A Whole New Mind

Pink has presented sharp scientific evidence in his book A Whole New Mind that comes as common knowledge to the majority of us in our society. He also stressed the several capabilities of right-brain thinking such as creativity, artistry, empathy, inventiveness, and overall big picture viewpoints. I noticed that Pink failed to mention any historical aspects before the 1900’s. For example; during the European Renaissance numerous right-brain thinking characters sprouted with many ideas for the world. These characters include painters, sculptors, inventors, musicians, and writers all across Europe. We all know, however, that the European Renaissance came and went. What will this new Conceptual Age produce differently than the faded right-dominance of the European Renaissance years? Looking back in time between the years of 1400-1550 the geniuses of this world contributed to the life we live in now. I only say this because if they weren’t important to our society today than we wouldn’t have had to learn about them during our high school years or even our college years. A brilliant inventor, painter, musician, and mathemation Leonardo da Vinci is one man who seems to have a great grasp of life in all his talents. He along with many other philosophers of that era seemed to fit the description of what I feel Pink suggests we should obtain throughout our lives to be successful and to lead our life in a way to help not only our generation but for the generations after ours as well. As we have studied in countless texts in high school about the several factors for the downfall of the European Renaissance and the complications after that time we should feel troubled to once again attempt to shift our minds. Right-brain thinking is an aged solution. Pink’s proposal is one we have already gone through but is introduced in a business-like manner unlike the European Renaissance. How are we supposed to know that the Conceptual Age will not increase the desire to create machines that will replace the art industry, so that beauty can be drawn in an instant? I think that Pink’s transition solution from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age should be revised to explain more of what he has missed in his book that had me puzzled.

Managing Conflicts Within Groups

| Organisational Behavior Individual Course Paper | Lim Jin Sheng Jason| | Section: ES1| | Introduction In order to meet the requirements of the individual assignment, this paper uses a specific project management experience to highlight some of the main organisational behaviour (OB) concepts in a real-world professional setting. The two main OB concepts chosen are: a) Managing Conflicts within Groups b) Multi-Party, Multi-issue Decision Making Framework In doing so, it is hoped that this paper will highlight the importance of utilizing these OB concepts in other similar situations encountered in the future. Professional Work Experience My professional experience involves managing acquisition and R&D projects for the armed forces, under the Defense Science and Technology Agency (DSTA). DSTA is the national authority for centralized defense procurement and related R&D under the Ministry of Defense (MINDEF) in Singapore. My specific roles include managing projects related to naval systems and scouring the local/overseas defence industry for emerging naval technologies. For example, if the plans department in the Singapore Navy requires a certain naval craft to meet their operational requirements in the near term, my department will spearhead this initiative by helping to source the market for such a product, purchase it and deliver it to the users. The whole process basically involves the following: ) Get approval for the operational requirements and budget to fund the acquisition project. b) Source the market for companies who are able to provide such products or services, evaluate their bids and negotiate for the eventual contract. c) Perform acceptance testing for the product/service before delivering the product/service to the end users. Managing Conflicts within Groups Before the initiation of a project, the envisioned operational requirements for the weapon system/service and budget required to fund it needs to be approved by the required level of authority. Usually, a panel of experts will convene in a forum to discuss and debate the issue and will send their recommendations to the final approval authority (which can be the Minister for Defence or service chiefs, depending on the importance and value of the acquisition). In one of my projects, the requirement was to acquire several unmanned crafts to replace a fleet of existing patrol vessels to save maintenance and personnel costs. Hence, the operational requirements was done up by the plans department in the Navy and the budget was done up by my team in DSTA. The justifications for both were well thought out and presented clearly in a paper which was submitted to the relevant forum for discussion and approval. The forum in this case was comprised of the unit commanders of all the relevant braches in the Navy (Operational, intelligence, logistics, security and training departments, etc). However, as a newly appointed project manager, I was unaware of the â€Å"under-currents† that was brewing prior to the forum presentation. Even though the justifications were sound on paper, there were several factions within the Navy community that were inherently against the idea. This opposition only surfaced during the day of the forum presentation and took my team by surprise. Subsequently, we had to re-work the whole approach in getting the approval from the forum. Basically, the issue was that the replacement of an entire fleet of patrol vessels by a newer technology will mean that an entire squadron will need to be down-sized and re-trained. Although the maintenance costs were lower in aggregate, this also meant the workload of certain logistics departments will more than double. Also, there was a history of bad blood between the commanding officer of the plans and squadron departments. So in reality, this means that certain members of the forum will not be happy with the proposal regardless of how sound it is and old grudges will likely flare up during the forum presentations. On hindsight, being aware of possible conflicts within a group will help to prevent this type of scenario from happening in the first place. By understanding the different types of group conflicts (task, relationship and process) and engaging all stakeholders before the forum approval will help in reducing the effort spent and maintain good relations with all stakeholders. Multi-Party, Multi-issue Decision Making Framework Once the approval for the operational requirements and budget for this project is obtained, my team selected a suitable overseas defense contractor to build and deliver the product according to our specifications. The arduous task of negotiating for the best possible terms for the least price for this contract begins. Due to the complexity of the equipment acquisition involved, the discussions will require many subject matter experts from their relevant domains to discuss the technical issues with their counterparts. I had an experienced procurement manager who advised the team to first agree on all the complex issues internally first before starting negotiations with the supplier. In practice, this meant that my team had to prioritise which issues are important and non-negotiable and which issues are good to have but not essential in the success of the project. Without this understanding, every single representative from my team will try to press for the best terms within their domains because everyone thinks their own issues are important. Furthermore, the supplier will never agree to every single issue as they will lose money on this contract. My team decided to group and consider all the issues simultaneously and agree on the relative importance of each issue before starting contract negotiations. My job as a project manager is to take a step back to keep track of the issues discussed and place focus on the â€Å"Tier-one† issues rather than haggling for every possible terms. This multi-issue, multi-party framework helped my team to cut down on a lot of unnecessary time and effort for future contract negotiations. Conclusion Organisational behaviour is an important and evolving topic which is important for success in managing inter-personal relationships in the workplace. As discussed using some of my personal work experiences, a good understanding and relevant application of OB concepts will help the professional to navigate through the complexities of managing stakeholders in an increasing dynamic environment.

The invasion of a new world: Aztecs and Avatars

Could the very large and powerful blue creatures of Pandora have similarities with the ancient civilization of the Aztecs? Yes, they have many similarities, not in terms of culture or lifestyle like one might think. Rather, both these civilizations share one identical aspect of their history, they were both invaded by an unknown, foreign mass of people. These two invasions have many similarities between each other but the three most prominent are, a completely unknown group of people coming to their land, invasion resulting in violence and desire for a specific object.In February 1519 the Spaniards embarked on a conquest led by Hernan Cortez. Cortez brought many warriors to this new world they were about explore. When the Spaniards reached the new world they were absolutely astonished, they had never seen anything remotely like it, they didn’t know such things existed! As the Spanish conquistadors journeyed inland, they reached the enormous capital city of Tenochtitlan. The no rmal custom of the Aztecs is to capture all foreign invaders and sacrifice them but the Aztecs showed mercy to the Spaniards and treated them as guests. With the arrival of Cortez, the Spaniards were overwhelmed at the new world they had found and the potential it could have for gold.On the other hand the Aztecs were overjoyed because they thought the new conquistadors were gods they had been awaiting. Similar to the Spaniards arriving in present day Mexico, the humans that invaded Pandora acted in a similar way. Aside from the scientists who studied the avatars, the humans on Pandora knew very little about how they acted or what their culture was. In general, the Aztecs and the Avatars reacted the same way to to the foreign invaders, astonished and curious.Although the Aztecs and Spaniards were getting along peacefully, that peace was about to come to a stop. Over time the Aztecs realized the the conquistadors were not gods. The Spanish now feared they could not get out of the city , alive at least. The Aztecs eventually let the Spanish leave with no harm but the conquistadors wanted the gold they came for. After freeing the Spanish, Cortez led an attack on the Aztecs. Many battles were fought between the Spaniards and Aztecs totalling hundreds and thousands of deaths.Like the battles the spaniards and Aztecs endured, the Avatars also fought with great numbers against the humans. After the humans destroyed the mother tree, which all the Navi lived in and worshiped, the Avatars decided to fight for their land. The Navi gathered as many tribes that were willing to fight and took on the humans full force. Just as the Aztecs had â€Å"home field advantage†, the Avatars also had the advantage of knowing the terrain better than the enemy. Another similarity was the fact that the humans and spaniards had a massive edge with their use of guns. If not for the weapon technology the Aztecs most likely would have beaten the Spaniards.The last similarity is that bot h invaders desired a mineral. In the Spaniards case it was gold, for the humans it was unobtanium. When the Spaniards first set sail to the new and unexplored world they had one thing on the mind, gold. They would do anything that was necessary to bring home wealth to Spain. The same mindset applied to the humans, the primary reason for being on Pandora was to mine up as much unobtanium they could find. With all the greed that filled the minds of the invaders, they had no respect for the native people’s land. The primary cause of the violence on both occasions was the lack of consideration for the native’s homes.This essay described the similarities between the invasions of the Avatar and Aztec’s homeland. When one mass of people invades land belonging to someone else, there tends to always be tension and violence, this was evidenced in both these occasions. Espero que hayas disfrutado el ensayo!

