Pakistani Community In Britain Sociology Essay

Pakistani Community In Britain Sociology EssayAli (1982) Pakistanis master(prenominal) minginess is in U.K. where they began in the archaean 20th vitamin C as sailors in the Merchant Navy and soldiers in the British army. They had an opportunity to migrate in large numbers following the economic expansion and short while of savvy party resulting from the cardinal world wars. However, their migration did non look at a set frame up until the last half of the 1950s. (p. 5-7)Post world war two migration to Britain from the Asian subcontinent was based on imperial ties and largely driven by economic imperatives. Rebuilding post war economy entailed a penury for labour that could non be satisfied by the British universe itself. After 1945, virtu totallyy all countries in Western Europe began to deplume earthshaking numbers of workers from abroad and by the subsequently(a) 1960s they in the main came from developing countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Middle East (Massey, D. et.al , 1993, p. 431). Islam in the UK has a to the s revealh Asian character. The largest number of Islamics originates from Pakistan (Samad Sen, p.43). Further to this, the largest base of Islamics from the Indian subcontinent have act from Pakistan, both West and East (Ibid.) In Pakistan, major impetuses to emigrate came from the poorer rude field of operations of the Mirpuri district in southern Kashmir and the Cambellpur district of the coupling-eastern Punjab. Smaller numbers left oer(p) from the North- wolfram Frontier Province next to the Afghani border. In the carapace of Mirpur, a go on factor was the disruption caused by the Mangla Dam get a line which started in 1960, and was ultimately to flood about 250 closures. In East Pakistan, which was posterior to become Bangladesh, the two main sources of immigration were in the Sylhet district in the north-east and the maritime region around Chittagong. Due to the struggles of a impertinently developed state and poverty, umteen Pakistanis took the opportunity to come and work in Britain. (Neilsen, 2004, p. 41)Before 1962, Pakistanis were British subjects (under the 1948 British Nationality Act) and could enter Britain without restriction. in that respect was a outstanding increase in the rate of immigration just before the creation Immigrants Act 19621was passed. Before the act of 1962 was passed about fifty thousand battalion entered Britain in spite of appearance 18 months, in comparing the 17,000 who entered amidst 1955 and 1960 (Shaw, 1998 25). The threat of Britains immigration controls withal coincided with a change in the Pakistani Govern custodyts policy on immigration. In 1961, when the 1962 Common wealth Act was imminent, Pakistani government withdrew restrictions on immigration and promoted the migration of 5,000 people in a move to compensate Mirpuri villagers who had been homeless of land by the construction of the dam (Shaw, 1998 25).Until the beginning of the 1960s, entry into the UK by the citizens of British colonies and member countries of the Commonwealth Immigration Act of 1962, introduced restrictions on immigration to the UK. Although it was intended to discourage Pakistanis and people from Commonwealth countries from migrating to the country, it turned out to have the opposite effect. The unintended effect of the 1971 Immigration Act2was that a significant number of Pakistanis and from the different countries entered the UK to beat the ban (Shaw, 1994, as quoted in Samad Sen, 2007, p. 28). seventies family reunification marked a turning localize for the establishment of Islam in Europe. Along with emergence of community by dint of family reunification, well-nigh of the conventional norms root in genial relations, through the practice of Islam began to emerge (Ibid., p.38)These labour migrants disdain their social origins and qualification levels were largely confined to low-paid manual work and faces racia l discrimination when being fireed for jobs (Modood, 2005, p. 60). In the 1970s Ethnic minorities were branded as scroungers and the threat of overcrowding was becoming a grave concern. Enoch Powell, in 1967, openly advocated a policy of repatriation where he argued not for migrants families to be reunited in Britain but preferably that migrants should be returned home and reunited with families over there (J unitys and Wellhengama, 2000 16). Further to this, by emphasising that Britishness comprises vulgar biological roots, a common language and an allegiance to the Crown parliamentarians soft excluded certain migrants (Ibid, p. 31).With the consequences of state led policies of migration, and arrival and settlement of a evolution Pakistani community, emerged socio-economic problems that this new community had to face. The next part of the essay go out discuss the confused ways in which the British Pakistanis atomic number 18 injury and ways in which they responded to th e underlying and changing political, social and economic conditions in Britain. While the disadvantage of Pakistanis actually predates the rise of anti-Muslim prejudice, the latter threatens to exacerbate the causation and to prevent the formation of good pull up stakes required to act against the chronic disadvantage of Pakistanis in Britain. (Modood, 2005, p. 80)As the Labour force survey (Spring, 2000 as quoted in Saman Sen, p. 45) illustrates, Pakistanis be two and a half times to a greater extent(prenominal)(prenominal) likely than the blanched commonwealth to be unemployed and nearly iii times more likely to be in low-paid jobs. harmonize to Cessari (p. 58) the socio-economic marginality of Pakistanis is roughly often attended by residential segregation. She argues that the data from the British census fancy that Pakistani immigrants tend to live in the near tattered or blistery housing conditions.Chain migration assistes have a bullnecked influence on locating minorities in clusters. Hostility from the society within which the settlement takes place can reduce the ability of the group to pass on and defence may be an important element in clustering. There are both substantiative and negative reasons for clustering in approximately heathenish clustering patterns and, given their simultaneous presence in legion(predicate) situations, it is difficult to disentangle dominant from recessive factors. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that not all segregation results from negative factors much(prenominal) as white racism (P distributively, 1996, p. 228)Rex and Moore (1967) demo exalted levels of discrimination against immigrants, particularly against Pakistanis, in their field compass of Sparkbrook in Birmingham. They showed amply duckings of Pakistans in their lowest housing class, the rooming house. Work by Dahya (1974), on the opposite hand, argued that Pakistani con centimeimeration in multi-occupied accommodation was a preferred, not an enforced, strategy. He argued that chain migration by village and family, the desire to maximize savings, divided language and theology, culinary needs and so forth all argued in favour of sharing accommodation. Thus, although discrimination existed, it was not material to the patterns of concentration that arose.Many of the early Pakistani migrants to Britain have been the most reluctant to pound a British identity to themselves. With the effects of globalisation, Pakistanis are likewise broken about losing their usances, customs and values and hence hold onto the security of their restricting knit society with a hesitance in accepting anything British (Jacobson, 1997, 185).Pakistani British Muslims have been vastly influenced by cultures and customs emanating from the subcontinent, and this get out restrain to happen for another propagation or two. The scene within which they practice their religion is after all, Pakistani iodine not all because th ey younger generation learned about Islam from their Pakistani parents but excessively because Pakistanis are the dominant group within the local Muslim community. They are used to hearing Urdu spoken in mosque, eating Pakistani intellectual nourishment and wearing Pakistani clothes at religious festivals, follow Pakistani customs at weddings and other religiousceremonies and abide by and rail against definitions of deterrent example behaviour which have more to do with the norms of Pakistani village spiritedness. For them the interconnections amidst pagan culture and religion are dense and intricate (Jacobson, J. 2003, p. 147)V.S. caravan inn (1979), writing on Mirpuris in Bradford, discusses the effect of migration on those arriving in Britain and ways in which this shapes their socio- heathen behavior. He maintains that the very means of coping with migration could lead to intact stresses, in that the knowledge of traditional culture in the homeland, continuous rating th rough the process of migration to Britain and prior expectations have a direct run into on the migrants life-style and values. The stressful experience of migration is in additiona crucial determinant of a migrants perception of his situation, and the actual options open to him. While many of the supportive institutions of village life buffer confrontation with the new and alien world in Britain, in the long term they not yet restrict price of admission to it, but also hinder the attainment of things valued (Ibid. p. 55)Werbner discusses similar factors the social stresses experienced by Pakistani migrants in Britain derive fromthree main arenas the traditional culture and emigration compass the migrationprocess and settlement in the new environment and society (1990 37).Her abstract however, presents a more positive view of the adaptability of Pakistanis to new circumstances, in particular to those concerning women, and regarding the expansion of family relationship networks to teach friends and members of other sub- clans. (Imtiaz, 1997, p. 36)Significance of BradfordThe Bradford Metropolitan District is situated west of Leeds north of the trans- Pennine highway. To the north and east lies North Yorkshire, with its manor houses, farms and cathedral cities, age to the west and north lies the Lake District.The city has been the centre of the sheepskin trade since the 18th century and, until recently, wool dominated the local economy. Even the engineering and chemical industries were associated with the wool trade by supplying the needs of the textile industry. Throughout the nineteenth century it was mainly a working class city structure around a low wage economy. The global networks, stretching out to the colonies, in particular, were constructed around importing wool and reprocessing it for export. These networks persisted into the mid-twentieth century (Samad Eade, Community Laison Unit)Although Pakistani Muslims settled in various parts of the get together Kingdom, Bradford still has ane of the highest concentrations of Pakistani Muslims in the country (and more than any other Yorkshire and Humber region) (Din, 2006). Bradford is one of many towns and cities that have ethnically diverse communitys in terms of religion as well such places as Tower Hamlets, Birmingham and Slough (National Census, 2001). The Bradford area also has one of the highest numbers of individuals who were born distant the European uniting (National Census, 2001).The bulk of Muslims in Bradford have roots in rural areas, with a large majority of Pakistanis from Mirpur in Azad Kashmir, a mountainous region and one of the least northern areas of Pakistan. This Pakistani community has a growing underprivileged with a significant section of young men under achieving in schools. They are generally characterised by low educational qualifications and occupational concentrations in restaurants and taxi driving. Along with low participation of women in the formal labour market and union at an early age, fewer eld of education, bring low educational skills and large average family and household size contributes to multiple deprivations (Lewis, 2007).Bradford has a rich religious, ethnic and cultural diversity. With a get of ethnic communities, it is preponderantly Muslim (16.1 per cent) and largely of Pakistani origin with 14.5 percent of the total population of the city (National Statistics, 2003 as quoted in Gilligan, 2005). The Pakistani communities are very a great deal concentrated in the inner wards of the city, where they tend to live amidst a relatively self-contained world of businesses and institutions, religious and cultural, which they have created to service, their specific needs (Lewis, 2002, p. 203.) Compared to other majority white communities, Bradfords Asian population is relatively young (National Statistics, 2003). They also tend to be located in areas facing relatively high levels of deprivation and disa dvantage (DETR, 2000 Cantle, 2001 Denham, 2001 as quoted in Gilligan Akhtar, 2005).According to the Change Institutes theme on the Pakistani Muslim Community in England, (2009) currently Bradford has the largest coincidence of its total population (15%) identifying itself as of Pakistani origin in England. The composing suggests that the latest estimates (from Bradford Metropolitan District Council) have indicated that the South Asian population has grown considerably over the last decade to 94,250, and that the people of Pakistani/Kashmiri origin number about 73,900. It encourage states that the South Asian population now represents about 19 per cent of the total population of Bradford and 16 per cent of Bradfords residents are Muslims, compared to the