Consumer behaviour regarding luxury product consumption

Consumer behaviour regarding luxury product consumption From guilt-free fair-trade products and free-range eggs, to cruelty-free shampoo and chemical-free paint, a revolution seems to be occurring in wealthy capitalist societies. And this is happening not at the margins of society but at its heart, in the shopping centers and homes of ordinary people (Lewis and Potter, 2010). Mainstreaming of ethical concerns around consumption is on the rise and companies are extending their fair-trade range over more products, in a bid to catch the ethical consumer. But is this phenomenon also apparent in luxury product consumption? The discussion in this paper is aimed towards analyzing the role of ethics in the luxury industry where consumption, to much extent, is based on hedonistic values. It is also quite uncertain whether luxury brands actually target ethical consumers. The role of ethics in luxury product consumption is complex and thus requires an intricate analysis. This paper will initially discuss about ethical consumerism as a whole. Comparing and contrasting various research studies and surveys; it will present the current global trends in consumer behaviour. Moving into the luxury sector, it will analyze the values and motivations behind luxury product consumption and examine if sustainable development can co-exist with luxury products. Finally, it will highlight some of the steps big luxury groups such as BVLGARI, LVMH and Versace are taking to integrate ethics into consumption by working on issues such as animal welfare, child labour, education and environmental protection. The question arises whether these measures motivate consumer behaviour de facto. This paper will demonstrate that consumer motivations behind luxury purchases are hedonism and social recognition, rather than ethical values. Purchase of a product that concerns a certain ethical issue such as human rights, animal welfare, child labour or environment protection can be termed as ethical consumption (Doane, 2001). In general, ethical consumption is reflected when a consumer feels responsible towards society and expresses these feelings by means of his or her purchase behaviour (De Pelsmacker, Driesen and Rayp 2005). Consumers can translate their ethical concerns by either buying products that contribute towards ethical concerns or by boycotting products that are unethically produced. Ethical consumers are therefore aware of the consequences of production, consumption and disposal, and expect companies, producing the products they buy, to conform to ethical standards. Recent studies indicate that consumers increasingly care about ethics while purchasing regular household goods and are willing to pay a premium for socially acceptable products (Auger, Burke, Devinney and Louviere, 2003). For example, they prefer to buy fair-trade coffee, organic foods, products free from child labour and legally logged wood. The Edelman Goodpurpose consumer survey (2010) shows that 86% of global consumers believe that business needs to place at least equal weight on societys interests as on businesss interests. According to the survey, emerging markets have taken the lead consumers in Brazil, India, China and Mexico have outpaced their peers in the west in purchasing and promoting brands that support good causes. Hence, there is cultural variation in behavioural intentions, but the group of consumers most interested in socially responsible products is growing across the world. The Edelman study also suggests that after 4Ps Product, Price, Placement and Promotion, Purpose is the 5th P of marketing. In order to retain their customer base, marketers need to understand and act on the social issues that matter to their customers and are a best fit to their business. Whilst a lot is indicated about increasing socially conscious consumer attitude, it does not reflect in actual consumer behaviour. Research indicates that a consumer attitude towards making ethical purchases is more positive than behaviour (De Pelsmacker, Driesen and Rayp 2005). For example, Cotte and Trudel (2010) demonstrate that 44% consumers indicated an intention to change their buying behaviour to consume ethical products, however only 18% actually did. General ethical attitude or even surveys intent on measuring consumption ethics are almost completely unrelated to actual behaviour since there is pressure to answer in a socially desirable way (Auger and Devinney, 2007). So consumer purchasing behaviours are not nearly as high as these attitudes would predict (Carrigan and Attalla, 2001) and consumers will buy responsible products only if quality, performance and prices are equal (Deloitte, 2008). This ubiquitous attitude behaviour gap is due to various factors. It may be the consumers perception of having to compromise on attributes such as convenience and quality of the product they value (Roberts, 1996) or could be the lack of knowledge about the firms ethical behaviour. Consumers are more aware of a firms unethical behaviour and rather have little knowledge about its ethical initiatives (Carrigan and Attalla, 2001). Another reason is widespread consumer scepticism and cynicism (Roberts, 1996). Marketers who try to oversell their firms offering as better on socially conscious dimensions, risk being accused of what is now called green washing (Cotte and Trudel, 2009). Hence, the most important factors affecting buying decision are still price, quality, convenience, and brand. Therefore, there is clearly a lack of conclusive and empirical evidence that consumers will pay more for socially responsible products (McWilliam and Siegal, 2000), but at least there seems to be a constant effort by both consumers and companies to be ethically conscious in consumption and production respectively. There is a trend towards more consumer activism with respect to the social behaviours of organizations, especially large and well-known multinational corporations (Auger, Burke, Devinney and Louviere, 2003). Despite the ethical markets strong growth, consumers have blasted Nestlà ©, Coca-Cola, Cadbury, McDonalds and Tesco for failing to do enough to champion ethical values, according to new market research (Britton, 2010). But traces of such efforts can rarely be found in the luxury sector. It is