of Health, ‘Securing the wellbeing of children by protecting them from all forms of harm and ensuring their developmental needs are responded to appropriately are primary aims of Government policy. Local authority social services departments working with other local authority departments and health authorities have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in their area who are in need and to promote the upbringing of such children, wherever po ssible by their families, through providing an appropriate range of services’(Department of Health, 2000). Promoting the child’s intellectual development is also an important aspect of parenting as the child can develop only through encouragement and stimulation and through demonstrating and modelling control of inappropriate emotions and showing acceptable social behaviour providing a stable family environment. Thus adequate parenting capacity involves attending to the emotional, intellectual and physical needs of a child and promoting a healthy and supportive family environment (Children Act, 1989) Substance misuse, as identified by governmental health department covers both drug and alcohol misuse which is considered to have an adverse impact on the health and behaviour of parents and also on the lives and emotions of the children (Sher 1991). Excessive alcohol consumption severely affects the behaviour of the person who engages in drinking although there are differences in social perception of drug and alcohol use. Drug abuse carries with it more social stigma than alcohol misuse and may be consequently concealed from the family. In this essay we would give a statistical report on the nature and extent of substance misuse especially in Scotland and provide Scottish executive guidelines for child care in cases of parental substance misuse. The impact of parental alcohol misuse has been discussed in detail along with protective measures and social care policies that can provide adequate care to the vulnerable children. The Problem of Alcohol Misuse Alcohol misuse however causes substantial deaths, injuries and health problems and rates of drinking are high in the UK, within Wales and Scotland as well (NHS, 2005). In 1996, an estimated 27% male and 14% females drank beyond limits. 6% of men and 2% of women drink at levels which are considered dangerous. The age at which young people begin drinking is also decreasing rapidly (Department of Health, 2000). Alcohol consumption is the major factor in causing injuries and has been associated with most accidents and drowning deaths. Alcohol also causes significant health problems associated with hypertension, haemorrhages, stroke, cardiovascular disease, liver cirrhosis, alcohol dependence as well as social and behavioural problems. Is has been reported that in Accidents and Emergency departments, 80% of people admitted have alcohol related problems (NHS, 2005). Educational messages, informational campaigns and personal behavioural-change interventions are important in raising awarenes s on the potential dangers of alcohol and the importance of maintaining safe limits in alcohol consumption. Minimal or brief interventions are given at a primary care level and trained nurses provide care and support which are sometimes quite effective in reducing drinking. Family social learning and family social processes are an important influence on adolescent alcohol misuse and more research may be necessary to understand the effectiveness of including family members in group alcohol prevention programmes and the role of parenting skills in prevention of alcohol misuse (Kroll, 2004). The workplace can be another influential factor in reducing or increasing alcohol consumption. Interventions for behavioural modification have to be related to workplace alcohol consumption policy. The UK home office suggests that Rights and responsibilities in relation to alcohol are important in a Government’s approach to alcohol. Although most people drink responsibly but there is general agreement that the scale of disorder fuelled by alcohol is also quite high. According to the Home Office, in 2002/03, 1.2million violent crimes were alcohol related and 44% of all violent crime was fuelled by alcohol. 35% of all attendances at hospital accident and emergency departments are related to alcohol as are 70% of those which occur between midnight and 5 am (Home Office report, 2005). One in five violent incidents due to over-consumption of alcohol takes place around pubs or clubs. All this involves a high cost with crime and disorder resulting in losses of up to  £7.3 billion in a year. According to the NHS – Alcohol Misuse, Chief Nursing Officer Bulletin, 2005. According to Scottish executive 2001, there may be certain differences between alcohol misuse, alcohol problems and alcoholism. The term ‘alcohol misuse’ might refer to a less serious or frequent problem than alcoholism as it may not refer to any addiction but on having alcohol for the sake of it. Alcohol misuse has been largely associated with over-consumption or binge drinking which may be different from habitual consumption. Social or medical services related to alcohol consumption are perceived as curative rather than preventative and people generally seek help after becoming dependent on alcohol and not prior to this. Alcohol problems are associated with daily life problems that begin to take over a person’s life and begin to affect personal behaviour. Alcohol dependency is sometimes seen as an alcohol problem although alcohol problem is more defined not by the amount of alcohol being