Douglas prologue Essays

Douglas prologue Essays Douglas prologue Essay Douglas prologue Essay By contrast, the tension built up in the prologue to Turn of the Screw is in some ways very untypical of an opening to a ghost story because it also creates tension by using the delay technique. The main story is delayed many times; this builds up intrigue, suspense and adds to the tension. We would not expect to have tension created by the delay technique because we would expect to be dropped straight into the plot. The delay technique suggests that the story is too awful to tell instantly for example when Douglas is about to tell the story but then he says I cant begin. I shall have to send to town. This creates anticipation in the readers mind. The story is then delayed because Douglas says its in a locked drawer it has not been out for years. This intrigues the reader because you wonder why it is locked away. This also suggests that the story must be too dreadful to let out and so it must be kept hidden and locked away. Douglas then carries on to create more tension and raise more questions by saying I could write to my man and enclose the key; he could send down the packet as he finds it. This raises questions because the reader wonders what it is about this story which means Douglas servant must not opening the packet. The story is then delayed again because Douglas says it required for a proper intelligence a few word of prologue. This mirrors the story the reader is reading, which also needs a prologue. Henry James also uses a metaphor to describe the delay. He describes the telling of the story by Douglas as breaking a thickness of ice, the formation of many a winter; had had his reasons for a long silence. This makes the reader wonder what it is about the story that made Douglas keep it not only locked away inside a drawer but also locked away inside himself. The metaphor is also effective because it shows that the story will be in the same state as when it was first written because ice freezes the story in time. Not only is the story frozen but also his feelings. The prologue that Douglas gives us is also very untypical of a ghost story. We would expect to have the characters introduced and any other information that is needed to explain the story to come at the very beginning. Instead we dont hear about the characters that feature in the main story until the end of the prologue. Then at the end of the preface when Douglas is giving us his prologue the information pours out in a hurry. The Douglas prologue shows just why the governess falls in love with the uncle. It is because she is the youngest of several daughters and because she was an anxious girl out of a Hampshire vicarage. This explains why she is so nai ve and why she succumbed to the uncles charms. It is because she is not used to men like the uncle because she has been brought up in a village in Hampshire. The uncle is handsome and bold and pleasant, offhand and gay and kind and this makes the governess fall in love with the uncle. The prologue also tells us why the governess doesnt just leave Bly when she finds out about Peter Quint and Miss Jessel. It is because she doesnt want to let down the uncle because he put the whole thing to her as a kind of favour. This made the governess feel that if she did look after the children she would be doing a great favour for the uncle and then he would reward her. She also didnt leave the children because she is the daughter of a country parson. This means that she felt very strongly about good and evil and she wants to save the children. It also means that she doesnt like the idea of any innocent children in her care to be corrupted by evil. The information we are given in Douglas prologue also raises questions in the readers head. This is because at first the uncle gave the children the best people he could find to look after them and even went down to Bly whenever he might, to see how they were doing even though this was an inconvenience on his part. Then Douglas carries on to say that the uncles main condition to the governess was that she should never trouble him. This makes the reader wonder what it is that made the uncle change from wanting to do everything he could for the children to wanting nothing to do with them. The Turn of the Screw is also very untypical of an opening to a ghost story because it has three narrators: Douglas, I and the governess. One of the effects of the I narrator is to draw you into the story. For example it was to me in particular he appeared to propound this. This make you feel as though Douglas is aiming the story at you. This makes the reader feel privileged and special. We are also made to feel we are special because at first there are many old women but by the time Douglas actually comes to tell the story they have left. This makes his final auditory more compact and select, kept it, round the hearth subject to a common thrill. This makes the reader feel privileged because they are one of the few who get to hear the story. The group is also in keeping with the story because the story is not trivial or gossipy which is another reason why the old women did not hear the story. There are also reasons to suggest to us that Henry James is actually I. For example when Douglas says that he has not got a title for the story and I says, Oh, I have! . This makes us believe that I is Henry James because we know that Henry James does have a title for the story; Turn of the Screw. In this way a connection between the author and the reader is made because we are put in the position of I and Henry James could also be I. I think that overall Henry James preface is required. I think this because without no tension or atmosphere would have been created at the beginning. This is an important part of a ghost story and creates anticipation in the readers mind and it also creates a starting point for a ghost story. The delays in the preface and the delay of the prologue itself is needed because it makes the reader want to read on and gives the reader a sense of anticipation. This is necessary because the main story is very psychological and you need to be thinking about the story all the time when you are reading it. The prologue is also needed because of the use of narrators. The use of narrators draws you into the story. This makes you feel part of the story from the start. There is also a lot of useful information which comes out in the prologue which we need to understand the main story and the characters, their actions and their relationships.