Gucci and Prada Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Gucci and Prada - Essay Example In this market price directly represent the quality of a product. There is need to outshine the competing firms by introducing goods that unique and fits the customer’s requirement. The two firms utilize the approach in an effort to maintain their profit margin while venturing into new markets. The two rival firms focus on unique products to attract customers. Gucci for instance introduced customized bracelets and handbags to a number of its Asian market. This was a counter move by the firm to emulate Prada who offer the same service across its wider market. The move by Gucci was aimed at attracting more customers form the Asian market to compensate the European market widely dominated by Prada. The unique service to the Asian market is aimed at increasing revenue by widening its market size (Passariello, 2015). The customized products are far much expensive compared to an ordinary good. Thus the luxury firms utilize the price factor to emphasize on quality. The two firms attract the high end market by unique and expensive goods in the market. The firms depend on loyalty and of customers and new components in market to promote their goods. This strategic plan allows the firm to directly connect to its clients and offer services based on the customer’s request. The two firms the high end market by offering services and goods with unique characteristics. Their ventures across the world target high income earners and celebrities across the world. This means that they offer a wider range of products to the same market group. The aim of the two firms is to create a loyal client base and satisfies their needs while at the same time increase the company’s revenue collection. Accessories and clothing from the two firms aim outshining each other across the world (Passariello, 2015). The high end market targeted by the firms’ bases their preference on quality and uniqueness. Gucci enjoys a

Three stages in the international product life cycle theory Essay

Three stages in the international product life cycle theory - Essay Example Production of a particular product in a certain region is based on market analysis regarding resource availability, needs, and purchasing power of the target market. The characteristics of this stage are that the sales volumes and prices are high. At this level, the demand is greater than the supply with little competitors in the niche thus allowing for expansion of the business. Furthermore, at this stage the advertisement is at its peak with the technique having tremendous effect on the target market. During the growth stage, international imitators have had no chance to create imitations at a cheaper price that eventually destabilizes the market. A good example of a company that vividly elaborates this stage is Chinese Tecno Mobile Phone Company. The company based in the most populated country came up with a product to meet the demand for cheap Smartphone. The company realized massive profits in 2004 when it started. The next stage of the cycle is the maturity stage. In this stage, the demand becomes level, and the rate of increase of sales is reduced. At this level, the imitators have had enough time to create a product that creates competition in the available market at a cheaper price. However, esteemed customers who enjoy services of the original product which explained a level demand of the product as no new customers are using the product. Producer of the original product at this stage might opt to reduce prices if competition on the available market becomes stiff. The decreased sales volume and prices lead to a reduction in the amount of profits realized at a specific financial period (Funk,  2004). A good example of this is the Antex Knitting Meals located in Los Angeles. The profits realized by the company after establishment in 1979 were high compared to the current profits selling 2.7 million yards of fabric per week. Currently, the company sales add up to 1.5million yards of fabric per week. Decline is the

Music of the Disenfranchised & How it Changed the Nation Essay

Music of the Disenfranchised & How it Changed the Nation - Essay Example With this, Steel then succumbs to the 3d images and chooses the ones behind Titan are NOT them. As the show is carried out, Octus and Ilana rout the animal. The one day from now, the band concludes that they are well known due to Lance, and kick him out. Spear educates the two regarding this, however Ilana demands he is still a great musical artist, and afterward gets the thought of beginning their band at the "Galactic Trio". Whats more as Ilana is discussing what parts the three can play, the scene closes. The method for world is the way in which individuals commonly act or things ordinarily happen (Strayer, 2-3). In this disappointed music, the conventional spectator is invested with significant intelligence and information of the method for the world she was knowledgeable in the methods for the world before she had taken the cover/ he was amazingly blameless of the methods for the

Solar and Renewable Power in the UK Literature review

Solar and Renewable Power in the UK - Literature review Example The work also provides an overall idea about the consumption of energy in various sectors. According to the information, transport industry is the biggest consumer that accounts for 33% of the total consumption in 1990. It was followed by domestic sector with 28% and industry with 26%. By 2001, there was a rise in energy consumption in transport, domestic and services sectors. To illustrate, in transport and services, the use rose by 1% and in domestic sector, it rose by 2%. Now, when the energy consumption is analysed according to the purpose, it becomes evident that in 1999, 38% of the total energy went to space heating and 22% was used for processes. To light appliances, 12% was used, and 8% of the total energy was consumed by water and lighting/appliances. All other purposes take up one fifth of the total energy. By 2000, there was a rise in the use of electricity for water, space heating and lighting. They rose by 1%, and 2% respectively. On the other hand, the process use decli ned by 7% (ibid). A look into the UK oil reserve and consumption through the Busby Report (2002) provides a picture that is grim. The country has a mere 0.3% of the global oil reserve. In addition, its oil production had peaked in the year 1999, and by 2010, it tailed off by 54%. Though the nation faced a decline in consumption by 12% in the period, it had to import 15.8% of its oil from other nations (ibid). Thus, it becomes evident that the nation is getting more and more dependent on imported oil. Similar is the case of natural gas in UK. The UK gas reserve fell considerably from 0.74 trillion cubic meters to 0.66 trillion cube meters between 2000 and 2001. By the year 2010, the reserve is just 0.25 trillion cubic meters. Thus, the nation’s 57.1 billion cubic meters of gas production is far behind its requirement of 93.8 billion cubic meters. As a result, the nation meets 39% of its gas requirement by import (ibid). Thus, the report points out that as a result of this increased need and decreasing oil and gas reserves, there is a rise in global demand for supplies of coal and oil. As a result, the nation will be forced to reduce its energy consumption by 75% if newer ways are not developed. In order to meet this issue, the article suggests certain solutions. The first one is the increased use of bio-diesel. It is pointed out that producing adequate amount of bio-diesel means utilising 8.5% of the agricultural land in UK for growing rape and beet. Another form of energy is landfill gas. Presently, it provides

Slang Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Slang - Essay Example Although there are no religious, cultural and economic inhibitions that may restrict its usage, the religiously conservative consider sex as being too serious to be described thus loosely. This phrase is mostly used by the youthful and in less formal settings and audience such as entertainment. Because of its heavy sexual connotations and denotation, the word is mostly used by the mature youth who are already sexually active. There are no class restrictions that may inhibit the use of this phrase but religious conservatives maintain reservations towards the word. This phrase has strong sexual denotations and connotations, thereby restricting it to the mature youth. Again, this group may use it exclusively as language register (keeping it away from those outside their social circles). This phrase cuts across all economic divides, but its usage is less popular among the ultra-religious. This verb phrase is mostly used by the mature youth. Its old profile has steered it clear of teenage use. The phrase cuts across all economic divides but fails to penetrate the ultra-religious due to it being a taboo word. The phrase is used in informal settings and in the presence of youthful audience that is also part of the speaker’s social network. This acronym is commonest among the youth and has already infiltrated teenagers through electronic media, especially the Internet. The word permeates all social classes but remains widely unaccepted among Christians since its last initial is a taboo word and an expletive. The audience is mainly the youth and the audience is very informal. The use of this word permeates all socioeconomic classes and ages, with some Christians being the exception. This is because Christians consider the use of the word as tantamount to trifling with God’s name and a transgression of the Third Commandment. The word is commonly used in an informal setting and audience, particularly in online

Terrorism Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Terrorism - Assignment Example Due to the consequences attached with terrorism, one can understand that mankind has suffered on nearly all counts. If suffering is the barometer of finding out how terrorism will be defined and described, then one can suggest different implications all the same. It is not surprising that ever since recorded history, terrorism has been hard to define. It is both a strategic tool and a tactical entity, whereby the some believe it as a holy duty while others as a crime in its most rigorous form. Some believe it is the best deterrent to oppression and thus stands as a justifiable excuse in the wake of changing times. Then there are others who believe in creating destruction within the society to meet some of their ulterior motives whilst indulging in terrorism and its related activities. This indeed is a state of mind which comes directly linked with terrorism. It remains a reality that terrorism is a crime which influences an audience apart from the victim that is apparent. The basic strategy of terrorism is to commit to those acts which come under the domains of violence and thus grab the attention and feedback of the population which is affected by the same. Often times, it has been seen that the local population is indeed the government of the land or even the entire world. The terrorists carry out the terrorism related activities to let the people know that a lot of ambiguity exists within the relevant ranks, and thus anarchy has started to come up as a major force. The manner in which the terrorism event takes place decides whether or not it has been instrumental at changing beliefs or aligning ideologies. These are some of the basic reasons why terrorism is seen as something that is hard to define and describe because it affects quite a few tangents in the long term scheme of things. The three different perspectives in the wake of t he phenomenon of terrorism offer something of insight to gain from. This encompasses the stance of the