consumed but by the impact it has on the lives of people around a person wh o engages in such habits. However alcohol physical and emotional dependency is related to alcoholism rather than alcohol misuse or alcohol problems and alcoholics are usually the ones who tend to hide their problems and their dependency which is usually marked by physical helplessness. Extreme misuse of alcohol is again seen as alcoholism although some service providers use the term ‘alcoholic’ with some discretion as some patients may be less comfortable with the term which may even be harmful and detrimental to treatment. Statistics on Alcohol Misuse – The following interesting statistics have been provided by Scottish Executive Publications on Alcohol Misuse: Source: Scottish Executive Publications – Statistics on Alcohol Misuse. Table 1 Casualties which involved motor vehicle drivers or riders with illegal alcohol levels by severity of accident, Scotland *above current drink-drive limit of 80mg alcohol per 100ml of blood [Road Accidents Scotland 2000 SE 2001] The severity of the problem of alcohol consumption could be seen from the report presented which indicates that alcohol related deaths, violence, mental illness, emergency admissions and road accidents have all gone up in the last few years with the UK alcohol consumption also showing a steep rise in the late 90s and early 2000. These problems are especially reflected in parental alcohol consumption cases which have severe adverse impacts on children. Promoting Child Welfare – The Perspective from Scottish Executive The Scottish Executive documents provide the following vision for the welfare of Scottish children: ‘A Scotland in which every child matters, where every child, regardless of his or her family background, has the best possible start in life’. Two important documents have been released for these purposes. ‘For Scotland’s Children’, which was published in 2001, gave advice on how better to integrate children’s services and the ‘Report of the Child Protection Audit and Review 2002’, aimed to improve services for children who experience abuse or neglect at home or elsewhere. The Child Protection Review (2002) states: â€Å"The problems of neglect and problem drug or alcohol use are often related, particularly where household finances are spent on drink or drugs, or the behaviour of the parents or their associates impact on the child’s welfare. Some problems are intergenerational, particularly neglect. We have concerns about the future well being of a large number of children who are now being born into drug misusing families, and ensuring their better protection must be a priority.† Child Protection Committees, Drug/Alcohol Action Teams, and agencies involved in preparing Children’s Service Plans should ensure that all agencies agree on how they will work together to protect children, support families and provide appropriate services (Daniel, 2004). Tackling all kinds of substance misuse is a high priority for the people of Scotland and the Scottish Executive and all methods need to be developed according to Scottish National strategies. One such strategy is Tackling Drugs in Scotland: Action in Partnership and the Plan for Action on Alcohol Problems. Scottish Executive Committee recognises that although not every family with substance misuse experience difficulties, parental substance misuse can have significant and damaging consequences for children at home. The Committee proposes that such children are entitled to help, support and protection even within their own families although sometimes help from agencies are necessary for their safety and security. Parents are also required to support their children and help children to overcome their problems by promoting children’s full potential. The national drugs strategy calls for agencies to assess the needs of children who are neglected by parents on drug misuse and help provide services to these children for their safety and welfare. The Scottish executive has provided guidance to all Drug Action Teams and Child Protection Committees and encouraged these organisations to have local policies on support to help children of drug misusing parents. Within the specified Alcohol Plan for action, children of problem drinkers are also identified as a group with specific needs. Drug and Alcohol Action Teams look at the needs of children whose parents misuse alcohol. The main tenets of the Scottish Executive are given as follows: 1. Children’s welfare is the most important consideration; 2. It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that children are protected from harm; 3. We should help children early and not wait for crises – or tragedies – to occur; and 4. We must work together, in planning and delivering services, in assessment and care planning with families, and in multi-disciplinary training. According to the Scottish executive, as there is currently, no national database of problem alcohol users in Scotland, data on alcohol use come from a number of sources: †¢ in 2000, 26% of all women and 44% of all men drank more than twice the daily benchmark on their heaviest drinking day †¢ the proportion of women aged 16-64 drinking more than the weekly recommended limits increased from 13% to 15% from 1995 to 1998 †¢ young people, aged 16-24, in Scotland are drinking more; average weekly consumption in young people aged 16-24 has risen from 1995-1998 for both sexes †¢ men living in the most deprived areas of Scotland are seven times more likely to die an alcohol-related death than those in the least deprived areas †¢ 