5th Grade Science Fair Projects

5th Grade Science Fair Projects By the 5th grade, students are expected to shoulder more responsibility in designing in doing a science fair project. There will still be a lot of parent and teacher help, but you want a straightforward project that ideally takes no longer than a week or two to complete. The ideal project is one the student can do pretty much by himself or herself, with guidance from adults as needed. 5th Grade Science Fair Project Ideas What household chemicals repel insects? Pick one particular type, common to your area, such as flies, ants, or roaches and test herbs, spice, etc. to see if you can come up with a non-toxic way to keep bugs away.Make a model tornado or vortex. You can use two bottles taped together or can make a cool tornado using water and vegetable oil. For the project, explain how the vortex works.Can people taste the difference between drinks sweetened with Stevia (a natural non-caloric  sweetener) and sugar? Which do they prefer?Are there any dyes you can add to water living plants that change the color of their flowers? Hint: Some modern orchids are tinted blue using dyes, so its possible.Do people have the same sensitivity to smell? Place people at one end of a room. Have another person open a scent, such as lemon oil or vinegar. Have your test subjects write down what they smell and what time they smelled it. Is the time the same for different scents? Does it matter whether the test subject was male or female? Use the streak test to try to identify different mineral samples. What other tests might you try to confirm your results?Does storage temperature affect popcorn popping? Store popcorn in the freezer, refrigerator, at room temperature, and in a heated location. Pop the same amount of each sample. Count how many unpopped kernels remain. Can you explain the results?Does food cooked in the microwave cool at the same rate as food cooked in the oven or on the stove top? Heat foods to the same temperature. Use a thermometer to measure the temperature at set times. Explain your results.Can you sip the same amount of liquid through two straws at once as one straw? What about 3 straws?Collect a group of different substances. Rank the materials according to best to worse heat conductors (or insulators). See if you can explain your findings.Does the color of a light affect how bright it appears in fog? in water?For your project, explain how traffic lights work. What is the reason for the delay b etween when a light turns yellow and then turns red? How many cars are needed to trip a turn arrow? If youre examining a particular light, does its behavior change according to the time of day? Where is the best place to store apples? Where is the best place to store bananas? Are they the same?Does the temperature of a magnet affect its magnetic field lines? You can trace the magnetic field lines of a magnet by putting iron filings on a sheet of paper over the magnet.What brand of battery lasts the longest?Make ice cubes starting with different temperatures of water. Does the starting temperature of water affect how long it takes to freeze?Make a homemade sundial and explain how it works.

Microeconomics - Types of Markets Research Paper

Microeconomics - Types of Markets - Research Paper Example In the long run, the firms are ought to make a normal profit and the market price is determined by the forces of demand and supply. However, an important point to note is the situation in the long run equilibrium. If demand increases to a great extent, the price will rise. Therefore, the demand curve will shift upwards causing firms to make supernormal profits. More firms would join the industry and hence, the price will fall again settling at the equilibrium rate. Also, if the average costs are greater than the average revenue then most firms would go out of business. Once the supply curve falls, prices tend to rise. Perfect competition means there should be no imperfections in the market which may arise due to lack of knowledge or immobility of resources. Nonetheless, these factors are unrealistic in this world. One of the important reasons why perfect competition does not exist in the real world is the economies of scale. In most of the industries, a firm has to be quite large to experience economies of scale. But in perfect competition, firms have an insignificant market share and are too small to achieve economies of scale. Once a firm expands and achieves economies of scale, it would lower its costs and gain market power. The firm can reduce the prices and drive out the smaller firms from the industry. Hence a perfect competition can only survive in an industry where there are no economies of scale. Although the perfectly competitive market model is not applicable to the real world setting, it plays a significant role in economic analysis and policy. The model can be used as a criterion to judge the deficiencies of the real world industries and can help the government to articulate policies towards the betterment of the industry. A single industry that produces a product is called a monopoly. This is not it, however, no close substitutes are present and barriers to enter and exit the market are high.  Such barriers include patents, heavy investments, copyrights or achieving economies of a scale comparable to the monopoly.  