Cirque Du Soleil Essay Example for Free

Cirque Du Soleil Essay Danielle Savoie cant fold herself into a pretzel or spin around on her head. But she walks a tightrope every day managing the information systems that make it possible for the Cirque du Soleil to entertain more people each year than the Yankees and Red Sox combined. The circus, which features astonishing acrobatics and Broadway-caliber music and dance productions, started out as a novelty in 1984 with one show and little fanfare. But this year, 11 different shows on four continents will entertain more than 7 million spectators paying up to $125 each to see a circus without animals. Savoie, the companys vice president of information technology, is struggling to keep pace. Why? Over the past five years, the number of software applications used by Cirque du Soleil employees has ballooned from roughly 40 to more than 200. Although these tools run a wide range of operations—from handling human resources and finance to making costumes and scheduling performing artists—these applications could not share data. This shortcoming threatened productivity or even the prospects for a show to go on without major headaches if, for example, a spotlight wasnt delivered to the right place or a performer couldnt be quickly found to replace someone who had bec0me sick. Savoie realized the organization needed to install software that would give employees access to these applications and databases without completely redesigning the systems setup, which she had pieced together on the fly. Consider the logistics that Savoie and the Cirques 3,300 employees must track: Six of the 11 shows are constantly in motion, touring North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. More than 250 tractor-trailers haul 700 tons of equipment around the world each day. More than 20,000 performers must be scheduled, transported and tracked for these shows. So must costumes and stage equipment. The database for just the alterations of these costumes has 4,000-plus entries and is growing every day. This juggling act, which combines acrobats, dancers and trapeze artists with elaborate lighting and musical production, has made Cirque du Soleil a $500 million corporation in just two decades. All of which is great news for Guy Laliberte, the shows co-founder and a former fire-eating stilt-walker. But for Savoie and her staff, Cirque du Soleils fantastic growth and unique culture created an information systems disarray not uncommon to any organization that grows real big, real fast with neither the luxury of time nor the benefit of experience to develop an ideal plan to deploy software to manage the free-wheeling monster. When I got here in 2000, I was the only I.T. person, Savoie says. Now we have 100 people on staff. Because of the way weve grown, we have to make up for lost time right now. During this boom, Cirque du Soleil added show management software used to make or order costumes and assign artists, as well as point-of-sale systems for merchandise. Many of the applications were developed in-house because of Cirque du Soleils unique business. Where did Savoie start? With basic applications to support day-to-day operations in the midst of the growth spurt. The company implemented SAP software for human resources, logistics and finance in 2000 and, later, installed a full-blown version of SAPs enterprise resource planning software for procurement, costume manufacturing, and event and artist scheduling. But it was using Microsoft Windows 2000 and Office XP for most of its other applications, including the companys Web site, its intranet, the point-of-sale system, and myriad other programs such as one to track the performers medical records. Most of these applications, however, couldnt communicate with each other. Moreover, the individual troupes traveling through North America or Europe were running their applications on different operating systems, and as a result, these troupes acted more like independent businesses instead of parts of a larger organization. And the arrangement made it difficult for workers across these different business units to collaborate, Savoie says. We had data in lots of different places, but could only combine it and analyze or utilize it manually, she recalls. As recently as six months ago, for example, production managers on any traveling troupe arriving at its destination would begin by conducting an inventory of all the equipment needed for a given performance. The lights, speakers, stage, decorations and the posts needed to suspend the enormous tent were all tracked with paper and pen. And when the manager realized something was missing, he or she would have to pick up a phone and call back to company headquarters in Montreal to get a replacement. Usually, the item in need made it to the location in time for theperformance. When it didnt, the crew would either have to buy a replacement locally, scramble to get it from another troupe or just do without. Equipments one thing, but performers are harder to replace in a pinch. There is a finite number of people on the planet who can pull off the acrobatic feats that take place during a Cirque du Soleil show. There are more than a dozen Olympic medalists in the organization. Scheduling performers based on the characters needed for each show is a full-time job. Each character has specific costume and makeup instructions, which are stored in a database. Then theres the matter of feeding the performers and support staff. In these traveling cities, more than 300 meals are prepared each day requiring thousands of pounds of meat, seafood and fresh produce. Getting on the Same Page To give employees access to data and tools from more than 200 applications running on multiple operating systems, Savoie embarked on a year-long project to install IBMs WebSphere Business Integration Server Express Plus software to connect her disparate systems. The goal: Organize all the application environments onto a single, standardized platform for access and development. We wanted to [streamline] our in-house applications with the financial data we have with our SAP applications to create one vision of all our information, Savoie says. We needed a common language for all our applications. The IBM WBI Express software was implemented on IBM eServer xSeries 245 and 355 systems. The project took just over a year from start to finish and cost roughly $175,000. Savoie and her team, along with IBM consultants, broke up the project into four separate pieces. The first phase took place during 18 weeks in which Cirque du Soleils information-technology staff and IBM consultants deployed the methodology of the project. They essentially determined what functions and applications they wanted to integrate into the SAP planning system as well as how they wanted to collect, disseminate and access information from the various applications. This is the most important part of any integration software implementation, says Yefim Natis, an analyst at Gartner who tracks IBM WebSphere implementations. You dont just plug this in. You have to think through all the processes and get all the people involved in the same room to discuss what they want and how they want to do it. Savoie says this part of the project was fairly straightforward. For example, they didnt want to reconstruct existing connections between applications used in the field by production managers. They merely wanted to be able to gather all the inventory, sales and performer data into one field and have it accessible to everyone from either a PC or a handheld device. Next, Cirque du Soleil spent four months building the Web interface to the planning system so that information could be accessed, edited and analyzed from the corporate intranet. The project was completed in May. Under the five-month-long third phase, financial information was consolidated. Data on ticket sales, procurement, merchandising and other financial matters that had been stored separately on either the Windows operating system or the SAP system was now connected so that executives could get a snapshot view of the entire company. Finally, the developers spent the last 2 1/2 months integrating the Cirque du Soleil intranet with its online help-desk system so performers, managers and other staff could resolve problems quicker instead of exchanging phone calls about scheduling deliveries or other issues. Now that everyone had access to the same information regardless of the application or operating system from which it had originated, Cirque du Soleil could begin to make strategic business decisions with a global vision. For example, when a key performer was unavailable to work because of illness or injury, the staff could sift through the database of all performers with that particular expertise from any computer in the organization. Then they could find a replacement who was available and closest to the production in need. At the same time, they could pull up the performers work history, measurements and biography to aid the costume designers in making alterations, and the marketing staff who create the programs and advertising materials. All sales conducted at the fixed and mobile sites—T-shirts and the like—are now automatically downloaded to the system and available to executives in real time, rather than an unpredictable and often delayed collection of manual documents from far-flung locations. When new products are needed to stock the show in Sydney or Seattle, Cirque du Soleil now knows exactly how manyT-shirts it needs by size and style, and can order them in bulk for delivery the next day. The operational efficiencies are important, but the flexibility our developers now have is just as important, Savoie says. Now, when we install another best-of-breed application or develop one of our own, we dont have to worry about what works with which system. We know that it all can be adapted to one common language. Efficiency Behind the Scenes Back on the streets, the production managers are also benefiting from the behind-the-scenes improvements made in Montreal. Now that the integration software has been implemented, production managers use an entirely new system to create an inventory of equipment necessary for the new mobile city. Instead of checking off a paper list of all the lights, cameras, speakers and stage materials needed for a production, each piece of equipment is tagged with a bar code thats scanned by a handheld device connected to the network. Cirque du Soleil says these mobile devices have cut in half the time it takes to inventory an entire 180,000-square-foot mobile city, and virtually eliminated errors. Its something that no one sees because it doesnt affect the day-to-day performance, Savoie points out. Its too early to say exactly how much money weve saved, but I know that going forward, the time well save just on the development side makes it worthwhile. [pic] Cirque Du Soleil Base Case Headquarters: 8400 Second Ave., Montreal, Quebec, Canada H1Z 4M6 Phone: (514) 722-2324 Business: Provides live performances that combine acrobatics, opera and traditional circus performers in 11 different production groups scattered throughout the world. Vice President of Information Technology: Danielle Savoie Financials in 2004: Reported sales of more than $500 million. Challenge: Implement IBM WebSphere Business Integration software to connect all of its disparate systems and applications. BASELINE GOALS: †¢ Grow revenue by 8% to $540 million in 2005, from $500 million in 2004. †¢ Reduce development time for software connecting business and performance-related applications from eight to six weeks. †¢ Trim time spent connecting business software applications to corporate intranet from 20 to 16 weeks. - Cirque du Soleil performs balancing act with CGI [pic][pic][pic][pic][pic] Integrator takes over IT functions for Montreal-based entertainment company [pic] [pic]4/11/2006 5:00:00 PM [pic][pic]by Vawn Himmelsbach, www.itbusiness.ca | | |Cirque du Soleil has signed a 10-year IT outsourcing contract with CGI, valued at $130 million. Montreals world-renowned| |entertainment company, which combines circus and theatre, wanted to offload some of its less strategic IT functions as | |its operations expand around the globe. | |â€Å"We have very rapid growth and we wanted to leverage the infrastructure provided by CGI,† said Danielle Savoie, CIO of | |Cirque du Soleil. | |As part of the contract signed last week, CGI is in charge of providing IT operations, help desk and application | |evolution of Cirques global infrastructure, including its Montreal headquarters, four permanent shows in Las Vegas and | |one permanent show in Orlando. | |This involves transferring 84 IT positions to CGI from Cirque du Soleil in Montreal, Las Vegas and Orlando. A certain | |number of technicians have stayed on with Cirque to perform more strategic IT roles. | | CGI is also in charge of the IT infrastructure behind Cirques travelling shows. On tours, only one technician is | |required to set up the IT infrastructure, such as point-of-sale and ticketing applications (since Cirque runs a | |centralized IT infrastructure out of Montreal). | |Cirque will keep IT strategy and direction in-house, as well as global planning and architecture design. â€Å"We didnt want | |to lose this strategic knowledge,† said Savoie. â€Å"When we want to re-engineer some part of our business processes, its | |important to have this knowledge.† | |CGI will manage its PCs, servers and the help desk, said Normand Paradis, vice-president of business engineering with CGI| |Group Inc. in Montreal. â€Å"We will also take over support and evolution of the portfolio of applications.† This includes a | |wide range of applications, from administrative functions like payroll to tour equipment, costumes and merchandise. | | Over the course of the lifecycle of these applications, modifications are made to respond to new business requirements, | |said Savoie. â€Å"Every year we have to make some evolution in this portfolio,† she said, adding CGI is now responsible for | |these modifications. | |â€Å"They have over 100 applications of various sorts we will be maintaining for them from strictly administrative to | |(costumes),† said Paradis. | |â€Å"They design and build these costumes (and) we provide the IT support behind that,† he said. â€Å"But its just one of the | |things they do – for them its really all about intellectual property.† This includes costumes, music, even the acts | |themselves – all of which are part of the intellectual property theyre managing. And they have to use a lot of systems | |to do that, he said, in order to protect it properly. In its aquatic show â€Å"O† in Las Vegas, for example, costumes | |deteriorate quickly in water, so CGI will keep track of items like costumes, diving equipment and maintenance. | |â€Å"On top of that they run a large financial system and large payroll system,† he said. â€Å"For a circus, doing the payroll is| |not exactly their core activity, but it better get done because if the guys dont get paid youre not going to see too | |many shows.† | |This is the beginning of CGIs foray into the entertainment and sporting event sectors, which it began last year with the| |World Aquatic Championships in Montreal. CGI expects its partnership with Cirque du Soleil to strengthen its expertise | |within these areas. â€Å"For us its working with a major player,† said Paradis. â€Å"They have a very strategic brand [and] they| |are well known on a global basis.† | |The transition process to outsource these IT functions started last week and will take place ov er the coming 12 months. |

