... CRJU 328 Spring 2012 1. According to the Rich Get Richer and Poor Get Prison, discuss the 3 excuses that will not wash, or how we could reduce crime if wanted to from chapter one in the textbook. 2. According to the Rich Get Richer and Poor Get Prison, what causes crime? How and why do the authors distinguish a “cause” from a “source” of crime? What conditions make crime more likely? 3. According to the Rich Get Richer and Poor Get Prison, what excuses have been given for our inability to reduce the amount of crime we have? How do you evaluate these excuses? 4. Discuss all of the “isms” produced by Capitalism. How do the “isms” related to crime and punishment in the United States? 5. From chapter two (Rich Get Richer and Poor Get Prison), what is meant by likening the criminal justice system to a carnival mirror? 6. From chapter two (page 67) (Rich Get Richer and Poor Get Prison), discuss the five hypotheses about the way in which the public’s image of crime is created. How are the hypotheses relevant to the disproportionate involvement of racial minorities in the criminal justice system? 7. From chapter two (page 71), (Rich Get Richer and Poor Get Prison), defenders make four objections and the author’s response. Please take a position on each objection and explain your position. 8. According to the Rich Get Richer and Poor Get Prison, what factors make it likelier that a poor person who commits a crime such as shoplifting or...
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...The Impact on Wealth Growth from globalization: critical thinking #2 The Impact on Wealth Growth from globalization: critical thinking #2 The Impact on Wealth Growth from Globalization There are a lot of concerns for today’s economy. One of them being wealth distribution. There is the poor, middle class, and the rich. It is evident from the graph shown that the poor are getting richer, the rich are getting richer, and the middle class is getting poorer. So, what is the cause of this? The big answer economist will say is “It Depends”. It depends what factor you look at because there are many. The one I want to focus on is globalization. Is globalization a factor in wealth growth? How is it a factor? Is globalization positive or negative for wealth growth? If anything, what should be done? These are all the question I will try my best to answer in this essay. Globalization VS Wealth Growth Back to the previous question, does globalization effect wealth growth? My answer is, yes. It absolutely effects wealth growth for all nations. Globalization effects a lot of economic studies. For an explanation, let me first define globalization. TechTarget.com defines Globalization as the tendency of businesses, technologies, or philosophies to spread throughout the world, or the process of making this happen. The global economy is sometimes referred to as a globality, characterized as a totally interconnected marketplace, unhampered by time zones or national boundaries. There are...
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...between rich and poor Since 2008, the investigated bank, Lehman Brothers has gone bankrupt. It was one of the most significant turning points of the economic crisis of 2008. Because of the economic crisis, the economy of the U.S. has begun to fall. Even though wealthy people lost some of their profit due to the economic crisis, it doesn’t affect a lot for their property. Poor people are most affected by the economic crisis. They have to face a lot of problems, including unemployment and low wages. The economic crisis increased a large gap between rich and poor. In the article, “The Growing Gulf Between the Rich and the Rest of Us” written by Holly Sklar, she agreed that there is a gap between the rich and the poor, and it is rising now. Her argument is strong towards the fact that poverty in America is on the rise. In addition, she mentions that while the poverty is growing, the wealthy people are also on the rise. Sklar is surely right about the gap between the rich and the poor. It is a significant issue for us to know about such inequality. During hard times, the rich still can have their benefit. However, the people who really need money cannot get any help from the rich. While economic inequality has existed over time and occurs in more nations than simply the United States. Some balanced and fair intermediary institution is required to solve the growing problem of debt and poverty in the nation. There is much evidence that proves the growing gap between the rich and poor...
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...“Neither a rich man or a poor man gets to enjoy his money. One is too busy trying to hold on to it, and the other is too busy trying to get it.” During the Gilded Age, the American economy kept boosting up, but that did not assure the lower class improvements in their living conditions. At this time, life was tough, but for the upper class, luxuries came easily. The public was either economically sturdy or they were trying to at least get a meal per day. During the Gilded Age the lavish lives between the prosperous and the less fortunate were distinguished vastly through their living conditions, however, they both shared the same dissatisfaction within their lives. Above all, the lives of the wealthy included fortunes expanding...
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...Wealth distribution in the United States Economy Has the United States come out of the recession of the late 2000’s as a whole, or has only the top one percent been growing richer? Very often at college, work, or even the local bar everyone is talking about the shrinking middle class. “Rich get richer poor get poorer”. Is this really true, or are people just complaining? Can the financial strength of the top one percent be destroying the economy of the United States? Does the wealthy have more money and want more of it, crushing the world’s largest economy? The question, “Does income inequality hurt economic growth” must be asked. In the years after “The Great Recession” of the late 2000’s the United States has had a small steady...
