Rape In The Us Military Criminology Essay

Rape In The Us Military Criminology Essay Cases of rape and sexual assault in the ranks of our U.S. military continue to grow, and very few proactive steps seem to be taken, by higher up to bring the offenders to justice, to try and put an end to these horrific occurrences. The military institution seems unable to end this issue on its own, and seems in need of our country to step in and make sure these crimes stop, the offenders come to justice, and the victims get the help and support they need. To get to the heart of the issue is it important to know why rape is so common in the military, why these crimes often go unreported, and what steps the military and our country can take to help prevent future rapes. It is important to look into rape cases and try to determine the causes of the rape. What are the situations in which these rapes occur? In a documentary shown in class titled The Invisible War a large number of women talked about being raped while serving in the military. None of these women did anything that would suggest their interest in sexual relations, but each one of them was forced into the act. One common element that relates all these cases together is that in each situation the woman that was violated was one of the only women in her military unit. With such a high ratio of men to women the risk of sexual assault and rape greatly increases. In one case concerning the Coast Guard the unit was all men until a new female recruit was stationed there along with them. Almost immediately she had everyones attention, and it was greatly unwanted. She immediately became a victim of verbal sexual misconduct, and as a result asked to be moved to another duty station. Her authorities denied this request. As a result a few weeks later her own brothers in arms raped her. In the military camaraderie is something that is strived after, but these men displayed nothing of the sort. With such a minority of women, and in some cases one woman on her own risk of rape greatly increases. Just because there is a minority of women doesnt really explain why men would take advantage of this. One possible answer to this mystery can be answered in a study that was conducted in the Navy that revealed a history of men coming into the service having either raped or having attempted rape at twice the rate of the civilian population. (West West, 2012) This suggests that a large amount of men in the military have a history of rape that when mixed with easy targets makes the chances of rape occurring escalate. With recruits like this being allowed into our countries military, it is obvious why so many rapes happen. Physical explanations and actual cases and studies do help give an explanation of rape in the military, but there is also a sociological perspective and ethological and psychophysiological explanations. The sociological perspective of rape helps to explain why the military as an organization is a place where rape offenders thrive. There are three aspects that are used to explain this theory. The first aspect looks into the militarys organizational structure and culture. The military is a hierarchal one that was organized to produce warriors who are taught to overcome barriers and to be manly. This culture is a very masculine one. Aaron Belkin states a commander hierarchy combined with a culture that emphasizes dominance creates a recipe for rape. Women do not fit into this type of military very well, and that ones that try often find themselves the victim of a horrible crime. The second aspect, masculinity, was just viewed in combination with the first. The final aspect is the mechan ism for redress. The fact that the whole procedure for investigation is done in-house poses a serious problem. Other countries take cases of rape outside the military and hand it over to civilian police. These three aspects make up the sociological perspective of rape. To introduce ethological and psychophysiological explanation as an understanding of human actions which we saw as primarily voluntaristic, motivated strategies manifest in competing interests, arouses, not altogether surprisingly, a sense of vertigo or indeed nausea. (Littlewood, 1997) With these perspectives on rape it does help us to understand a little better why rape occurs in the military. With rape being such a serious crime, it is a strange fact that so many rapes go unreported. Answering that question will give a better understanding of how serious rape affects the victims of the crime. Often when stats are gathered about a crime, many crimes arent reported. This dark figure of crime is credited to the fear that rape puts into victims minds. A very sad example is from The Invisible War. Kori, one of the victims, was being interviewed and during the interview she finally admitted to her husband that she was only a victim of sexual assault but that she in fact had been raped, and not only was she raped, but in one of the sexual assaults she was beaten so severely that her jaw was smashed. And the discs in her neck were damaged so badly that she required surgery, which the Coast Guard did not do-even though there was physical evidence of assault. (West West, 2012) Finding something hard to tell your own husband puts in perspective how hard it would be to tell anyone e lse, especially a member of the unit in which you were raped. In the military when subordinates are targets of a higher ranks wants and desires it makes it difficult to disobey those orders, no matter how unlawful. In the Army Times news article A Secret Sex Life, army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair has engaged in a deliberate, degrading course of conduct where