Oedipus The King Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Oedipus The King Research Paper - Essay Example ouses in us both pity and fear, Aristotle explains: â€Å"For pity is aroused by someone who undeservedly falls into misfortune, and fear is evoked by our recognizing that it is someone like ourselves who encounters this misfortune.† (51) That powerful combination of emotion made the story so popular that John Dryden, writing in the mid-1600s, said that the story had â€Å"worn so threadbare by the pens of all the epic poets† (170) that â€Å"people so soon as ever they heard the name of Oedipus, knew as well as the poet, that he had killed his father by a mistake and committed incest with his mother, before the play; that they were now to hear of a great plague, an oracle and the ghost of Laius.† (171) And, indeed, modern critics have echoed these opinions: Jennifer Lewin’s aptly titled â€Å"Oedipus Rex: Possibly the Greatest of all Tragedies† argues that the play represents the apex of dramatic achievement for tragedies. Even the chorus of the pl ay itself reflects the tragedy of Oedipus: Even the Freudians acknowledge the tragedy of Oedipus, even as they psychoanalyze his experience. In the 1950s, Charles Rado read the Oedipus myth in Freudian fashion, revealing it to be a battle between Oedipus and his own unconscious urges, culminating in self-destruction. Rado, of course, makes much of the incestuous relationship between Oedipus and his mother Jocasta, pointing to the riddle of the Sphinx as a metaphor for that union: â€Å"The riddle of the Sphinx is thus interpreted: four refers to the primal scene (four parental legs), the result of which is two, the legs of the child, who later develops a third leg, the penis. The Sphinx personifies the mother in her aspect of Medusa; the child splits her into mother and whore.† (233) Still, there appears to be no question that Rado views the conflicted hero who gave his name to the Freudian’s pet complex with sympathy. Still, the insistence on viewing Oedipus the King as a tragedy leaves a very real space of

Bahasa Indonesia Essay Example for Free

Bahasa Indonesia Essay My Educational background, academic and extra curricular and work experience are as follows. I am currently pursuing an international Baccalaureate education in Sekolah Pelita Harapan in Tangerang Indonesia that is equivalent to a 2 year diploma. The courses I have undertaken include business management (Higher Level / HL), English A2 (HL), Theatre Arts (HL), Bahasa Indonesia A1 (SL), Mathematics (SL), and Environmental Systems (SL). I hope to score a distinction on my final exam. I have been involved in extra curricular activities since primary level these include theater arts where I have participated in plays like the Sandbox by Edward Albee, Shakespearean Monologues and the Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. My key role has been in charge of costume design, setting and construction. I have been involved in painting and drawing, participated in music especially playing the piano as well as learnt Japanese language. I have participated in many sporting events during my school time and received awards such as fitness where I was awarded with gold equivalent to the international standard, hockey as goal keeper, ice-skating and become first runners-up and basketball. I also participated in the athletics where I become third winner. Apart from sports, during my leisure time I get engaged in charity work such as volunteer as English teacher in local orphanages and organize special events like in Christmas 2007. I have participated and coordinated the Indonesia’s 2007 charity walk where we raised money to help flood victims for purchase of medicine and personal effects. In addition am involved in Sunday school teaching. During my summer holidays I work in the family businesses dealing in supplying of merchandise to companies in Indonesia and in the printing firm contracted by large companies. I have learnt a lot of business skills from my family members especially dad and grand father. They have introduced me to the business world which makes me consider expanding my knowledge and skills that will make me better and productive. I am applying for consideration for admission to FIDM in the following majors’ i. e merchandise marketing, visual communication and business management. I am aware that FIDM offers all these majors. I believe I will be able to undertake these courses so that I can sharpen my skills. For instance in Merchandise marketing I would like to get knowledge and skills about planning, purchasing, promotion of merchandise, technology application, human resource development and critical thinking among others. In Visual communications am much interested in acquiring skills in visual presentation, exhibition and trade show design, retail display, store keeping, event planning, trend analysis and computer graphics. While in business management am quite excited if I get these chance to broaden my knowledge on entrepreneurship, financial management, human resource management and organization, global influence, involvement and management. I have considered this field of profession since my childhood. I have thought about it over and over again for a long time. Given the fact that I was born in business environment, my interest for really integrating fashion and business tickles me. Am persuaded this is the area of my interest and career fulfillment. The reasons for me to chose this college among all your other choices is that Fashion Institute of Design Merchandising (FIDM) is an institute that is reputed internationally in the fashion industry. It has experience of over 35 years in teaching with a unique nature by which the college delivers its curriculum such as being industry driven and practically oriented to the present development. The institute has a diverse community of students and staff from different backgrounds which gives opportunity for broader understanding of global issues. It has well equipped academic materials. This exposure will enhance my understanding of global issues and help me appreciate diversity. The other support services provided such as international student support classes, work experience, transfer offers, student resources and career development services and opportunities such as networking, graduate alumni and career placement after college are other important reasons I would like to attend FIDM than other colleges. I consider this college as a place where I can gain knowledge and skills to help me in my career goals and future plans. After I have completed my college studies I would like to pursue a career in fashion industry especially costume design, creativity and business management. I like watching fashion modeling events with a keen eye on creative design. I have intention of creating my own designs that I would like to be involved in and become one of the world fashion designers. The exposure I have gained from family businesses I have worked and knowledge I expect to gain from attending FIDM will surely enhance my entrepreneurship skills and ambition to own a fashion store business with wide collection of world fashion designs. I would like also to pursue my education to an advanced level so that I can train and nature talents in my country. I am convinced that this is where I want to go and make an impact in the fashion industry. REFERENCES Fashion Institute of Design and Management. (2008). Curriculum. Retrieved April 17, 2008 from http://www. fidm. edu/academics/majors/business-management/curriculum. html