national average of 3 per cent.Therefore, the fire majority of Pakistanis (young and old) have an attachment to Bradford. For many older Pakistanis, who arrived in the late 1950s and early 60s, Bradford is Mirpur is their home from home. For the young generations of Pakistanis it is their home (Din, 2006)Studies on Mirpuris untold of the literature on Pakistanis in Britain, particularly from the late 1970s up to the late 1980s, tends to be based on studies of communities in particular towns, such as Anwar (1979) on Rochdale, Currer (1983) on Bradford, Jeffrey (1979) on Bristol, Shaw (1988) on Oxford, and Werbner (1985 1990) on Manchester.A number of studies have explored the extent of Asian (or Pakistani) migration and settlement across various geographical towns and cities (see Khan, 1974, 1979 Anwar, 1979 Shaw, 1988, 1994 Werbner, 1990). Some have had a particular focus on employment and housing issues (in particular Dahya, 1974 Werbner and Anwar, 1991 Anwar, 1991). Measuring the economic position of communities is easier to look what is more difficult is to examine the experiences and attitudes of young people towards their parents/elders their community and the wider British society.There is an enor mous amount of published work on the early immigrants (Rose et al, 1969 Dahya, 1974 Khan 1979). Rose et al (1969) is a good starting point for cultural studies relating to the Pakistani community. Rose explored issues such as the need to recruit labour immigrants to meet the needs of the British economy and the settlement process of the early immigrants in textile cities like Bradford. In addition he explored the problems encountered, such as obtaining suitable accommodation, access to public services, integration and the problems of adapting to a very different way of life. The experiences of families of early settlers joining their husbands in the United Kingdom have also, to an extent, been explored. This shows close-knit family ties which exist in Pakistani families, put wedlocks, biraderi and gender inequalities in Pakistani households (Khan, 1979).One of the earliest writers on Pakistanis in England is Dahya (1973 1974), who began his research in Birmingham and Bradford in 1956 and continued to publish into the 1980s. He stiff amongst a hand full of researchers who have endeavoured to describe daily life amongst the single, male migrants and the control exercised over them by heads of families back in Pakistan. He clearly explained the nature of the links mingled with the migrants in England and the social structures in operation(p) in Pakistan, based on the need for the migrant, whose family has sent him abroad in order for him to send back remittances and thus benefit not only immediate relatives but also the whole of the biraderi or kinship group. He concludes that the Pakistani migrant community is in a very substantial sense a transitional society going through the descriptor of development from a rural to an urban industrial society (1973 p, 275). Today, with the constant movement between the villages of origin of Pakistani migrants and their places of inhabitancy in Britain, surface way for a constant, rapid social and economic change in both societies, his conclusion tends to be within a situational context of a time, when both were much more separate than they are today.Jamal (1998) carried out a research to explore food consumption experiences the British-Pakistanis in Bradford, UK and the ways the British Pakistanis perceive their food, and their perception of English food in the UK. He identify that the first generation of British-Pakistanis perceive their own food to be traditional, chaste but oily and problematic. Various English foods are perceived by them as foreign, bland, but nonetheless, healthy. The young generation of British-Pakistanis are change magnitudely eat mainstream English foods while also consuming traditional Pakistani food.Rex and Moore (1967) demonstrated high levels of discrimination against immigrants, particularly against Pakistanis, in their field area of Sparkbrook in Birmingham. They showed high concentrations of Pakistans in their lowest housing class, the rooming house. Work by Dahya (1974), on the other hand, argued that Pakistani concentration in multi-occupied accommodation was a preferred, not an enforced, strategy. He argued that chain migration by village and family, the desire to maximize savings, shared language and religion, culinary needs and so forth all argued in favour of sharing accommodation. Thus, although discrimination existed, it was not material to the patterns of concentration that arose.According to the Labour force survey (Spring, 2000 as quoted in Saman Sen, p. 45), Pakistanis are two and a half times more likely than the white population to be unemployed and nearly three times more likely to be in low-paid jobs. According to Cessari (p. 58) the socio-economic marginality of Pakistanis is most often accompanied by residential segregation. She argues that the data from the British census show that Pakistani immigrants tend to live in the most dilapidated or unhealthy housing conditions.Another canvass of south Asian Muslims in Bra dford by Khan (2009) refutes the commonly held belief that British Muslim alienation is an completely Islamist narrative. In fact, the subjects of the study are alienated not only from British society but also from the cultural traditions and values of their own families. The motive of the study was struck by their disconnected individualism and described them as libertines. This clearly contradicts the stereotype of Islamists radicalised by a hatred of Western society. novel study by Bolgnani (2007) highlights forms of homeland attachment and analyses their significance among due south- and third-generation British Pakistanis by comparison with the myth of return that characterised the early pioneer phase of Pakistani migration to Britain. He highlights that Homeland attachment for young British Pakistanis is constituted through school holidays spent in Pakistan, participation there in life-cycle rituals involving the wider kinship network, and the older generations promotion of the idea of Pakistan as a spiritual and cultural homeland. It further suggests that, for the pioneer generation, the myth of return justified a socio-economically do migration. He further argues that for the second and third generations, the homeland attachments and the idea of a possible return toPakistan is a response to contemporary political tensions and Islamophobia. Therefore, he concludes that while myth of return still remains, for the majority, that myth has been revitalised and has a new political significance in the contemporary political context of British Pakistanis.However, another study of south Asian Muslims in Bradford by Khan (2009) refutes the commonly held belief that British Muslim alienation is an entirely Islamist narrative. In fact, the subjects of the study are alienated not only from British society but also from the cultural traditions and values of their own families. The indite of the study was struck by their disconnected individualism and described them as libertines. This clearly contradicts the stereotype of Islamists radicalised by a hatred of Western society.MarriagesThe governing body principle of marital choice in any community is homogamy the choice of a render from a similar social background shaped, for example, by race, class, ethnicity, religion, age and education, thus those who do not conform to these norms, in approximately circumstances, have got sanctions, ranging from disapproval to ostracism (Bradford Commission Report 1996).For Pakistanis, the life-cycle with weddings, births and funerals is particularly lived in a shared way by the family elongated and split over two continents, Europe and Asia. Adults make return trips for various reasons, but most centrally to arrange or perform a childs marriage (Ballard 1987, p. 21 Shaw 2001, p. 319-325).Among British Pakistanis marriage is not only within the same ethnic group, but kin(predicate)-arranged with relatives-according to clan as well as caste system s. In a complex context of ethnicity and caste, marriage is often seen as the chosen mechanism to consolidate biradari3loyalties. Furthermore, due to chain migration, stronger village and kin networks were created, that were later reinforced by transnational arranged marriages, often with cousins from the same area or village.Pakistanis, like many other groups, consider it an important agnate responsibility to find spouses for their children. They prefer to select someone they know well, to be sure that he or she has the qualities they appreciate and go forth make a caring partner. However, Khan (1977) argues in his research that ethnic minorities such as Pakistanis, face two problems namely the limited availability of suitable persons in the restricted local community, and another the fact that their circle of acquaintance in the country of origin tends to shrink within the limits of the extended family. Therefore, for groups with a tradition of blood-related marriage, it is o nly natural for the choice of partner to fall increasely closer within the family circle. This argument is supported by Rao Inbaraj (1979) who give establish to support this view from South India, arguing that for South Asians monogamous, close consanguineous marriage has been practised for thousands of years.Moreover, Bano (1991) discussed the upward social mobility through the institution of marriage amongst British Pakistanis, which she sees as being marked in the Netherlands in comparison to Pakistan. She described the practice of cousin marriages explaining their common prevalence amongst relatively wealthy, rural, as well as landowning families. She then discusses the extension of cousin marriage (Ibid. p.15), proposing that it could include partners being chosen from distant family, or from the same religious tendency, or from the parents close business contacts.According to a research conducted by boilersuit and Nichols (2001), the U.K. Asian population, particularly with in the Pakistani communities, tends to have high levels of consanguineous unions which are correlated with high rates of morbidity and mortality (Darr and Modell 1988 terrycloth et al. 1985 Bundey et al. 1991 as quoted in Overall Nickols, 2001). It is not unusual to observe a remainder of first-cousin marriages of around 50% (Darr and Modell 1988).Modood et al. argue that the Asian older generation prefers marriages to be arranged by families within the clan or extended family and that love marriages were not the most appropriate way of finding a life-partner. The most frequent argument supporting this view was that love marriages are equated with high levels of break up. Arranged marriages are seen as diminishing the likelihood of divorce because the partners are chosen for their compatibility and suitable family backgrounds (Modood et al. 1997).According to most researchers there is a continuing prevalence for high rates of intercontinental and intra-caste marriages (over 50%) between British Pakistani spouses and brides or grooms in Pakistan (Charsley, 2003 Shaw, 2001). It is suggested that the pressure for such marriages is seemingly exerted by close relatives in Pakistan who use marriage as a route for their children to migrate legally to Britain. According to recent research, however, the spouses marrying into Britain often suffer isolation, and have poor employment prospects (Charsley, 2003). Furthermore, most Pakistani children are conformable and agree, however reluctantly, to cousin and intercontinental marriages (Jacobson, 1998). The Home Office statistics show an influx of 15,000 prospective marriage partners (male and female) from the Indian sub-continent arriving in Britain in 2001 alone, the vast majority arranged by parents for their British-born children (Werbner, 2005). Charsley (2003) reports that, in 2000, there were 10,000 people both men and women, who married into Braitian. Werbner (2005) explains this phenomenon by arguing that Is lam permits marriage with a wide range of close kin and affines, and according to recent researches, the majority of Pakistani marriages continue to take place within the biradari a local agnatic declension and, more widely, an ego-focused kindred of traceable affines and consanguineous kin. She argues that this notion of biradari helps mediate between kinship, locality and zat (caste), and that such biradaris are ranked and reflect class and caste status in the Pakistani society (Werbner, 2005).Darr and Modell (1988) conducted a research that carried inculcated an examination answered by 100 randomly selected British Pakistani mothers in the postpartum wards of two hospitals in West Yorkshire, Bradford, showed that 55 were married to their first cousins, while only 33 cases had individuals whether their mother had been married to her first cousin. Darr and Modell argued that there results indicated an increasing rate of consanguineous marriage in the relatively small group studied , contrasting with the decreasing rate which was observed in some other countries. They had enquired 900 women in hospitals in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1983 showing 36% first cousin marriages, 4% first cousin once removed, 8% second cousin, and 53% unrelated (of which 25% were in the Biraderi (same kinship). These figures are almost identical with those account in Britain for the grand parental generation (who were married while they were in Pakistan), and supported their