72% of victims of violent crime reported that their assailant was under the influence of alcohol Recent estimates has also suggested that 40,000-60,000 children in Scotland are affected by their parents’ drug use and 80,000-100,000 are affected by parental alcohol misuse. The following examples give data from two urban areas – Glasgow and Dundee – I A local study of children’s cases, in which Glasgow City Council had sought Child Protection Orders between 1998 and 1999, found that of 111 Orders made on children in 62 families, 44 (40%) cited drug-related risk. 47 of the children were named on the local child protection register, 27 because of concerns about neglect and 16 for physical injury (Quinlan, 2000 cited in Scottish Executive 2002). Source: Scottish Executive II- In Dundee the proportion of children subject to child protection case conferences whose parents were recorded as having problems with alcohol and/or drug misuse, rose from 37% in 1998/1999 to 70% in 2000. Of the 30 children on the child protection register in October 2000, 53% had parents with problems associated with drug and/or alcohol misuse. Source: Scottish Executive The Impact of Parent’s Substance Misuse on Children According to Mountenay (1998) parental substance misuse is neither a necessary nor a sufficient cause of problems in children. However, alcohol and substance misuse greatly increases the risks of family problems and substance misuse in parents can become a focal issue of life and social behaviour of children at home. Mountenay (1998) has further claimed that long term drug or alcohol misuse in parents lead to deteriorating mental health and permanent mental problems for children. Alcohol dependence causes severe problems in households and the fact that drug use is illegal can cause similar problems among children who perceive the problems of their parents with considerable shame and disgust. The problem of children is however mainly ill-researched and less known and they are seen as hidden tragedies or unseen casualties (Wilson, 1982) Due to parental substance misuse, children may be at high risks of maltreatment, emotional and physical neglect, family conflict and inappropriate parental behaviour (Barlow, 1996). Children may be exposed to or get associated with drug or alcohol related crimes and as a consequence they are more likely to show behavioural problems and experience social stigma and isolation and may also themselves become substance mis-users as adults. Since parents on drugs and alcohol spend a lot of time on buying, assessing or obtaining these substances, their emotional or social relationships with their children are hampered as they do not have much time or availability for their children. This problem is especially acute in single parent household and in economically deprived areas, especially when there is no support from relatives or family members. Households in which drug or alcohol abuse is common is characterised by violence, criminal activity and poor or unstable environments. Drug or alcohol dependent parents ultimately make poor relationships and have strained and conflictual relationships with their children. Parents may fail to keep up or perform their parental duties and provide ineffective supervision, inconsistent care or overly punitive or strict discipline which may strain their relations with the children. There may be deficiencies in parenting skills of parents which may in turn have been imbibed from the parents of the drug users who served as poor role models. Barlow (1996) claimed that children of drug using parents may in the long term show serve social and motional difficulties, and may show strong reactions against change, isolation, with difficulty in learning, problems with social humour and estrangement and isolation from family and peers. However the impact of parental alcohol or drug misuse varies according to the age of children and according to which developmental stage they are in. The impact also depends on abilities of children. Children with physical or learning disabilities or with some health problems may be more vulnerable to emotional difficulties due to their parents’ conditions and parents involved in substance misuse may have difficulties in understanding these especially sensitive children or meeting their needs. Thus assessment of care quality and parental support should always consider each child individually. Infants in their pre-school years and babies in general are particularly vulnerable to effects of physical and emotional injury and neglect and this can have damaging effects on their long term development and social adjustment. Neglect can happen when the parent in care is in an alcoholic or drugged condition and unaware of the child’s needs or reactions. Parental commitment to care for children is severely affected when in drugged or alcoholic condition and can lead to inappropriate responses to the questions or concerns of the child. The parents in drugged or alcoholic state may be unhappy, tensed or irritated and can even injure or harm the child under the influence of such conditions (Forrester, 2000). Poor and inconsistent parenting damages the attachment process and unpredictable parental behaviour hinders the child’s cognitive and emotional development. Substance misuse is usually an expensive vice and there may be financial demands on the parents which mean mon ey would be wasted and not used appropriately to improve a child’s material environment. Physical or emotional rejection in such household can prevent children from developing a positive