observed that for higher priced products, only those consumers, who have a strong favourable attitude towards charity, are ready to pay the premium (Anderson and Cunningham, 1972) . In order to verify this behaviour, it is important to explore the motivations behind luxury purchases. Analyzing consumers perception of luxury products, a survey conducted by Synovate (2009) demonstrates, 35% people feel that luxury is everything over and above what is needed and 17% associate luxury as a lifestyle. Whether consumers define luxury as a feel of cashmere on their skin, the joy of time to spend as per their wish or the pleasure of showing off their success, actually depends on where they live. For example, in developing countries like India and Brazil, luxury is about flashing your wealth with big designer logos, its away of life. Whereas in countries like France, where people are certainly hedonistic, and enjoy the small pleasures like a good smell, or the softness of a scarf, and of course cooking and eating, luxury is about making them feel good and not about flaunting a brand. Luxury purchases are motivated by hedonistic values associated with instant gratification (Szmigin, Carrigan and OLoughlin, 2007). These values stimulate a consumer to purchase a $3500 Louis V uitton bag whose function is the same as a handbag at $250. Essentially, at the core of luxury consumption are three key motivations: indulgence, exclusivity and status. Danziger (2004) highlights two reasons behind buyer behaviour to solve problems and to make them feel good. She classifies consumer purchases into 4 categories Utilitarian, indulgences, lifestyle luxuries and aspirational luxuries, each motivated by different values (represented at the ends of each axis in fig.1). Utilitarian purchases include items such as blenders, food processors and microwaves, which essentially focus on practicality. Indulgences represent lifes little luxuries that provide emotional satisfaction and which consumers can buy without guilt. Cosmetics, entertainment products, games and costume jewellery are appropriate examples. Lifestyle luxuries are luxury cars (Mercedes, BMW), designer clothes (Armani, Ralph Lauren), Watches (Rolex). They are extravagant and provide material satisfaction, along with the prestige and image conferred by the brand. And finally there are aspirational luxuries that have no practical need and are purchased largely for the pure joy of owning them. Theses include Art, antiques, vintage collectibles, yachts, fine jewellery, etc. Consumers buy these items to make a statement about them in society, express their values, interests and passions. Fig1: Consumer purchase categories and motivations behind each Having discussed that a consumer buys anything to satisfy a concrete need, in purchasing luxury items, the act of consuming, rather than the product itself, satisfies this need (Danzigner, 2004). In fact, tracking the roots of luxury product consumption and marketing, we find it to be based on sheer unethical values (Sylvester, ND). Back in the 1840s in Manchester England (The worlds richest city then), the cotton mill owners were at the top of the social ladder and usually showed off their wealth at dinner parties where they served wine instead of beer and the wealthier class served champagne. For the most affluent class this was a problem as champagne was no longer exclusive. As a solution, the French marketers, keeping the product unchanged, created a much more expensive drink called vintage champagne. The rich mill owners were flocked to it. Hence, within a few years, the world was buying more bottles at higher prices. The anecdote above is a good example that shows how the concept of luxury is based on un-ethical selling and consumption, of which marketers are well aware. This view is supported in the 21st century as marketing strategist, Sergio Zyman (2000), provides in his book, the end of marketing Marketing is how to sell more things to more people more often for more money. In fact, French marketers are the leaders in marketing luxury brands and even the puritan roots and guilt dont prevent them from behaving in unashamedly elitist ways and producing items that no ordinary person will ever be able to afford. Marketers are concentrating their efforts on selling things that people dont need, but want. Different values that motivate consumers to make a low value purchase as compared to a luxury purchase. Empirical evidence suggests that materialism is negatively correlated with consumer behaviour, i.e. unethical behaviour is associated with greater amounts of materialism (Barrett, 1992 cited in Muncy and Eastman, 1998). The more materialistic consumers might be willing to bend ethical rules to gain possessions and when faced with an ethical choice, the acquisition of the goods may begin to take primacy over ethical values (Muncy and Eastman, 1998). Thus, the factors that may cause a person to be more materialistic may also cause him or her to be less ethical. In fact, marketers may have self-interest in encouraging materialism. Even if we consider that some people do behave ethically while purchasing luxury products, their decisions are not necessarily dependent on ethical values. People, while shopping in public, like to be seen as altruistic and thus are more likely to choose green products, that maybe expensive and low quality but benefit the environment (Griskevicius, Tybur and Van den Bergh, 2010; Telegraph, 2010). So their purchases are often motivated by status, especially when these products cost more relative to non-green products. The Toyota Prius is a prime example of a self-promoting mobile billboard for environmentalist beliefs. A compact hybrid Sedan with moderate features and performance, considered a Green product due to high fuel efficiency. In a survey, 40% of hybrid owners indicated that they bought a green car as an alternative to a traditional luxury car such as a BMW (Griskevicius, Tybur and Van den Bergh, 2010). Yet, the top five reasons why the Prius was so successful and environmental conservation was last on the list (Maynard, 2007). The number 1 reason was, that it made a statement about the consumer, a statement that the owner cares about the environment. So consumers are willing to spend on ethical products but at the cost of earning a