History Of Computer Architecture First Generation Information Technology Essay

History Of Computer Architecture First Generation Information Technology Essay In 1945 Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer it was the first general purpose computer designed by Mauchly Echert, built by United States army to calculate  artillery  firing tables for ballistic shells during World War II. The machine was developed using vacuum tubes and relays, and it was programmed to work manually by setting switches. UNIVersal  Automatic  Computer  I (UNIVAC) 1950: It was the first commercial computer developed. John Von Neumann architecture: Goldstine and Von Neumann took the idea of ENIAC and developed concept of storing a program in the memory. Known as the Von Neumann architecture and has been the basis for virtually every machine designed since then. Features: Electron emit devices Data and programs are stored in a single read-write memory Memory contents are addressable by location, regardless of the content itself Machine language/Assemble language Sequential execution Second Generation (1950-1964) Transistors William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain invent the transistor that reduce size of computers and improve reliability. First operating Systems: handled one program at a time On-off switches controlled by electricity High level languages Floating point arithmetic Third Generation (1964-1974) Integrated Circuits (IC) Microprocessor chips combines thousands of transistors, entire circuit on one computer ship Semiconductor memory Multiple computer models with different performance characteristics Smaller computers that did not need a specialized room Fourth Generation (1974-present) Very Large-Scale Integration (VLSI)/Ultra Large Scale Integration (ULSI) Combines millions of transistors Single-chip processor and the single-board computer emerged Creation of the Personal Computer (PC) Wide spread use of data communications Artificial intelligence: Functions logic predicates Object-Oriented programming: Objects operations on objects Massively parallel machine 32 bit architecture In computing 32 bit architecture refers to how a computer is build. In a 32 bit architecture computer the integer values can be stored in 32bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295 or à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢2,147,483,648 through 2,147,483,647 using twos complement encoding. Bus architecture In  computer architecture a  bus  refers to structure handling data transmission between components inside a  computer system, or computer network which transmit binary numbers, one bit per wire. Modern computer buses can use both parallel and bit-serial connections, and can be wired in either a electrical parallel or  daisy chain  topology, or connected by switched hubs, as in the case of  USB. A microprocessor communicates with memory and other devices (input and output) using three busses: Address Bus Data Bus Control Bus. Address Bus   The address bus  is a  computer bus, which consist series of lines connecting two or more devices that is used to specify a  physical address. When R3900  processor   needs to read or write to a memory location, it specifies that memory location on the address bus sent through the  data bus. The width of the address bus determines the amount of memory a system can address. In toshiba R3900 Processor Core address bus can address 232  (4,294,967,296) memory locations which is 32bit. If each memory address holds one byte, the addressable memory space is 4 GB. Address bus is unidirectional, numbers only sent from microprocessor to memory, not other way. Data Bus A data bus is a  computer  subsystem that allows for the transferring of data from one component to another on a  motherboard  or system board. Data bus used to transmit data, information, results of arithmetic, etc, between memory and the microprocessor This can include transferring data to and from the memory, or from the  central processing unit  (CPU) to other components, it is bi-directional. The R3900 data bus is designed to handle so many bits of data at a time. The amount of data a data bus can handle is called bandwidth. The toshiba 32 bits R3900  processor  can transfer data through a data bus every second. At the same time they are making data buses to handle more bits, they are also making devices that can handle those higher bitrates Control Bus A  control bus  is (part of) a  computer bus, used by  CPUs  for communicating with other devices within the computer. The control bus will tell the memory that we are either reading from a location, specified on the address bus, or writing to a location specified. Various other signals to control and coordinate the operation of the system. The R3900 32 bit buss, which allow larger number of instructions, more memory location, and faster arithmetic. Microcontrollers organized along same lines, except: because microcontrollers have memory etc inside the chip, the busses may all be internal. In the microprocessor the three busses are external to the chip (except for the internal data bus). In external busses, the chip connects to the busses via buffers, which are simply an electronic connection between external bus and the internal data bus. Memory management unit  (MMU) Memory management unit  (MMU) is also called as  paged memory management unit  (PMMU), is a  computer hardware component responsible for handling accesses to  memory  requested by the  CPU. Its functions include translation of  virtual addresses  to  physical addresses  (i.e.,  virtual memory  management),  memory protection,  cache  control,  bus  arbitration, and, in simpler computer architectures, bank switching. The functions performed by the memory management unit can typically be divided into three areas: hardware memory management operating system  memory management application memory management The Toshiba R3900 Processor Core Operating Modes The R3900 Processor Core has two operating modes user mode kernel mode It operates in the user mode normally, when exception is detected it changes to kernel mode. In kernel mode, it continues until an RFE (Restore from Exception) instruction is executed. The existing virtual address space varies with the mode. User mode User mode exist only one of the two 2 Gbyte virtual address spaces (kuseg). The most considerable bit of each kuseg address is 0. The range virtual address kuseg is of 0x0000 0000 to 0x7FFF FFFF. Attempting to access an address when the MSB is 1 while in user mode returns an Address Error exception. Kernel mode Kernel mode makes available a second 2 Gbyte virtual address space (kseg), in addition to the kuseg accessible in user mode. The range virtual address kuseg is of 0x8000 0000 to 0xFFFF FFFF. Direct Segment Mapping The Toshiba R3900 Processor Core has a direct segment mapping MMU. User mode One 2 Gbyte virtual address space (kuseg) is available in user mode. In this mode, the most important bit of each kuseg address is 0. The virtual address range of kuseg is 0x0000 0000 to 0x7FFF FFFF. Attempting to access an address outside of this range, that is, with the MSB is 1, while in user mode will raise an Address Error exception. Virtual addresses 0x0000 0000 to 0x7FFF. FFFF are translated to physical addresses 0x4000 0000 to 0xBFFF FFFF, individually. The upper 16-Mbyte area of kuseg (0x7F00 0000 to 0x7FFF FFFF) is reserved for on-chip resources and is not cacheable. Kernel mode The kernel mode address space is ta as four virtual address segments. One of these, kuseg, is the same as the one in user mode; the other remaining three are kernel segments kseg0, kseg1 and kseg2. Pipeline Architecture Computer  pipeline  is a set of data processing parts connected in series, so that the output of one element is the input of the next one. The elements of a pipeline are often executed in parallel or in time-sliced fashion; in that case, some amount of  buffer storage  is often inserted between elements. Each cycle different instruction is executed in different stages For example, 5-stage pipeline (Fetch-Decode-Read-Execute-Write), The Toshiba R3900 Processor Core executes instructions in five pipeline stages (F: instruction fetch; D: decode; E: execute; M: memory access; W: register write-back). The five stages have the following roles. F : An instruction is fetched from the instruction cache. D : The instruction is decoded. Contents of the general-purpose registers are read.. E : Arithmetic, logical and shift operations are performed. The execution of multiple/divide instructions is begun. M: The data cache is accessed in the case of load and store instructions. W: The result is written to a general register. Each of the above pipeline stage is executed in one clock cycle. When the pipeline is fully used, the five instructions are executed at the same time, which will be resulting in an average instruction execution rate of one instruction per cycle. Delay Slot The R3900 Processor Core instructions are executed with a delay of one instruction cycle. Delay slot is the cycle in which an instruction is delayed. A delay occurs with load instructions and branch/jump instructions. Delayed load Delayed branching Non blocking Load Function In the R3900 processor the non blocking load function stops the pipeline from stalling when a cache miss happens and a refill cycle is needed to refill the data cache. Instructions after the load instruction that do not use registers involved by the load will continue to be executed. Multiply and Multiply/Add Instructions(MULT, MULTU, MADD, MADDU) The R3900 Processor Core is able to execute multiply and multiply/add instructions continuously, and able to use the results in the HI/LO registers in immediately following instructions, without pipeline stall. The processor requires only one clock cycle to use the outcome of a general-purpose register. Divide Instruction (DIV, DIVU) The Processor Core performs division instructions in the division unit independently of the pipeline. Division starts from the pipeline E stage and takes 35 cycles. Streaming The R3900 Processor Core can resume execution immediately after arrival of necessary data or instruction in cache even though cache refill operation is not completed during a cache refill operation. This is referred to as streaming.

Analysis Of Terrorism On The African Continent Politics Essay

Analysis Of Terrorism On The African Continent Politics Essay As the Middle East continues to be the primary spotlight of international attention in the American-led War on Terror, it is easy to overlook the fact that the most extreme terrorist attacks adjacent to 9/11 all took place in Africa. (BRON) Since the atrocities of 9/11, there has been a significant change in the United States (US) foreign policy towards the African continent, a progression that has been hastened by the demands of the War on Terror. The development away from the American hands off attitude to Africa has had a striking impact on human security on the continent. Yet, the imperative effects of the shift in the American foreign policy towards Africa to prevent and suppress the threat of terrorism and improve human security levels on the continent are an unexplored area of research. To create a base of knowledge on this topic, this paper examines the impact of the War on Terror on human security in Africa. The focus of research is put on the two major American military ope rations in Africa since 2002: the Horn of Africa Combined Joint Task Force (HOACJTF) and the Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Initiative (TSCTI). The successfulness of the War on Terror in Africa is indicated in the evaluation of the decrease in the number of terrorist incidents on the African continent and the improvement of the Human Development Index (HDI) of the Africans nations during these operations. The War on Terror has succeeded to improve national security on the African continent by the active promotion of democracy, peace and stability through the Horn of Africa Combined Joint Task Force and the Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Initiative. If the September 11 attacks would not have taken place, then-President George W. Bush would arguably never have made an official visit to the African countries of Nigeria, Uganda, Botswana, South Africa, and Senegal in July 2003 the first visit by a sitting Republican president to the African continent. At the very least, the attacks of 9/11 added necessity to his visit. Moments before his departure, Bush acknowledged that many African governments have the will to fight the war on terror we will give them the tools and the resources to win [this] war.(Quote Bush) According to United States National Security Strategy of September 2002, 9/11 taught the United States that weak states can pose as great a danger to our national interests as strong states. Poverty does not make poor people into terrorists and murderers. Yet poverty, weak institutions, and corruption can make weak states vulnerable to terrorist networks and drug cartels within their borders. After 9/11, U.S. focus on terrorism in Africa became much more pronounced. For the first time since 1993, the United States deployed a sizeable contingent of American troops on the continent with the establishment of the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa is Africas bridge to the Middle East. Quietly the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa has emerged as Americas most productive post-9/11 alliance. Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa focuses its efforts on conducting unified action in the combined joint operations area of the Horn of Africa to prevent conflict, promote tourism as well as regional stability, and protect Coalition interests in order to prevail against extremism. At the time, the Operation also have several peacekeeping missions in Sudan and Somalia. Since the start of the operation in 2002, the Task Force has succeeded to promote good governance throughout the region by strengthening diplomatic understanding of the area of and increasing support to those countries that already play a key role in counterterrorism operations, but that suffer from poor employment, education, and social services. At the same time, Though the US presence is essential for the stability of the Horn, the Horn states themselves prove to be successful in resolving the regional threats- particularly the al Qaeda terrorist threat- that are essential to providing confidence among Horn states. Another operation that has played a pivotal role promoting human security is the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Initiative (TSCTI). Much like the Horn of Africa Operation the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Initiative, or TSCTI, has exceeded the expectations of the participant countries and those of American military planners. The Initiative is an interagency plan by the United States government, combining efforts by both civil and military agencies, to combat terrorism in Trans-Saharan Africa. The goal of Initiative is to counter terrorist influences in the region and assist governments to better control their territory and to prevent huge tracts of largely deserted African territory from becoming a safe haven for terrorist groups. The Operation officially started in, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, but Current membership includes eleven African countries: The goal of the alliance is not to fight in hot spots, but to provide preventative training and engagement with governments to help prevent the growth of terrorist organizations in the partner countries. Member states noted the improvement in communications between the numerous conferences between senior military officers of participant states. Such gatherings have increased confidence among states, improved the training practices, improved joint tactics to confront indigenous terror groups or those outside the region, and assisted in the synchronization of communication. Another important result is that border security has increased throughout the regions. The Sahel countries (Chad, Niger, Mali, and Mauritania) in particular have dramatically increased the presence of troops along their borders, helping to prevent the emergence of safe havens in the expansive desert areas within the region. These elements and the administrations consistent statements regarding the importance of democratic governance represent another aspect of the legacy of the TSCTI. This point is fundamental because it is clear that the success of the TSCTI in the short term and long term will depend on the abilit y of member states to adopt and to implement democratic principles. After having analyzed the two most successful US operations in Africa to counter terrorism, the question of how these results reflect improvement in human security still remains. It is clear that the Operations have succeeded to play an active role in the promotion of democracy, peace and stability, but have they really improved human security in Africa. In order to show you so, I have linked to successfulness of the operations to two important statistic trends. First of all, I did research on the change of the number of terrorist attacks in Africa. Next, I focused on the Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistic used to rank countries by level of human development The statistic is composed from data on life expectancy, education and per-capita GDP (as an indicator of standard of living) The HDI has been used since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme for its annual Human Development Reports. Conclusion (draft) although I hope to have convinced you that human security in Africa has improved indeed since the start of the War on Terror, I have to say there is still much room for further improvement of human security in Africa. The War on Terror in Africa is still facing some major humanitarian challenges, including the crisis in Darfur and the Civil War in Somalia. On October 1, 2008, responsibility for the Trans-Sahara Counter Initiative together with the command of the Horn of Africa Operation was transferred to The United States Africa Command or AFRICOM. It is now up to AFRICOM to prove it is capable of bringing and maintaining peace and stability on the African continent.