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...Table of Contents 2 What is Plutocracy? 3 Is America a Plutocracy? 3 Ethics and Plutocracy 4 Why is America Still a Plutocracy? 4 The Rich Get Richer 5 The American Dream 6 Objectivism and Plutocracy 7 Utilitarianism and Plutocracy 8 Solutions to Plutocracy 9 Glossary of Terms 12 Bibliography 13 Plutocracy in America: What is Plutocracy? Plutocracy is a political system where the wealthy rule. Examples of plutocracies throughout the years include the Empire of Japan before WWII, some city-states in Ancient Greece, Carthage, and the Roman Republic. (Wikipedia, 2011) It’s not surprising that places such as these were plutocracies. Wealth can easily be converted into power and power can easily be used for political control. Systems such as these have an immense disparity between those that are wealthy and those that are not because once you are wealthy you can use that to become even more wealthy which leads to more power and if desired, more political control. (Warden, 2008) Before WWII Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany referred to western democratic states, such as the United States of America and Great Britain, as plutocracies. They implied that a small number of extremely wealthy individuals were controlling these countries and holding them ransom. (Wikipedia, 2011) While this may sound completely untrue there is more merit to this implication than meets the eye. Is America a Plutocracy? Yes, America is a plutocracy. We may think of ourselves...
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...Question 1 Before the 20th century South America had a reputation of military dictatorship, democracy had yet to be discovered. The transition wasn’t smooth but yet most South American countries managed to enter the 20th century with somewhat democratic governments. This essay will consider how in a fresh out of the oven democratic era they were still some countries that were dealing with dictatorship; that oddly enough operated in very different ways but the result was the same: One man had full power and control over his state. More specifically this essay will study Venezuela and Chile, Hugo Chavez and Augusto Pinochet, populism and authoritarianism which in a remarkable yet fairly different way narrows it down to the same result: Presidents who made their way to the top and managed to become dictators of their states. Throughout time they way governments have chosen to govern their states has been based on different political ideologies that were shaped over history. This essay will focus particularly on Authoritarianism and Populism. Venezuela had an example of a dictator, which some Venezuelan considered a hero, who based is political career promoting populism as the best way to rule a country. On the other hand you have Chile a country that today remembers the darkest years of their history inflicted by Pinochet an authoritarian that took over power through no democratic mean at all, and forced his way to the top. Firstly becoming familiar with the political ideologies...
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...One of the biggest economic problems that the United States faces today is the wealth inequality that is spread throughout the country. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. How can this be solved? Why is it happening? What can I do to help? These are all questions that are asked far too often. It is said, on this topic, particularly speaking of the poor, that, “"The poor in America deserve to be poor because it is the result of choices their choices. They spend money poorly, they don't study in school, and they do not have the discipline needed to succeed." This statement sparked a lot of interest in me and really got me thinking. Do poor people really deserve to be poor? Is it really their own fault? Those are both bold statements – and I disagree completely with them both. The poor are getting poorer for the same reason people become poor in the first place: they are in a hole that is too deep to climb out of. If you ask any child if they want to be rich or poor when they grow up, 99% of them will reply by saying they want to be rich. No one wants to be poor! So why do people end up that way? I think it is because they don’t have the opportunity to become wealthy. I think a lot of the time it is because of the family that they are born in to. If your parents cannot afford to send you to a good high school...
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...century in response to the Industrial Revolution, in regards to factory owners were becoming wealthy and the workers impoverished. In Canada, the Great Britain, and the United States of America are all countries whose economies are driven by the principles of Capitalism. However, in Cuba, North Korea, and China are not, they have a Communist system of government. There are many different ideas or systems of how an economy should be run, however the two most popular are capitalism and communism. Since 1848, the controversy of capitalism and socialism has been one of the most debated subjects around...
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...Wall Street Is greed a good or bad thing? People have different opinions about it. Some like it and some do not, some of them thinks that it is the right way to get rich and some thinks that it is the worst thing that can help you get rich. If you ask me, I would say that it is good but if you have limit in it. If you do not have limit, then it creates a problem. Wall Street is the movie which has a lot of impact on my opinion about greed and the way people use it in life. Today, in the United States the research from 2012 says that there is more distinction between rich and poor and that richer people are greedier. The highlight of the movie Wall Street is that the “Greed is good” speech by Gordon Gekko. Greed is not always good or bad. Greed is the excessive desire for more than is needed or deserved, not for the greater good but for one’s own selfish interest, and at the detriment of others and society at large. Throughout our short life, the idea of our mortality makes us question ourselves. Not only that, but it conflicts with our strong survival instincts, giving rise to anxiety about our purpose, meaning, and value. It happens that our culture or lack of it is in a state of flux and crisis; places a high value on materialism, and greed. Our culture’s emphasis on greed is such that people have become immune to satisfaction. Having acquired one thing, they are immediately ready to desire the next thing that might suggest itself. Today, the object of desire is no longer...