conclusion that the frequency of close consanguineous marriage was increasing among British Pakistanis (p. 189).According to another research by Modell (1991) both in Pakistan and the UK about 75% of marriages are between relatives, but the frequency of most consanguineous marriage has increased with migration, about 55% of couples of reproductive age in England being married to a first cousin. In many cases the relationship is closer than first cousins because of previous consanguineous marriages in the family. The proportion of cousin marriages is likely to fall but the absolute number will increase, at least for the next generation, because the population is growing.According to the results of a study by Alam Husband (2006), Muslims comprise the UKs largest religious minority, and are the object of analysis and concern within various policy arenas and popular debates, including immigration, marriage and partner selection, social cohesion and integration. Their research analysed experiences and narratives from 25 men aged 16 to 38, their accounts shedding light on what it means to be a Bradfordian of Pakistani and Muslim heritage. It also highlighted the policy context surrounding the mens attitudes toward various facets of their lives, including marriage, family, work, the city in general, and the neighbourhood in which they lived. Alam Husband concluded that although there were some generational continuity of cultural values and norms, several significant changes were also simultaneously taking place.Shaw (2001) began his study by supposing that in the 1990s, forty years after Pakistani migration to Britain began, the rate of consanguineous marriage among British Pakistanis would show signs of decline, as the urbanized and British-educated descendants of pioneer immigrants adopt the values of many contemporary Westerners and reject arranged marriages. However, on the contrary based on the statistical data he gathered, he saw that Pakistani marriage patterns showed no such clear trend, and instead there was some turn out that, within certain groups of British Pakistanis, the rate of first-cousin marriage had increased kind of than declined. The study offered an analysis and interpretation of a high rate of marriage to relatives, especially first cousins, in a sample of second-generation British Pakistanis. It argued that the high rate of such marriage is not a simple saying of a cultural preference. The research also underlines the inadequacy of a concealment cat egory Pakistani in relation to marriage patterns and choices. Shaw suggested that certain variations in region of origin, caste, socio-economic status, and upbringing must be considered in analysis in order to reveal the processes that have generated this pattern and allowed it to persist.Simpson (1997) claims that in Bradford 50 per cent of marriages are trans-continental, i.e. the partner sare from Pakistan. He has proposed two reasons that help explain the reasons for choosing partners from outside Britain, and has analysed the ways these reasons operate independently or may reinforce each other. Firstly, there is a cultural preference for consanguinity, usually marriage to a cousin, which is prevalent among the Pakistani community. As Sarah Bundey et al. (1990) showed in her research that 69 per cent of Birmingham Pakistani marriages are consanguineous and it is expected that if current researchers were carried out they will show similar levels in Bradford, considerably higher t han in Pakistan itself. Simpson (1997) further argues that since emigration from Pakistan to Britain is usually seen as a positive achievement, marriage also functions specifically to fulfil a commitment to improve the family fortunes. He gives the second reason that many Muslim young people in Bradford post a cultural preference for partners with traditional values and that sentiment is echoed by their parents who then arrange or help to arrange their marriage partners from Pakistan. Simpson even points out that, this trend should not be seen as simply a preference for subservient wives albeit this may be true for some. He further points out that there is qualitative evidence that some young Muslim women see men with traditional values from Pakistan as providing a more secure family future than the more liberal friends with whom they have grown up in Bradford. This Simpson points out may coincide both with the strong Muslim and the strong Pakistani identities that are noted among Bradford young women, based on researchers by Kim Knott and Sajda Khokher (1993) and by Kauser Mirza (1989).Modood and Berthoud (1997) carried out a research to show that among ethnic minority groups 20 per cent of African-Caribbeans

Sociological Perspectives on the Family

Sociological Perspectives on the FamilySociology and the familyIntroductionThis essay provide focus on two sociology theories, which be the family mannerstime motorbike and the functionalist snuggle. It will give a plan all overview of separately theory. The essay will go on to turn over theory to practice, as this essay will make reference to a service user with a sudo name kat oncen as Sean, to up hold confidentiality. time applying the family aliveness history wheel well-nigh to the particular proposition service user, this essay will reexamine the theories strengths and limitations.In applying the functionalist commence, this essay will highlight how the family is seen as an institution in its self and how other institutions inter play in the service users deportment. The theories used in this essay will highlight atomic number 18as which apply to the service user and areas in which the theory lacks netherstanding of the complex situations. goal will be drawn .Overview of separately theoryAccording to Falicov (1988, p. 9) the family support round of golf has been applied widely to hearty science, he explains that the life course of families evolves done predictable arranges which appear universal in spite of ones culture or subculture. Family transits to different sets as form of tenacity and changes over the life motorbike. Falicov identifies two main aspects to the family life speech rhythm, which are cohesiveness and adaptability (Falicov1988, p. 9).The cohesion relates to the interdependence parts of ones life and adaptability refers to the flexibility of the family to change, in this the family daily round essentially focuses on a boors passage into adulthood in spite of appearance a family setting (Falicov, C. 1988, p. 9). As family goes through its continuity phase and changes, theres a need for the role of each member in the family to be recognised. Claveirole, A Gaughan, M. (2011) determines the family life sta ve as a developmental way of looking at families it sufferd a manakin for an idiosyncratics development of family members and the cycle itself is influenced by socio cultures developments divulgeside the family.Falicov, C. (1988, p. 13) says the family life cycle is a subject to mirror timing and coping strategies. Carter, E.A McGoldrick, M. (1999) supports this model as they stated the family cycle is really ones individual life cycle, which changes and moves in a framework within the body structure of a family. This theory meets into account that ones framework is structured by the families ultimo, present and future hopes for an individual introduced into the family life cycle. The family life cycle highlights the circumstance that ones experiences within the family life cycle impacts on our star of self, for vitrine the determine we produce and the development of our personalities. This applies to each individual in spite of the structure, qualities of familys or g enetics of ones family. The family has a responsibility to provide whats known as a natural baseline for an individual to commence physically, mentally, socially and emotionally, it excessively holds responsibility for the social institutions in which will pertain the growth of the individual i.e. schools and church they may attend. The family life cycle it-self is broken in into six parts, which are Independence (second determine changes), coupling (with or without espousal and synergy), parenting young children (participating in reproduction), parenting adolescents, launching adult children and retirement (facing senior historic period). each(prenominal) present contains mastering certain skills or milestones and once this is achieved it allows for the next stage to be developed.There are galore(postnominal) ship canal to study the family which creates many different perspectives. One of these ways is through the functionalist mount. The functionalist blast focuses on the relationship between the family and high society. When looking at the family the functionalist approach shot studies the function in which the family severs to society, such as reproduction and stabilization. Shaws 2002 explains the development of the functionalist approach stating that the perspective emerged as a leading suppositious model, mainly in the area of sociology as troika well known sociologists influenced the model. Wallace and Wolf (1995, p.76) defines functionalism, as a whole theoretical perspective, which takes into account four main areas, which are Functional Independence in maintaining social structure, Collective norms to maintain social order/ stability, Societal chemical equilibrium in areas of conformity, adjustments and consensus, along with social constituents and finally Social Pathology and deviance which fetch resulted from maladjustments of social wholes.The functionalist perspective studies society on two levels called macro and Micro. Macro focuses on society as a whole, polices, work and the community in general. Micro focuses on the individual, the family and reproduction system. The functionalist approach realizes society is broken into institutions. Institutions are defined by Giddens (1984, p.24) as the much enduring social features in life. The main institution in society is the family, OSullivan (2012, p.1) define the family as a natural, primary and fundamental unit group in society a object lesson institution that possesses inalienable and imprescriptibly rights. It is the nuclear family (a yoke with a depended child or children) thats a core unit in all types of society. The usefulness of a family in society is immeasurable in many ways, for example socialization and social order and so by seen the family as a whole in society, it provided changes in society as the needs of family changed, and creating change depends on how societies are governed/run. In support of this is Fletcher (1973) who states th e role of the family in terms of socialization and social order falls into two categories which are satisfying human needs and purposes and providing a functional interconnection with the wider social networks of society (school, church).Overview of the client family circumstancesSean is a male aged 27 years. He has an skilful deterrent and has tended to(p) services for those who wee-wee an intellect disability all his life. World health Organisation (2014) define intellectual disability as extensively reduction on ones capability to be aware of learning and to learn and apply new(a) skills, in this, individuals are affected to head individually as the disability have affected their development. Sean is now in a service that promotes license for those who have an intellectual disability. Sean lives in rude capital of Ireland, a partly disadvantaged area. He lacks motivation and self confidence. He has the capacity to physically work in certain areas and has work for a s hort period of time. He had the capacity to write and read, but has neer been assisted appropriately in the area and is now restricted to learn. He has a great knowledge about current affairs and enjoys lecture about this with people he knows. He has a passion for symphony and one of his hobbies is listening to music. He grew up in a family of trine boys who are younger than him, his mother and father. One of Sean brothers pasted away collect to tragic accident. The family members are very supportive and its clear Sean has a immobile attachment to them.Critique of strengths limitations of each theory in relation to the particular client familyLimitations of the family life cycleThe family life cycle does not take into account the fact that an individual bottomland skip or senesce to another step without fulfilling each step as a sequence. For example in Seans subject area he hasnt well(p)y transitioned out of the independence stage but has committed to a new social syste m which is attending his work on a daily basis. He has also started at the independence stage and may skip past the coupling, parenting and launching children stages and still reach his senior years. The family life cycle can be studied and understood from two perspectives a limitation to this is that in general it focused more on the family perspective. For example in Sean case he has an intellectual disability, but up until Sean started attending the service which promotes independence his perspective wasnt accounted for. The independence stage highlights one gaining their identity within the family and outside the family unfortunately for Sean this transition has become difficult and is still a working progress, because in the area of gaining roles and learning the rules within the family Sean gain a role of depended, eve in areas he had the capacity to be independent for example making a sandwich or buying himself new clothes. The rules underlining this depend behavior was neve r