public status or reputation. In the privacy of ones home, luxury and comfort is still the winner (Griskevicius, Tybur and Van den Bergh, 2010). Having discussed that hedonism and materialism as motivators of luxury purchases, it is evident that sustainability and luxury are quite incompatible terms. To drive a Rolls Royce, a Bentley or a Mercedes S Class would radiate a message that the owner couldnt care less about gas overconsumption and the warming of the atmosphere (Kapferer, 2010). Luxury is about excellence: more than any other, luxury brands guarantee zero risk. Now there are more and more pressures from lobbies and animal defense groups to forbid testing skin care products on animals. But without testing, the brand cannot ensure that its product is harmless for consumers. If all fashion luxury brands adopt a minimalist look, they would lose all capacity to differentiate and thus lose their integrity. Elliott and Freeman (2001 cited in Belk, Devinney and Eckhardt, 2005) found relatively high price elasticity of demand for products made under bad labour conditions but low price elasticity for products made under good conditions, implying that companies can potentially lose from having their products identified as being made under bad conditions but have little to gain from marketing their products as being made under good conditions. Modern revelations of how Prada and Dolce Gabbana bags were being stitched by clandestine Chinese workers in workshops-costing a mere à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬20 to produce, have signaled the need of ethical behaviour in manufacturing, in order to retain customers. Luxury brands are advancing fast to meet the demands of sustainable development. Some brands are actually working on philanthropic endeavors, but their motive is not quite clear. For example, since 2009, BVLGARI has raised more than 6 million Euros to support Save the Childrens quality education programs and are hosting several special events to support quality education for the worlds neediest children (Bvlgari, 2010). LVMH has been auditing its carbon imprint since 2004 and has taken as a managerial motto the four words: renew, recycle, reduce, and review (Kapferer, 2010). The same holds  true for Tiffany. Dior (LVMH) gets their handbags made in Italy (excellent leather suppliers and their know-how that produces less CO2 than if it was made in China) and the leather comes from bio farms. Versace has an Art Unites initiative where the brand makes one-of-a-kind handbags out of each work of art drawn by a child. The bags are sold for about $250 through its global boutiques and all p roceeds go to childrens foundation or other charities. Having analyzed the extent to which consumers value ethics in the luxury sector, as well as explored the same issue from the perspective of the luxury companies, one can conclude that that people care more about ethics if the people around them can recognize them for doing so. There is a big attitude behaviour gap that demonstrates that consumers still make important purchase decisions on the basis of price, quality and durability of product rather than ethics. Thus, the intentions of both consumers and producers are to some extent unethical in its roots and motivated by further recognition to be doing whats right rather than for the outcome and effect of those ethical decisions on the people that they are benefitting. What is evident is that firms have realized that need of ethical conduct to retain its customers if not gain more.

Essay on Social Position Reflected in Roxana and Emma :: Roxana and Emma Essays

Social Position Reflected in Roxana and Emma   Ã‚   There were severe conflicts between the City party and the Country party in 18th century Britain. The Country party, mainly composed of gentry, was based on landed interest and the City party made money through trade and was based on moneyed interest. The Country party passed the Landed Property Qualification Act to maintain their power. However, this act merely encouraged more men of wealth to buy country estate, in many cases displacing old landed families who truly represented the  ¡Ã‚ °landed interest. ¡Ã‚ ±[1][1] We can see this changing of power through these two works, Roxana and Emma. Daniel Defoe was born in London, so he naturally engaged in City party. Roxana ¡Ã‚ ¯s background is mainly city while that of Emma is the little country society called Highbury. As we can see the difference of the background of two works, we can also find some different attitude toward City and Country in these two works. I will write about these differences in point of the conception of g entleman, rank and different attitude to City lives.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Defoe indicates that younger sons who have careers in law and trade are the backbone of the English Nation. The uneducated eldest son is an insult to the word gentleman: he is a man of no use to himself or to others.[2][2] He thinks that trade is more important than land. We can find this attitude in Roxana. Roxana says,  ¡Ã‚ °a true bred Merchant is the best Gentleman in the Nation; that in Knowledge, in Manners, in Judgement of things, the Merchant out-did many of the Nobility ¡Ã‚ ± (Roxana 170, The page numbers of further references from Roxana will be put in parentheses in the text).   She also says  ¡Ã‚ °That an Estate is a Pond; but that a Trade was a Spring ¡Ã‚ ±(170). The Dutch merchant also says that  ¡Ã‚ °the Tradesmen in London, speaking of the better sort of Trades, cou ¡Ã‚ ¯d spend more Money in their Families, and yet give better Fortunes to their Children, than, generally speaking, the Gentry of England from a 1000 l ¡Ã‚ ±(170). We can know that Roxana has a very positive view to a merchant from this. She thinks that a merchant is better than gentry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, it is viewed differently, as shown in Emma. When Emma talks about the father of Mrs. Elton, she says like this :  ¡Ã‚ ° a Bristol ? merchant, of course, he must be called; but, as the whole of the profits of his mercantile life appeared so very moderate, it was not unfair to guess the dignity of his live of trade had been very moderate also ¡Ã‚ ±(Emma, 164).

How Should China Establish The Privilege of Silence System in Criminal Proceedings?