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...Assignment #1 “The Rich Get Richer and The Poor Get Prison”: Chapters 1 and 2 In chapter’s 1 and 2 of the book “The Rich Get Richer and The Poor Get Prison” we basically read and learn more about the high crime rate in America, and what excuses we make for these high crime rates. We can see that the crime rates have fluctuated over time since the 1900’s, but even at some of the times of the lowest crime rates in America, it was still higher that even the higher crime rates in most other Western industrial societies. When making comparisons with the US and European countries, we learn that there is a much higher rate of lethal violence, such as suicide in the US. Even though the rates of violent crime in America has declined over recent years, author’s believe that this has more to do with changes in America’s economic status rather than law’s and government policies. Some of the changes in the crime rates could have to do with the “imprisonment binge”, but the number of incarcerated criminals does not reduce the number of criminals we have in America, it just reduces the number of criminals we have roaming free in America. We know that crime is not completely avoidable, and the government has been making changes to help reduce the risks and the likeliness of lethal and dangerous crimes happening. Some of the precautions that have been made include: effective gun control, decriminalization if illicit drugs, amelioration of poverty, the prevention of child abuse or neglect...
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...There are people that try to fulfill their greed. It is in the bible, one of the six sins, greed. Corporate America is practicing this sin, stuffing their bags with cash until it’s full, and feeding on the poor until they cannot physically eat anymore. Therefore, we need to raise the minimum wage in order to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. When you are rich, it’s easy for you to get richer, but for someone in poverty, it is very difficult just to get by. It’s the same principal as the game, monopoly. When you own hotels, ultities and railroads, you will be at a great advantage. That is the point of the game, to monopolize. But that’s just a game. However, CEOs are treating real life as a round of monopoly, and taking whatever they want and not leaving anything for the others. It is understandable that when we play the game, we try everything in our power to watch the others hand over every last cent they have, but when CEOs do that in real life, there are consequences. If the CEOs would open their eyes for a second, they would see the situations that these poverty stricken people are in. Is it morally correct that these CEOs get limos and mansions while some people have to struggle to get something to eat? The fact that the rich get huge tax cuts and big bonuses while the poor do not get tax cuts or any bonuses is very disturbing. People argue that giving the rich tax cuts will help stimulate the...
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...frontier for great hopes to bring back or regenerate the humanity and society of the American environment. As a lieutenant and a great surveyor during the French and Indian War Crèvecur moved to America and started observing the emergence of American society through cultivating farms. The main reason Europeans came to America was because the rich and the poor are not so far removed from each other as they are in Europe. Also in America there was no one there to rule them or in other hands tell them what to do. In Europe they were oppressed and kept poor by the rich, while america proved to...
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...killed each year by preventable accidents or illnesses which take place on the job than are killed by "violent crime" as defined by the mass media. Concrete decisions are made which result in those deaths-all having to do with the bottom line-though those who make those decisions are rarely punished as criminals. * Reiman looks at what functions prisons serve in our society and who this benefits. By only punishing individual violent crimes and individual property crimes, the criminal justice system works to make the poor seem scary and violent. "The value of this to those in positions of power," he writes, "is that it deflects the discontent and potential hostility of Middle America away from the classes above them and toward the classes below them." (emphasis in original.) This creates a distorted image of what hurts people, and in so doing allows people to keep getting hurt. To continue this process, the media endlessly feeds back images of the poor as criminally violent. * Reiman calls this process the "Pyrric defeat" theory: instead of the "Pyrric victory," in which one ostensibly wins though at great costs, with the Pyrric defeat one keeps losing, but in the loss finds enough benefit to actually be winning. "The failure of the criminal justice system yields such benefits to those in positions of power that it amounts to success," Reiman writes. * Reiman's recommendations for partial remedy include: confronting poverty as a source of crime; making punishments...
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...Decline of Democracy in America The founding fathers didn’t create a democracy because they thought it would work perfectly. They didn’t give people the right to vote so that everyone would find true happiness. They knew better than to create a utopia where everyone had their own white picket fence, went to church on Sunday and lead lives as model citizens. They understood that toes would get stepped on, feelings would get hurt and sacrifices would happen. The founding fathers didn’t start a revolution to make people happy, they started a revolution because they believed in the idea that everyone had the right to equality. They founded America on the belief that hard work will lead to prosperity in the land of opportunity. All the ideas we associate with America: capitalism, the free market, education, elections, these all came about because people wanted to have power over where their life took them. Being able to make decisions in your own interest: the founding fathers based America on that principal, and they structured the government so it would protect those interests. Today, this is not the case. Although it may appear that America has come a long way since the civil and women’s rights movement, increasing inequality and discrimination in the 21st century has created a democracy that no longer represents the interests of its constituents but its ruling elite. Despite people’s preconceptions that our society represents...
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