How thin is too thin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How thin is too thin - Essay Example ir collections in New York last week, appeared so gaunt and thin that their knees and elbows were larger than their concave thighs and pipe cleaner arms, and their bobbling heads looked as if a slight breeze could detach them from their frail bodies.† (When is this too thin?) Models set fitness standards and models have become skinny these days, they follow a very strict diet and make it a point to exercise. It is almost impossible to decide how thin is too thin; the fashion industry is one industry which requires great levels of fitness. Extra flesh on a person’s body can literally ruin his chances of becoming a model; in the case of females this becomes even much more demanding. Models have set standards and they have also popularized the concept of size zero which has become very popular these days. The bones and the ribs of these models are palpable to the audience and this is when one starts to wonder how do they manage to do that? Some people don’t find the frail look very attractive, it does not look good on females and they don’t look feminine. The designers require thin models to showcase their collection and hence it becomes imperative for them to be as thin as they possibly can. Most of these models suffer from eating disorders and this is why they lose a lot of weight and get reduced to bones. This is seen as a life threatening risk by many people, one gets really worried when their bones and ribs are visible. â€Å"Complaints about the idolization of role models who suggest unhealthy lifestyles are culturally endemic. Celebrities like Nicole Richie, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Mischa Barton have all been subjects of tabloid headlines asking, â€Å"Are they too thin?† In all likelihood, the answer is yes, but that does not stop magazines from displaying their pictures or, likewise, designers from casting thin models in their shows.† (When is this too thin?) Very thin models have been in the modeling industry for the last so many decades

Business Law Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business Law - Term Paper Example Yes, the surveys of the Coca Cola consumer experts can be admitted to court. According to the Federal Rule of Evidence Rule 702, expert testimonies that will assist the trier of fact based on sufficient facts or data are admissible to court. The survey must be a product of reliable principles and methods applied reliably to the facts of the case. Statement of Facts This office is considering whether to prosecute the Pepsi company for false advertising. Coca Cola company discovered that months ago, Pepsi company distributed a mailer directly to consumers as part of their campaign. The mailer focused on Coca Cola causing obesity and compared it to their own product. The mailer stated how Coca Cola products can make the consumers fat due to excessive sugar content. The mailer was distributed across the country to more than 1 million consumers between January 2011 to March 2011. ... Discussion It is very clear that Pepsi committed false advertising by distributing mailer that claimed Coca Cola’s products can cause obesity. In order to prosecute Pepsi for violating the Lanham Act, the company should be able to prove that the defendant made a false or misleading description in a commercial advertisement. This advertisement actually deceives and should likely influence the purchasing decision which injures the plaintiff as a result. Scotts Co. v. United Industries, 315 F.3d 264, 272 (4th Cir.2002). The challenge in this case is to prove that the advertisement or the mailer is intended to mislead or confuse the consumers upon a claim of implied falsehood. In short, a court may find the mailer statements literally false but absent a literal falsehood, statements can only be said impliedly misleading if presented with evidence of actual consumer deception. PBM Products LLC PBM LLC v. Mead Johnson Company, No. 10–1421 (4th Cir. 2011). In your case, since Pepsi did not literally and expressly stated that Coca Cola is harmful and can cause obesity, the company needs to supply evidence that the misleading statements made through the mailer confused and deceived the consumers. The court must determine if claims are made unambiguous and false. There are times that a literally false message may either be explicit or conveyed by necessary implication only. If advertisement is considered in its entirety, the consumers will know that the claim is clear and unambiguous. In the case of the mailer statements made by Pepsi, there is no express statement that Coca Cola is harmful and can cause obesity. But the relationship of the statements made shows

Obamacare , AKA the Affordable Care Act Research Paper - 1

Obamacare , AKA the Affordable Care Act - Research Paper Example However, this new health reform has been protested against by many as it may raise costs for pharmacies and businesses, a penalty will apply to those who do not buy coverage, and some low-wage workers would still find it unaffordable (ObamaCare Facts; Amadeo; Tozzi 2013). Basically, Obamacare has made it compulsory for all those Americans without a health insurance to get one. An important thing to note is that Obamacare does not replace Medicaid, Medicare or private insurance- it is a separate reform, although it has expanded Medicare. The law requires business companies to provide their employees with premiums, which will be less than 9.5 percent of the employees’ incomes. However, this only applies to businesses with less than fifty employees. The larger companies will receive tax credits in order to help its employees pay premiums. Obamacare also allows children to be put on their parents’ health insurance plans up to the age of twenty six. In addition, insurance companies are not allowed to deny insurance to individuals who are already suffering from a health problem. Those individuals who do not buy these premiums or health insurance will be subject to a new penalty of $95 or one percent of income, which will come in effect from 2 014-this penalty will keep increasing every year. Another part of Obamacare is the national menu labeling law, which requires restaurant chains with more than twenty branches to post calorie counts for each standard menu item (ObamaCare Facts; Amadeo; Shen 2013). Ever since President Obama introduced this health care reform, more than a hundred million Americans have already benefitted from it. According to statistics posted by the official White House site, about fifty million Americans are covered for preventive services, and approximately thirty three million Americans with Medicare use a free preventive service. This is because Obamacare has eliminated any additional cost, such as

Marketing mix of Louis Vuitton Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing mix of Louis Vuitton - Assignment Example He was born in France in 1821 and joined to serve the emperor in 1852. Louis was a member of working class family being his forefathers as expert carpenters, milliners and farmers. The service period which he spent with the emperor introduced him to the styles of elite and the royal clientele who enjoyed his services even after his death. The Louis Vuitton Malletier (LVM) was established in 1854 in Paris, which is now considered the world-renowned lifestyle brand dealing in luxury leather (Louis Vuitton, 2013). The success story of the brand clearly reflects that it was not a coincidence rather Louis Vuitton achieved this peak position in the business world through the use of perfect marketing strategies (Peter Finocchiaro, 2010). LVM has always been very creative in introducing new products, since the start it has been catering to the needs the customers with the supreme quality services. LVM has been successfully using the marketing mix which led the company to acquire the second p lace in the Luxury Marketer Awards of 2010. The brand has utilized the multichannel strategies which have bridged the gap between history and status of French Fashion (Peter Finocchiaro, 2010) as per the BBC News LVM has increased its sales in the first three months of 2011 by 17%. Researchers have given the credit of successful operations of LVM to its Marketing Mix (Catarina Duque, 2012). Marketing Mix After the selection of the target market the prime concern of the management is to set the principles for marketing mix which is a combination of product strategies, pricing strategies, placing strategies and promotion strategies. These all are formulated on the basis of the preferences of target market (Louis E. Boone et al., 2011). Product LV has a wide range of products including leader goods, trunks, shoes, accessories, ornaments, watches, sunglasses and books. Initially the business was started with trunks and accessories for the travelers back in 1854. At that time people used to travel mostly through sea which required sufficient accessories. But now the LV is more concentrating towards the quality of products as the customers are more selective at present. The products of LV’s maintain high prestige and value among its customers which encourage them to buy the high priced goods (Catarina Duque, 2012). Price The distribution channel of LV enables it to control its prices. The management has complete control over the brand and the variables which might affect its operations such as the market rates, suppliers, distributers, etc. The main pricing strategy revolves around the quality maintenance which automatically leads to high price and due to this the products are never available on discounts or sale. However, recently the company has come up with some cheaper products which are offered to the exclusive customers. In countries other than France, LV offers its products with two different ranges; one is for the customers who can only afford to pay and the second is for the highly lavish and fashionable customers who actually look forward to buy LV labeled products. By making these two price ranges the company is able to approach the customers and also to differentiate between them (Catarina Duque, 2012). Place The LV’s products are exclusively available at their stores only which has added importance to its value for the customers as well as for the stakeholders who remain continuously engaged with the business