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, a Fantasy Epic Essay -- Tolkien Hobbit Es

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, a Fantasy Epic    "Long ago in my grandfather Thror's time our family was driven out of the far North. . . . It had later been discovered by my far ancestor, Thrain the Old, they mined and they tunnelled and they made huger halls and greater workshops-and in addition I believe they found a good deal of gold and a great many jewels too. Anyway, they grew immensley rich and famous, and my grandfather was King under the Mountain again. . . . Undoubtedly that was what brought the dragon. Dragons steal gold and jewels, you know. . . . There was a most specially greedy strong and wicked worm called Smaug. . . . [W]ell, from a good way off we saw the dragon settle on our mountain in a spout of flame. . . . and has been there ever sense. . . . we have never forgotten our stolen treasure. . . . we still mean to get it back, and to bring our curses home to Smaug" (31-33). This is the goal of all the main characters that J.R.R. Tolkien portrays in the novel, The Hobbit. It starts as any normal day for Bilbo, sitting in his quiet home, enjoying the piece and quiet and having a good smoke. The next thing Bilbo knows, an old friend named Gandalf appears before him. They reminisce for awhile about past times and lost adventures. Gandalf finally decides to leave Bilbo in piece, but not without convincing him of the journey they should soon embark on. Bilbo wakes up the next day to find thirteen knew faces in his home. Thirteen dwarves to be exact. They continue to propose to Bilbo the plan of stealing back the gold and treasures that was once theirs. Before Bilbo knows what's going on, he sets out, with his new friends, to conquer the Dragon that stole not only their riches, but also the lives of many men who d... ...e found. . . . That is why I settled on burglary. . . . And here is our little Bilbo Baggins, the burglar" (30). This quote is a perfect example of how The Hobbit is unusual. Not only is Bilbo not a fierce warrior, but he is also a thief. Heroes usually have the record of being loyal and honorable, but because Bilbo is a burglar, he isn't quite as honorable as most would think. In The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien takes the reader on a unique fantasy epic without the traits of previous epics like Homer's Illiad. By using the different traits, the hobbit has set a new standard for modern epics, and will continue to inspire future authors to compose classic yet groundbreaking novels.       Works Cited    Harmon, William, and Holman, C. H. "Epic," Handbook to Literature. New York: Macmillian, 1992.    Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1966.

A Prisoner’s Re-Entry into Society

Prisoner re-entry is a vitally important issue today which has yet to reach its full impact on the minds and lives of voters. However, with every passing year the importance of this topic becomes more evident. Since the eighties, every passing year has brought more pressure for harsher and longer imprisonment and more streamlined mandatory sentencing rules. This has not only resulted in an exploding prison population, but also in a drastic increase in the number of prisoners re-released into communities. Additionally, the push towards more punitive measures has decreased educational opportunities in prisons and the availability of rehabilitation programs. This means that released prisoners are increasingly unable to reintegrate into their communities, increasingly prone to recidivism, and increasingly violent in each release and re-capture cycle. Even the conservative Bush administration has recognized the threat posed by unprepared prisoner re-entry and responded with a series of grants to private and public organizations involved in rehabilitation and easing prisoner transitions. However, merely making government money available to private, religious, or state-based programs is not enough. These funds are only likely to reach a minority of prisoners who are already being aided by the aided programs. Prisoners whose communities and systems do not already take measures to help their rehabilitation will not be seeing any increase in re-entry programs or preparation. A nationwide set of standards is needed to assure that every prisoner eligible for re-release into the community will be inoculated against recidivism and prepared to become a useful part of the society in which they will reside. It is time for the Democratic Party to back away from the conservative model of crime prevention through fear and towards social responsible model of crime prevention through the creation of healthy communities. This can be done in large part by reforming the prison system from a gulag of social control and intimidation into a truly educational experience in which prisoners are put on a moderated track towards social responsibility, respect for the rights of others, and preparation to take a beneficial role in society. Joan Petersilia wrote an insightful book on this subject documenting a series of studies in crime and public policy, When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry. After presenting many pages of carefully documented research, Petersilia provided four suggestions for future reform which could drastically reduce recidivism and change returning prisoners from presenting a public threat to being a boon to society. These suggestions were as follows: 1. Alter the in-prison experience. Provide more education, work, and rehabilitation opportunities. Change the prison environment to promote life skills rather than violence and domination. 2. Change prison release and revocation practices. Institute a system of discretionary parole release that incorporates parole release guidelines. These parole guidelines should be based primarily on recidivism prediction. 3. Revise post-prison services and supervision. Incorporate better parole supervision classification systems, and target services and surveillance to those with high need and risk profiles. 