he targets his subordinates to satisfy his abhorrent desires. (Gould, 2012) This follows up on the previous point, because the victims are for the most part helpless when the offender has power over them both physically and with rank. When the person who commits the rape is also the person who gives you your daily orders and commands it makes it very difficult to accuse that person. One reason it is so difficult is that to achieve these higher ranks an individual has to demonstrate loyal dedication to the military and they are viewed as the best examples in the ranks. So when this person is accused of a crime by an insubordinate that has been in the military for less than a year it becom es a matter of whose word has more swaying power. Rather than suffer the embarrassment of the rape, and still not find justice, victims choose the alternate route, keeping silent. In the article A Secret Sex Life an unnamed female captain said she repeatedly tried to end the relationship andà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦she asked Sinclair to transfer her out of his command. (Gould, 2012) Although this didnt start out as actual rape, just fraternization, it escalated into a sexual relationship in which the female officer felt trapped and was exposed to sexual assault. The women even threatened suicide at one point to try and get her point across to the general, and to prevent having to suffer the embarrassment of everyone knowing the truth about her and the general. All these unreported cases of rape are known as the dark figure of crime. This dark figure of crime is that portion of the total crimes committed each year that never comes to light. (Hemmens Walsh, 2011) Rapes in the military are definitely underreported, an issue, which desperately needs to be addressed, and a solution needs to be made. If more rapes were reported it would give investigators a better idea of why they happen, where the majority of them take place, and how to best help eliminate future rapes from occurring. With the above information on why rapes occur and why so many go unreported what steps can the military take to prevent future rape? Being a member of the United States Marine Corps I know first hand quite a few of the steps that the Department of Defense, DoD, is taking to try and prevent future rapes. The main tactic they use is to try and educate us, the members of the military, is to show us how rape destroys both the life of the offender and the victim. They make it very clear the strict punishment that will be imposed on the offender if he or she chooses to commit this heinous crime. One problem with these educational videos is that they often come across as comical and poorly done. The lack of seriousness and maturity that many military members show during the viewing of these films really shows me how serious the issue must be. Knowing that the punishments dont usually fit the crime makes me very pessimistic while watching these films too. The truth of the matter shows that a round 87% of sexual crimes remain a secret and do not ever attract the attention that they need to go to trial. The DoD does have aims to better protect the rights of rape defendants. We see this with the Pentagonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦finalizing changes to the militarys rape law that experts say will shore up the rights of troops accused of sexual assault. (Tilghman, 2012) So instead of trying to protect the victims the DoD is taking the opposite approach in trying to protect the offenders who are on the defensive. One good change that the DoD is going to take is that they will allow civilian agencies access to victims and offenders records, and military personnel wont only use them. This will at least allow the victims the use of their own attorneys. The military does use the Uniformed Victim Advocate, UVA. The UVA is a member of the chain of command whose main role is to help victims of a military crime. This is a method that helps the victim deal with his or her issues, and know how best to address the crime committed, but it doesnt help prevent the actual crime from happening. In order to put an end to rape happening in the military the chain of command needs to make it clear that there is a zero tolerance policy when rape is committed, and they need to stand behind this rule. One of the main steps that the military needs to take in order to help prevent rape is to have a better screening process for those interested in joining. As we saw before with the Navy recruits being allowed to join, this cannot be allowed. The last and most important step that the military needs to take is to address the sociological perspective of rape and the three aspects that go along with it. They need to either ban women from the military altogether, a path that I feel would be the most appropriate, or they can take measures to give the females in the military more protection. I feel women in the military will always be vulnerable to attacks, and even though all rapes dont involve women a majority of them do. Rape, in the military, needs to stop. The DoD needs to put its fist down and make punishment for offenders and the protection of victims of the utmost importance. It affects too many people, and if it isnt tolerated in the civilian world then the same should hold true for the military lifestyle as well. Rape is too common in the military, too often it goes unreported, and more safety nets and precautions need to be put in place if women are to be a productive part of our military. Following simple guidelines for insuring these issues being resolved would go a long way for our country and would help produce a positive view on the U.S. military.