Reflection Journal Essay Example for Free

Reflection Journal Essay This is the first time I have had the opportunity to study this subject. Being a science student, I have a very basic understanding on the different aspects of Organisational behaviour. I am interested in learning the different theories, concepts and practises that are a part of this course and relating the same with experiences I have had in the past at my previous workplace. This course would also benefit me at my future workplace by honing my job-related and inter-personal skills. Management is an art of getting things done through and with the people in formally organized groups. The five major functions of management are planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling. Planning refers to the process of setting goals and how best to achieve them, organising refers to evenly distributing resources so that the plans can be carried out successfully, Staffing pertains to recruitment, selection, development and compensation of subordinates aiming to place right people in the right job, directing refers to the process in which the managers instruct, guide and oversee the performance of the workers to achieve predetermined goals and controlling refers to the process of regulating organisational activities so that actual performance conforms to expected organisational standards and goals. Organisational behaviour can be assessed at three major levels At the individual level, of analysis, At the group level and At the organization level. Even though the basic skills required for a manager are networking skills, traditional management skills, HRM skills and communication skills, the focused skillset is different for different management levels.There are five basic trends in managing contemporary organisations. Globalization refers to the company’s desire to be a part of the global market. Changing workforce implies increased diversity among the working population, primarily more women being part of it. Employment relationship refers to the flexibility and ease of work schedule and culture. Information technology refers to the increased ease with which employees interact and how organisations are configured. Values and ethics refer to important long-lasting beliefs and moral principles for the benefit of the company. Based on these trends, there are many challenges and opportunities for organisational behaviour.An organisation’s Intellectual capital is of three types – human capital, structural capital and relationship capital.The process of knowledge management can be broadly classified into acquisition (learning and experimenting), sharing (communicating) and use (application). In my last workplace, My organisation overcame many challenges related to various aspects of organisational behaviour. Emphasizing on the final result, they allowed the employees to have a flexible work schedule and/or to work from home. This made it very convenient for the employee. We also used trends in Information Technology and scheduled a Video call between a particular project team and our most potential clients once a month. This improved communication and strengthened our relationship with the client.My previous company had its major clientele in the US but it made a lot of attempts to go global. They were trying to pursue projects in the Middle East, UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, and India and succeeded establishing a clientele in the Middle East. This was an advantage for the employees as it gave us opportunities to experience the work culture in different markets.| 11/12/2012| Unit 2:Individual Behavior, Personality, and Values| There are various factors that influenced my behaviour at my workplace. I can particularly relate to the MARS model in this instance. Positive and negative (that I would look at from a positive angle) motivation from others throughout the tenure of my work has help me become more passionate about my career. Early on in my career, I had not defined my set of goals properly. As a result, the amount of time and effort invested into achieving those unstable goals was wasted. It is very important to have a sound understanding of our work tasks from every angle. During the last few months of my work, I was simultaneously allocated to three projects. I was not able to concentrate on any project properly as my roles and tasks were not clearly defined. Now, after having a clear, sound understanding of the MARS model, I have realized the importance of clearly defining my goals to get self-motivated and my tasks to increase productivity. With respect to my personality, I am responsible for things that happen to me. I am a little low on self-esteem but realizing that future failures will decrease it all the more, I will take considerable steps to improve the same. I am more of a Type-B person by nature and will take that as an advantage in my life as I love setting aside time for leisure and moving at a normal pace. With respect to the CANOE personality model, I am a combination of the Agreeableness and the Extraversion type. With every company trying to become a part of the global market, it is good for everyone to be able to adapt to all cultures. In my previous workplace, I was deployed in the US on a short-term assignment. It would have been great if someone had emphasized the importance of globalization so that I would have mentally prepared myself to adapt to the culture there instead of going there and taking time to get adjusted. Cross cultural issues are predominant in every workplace though a lot of companies are striving hard to get rid of the same. My company has recently acquired a clientele in the Middle East. A few of my colleagues who were deployed on projects there were not aware of the work culture and practises there. They took a while to get used to the culture there. It would have helped them a lot had they had been given a nugget on the importance of being open-minded and flexible.| 17/12/2012| Unit 3: Perception| Perception is an apprehension or intuition that a person has about somebody or something. The world plays a major role in influencing perception. Perceptions in most cases are superficial and far from reality. Perceptions are generally a result of trends, emotions and trying to fill in missing information. Stereotyping is also a kind of perception that and it refers to assigning traits to people based on their social category. It is possible to minimize the trait of stereotyping but is difficult to prevent it. Stereotyping causes unnecessary discrimination and generalization. Perceptions can be more accurate by being wary of perceptual biases, improving self-awareness and increasing meaningful interactions. The self-fulfilling prophecy cycle refers to the way an employee reacts to his leader’s expectations and the way the leader reacts back to the employee’s performance. Leaders should maintain realistic positive expectations towards their employees. A person is an achiever if he does a particular task differently, better than others and maintains his performance consistently. The Johari window improves self-awareness and understanding between colleagues. It asks an individual to be more expressive and also be open to feedback from others so that people are aware of the individual’s level of perception.A global mindset refers to a person’s ability to perceive, interact and get along with people from other cultures. We can cultivate a global mindset by getting to know about other cultures, cross-cultural trainings and understanding oneself and comparing the mindset of people from different cultures. Emotional intelligence refers to a person using his emotions intelligently while dealing with other people. It can be used to motivate oneself and work well with others. Consequences refer to results of a particular behaviour. If the consequence is positive, a reinforcement strategy is applied and if the same is negative a punishment strategy is applied. Perceptions demotivate leaders and the