4. Foster collaborations with the community and enhance mechanisms of informal social control. Develop partnerships with service providers, ex-convicts, law enforcement, family members, victim advocates, and neighborhoods to support the offender. (Petersilia) These suggestions represent the best Democratic policy towards reform of the prisoner re-entry system. Petersilia's book on the subject provides documentation about the efficacy of these recommendations and their necessity in the current environment. The remainder of this paper will focus on the precise laws, policies, and programs which may be recommended to promote the implementations of these suggestions. Petersilia's first recommendation is to alter the in-prison experience. This may not be the immediately evident response to prisoner re-entry, but evidence suggests it may in fact be the most important response. As Petersilia points out in a separate article on the â€Å"Challenges of Prisoner Reentry and Parole in California,† the reason that returning convicts pose such a threat is not merely that they are dangerous criminals returning to the communities that they originally victimized, but that their time in prison has in all likelihood increased the dangers they pose to civilians! It is common knowledge that non-violent and inexperienced criminals entering the prison system are likely to emerge being both violent and experienced due to the brutal conditions that exist in most prisons. Male (and female) rape is extremely common in the prison system, with estimates placed between 13-70% of inmates suffering unwanted sexual conduct. (HRW) Such brutal experiences lead many inmates to experience post traumatic stress disorder, which has been positively linked to increased violent tendencies. The degree of dehumanization and stress common in prison can cause other problems as well. â€Å"Mental illnesses, particularly chronic anxiety and depression, may be caused by incarceration. Psychologists believe that incarceration often breeds ‘global rage,' an impulsive and explosive anger so great that a minor incident can trigger an uncontrolled response.† (Petersilia, â€Å"Challenges†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) The Human Rights Watch's report on prison rape in America recommends several measures for preventing prison rape and brutality, and it is vital that policy focus on this aspect of the prison experience. In 2003 a bill was passed establishing a National Commission dedicated to studying prison rape, and several other measures to provide information and training regarding prison rape. However, these measures did not go far enough to assure that prison rape was both prosecuted and that victims received help and counseling. Neither mandatory prosecution nor counseling was included in the bill's measures. Though some constituents might hesitate to focus on preventing brutality to prisoners (indeed, if one pays close attention to the sorts of attitudes and jokes prevalent on crime shows such as Law and Order and NYPD Blue, many consumers may think that prison rape is a justifiable punishment for child abusers and pedophiles), it is important to remember that prison rape victims are likely to emerge with HIV and equally likely to become sexual abusers after their experiences even if they were not abusers before. Thus it is a public health and safety concern to prevent prison rape and other brutality between prisoners. The following policies should be instituted nationwide: 1. Division of prison population between violent and non-violent criminals, and between those who are eligible for parole and those who are not. (Parole-eligible prisoners have more incentive for good behavior) 2. Establishment of special court systems for prison population, mandatory investigation and prosecution of all incidents of hospitalization resulting from sexual assault, availability of independent prisoner-rights advocates, and segregation of all inmates convicted of prisoner-on-prisoner sexual assault to carefully regulated wards, and automatic termination for any employee convicted of sexual impropriety or battery of an inmate. 3. Mandatory counseling and AIDS testing for all prison brutality victims and the establishment of victim-positive protective custody arrangements. (Many victimized inmates are only offered solitary confinement as a protective arrangement, which generally means loss of other privileges and any human interaction, potentially worsening the trauma and decreasing reports) Condoms and retro-virus treatment should be made available to all AIDS/HIV positive inmates, so that future consensual prison relationships will be less likely to increase AIDS transmission. Additionally, the very arrangement of prisons tends to discourage personal responsibility and the development of positive social interactions. Petersilia describes how prison systems punish individual initiative and free-thought, and fail to prepare inmates for independence and responsibility within an open society. â€Å"When personal choice is eliminated, so is personal accountability because the system makes all decisions for prisoners.† (Petersilia, 184) A nationwide study should be undertaken regarding ways that personal choice and accountability can be safely established in prisons and a set of guidelines for national and private prisons should be developed based on the results of that study. Petersilia recommends some programs which have had success in the past which allow simple personal choice from requiring prisoners to decide for themselves when/how to clean their own cells, send their laundry to the cleaners, and so forth. Involving prisoners in some of the more mundane aspects of their confinement is likely to increase the sense of personal control and encourage responsibility. These changes should not be geared so much as ameliorating the punishment of prisoners as of assuring that the incarceration does not reduce their ability to function as a free person. One more important issue regarding prison experience is the availability of vocational and academic training. It is well known by those who study these issues that prisoners who are able to be employed after re-entry to society are significantly less likely to commit further crimes. Petersilia's second suggestion was to change prison release and revocation practices. The best recommendation for policy on this issue would be to adjust mandatory sentences so that they included the completion of certain educational and behavioral requirements. These adapted sentences would require the inmate to both complete a certain length of time and a set of release requirements to be established by a panel of experts on a case-by-case basis. These release requirements must be completed before the inmate was eligible either for parole or release based on time served. Requirements should include, as determined per individual case, mandatory counseling, addiction treatment, educational attainment, vocational studies, and good behavior. Petersilia points out that, based on prison records, recidivism predictions can be made that are 80% correct. Recidivism predictors should be made clear to inmates and they should be encouraged to work towards being eligible for release and parole. A nationwide set of guidelines regarding minimum achievements requirements in addition to the current nationwide set of minimum time-served requirements would return the focus to rehabilitation rather than mere punishment. In fact, the minimum time-served should be directly related to the minimum time necessary to complete the release requirements. Part of assuring that the prison system creates parolees who do not endanger the community is assuring that it creates educated parolees. It would do well in the future for ex-criminals to speak of â€Å"graduating† from prison, as it were, and going on to lead productive lives. In 1997 the Center on Crime, Communities, and Culture reported that â€Å"inmates with at least two years of college have a 10% re-arrest rate, compared to a national re-arrest rate of approximately 60%.