Criminal Justice Budget Essay Example for Free

Criminal Justice Budget Essay Harris County, in Houston Texas, contains a pretty large population, and a large majority of that population classified as home owners. Harris county’s geographic size is considerably large, with a population estimate exceeding 3,935,855 peoples in 2007 (US Census Bureau, 2009). Furthermore, the percentage of Caucasians is around 73. 6%, with the Black population consisting of 18. 9%, Native Americans exceeding . 6%, Asian persons around 5. 5% and lastly the Hispanic population being around 38. 6% (US Census Bureau, 2009). The land area per 200 square miles is 1,728. Harris County’s current federal spending budget for the year of 2007 is around 21, 152, 659. When determining a budget for Harris County, one important aspect to consider is the county’s retail sales, which is around 39,358,036, displaying the current of industry and economic growth. The federal government spent over 19 billion dollars in 2003 on the war on drugs, at a rate of about 600 dollars per second (www. drugsense. org). The total amount of money spent on the war on drugs at the federal level is about 4,258,600,939, while at the state level 6,536,936,825, totaling over 10,800,600,300 dollars (www. drugsense. com). The failed war on drugs has not stopped drug usage, on the contrary, it has made criminal cartels rich by illegalizing drugs, thus giving them a product to sell, and increased not only the availability and potency of drugs, but, also their rate of usage across the country. For example, after the US has spent over 500 billion dollars to fight drugs, cocaine is now as cheap as it was when kingpin Escobar died and more heavily used, furthermore, methamphetamine, which was barley even a problem in the years following 1993, is now used by over 1. 5 million Americans and is proven to be more addictive than crack (Wells, 2007). The war on drugs has put over 500,000 people behind bars for drug crimes with no discernable effect on the drug trafficking industry, if anything; it has grown (Wells, 2007). When preparing a budget for Harris County, the most important thing that could be done is ending the failed war on drugs, which would save tax payers an estimated 12 billion dollars or more a year. Furthermore, instead of focusing a majority of the states federal budget on building more prisons begin building more universities, and residential communities. I find it interesting to note that the annual cost to tax payers in California to keep and maintain their prisons is around 10 billion per year, if this spending trend continues; California will be spending more on prisons than on universities (Abramsky, 2007). In ending the war on drugs, with the billions that would be saved, tax cuts, business incentives, and an overall increase in the standard of living for the community. Furthermore, instead of building prisons, states could build real, industry that produces’ real goods. References Wells, Ben (2007) How America Lost the War on Drugs Rolling Stone retrieved on March 16, 2009 from http://www. rollingstone. com/news/story/17438347/how_america_lost_the_war_on_drugs Abramsky, Sasha (2007) Prison Crisis: Will California Spend more on jails than Universities? Rights and Liberties retrieved on March 16, 2009 from http://www. alternet. org/rights/65868/? page=entire US Census Bureau (2009) State and County quick facts The US Census Bureau on March 16, 2009 from http://quickfacts. census. gov/qfd/states/48/48201. html Unknown Author (2009) Drug War Clock Drug Sense retrieved on March 16, 2009 from http://www. drugsense. org/wodclock. htm

Dialogue - Diverted Attention :: Dialogue Conversation Essays

Dialogue - Diverted Attention "Her hands are like icicles on the horizon," he said and took a drag of coffee. She nodded blankly at him, barely registering the observations that swayed his tongue and flavored his mouth. "Do you see how she’s shaking?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the porcelain doll ordering dinner across the room. He fumbled down distractedly to the table, found his plate, and devoured a fry in the half-reflective way that dressed all his actions. To this, she murmured a vague, "mm hmm†¦.† It was enough of a reply to fill the empty space he controlled over the table, but still enough to be noncommittal and inattentive. She reached through the maze of their cups and plates to spear a french-fry on his plate. She shifted her weight. The chair rocked under her, threatening her already uncertain balance and attempted grace in one blow. She shifted the feet of the chair, hoping to find some sort of equilibrium, but again the seat rocked under her, still precarious. "Look at the angles to her face," he went on, working his words around mouthfuls. His eyes never wavered in their stiff critical stare of wonderment and interest. "There’s just something about her that screams vulnerability." "Hmm." She swallowed the hot, gritty remains of her tea. Her cup clunked as it hit the table, jolting the settled objects, but his attention never strayed from the Raphael-wonder. She picked up her croissant, then lowered it back to her plate seeing the tanned lines of her knuckles holding her fingers in place. She turned her palm up and followed the trained lines that traced her destiny. "You really have to wonder about people like that," he continued in the silence. "How they think, how they feel, how they see the world. Don’t you ever just wish you could go up and introduce yourself to a stranger and learn their entire life’s story?" She repossessed her croissant and took a voice-saving mouthful, nodding her head disjointedly in case he possessed the consciousness to glance at her tongue-trapped tangle on the other side of the table. She sneakily slid her feet out of her shoes and flexed her toes in their freedom under the tablecloth tiered table. The ache retched in her bones and her thoughts drowned in the haze of mid-stride wonderment, but not before the emptiness and pain of dismissal.