1. The origin and the connotations of the Privilege of Silence. â€Å"Miranda warning† originated from a case heard by the U. S. Supreme Court in 1966: an 18-year-old girl was kidnapped and raped, she identified that it was Miranda who did that. The police interrogated Miranda and used his confession as the hearing testimony. After Miranda was convicted he appealed to the Supreme Court on the grounds that the police did not inform him of the right to remain silent, and his confession was concocted under pressure. He said that if he had been told to have a privilege of silence, he would have not made up that confession. After considering all the arguments, the United States Supreme Court ruled the Miranda confession invalid. Because of this jurisprudence, when arresting or interrogating suspects, the police need to say the â€Å"Miranda warning† first. This is how the privilege of silence was born in the judicial system. The Privilege of Silence contains the following connotations: First, the suspect has no obligation to say words which might be detrimental to his/her own, the prosecution agencies or the courts can not use inhuman or degrading methods to force him to say; Second, the suspect has the right to always keep silent during the interrogation, and the judge can not make the adjudication against him/her because his/her silence; Third, before the suspect says the favorable or unfavorable word to him/her, he/she has the right to know the consequences of these words. And he/she must be voluntary to say. If the suspect was forced to speak, the court cannot use these words as the evidence. 2. The Privilege of Silence in China In China, the Privilege of Silence has not yet been established. This is inseparable with China's actual situation. In China’s judicial practice, on one hand, due to the comparatively poorly developed investigation technology, the testimony of the suspect plays an important part in guiding the police to find out the truth. On the other hand, paying attention to the testimony of the suspect can indeed enhance case handling efficiency. However, the neglect of the right of silence begins to constantly expose some problems. For example, some significant wronged cases reported by the media these years show that the problem of â€Å"Confession by Torture† is so severe in China. Although the confession by torture is strictly prohibited by Criminal Law, yet in the investigation, prosecution or trial activity, the phenomenon of torture generally exists. It is not uncommon that the judiciary staff frequently uses threat, enticement, deceit or other illegal methods to collect evidence, which seriously violates the basic human rights guaranteed in the Constitution. Among the various causes of the torture phenomenon, the most important reasons are the ideology of the presumption of guilt and the practice of relying heavily on confessions. Thus the establishment of the privilege of silence plays an important role in effectively combating with this phenomenon. 3. Pros and cons Whether China shall establish a right to silence system? This has long been the hot topic in the legal circles in recent years. The mainly supporting ideas are as following: (1) The establishment of right to silence can help to curb the long-standing phenomenon of confessions by torture. Extracting confessions by torture is a spurned and forbidden behavior in the civilized society. Its typical characteristic is to impose violence or disguised violence on the suspect, severely devastating both the suspect’s physical and psychological health, violating the natural rights of human. (2) It is required by the full implementation of the presumption of innocence. Although the presumption of guilt is prohibited by law, yet in China’s judicial practice, this harmful ideology is not even close to be banned. Under the impact of this ideology, the alleged offender is considered as a criminal and he/she shall be treated as a criminal. So the penalties, the long-term or even indefinite detention, the torture and other inhuman ways can all be imposed on him/her. 3 (3) China has recognized the right of silent advocated by some international rules or meeting, therefore, China needs to make the corresponding provisions in the Code of Criminal Procedure. With the development of international economic and trade, the cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries continue to deepen. You can read also King v Cogdon The technological media makes China’s judicial activities began to be transparent to the world. Thus, to safeguard the image of the country, a high demand of the legality in investigative activities must be assured. (4) The confirmation of the privilege of silence was considered to be one of the most important milestones in human’s fight to the civilization. It ensures the humanity and justice in the criminal proceedings. It reflects the degree of judicial civilization of a country, and is an inevitable requirement of the country according to law. Opponents argue that the country should not create a right of silence system, the right of silence does not meet the conditions of our country, at least for now China does not yet have the conditions to introduce this system, their views mainly include the following: (1) The privilege of silence reduces the effectiveness of the proceedings, and influences the effectiveness of punishing crimes. The confession of the suspect is the shortcut for investigators to identify the facts of the case, but the silent right blocks this shortcut. This right of the suspect would make the investigators’ interrogation right exist in name only. As a result, the search of various potential evidences relies solely on the existing investigation techniques and the professional competence of the investigators, thereby greatly slow down the investigation process, and even stagnating investigative work. There are irreconcilable contradictions between the privilege of silence and the principle of economic proceedings. And if the investigators failed to find relevant evidences other than the confession, the truth of the case would not be identified and the defendant must be released. If the released defendant were the real criminal, then it would undoubtedly indulgent the evil, and would obstruct upholding the social justice. (2) The privilege of silence is bound to increase the cost of litigation. Once the suspect decides to keep silent, investigators then have to spend time and energy, make use of manpower, material and financial resources to search for clues and evidence for the case. Therefore, the establishment of the silent right system will inevitably lead to the increase in the cost of litigation. (3) The privilege of silence cannot fundamentally exclude the confession by torture. The right of silence can help to curb the torture to some degree, but due to a variety of objectively presenting reasons, investigators can always come up with various means or reasons to circumvent the legal responsibility. Therefore, the privilege of silence itself is not the cure of torture. To make the privilege truly serve to inhibit the confession by torture, there must be corresponding establishment of mechanisms to ensure the enforcement of this privilege. (4) In some major crimes of terrorism and organized crimes, the privilege of silence might be used by these â€Å"career criminals†, making them escape from the punishment of law. This is contrary to the original purpose. Despite there are certain flaws exist in the privilege of silence system, However, even criminals should also have their own personal rights, not to mention the suspects, any suspect can not be identified as guilty before the court makes a final judgment, so their right to remain silent should not be illegally infringed. If such a close judicial procedure could not be ensured, then the remote â€Å"eternal justice† would be doomed to remain as utopia. The reason that the Americans has accepted the â€Å"Miranda warning† and would tolerate the side effects of the Miranda rule is that they believe that the law’s first function is to suppress the public authority, secondary is to suppress the dangerous social criminals. 