The Story of an Hour and The Yellow Wallpaper :: The Story of an Hour

The women in The Story of an Hour and The Yellow Wallpaper attempt to overcome their oppression by finding an outlet. They tried to find something or do something that would comfort them. In The Story of an Hour, the window is the main symbol. Correspondingly, in The Yellow Wallpaper, the wallpaper itself is the main symbol. In The Story of an Hour, the window is what symbolizes Mrs. Mallard’s freedom in that she has new opportunities. She says that she is finally free, â€Å"free body and soul.† She says this because she realizes that she is finally free from her husband. It can be inferred from the story she was oppressed because she didn’t have any opportunities in the past. The window is what releases her from her oppression by setting her free and giving her new opportunities that were not available to her in the past. In The Yellow Wallpaper, the wallpaper symbolizes her oppression in a way. In which John’s wife sees a woman in the wallpaper. During the daytime the light makes it look as if she is behind bars shaking them. However, during the night the woman in the wallpaper creeps around. John’s Wife relates the woman in the wallpaper to herself by saying that she creeps in the daytime when John isn’t around. However, during the night she is quite still because John is around and he will notice her. John’s wife tries to overcome her oppression by setting the woman free inside the wallpaper, in order to free her oppression. Which the house itself is a prison for her since John won’t let her leave and that he keeps telling her that writing will make her worse, while it was only

Divorce Laws in the United States Essay examples -- Family Law

â€Å"Divorce is a decree by a court that a valid marriage no longer exists. It leaves both parties free to remarry. The court will award custody, divide property, and order spousal and child support† (The American Bar Association 71). â€Å"†¦till death do us part† is almost always heard at wedding ceremonies. But all too often does this phrase not hold up to its true meaning. Between 1960 and 1999 the divorce rate in the United States tripled (Porterfield vii). Out of all first time marriages, 41% end in divorce (Divorce Rate). According to the Centers for Disease control and Prevention, for every 1,000 people, 6.8 get married and 3.4 of those marriages will end in divorce (Marriage and Divorce). The Family Legal Guide from The American Bar Association confirms that of the couples who marry before the age of forty-five, one-half of them will get divorced (71). These numbers do not seem to be decreasing. They only seem to be increasing as time goes on. It is agreed by many that if two people can no longer find it in themselves to be passionate towards one another and they no longer desire the others company that they should end their marriage. However, the growing number of divorces is proving that, pe rhaps getting a divorce in the United States is too easy. The evidence proves that divorce laws should be made stricter throughout the United States. Every divorce is different; no two divorces are the same. Some involve children. Some are just a couple. Some have step children or half children. Some include hostile situations. Some are peaceful. Some are for a valid reason. Some are simply because the couple doesn’t feel like being together anymore. Some are mutual. Some are not. So why is every divorce so quickly done and so easily ob... ...2. â€Å"Marriage and Divorce.† Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 5 Oct. 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. Porterfield, Kay Marie. Straight Talk about Divorce. New York: Facts on File, 1999. Print. Portnoy, Ph.D. Sanford. â€Å"A Lawyer’s Primer Part 1- The Effects of Divorce on Adults.† Ed. Ron Brown. The Psychology of Divorce. 1(2006): 1-7. Print. Russo, Francine. â€Å"Can The Government Prevent Divorce?† The Atlantic. Oct. 1997. Web. 1 Apr. 2012. Shapiro v. Thompson. 2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data. U.S. Supreme Court. 21 Apr. 1969. Print. Tavernise, Sabrina, and Robert Gebeloff. â€Å"Once Rare in Rural American, Divorce is Changaing the Face of Its Families.† www.Nytimes.com. The New York Times. 23 Mar. 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. The American Bar Association. Family Legal Guide. 3rd ed. New York: Random House, 2004. 71-88. Print.

Education and Social Class Differences

What is the role of women in the story of Persepolis? Compare and contrast the various women in some detail using at least three examples: you might include Marji, her mother, her grandmother, her school teachers, the maid, the neighbors, or the guardians of the revolution. In the story of Persepolis, each female character had a designated role that they could not escape from. Marji's role was to show the reader how the Iranian Revolution truely affected her life.An example of this was when the government made it mandatory for all women to wear veils. Marji did not have a choice in the matter because she was young and had to abide by her parent's requests, but more so when she had to wear the veil to school and was stopped by the guardians of the revolution. Marji's mother's role was to support Marji and be there for her to express what she was feeling. However, her mother also had to make sure she was well off in her endevours.Her mother was much more direct and stern with Marji as compared to her grandmother. Her grandmother's role was also to support Marji, but she also tried to calm Marji by giving her words of wisdom, which included a slight insight to what has occurred in the past and some events that were once hidden from her. The maid in the household did not attempt to take on any of the roles of the females because her primary role to the reader was to show us the social class differences that existed within that society.She was nothing more than a maid who must know her place. The school teacher's role was held higher than that of the maid's role. The school teacher was there to educate all of the students, but part of this education was to ensure that all of the female students that were attending would wear their veils at all times because if they did not, the guardians of the revolution would have them arrested.

Ilie Haures High School From Triton College

In college we must manage our time carefully and responsibly as we reach for what we plan to do. With as we grow older, the responsibilities grow up and always we have the feeling that the day is too short. For that we must be careful in taking our decision. The attendance is very important in high school. School attendance is a baseline factor in determining student success. You can't miss from the class without a good explanation. In college we want to be there every time, not to lose the main idea of the course and learn something new every day and apply to the next chapter.In high school we are some bored kids who hint that all that glitters is gold and nobody can tell us what to do with it. We just don't have any motivation to remain in the classes and wait to hear the bell so we can meet with our friends from other classes. As children, think that is one of the reason why we go to school. We can still find a lot of differences, but you may just be missing some importance in opi nions. Each has different conclusion on the topic. I have to manage my time very carefully because with a full time job and evening classes I need a good rest and sleep enough to be responsible and competent for the next day.For me it's important participation in school and concentrate on the course so can continue my study at home and know what have to work. I have my own motivation and am not forced by anyone to continue my studies. I prefer to study to enrich my vocabulary words and have a good package of knowledge to be prepared for the future and to have a greater chance of finding a better job. Everyone knows that people in high school and college could not be apart.

Hyphenated American

Chinese Americans tend to keep their separate identity In the United States, there are multiple hyphenated Americans groups, such as African- American, Asian- American, Irish- American, and Indian- American. People hold American nationality, but have a foreign birth or origins tend to identify themselves in some term of Hyphenated Americans. It means that they are not only Americans, but also involve in different ethnicity, religion, language, and culture. Chinese- Americans comprises the largest ethnic group of Asian Americans.Most of the early Chinese workers immigrated from Guangdong province in China for the Gold Rush (â€Å"Chinese Immigrants and the Gold Rush†, n. d. ). Since 1865, lots of Chinese worker come to the United States and worked on the famous Transcontinental Railroad project. The Chinese also worked as small merchants, gardener, laundry workers, farmers, and so on. More and more Chinese Americans immigrated with their children from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan(â€Å"Chinese Historycal Society of Southern California†, 2010).The Chinese Americans try to keep their Chinese culture, language, and community, and they tend to retain the separate identity. Chinese Americans tend to live together in their own culture community. According to the 2010 census, the Chinese American population was around 3. 8 million, and half of them lived either in  California  or  New York (â€Å"Race Reporting for the Asian Population by Selected Categories: 2010†, 2010 ). The Chinatown in San Francisco was the oldest and largest Chinese community in the United States.People can find Chinese culture elements everywhere in the Chinatown, for example, herbal shops, temples, dragon parades, Chinese book store, Chinese restaurant, Chinese language school, and even Chinese hospital. People living in the Chinatown communicate in Chinese language, and live exactly the same life style as people in China. Chinese Americans in New York also have such community in the Flushing area, know as Chinatown. There are Chinese transportation companies; travel agencies, and Chinese language school also. Almost every child in Chinese American family has attended Chinese language school after their regular school time.Their parents want them to keep ancestor’s culture, so they will always remember that they are rooted in China. There is a Columbus Chinese Christian Church in Columbus Ohio. Every Sunday, thousands of Chinese American Christians living in Columbus get together and model in the bible through teaching, music, and worship. After the teaching, people share a big dinner of Chinese food. Most of them speak Chinese, and only the new generations who were born in America prefer to speak English. Many of the old immigrated Chinese American even cannot speak English at all.Even though the kids speak English with each other, they can still speak frequently in Chinese with their parents. Chinese Americans stay in th eir own community to retain their culture, language, and customs. Chinese Americans are pride of their ethnic and culture. Music and dance are the common language among all human being. Chinese Americans hold Shen Yun performances all around the United States to spread Chinese art and music. Every year, students can see posts about Shen Yun performance on the wall around the OSU campus. The video Shen Yun 2013 Trailer on the Shen Yun website also shows some significant parts of the performance.Dancers wearing different styles of Chinese traditional ancient clothes performed the Chinese cultures of different dynasty and different ethics. The music play by Chinese traditional instruments was as good as the dancing. As it said in the video, the aim of the performance is to revive 5000 years of divine civilization. It shows Chinese Americans’ strong sense of pride of Chinese culture. Many of the new generation of Chinese American, which is also known as American born Chinese (ABC ), had a hard time to define themselves identity.A short story named â€Å"The Paper Menagerie† written by Ken Liu won the 2012 Hugo Awards. This short, bittersweet story describe Ken suffered a pain of having a Chinese born mom who was different with every else’s mom, also, whose accent and broken sentences embarrassed him (Ken, 2012). His mom taught him Chinese, cooked Chinese food, and made him Chinese tradition paper animals as toys. She liked to see the Chinese parts in her son. However, he hated his chink face and all the other Chinese parts from his mother. He refused to talk to her in Chinese even though she can barely speak English.After reading her lasting letter inside the paper animals after his mother’s death, Ken finally understand his mother’s life and know how much she loved him (Ken, 2012). There is an America born Chinese girl Amy Tan who define herself a completely American, and she wants nothing to do with China. However, she actually struggled a lot about which country she truly belongs to. Then she had a trip back to China with her mother. Tan said that once she touched Chinese soil, she better understood her connection to the land and to the country.She finally understood how she belongs to two cultures at the same, which make her accept her hyphenated identity, and view herself as a Chinese American. She said â€Å"I discovered how American I was. I also discover how Chinese I was. I discovered a sense of finally belonging to a period of history, which I never felt with American history†. She realized that â€Å"Once you were born Chinese, you cannot help but feel and think Chinese† (Lemontree, n. d. ). Ken and Amy all tried to refuse everything about China, and they want nothing to do with Chinese.Finally, somehow, they find the way to connect their Chinese heritage and American nationality, and they accept themselves as who they are. American born Chinese new generation all suffered from an un expected pain of trying to belong. They have Chinese faces; they were mostly raised up in Chinese community and eat Chinese food; they have Chinese friends and their family members speak Chinese at home. They don’t know which nation and culture they truly belong to. Sometime they feel embarrassed about having such a different family, and try to integrate into the American society.Their parents hope they can hold the hyphenated identity, because they are pride of Chinese ethnic and culture. Young generations always refuse to do so, but the Chinese heritages do exist in their body, and will have influences on their life. They need to honor their ancestor’s culture and accept combination of being Chinese and American. Reference Chinese Historycal Society of Southern California. (2010). Retrieved on Nov. 21, 2012, from http://www. chssc. org/history/histtimeline. html Chinese Immigrants and the Gold Rush (n. d. ). Retrieved on Nov. 21. 2012, from http://www. pbs. rg/wgbh/a mex/goldrush/peopleevents/p_chinese. html Ken,L. (2011). The Paper Menagerie. Fantasy & Science Fiction. Retrieved on Nov. 21, 2012, from http://a1018. g. akamai. net/f/1018/19022/1d/randomhouse1. download. akamai. com/19022/pdf/Paper_Menagerie. pdf Lemontree. (n. d. ). Hyphenated Identity: A Long Research Journey, Retrieved on Nov, 21, 2012, from http://ayjw. org/articles. php? id=696640 Race Reporting for the Asian Population by Selected Categories: 2010. (2010). U. S. Census Bureau, Retrieved on Nov. 21, 2012, from http://factfinder2. census. gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview. xhtml