sense of self esteem or even a sense of identity and children may have their physical needs neglected and tend to remain unwashed, uncared and unfed (Sher, 1991). Children may be beaten up and be subjected to direct physical violence and by witnessing direct domestic abuse, they may themselves learn inappropriate behaviour which may take the form of post traumatic stress disorder in which they display emotional symptoms if parental behaviour becomes unpredictable and frightening. Older or primary school children are at increased risks of injury and they may show symptoms of fear of hostility with parents and also anxiety. The gender of the children play an important role and girls may show different reactions to such parental behaviour than boys. Although boys tend to show behavioural problems like aggressiveness, girls can be equally affected. At this stage, poor parental supervision and parental neglect or disinterest can lead to failure in academic attainment and children’s attendance to school can become irregular or erratic. Separation from parents can also cause distress and disrupt social behaviour and academic achievement (Kroll, 2004). Parental behaviour can lead to feelings of embarrassment and shame in these individuals and may be responsible for making children socially isolated for fear of humiliation by friends. Children can also start taking responsibilities for themselves and their younger siblings and may become too independent trying to move away from home and family life. Children and adolescent with drug or alcohol problems at home may not attend school and become delinquent. They may become isolated with no friends, may reject family altogether and experience significant disruption in their education (McKeganey et al, 2002). Without parental support children at adolescence and puberty may have to face increased problems although they may become increasingly beyond parental control. Sexual aggression, bullying tendencies and emotional disturbances may accompany concerns of shame and embarrassment in children to compensate physical neglect by parents. Children with parental substance misuse might develop an early problem of drug and alcohol abuse themselves. Chandy et al (1993) discuss that children of alcoholics constitute an at-risk population and their study attempted to understand the impact of parental alcohol misuse on school performance of children. They used a sample of 838 teenagers from alcohol misusing parents and found that these teenagers performed significantly poorer in all the six measurements of school performance. The study identified that the teenagers who did perform well in school said that their parents have high expectations of them and these teenagers rated themselves highly in terms of health and also claimed to be religious and thus religiousness and parental expectations could be considered as protective factors as identified in this study. In another study by CoSandra et al. (2000) the effects of parental alcohol use on African American and White adults were studied. The study results indic

Who Is To Blame? :: essays research papers fc

Who Is To Blame? At a home game against the Indianapolis Pacers, Detroit Pistons Center Ben Wallace reacted with fury against Pacer’s forward Ron Artest after a hard technical foul by Artest. An argument ensued followed by a shoving match between the two which got both teams involved. In a matter of minutes the brawl escalated into the seats of the fans, with some fans throwing fists and full cups of beer at the athlete, prompting what began as a simple altercation on the court into all out mayhem. Ron Artest, Anthony Johnson, David Harrison, Jermaine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson of the pacers and Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons as a result missed a significant portion of the regular season from suspensions as a result. Ron Artest was suspended for the remainder of the season. Four fans were banned from the home arena of the Detroit Pistons and lost his season tickets for future home games. The five suspended players of the Indiana Pacers as well as the four fans with ticket bans face charges in August in a Michigan Courtroom (Corbin).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When situations occur when the fans and the athletes get into confrontations, both the athlete and the fans involved must be held responsible. Too often fans get too rowdy and incite confrontations, by throwing cups of beer, chairs, fists and at times even screaming racial slurs. In almost every case of player/fan altercations, the athlete is viewed as the perpetrator in the eye of public opinion. In the view of many major media outlets such as ESPN and various network and cable news segments, and as well as in those of sportswriters, the fans have leverage because their tickets, concessions, and their contributions in television ratings collectively pay for the salaries of these athletes. In other words, the fans pay the bills of the athlete, so it’s almost as if they can do no wrong. However the flaw in this logic is that too little blame is placed on the fan and management’s lack of control of their behavior. In the case such as the one which the riot occurred in Detroit, fans should be held just as accountable as the athletes and justice should be served not only within the jurisdiction of the NBA, but also of the law.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One detail which must not be lost is that fights occur in both levels of sport, fans among fans and athletes among athletes.

Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of youth justice policies in England and Wales since 1997 Essay

Introduction When Labour took office in 1997 they claimed that they would be tough on crime and the causes of crime. The first 6 months were unprecedented, with six consultation documents being released on youth and crime each containing its own proposals these were first published in Tackling Youth Crime, Reforming Youth Justice (Labour 1996). To start this essay I will first discuss Labours 1997 White Paper, No more excuses: A new approach to tackling youth crime in England and Wales, where policy was laid out and then later legislated in The Crime and Disorder Act 1998. From this I will evaluate the weaknesses and strengths of the various elements of this policy which will include the aims of the youth justice system. Then in the second part move to evaluate the abolition of the doli incapax, the reparation order and parenting order. Thirdly I will evaluate the child safety order, local child curfew, final warning scheme, action plan order. The fourth part will be an evaluation of the detention and training order and new arrangements for secure remands of 12-16 year olds. And finally the establishment of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, Youth Offending Teams and the duties of the local authorities and other agencies to make sure the availability of the appropriate youth justice services. And then finally bring all my findings together to produce a clear and comprehensive conclusion; which I believe has many strengths and some weaknesses. The Labour government’s 1997 White paper, No more excuses: A new approach to tackling youth crime in England and Wales is a document which sets out labours programme of reform for the youth justice system in England and Wales, it aims are â€Å"a clear strategy to prevent offending and re-offending, that offenders, and their parents, face up to their offending behaviour and take responsibility for it, earlier, more effective intervention when young people first offend, faster, more efficient procedures from arrest to sentence, partnership between all youth justice agencies to deliver a better, faster system† Home Office (1997). According to the Home Office (1997) the aim of the youth justice system is to prevent offending by young people. And the Crime and Disorder Bill has in it a requirement that it is the duty of all people working in the youth justice system to uphold these. The requirement covers all the youth justice agencies in England and Wales like the police, social services the probation services and others working in the Youth Offending Teams, the Crown prosecution service, defence solicitors, the prison services and courts and the way they deal with young adults. The claim is that this will provide unity between them all and that everyone is striving for the same purpose. The government will also complement this with a new proposal for a new Youth Justice Board for England and Wales who will give advice on how to set standards and how to monitor performance. Also this will not take over or supersede practitioner’s previous roles, but will support them to understand their actions and choices when they deal with young people this can help to stop offending and can prevent avoidable delays; such as the chances of offending when awaiting sentence can be reduced, also making young people responsible for their own behaviours which can help youths understand and change their behaviours. Also community and custodial penalties whose priorities are on the causes of offending which can be enforced can help. This duty that has been stated is a clear strength bringing the various agencies and services in the same line and having one clear aim of what the task ahead is this also eliminates any confusion that might have existed. The government according to the Home Office (1997) proposes that an aim of youth justice system and the duty discussed previously and their practitioners would be supported by more complete, non statutory objectives for these agencies. These would support the proposals made by Jack Straw’s Youth Justice Task Force which is a variety of people and groups that have a high knowledge of the system and have now issues of victims and representatives of the governmental departments. The Task Force stated their recommendations for preventing offending which were, a speedy administration of justice so that the accused matter can be sorted out quickly, confronting offenders with the consequences of their actions, for themselves their families, victims and their communities. Punishment which reflects the seriousness and the persistence of the offending. Also to support reparation to victims by the offenders and to strengthen the responsibilities of parents and to help offenders to fix their problems and to build a sense of the personal self. This is also strength as all involved have a good knowledge of the problems and the system and would be a good resource to the system to have. And also what the Task Force has recommended is also a good step forward as it is these that have stopped the system from being efficient. Moving onto the abolition of the doli incapax the reparation order and parenting order. The doli incapax according to Muncie (2009:275) In England and Wales, children fewer than 10 could not be found guilty of a criminal offence, and the law for many years believed that those under 14 were incapable of criminal intent. But during the 1990s the doli incapax, which had been in the law since the 14th century, was being