people working with them. In my previous workplace, I had a perception that freshers did not have sufficient technical knowledge to play a major role in challenging projects. But many freshers working with me excelled their tasks well within their deadlines. Therefore, perception is not reality but what we see of reality.Emotional intelligence is an important leadership quality. The project manager at my previous workplace never motivated any of her subordinates and we always had a very negative view of her managerial skills. Now, since I have a fair idea about how to motivate my peers and subordinates using Emotional Intelligence and setting realistic goals, I will learn from my ex-project manager’s mistakes and do the right thing when I become a future leader. | 18/12/2012| Unit 4:Motivation| Motivation refers to the processes that arouse and sustain a person’s desire to attain a particular goal. The main reasons for a person being motivated in a workplace are money, opportunity, belonging, involvement and satisfaction. There are many theories related to what motivates a person. Taking an example of the Maslow’s theory, it applies when one wants to be motivated to succeed in his job and further, but the same does not apply when one wants to be motivated to play a role in Social Responsibility. The other theories are ERG theory where the main reasons for motivation are existence, belonging and growth and McClelland’s theory where the main reasons for motivation are the need for affiliation, power and achievement and Herzberg’s theory where the reasons for motivation are the factors involved in performing a job that lead to satisfaction. All the above content motivation theories confirm that rewards are what play an important role in motivating a person. There are process theories that emphasize on why and how a person gets motivated in the workplace. These theories emphasize on factors that managers have more influence over. If managers get their employees to love their jobs by clearly defining their roles and setting their goals to give them a strong support system and encouraging them, that will be the best form of motivation. Goal setting plays a major role in motivating an employee. A manager and employee should work together and set the employee’s goals. A goal that is moderate to challenging will generally result in a higher employee performance. An employee will also perform better in his job if he is trusted by his manager, given the right level of independence, allocated well-defined tasks and exposed to increased client interaction. The other aspects that motivate an employee are providing them with options like telecommuting, flexible timing and job sharing. Remuneration and rewards do motivate people to a great extent. But that form of motivation does come with a few disadvantages as well.My first team lead at my previous workplace was very stringent with respect to us putting in long hours of work. That demotivated the entire team and decreased our work productivity in the long run. Had he not insisted on long work hours, the team would have achieved its required targets much faster. Opportunity is a key motivation factor as well. One year into my job, my manager promoted me and gave me the opportunity to interact directly with my client. Interacting with the client directly for the first time, I took it up as a challenge and was determined to perform well. The client was very happy with me and gave me a very positive feedback at the end of the project. Unnecessary pressure from the senior management is not a motivating factor. When my project was going through very tight deadlines, the senior management would never be satisfied with our work. Lack of satisfaction and appreciation from our leads made us very disinterested in our work. Had they understood the amount of pressure we were going through and motivated us the right way, We could have gotten through that rough phase a lot more easily. | 7/1/2013| Unit 5:Team Dynamics| Team work is one of the most important aspects of corporate culture. A team is a group of people who are together to achieve a common goal. Teams motivate employees, increase the ease of information sharing and increase work productivity. The major disadvantage of a team is social loafing. In order to minimize social loafing, smaller teams should be formed and individual performance needs to be measured. It is a good idea to plaster the walls of a team space with key issues. This will give instant access to information to quickly resolve issues. Teams are better at complex, structured issues that require a lot of co-ordination. Good team members must be able co-operate, resolve conflict, co-ordinate, comfort and communicate. There are four stages of team development – forming, storming, norming and performing. The better performing team is always a cohesive one. Virtual teams are teams that operate across time, space and organisational boundaries. These teams are more necessary because of factors like globalisation. Brainstorming is a practise that is followed amongst the world’s most creative firms.Team work has always played an important role in my work life. I am a very strong team player. I was working with this client called Toyota and we were a sixteen member team. Though we completed our project successfully at the end, there were many cases of dismal individual performance. People took advantage of the fact that they were part of a team. Had I known then that smaller teams were more productive, I could have suggested to my manager to split us into sub-teams and designate individual tasks at that level. I have been part of a brain storming session many times. Those sessions would have been much more valuable and productive had we defined a set of rules that needed to be followed while brainstorming.| 8/1/2013| Unit 6:Power and Politics| Power is the ability of a person, team or organization to influence others. Power can be legitimate or otherwise. An example of legitimate power would be Obama. An example of misuse of power would be historic Adolf Hitler. The other types of power are reward, coercive, expert and referent power. Reward power is when someone has the power to control rewards and remove negative sanctions. Coercive power is power that can be used to punish. Expert power is power resulting from possessing valuable knowledge or skills. Referent power is power that arises out of respect. Non-substitutability refers to power that comes out of being unique in an environment or industry. Centrality refers to the interdependence between the power holders and others. Centrality is a phenomenon that will strengthen the spirit of a team to a large extent. Influence refers to any behaviour that alters someone else’s behaviour. A person can influence or get influenced positively or negatively. The person can resist, comply or commit to influence. Politics exists at every level of the organisation. Politics increases as management hierarchy increases. It exists at the upper management level the most. People trigger politics to make things easier for themselves. It disturbs the peace and cohesion in a team. Politics cannot be abolished but depending on the individuals in the organisation, it can definitely be minimized and controlled. As with any other organisation, abusive power and politics existed at my previous workplace as well. It existed at a more intense level as we were a very small organisation. We were terribly understaffed when compared to the amount of projects that needed to be completed. Managers used their power and over worked the employees to get work done. Had they been taught to use their authority and power properly they would could have used their power in the right way and implemented long term solutions to the understaffing problems. Politics probably brought individual gain to the person responsible for it but brought about a very negative atmosphere in the team. | 14/1/2013| Unit 7:Leadership| Leadership refers to the process of guiding someone in a work environment to achieve organisational objectives. Followership refers to the process of following a leader. A leader need s to have the drive to lead, integrity, motivation, self-confidence, emotional intelligence, intelligence and a sound knowledge of the business. A leader’s style can be rigid (autocratic), understanding (democratic) or unsuccessful (Laissez-Faire). A leader can be production-oriented or employee-oriented. Though the former will ultimately get the work done, the latter will get the work done bearing in mind the needs and concerns of the employee. For a manager to be successful, It is very important for him to have leadership qualities. He will be able to inspire and drive the team towards reaching its necessary targets. There was gender discrimination with respect to leadership. But now, female leaders have been rated more favourably than male leaders. There have been very few leaders in my previous workplace who have had the right leadership traits. Most of the others were very bossy and managerial by nature. They did not have the right Emotional Intelligence to understand their employees, nor did they have any integrity and did not have the leadership drive in them. It would have been easier for us to complete our tasks without them interfering and troubling us.