challenged and from a family perspective is understood as they wanted to care for Sean in the go around way they taught. Caring for Sean in this way would have also become a norm for the family, as he is depended on the family for other things such as transport.The family life cycle was limited as the understanding of the stages wasnt promoted or applied specifically to Sean case (a person with an intellectual disability). In general the family life cycle is utilise as vanquish practice, when really it should be implemented loosely and globally for families as a clear outline of ones transitions. In Seans case if the family understood when he was born that he needed to transition though these stages (for a positive/ practical future) to the best of his capacity even with an intellectual disability then he could have reached his full potential for example reading, writing living more one by one which would benefit him and his family, as the family will reach their retirement an d senior years and Sean would have learnt the sanctioned life skills which he needs at a more practical time and he would have become little depended on the family and became more confident and motivated in his everyday life.Strengths of the family life cycleThe family life cycle strength is that it highlights ones life cycle in general. In Seans case he will reach his senior year, in this the life cycle insures that one builds on each stage to the best of their capacity so they reach their full potential as individuals. Working with Sean gives him the opportunity to develop as a person and live his life in the way in which he chooses. For example he acknowledges now that he want to become more independent and aspire to how his younger brothers are living and by applying the family life cycle to best practice and the family it gives him the opportunity to so accordingly.The independence stage is defined by My health Albert (2014) as the most critical stage of the family life cycl e. It is a stage where one begins separate emotionally from the family and in Seans case he is doing by speaking out on how he feels and by participating in such activities as buying himself everythings like food and treating himself to DVDs. However, the family life cycle begins when a child is born therefore the life cycle gave Sean the chance to be able to work on the stages even at a afterwards stage in life. For example Sean is 27 years of age and its now hes working intensely towards the other stages of the family life cycle and even though some stages may not apply to him its and a benefit for him to be able to work towards the ones he is undetermined of reaching with support from services and his family.Limitations of the functionalist approachA limitation to the functionalist approach is the elevated or overly harmonious image of the family, one in which is well interconnected, holding social order and socialization. It doesnt provide a practical image of the stresses and difficulties in which the traditional family go through. For example Sean was the primary child born into the family and he had an intellectual disability. This could have distorted the estimationl image/norm/traditional of what the couple had expected with the birth of their primary child. The functionalist approach does not consider the alternatives ways for the couple to provide the basic care for a child with an intellectual disability. For example in Sean case, the functionalist approach doesnt highlighted the importance of services provided for a couple with a child who has an intellectual disability, as the couple may need to depend preferably on services such as the health services to manoeuver them in providing the best care for Sean.The services would have to be integrated in Sean case at a earlier level which this approach does not highlight, for example they could provide information in the area of intellectual disabilities, enrolling him in appreciate school, i ntegrating him into society. In the area of developing institutions functionalist says its developed out of satisfying the human needs through fulfilling and organizing several(a) human social needs, in Sean case he hasnt been accomplish academically, such as reading and writing and his social needs also lack as the hasnt intergraded or participated in areas of his choice. The various ways in which the functionalist approach organizes and institutionalizes the human needs is ultimately creating social structure in society, although it does create order its not the best approach to practice as it creates stigma around such areas as intellectual disability for example Sean had the capacity to attend mainstream school but repayable to the fact he had an intellectual disability he attended a special needs school. The stigma from institutionalizing those who have an intellectual disability promoted the idea they didnt have the capacity to make decisions for themselves (social norm) or to participate in activities including intimate relationships, for example Sean has the capacity to make a decision for himself but overdue to the influence/ norms of the family and society he wasnt given the opportunity.Strengths of the functionalist approachThe strength of the functionalist approach is the fact it highlights the importance of services for families caring for children. In Sean case he was able to attend services in which provided the best care for those who have an intellectual disability at the time. It highlights the importance of family and even with the services interacting with the family the family fundamentally provide the basic fundamental care. The family provide the think ofs and norms for the individual and they take responsibility to intergraded their children into the community, for example Sean attend the service regularly as the family provide the transport for him, Sean father encourages Sean to go to the movies and participate in music as he ha s a passion for music. Sean own value shine through as he completes such things as disbursement money, a value in which relates to his home environment and where he was brought up. As society grows, the social needs become greater, which in turn gives minority groups a voice. The functionalist approach appreciates and highlights these changes. Once highlight the changes can be implemented into lawmaking systems, it can develop the political system and education system.In the case of Sean he can voice his opinion and make decisions for himself, due to the rights provided by policies which have been amended. An example of this would be the work done around the issues of sexuality and relationships for those who have an intellectual disability. The Irish raise Education internet has the primary aim to promote a high professional timeworn in the area of sex education for those who have an intellectual disability (Allen and Seery 2002, p.3)ConclusionIn conclusion to this essay has g iven a brief over view of two sociological perspectives, which are the family life cycle and the functionalist approach. In reference to these theories it has applied a practice based example, in which it gives an in depth review of the strengths and limitations of the each theory.In reference to the family life cycle, it highlights the different stages in which Sean has progressed through and ones he could work towards with support. The family life cycle helps predict stages in which the service user will not be able to transition into due to lack of support from family and the services provided and in general because their capacity wont allow.In applying the functionalist perspective, it highlights the interaction of the family and the services available for those who have an intellectual disability. It highlights how this interaction is of up most strategic to better the quality of life for service users.BibliographyAllen, M. Seery, D. (2002) The Current Status of Sex Education Practice For People with an Intellectual Disability In Ireland, Online Dublin Irish Sex Education Network. unattached athttp//www.sexualhealthcentre.com/PUBLICATIONS/SHC%20Disability%20Report2.pdf Accessed 27 January 2014American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (2013) Intellectual Disability Online addressable at http//aaidd.org/intellectual-disability/definition.Ux9ntT9_sR8Accessed 1 February 2014Carter, E.A McGoldrick, M (1999) The expanded family life cycle individual, family, and social perspectives, Boston Allyn and BaconClaveirole, A and Gaughan, M. (2011) Understanding Children and Young Peoples Mental Health United KingdomJohn Wiley Sons LtdFalicov, C.J (1988) Family Transitions Continuity and Change over the vitality Cycle, New York The Guilford PressFletcher, R (1978) The Family and Marriage in Britian An analysis and moral assessment,Virgina PenguinGiddens, A. (1984) The Constitution of Society Outline of the Theory of Structuration, Unit ed States of America The University of calcium PressOSullivan, D. (2012) A Critical Analysis of the protection of families under the Irish Constitution of 1937 Online Dublin Colr .Available at http//corkonlinelawreview.com/editions/2012/ACriticalAnalysisOfTheProtectionOfFamiliesUnderTheIrishConstitutionOf1937.DonnachaOSullivan.pdf Accessed 29 January 2014My Health Albert (2014) Family life cycle Independence Stage Online available athttps//myhealth.alberta.ca/health/pages/conditions.aspx?hwid=ty6171ty6174Accessed 5 January 2014Shaw V.N, (2002) Substance Use and Abuse Sociological Perspectives United States of America Greenwood issue Group IncWallace, R. A and Wolf, A. (1995) Contemporary Sociological Theory Continuing the unpolluted Tradition, New Jersey Prentice-Hall.World Health Organisation (2014) Intellectual Disability, Online Available at http//www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/noncommunicable-diseases/mental-health/news/news/2010/15/childrens-right-to-family-life/definition -intellectual-disability Accessed on fifth March 2014

Europe Between Secularization And Christianity Religion Essay

atomic number 63 Between Secularization And Christianity compensateeousness Essay terminate we still today perceive europium as the last protection of unconsecratedism? Is the none of devotion as we used to know it a ain payoff that should not appear on the public space and fifty-fifty play a role at the state?In the year 2007 an international conference was organized at the Libera Universit degli Studi HYPERLINK http//www.luspio.it/HYPERLINK http//www.luspio.it/San Pio VHYPERLINK http//www.luspio.it/ in Rome to guess active the nature and development of the European policy-making thought later on 1989 in the midst of globalization and smart humanism. unity of the important issues discussed was a incredulity of how the several(predicate) political and philosophical cultures own come back to questions rough worships role in public sphere. In furnishition to the issue of identity, this is the exchange intellectual question of our convictions and unmatchable of the just about exciting current zones of interdisciplinary research and studies in both European and non European studies and however in or so postcolonial research centers.It seems quire relevant to ask these questions with the quite fewer issues that sprung up with the unification and Europeanization processes between much than 27 states now of the genuine those in the buff abundant and tremendous wars that lasted for decades.In his article A new Humanism in Europe between Secularism and the Return of Religion Dnillo Brechi describe that tout ensemble the same most renown intellectuals of atheism and secularism have expounded to raise questions about the limits of secularism. religions such as Judaism and Christianity. Habermas is to a greater extent and more than sceptical about the dissertation of an unstoppable secularization of the West, if not of the entire world. On the contrary, the last years have lay downn how secularized Europe is much more of an ex ception than a rule.1 unmatched of the main drives for these questions about Europes secularism is that dialectic on European identity and the dress of religion in the incorporated validation in adjoinition to the big refusal and rejection of bomb calorimeters to join the European conjunction and which is a rejectionsee http//www.telospress.com/main/index.php?main_page=news_articleHYPERLINK http//www.telospress.com/main/index.php?main_page=news_arti light(a)ticle_id=195HYPERLINK http//www.telospress.com/main/index.php?main_page=news_arti pass byticle_id=195article_id=195most probably due to the occurrence of washout be a Muslim rustic.Words wish Lord God, Christian Patrimony, and Christian Club in the European constitution project appeared to put European secularism in doubt despite the regular talk about the loyalty to secularism. This thought has been reinforced by withdraws and declarations of personalities and European parties about accepting turkeys joining the European conjunction as a threat to the idea of Europe as a Christian Club.2. Christian Religion in the matching constitutionThe dialectics of Christianity and secularism appear in the genuinely daily practices of political and loving substructures in a competitive yet complex manner. In his Religion and Modernization Sociologists and Historians Debate the Secularization Thesis, Bruce Steve wrote Where Culture, identity, and sense of worth are gainsayd by a source promoting either an alien religion or rearing secularism and that source is negatively valued, secularization impart be inhibited. Religion infraside provide resources for the defense of a national, local, ethnic, or status group culture. Again, Poland and the Irish Republic are prime suits, but Ulster rear end desirewise be included, as in more attenuated form send packing somewhat other(a) dual societies, or the peripheries of secularizing societies, resistant to the alien encroachment of the center. I n the amalgamate kingdom, for lawsuit, the greater attachment to their ghost interchangeable institutions of the welsh and still more of the economical evidences this factor. The national culture and identity are associated with presbytery and chapel against the attempted heathen domination of metropolitan secularity. In Northern Ireland, rates of church battle are elevated pp 17. 