challenged by both the right and the left. This was due to the Bulger case, the policy was put under review by the conservatives after the 1994 High Court ruling. Three years later it was abolished in the Crime and Disorder Act, the reasons given for this were so that they could convict young offenders who wreaked havoc on communities this was based on the fact that they believed that 10 and 13 year olds could capable of knowing between right and wrong. This was against what the UN had recommended for The UK which they had made in 1995 then 2002 to come in line with the rest of Europe but the government went totally in the other direction. They gave no direction to the courts and to the youth offending teams that overall child welfare is the main consideration. This is a weakness as it contradicts what Labour had said in there White Paper, and the fact that the YOTs would be confused with conflicting policies. This legislation manages not to take the child’s age into consideration and this can be seen just by looking at the rest of Europe are the children in the UK not the same. The reparation order is for young adults to understand the cost of their actions and to take responsibility for them. What is asked is that they repair the damage caused directly to the victim through mediation if they both agree or to the community indirectly cleaning up graffiti and other tasks around the community. This would be managed by the YOT, this can be a real strength in the rehabilitation process giving something back to the victims and the community and being able to see the damage they have caused helping to change their lives around. Also the parenting order which has been stated by the Home Office (1997) to be created so that it can give support to parents so they can control their children. The order requires parents attend a counselling or guidance session once a week for 3 months and if the courts think that it is needed then a requirement to make sure that children attend school and to see that they get home on a certain time. This is also a strength as it forces parents to be responsible as some parents let their children do what they want to and so this is a good way of making parents act so that they can help their children from offending. Now moving onto the child safety order, which according to the Home Office (1997) has been developed to safeguard children who are under ten where there is risk that these children will be involved in crime or signs of anti social behaviour can be seen. This could be available to local authorities in the family proceeding court. A court would be able to make a child stay at home at a certain time or ban them from going to certain places. They could also stop certain behaviours like truanting; this could also be combined with a parenting order. And if these are not obeyed then the local authority can start proceedings. The strength of this is a the combination of the two orders as it can be most effective this way by handing responsibility 2 both parent and child giving maximum results. Then there is the Local child curfew which is for the Childs own good and to stop neighbourhood crime and disorder and states that children should not be out without supervision at night. This can be used by the local authorities and police but they would have to get permission from the Home secretary. Also the council could then bar children under 10 from certain public places after certain times. These can last for up to 90 days and if these are to be extended then police and local community. The strength of this is that it involves the local community so determining what’s best for the members of their own community. Then there is the final warning where the Home Office (1997) has replaced the cautioning with a statuary police reprimand, what happens is that the police can decide to reprimand a child and give them a final warning or to bring criminal charges to the offender. What then happens is a community intervention programme is forced which makes the offender and his family address the causes this behaviour which can help solve the problem. What the final warning entails is that the first offence the offender can receive a reprimand by the police if the crime is not that serious and if it carries on then a another final warning or criminal charges can be pressed. But on no grounds must 2 final warnings be given. The strength of this is that it lets the offender know that they will be strict and will not put up with it again a final warning is a final warning. Also an action plan order which is like a community penalty for young offenders, this is a small, rigorous programme where community intervention is used combined with punishment and rehabilitation so that the offender’s behaviour can be changed and more crime can be stopped. The strength in this lies in the way that it uses various methods simultaneously like community intervention, punishment and rehabilitation which can only increase the chances of success. Moving onto and new arrangements for secure remands of 12-16 year olds. The Home office (1997) state that the government should have undeniable powers to remand to secure accommodation. For young people who are of the age 10-16 and are awaiting trial. And so The Criminal Justice Act 1991 and the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 included in its provisions to amend the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 which was to allow courts to remand 12-16 years olds directly to secure local authority accommodation with certain conditions. But this was not put into