1 If the public authority were out of control, its harms to the society would be far more than those of personal crimes. Letting go the murderers may make the justice come late, but letting loose the public power may ultimately distort and devaluate justice. If the authority were abused to protect the so-called justice, it would be extremely possible that some legal-abiding citizens might be pushed into the abyss of evil. By then, even if it punished crimes a hundred times, it would not offset the pains that a kind person had gone through from one injustice. Even though the build of the privilege of silence system is the trend, it is important for us to realize that there are objective flaws exist in this system, efforts should be made to prevent its negative effects. According to the current conditions of the country, my suggestion is to confirm a limited right of silence. 4. Recommendations: Build a limited privilege of silence system. The right of Silence System is an integrated system that contains many aspects of deep-seated factors in the litigation. Thus the establishment of the right of silence system is not a simple task, but a systematic project, including the legislators' decision-making, the public’s recognition and support, the corresponding operational mechanism and the appropriate protection mechanism. Therefore, under current conditions, the country needs to establish a minimum mechanism of protection of the right to silence. (1) Comprehensively establish the principle of the presumption of innocence. The principle of the presumption of innocence is one of the basic principles in the criminal proceedings and is a generally recognized criminal procedure principle for modern countries under the rule of law. And the right of silence system is the necessary logic requirement of the principle of the presumption of innocence. The Article 12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in China stipulates: â€Å"No person shall be found guilty without being judged as such by a People's Court according to law. † It has absorbed the spirit of the presumption of innocence. Therefore, the Code of Criminal Procedure should further clarify the principle of the presumption of innocence. This is the theoretical basis for and the guarantee of implementation of the privilege of silence system. Accordingly, the Article 12 can be modified to: â€Å"Every person should be regarded as innocent before the Court’s effective verdict. Every suspect has the privilege of silence, unless his/her privilege of silence is excluded by law. † (2) Expressly exclude the rule of self-incrimination and clearly confirm the privilege of silence. Prohibit making any adverse inference because of the suspect’s silence. Cancel the obligation stipulated in the Criminal Procedure Law that requires the suspects to answer questions truthfully. There is a close connection between the exclusion of self-incrimination and the privilege of silence. And the exclusion of self-incrimination should be a basic principle for the criminal proceedings. Therefore this principle could be added in the first chapter of the Code of Criminal Procedure—-the tasks and basic principles, namely: â€Å"any person can not be compelled to testify against himself/herself, suspects and defendants in criminal proceedings have the right to remain silent, unless his/her right of silence is excluded by law. Prohibit regarding the suspects’ and the defendants’ silence as aggravating circumstances. There is a contradiction between the right of silence and the obligation to honestly state. Therefore, to ensure the exercise of the privilege of silence, the 93 Article of the Code of Criminal Procedure stipulates that the suspect must answer the investigators' questions truthfully should be removed. 7 (3) Establish Illegal Oral Evidence exclusionary rule and arbitrary confession rule. These are two important rules in the rules of evidence and are institutional guarantees for the privilege of silence and can help curb the phenomenon of confession by torture. Illegal evidence exclusion rules require all illegal or improper obtained evidences (rather than confession out of free will) should be absolutely ruled out, and confessions cannot be proven beyond reasonable doubt should also be excluded. Arbitrary confession rule puts that, unless the law explicitly limits, the confessions are effective only under the circumstances that the suspects voluntarily, intentionally and rationally give up their rights of silence. In China, the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China clearly stipulates that Judges, prosecutors and investigators must, in accordance with legal procedures, collect various evidence that can confirm the suspect’s and the defendant's guilt or innocence, or the gravity of his/her crime; extorting confessions by torture, threatening, enticing, tricking or other illegal methods are strictly forbidden in collecting evidence; and any person shall not be compelled to prove his own guilt. Therefore, based on the existing spirit of law, we can further confirm the evidence exclusion rules. In the Article 46 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, after the existing â€Å"†¦ credence shall not be readily given to oral statements†,7 we can further add â€Å"where extorting confessions by torture or threat, inducement, fraud, extended detention or other illegal methods that are used to obtain the testimony of witnesses, statements of victims and the confessions of the suspect can be verified, then these confessions shall not be used to accuse a crime or make a judgment. (4) Establish systems to encourage the defendant to testify, including the testimony immunity system and leniency programs. The right to silence does not mean that suspects cannot speak, nor that to encourage suspects to not confess, but to give him/her the right to choose whether to remain silent or to make a statement, this is to protect his/ her basic human rights. The law does not prohibit self- incrimination, but prohibits forced self-incrimination. In America, for example, through the Plea Bargaining, the offender's guilty plea rate is up to 90%. To minimize the side effects of the right to silence system, we shall establish some relevant systems to ensure that the defendant actively cooperates with the judicial authorities in a timely manner to investigate the facts. First, through legalizing the leniency policies to encourage the defendant to admit guilt initiatively, making the confession the legal circumstances of leniency, rather than just discretionary circumstances. The second is to establish testimony immunity system. Prohibit using some of the defendant’s statements to testify against herself/himself, and exempt the according criminal responsibilities. But note the testimony immunity system should only be applied to some significant and complex cases, for example, organized crime, triad societies, smart crime, corruption and bribery crime, transnational crime or other major crimes. (5) Improve the witness system. The testimony of witnesses is an important means to expose and prove the criminal. The establishment of right to silence system will make the Criminal proceedings mainly rely on evidences other than confessions. Consequently, the role of the witness testimony will be more prominent and more important. Therefore, the Code of Criminal Procedure should stipulate that witnesses must appear in court, and construct supporting measures to improve the attendance of witnesses and to ensure the witnesses provide testimony objectively and sufficiently. First, we must establish system to force witness to court and clear the legal consequences of the illegal testimony. The second is to establish a material compensation system and the security guarantee system for the witness, eliminating their worries. 