| 15/1/2013| Unit 8:Change| Change is the only thing that does not change. Change in an organisation is inevitable and is intended for the betterment of the organisation. In the conventional perspective, change had three stages recognizing the need for change and fighting those resisting it, making the change and finally confirming the change. But this model does not promote continuous change. Lewin’s force field analysis model classifies two forces with respect to change – there are restraining forces that oppose change and driving forces that encourage change. People resist change due to fear of the unknown, saving face, breaking routines and loss in current perks. We can minimize the resistance to change by communicating the change well in advance, implementing the change over a stretched period of time and involving everyone necessary to be a part of the change. Change can also be made through social networking. Change agents refer to anyone who can facilitate the change correctly. Typically, change agents are consultants from outside the company who diagnose the change, introduce it, stabilize it and finally collect feedback. Change in an organisation will take its employees some time getting used to. Initially, my company had an attendance register that we used to sign every time we got into the office. Then, the management implemented a policy asking us to swipe our access cards insisting on us clocking a minimum of eight hours in our office. A lot of people suffered salary cuts because of forgetting to swipe in or swipe out. This change was sudden and took us quite a while to get used to. | 16/1/2013| Unit 9:Organisational Culture| Organisational culture is the backbone of every organisation. It is the company’s DNA, invisible but the most important part of the organisation. It is important for an employee to be comfortable and adapt to the company’s culture. A strong organizational culture involves innovation, stability, respect for people, outcome orientation, attention to detail, team orientation and positive aggression. Culture can be defined at the organisational, local, regional and national level. The basic artefacts of organisational culture comprise of rituals, ceremonies, language and physical structures/symbols. A company with a strong culture has better performance. When one company acquires another company or merges with another company, the cultures of both the companies are usually combined into one corporate culture. An organisation’s culture becomes stronger by attracting applicants, selecting applicants to become company employees and the employees finally quitting the company. Socializing refers to learning and adjusting to strategic and cultural dynamics of an organisation. An employee goes through three general stages of socialization first being an outsider, then a newcomer and finally an insider (employee) of the organisation. | | Overview Summary| This course has stressed on the significance of various concepts that are a vital part of organisational behaviour. I have realised the significance of motivation, managerial leadership, minimizing workplace politics, team building and cohesion, knowledge management, change management, efficient use of authority, perception evading, emotional intelligence, modern organisational trends and overcoming of cross cultural issues amongst others. In my previous workplace, I was deployed on an onsite assignment in the US to work at Twentieth Century Fox. There, I was allocated to work for two projects at the same time, all of which involved getting work done from my inexperienced subordinates in India. I can relate to a lot of OB concepts that could have helped me manage my all aspects of my work better. The work culture in the US differed a lot from that in India. It took me some time to adjust to the differences. At Fox, My challenge was to interact with people from all cultures at a global level. Also, my senior management had not defined my roles in both the projects properly. Since I had freshers working with me from India, I perceived them to not be capable of working in such critical projects and hence did not motivate them. That did not spread any team spirit among our project members. If I had been enlightened with the importance of workplace motivation, it would have been easier for us to complete the project tasks. I have also understood the pertinence of positive leadership. I lacked the leadership qualities to drive the project in a positive manner even though I had a sound understanding of the business. In the future, I will motivate my subordinates and address all their concerns so that they contribute better to the project. My company did not have a knowledge management process in place. When I was leaving the company, since there was nobody else competent enough to replace me, we lost one project to a competitor. This loss could have been avoided if there had been an efficient knowledge management and succession planning strategy in place. In future, as a leader, I am very sure all the concepts learnt as part of this course will help me overcome a lot of organisational level obstacles at my workplaces and make my road to success a lot easier.

Study Human Rights And Biharis In Bangladesh Politics Essay

Study Human Rights And Biharis In Bangladesh Politics Essay Refugee problem is an uprising problem in the concurrent world. The Refugee can be made by many ways. The truth is that nobody wants to be a Refugee. But the circumstance made them to become Refugee. These circumstances are sometime created by human beings and sometime it happens by the act of NATURE. The Human Rights of Refugee people are violating in many ways. Sometimes it is seems that Refugee people are not more then a group of people without foods, shelter, clothing and many other necessary things. This make their life same as living in hell. Bangladesh achieved independence from Pakistan in 1971. After liberation war, a considerable number of non-Bengali citizens in Bangladesh, identified as the Biharis who opposed the liberation of Bangladesh, sought to go to Pakistan but could not do so due to complication in the repatriation process. These people are called Stranded Pakistanis or the Bihari Community.  [1]  According to one report, the community is comprised of over 300,000 yet it is not recognized with a clearly defined identity.  [2]  They have been living in 66 squalid camps with poor facilities scattered in several areas of Bangladesh for more than three decades.  [3]  Although they are residing in refugee camps, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) does not recognize them as refugees. Therefore, they are deprived of the benefits and opportunities extended to the refugees by the UNHCR. Therefore, the stranded Biharis in Bangladesh face multiple problems. The main object of this paper is to observe the status of the Bihari people in Bangladesh, highlight the socio-political impact of their statelessness. The central view of the paper is that the Bihari community in Bangladesh is an artificial minority and they are deprived of Human Rights because they are considered as they are not part of Bangladesh, but yet living there as unwanted refugees. The unresolved status of the Biharis is a result of intentional procrastination and political indecision on the part of both Bangladesh and Pakistan. The analysis of the Biharis Human Rights problem is divided into two following sections. The first section discusses the background to the Biharis problem and their political status in Bangladesh. The second section discusses the socio-political conditions of the Bihari community in Bangladesh. Ill focus three of Rights according to Martha C.Nussbaums CENTRAL HUMAN FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES, these three rights are 1. Rights of Bodily health,2. Affili ation, 3.Play. And here the present Human Rights situation of Biharis will be cleared in our eyes. 2.Meaning of the term Artificial Minority: The term artificial minority requires an explanation. The term minority is defined in a number of ways. According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, a minority is an ethnic, religious, or other group having a distinctive presence with little power or representation relative to other groups within a society. Here is another meaning of Minority  [4]   1) a. The smaller in number of two groups forming a whole. b. A group or party having fewer than a controlling number of votes. 2) a. A racial, religious, political, national, or other group thought to be different from the larger group of which it is part. b. A group having little power or representation relative to other groups within a society. c. A member of one of these groups. 