Convict in Great Expectations Essay

Great Expectations starts off with Pip, the young poor boy-whose parents are dead-who lives with his aunt. He is poor and his aunt treats him badly and harshly. One day down at marshes by the churchyard Pip come into contact with a convict who is supplied food by Pip, later on the convict gets caught and this is the last we hear of him for a while.  One day he gets asked to go and play with Estella’s at Miss Havisham’s house in return for money. Miss Havisham was a lady who was going to get married and get let down on the day of the marriage. Miss Havisham has never seen daylight since; she does her best with help from Estella to break as many male hearts as feasible. The novel continues with Pip being a poor person and he visiting Estella’s but one day his luck changes. He receives a lot of money-becoming a gentlemen- from an anonymous benefactor, but Pip thinks is benefactor is Miss Havisham but he later comes to realise that his benefactor is the convict he met on the marshes.  The convict later traces Pip to London and illegally comes to meet him. The convict then tells Pip that he is Pip’s benefactor, much to Pip’s disenchantment. Pip then tries to get the convict back home to New South Wales (Australia) but they get caught and the convict gets sentenced to death but dies of a natural death before his allocated death. In a way Pip was happy that the convict (Magwitch) died of his natural death because it was less painful than being hung. Magwitch became a convict with a collaborator called Compeyson but Compeyson got a shorter sentence because he was a gentleman; â€Å"And when we we’re sentenced, ain’t it him as gets seven year, and me fourteen, and ain’t it him as the Judge is sorry for†.As Compeyson was a gentleman the judge blamed his wrongs on Magwitch, the peasant. Magwitch and Compeyson became enemies from that day forward. The differences between the two convicts’ sentences are symbolic to what was happening to convicts in the real world at the time of Dickens and this was the only way of pointing this out to people without getting into trouble. If you were rich then you got treated well whereas if you were poor you got treated badly; you were considered to be lower than the rich are. In this essay I will be examining how imperative the role of Magwitch is in Great Expectations. The ways in which his character develops, the way in which he makes Pip’s character develop and how he affects the plot’s development.  Magwitch has four major manifestations in the novel. Firstly he appears in the marshes by the courtyard where he first encounters Pip. Secondly when Magwitch comes to visit Pip in London to tell him that he is Pip’s benefactor. Thirdly when Magwitch goes to trial for trying to escape back home to Australia. Lastly when Magwitch dies in the infirmary. In each of these four sections I will be discussing how Magwitch’s appearances affect Pip’s feelings and the plot development.  Charles Dickens wrote this novel, but wrote in first person, we are told the story through Pip hence all our knowledge of Magwitch comes from Pip and we are always told Pip’s feelings. This style of writing is important because it makes us as the reader for sorry for Pip. During the opening chapter web meet the convict for the very first time. The convict comes over as a malevolent person; â€Å"The man, after looking at me for a moment, turned me upside-down and emptied my pockets. There was nothing in them but a piece of bread.† When Pip says â€Å"nothing in them but a piece of bread† we get the idea Pip didn’t need the bread but the convict obviously did and hence the later friendship. Pip’s fear for the convict continued throughout the first meeting; â€Å"I earnestly expressed my hope that he wouldn’t, and held tighter.† This meeting between Pip and the convict is in the churchyard and it is dark and rainy which creates an image of a typical horror genre. The darkness also suggests pathetic fallacy towards the convict’s feelings; the weather is dark and so is his manner towards Pip. The rain suggests imagery and pathetic fallacy towards Pip’s feelings; it is raining and Pip is raining, he is crying; â€Å"and beginning to cry was Pip.†

Class Is An Integral Part Of All Societies - 1711 Words

Division has become an integral part of all societies. These divisions range from gender, education, occupation and wealth. A combination of these and other dividing factors shape the manner in which and individual is perceived by their peers in a social setting. These factors make of the basis of a social class. Defined as a group of people who share economic resources that influence their lifestyles, class is ingrained in the minds of individuals in all societies. Although the elements that determines ones class may appear to be arbitrary they are integral to our daily interactions whether we would like to accept it or not. We base our perception of individuals on how they appear to us when we first encounter them. We then use these perceptions which are sometimes false and highly inaccurate to determine who will and will not interact with. In countries such as India class is so important that you are bestowed a class upon birth and no matter how low or high ranking it is, you are meant to stay within that class for the entirety of your life. This stringent system is called a caste. Although the class system seems arbitrary and unimportant in the modern United States it is extremely important because the division of classes allows for structured inequalities that have detrimental effects upon the populace. The United States is branded as the land of opportunity. In the poem The New Colossus by: Emma Lazarus the following is affirmed, â€Å"Give me your tired, your poor, YourShow MoreRelatedMusic and Its Functions and Roles1625 Words   |  7 Pagesand its Functions and Roles Music has always been an integral part of human civilization. It is what binds individuals to their culture, people to their country. 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