6) Establish the Notification of Procedural Rights and the Lawyer Presence Right mechanisms, protect the suspect’s meeting right and communication right. These are the important procedural safeguards for the full implementation of the right to silence, without which, the right of silence would merely be a meaningless rule. It is impossible for people to exercise their rights if they don’t know them. And the judicial officers may use the misleading and unclear circumstances to lure confessions. To make the suspects be clearly informed of their rights prior to the interrogation is a common practice and consensus in most countries. Therefore, the law must stipulate detailed requirements to the notification system, including the time and specific issues of the notification, statutory interpretation obligations and the consequences of having failed to perform the duties and responsibilities. Due to the suspects are not necessarily familiar with the law, without the assistance of counsel, the right to silence is difficult to be well implemented. The lawyer presence right is an effective way to avoid confession by torture and to ensure the exercise of the right of silence. In China’s criminal proceedings, the lawyer’s involvement degree is very low, especially compared to the developed countries. Therefore, according to the country’s conditions, except some major cases, such as cases involves national security, complex organized crime cases, the Code of Criminal Procedure should endow the presence right to the lawyer. Through protecting the meeting rights and communication rights of the suspects, the law can prevent or reduce the coercion to the suspects in custody. Therefore, the law should reduce the limits to the suspect’s meet and communication. Of course, in some special cases, to protect some significant social interests, the law can set up necessary exceptions, review or control the suspect’s meeting and communication rights. (7) Establish some exceptions to the right of silence. To decide whether or not a suspect will be endowed the right of silence in a case, the specific issues need to be analyzed first. In some special cases, the suspects’ right of silence should be restricted. These restrictions are to seek the unification between individual rights and the social interest. According to this principle, at least it seems to me, the following crimes should be excluded: A. Crimes of endangering national security, financial fraud crime and computer crime. The country's interests are above everything else, to effectively safeguard national security and fight against both domestic and foreign hostile forces, the chapter one of the Criminal Law–crimes of endangering national security—could be excluded. The intelligent crimes have become increasingly prominent and due to the limits of the country’s investigative techniques, the high-tech crimes are to difficult to detect. Thus, at least for now it is not appropriate to give such criminals the privilege of silence. B. Smuggling, narcotics, money laundering, robbery and other severe joint crime, criminal syndicate and underworld crime and other organized crime. In crimes such as smuggling, narcotics and money laundering, criminals usually use one-way communication. Thus the confessions of the suspects play a crucial role in revealing the cases’ causes, backgrounds and processes, and the relationships between the accomplices. If they were given the right to silence, the real culprits behind the scene would not likely to be captured. Organized crime has the following characteristics: numerous people, strict organization, huge hazards or potential harms and hard to track down. Such cases are very difficult to catch, of accomplices, confessions plays the pivotal role. Therefore the confessions of the captured suspects tend to play a decisive role in such cases. C. Corruption, bribery and huge unidentified property cases. At present, China is in a period of high incidence of corruption cases, the fight against corruption is a long-term and arduous task. In order to effectively combat corruption and bribery, to curb and reduce the incidence of job-related crimes, it is recommended that those crimes are being excluded. Besides, most criminal subjects in these crimes hold an important authority; have a certain degree of education background and social status. Which means they have wide social relations and strong social activities ability, and often have both preparations before and countermeasures after the crime. Such strong anti-investigative capacities often interfere the detection processes. The investigation of these crimes would be harder if they were endowed with the privilege of silence, which would damage the interests of the country. D. Cases relate to public safety and emergency situations. For crimes involving public safety, if not got confessions in time, significant public safety hazard would happen. For life threatening cases, if the suspect did not immediately provide the place of where the victims were hidden, the personal safety of the victims would be endangered. Thus the privilege of silence should be excluded in these cases. For example, kidnapping, illegal detention, unaccounted dangerous goods crimes such as poisons, firearms, ammunitions and explosives. To these cases, at the trial stage, the privilege of silence is undoubtedly applied, but at the interrogation stage, whether or not the privilege of silence should be given need to be identified by the judges. E. The defendant should not keep silent on some crimes unrelated basic personal information. Such information includes name, identity, age, occupation, address and so on. This is in order to combat crime effectively and accurately, and to avoid unnecessary losses. (8) Improve the construction of the judicial organs. The establishment of the privilege of silence system is the trend, which put forward higher requirements for the construction of the judicial organs. The judicial offices should actively respond to this trend and try to improve themselves in the following two ways: First, update the judicial notions of the staff and weaken the confession’s role in evidence system. In current criminal proceedings, the confession is known as the â€Å"king of the evidence†, the value and importance of the confession is extremely exaggerated. This notion is still deeply rooted in the minds of many judicial officers, which is contrary to the requirements of the right of silence system. Therefore, the judicial organs should change their concepts, and establish the concept of human rights protection, and resolutely put an end to the behavior of extracting confessions. Second, use high-tech to equip judicial organs, and to improve their investigation abilities. The establishment of the privilege of silence system will makes the judicial officers pay more attention to obtaining external evidence rather than confessions. Which requires the country to increase investment in technology and equipment of the investigative organs, to improve the standards of the investigators, and to actualize scientific investigation. With the development of the litigation civilization and the improvement of the detection capability, the number of the unpunished criminals will be gradually reducing, and the side effects of the privilege of silence system will be minimized.