Planets and Solar System Essay -- Science Astronomy Astronomical Essay

Planets and Solar System "A planet is a celestial body that revolves around a central star and does not shine by its own light " (Grolier, 1992). The only planetary system that is known to man is our solar system. It is made up of nine planets which range in size and make-up. The nine major planets in our solar system are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. There are also many other minor planets which are also in our solar system, but they are unimportant compared to the nine major planets. In this paper I will discuss the planets and how they are each unique. Mercury which is the planet that is closest to the sun is the first planet I will discuss. Mercury is the smallest of the inner planets. It is speculated that the heat from the sun made it impossible for the gases present to become part of the planetary formation. The surface of Mercury is extremely hot. It is approximately 470 degrees celsius on the surface and is thought to be even hotter at the two " hot spots." These " hot spots " are on opposite ends of the equator. It is the heat of the surface that makes it impossible for Mercury to have any type of atmosphere. Mercury orbits the sun once every 88 days and has a true rotation period of 58.6 days. " It is the closest planet to the sun and therefore orbits faster than any other planet " (Thompson/Turk, 542, 1993). It is said that Mercury rotates three times for every two trips around the sun, so that during every alternate perihelon passage the same face points directly at the sun. " Geologically, the most remarkable features of Mercury are compressional cliffs or faults, just the sort of wrinkles that might form in the crust if the interior of the planet shrank slightly " (Morrison, 74, 1993). It is speculated that it was the solidification of Mercury's metallic core that caused this global shrinkage. Mercury is also " . . . enriched in metal or depleted of rock " (Morrison, 74, 1993). It is also believed that some of the inner core of Mercury is still in a fluid state. Scientists also believe that Mercury's surface is made partially of silicate rock. The best way to describe Mercury is, " . . . small, heavily cratered and airless " (Morrison, 71, 1993). Venus is the second closest planet to the sun and is said to " . . . most closely resemble Earth in size, density, and... ...n see the planets of most importance are the ones closest to the sun and Earth. Little is known about the far off planets therefore it is hard to give them full recognition. Much is known about Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The other three planets are not as well known as these six are. Whether more planetary systems exist doesn't really matter. There are still plenty of things we don't understand about our own solar system. Scientists will have their work cut out for them in the future. Each and every planet has distinct differences and that helps show us how truly great God is. The planets will never fully be understood and will always be a great topic of discussion. Works Sited Cattermole, P. (1995). Earth and Other Planets. New York: Oxford University Press. Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc. (1992). Hunt, G. & Moore, P. (1983). Atlas of the Solar System. Chicago: Rand Mc Nally & Company. Morrison, D. (1993). Exploring Planetary Worlds. New York: Scientific American Library. Thompson, G. & Turk, J. (1993). Earth Science and the Environment. New York: Saunders College Publishing & Harcourt Brace College Publishers.