3) Law. The state or period of being under legal age:  still in her minority. In municipal and international legal systems, minority denotes a particular meaning. The term minority was first legally defined by the Sub Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities in 1977 in Article 27 of International Covenant of Civil Political Rights (ICCPR) of 1966. The article notes: Minorities are considered to be a group numerically inferior to the rest of the population of the state, in a non-dominant position, whose members being citizens of a state, possess ethnic beliefs or linguistic characteristics differing from the rest of the population and show if only implicitly, a sense of solidarity directly towards preserving their culture, traditions, religions or language. According to this definition, the shield of minorities is linked to the criteria of Citizenship/nationality, which is usually supported by legal definitions in charters and covenants. Scrutiny of these definitions shows that the term minority is a combination of five elements: (1) number, (2) subordinate status, (3) ethnic or religious or linguistic traits, (4) a will/wish to safeguard or preserve or strengthen the patterns of lifestyle, and (5) in some cases citizenship. The Bihari society in Bangladesh also has the minority distinctiveness outlined in the definitions provided earlier. They are ethnically different as they speak in different language. Internally they maintain Bihari cultural values in their social life. Due to these characteristics, they maintain a special ethnic identity despite practicing the religion of the Bengali majority. Yet, the Bihari community in Bangladesh is not considered a minority group. The Biharis have been given a peculiar status which is artificial, that makes them neither refugees nor minorities. It is artificial because it is a product of an historical legacy of 1947, and of a political context of 1971, which made them live in artificially designated areas (camps) under international agreement. Yet they are factually a minority because they are insignificant in number. This arrangement separated them from the rest of the society and gave them an artificial identity. 3. Theoretical Overview: *Definition of Refugee: Those who flee their own countries looking for of protection abroad do so specifically because their human rights are at risk in their own country. To decide that an individual has a well-founded fear of persecution is in effect to conclude that one or more of his or her basic human rights are not being respected.( It is hard to define that violation of which rights may led a man or a group of people to become Refugee. Sometime violation of Political rights, sometime social rights, sometime want of basic needs may make them Refugee). Similarly, to determine that groups of people fleeing conflict or serious disturbances of the public order are prima facie refugees is in most cases to acknowledge that they are victims of violations of human rights or humanitarian law. According to the general definition contained in the 1951 Convention, a refugee is a person who: As a result of events occurring before 1 January 1951 and owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted is outside his country of nationality (The 1951 dateline originated in the wish of Governments, at the time the Convention was adopted, to limit their obligations to refugee situations that were known to exist at that time, or to those which might subsequently arise from events that had already occurred) The   Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1951 as amended by the 1966 Protocol, denoted the definition of Refugee as,-A person who, owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it. According to the Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa,1969 the definition of Refugee isà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. the term refugee  [5]  shall mean every person who, owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country, or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. refugee  [6]  shall also apply to every person who, owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or the whole of his country of origin or nationality, is compelled to leave his place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place outside his country of origin or nationality. The Organization of American States, 1985 view A Refugee as- Persons who have fled their country because their lives, safety or freedom have been threatened by generalized violence, foreign aggression, internal conflicts, massive violations of human rights or other circumstances which have seriously disturbed public order. Many states give priority to refugees in the acceptance of applicants for immigration and on that basis, qualification as a refugee is essential. In  Ward v Canada, Canadas Supreme Court spoke of that: rationale underlying the international refugee protection regime, for this permeates the interpretation of the various terms requiring examination.   International refugee law was formulated to serve as a back up to the protection one expects from the state of which an individual is a national.   It was meant to come into play only in situations when that protection is unavailable, and then only in certain situations.   The international community intended that persecuted individuals be required to approach their home state for protection before the responsibility of other states becomes engaged. as surrogate or substitute protection, activated only upon failure of national protection. In that decision, the Court also clarified that the state from which refugee status was being sought, needed not to be complicit in the alleged persecution or the well-founded fear What exactly must a claimant do to establish fear of persecution? The test is bipartite: (1) the claimant must subjectively fear persecution; and (2) this fear must be well-founded in an objective sense. In summary, it is apparent that the refugee have to be outside his or her country of origin, and the fact of having fled, of having crossed an international frontier, is an basic part of the quality of refugee, understood in its ordinary sense. However, it is not necessary to have fled because of fear of persecution, or even actually to have been persecuted. The fear of persecution looks to the future, and can materialize during an individuals absence from their home country, for example, because of prime political change. * Human Rights; In view of Nussbaum: Martha C. Nussbaum  [7]  in her well renowned book, Women and human Development, The Capabilities Approach she has described some rights which are important for a human to live as a human in a society. The most important feature of her theory is the central human functional capabilities. These are as following: CENTRAL HUMAN FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES  [8]   1. Life. 2. Bodily Health. 3. Bodily Integrity. 4. Senses, Imagination, and Thought. 5. Emotions. 6. Practical Reason. 7.  Affiliation. 8. Other Species 9. Play. 10.  Control over ones environment.  (A)  Political: (B)  Material: To discuss the situation of Biharis well only focus on the three of these rights. These are 1. Life. 2. Bodily Health. 3. Affiliation. 4. Historical Back ground : During the Partition of British-India in 1947, around one million Urdu speaking Muslims from the present day Indian provinces of Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Orissa, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura ,Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan moved to East Pakistan, which later became Bangladesh.  [9]  Their movement to East Pakistan was occurred in the wake of communal brutality during and in the consequences of the partition (for example, 30,000 Muslims were killed in the Great Bihar Killing in October-November 1947) and to preserve their Islamic way of life.  [10]  , About a million of them migrated to the eastern wing of Pakistan (East Pakistan)  [11]  . They also saw Hijrat (migration) as an escape from the possibility of living in a Hindu majority India.  [12]  To their disappointment, when they arrived in East Pakistan, leaving behind their possessions, their familiar environment and professions, they felt divided in the new society in terms of language, custo ms, traditions and culture. Although speakers of Pakistans official language, Urdu, they found themselves as a minority in the majority Bengali-speaking East Pakistan. These differences resulted in the Biharis identifying with West Pakistan whose dominance over the Pakistani state assured them of receiving greater privileges from the Central Government. While Bengalis were overwhelmingly employed in the agricultural sector, the Biharis, as full citizens of Pakistan, came to be occupied in the industrial sector, small business, trade and commerce. The Bihari community never assimilated with the local people and maintained alliance with the West Pakistani regime against the interest of the Bengali people. They supported the adoption of Urdu as the official language in East Pakistan, where the language of the majority was Bengali, and opposed the Bengalis language movement in 1952. They also supported the issues of United Pakistan in the national and provincial elections in 1970.  [13]  During 1971 Bangladeshi war of independence, the Biharis as Urdu-speaking people of non-Bengali origin, collaborated with the West Pakistani regime and opposed the Bangladeshi freedom movement. When Bangladesh finally achieved freedom, Bihari people wanted to go to West Pakistan, but could not do so at once due to complication in repatriation process. This situation left them abandoned in Bangladesh. They were promised of repatriation to Pakistan, but this promise was never fully materialized. 5. VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN VARIOUS SPHERE * Identity crisis of the Biharis in Bangladesh: The stranded Biharis in Bangladesh are suffering from identity crisis. In Bangladesh, they have three different statuses, according to their present stand. First, they are considered as foreign (Pakistanis) that are stranded. They have been temporarily accommodated in refugee camps, but they are not regarded as refugees in the conventional sense. According to the Article 6(A) (1) of the Statute of UNHCR and Article 1(A) (2) of the Refugee Convention 1951, a refugee is a person who belongs to the following three criteria: (a) The person is outside the country of his nationality, or in the case of Stateless persons, outside the country of habitual residence; (b) The person lacks natural protection; and (c) The person fears persecution. All these three criteria are apparently applicable to the Biharis in Bangladesh. However, According to the cessation clauses of the 1951 Convention and the UNHCR Statutes of 1950, a person shall stop being a refugee if, among others: (1) h/she has voluntarily re-established him/herself in the country which h/she left or outside which h/she remained owing to fear of persecution, The case of the Bihari Muslims is covered by this clause. Because, firstly, they voluntarily migrated to East Pakistan in 1947 from India; and secondly, in Pakistan they enjoyed protection by the state and were full-fledged citizens after 1951 according to Section 3(d) of the Pakistan Citizenship Act, which reads: At the commencement of this Act every person shall be deemed to be a citizen of Pakistan who before the commencement of this Act migrated to the territories now included in Pakistan from any territory in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent outside those territories with the intention of residing permanently in those territories. Many of the people of Biharis who are over 40 years old like to address themselves as a Pakistani. Because the voted for Pakistan (In the election held in 1970). They fought for Pakistan,( During the liberation war held in 1971).And they believe that they have more similarity between Pakistanis than Bangladesh. Therefore, the case of the Biharis was not viewed a refugee situation after the partition of 1947, as they were changed and naturalized in their newly demarcated territories. The question of the Biharis becoming refugees had arisen when Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan. All of a sudden, these people became stateless as they identified themselves as Pakistanis. On the one hand, they were not refugees as they were not displaced from their place of residence, and on the other hand, they were stranded outside of their country where their status remained unrecognized. Secondly, these complexities have given rendered the Biharis in Bangladesh a peculiar status, which can be called artificial minority, which gave them second type of identity. The term was discussed before. According to these definition, the protection of minorities is linked to the criteria of Citizenship/Nationality, which is usually supported by legal definitions in charters and covenants. According to the Council of European Commission for Democracy Through Law (CDL) a minority is: A group which is smaller in number than the rest of the population of a State, whose members have ethnic, religious or linguistic features different from those of the rest of the population, and are guided, if only implicitly, by the will to safeguard their culture, traditions, religion or language. Any group coming within the terms of this definition shall be treated as an ethnic, religious or linguistic minority.  [14]   In this definition, the requirement of citizenship has been omitted because citizenship should not be a requirement for basic human rights. The Bihari community in Bangladesh also has the minority characteristics outlined in the definitions provided earlier. They are ethnically different as they speak in different language. Internally they maintain Bihari cultural values in social life. Due to these characteristics, they maintain a different ethnic identity despite practicing the religion of the Bengali majority. Yet, the Bihari community in Bangladesh is not considered a minority group. The Biharis have been given a peculiar status, which is artificial, that makes them neither refugees nor minorities. Thirdly and Finally, The Biharis are considered as the citizen of Bangladesh. Because according to the existing citizen laws  [15]  of Bangladesh The people who are residing in Bangladesh from 26th March, 1971 will be considered as the citizen of Bangladesh. But before the election of 29th December,2008 no Biharis were considered as eligible for voting. Because the Biharis were thought as non-citizen in all the sphere of the government. After a historic judgment the High Court of Bangladesh has declare them as eligible for the voting.  [16]   As noted earlier, due to their crisis of identity, the Bihari people are deprived of both citizenship privileges as well as refugee benefits from the international community. The consequence is that they have to shoulder the impact of this unwanted and unresolved identity in their social, political and economic life. Here we can see that Bihari people have no socio-political identity except an ethnic recognition. The actual identity of these people should be as BANGLADESH As per the Nationality laws of Bangladesh. Martha Nussbaum said about this matter in her capabilities approach in number  [17]  7,  Affiliation.  . .Being able to live for and in relation to others, to recognize and show concern for other human beings, to engage in various forms of social interaction; being able to imagine the situation of another and to have compassion for that situation; having the capability for both justice and friendship. . . . Being able to be treated as a dignified being whose worth is equal to that of others. If we compare this term with the situation of These Biharis well find that here all of these are violated. So, it is necessary right now to define the political and social identity of these Bihari people. ** Population of Biharis: Over population and population density are two primary problems in the refugee camps. Since 1971 the community people has almost doubled in number due to high birth rate in the camps.  [18]  According to a survey report in 1992, the demographic figure of this community was 238,093 in 66 different camps throughout Bangladesh (Table 1). The number of residents has farther risen over time and that created extreme population density, as the number of camps remained unchanged since their construction in 1972.  [19]  Presently, it is reported that the demographic figure is approximately 300,000 people.  [20]  However, no proper survey has been done recently. The following map shows the geographical distribution of the Bihari camps in Bangladesh. The living conditions in these overcrowded camps are very squalid. Families of seven to ten members share a small eight by ten feet living space.  [21]  Being frustrated with the camp life, sometimes the Bihari people escape from th e camp and try to integrate themselves within the local community. Among them, very few are fortunate enough to survive and ultimately become able to give their children education. In most cases, they fail to survive by themselves and eventually return to the camps due to their inability to adjust to the social and economic conditions. Here we can see how these people are deprived from an important human functional capabilities mentioned by Nussbaum. The second human capability  [22]  is Bodily health . . .  Being able to have good health, including reproductive health; being adequately nourished . . . ; being able to have adequate shelter . . However, living in such densely cannot ensure these rights. Yes, it is true that Bangladesh is a over populated country. In addition, almost everywhere, the density is same, but at least the government can give them a chance to live as other people of Bangladesh. ***Health ,Sanitation and Medical Care The living atmosphere of the camps is very awful. It is unhealthy, dirty, damp and unhygienic. The camp authorities are neither able nor serious to maintain a healthy sanitation facility. The drainage system is tremendously poor, which causes water logging very easily. Therefore, contagious diseases especially diarrhea and dengue are very common. This condition exists in other camps throughout the country. The municipalities/City Corporation cleaners never enter the camps to clear the garbage. It is only when the camp-dwellers drop their garbage in the dustbins outside the camp, that the City Corporation cleaners will take them out. In addition, the entire camp people share a few common bathrooms and toilets, which are very few compared to the number of people .  [23]   Most of the time they need to queue to get their turn. Furthermore, both male and female alike share the same facility, which creates problems for the females. There is no privacy for the females either in toilet or shower facilities. At night, when young ladies need to visit toilet, they take their parents or someone else as their guard. Most of the toilets are without shade, and people need to stand in line for their turn. In the shower rooms, women sometimes have to wait for hours to take bath in groups of three or four. Moreover, there is an sensitive scarcity of safe drinking water in every camp. Deep tube well is the key source of water in camps, but there is also acute shortage of tube well in every camp. Therefore, water born diseases, like cholera, typhoid and skin disease are endemic. The medical assistance for the Refugee people is too poor.. There is only one medical clinic (Al-Falah Model Clinic) in the camp of Dhaka, which is poorly equipped. Moreover, in some cases, camps do not have a single medical clinic. As a result, infant mortality due to lack of medical care is quite common. Three out of every five newborns die before reaching the age five. Likewise, reserve to proper medical facilities make women vulnerable to unsafe delivery, chronic diseases like polio, Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) and other health problems. Many women die every year without getting proper medical care. As these people are very poor, they cannot afford to take medical facilities from other government and private institutions. Here we can see that the first condition of human capabilities  [24]  Life. . .   Being able to live to the end of a human life of normal length . . . ; not dying prematurely . . . is very not in work for these camp living people. 6. Some Proposal: From the overall study about vulnerable situation of Biharis and The Central Human Capabilities, I think that following steps should be taken and must be implemented as early as possible. The government of Bangladesh must give the recognition of Biharis. Moreover, at the same time government should take some initial that can ensure the social and political freedom of Biharis. Moreover, Beharis are the citizen of Bangladesh as per the citizen laws of Bangladesh and the historical background of Biharis reveals them as the citizen of Bangladesh. Therefore, the main thing is that they should be treated as same as a usual citizen of Bangladesh. The camps must be removed and the status of the Biharis as Refugee should be eliminate. They should given the same opportunities as a people of Bangladesh. In addition, as they are an underdeveloped community, they should given some priority in every sphere of life. The Biharis must be allowed to move freely and to settle anywhere of Bangladesh. Moreover, the person who wants to go to Pakistan for that they think that they are citizen of Pakistan, the movement must be also allowed and the proper diplomatic and political steps should be taken with honesty. The health and medical facilities should be increased and the people must be provided with the basic lessons of health and hygiene. And the education facilities also needed to be available for the Behari people.. The safe drinking facilities must be increased so that the safe water is available for every one in the camp. 7. Conclusion:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In  Women and Human Development, Martha Nussbaum attempts to move the theoretical terrain on which international development policy is currently situated. In doing so, she constructs a universalistic feminist philosophy based on central human capabilities that, if met, would provide the minimum threshold essential for the progress of all people. In place of cultural relativism and aggregated conceptions of the good put forward by utilitarian economics, Nussbaum proposes a set of interconnected and indivisible capabilities, conceived as human rights, which offer moral guidance for the development of political principles that can be translated into constitutional guarantees. The capabilities provide individuals with opportunities for functioning, for making self-defined choices possible.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nussbaums chief objective is to place these spheres of choice beyond the whim of majoritarian politics by translating them into constitutional guarantees. For her, the political goal of justice, of meeting the threshold for each capability, supersedes libertyoutweighing and morally constraining choices that conflict with the central principle of political liberalism: do no harm to others. Ensuring equal access to the central capabilities, she argues, should constrain all economic choices  [25]  Individual and collective choices that result in differential access to the capabilities, she argues, ineluctably violate this governing principle.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Because the exercise of certain types of functioning in childhood are an essential precondition to developing a mature adult capability, Nussbaum argues that the state has a compelling interest in any treatment of children that has a long-term impact on these capabilities  [26]  Thus, it is imperative that children be given genuine opportunities to exercise capabilities that are vital to their functioning as future citizens.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In addition to material prerequisites, actual functi

Incarceration Rates of Minorities in the US

Incarceration Rates of Minorities in the US With law enforcement poised to eliminate crime and the people who commit it, the building of new jails and prison seem to be the likeliest answer to the problem. Throughout American history, minorities have always been portrayed as dark and evil to name a couple of stereotypes. With the help of television and other means of media the focus has been set to create a mental consciousness to presume every black, Hispanic, and anyone closely related as armed and extremely dangerous. This has cause an unfair disadvantage for people of color, but has left the perception of the white race crystal clean. Just as there are bad people everywhere, there are bad cops, judges, and politicians in every police department, court house, and legislative branch that forge evidence to meet arrest quotas that the system needs to have in place; setup by the elitist to fund their need to have slave labor for their manufacturing companies. Some minorities have been falsely accused and persuaded by police bru tality in order to coerce false confessions, and the judges fall in their place to announce the sentencing. Throughout years of focusing on media events that always place blacks and other minorities in a position of being the bad guy. Today the jail and prison population is primarily made up of blacks. Although there are Hispanics, as well whites, the main overcrowding comes from blacks being locked up on frivolous charges. But there’s a deeper reason behind why this injustice is happening to blacks, and it all stems from the system’s need of the incarceration of minorities. To test the influence of local county politics on minority incarceration rates, data are collected at the county level in most states to create a pooled cross-sectional data set. OLS regression models predicting black, Hispanic, and white incarceration rates in state prison are used in the analysis. Counties ideological orientations and racial and ethnic contextual characteristics significantly impact minority incarceration rates. Greater ideological conservatism within counties is associated with higher rates as a proportion of their population of both black and Hispanic incarceration. Consistent with racial threat theory, results show counties with greater racial and ethnic diversity are more likely to incarcerate blacks and Hispanics. Tests for interaction effects indicate that greater county diversity decreases the punitive effects of ideological conservatism on minority incarceration. Political forces nested within states systematically shape how state government incarceration p ower is distributed across different racial and ethnic groups. (Bridges and Crutchfield, 1988; Greenberg and West, 2001; Western, 2006; Yates, 1997), The punitive paradigm that has characterized U.S. crime policy over the past three decades has led to important concerns about the distribution of one of government’s most intrusive powers; the ability to deprive citizen of their liberty through imprisonment across different racial and ethnic groups. It has been well documented that blacks are six to eight times more likely to be incarcerated relative to whites. (Western, 2006). Hispanics are over three and one-half times more likely to be incarcerated than whites. Blacks and Hispanics, together, account for nearly two-thirds of the state prison population. Disparities such as these within the criminal justice system have long engendered heated debate about principles of equality and civil rights. Imprisonment rates between the states are shown to be a function of a variety of state-level political and legal factors. From this research, there is clear evidence that political forces cause states to incarcerate