2The involvement of religion is today more apparent as pressures assumeed to insist on the Christianity of Europe in the unified constitution since the European conference in 2003. This also appeared in the discussions cogitate to the issues of abortion and teaching religion in schools then also with the enlargements and the cellular inclusion of Eastern European countries known for their excessive religiosity like Romania, Bulgaria and Poland.p 17 Bruce, Steve, ed. Religion and Modernization Sociologists and Historians Debate the Secularization Thesis. Oxford Clarendon, 1992This later instigate d umpteen troubles for this purpose and supported the current that offers for a Christian Europe with the extend of talks about accepting Muslim bomb calorimeter into the aggregate with its very dense population which in its turn created some fears and worries about the diffusion of Islam at the extent of Christianity.The Ex French president Valery Giscard dEstaing who presided the conference essay to find a solution accepted by everyone without affecting the stalls secular roof e modifiedly with the French insistence on the ruler of secularism. He actually suggested three norms included in article 51 related to the churches and ghostly organizationsThe European Union should respect the go down of churches, organizations and brisk spectral groups inside the member states.The European Union should respect the position of organizations with philosophical beliefs.The European Union should be committed to open a wide, honest and organized dialogue with churches and organiza tions, in recognition to their identity and participation. in spite of the medium solutions that contrast with secularism, looking at the problem proves a special characteristic and existence of religion, regardless of its bias to Christianity, it does in fact negate the article included in the constitution3 related to the freedom of expression and ghostlike beliefs which permits the freedom of beliefs without prejudices or favorism.The bias to Christianity is however clear in the manoeuver pointing out to the Christian religion and church members without mentioning other religious institutions. either the articles and norms mention particularly the word church sort of of religious institutions add to that the fact that opening a dialogue with the church means implicitly recognizing its role in the issues and matters of the Union.See Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, authoritative Journal of the European Union, C 310, Volume 47, 16.12.2004. (HTML/PDF) or go to h ttp//www.unizar.es/euroconstitucion/Treaties/Treaty_Const.htm3. The justice of European secularismDespite the continuous European insistence on the dogma of secularism, the actual and concrete reality proves the strong existence of the Christian footing even in public spaces that is supposed to be far from religion according to the secular text that means the complete split between religion and the state a reason why Turkey is refused integrating into the EU.Another contradiction is that although the Turkish Constitution4 dictates the secularity of the state, m each countries among the EU blames it for what they call an fractional commitment to the principles of secularism. They blame Turkey for teaching religious courses at schools and devising it obligatory and also for paying the teachers from the government bud stick out at. They also accuse Turkey of not respecting the rights of minorities and discriminating between them on a religious root word favoring the Sunnah to t he other minorities and privileging some cultural and political rights of some minorities to the others like Orthodox, Catholics and Armens.The other contradiction is that this happens elsewhere in mevery of the European countries that claim secularism. Italy for example, insists on teaching Christianity in the public schools and hire priests from the churches to teach Christianity and get paid from the government. While describing Italy, L. Mariotti wrote in his book Italy Past and Present From the earliest period of Christianity, until today. Italy seemed to be de sign(a) to be its chief seat, its prideful metropolis p 34. 5. Also, the sate allows people to pay some of the valuatees to the churches and puzzle some subsidies to help them build new churches and religious places. Italy also allows schools to get funds and subsidies. The church marriages in their turn are more reckon than the civil ones.In England as well motion, the queen is considered the head of the church, s he also supports inter-faith relations, practically come across with leaders of other religions, and granting her personal patronage to the HYPERLINK http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Council_of_Christians_and_JewsCouncil of Christians and Jews and is considered as guardiansee part I article II, c1 of the Turkish Constitution athttp//en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_Republic_of_Turkey2.1Mariotti,L. Italy Past and Present. London Oxford University, 1994of the Faith6. The queen has legion(predicate) exceptional privileges apart from the tax exonerations. It is a fact that 26 members of the display panel of lords in UK are priests from churches. The equivalent issue applies to Denmark whose fantan includes a number of priests from the church and are nominate by a minister called minister of church affairs.What is more is that secular parties in most Europe do not oppose the Popes agreements between the church and the state, especially the Vatican. These agreements usuall y delve a specific position to the religion in the state via legal texts. In February of the year 1984, Italy signed an agreement with the Vatican that gives a specific value to the religious culture and takes into regard the catholic principles which is indeed a part of the historical patrimony of the Italian peoples. In an article entitled Religion in Italian Schools how it is taught, and to Whom?, we empathise The Italian Republic, recognizing the value of religious culture, and dungeoning in mind that the principles of universality are part of the historic patrimony of the Italian people, will unfold to assure, among the broader goals of education, the teaching of the Catholic religion in all public schools beneath university level. Respecting the freedom of conscience and educational responsibility of parents, everyone is guaranteed the right to choose whether or not to take advantage of such teaching. When enrolling, students or their parents can exemplar this right, up on request of the school authorities and their choice may not give rise to any form of discrimination. 7.What is more is that when some disagreed and opposed this expression, the high court rejected the appeal and emphasized its acknowledgment of the agreement.The same thing happened in Spain. Despite the law that appeared in 1980 that tautnesses the freedom of religions and equality of the different religious sects, the state however allowed itself to make agreements and relationships with Churches 8, in addition to providing them with financial support that was declared on a text of law under what is called Not For Profit entities with charitable purposes.See http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II_of_the_United_KingdomReligionSee http//www.beginningwithi.com/italy/ nutriment/religion.htmSee religion in Spain in Livingstone, E. A. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. LondonOxford University Press, 2006.Now In Greece, a very good example of contradicting with secularism, the state declares a direct relationship between the state and the church9, even after the democratic transition in the year 1975, for the religious institution exist with a legal text and under the law. Many practices and religious pacts take the form of a legal matter like religious marriages that is recognized by the law. Also, Greece is he only country that still refuses to have Islamic mosques built on its lands.The situation may differ a bit in Eastern Europe that was under the rule of communist regime systems which limited the role of churches and nationalized its possessions and properties. However, immediately after the fall of communism, the church in fact restored its properties and its position in society. Poland here might be the best example we can illustrate with in this case for it is clear the very important role that the church played in overthrowing the communist regime and starting to inaugurate a new regime with a pope agreement and the Vatican sig ned in 1995 by the parliament, and when Poland was obliged to lawfully distinguish between the state and the church in order to be able to join the European Union, Poland insisted on preserving its Christian identity through and through and through the name secular state with a Christian patrimony.4. The position of the VaticanThe impulse for Christian identity of the united Europe was not however sought-after(a) only by the member states but there has also been the business leader of the Vatican, the biggest and strongest religious institution in Europe and which put a heap of pressures and lobbied against the political leaderships and decision makers in the states and their representatives in the European Union to stress the Christian identity in the constitution.10Before the ratification of the Maastricht Agreement in 1979, the Vatican suggested an idea to be added to the articles related to the rights and the general freedoms which is to mention in the constitution that Chri stianity is the Christian cultural patrimony of European peoples. This recommendation was refuse with the melodic line that the Vatican is9. ibid10. No better account of this extremism can be like Michael Barkuns Religion and the Racist Right The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement which examines the origins and ideology of the questionable Christian Identity Movement.not a member of the European Union yet, just before the Amsterdam conference of the same year Italy, Germany and Portugal espouse this suggestion and hence the Vatican practiced its pressures on representatives of the member states until he succeeded in adopting the article number 11 that stipulates the preservations and the privileges that churches and religious communities should have without the intervention of any states. Thus, with this ratification all the member states became obliged to abide with these privileges although this contradicts with secularism. Pressures and lobbying continued with the star t of talks and discussions of the constitution project in order to modify and add in the article 11 some words that are to salve the important role of the church through calling the Union to start honest and clear dialogues and in a constant manner with the churches and religious organizations.In Chapter III named The Vatican Power Avro Manhattan goes far in his huge well documented book The Vatican in World Politics and says that . the diplomatic machinery of the Vatican would be of little value if the Pope had to rely upon it alone. What gives the Vatican its tremendous power is not its diplomacy as such, but the fact that behind its diplomacy stands the Church, with all its manifold world-embracing activities. The Vatican as a diplomatic centre is but one aspect of the Catholic Church. Vatican diplomacy is so influential and can defend such great power in the diplomatic-political field because it has at its government activity the tremendous machinery of a spiritual organizati on with ramifications in every country of the planet. In other words, the Vatican, as a political power, employs the Catholic Church as a religious institution to assist the attainment of its goals. P 28. 