Desistance

Criminology & Criminal Justice  © 2006 SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks & New Delhi) and the British Society of Criminology. www. sagepublications. com ISSN 1748–8958; Vol: 6(1): 39–62 DOI: 10. 1177/1748895806060666 A desistance paradigm for offender management FERGUS McNEILL Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde, UK Abstract In an in? uential article published in the British Journal of Social Work in 1979, Anthony Bottoms and Bill McWilliams proposed the adoption of a ‘non-treatment paradigm’ for probation practice.Their argument rested on a careful and considered analysis not only of empirical evidence about the ineffectiveness of rehabilitative treatment but also of theoretical, moral and philosophical questions about such interventions. By 1994, emerging evidence about the potential effectiveness of some intervention programmes was suf? cient to lead Peter Raynor and Maurice Vanstone to suggest signi? cant revisions to the ‘non-treatme nt paradigm’.In this article, it is argued that a different but equally relevant form of empirical evidence—that derived from desistance studies—suggests a need to re-evaluate these earlier paradigms for probation practice. This reevaluation is also required by the way that such studies enable us to understand and theorize both desistance itself and the role that penal professionals might play in supporting it.Ultimately, these empirical and theoretical insights drive us back to the complex interfaces between technical and moral questions that preoccupied Bottoms and McWilliams and that should feature more prominently in contemporary debates about the futures of ‘offender management’ and of our penal systems. Key Words desistance †¢ effectiveness †¢ ethics †¢ offender management †¢ nontreatment paradigm †¢ probation 39 40 Criminology & Criminal Justice 6(1) IntroductionCritical analysts of the history of ideas in the probati on service have charted the various reconstructions of probation practice that have accompanied changes in penal theories, policies and sensibilities. Most famously, McWilliams (1983, 1985, 1986, 1987) described the transformations of probation from a missionary endeavour that aimed to save souls, to a professionalized endeavour that aimed to ‘cure’ offending through rehabilitative treatment, to a pragmatic endeavour that aimed to provide alternatives to custody and practical help for offenders (see also Vanstone, 2004).More recent commentators have suggested later transformations of probation practice related ? rst to its recasting, in England and Wales, as ‘punishment in the community’ and then to its increasing focus on risk management and public protection (Robinson and McNeill, 2004). In each of these eras of probation history, practitioners, academics and other commentators have sought to articulate new paradigms for probation practice. Though much of the debate about the merits of these paradigms has focused on empirical questions about the ef? acy of different approaches to the treatment and management of offenders, probation paradigms also re? ect, implicitly or explicitly, developments both in the philosophy and in the sociology of punishment. The origins of this article are similar in that the initial impetus for the development of a desistance paradigm for ‘offender management’1 emerged from reviews of desistance research (McNeill, 2003) and, more speci? cally, from the ? ndings of some particularly important recent studies (Burnett, 1992; Rex, 1999; Maruna, 2001; Farrall, 2002).However, closer examination of some aspects of the desistance research also suggests a normative case for a new paradigm; indeed, some of the empirical evidence seems to make a necessity out of certain ‘practice virtues’. That these virtues are arguably in decline as a result of the fore-fronting of risk and public protect ion in contemporary criminal justice serves to make the development of the case for a desistance paradigm both timely and necessary. To that end, the structure of this article is as follows.It begins with summaries of two important paradigms for probation practice—the ‘nontreatment paradigm’ (Bottoms and McWilliams, 1979) and the ‘revised paradigm’ (Raynor and Vanstone, 1994). The article then proceeds with an analysis of the emerging theoretical and empirical case for a desistance paradigm. This section draws not only on the ? ndings of desistance studies but also on recent studies of the effectiveness of different approaches to securing ‘personal change’ in general and on recent developments in the ‘what works’ literature in particular.The ethical case for a desistance paradigm is then advanced not only in the light of the empirical evidence about the practical necessity of certain modes of ethical practice, but also in th e light of developments in the philosophy of punishment, most notably the ideas associated with the work of the ‘new rehabilitationists’ (Lewis, 2005) and with Anthony Duff’s ‘penal communications’ theory (Duff, McNeill—A desistance paradigm for offender management 2001, 2003).In the concluding discussion, I try to sketch out some of the parameters of a desistance paradigm, though this is intended more as an attempt to stimulate debate about its development rather than to de? ne categorically its features. 41 Changing paradigms for probation practice Writing at the end of the 1970s, Bottoms and McWilliams declared the need for a new paradigm for probation practice, a paradigm that ‘is theoretically rigorous, which takes very seriously the limitations of the treatment model; but which seeks to redirect the probation service’s traditional aims and values in the new penal and social context’ (1979: 167).Bottoms and McWilliams proposed their paradigm against the backdrop of a prevailing view that treatment had been discredited both empirically and ethically. Though they did not review the empirical case in any great detail, they refer to several studies (Lipton et al. , 1975; Brody, 1976; Greenberg, 1976) as establishing the broad conclusion that ‘dramatic reformative results are hard to discover and are usually absent’ (Bottoms and McWilliams, 1979: 160). They also stressed the theoretical inadequacies of the treatment model, noting several ? aws in the analogy between probation interventions and medical treatment; ? st, crime is voluntary whereas most diseases are not; second, crime is not pathological in any straightforward sense; and third, individual treatment models neglect the social causes of crime. Worse still, neglect of these ? aws produced ethical problems; they argued that over-con? dence in the prospects for effecting change through treatment had permitted its advocates both to coerce offenders into interventions (because the treatment provider was an expert who knew best) and to ignore offenders’ views of their own situations (because offenders were victims of their own lack of insight).Perhaps most insidiously of all, within this ideology coerced treatment could be justi? ed in offenders’ own best interests. Bottoms and McWilliams also discerned an important ‘implicit con? ict between the determinism implied in diagnosis and treatment and the frequently stressed casework principle of client selfdetermination’ (1979: 166). How can offenders be simultaneously the objects on whom psychological, physical and social forces operate (as the term diagnosis implies) and the authors of their own futures (as the principle of self-determination requires)?Bottoms and McWilliams’ hope was that by exposing the weaknesses of the treatment paradigm, they would allow for a renaissance of the probation service’s traditional core val ues of hope and respect for persons. They suggested that the four primary aims of the service ‘are and have been: 1 2 3 4 The provision of appropriate help for offenders The statutory supervision of offenders Diverting appropriate offenders from custodial sentences The reduction of crime’ (1979: 168). 42 Criminology & Criminal Justice 6(1) It is their discussion of the ? rst and second of these objectives that is most relevant to the discussion here.However, it is worth noting ? rst that, for Bottoms and McWilliams, the problem with the treatment model was that it assumed that the fourth objective must be achieved through the pursuit of the ? rst three; an assumption that they suggested could not be sustained empirically. 2 With regard to the provision of help as opposed to treatment, Bottoms and McWilliams rejected the ‘objecti? cation’ of offenders implied in the ‘casework relationship’, wherein the offender becomes an object to be treated, c ured or managed in and through social policy and professional practice. One consequence of this objecti? ation, they suggested, is that the formulation of treatment plans rests with the expert; the approach is essentially ‘of? cer-centred’. Bottoms and McWilliams (1979: 173) suggested, by way of contrast, that in the non-treatment paradigm: (a) Treatment (b) Diagnosis (c) Client’s Dependent Need as the basis for social work action becomes becomes becomes Help Shared Assessment Collaboratively De? ned Task as the basis for social work action In this formulation, ‘help’ includes but is not limited to material help; probation may continue to address emotional or psychological dif? ulties, but this is no longer its raison d’etre. Critically, the test of any proposed intervention technique is that it must help the client. Bottoms and McWilliams (1979: 174) explicitly disavowed any claim that the help model would be bene? cial in the reduction of cr ime. 3 Having reconceived of probation practice as help rather than treatment, Bottoms and McWilliams’ discussion of probation’s second aim, the statutory supervision of offenders, explored the implicit tensions between help and surveillance.Accepting that probation of? cers are ‘law enforcement’ agents as well as helpers, they drew on an article by Raynor (1978) that argued for a crucial distinction between coercion and constraint; ‘choice under constraint is morally acceptable; manipulative coercion is not’ (Bottoms and McWilliams, 1979: 177). Following Raynor, they suggested that making this distinction meaningful required probation of? cers actively to seek, within the constraints of the probation order, to maximize the area of choice for the offender.Their paradigm therefore invoked a distinction between the compulsory requirements imposed by the court (with the offender’s constrained consent) and the substantive content of the hel ping process. In the latter connection, the ‘client’ should be free to choose to accept or reject help without fear of further sanctions. Put another way, the authority for supervision derives from the court but the authority for help resides in the offender. For Bottoms and McWilliams this required that the (then) legal requirement of consent by defendants to probation and community ervice should be taken much more seriously; indeed, they suggested that so as to avoid compulsory help McNeill—A desistance paradigm for offender management arising from a probation recommendation, defendants’ consent to such recommendations should be required. Where consent was absent, no such recommendation should be made. Fifteen years later, Peter Raynor and Maurice Vanstone (1994) argued that the non-treatment paradigm—a paradigm that they clearly regarded as being well worthy of the in? uence that it had exercised in the intervening years—was none the less in need of revision.The resurgence of optimism about the potential effectiveness of some forms of ‘treatment’ led Raynor and Vanstone to argue that the foundations of the non-treatment paradigm, ‘built as they were out of a mixture of doubt and scepticism about the crime-reducing potential of rehabilitation, have produced cracks in the structure’ (1994: 396): By uncoupling ‘helping offenders’ from ‘crime reduction’, the paradigm is prevented from exploring whether work with individuals on their thinking, behaviour and attitudes has any relevance to crime reduction. Current knowledge of research into effectiveness necessitates, therefore, a rede? ing of the concept of appropriate help in a way that retains the principle of collaboration, and the stress on client needs, but which incorporates informed practice focused on in? uencing and helping