operation. The conservatives had started a building programme which was for 170 new local authority secure places, there completion date was 1998. But Labour said that these would be not enough. And so declared to use the Crime and Disorder Bill to implement court ordered remand power on some groups of youths. Priority would be gives to 12-14s then girls of the age 15 and 16 and also boys of that age when places become available. This is due to courts believing that these children are vulnerable and they are emotionally and physically immature and so there is a danger that they could harm themselves, this is also strength as it recognises that they are still young but this also does contradict other policies in this White Paper which it does on many levels. Also detention and training orders, these will give powers the Home Office (1997) states can be used for 10-17 year olds and courts can use these only if it is a very serious crime and if they are persistent offenders and the court believes it is needed to protect the public. This will also added to 10-11 year olds but would only be permitted by parliament if seen to be needed. The length of the sentence will be divided, half of it will be in custody and half in community supervision and this also could be adjusted if good behaviour is seen. This is a good as it does not just impose a detention where by this can harden the youth and in some cases lead to further crimes but with the community supervision would let the offender know that they have been given a chance to mend their ways. Then Maguire, Morgan and Reiner (2002:560) discuss Labours ‘new youth justice’ which is the forming of the Youth Justice Board (YJB) and the Youth offending Teams (YOTs); and also what takes place through this legislation is a restructure of non custodial penalties in the youth court. So considering Labours main aim of having a youth justice system which prevents offending by children and young adults, the way labour went about this is to impose order from the centre. There tools to enable this was a catalogue of legislations, also the then Home secretary Jack Straw formed a youth justice task force the aim of this was to keep a tight link with all the other agencies involved with young offenders. Due to the section 41 of the Crime Disorder Act the YJB had turned into a non departmental public body which was then sponsored by the Home Office. The job of the YJB was to monitor the running of the youth justice system and the provision of the youth justice services and also the national standards and establishing the right performance measures. What also the 1998 Act made possible was for the home secretary to give the board more powers which included the YJB becoming the commissioning body of all the placements that are under 18 in a secure facility on remand or have a sentence from the courts. The YJB was also given control over commissioning places including prison services YOTs, secure training centres (STCs) and local authority secure units. This is also strength as it brings together all the agencies under one roof you could say and so the aims are understood by all and are the same this can only help. This brings me to managerialism, the reason the YJB and the YOTs were set up in the first place was because according to Muncie (2009:297) investigations from the Public Accounts Committee, Audit commission and the National Audit Office recommended and supported subjugating professional skills independent managerial ideals of what works, which could attach certain resources to credible and successful outcomes and which could initiate responsibility to law and order from a central state to a sequence of semi independent local partnerships which will include privatized bodies and voluntary agencies. Words such as individual need, rehabilitation, reformation, penal purpose and due process are replaced by techniques of classification and actuarialism, risk assessment and resource management changes all the earlier understanding of law and order from understanding motivations of crime to making crime bearable through universal coordination. This is a total difference from earlier ways and managerial system is thought to lower the standard or expectations of what a government can achieve in the youth justice system. This to me is a weakness as it is being run like a business which always has its priorities in cost and reduction, but also I can see strengths to as it can be more efficiently run with professionals running it – with the right knowledge. The Act also contained anti social behaviour orders. Muncie (2009:317) explains that they are usually refer to a variety of things such as youths that hang out causing trouble making a nuisance of them and to their neighbours, making noise, vandalising property, littering, and causing graffiti to public property and drunkenness. This has been a priority in England and Wales, the key to New Labour was to strengthen the ability of the criminal justice system so they could treat disorder and the lack of respect but serious crimes too as it was clear that disorder was rising and was affecting neighbourhoods and also that it was a sign of times to come more serious crimes. The police and courts were said to be powerless against the nuisance and the anti social behaviour that was being caused and that this was being mixed in with impunity. Second at the centre was a program and wish not just to reduce crime and disorder, but to encourage a process of civil renewal and civic responsibility. Third the broken windows theory was taken aboard a it was believed