11It is worth mentioning also that before the conference related to the rising of Europe was held, the Catholic academy in Berlin organized a abuting to discuss the Christian social responsibilities which gathered hundreds of personalities from twenty different European states. Among the recommendations was calls for demonstrations in the winter of 2004 that should be open to all those who are kindle in the Christian message that the civil11. See page 28 on Manhattan, A. The Vatican In World Politics. London C.A. Watts Co., LimitedGaer Associations, Inc, 1949.society should ignorant itself upon. The meeting stressed the importance of the European Union as a federal Union that encourages connections and cooperation which is a principle that allows churches to practice and play their roles without any hurdles from the state.The other controversy is hat these meetings and gatherings were welcomed by the institutions of the Union whose parliament supported and financed indirectly these meetings.In a parliament meeting date October 10th 2004 related to the budget status of 2005, Salvador Garriga Polledo the Spanish politician and fraction of the European Parliament with the PeopleHYPERLINK http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples_Party_(Spain)HYPERLINK http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples_Party_(Spain)s Party, part of the European PeopleHYPERLINK http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Peoples_PartyHYPERLINK http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Peoples_Partys Party and sits on the European Parliaments Committee on Budgets and also a substitute for the Committee on Budgetary Control and the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, Polledo suggested an limiting which consists of transferring a million and a half Euros to finance the international callowness Day ar guing that it is the day that gathers all European youth to call for values of justice, freedom and coexistence, without mentioning of course the truth of this gathering and that it was the German Catholic Church which was behind organizing this event and that they invited more than four thousand journalists to transfer the words of the Pope of Vatican which he was going to deliver in bet of eight thousand catholic youngsters. His words in fact contained some preaching that mention the Christian roots of Europe and others related to Peace.For this reason, the head of the Catholic Church does not oppose the calls of both Catholics and Jewish-Orthodox to unify to defend their Christian heritage. In February 2003, John Paul II delivered a preach at the Saint-Sige Church in the Vatican in await of the catholic politicians where he urged them to fight in order to keep the word of god in the constitution he also urged them to unify with their orthodox brothers. A few Days after that call, the president of the papal board asked to meet with representatives of the Orthodox Church.It is clear then that the Vatican with its continuous pressures was able to unify all the right and left parties in Italy to call their representatives in the Union to mention the expression the Christian Patrimony in the constitution. This was parallel to many actions led by bishops and archbishops and secretary of the Vatican state to put many more pressures on the rest of the European Politicians.5. Why Turkey Only?One cannot understand the insistence on the Christian identity without the strong remonstration and disagreement about Turkeys joining the European Union for all the arguments and proofs show that the main reason behind not accepting Turkey is for her organism Islamic otherwise Turkey has all the necessary potentials and institutions to fit in the EU.As a matter of fact, Turkey is one of the founding states of the European council and the Organization for Security and Coop eration in Europe in 1995. Turkey is also one of the pillars of the NATO and holds the biggest military after the US, this means that Turkey has the biggest array in the western European Union that constitutes now a vital fixings of the European Military. It is not possible neither to deny Turkeys role in protecting Europe from the Eastern alliances during the cold war for it was the country that dual-lane frontiers with Russia and then played a vital role in preventing Russias Military incursions and raids in the European lands. Turkey did equally the same in confronting the Russian maritime presence in the black sea.Turkey has no doubt an economic importance as well for Europe. It represents a big and new market and a gate for big European expected economic enlargements in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasus. Through this Europe could control slipway of transports of the Hydrocarbons, Oil and Gas from Iraq, Russia and Iran. It has also immense water resources in the time of expected wars on waters. There are also many political fears that Turkey will turn its back to Europe and go instead towards Asia and the Middle East especially Iran which would mean emphasizing its Islamic belong and thus for Europe the Danger of the existence of a strong Islamic country on the frontiers of Europe.It is clear then that despite all these qualifications the right wing Christian parties in Europe insist to refuse the idea of Turkey joining the EU, which we can deduce now is because of the will to keep Europe unified with a Christian civilization and which would be peril if Turkey with its 70 million inhabitants join the EU.These fears and worries are also explained by the fact that if Turkey joins the EU, this would lead to a big demographic transformation. hard-hitting in the internet today one could easily find some propaganda films and documentaries about Muslim demographics and how immigration threatens the European existence, and as a matter of fact si nce 1990, 90 % of immigration towards Europe has been Islamic immigration 12 and eyepatch in France it is a 1.8 children per family, Muslims 8.1 per family which are not very slick statistics. Claims that in some parts of European cities there are more mosques than churches are also not plausible. However the German government for example decided to talk publicly about this matter and said that while now there 52 millions Muslims in Europe, it will double in just 20 years. All this is considered to be an obstacle to the Christian Club. about of the opposing European countries present many arguments from the past storey of Turkey especially human rights, and racial ethnic minorities like the Armenian race murder in 1915, the persecution of Christians in 1955 and the invasion of Cyprus in 1973. So this resort to history is an argument to legitimize their fears. However, what is certain also is that these kinds of crimes and mistakes happened also in most of European countries.Some of these arguments might be true but these violations can also apply to many of the countries that joined the EU especially those related to public and general freedoms and rights especially the Easter European countries like Slovenia and Estonia and may be even some of western European countries also like Spain with the worse human rights records in violating minorities and immigrants rights with the most horrible ways like12. See http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3X5hIFXYUshooting them, torturing them and humiliating them.It is clear therefore that the EU has a specific and a systematic schema to marginalizing Turkeys candidature to join the EU. In his Turkey and the EU An Awkward chance for EU Membership, Arikan Harun wrote In fact, the EU has developed an alternative approach towards Turkey, which can best be described as a containment strategy, designed to support indefinitely the prospect of membership while anchoring Turkey in the European structure through a close relation son the other hand pointing out to Turkeys failure to undertake the necessary policy reforms to meet requirements for EU membership which has enabled the EU to legitimize its hard policy military posture towards Turkeys membership. P 2. 136. ConclusionThe joining Turkey to the European Union poses more questions and problematic on the notion of Europeanization and Europeness which should as said the European Deputy in the European parliament, a peace project that should not be limited to the western Christian patrimony for the joining of Turkey will benefit Europe to a great extent.The definition of Europe through its Christian heritage or the Enlightenment era is not very convincing for there are no objective criteria that could dress ones future and identity. So what is then Europe? It is what we want it to be through a subjective meaning of human rights and democracy which is in fact unsustainable since we have witnessed a war which is not very far n time, that of former Yugo slavia and also through the implication of many European countries with the CIA in kidnapping people and sending them to Guantanamo. The strategic importance of Europe in Central Asia and Middle East is clear and vital and so it is for the world. The challenge in my view will soon always be that continuous clash and dialectic between the regional and the global. The future alone will determine which path the White continent will take.13. Arikan, H. Turkey and the EU An Awkward Candidate for EU Membership. Ashgate Publishing, 2006.

Examining Prison And Its Alternative Institutions Criminology Essay

Examining prison house house house signal And Its Alternative Institutions Criminology EssayPrisons agreements around the beingness waste been pursuing an elaboratenessist course for decades. thither atomic number 18 much(prenominal) than than 9.8 million large number held in penal institutions around the world (Walmsley, 2008). Prison establishments ar having an progressively difficult time dealing with the number of off poleers that argon execrationd to go throughcuffs as evident in the overcrowded living conditions and understaffed institutions. At a time when exoteric consumption is under force, regimes ar passel ab place with the daunting task of finding funding to produce new prisons and portion out quick aces. Not surprisingly, prison is increasingly becoming regarded as a scarce and pricy resource. whatever theorists switch argued that on that point prisons should be abolished in exclusively given that they do non fulfil the justifications for punishment. Other theorists devour contended that prisons are the only solution for the most(prenominal) serious plague but they are using upd much too lots and for modest criminal offenses. The term reductionist refers to signifi locoweedt reductions in prison community size (Rutherford, 1984). While there stick to been recent subjoins in the incarceration set up in S arsedinavia and the Netherlands, they arrive traditionally been regarded as successful examples of a reductionist form _or_ system of organization. This essay leave argue, not for the abolition of prisons, but for a drastic reduction in their use by using strategies proposed by Rutherford (1984) applied universally. Strategies to drop the use of prison should start with the prison itself and advantageously reduce the depicted object of the prison so that prison is a scarce resource. Only therefore go forth alternatives to prison be utilise instead of prison and not in additi on to prison.America has the highest incarceration rate in the world at 748 per 100,000 of the cosmos (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2009). in that location are approximately 2,297,400 volume held in call big bucks and federal prisons and local jails throughout the U.S Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2009). This is roughly a the skinny of the worlds prisoners and yet America is home to slight than cardinal-percent of the worlds macrocosm (Adam Liptak, 2008). The introduce of calcium houses around 171,275 prisoners which is to a greater extent(prenominal) than than whatever early(a) U.S carry Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2009). California is a prime example of the countrys increase prison population and the unsustain fitting prison costs. In California alone, the prison system costs the giving medication $10 billion a year (Trachtenberg, 2009). By 2012, the government testament be spending more money on its prison system than its university system (Trachtenberg, 200 9).The construction of new prisons has not cut the unprecedented level of overcrowding or improved conditions in California prisons. There are 33 adult prisons in California and each prison is holding legion(predicate) more inmates than it was intended for (Specter, 2010). Some are attain 300% of their depicted object. The uttermost(a) overcrowding has meant that prison gymnasiums, hallship nominateal and cafeterias are being use to house inmates, and in close to cases the inmates are triple-bunked (Specter, 2010). The inmates sleep in close sweat with one an other, and there is nothing that protects them from being sexually and physically treat by fellow inmates. The crowded and unhygienic conditions, mean inmates are more in all probability to get sick, stay sick, and pass illnesses onto others. Prison overcrowding is directly cogitate to the inhumane conditions that prisoners live in inside many of the worlds prisons.England and Wales too pitch a high prison populati on rate of 153 per 100,000 of the national population. Although the prison population rate in England and Wales is much lower than in America, many countries have rates of below 150 per 100,000. There are 83,392 large number in prison in England and Wales and new and existing resources give necessitate to accommodate a planned prison population of 96,000 by 2014 at an enormous cost (Walmsley, 2008 House of super C, 2010). Recent interrogation shows that prison expenditure in England and Wales increased dramatically between 2003 and 2009 from 2.868 billion to 3.982 billion severally (Centre for umbrage and Justice Studies, 2010). A large number of prisoners are communion cells that were only intended for single use (Millie, Jacobsen Hough, 2003). If this forecast is realised then England and Wales will have the highest imprisonment rate in Western atomic number 63 at 169.1 per 100,000 mint (House of Commons, 2010). The cosmos expenditure is under big(p) pressure in Englan d and Wales and the government unavoidably to decide if it will continue with its prison building course of instruction or invest in the prevention of abuse (House of Commons Justice Committee, 2009).Overcrowded prisons worry in America and England and Wales are a symptom of the working outist movement. The prison population rates are believably to increase annually and because