individuals to stop offending . . . This should not detract from the need to address the s ocial and economic context of crime. (Raynor and Vanstone, 1994: 398) 43 It is clear that Raynor and Vanstone (1994) were not advocating a return to a treatment paradigm; rather, in their discussion of intervention ‘programmes’, they explicitly rejected Bottoms and McWilliams’ dichotomization of treatment and help.More speci? cally, Raynor and Vanstone questioned the assumption that critiques of psychodynamic approaches as ‘involving disguised coercion, denial of clients’ views, the objecti? cation of people, and a demonstrable lack of effectiveness when applied to offenders’ (1994: 399) could be equally applied to all forms of treatment. This false assumption, they argued, led Bottoms and McWilliams to ‘ignore other possible bases for intervention outside the â€Å"medical model† and encouraged the reader to identify all attempts to in? uence offenders as ethically objectionable treatment’ (Raynor and Vanstone, 1994: 400). A further crucial problem with the ‘non-treatment paradigm’ rested in its neglect of victims. The arguments of left realist criminologists (Young, 1988) persuaded Raynor and Vanstone (1994) that the traditional probation value of ‘respect for persons’ had to include the actual and potential victims of crime. This in turn implied that the extent to which client (that is, offender) choice could be respected and unconditional help could be offered had some necessary limitations; essentially, probation had to accept an obligation to work to reduce the harms caused by crime, as well as the ills that provoke it.Thus: Compensatory help and empowerment of offenders are a proper response to situations where individuals have had few opportunities to avoid crime, but 44 Criminology & Criminal Justice 6(1) their purpose is not simply to widen offenders’ choices: it includes doing so in a manner consistent with a wider goal of crime reduction. Such a goal is not simply in the interests of the powerful: although criminal justice in an unequal society re? ects and is distorted by its inequalities, the least powerful suffer some of the most common kinds of crime and are most in need of protection from it. This includes, of course, many offenders who are themselves victims of crime . . . ) (Raynor and Vanstone, 1994: 401) Raynor and Vanstone (1994: 402) concluded by adapting Bottoms and McWilliams’ (1979) schematic summary of their paradigm: (a) Help becomes Help consistent with a commitment to the reduction of harm Explicit dialogue and negotiation offering opportunities for informed consent to involvement in a process of change Collaboratively de? ned task relevant to criminogenic needs, and potentially effective in meeting them b) Shared assessment becomes (c) Collaboratively de? ned task becomes In terms of both organizational change and practice development, the 10 years that followed the publication of Raynor and Vanstone’s (1994) article have been even more tumultuous than the years between the publication of the non-treatment paradigm and its revision. It is beyond the scope of this article to give an account of these changes (see Nellis, 1999; Raynor and Vanstone, 2002; Mair, 2004; Robinson and McNeill, 2004).Indeed, since the purpose of this article is to consider how the practice of offender management should be reconstructed in the light of the desistance research, there is some merit in ignoring how it has been reconstructed for more political and pragmatic reasons. That said, two particular developments require comment. The ? rst relates to changes in formulations of the purposes of probation since the publication of the earlier paradigms.Without entering into the ongoing debates about the recasting of probation’s purposes south of the border (see Robinson and McNeill, 2004; Worrall and Hoy, 2005), it is suf? cient to state that, in contrast to the four aims outlined by Bottoms and McWil liams—aims which were still uncontested by Raynor and Vanstone in 1994—the new National Offender Management Service, incorporating prisons and probation, exists to manage offenders and in so doing to provide a service to the ‘law-abiding’ public. Its objectives are to punish offenders and to reduce re-offending (Blunkett, 2004: 10).The second development concerns the application of a particular approach to developing effective probation practice in England and Wales in McNeill—A desistance paradigm for offender management the form of the ‘what works’ initiative (McNeill, 2001, 2004a). In effect, this initiative involves the imposition from the centre of an implicit ‘what works’ paradigm for probation practice. Once again the debates about the characteristics, implications and ? aws of this paradigm are complex (see Mair, 2004). Perhaps he easiest way to summarize the paradigm however, is to suggest a further revision to Ray nor and Vanstone’s (1994) adaptation of Bottoms and McWilliams’ (1979) schematic summary: (a) Help consistent with a commitment to the reduction of harm (b) Explicit dialogue and negotiation offering opportunities for informed consent to involvement in a process of change (c) Collaboratively de? ned task relevant to criminogenic needs, and potentially effective in meeting them becomes Intervention required to reduce reoffending and protect the public Professional assessment of risk and need governed by the application of structured assessment instruments 5 becomes becomes Compulsory engagement in structured programmes and case management processes to address criminogenic needs – as required elements of legal orders imposed irrespective of consent Theoretical and empirical arguments for a desistance paradigm4 A fundamental but perhaps inevitable problem with the non-treatment paradigm, the revised paradigm and the ‘what works’ paradigm is that they b egin in the wrong place; that is, they begin by thinking about how practice (whether ‘treatment’, ‘help’ or ‘programmes’) should be constructed without ? rst thinking about how change should be understood.For Bottoms and McWilliams (1979) this omission makes some sense, since their premise was that the prospects for practice securing individual change were bleak. However, for Raynor and Vanstone (1994) and for the prevailing ‘what works’ paradigm, the problem is more serious; given their reasonable optimism about the prospects for individual rehabilitation, the absence of a well-developed theory of how rehabilitation occurs is more problematic. 5 Understanding desistance The change process involved in the rehabilitation of offenders is desistance from offending.The muted impact that desistance research has had on policy and practice hitherto is both surprising and problematic because 46 Criminology & Criminal Justice 6(1) knowledge about processes of desistance is clearly critical to our understandings of how and why ex-offenders come to change their behaviours. Indeed, building an understanding of the human processes and social contexts in and through which desistance occurs is a necessary precursor to developing practice paradigms; put another way, constructions of practice should be embedded in understandings of desistance.The implications of such embedding are signi? cant and far-reaching. Maruna et al. (2004) draw a parallel with a related shift in the ? eld of addictions away from the notion of treatment and towards the idea of recovery, quoting an in? uential essay by William White (2000): Treatment was birthed as an adjunct to recovery, but, as treatment grew in size and status, it de? ned recovery as an adjunct of itself. The original perspective needs to be recaptured. Treatment institutions need to once again become servants of the larger recovery process and the community in which that recovery is nested and sustained . . (White, 2000, cited in Maruna et al. , 2004: 9) Although the language of recovery may be inappropriate in relation to offenders, given both that it implies a medical model and that it suggests a prior state of well-being that may never have existed for many, the analogy is telling none the less. Put simply, the implication is that offender management services need to think of themselves less as providers of correctional treatment (that belongs to the expert) and more as supporters of desistance processes (that belong to the desister).In some respects, this shift in perspective, by re-emphasizing the offender’s viewpoint, might re-invigorate the non-treatment paradigm’s rejection of the objecti? cation of the ‘client’ and of the elevation of the ‘therapist’. However, it does so not by rejecting ‘treatment’ per se, but by seeing professional intervention as being, in some sense, subservient to a wider proce ss that belongs to the desister. Before proceeding further, more needs to be said about how processes of desistance should be understood and theorized.Maruna (2001) identi? es three broad theoretical perspectives in the desistance literature: maturational reform, social bonds theory and narrative theory. Maturational reform (or ‘ontogenic’) theories have the longest history and are based on the established links between age and certain criminal behaviours, particularly street crime. Social bonds (or ‘sociogenic’) theories suggest that ties to family, employment or educational programmes in early adulthood explain changes in criminal behaviour across the life course.Where these ties exist, they create a stake in conformity, a reason to ‘go straight’. Where they are absent, people who offend have less to lose from continuing to offend. Narrative theories have emerged from more qualitative research which stresses the signi? cance of subjective cha nges in the person’s sense of self and identity, re? ected in changing motivations, greater concern for others and more consideration of the future. Bringing these perspectives together, Farrall stresses the signi? cance of theMcNeill—A desistance paradigm for offender management relationships between ‘objective’ changes in the offender’s life and his or her ‘subjective’ assessment of the value or signi? cance of these changes: . . . the desistance literature has pointed to a range of factors associated with the ending of active involvement in offending. Most of these factors are related to acquiring ‘something’ (most commonly employment, a life partner or a family) which the desister values in some way and which initiates a reevaluation of his or her own life . . (Farrall, 2002: 11) 47 Thus, desistance resides somewhere in the interfaces between developing personal maturity, changing social bonds associated with certain li fe transitions, and the individual subjective narrative constructions which offenders build around these key events and changes. It is not just the events and changes that matter; it is what these events and changes mean to the people involved. Clearly this understanding implies that desistance itself is not an event (like being cured of a disease) but a process.Desistance is necessarily about ceasing offending and then refraining from further offending over an extended period (for more detailed discussions see Maruna, 2001; Farrall, 2002; Maruna and Farrall, 2004). Maruna and Farrall (2004) suggest that it is helpful to distinguish primary desistance (the achievement of an offence-free period) from secondary desistance (an underlying change in self-identity wherein the ex-offender labels him or herself as such). Although Bottoms et al. 2004) have raised some doubts about the value of this distinction on the grounds that it may exaggerate the importance of cognitive changes which ne ed not always accompany desistance, it does seem likely that where offender managers are dealing with (formerly) persistent offenders, the distinction may be useful; indeed, in those kinds of cases their role might be constructed as prompting, supporting and sustaining secondary desistance wherever this is possible.Moreover, further empirical support for the notion of secondary desistance (and its usefulness) might be found in Burnett’s (1992) study of efforts to desist among 130 adult property offenders released from custody. Burnett noted that while eight out of ten, when interviewed pre-release, wanted to ‘go straight’; six out of ten subsequently reported re-offending post-release. For many, the intention to be law-abiding