† This is somewhat ironic, because just three years earlier in 1994 Congress passed a bill which virtually destroyed the prison undergraduate school system. This bill eliminated Pell grants paying for the education of incarcerated individuals. â€Å"Nationally, the only higher education program that's still publicly funded is for youthful offenders.† (Banks) So it is that since 1994 recidivism has increased by almost half, going from around 60% to nearly 90%. Today a mixture of volunteers, religious organizations, and state-funded programs have moved in to provide some college education for inmates. However only slightly more than 10% of prisoners will re-enter society with a college degree. A new bill should be sponsored which would fight to prevent crime by educating prisoners and thus slashing their chances of offending again. Even if Pell Grants were not extended to prisoners, perhaps a new system of educational grants should be developed that would pay for accredited college education for prisoners as part of their pre-release requirements. Our founding fathers all focused on the necessity of a free people being an educated people, and claimed that democracy was dependent on the education of the people. If we are to prepare prisoners to reenter a democratic nation and partake in it as citizens rather than as public enemies, then a liberal arts education which both prepares them for work and prepares them to understand the rights and responsibilities of all citizens is absolutely necessary. Petersilia's third point is that we need extensive post-release services. A new set of federal guidelines should require all released prisoners to be prepared with housing and income options. Halfway housing should be arranged for those who do not have families prepared to commit to providing housing. Job-placement services should be arranged before release and continued employment should be a condition of parole with job-placement provided at any point during the parole period at which the ex-inmate becomes unemployed. Continued medical treatment and counseling for prison-related problems (including AIDS and mental illness) should be provided, as well as mandatory counseling and guidance sessions. More federal and state funding needs to be available to increase the number of parole officers and services. Nationwide there is a shortage in parole officers. In California, for example, â€Å"the ratio is now 82 parolees to 1 parole officer†¦ even parolees who are motivated to change have little opportunity to do so.† (Petersilia, â€Å"Challenges†¦Ã¢â‚¬  ) According to Petersilia's research, â€Å"most inmates have a strong desire to succeed when they are first released.† (Petersilia, â€Å"Challenges†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) Therefore it is vital that re-entry services are provided. Additionally, as most inmates are re-arrested within three years, it seems vital that such services are available for a period of at least five years as the inmates adjust to the responsibility and freedom of life outside. Homelessness, lack of income and opportunities, and a return to addiction are among the main reasons for a return to crime — proper post-release supervision, counseling, and provision of housing and work opportunities can prevent this. Though such supervision would be expensive, it will be far less expensive to provide ex-inmates with housing, employment, and services within the community than to provide them with housing, constant supervision, and services inside our prisons after they re-offend. In conclusion, it appears that a national Recidivism Prevention Bill is absolutely necessary. This bill should include: 1) a commitment to stop prison rape by means of the creation of a special court system for in-prison crimes such as rape, the mandatory investigation of prison rape cases, and special custody arrangements designed to combat rape; 2) the establishment of a study resulting in national guidelines for prison reform aimed at fostering social responsibility and accountability; 3) the establishment and funding of an accredited national university of correctional facilities which provides liberal arts, vocational, and technical degrees to inmates; 4) Creation of national guidelines for sentencing to include individual minimum release requirements including (but not limited to) successful completion of addiction or other counseling, charitable service, educational and vocational training, evidence of good behavior, and treatment for mental health problems; 5) national guidelines and funding for parole services including housing, job-placement and training, medical services , and mental health/addiction/family adjustment counseling, and a low parolee-to-officer ration allowing for adequate surveillance and regular check-ups. A Prisoner’s Re-Entry into Society Prisoner re-entry is a vitally important issue today which has yet to reach its full impact on the minds and lives of voters. However, with every passing year the importance of this topic becomes more evident. Since the eighties, every passing year has brought more pressure for harsher and longer imprisonment and more streamlined mandatory sentencing rules. This has not only resulted in an exploding prison population, but also in a drastic increase in the number of prisoners re-released into communities. Additionally, the push towards more punitive measures has decreased educational opportunities in prisons and the availability of rehabilitation programs. This means that released prisoners are increasingly unable to reintegrate into their communities, increasingly prone to recidivism, and increasingly violent in each release and re-capture cycle. Even the conservative Bush administration has recognized the threat posed by unprepared prisoner re-entry and responded with a series of grants to private and public organizations involved in rehabilitation and easing prisoner transitions. However, merely making government money available to private, religious, or state-based programs is not enough. These funds are only likely to reach a minority of prisoners who are already being aided by the aided programs. Prisoners whose communities and systems do not already take measures to help their rehabilitation will not be seeing any increase in re-entry programs or preparation. A nationwide set of standards is needed to assure that every prisoner eligible for re-release into the community will be inoculated against recidivism and prepared to become a useful part of the society in which they will reside. It is time for the Democratic Party to back away from the conservative model of crime prevention through fear and towards social responsible model of crime prevention through the creation of healthy communities. This can be done in large part by reforming the prison system from a gulag of social control and intimidation into a truly educational experience in which prisoners are put on a moderated track towards social responsibility, respect for the rights of others, and preparation to take a beneficial role in society. Joan Petersilia wrote an insightful book on this subject documenting a series of studies in crime and public policy, When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry. After presenting many pages of carefully documented research, Petersilia provided four suggestions for future reform which could drastically reduce recidivism and change returning prisoners from presenting a public threat to being a boon to society. These suggestions were as follows: 1. Alter the in-prison experience. Provide more education, work, and rehabilitation opportunities. Change the prison environment to promote life skills rather than violence and domination. 