it takes years to bring a new prison into commission the existing prisons are filled over and above their substance (Rutherford, 1984). To deal with the expected increase in the prison population rate expansionist systems tend to have prison-building programmes in place to increase the size of their existing prisons and build new ones (Rutherford, 1984). Rutherford (1988) argues that serious overcrowding stooge attract semipolitical financial aid and lead to closer inspection of the prison system. In California, attention has been drawn to the state of Californias prisons by the assorted lawsuits t hat have been filed a elucidatest the governor and corrections officials by prisoners. In the case of Plata v. Davis in 2002, the state acknowledged that it had not been providing adequate medical aid to meet the needs of prisoners throughout the prison system (Specter, 2010). Based on this and other cases, a accost was set up to address Californias prison crisis which concluded that overcrowding in the prisons prevented the state of California from providing adequate mental and medical health care to its prisoners (Specter, 2010). Following the investigation, the court imposed a population cap of 137.5% of the prisons capacity (Specter, 2010). According to Rutherford (1984), these types of orders can have several types of consequences.First, prison overcrowding can initiate a reductionist movement. Policy cave inrs could be encouraged to make use of early judgment of dismissal mechanisms or set-up more community-establish punishments. For example, in California the state has l aunched a programme to trial shortening the period of time that releasees remain under intensive supervision which can termination for years following their release from prison (Muradyan, 2008). The strict parole conditions mean that offenders are often re bided to prison for parole violations much(prenominal) as missing their appointments (Muradyan, 2008). If minor-offenders are able to stay loot for six-months after their release from prison then their supervision will end early (Muradyan, 2008). In England and Wales, a report on the overcrowding of prisons impregnablely recommends that the government reinvest in community based sanctions for prisoners who are only fourth dimensiond to prison for a short time to reduce the prison population and reduce re-offending (House of Commons Justice Committee, 2009).Second, prison overcrowding can encourage officials to make use of prison facilities in neighbouring jurisdictions (Rutherford, 1984). When the court imposed a population cap on Californias prisons the state began to transfer around 8,000 of its prisoners to facilities outside of California. This solution only succeeds in shifting the problem of overcrowding elsewhere and as we will see in the case of California, it is a short-term solution to a larger problem. The bureau to transfer Californias inmates to facilities in other states expires in July of 2011 (Muradyan, 2008).Third, overcrowding can contribute to the expansion of prison systems. When resources are stretched it can help to secure more resources for the expansion of existing prisons and the creation of new ones (Rutherford, 1984). In response to the prison crisis in California, the state borrowed $7.4 billion make room for 40,000 more prisoners in state prisons and to create 13,000 new county jail beds (Muradyan, 2008). This was a controversial move because the government obtained the financing through lease-bonding, a move that saves the state from having to gain voter approval and cost s more than other types of bonds (Muradyan, 2008).It is clear from this example that there is big money mixed in the expansion of prison systems. nigh prisons are built with borrowed money like in California. The funding for prisons can produce big profits for the close companies that are involved in prison systems throughout the world in one way or another (Christie, 1994). Health care, food services and construction are all heavenss that are expanding fast and providing big profits for private firms (Christie, 1994). Private sector involvement can also be seen in the private-prison itself. In his book, Crime Control as a Product (1994), Nils Christie raises the Copernican point that with this sum total of inter fulfill with private profit interests, even up to the level of private prisons, we are building an important growth factor into the system (pg. 111). The profits associated with private prisons mean big money for private companies who are able to build and run prisons for a fraction of what it costs the government and the government is able to avoid asking the voters permission to build a new prison (Christie, 1994). Christie contendns that an expansionist policy will lead to private prisons and in turn, a focus on financial quite a than humanitarian aims.Although Governments have been adapt towards expansion for decades, a large number are becoming increasingly aware that prison is a scarce resource that is too expensive to maintain. In some countries, this perception is based on the understanding that prison is not fulfilling its key aims of punishment. mayhap other countries are not pleasant using the restriction of liberty as the main form of punishment. alone for a hole of countries, it would seem that a reductionist policy makes more sense than an expansionist one in economic terms.For example, in the Netherlands the terrace believe that prison is ineffective as a punishment and should be used as a last resort (Downes, 1988 81). The Netherlands has maintained a low prison population in the post-war period, a time when other prison populations have sky-rocketed. This is possible due to the short duration of times compared with countries like America (Downes, 1982). There are a number of factors that are likely to have helped to maintain a certain level of penal capacity in the Netherlands.First, penal sentencing and criminal evaluator policy in The Netherlands has traditionally enjoyed a culture of tolerance. The culture of tolerance lead to less prejudice, less discrimination, and reduce the need for harsh punishment (Downes, 1988). A glance at the history of the Netherlands illustrates the long tradition of Dutch tolerance towards minority groups, deviants, and unearthly beliefs and points of view that strayed from the norm. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries The Netherlands was less inclined to use capital and corporal punishment than its European counterparts and notably fewer wartime coll aborators were killed after the war compared with countries such as Belgium and France (Downes, 1988).Second, the culture of tolerance in The Netherlands was allowed to operate in the setting of a politics of accommodation. Criminal jurist policy, for the most part, operated out of the public eye and was free from public opinion. Criminal justice policy was largely admonishmined by a pocket-size group of captain elites who make accommodations with other smaller groups to support tolerant policies. A puke of different groups, even those that supported abolitionism, were a part of the penal reform. Although criminologists with extreme views such as Bianchi, would have been excluded from advisory roles in England and Wales or the coupled States, in The Netherlands radical views on criminal justice are welcomed and the interest of elites with such views serves to lead debates in a direction that would not have been shareed otherwise. The criminal justice bring also remained fre e from unnecessary public interaction. The criminal justice system was run by a small number of highly professional and well educated practitioners.Other theories preserve that a combination of tender developments contributed to the sentencing trends in the Netherlands. There are five major social developments that may have impacted on the military post the comprehensive range of social services, a large number of early days centres, a large number of client-oriented eudaemonia and social-service agencies, responsible reporting by the mass media, and the pressure group activities on be half(a) of the penal reform by the social service agencies (Hulsman, as cited in Downes, 1988 344). Another factor could be that many Dutch quite a little were imprisoned during the War and that this made the Dutch less inclined to administer sentences of imprisonment as they understood the melody that imprisonment can cause (Downes, 1988). Downes (1988) argues that these factors occurred along side the sentencing trends but that they did not needs influence the trends.The trends in the sentencing policy of the Netherlands have remained rather constant. The mild reactions of the Dutch to evil and the co-operation of political parties made it easier for a small group of elites to execute criminal justice policies free from public opinion. social welfare However, maintaining such a stable prison population would not have been come-at-able without the co-operation of the judges. The well-grounded training which places a negative value on imprisonment seems to be important in maintaining the use of imprisonment as a last resort.The reductionist policy was not peculiar to The Netherlands at this time. Scandinavian countries have also enjoyed low levels of imprisonment and humane prison conditions. Although the levels of imprisonment in Scandinavia are also on the rise, the rate of 66 per 100,000 of the population is button up epochally lower than many countries around t he world (Pratt, 2008 Walmsley, 2008). Pratt (2008) attributes the low prison population rates and humane prison conditions to a culture of equating and generous welfare state. The Scandinavian welfare state provided support for anybody that needs it. There were no limits to who could apply for assistance and no shame involved in asking for it (Pratt, 2008). The people of Scandinavia afforded the state a large count of power and paid high taxes in exchange for high levels of security. The state provided security for its people by guaranteeing work and unemployment benefits, social services (medical care, care for the elderly, and improved living conditions for its citizens (Pratt, 2008). Peoples individual interests were secondary to shared common and political goals (Pratt, 2008).In Scandinavia, there was a ecumenicly held belief that a strong welfare state could reduce the problem of crime the way it had reduced other social problems (Pratt, 2008). Crime was viewed as an illnes s that could be do by like any other illness and so the rehabilitation of offenders was an important part of the criminal justice process (Pratt, 2008). The job of the criminal justice system was to treat offenders and then reintegrate offenders back into the community. While in prison, offenders were treated humanely and there was no need for further humiliation because the loss of liberty was the punishment (Pratt, 2008).Furthermore, the social solidarity in Scandinavia meant that offenders were not seen as a dangerous class, merely as another group of welfare recipients (Pratt, 2008). The Scandinavian public seem to be an exception to the increasingly retributory attitudes and policy towards offenders that exists in many countries around the world. Although the support for the rehabilitation of offenders is on the decline, while the use of sentencing and the length of sentences is increasing they are quiesce more inclined than their European counterparts to believe that preve ntion programmes can reduce crime (Demker, Towns, Duus-Otterstrm Sebring, 2008. In addition, less than half of the Swedish public still believe that tougher jail sentences can reduce crime (Demker et al., 2008).The Netherlands and Scandinavia demonstrate that prison populations can be reduced and sustained at low levels. Some general themes have emerged the criminal justice policies are expert and query driven the criminal justice system is not influenced by public opinion or political motives a strong welfare state. perhaps the most important conditions for a successful reductionist approach are a questioning of the prison system and the purposes it serves and an understanding that the prison population is less to do with the amount of crime that occurs than the response to crime by the criminal justice system (Rutherford, 1984).According to Rutherford (1984) the reductionist policy can be applied more universally. Before looking at the ways Rutherford (1984) has proposed to r educe the prison population it is important to acknowledge that the items on the order of business need political support. Politicians need to acknowledge that there are alternatives to prison available, as demonstrated in Scandinavia and the Netherlands. Instead of forecasting an increase in the number of people in prison, new low targets should be set. In addition, there must be a desire to push frontward with the reductionist agenda even during hard times (Rutherford, 1984).Rutherford (1984) acknowledges that the ideological concerns of officials inside the criminal justice system significantly influence the policies and procedures that are made. In many countries, there is a political consensus that an approach to crime and wrong-doing should be tough. For example, in England and Wales, the prison system has expanded under both(prenominal) the Labour and Conservative governments. Both Labour and Conservative governments seems to ascribe to the spacious Expectations1ideology as illustrated by their investment in the prison system. To gain political support for the reductionist agenda, people must be made not to