that a failure to accept zero tolerance policing of lesser serious offending and signs of disorder could only further destroy already deprived and marginalized communities. The Anti social behaviour order (ASBO) was the flagship of New Labour in their 1998 Crime and Disorder Act. Muncie (2009:318) explains that this is a civil not a criminal order and can be given by the police and local authority to anyone that is over 10 years of age whose behaviour can cause alarm, distress or even harassment. The minimum time an order can last is two years. But if you breach the order it will be treated as a criminal offence and the punishment for this can be up to two years in prison for juveniles and five years for adults. Certain local authorities went even further and started to experiment with Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs) which were for even lower levels of behaviours and for lower ages those below for ten years of age. And if they are given an order then they must agree and to take steps to correct their behaviour, the steps will be decided by local youth offending team (YOT) and their parents must also agree on the steps. Initially when the ASBO was introduced it was said that it was for adults that were nuisances to their neighbours, but this statement was later changed and became for young people and areas that high crime rates became the targets of this order. The â€Å"Home office review, 58% were made on under 18 year olds and a further 16% on those aged between 18 and 21. There are certain steps in this that are positive but to me there are inherent weaknesses to, like to give anti social behaviour order and lock youths in their houses and stop them from going into certain locations can work but does not address the real problem, and Labour could try and find the cause of these problems as this to me is just breeding further adult criminals and as we have seen lately getting an ASBO is some thing to show off so demoralising it entirely. So to conclude I have found that Labour have a lot of strengths in their Youth Policy but have inherent weaknesses which stem from various contradictions in the policy. The strength that I have found are first of all is the duty that has been put into the legislation, which brings various agencies and services together, which unifies them and sets a main agenda that all must adhere to as it is in the legislation to follow the duty and eliminates any confusion that might have existed, and another strength is to support these by the task force which comprises of professionals and people in the field that can offer the best advice. Also the reparation order is a strength as it forces parents to be responsible as some parents let their children do what they want to and so this is a good way of making parents act so that they can help their children from offending and make them responsible. Then the child safety order, the strength of this is a the combination of the two orders as it can be most effective this way by handing responsibility 2 both parent and child giving maximum results. Then the local child curfew’s strength lies in the way it involves the local community so determining what’s best for the members of their own community. Then there is the final warning where the strength in this lies in the way that it uses various methods simultaneously like community intervention, punishment and rehabilitation which can only increase the chances of success. Which brings me to secure remands of 12-16 year olds which is also a strength as it recognises that they are still young but this also does contradict other policies in this White Paper which it does on many levels, the detention training programme has strength because it does not just impose a detention where by this can harden the youth and in some cases lead to a life of crime but with the community supervision would let the offender know that they have been given a chance to mend their ways. The forming of the YOTs and YJB is strength as it brings together all the agencies under one roof you could say, and so the aims are understood by all and are the same this can only help, and managerialism is strength as it can be more efficiently run with professionals in charge. Now I will just conclude my findings of the weaknesses which are; the abolition of the doli incapax to me is a weakness as it manages not to take the child’s age into consideration and this can be seen just by looking at the rest of Europe, are the children in the UK not the same. Another weakness is the ASBO to lock youths in their houses and stop them from going into certain locations can work but does not address the real problem, and Labour could try and find the cause of these problems as this to me is just breeding further adult criminals and as we have seen lately getting an ASBO is something to be proud off and to show off so demoralising the order entirely. There are strengths and weaknesses in this policy but I have found the strengths outweigh the weaknesses. Bibliography Home Office, (1997), White Paper, No More Excuses: A new approach to tackling youth crime in England and Wales Muncie, J. (2009), Youth and Crime, 3rd edition, London, Sage publications Maguire, M. Morgan, R and Reiner, R. (2002), The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, 3rd Edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press. Goldson, B. Muncie, J. (2006), Youth Crime and Justice, London, Sage Publications Baldock, J. Manning, N. and Vickerstaff, S. (2007), Social Policy, 3rd edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press.