2. Change prison release and revocation practices. Institute a system of discretionary parole release that incorporates parole release guidelines. These parole guidelines should be based primarily on recidivism prediction. 3. Revise post-prison services and supervision. Incorporate better parole supervision classification systems, and target services and surveillance to those with high need and risk profiles. 4. Foster collaborations with the community and enhance mechanisms of informal social control. Develop partnerships with service providers, ex-convicts, law enforcement, family members, victim advocates, and neighborhoods to support the offender. (Petersilia) These suggestions represent the best Democratic policy towards reform of the prisoner re-entry system. Petersilia's book on the subject provides documentation about the efficacy of these recommendations and their necessity in the current environment. The remainder of this paper will focus on the precise laws, policies, and programs which may be recommended to promote the implementations of these suggestions. Petersilia's first recommendation is to alter the in-prison experience. This may not be the immediately evident response to prisoner re-entry, but evidence suggests it may in fact be the most important response. As Petersilia points out in a separate article on the â€Å"Challenges of Prisoner Reentry and Parole in California,† the reason that returning convicts pose such a threat is not merely that they are dangerous criminals returning to the communities that they originally victimized, but that their time in prison has in all likelihood increased the dangers they pose to civilians! It is common knowledge that non-violent and inexperienced criminals entering the prison system are likely to emerge being both violent and experienced due to the brutal conditions that exist in most prisons. Male (and female) rape is extremely common in the prison system, with estimates placed between 13-70% of inmates suffering unwanted sexual conduct. (HRW) Such brutal experiences lead many inmates to experience post traumatic stress disorder, which has been positively linked to increased violent tendencies. The degree of dehumanization and stress common in prison can cause other problems as well. â€Å"Mental illnesses, particularly chronic anxiety and depression, may be caused by incarceration. Psychologists believe that incarceration often breeds ‘global rage,' an impulsive and explosive anger so great that a minor incident can trigger an uncontrolled response.† (Petersilia, â€Å"Challenges†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) The Human Rights Watch's report on prison rape in America recommends several measures for preventing prison rape and brutality, and it is vital that policy focus on this aspect of the prison experience. In 2003 a bill was passed establishing a National Commission dedicated to studying prison rape, and several other measures to provide information and training regarding prison rape. However, these measures did not go far enough to assure that prison rape was both prosecuted and that victims received help and counseling. Neither mandatory prosecution nor counseling was included in the bill's measures. Though some constituents might hesitate to focus on preventing brutality to prisoners (indeed, if one pays close attention to the sorts of attitudes and jokes prevalent on crime shows such as Law and Order and NYPD Blue, many consumers may think that prison rape is a justifiable punishment for child abusers and pedophiles), it is important to remember that prison rape victims are likely to emerge with HIV and equally likely to become sexual abusers after their experiences even if they were not abusers before. Thus it is a public health and safety concern to prevent prison rape and other brutality between prisoners. The following policies should be instituted nationwide: 1. Division of prison population between violent and non-violent criminals, and between those who are eligible for parole and those who are not. (Parole-eligible prisoners have more incentive for good behavior) 2. Establishment of special court systems for prison population, mandatory investigation and prosecution of all incidents of hospitalization resulting from sexual assault, availability of independent prisoner-rights advocates, and segregation of all inmates convicted of prisoner-on-prisoner sexual assault to carefully regulated wards, and automatic termination for any employee convicted of sexual impropriety or battery of an inmate. 3. Mandatory counseling and AIDS testing for all prison brutality victims and the establishment of victim-positive protective custody arrangements. (Many victimized inmates are only offered solitary confinement as a protective arrangement, which generally means loss of other privileges and any human interaction, potentially worsening the trauma and decreasing reports) Condoms and retro-virus treatment should be made available to all AIDS/HIV positive inmates, so that future consensual prison relationships will be less likely to increase AIDS transmission. Additionally, the very arrangement of prisons tends to discourage personal responsibility and the development of positive social interactions. Petersilia describes how prison systems punish individual initiative and free-thought, and fail to prepare inmates for independence and responsibility within an open society. â€Å"When personal choice is eliminated, so is personal accountability because the system makes all decisions for prisoners.