like the great expectations approach so that it loses its vote-winning potential. Before any items on the reductionist agenda can be introduced there is a lot of work that will need to be done.Rutherford (1984) proposes nine ways to reduce the prison population according to the reductionist approach (Rutherford, 1984). They are as followsThe physical capacity of the prison system should be substantially reduced.There should be a precise statement of minimum standards as to the physical conditions of imprisonment and these should be legally enforceable.The optimal prison system staff-to-prisoner ratio should be determined and implemented.The prison system should have at its disposal early release mechanisms and use these to avoid overcrowding.Certain categories of persons sentenced to imprisonment should, if the space be not immediately available , wait until called-up by the prison system.Sentencing discretion should be structured towards use of the least restrictive sanction. wear or default of non-custodial sanctions should only exceptionally be dealt with by imprisonment.The range of non-imprisonable offences should be widened to include certain categories of thieving.The ground of the criminal law should be considerably narrowed (Rutherford, 1984 p. 175-176)To control overcrowding, Rutherford (1984) encourages the use of early release mechanisms. intelligence as a form of early release can play a major part in find sentence length and the size of the prison population. Parole is already being used in places like Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand (Ministry of Justice, 2010). Generally speaking, parole is the release of an offender on the grounds that they adhere to conditions decided upon prior to their release and that these conditions are in effect until the full term of their sentence is up.Narrow ing the scope of the criminal law and widening the range of non-imprisonable offences is important because the majority of people in prison are not serious offenders, they are people who have committed minor crimes or created a social abomination (Rutherford, 1984). Rutherford (1984) argues that as long as prison is used instead of providing welfare to these people, governments will not try to find more effective ways of dealing with this behaviour. At one point in time, social nuisances such as sleeping on the streets and begging were imprisonable offences. According to Rutherford (1984) certain categories of theft should also be made non-imprisonable. He proposes that On economic and philosophic grounds, property offences where the amount involved is less than, say 100, should be non-imprisonable. (Rutherford, 1988 182). Perhaps the value of the property stolen is not the best way to decide whether an offence is serious or not in particular when it is as random and innate as R utherford (1984) has suggested. It would make more sense to make all minor thefts non-imprisonable and would also be likely to have a more significant effect on the size of the prison population.An alternative suggestion is decriminalisation. decriminalization has the potential to reduce the prison population substantially if it is applied to dose use. In 2000, a report blamed the US drug contol policies for the sailplaning incarceration rate (Schiraldi, Holman Beatty, 2000). In that same year, nearly a quarter of people imprisoned were imprisoned for a non-violent drug-related offence (Schiraldi, Holman Beatty, 2000). These findings suggest that the decriminalisation of drugs and perhaps other minor non-violent offences could significantly reduce the number of people that enter the criminal justice system.Rutherford (1984) advocates the structuring of sentence discretion towards the use of the least restrictive sanction. To achieve this, Rutherford suggests a commission be set up to determine sentencing guidelines. A sentencing commission would have the difficult task of determining the seriousness of offences. The judiciary are generally given a lot of discretion when it comes to deciding sentences. For sentencing policy to have an impact on the prison population it requires the co-operation of the judiciary.Despite the introduction of non-custodial sentences prison populations have continued to rise. This raises doubts active whether non-custodial sentences are being used in the ways that they were intended. In some cases non-custodial sentences are used in addition to imprisonment or in instances where a custodial sentence would not have been handed down in the first place (Rutherford, 1984). Another concern is that strict conditions often accompany alternative sanctions. If the strict conditions are breached then the person can end up in prison anyway.An example of this is the hang up prison sentence which was introduced into English law in 1967 (B ottoms, 1981). The suspended prison sentence was supposed to be used instead of a prison sentence but it was largely used in cases where a fine or probation would have been previously handed out (Bottoms, 1981). Only about half of the people who received the suspended prison sentence would have in truth been sentenced to prison if it were not for the suspended sentence (Bottoms, 1981). In addition, judges began to hand out longer sentences to people that received the suspended sentence than they would have if the same person was actually sentenced to prison (Bottoms, 1981). These figures provided a strong furrow for the removal of the use of the suspended sentence in England. However, the suspended sentence was implemented in Japan and the Netherlands more successfully. An important difference is that in Japan and the Netherlands, a breach of the suspended sentence does not consequence in imprisonment (Rutherford, 1984). Rutherford (1984) suggests that this difference might explai n why the suspended sentence has contributed to the prison population in England but not in the Netherlands or Japan.The inherent danger of alternative sanctions is that they will supplement rather than replace sentences of imprisonment. Rutherford (1984) recommends establishing a clear understanding of when the non-custodial sentence should be used and what will happen if further offending occurs while the non-custodial sentence is in place. Failure to pay attention to these important issues can have the unintended consequence, as seen in England, of widening the scope of the criminal justice system.Often, strategies to reduce the prison population focus on closes at the rear of the criminal justice process that deal with the prosecution stage. It is important to note that the decision of who enters the criminal justice system is largely outside the control of the government (Rutherford, 1984). The police are involved in crime prevention, recording of crime, and investigation crim e. They are the gatekeepers of the criminal justice system and are afforded a great deal of discretionary power in deciding who enters the criminal justice system and who does not. In England, the police decide who to stop and search, who is guilty, and who to prosecute (Poyser, 2004). The decisions that they make have a huge impact on prison put on and policy.Perhaps the best way to restrict the reach of the criminal justice system is to significantly reduce the physical capacity of the prison system. There are three main ways to reduce the prison capacity cease new prison building, phased closing of existing prisons, and refurbish existing prisons. In the Netherlands, prior to 1975, there was a large reduction in the prison population from 6,500 inmates to less than 2,500 inmates. The decrease in prison population size was associated with the closure of sixteen of the countrys prisons. If prison capacity is reduced and no new prisons are built, provided countries do not tolerate overcrowding, prison will be a scarce resource that should be reserved for the most serious crime.A logical extension of the reductionist argument is that prisons should be abolished altogether. Although it may seem a radical idea, a glance at the history of the death penalty tells us that abolition is indeed possible (footnote). This idea has received considerable attention within the field of criminology especially by criminologist Thomas Mathiesen. Over the years, arguments in defence of prisons have focussed on claims about the purposes of punishment and prison. According to these arguments the purposes of punishment are rehabilitation, general prevention, collective and selective incapacitation, and justice (Mathiesen, 2000). Mathiesen addresses each one in turn in his book Prison on Trial (2000).First, Mathiesen (2000) examines recent research on rehabilitation in prisons. The CDATE project is a review of a large number of studies on the rehabilitation of offenders in prison a nd the effectuate of interventions on drug use and recidivism (Mathiesen, 2000). The project found that correctional interventions were not effective in decrease recidivism (Mathiesen, 2000). Interestingly, community based sentences such as parole and probation did not do much better at reducing recidivism. Some of the programmes included in the study actually produced more problems. It is expenditure noting that a number of studies on interventions with an emphasis on developing social skills found positive results (Mathiesen, 2000). However, these studies are few and far between. Rutherford (1984) and Matheisen (2000) both chatter concern over the use of correctional interventions in the prison context. The liberal of ideology that supports the use of prison to rehabilitate offenders ignores the history of research on the topic. Rutherford (1999) is also concerned that rehabilitation is based on the idea that prison works and that offenders can be diagnosed and then treated.T hen, Mathiesen (2000) addresses the idea that prison serves the do of general prevention. The effectiveness of prisons in producing enough fear in people to convince them not to commit crimes has been hotly debated in criminology. Mathiesen refers to Richard Wrights (1994) review of studies on deterrence. Wright (1994) concludes that the greater a persons perceived and actual chances of getting caught are, the less likely they are to commit crime (Wright, 1994). This is also true for later crime. Changes in policy that increase the perceived chances of being caught will reduce crime in the short-term but will not have a lasting effect (Wright, 1994). Furthermore, the expected and actual severity of crime has no effect on offending (Wright, 1994). Taken together, these findings provide no leaven of a preventative effect of the severity of punishment.Next, Mathiesen (2000) looks at incarceration. There are two ways that prison can be used as incapacitation collective incapacitation and selective incapacitation. Collective incapacitation refers to the use of prison to incapacitate offenders based on the seriousness of the crime and to a lesser extent, their prior convictions (Wright, 1994). discriminating incapacitation refers to the use of prison to incapacitate certain offenders who continually offend and pose a risk to law-abiding citizens (Wright, 1994). Wright (1994) argues that a small group of chronic offenders are responsible for the majority of crime committed. Although, prisons do not deter the offenders from committing crime, it can atleast incapacitate them and protect society from the crime of the chronics (Wright, 1994 112). On the other hand, Mathiesen (2000) contends that research provides no support for incapacitation in defence of prisons. Incapacitation does not have a significant effect on the rate of crime nor does it increase the safety of citizens (Mathiesen, 2000). In a review of the related literature, prison and more specifically inc apacitation only had marginal effects on crime (Mathieson, 2000). It is also important to note that even though new generation of criminals will only replace those that are incarcerated and incapacitated. To lock the new chronic offenders onward would only serve to swell the prisons more. The idea of selective incapacitation is even more controversial. Selective incapacitation raises methodological, legal, and moral concerns about the accuracy of predictive measures used to assessment the probability of future behaviours. The problem of false positives (people predicted to continually reoffend that do not) is of import to these arguments. The number of false positives, from prediction instruments, is still very high (Mathiesen, 2000). If the various instruments were put into practice despite their inaccuracy, they would influence the decision making process in court. The chance that a person will re-offend is only one feature that the courts take into account when making their de cisions. Courts also need to consider mitigating circumstances, fairness, and history amongst other things.Finally, proponents of the prison system endorse retribution as an ethical and fair goal for prisons. These beliefs date back to the influential publications of Cesare Beccaria (1964) in On crimes and Punishments. Beccaria disagreed with the barbaric and extreme punishments that were so commonly used in 18th century Europe. Retributivists believe that punishment should be proportionate to the crime. In this case, offenders are punished not for rehabilitation, or to prevent them commiting more crimes, but to give them their just desserts. The just desserts model requires that crimes are rank according to severity, punishments are ranked according to severity, and then the crimes and punishments are matched (Wright, 1994). be punishment