The Renaissance Person – Henry VIII – by Casey Krol

The Renaissance â€Å"Person† Henry VIII is a Renaissance person, due to his intellectual intelligence of several subjects and profound skills. The Renaissance was a cultural movement the took place from the fourteenth to seventeenth century, that saw a revival in learning, architecture, literature, and classical art (Henry VI†). Henry VIII was a Renaissance person as he was very had various contributions in literature and cartography, and was intelligent in several subjects. In addition, he also contributed greatly through elisions, military, and political ways to England.Henry VIII founded a new religion, improved a Navy to the point of dominance, and enforced a imperialism policy. As a result, throughout Henry Vic's reign as King from 1509 to his death in 1547, he passed many laws and policies witch had great influence on the shaping of England to the nation it is today (Hutting). Henry VIII demonstrated many characteristics off Renaissance person. Henry VIII wrote bo oks, composed music and was a passionate patron of the arts (Henry VI'). Henry VIII is the author of a book called â€Å"Assertion Septet Sacramento†, which attacked Martin Luther and supported the Roman Catholic Church.As a result of this publication, Henry VIII received the title â€Å"Defender of Faith† by Pope Leo X (Hutting). In addition, he was educated in the classics, being fluent in Latin and French, along with knowledge in Spanish, Italian and Greek. Along with those qualities he was also a highly skilled musician, mathematician, architect, and a ship designer. Henry VIII was also a cartographer and was responsible for the start of English map making Coffee). Besides being a strong and ruthless ruler, his intellect helped him accomplish many f his goals throughout his reign as king.In the vast accomplishments of Henry VIII, he had a major influence on religion in England. First of all, Henry VIII established the Church of England in 1534, and became the supre me head when he passed the Act of Supremacy (Palmer 22). The trigger to the reformation was the refusal of a annulment by the Pope, for the marriage between Henry VIII and Catherine (Palmer 96). To further separate the relationship between king and pope, and set the foundations of the emerging Church of England, Henry VIII pasted numerous statutes. Such as the Submission of theClergy, which gave the King supremacy over the church. In addition the Treason Act of 1 534 enforced the belief the King was the head of state, and if refused could be punishable by death (Henry VI†). Additionally Henry VIII was the first English Monarch to approve the translation of the Bible into English (Hutting). Which is significant, as it allowed the people of England to read the Bible for themselves, especially if they did not know how to read Latin. To sum it up, Henry VIII was a great leader and still has millions of people following the Anglican religion he founded.An equally significant aspect of Henrys reign as king is the political influence he had on England. He added imperial concepts to the natural feudal concepts of Kingship. Which basically resulted in a policy which England would extended it's power through diplomacy or military force(Henry VIII Accomplishments). Which proved significant throughout England's history and their colonization of the world. On the other hand the Act of Appeals in 1 533 helped the constitutional development of England. This act made all religious or other appeals that would usually go to thePope, directed to the King in any English land. Henry VIII also decreased the power of thou nobles, and increased the power of Parliament and the monarchy (Hutting). As a result of Henry VIII reign as king, he set policies that would influence England greatly in the future, in the aspect of the current day parliament and imperialism. Military accomplishments of Henry VIII are far from few. First of all, he is known as the â€Å"Father of the Navy', as the English Navy grew in numbers and power over his reign. As the number of royal warships Jumped form five to fifty ships.The first naval sock in Britain was built in Portsmouth, along with the establishment of the Navy Board, in 1546. This greatly contributed to England's future exploration and colonization of the world, through dominance of the sea (Hutting). Henry VIII also began wars with France and Scotland, seeing a English victory over Scotland in the battle of Flooded in 1513. He also created several coastal fortresses in 1540, which improved the defense of the invasion prone island (Henry VIII Accomplishments). Throughout these accomplishments in the military aspect, Henry VIII helped stimulate the idea of nationalistic pride Coffee).In conclusion, Henry VIII was a Renaissance person due to his contributions to England's politics, military, and religion, along with his personal intellect in different subjects. He is known as the â€Å"father of the Navy' as he bolster ed England's forces to a level of world best (Hutting). He also became the head of the Church of England, and founder of the Anglican Church. He also set a sense of nationalistic pride through wars and installed the imperialism policy which benefited England throughout history Coffee). As a result, King Henry VIII became one of the most known and expected Renaissance people of all time.

Questions you most wanted to ask about tree planting and need immediately

Planting a tree can have tremendous influences on communities. Tree planting improves our environment. Planting a tree can add to our incomes and decrease energy costs. To plant a tree can enhance our quality of life and improve our health. I cant think of many things that touch us so completely as does planting a tree. My point is, we need trees to be planted! Q: How do you plant a seedling or sapling?A: There are actually two major methods of tree planting. One is planting a tree with an intact root ball. The trees can either be bound by fabric and string or potted in a plastic container. These trees are designed to plant...read more. Q: When is the season for planting trees?A: Bare-root tree planting is done during dormant winter months, most often after December 15th but before March 31st. Q: Do I really need to mulch my new tree?A: New seedlings and saplings need plenty of moisture. Lack of water is the main cause of severe stress to newly planted trees. Mulch is a trees best friend. Q: How do I know I am ready to plant a tree?A: Are you prepared to plant and rear a healthy tree? Take this tree wellness quiz to see just how prepared you are to successfully raise a healthy tree...read more. Q: Where can I buy trees to plant?A: Trees can be purchased in most states at private, industry and government nurseries. You need to check with your state forester for specific sources suited for your planting area...read more. Q: Where can I buy tree planting equipment?A: Before you begin a big planting job you need to purchase the right planting equipment. Using proper equipment correctly will insure proper planting and will be easier on the planter...read more. Q: Where should you plant a seedling or sapling?A:Use common sense when planting a tree. If the tree is expected to grow tall or expand widely give it the room it needs for future growth. Understanding species moisture, light and soil needs is extremely important. Q: What are root balled tree saplings?A:Root balled saplings are usually older than two to three year-old seedlings and are dug from commercial or government nursery plots. They are delivered individually with roots covered by an earth ball enclosing. Q: What are bare-root tree seedlings?A: Bare-root seedlings are usually two to three-year-old trees and lifted from commercial or government nursery beds. They are delivered in bulk with roots covered in only a very moist medium or slurry. Q: How many trees are planted in the United States?A: Hundreds of nurseries in the United States grow over 1.5 billion trees annually, which reforests nearly three million acres. This number represents over six trees.