† (Petersilia, 184) A nationwide study should be undertaken regarding ways that personal choice and accountability can be safely established in prisons and a set of guidelines for national and private prisons should be developed based on the results of that study. Petersilia recommends some programs which have had success in the past which allow simple personal choice from requiring prisoners to decide for themselves when/how to clean their own cells, send their laundry to the cleaners, and so forth. Involving prisoners in some of the more mundane aspects of their confinement is likely to increase the sense of personal control and encourage responsibility. These changes should not be geared so much as ameliorating the punishment of prisoners as of assuring that the incarceration does not reduce their ability to function as a free person. One more important issue regarding prison experience is the availability of vocational and academic training. It is well known by those who study these issues that prisoners who are able to be employed after re-entry to society are significantly less likely to commit further crimes. Petersilia's second suggestion was to change prison release and revocation practices. The best recommendation for policy on this issue would be to adjust mandatory sentences so that they included the completion of certain educational and behavioral requirements. These adapted sentences would require the inmate to both complete a certain length of time and a set of release requirements to be established by a panel of experts on a case-by-case basis. These release requirements must be completed before the inmate was eligible either for parole or release based on time served. Requirements should include, as determined per individual case, mandatory counseling, addiction treatment, educational attainment, vocational studies, and good behavior. Petersilia points out that, based on prison records, recidivism predictions can be made that are 80% correct. Recidivism predictors should be made clear to inmates and they should be encouraged to work towards being eligible for release and parole. A nationwide set of guidelines regarding minimum achievements requirements in addition to the current nationwide set of minimum time-served requirements would return the focus to rehabilitation rather than mere punishment. In fact, the minimum time-served should be directly related to the minimum time necessary to complete the release requirements. Part of assuring that the prison system creates parolees who do not endanger the community is assuring that it creates educated parolees. It would do well in the future for ex-criminals to speak of â€Å"graduating† from prison, as it were, and going on to lead productive lives. In 1997 the Center on Crime, Communities, and Culture reported that â€Å"inmates with at least two years of college have a 10% re-arrest rate, compared to a national re-arrest rate of approximately 60%.† This is somewhat ironic, because just three years earlier in 1994 Congress passed a bill which virtually destroyed the prison undergraduate school system. This bill eliminated Pell grants paying for the education of incarcerated individuals. â€Å"Nationally, the only higher education program that's still publicly funded is for youthful offenders.† (Banks) So it is that since 1994 recidivism has increased by almost half, going from around 60% to nearly 90%. Today a mixture of volunteers, religious organizations, and state-funded programs have moved in to provide some college education for inmates. However only slightly more than 10% of prisoners will re-enter society with a college degree. A new bill should be sponsored which would fight to prevent crime by educating prisoners and thus slashing their chances of offending again. Even if Pell Grants were not extended to prisoners, perhaps a new system of educational grants should be developed that would pay for accredited college education for prisoners as part of their pre-release requirements. Our founding fathers all focused on the necessity of a free people being an educated people, and claimed that democracy was dependent on the education of the people. If we are to prepare prisoners to reenter a democratic nation and partake in it as citizens rather than as public enemies, then a liberal arts education which both prepares them for work and prepares them to understand the rights and responsibilities of all citizens is absolutely necessary. Petersilia's third point is that we need extensive post-release services. A new set of federal guidelines should require all released prisoners to be prepared with housing and income options. Halfway housing should be arranged for those who do not have families prepared to commit to providing housing. Job-placement services should be arranged before release and continued employment should be a condition of parole with job-placement provided at any point during the parole period at which the ex-inmate becomes unemployed. Continued medical treatment and counseling for prison-related problems (including AIDS and mental illness) should be provided, as well as mandatory counseling and guidance sessions. More federal and state funding needs to be available to increase the number of parole officers and services. Nationwide there is a shortage in parole officers. In California, for example, â€Å"the ratio is now 82 parolees to 1 parole officer†¦ even parolees who are motivated to change have little opportunity to do so.† (Petersilia, â€Å"Challenges†¦Ã¢â‚¬  ) According to Petersilia's research, â€Å"most inmates have a strong desire to succeed when they are first released.† (Petersilia, â€Å"Challenges†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) Therefore it is vital that re-entry services are provided. Additionally, as most inmates are re-arrested within three years, it seems vital that such services are available for a period of at least five years as the inmates adjust to the responsibility and freedom of life outside. Homelessness, lack of income and opportunities, and a return to addiction are among the main reasons for a return to crime — proper post-release supervision, counseling, and provision of housing and work opportunities can prevent this. Though such supervision would be expensive, it will be far less expensive to provide ex-inmates with housing, employment, and services within the community than to provide them with housing, constant supervision, and services inside our prisons after they re-offend. In conclusion, it appears that a national Recidivism Prevention Bill is absolutely necessary. This bill should include: 1) a commitment to stop prison rape by means of the creation of a special court system for in-prison crimes such as rape, the mandatory investigation of prison rape cases, and special custody arrangements designed to combat rape; 2) the establishment of a study resulting in national guidelines for prison reform aimed at fostering social responsibility and accountability; 3) the establishment and funding of an accredited national university of correctional facilities which provides liberal arts, vocational, and technical degrees to inmates; 4) Creation of national guidelines for sentencing to include individual minimum release requirements including (but not limited to) successful completion of addiction or other counseling, charitable service, educational and vocational training, evidence of good behavior, and treatment for mental health problems; 5) national guidelines and funding for parole services including housing, job-placement and training, medical services , and mental health/addiction/family adjustment counseling, and a low parolee-to-officer ration allowing for adequate surveillance and regular check-ups.