Curriculum Development Class Reflection Paper

Two separate classmates asked me education questions two nights ago, Wednesday, 17 and based on what I have learned in our class, I could answer them. Until then, I did not realize what an impact this class had on my educational training. At the end of the summer, I will graduate with a Master’s in Business Education, and be a student teacher in the fall. In my business education courses, I have learned about professional organizations, endorsements, textbook adoption, and a few smaller topics. One class did focus a lot on the syllabus, unit plan, lesson plan, setting measurable objectives, and following the core standards.When I started thinking on what my â€Å"take away† is from this course, I realized that it is about 90% of the course. The other 10%, I actually knew. Since you probably do not want me to write a book, I am going to pick out the topics that grabbed my attention the most. Prior to beginning this course, I knew changes had occurred in how knowledge was delivered to students in the classroom. What I did not realize was how much was involved in the development of curriculum and the extent to which it has changed in such a short time.It has always been my perception that teachers knew the subjects they taught and that their knowledge was transferred to the students. I had not given much thought to the many other factors that a teacher is responsible for. I now understand that there are many elements involved in planning and implementing a curriculum for each class taught. I am amazed at the magnitude of information that needs to be considered; such as, desk arrangements, wall space use, planned activities, time considerations, classroom management, rules, procedures, record keeping, available resources, technology, plus many more.Many of these items can probably be easily mastered after performed a time or two, but as a future teacher, I have to ask, â€Å"What have I gotten myself into? † When I was in school, all I remember was that my teachers had a green lesson plan book and that was it. In a couple of my business classes I have written my philosophy on education and then one on teaching. What I did not know, was there are â€Å"determinants of an educational philosophy. † I had never heard of perennialism, idealism, realism, experimentalism, or existentialism.On one end of the spectrum there is perennialism and on the other end there is existentialism. Experimentalism with a little of existentialism mixed in, loosely reminds me of some of the year-round school schedules talked about in chapter 8; where the students decide the type of instruction and when they will attend school. I based my philosophy on my personal values and what I believed teaching to be, which includes a little of some of the â€Å"known† philosophies. Last semester, one of my professors passed out this colorful triangle and called it Bloom’s Taxonomy.Possibly he expected everyone to know what is was, so he did not discuss it. After reading chapter three and hearing the presentation, I am amazed that time was not spent going over the levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy in my business education methods class. I have been setting goals and objectives for most of my life. I did not expect the way I executed them when I taught would be any different. The state standards outline my objectives, and I determine how the material will be delivered, which was the approach I intended to take.Of course I knew that knowledge would be passed from me to the students and then they would be tested over the material; however, that only represents the beginning and end of the Bloom’s Taxonomy process; there is a big gap in the middle. When I stop and think about the process of the educational objectives of the cognitive domain, it makes perfect sense to follow the â€Å"steps† up the ladder. As a teacher, if I miss a step, let’s say for the sake of time or convenience, I have reduced m y effectiveness as a teacher; therefore, I have lowered my standards.In another class, much time was spent on the discussion state standards. Since I will be a business teacher, I will be qualified to teach many classes; therefore, I will have to become familiar with multiple sets of standards. I looked back through chapter four and learned how the standards first came to be, and considered how they have evolved to create a foundation for the standards we use today. It is intimidating to see how comprehensive the standards are.The first presentation on the article during the last night of class introduced three areas of curriculum that are not discussed at length in the book: subject-centered curriculum, learner-centered curriculum, broad-fields curriculum, and core-curriculum. It was interesting how they are separated in the terms used, but how integrated they should be. It is clear that students, at least in Tennessee, are taught from the common core. It seems that the teaching is a by-product of what everyone else wants, beginning at the national level all the way down to an individual school.I know in the chapter that I presented, Chapter 8, the author brought up the conventional way teaching has, for the most part, been done; teaching for the convenience of the teacher which did not facilitate the learning of the student. It is evident that change is occurring rapidly. There is only a brief mention of teaching to various learning styles. Oddly, I recently discovered I am a visual learner. For the life of me, I could never figure out why I had to have complete silence when reading.This revelation occurred in another education class and was reinforced when I read the paragraph on learning styles in our text book. The actual implementation of teaching must revolve around a flexible classroom. Not all students learn at the same pace and as a teacher I have to realize that and teach on multiple levels. Differentiated learning is at the heart of teaching. Every thing I have mentioned thus far, barely scratches the surface of the changes in my perception of teaching, the collection of new knowledge, and revelations I have had pertaining to class preparation.I know I can handle students in a classroom, but I am scared of everything else that defines a teacher. I just hope I have learned enough to effectively prepare kids to enter the real world. My courses are part of a career pathway, you might say, I am the last line of defense. It is overwhelming to think of my future and the enormous responsibilities I am entrusted with. In the questions you posed for consideration, one related to the Praxis test. To student teach, I have to take the PLT 7-12 test.I have reviewed the study outline, which are about six pages. Of course there will be material on the test about curriculum, but what scares me is everything on the outline that I have never heard of. I seems like it will be impossible to prepare for, any help you have to offer would be greatly appreciated. I took my first content knowledge Praxis test last Saturday for marketing. I had to smile when the first question on the test asked about Bloom’s Taxonomy. It is the little things that connect everything in life.