at widely different rates, with minorities living in a particular state either more or less likely to be imprisoned, depending in part, on the politics within. Yet, while these studies have significantly advanced our understanding of the politics of incarceration, state-level studies often mask the fact that a state’s ‘‘use’’ of incarceration is largely a byproduct of political processes found at the local (county) level of government. When analyzing the politics of incarceration from the bottom up, top-dow n political forces like the partisan control of state-level institutions or state sentencing laws effectively become standardized, suggesting that local politics retains significant leverage over how a state’s imprisonment powers are allocated Given this, however, we know little about the extent to which incarceration rates are systematically tied to local environments and whether local politics systematically shape the imprisonment ratesof racial and ethnic minority groups. Two primary questions motivate this research: Do political forces shaped by the local ideological and racial and ethnic environment affect incarceration rates in ways that are disproportionately detrimental to racial and ethnic minorities? Second, to what extent does the racial and ethnic context interact with localized Ideological orientations to affect minority incarceration rates? Or, put another way, can diversity levels in a given jurisdiction work to strengthen or weaken the propensity of those who might, because of their ideological beliefs, be already more inclined to incarcerate minorities? Conservatives tend to view criminal activity as a matter of personal choice and focus on deterrence and incapacitation based policy responses. Beckett and Western (2001). Conservatives have been more likely to use incapacitation as a means to control a marginalized ‘‘underclass’’ of citizens that threatens the economic and political interests of elites. (Scheingold,1984), In contrast, ideological liberals tend to view crime as a function of structural impediments to success and place more emphasis on crime prevention policies rather than punishment after the fact. Beckett, and Sasson (2004). If ideological conservatives are more inclined to incarcerate, these orientations might also be expected to influence the target of those policies with racial minorities more likely to be targeted relative to whites. (Edsall and Edsall, 1992; Weaver, 2007), Republicans used crime and punishment as an effective tool to realign the political electorate by pursuing law and order policies that linked financially secure fiscal conservatives and middle to lower class conservatives who had little else in common, while blaming street crime and other social ills on a racial (black) underclass, conservative. Republicans made veiled appeals to anti minority hostilities among some lower income conservative whites by enacting punitive crime policies that were implemented in ways that put more blacks in prison, but invoked greater support at the ballot box. Insofar as these political pressures retain their influence on criminal justice policy making at the local level of government, as well as to minorities other  than blacks (i.e., Hispanics), it can be predicted that more conser vative counties will be more likely to incarcerate blacks and Hispanics (as a proportion of their respective population) in state prisons than are more liberal counties. Racial politics shaped by the local racial and ethnic contextual environment are also expected to influence minority incarceration rates. In racial politics literature, significant attention has been paid to social conflict or ‘‘racial threat’’ theory, which offers a ‘‘contextual’’ explanation for minority imprisonment. Dating back to the work of Key (1949), the main idea behind the theory is that when a minority population is small, it represents a relatively minor threat to the interests of the majority. However, as the number of minorities grows, they begin to threaten the economic and political interests of the majority population, increasing hostile attitudes toward minority populations among majority group members. Blalock (1967) argued that a majority groupà ¢â‚¬â„¢s repression of a minority group’s interests was based on two types of perceived threats those motivated by economic competition and those driven by competition over political power. A growing body of research has found evidence of a racial threat effect across a variety of institutional settings. (Hurwitz and Peffley, 1997). If racial hostilities increase in more diverse environments, there are more reasons to predict that these hostilities will spill over to influence criminal justice policy making. ‘‘Old-fashioned’’ white racism often concentrated on a perceived genetic inferiority of blacks to whites. Today, more common white stereotypes involve the perception of blacks as a violent, criminal underclass. These stereotypes, along with the assumption that objective demographic data which show blacks to be disproportionately linked to the U.S. penal system permeates the public’s consciousness to believe that most blacks are violent tha n whites. To a meaningful degree, likely increase the probability that whites associate crime and the criminal justice system with race. In conclusion; this research provides convincing evidence of ‘‘racialized’’ crime policy in the United States. The tendency among some whites to connect race with crime has important implications for state punitiveness and imprisonment of blacks more specifically. Whites who view blacks as violent have been shown to be more supportive of punitive policies like the death penalty and longer prison sentences. Following arguments associated with the racial threat idea, a more racially diverse environment is likely to trigger more negative stereotypes among whites living there, who, as a result, may be more apt to support punitive crime policies, particularly if there is the perception that the target population is black. However, existing tests of the racial threat hypothesis on black incarceration rates have brought mixed results. In so me state-level studies, once black arrest rates and other socioeconomic conditions are controlled, the racial threat hypothesis provides little predictive power (Bridges and Crutchfield, 1988; Yates, 1997). Others have found the proportion of blacks in a state does matter, but in the opposite direction predicted by the racial threat idea black imprisonment rates decreased in states with a greater black population (Yates and Fording, 2005). This mixed set of findings brings the possibility that a more appropriate test of a racial threat effect on imprisonment should be conducted at the local level. Measuring the influence of state racial composition on imprisonment has proven useful because it allows comparisons across jurisdictions; however, these efforts often gloss over the fact that state imprisonment rates are a function of decisions made by county law enforcement officials. If, indeed, incarceration rates are influenced by racial politics, it might be expected that county prose cutors, judges, or public defenders those with authority over prosecuting, sentencing, or defending offenders to/from state prison are most likely to be subject to racial ‘‘effects.’’ Assessing the influence of a racial threat on minority incarceration can also be advanced by considering whether political forces resulting from whites’ exposure to a variety of ethnic and racial minorities, rather than simply their exposure to larger black populations, affects minority imprisonment rates. References Percival, G. L. (2010).Ideology, Diversity, and Imprisonment: Considering the Influence of Local Politics on Racial and Ethnic Minority Incarceration Rates. Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell), 91(4), 1063-1082. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00749.x Bridges, George S., and Robert Crutchfield. 1988. ‘‘Law, Social Standing and Racial Disparities cin Imprisonment.’’ Social Forces 66(3):699–724. Western, Bruce. 2006. Punishment and Inequality in America. New York: Russell Sage  Foundation. Beckett, Katherine, and Theodore Sasson. 2004. The Politics of Injustice: Crime and Punishment  in America. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications. Edsall, Thomas B., and Mary D. Edsall. 1992. Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights,  and Taxes on American Politics. New York: W.W. Nortan Company. Scheingold, Stuart A. 1984. The Politics of Law and Order: Street Crime and Public Policy.  New York: Longman. Blalock, Hubert M. 1967. Toward a Theory of Minority Group Relations. New York: Wiley. Key, V. O. 1949. Southern Politics in State and Nation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Hurwitz, Jon, and Mark Peffley. 1997. ‘‘Public Perceptions of Race and Crime: The Role of  Racial Stereotypes.’’ American Journal of Political Science 41(2):375–401. Yates, Jeff. 1997. ‘‘Racial Incarceration Disparity Among the States.’’ Social Science Quarterly  78(4):1001–11. Yates, Jeff, and Richard Fording. 2005. ‘‘Politics and State Punitiveness in Black and White.’’  Journal of Politics 67(4):1099–1121.