Freelance Writing Course †Autumn 2014

Freelance Writing Course – Autumn 2014 Freelance Writing Course Autumn 2014 Freelance Writing Course Autumn 2014 By Daniel Scocco Twice a year we open the enrollment for our Freelance Writing Course. The course is a 6-week program aimed at people who want to get started making money freelance writing online. You’ll get in-depth lessons on everything you need to know, including the tools and trade and the resources you can use to make your life as a freelance writer easier. More than 1200 students joined us over the years, and the feedback we receive is always very positive. Heres what one of the past students said about the course: Your course is amazing. What I have learned so far has been very helpful and I have looked ahead at what is still there and I am amazed at the depth of knowledge you have given me. The downloadable books are a big bonus. I know this course will be the best help I could ever find to becoming a freelance writer. Every week you get access to a new module. They are: 1. Writing Productivity: Youll learn how to become a prolific writer, which is essential if you want to make money writing. 2. Building an Online Presence: Setting up a website is not enough these days. You need to know how to promote it and how to reach the right people online. 3. Writing for the Web: Freelance writing is changing, and this module focuses on the differences youll face while freelance writing for websites and online publications. 4. Finding Clients: Probably the most important module. Here youll learn where and how to find your first clients, and how to obtain high-paying writing gigs over time. 5. Running a Writing Business: Freelance writing is like any business, and as such youll need to manage it efficiently if you want to increase your earnings over time. 6. Social Media: In this module youll discover tactics you can use to leverage social media sites to boost your career. For this edition we have re-designed the members area, optimizing it for mobile devices. This means that youll be able to go through the lessons using any smartphone or tablet. Enrollment starts today and runs until Saturday, October 25. -> Click here to visit the official page where you can get all the details and join. Dont miss out! Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:When to Capitalize Animal and Plant NamesAwoken or Awakened?Narrative, Plot, and Story

Colonialism of Africa essays

Colonialism of Africa essays Although there had been a British and greater European presence in Africa prior to the last two decades of the 19th century it was primarily coastal and revolved around the slave trade. With the abolition of the slave trade within the British Empire in 1803 and a complete abolition of slavery across the empire in 1834 there was little interest in Africa by Britain until the end of the century. This lack of interest in Africa did not include The Cape Colony though, which the British gained at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and which served a key role in outfitting ships on the British trade route to India. The role and importance of Africa to the British soon changed though do to imperial competition with France and Germany. Germany under the aggressive policies of Bismarck set out to take a leading role in Africa and catch up to other European powers such as Britain and France in terms of empire by gaining new control over territory and expanding their spheres of influence. Other important factors made Africa the hot spot for British and European expansion including the discovery of gold in the Transvaal and diamonds in the Orange Free State, the palm oil industry in Nigeria, scientific discoveries such as the way to treat malaria, and the mapping and exploration of the previously mysterious African interior early in the 19th century. In order to explore the nature of British expansion in Africa Porters The Lions Share and T.O. Lloyds The British Empire 1558-1995 are indispensable texts. Using their information on British expansion throughout Africa as a foundation it becomes possible to break down the period of greatest growth between 1880 and 1900 by analyzing British role in Africa prior to 1880, the external roles that competitors such as Germany and France had in forcing Englands imperial hand coupled with the internal economic drives for procuring areas of Africa, and the special case and significance of...

Definition and Examples of Graphemes

Definition and Examples of Graphemes A  grapheme is a  letter of the alphabet, a mark of punctuation, or any other individual symbol in a writing system. The grapheme has been described as the smallest contrastive linguistic unit which may bring about a change of meaning. Matching a grapheme to a phoneme (and vice versa) is called a grapheme-phoneme correspondence. Etymology: From the Greek, writing Examples and Observations Trevor A. HarleyThe basic unit of written language is the letter. The name grapheme is given to the letter or combination of letters that represents a phoneme. For example, the word ghost contains five letters and four graphemes (gh, o, s, and t), representing four phonemes. There is much more variability in the structure of written language than there is in spoken languages. Whereas all spoken languages utilize a basic distinction between consonants and vowels, there is no such common thread to the worlds written languages.Linda C. EhrieTypically, beginners are taught grapheme-phoneme correspondences when they begin school. These associations are easier to learn if students already know the names of letters, because most letter names include relevant sounds, for example /t/ in tee, and k in kay. . . .There are about 40 distinctive phonemes in English, but 70 letters or letter combinations to symbolize phonemes. This makes pronouncing spellings easier than writing correct spellings. David CrystalGraphemes are the smallest units in a writing system capable of causing a contrast in meaning. In the English alphabet, the switch from cat to bat introduces a meaning change; therefore, c and b represent different graphemes. It is usual to transcribe graphemes within angle brackets, to show their special status: c, b. The main graphemes of English are the twenty-six units that make up the alphabet. Other graphemes include the various marks of punctuation: ., ;, etc., and such special symbols as , , and ( £). . . .Graphemes . . . may signal whole words or word partsas with the numerals, where each grapheme 1, 2, etc. is spoken as a word that varies from language to language (a logogram). . . . And several of the relationships between words are conveyed by graphology more clearly than by phonology: for example, the link between sign and signature is very clear in writing, but it is less obvious in speech, because the g is pronounced in the second word, but not in the fi rst. Florian CoulmasSpellings like to, too, two, sea, see, and phrase, frays, multiplied by hundreds of other examples, make for complex grapheme-phoneme correspondences, but the interpretation of written texts does not depend on these correspondences alone. Exploiting other systemic levels of language is equally common and practical. The plural of both dog and cat is uniformly indicated by -s, although it is [dogz] but [kaets]. In the event -s can be understood as indicating the plural morpheme rather than a sound. Accordingly, such spellings are sometimes referred to as morphograms.Cauline B. LoweMany phoneme–grapheme correspondences are conditional. The spelling of a given phoneme depends on the speech sounds that come before or after the target phoneme–grapheme correspondence.  For instance, doubled consonants often  follow short vowels in  closed syllables:  stuff, doll, mess, jazz. This pattern is an orthographic convention; the extra letters do not correspond to extra sounds. Each of these example words has only one consonant phoneme at the end of the word.