was provisional in the sense that it did not represent a con? dent prediction; only one in four reported that they would de? itely be able to desist. Importantly, Burnett discovered that those who were most con? dent and optimistic about de sisting had greatest success in doing so. For the others, the ‘provisional nature of intentions re? ected social dif? culties and personal problems that the men faced’ (Burnett, 2000: 14). That this implies the need for intentions to desist to be grounded in changes of identity is perhaps supported by Burnett’s ? ndings about different types of desisters. She discerned three 48Criminology & Criminal Justice 6(1) categories: ‘non-starters’ who adamantly denied that they were ‘real criminals’ and, in fact, had fewer previous convictions than the others; ‘avoiders’, for whom keeping out of prison was the key issue; and ‘converts’ who appeared to have decided that the costs of crime outweighed the bene? ts. Indeed, the converts were: the most resolute and certain among the desisters. They had found new interests that were all-preoccupying and overturned their value system: a partner, a child, a good job, a new vocat ion.These were attainments that they were not prepared to jeopardize or which over-rode any interest in or need for property crime. (Burnett, 2000: 14) Although Burnett notes that, for most of the men involved in her study, processes of desistance were characterized by ambivalence and vacillation, the over-turning of value systems and all pre-occupying new interests that characterized the ‘converts’ seem to imply the kind of identity changes invoked in the notion of secondary desistance.Maruna’s (2001) study offers a particularly important contribution to understanding secondary desistance by exploring the subjective dimensions of change. Maruna compared the narrative ‘scripts’ of 20 persisters and 30 desisters who shared similar criminogenic traits and backgrounds and who lived in similarly criminogenic environments. In the ‘condemnation script’ that emerged from the persisters, ‘The condemned person is the narrator (although he o r she reserves plenty of blame for society as well). Active offenders . . . argely saw their life scripts as having been written for them a long time ago’ (Maruna, 2001: 75). By contrast, the accounts of the desisters revealed a different narrative: The redemption script begins by establishing the goodness and conventionality of the narrator—a victim of society who gets involved with crime and drugs to achieve some sort of power over otherwise bleak circumstances. This deviance eventually becomes its own trap, however, as the narrator becomes ensnared in the vicious cycle of crime and imprisonment.Yet, with the help of some outside force, someone who ‘believed in’ the ex-offender, the narrator is able to accomplish what he or she was ‘always meant to do’. Newly empowered, he or she now seeks to ‘give something back’ to society as a display of gratitude. (Maruna, 2001: 87) The desisters and the persisters shared the same sense of f atalism in their accounts of the development of their criminal careers; however, Maruna reads the minimization of responsibility implied by this fatalism as evidence of the conventionality of their values and aspirations and of their need to believe in the essential goodness of the ‘real me’.Moreover, in their accounts of achieving change there is evidence that desisters have to ‘discover’ agency in order to resist and overcome the criminogenic structural pressures that play upon them. This discovery of agency seems to McNeill—A desistance paradigm for offender management relate to the role of signi? cant others in envisioning an alternative identity and an alternative future for the offender even through periods when they cannot see these possibilities for themselves.Typically later in the process of change, involvement in ‘generative activities’ (which usually make a contribution to the well-being of others) plays a part in testifying to the desister that an alternative ‘agentic’ identity is being or has been forged. Intriguingly, the process of discovering agency, on one level at least, sheds interesting light on the apparent theoretical inconsistency that Bottoms and McWilliams (1979) inferred from the treatment paradigm; that is, an inconsistency between its deterministic analysis of the causes of criminality and its focus on self-determination in the treatment process.Arguably what Maruna (2001) has revealed is the role of re? exivity in both revealing and producing shifts in the dynamic relationships between agency and structure (see also Farrall and Bowling, 1999). Supporting desistance The implications for practice of this developing evidence base have begun to be explored in a small number of research studies that have focused on the role that probation may play in supporting desistance (for example Rex, 1999; Farrall, 2002; McCulloch, 2005). In one study of ‘assisted desistance’ , Rex (1999) explored the experiences of 60 probationers.She found that those who attributed changes in their behaviour to probation supervision described it as active and participatory. Probationers’ commitments to desist appeared to be generated by the personal and professional commitment shown by their probation of? cers, whose reasonableness, fairness and encouragement seemed to engender a sense of personal loyalty and accountability. Probationers interpreted advice about their behaviours and underlying problems as evidence of concern for them as people, and ‘were motivated by what they saw as a display of interest in their wellbeing’ (Rex, 1999: 375).Such evidence resonates with other arguments about the pivotal role that relationships play in effective interventions (Barry, 2000; Burnett, 2004; Burnett and McNeill, 2005; McNeill et al. , 2005). If secondary desistance (for those involved in persistent offending at least) requires a narrative reconstruction of identity, then it seems obvious why the relational aspects of practice are so signi? cant. Who would risk engaging in such a precarious and threatening venture without the reassurance of sustained and compassionate support from a trusted source?However, workers and working relationships are neither the only nor the most important resources in promoting desistance. Related studies of young people in trouble suggest that their own resources and social networks are often better at resolving their dif? culties than professional staff (Hill, 1999). The potential of social networks is highlighted by ‘resilience perspectives’, which, in contrast with approaches that dwell on risks and/or needs, consider the ‘protective factors and processes’ involved in positive adaptation in spite of adversity.In terms of practice with young 49 50 Criminology & Criminal Justice 6(1) people, such perspectives entail an emphasis on the recognition, exploitation and development o f their competences, resources, skills and assets (Schoon and Bynner, 2003). In similar vein, but in relation to re-entry of ex-prisoners to society, Maruna and LeBel (2003) have made a convincing case for the development of strengths-based (rather than needs-based or risk-based) narratives and approaches.Drawing on both psychological and criminological evidence, they argue that such approaches would be likely both to enhance compliance with parole conditions and to encourage exprisoners to achieve ‘earned redemption’ (Bazemore, 1999) by focusing on the positive contributions through which they might make good to their communities. Thus promoting desistance also means striving to develop the offender’s strengths—at both an individual and a social network level—in order to build and sustain the momentum for change.In looking towards these personal and social contexts of desistance, the most recent and perhaps most wide-scale study of probation and de sistance is particularly pertinent to the development of a desistance paradigm. Farrall (2002) explored the progress or lack of progress towards desistance achieved by a group of 199 probationers. Though over half of the sample evidenced progress towards desistance, Farrall found that desistance could be attributed to speci? c interventions by the probation of? cer in only a few cases, although help with ? ding work and mending damaged family relationships appeared particularly important. Desistance seemed to relate more clearly to the probationers’ motivations and to the social and personal contexts in which various obstacles to desistance were addressed. Farrall (2002) goes on to argue that interventions must pay greater heed to the community, social and personal contexts in which they are situated (see also McCulloch, 2005). After all, ‘social circumstances and relationships with others are both the object of the intervention and the medium through which . . . change can be achieved’ (Farrall, 2002: 212, emphases added).Necessarily, this requires that interventions be focused not solely on the individual person and his or her perceived ‘de? cits’. As Farrall (2002) notes, the problem with such interventions is that while they can build human capital, for example, in terms of enhanced cognitive skills or improved employability, they cannot generate the social capital that resides in the relationships through which we achieve participation and inclusion in society. 6 Vitally, it is social capital that is necessary to encourage desistance. It is not enough to build capacities for change where change depends on opportunities to exercise capacities: ‘. . the process of desistance is one that is produced through an interplay between individual choices, and a range of wider social forces, institutional and societal practices which are beyond the control of the individual’ (Farrall and Bowling, 1999: 261). Barry’ s (2004) recent study provides another key reference point for exploring how themes of capital, agency, identity and transition play out speci? cally for younger people desisting from offending. Through in-depth interviews with 20 young women and 20 young men, Barry explored why they started and stopped offending and what in? enced or inhibited them McNeill—A desistance paradigm for offender management in that behaviour as they grew older. The young people revealed that their decisions about offending and desisting were related to their need to feel included in their social world, through friendships in childhood and through wider commitments in adulthood. The resolve displayed by the young people in desisting from offending seemed remarkable to Barry, particularly given that they were from disadvantaged backgrounds and were limited in their access to mainstream pportunities (employment, housing and social status) both because of their age and because of their social class. B arry recognizes crucially that: Because of their transitional situation, many young people lack the status and opportunities of full citizens and thus have limited capacity for social recognition in terms of durable and legitimate means of both accumulating and expending capital through taking on responsibility and generativity . . .Accumulation of capital requires, to a certain extent, both responsibilities and access to opportunities; however, children and young people rarely have such opportunities because of their status as ‘liminal entities’ (Turner, 1969), not least those from a working class background. (2004: 328–9) 51 It is interesting to note that similar messages about the signi? cance both of the relational and of the social contexts of desistance have emerged recently from ‘treatment’ research itself.Ten years on from McGuire and Priestley’s (1995) original statement of ‘what works’, these neglected aspects of practic e have re-emerged in revisions to and re? nements of the principles of effective practice. One authoritative recent review, for example, highlights the increasing attention that is being paid to the need for staff to use interpersonal skills, to exercise some discretion in their interventions, to take diversity among participants into account and to look at how the broader service context can best support effective practice (Raynor, 2004: 201).Raynor notes that neglect of these factors may account for some of the dif? culties experienced in England and Wales, for example, in translating the successes of demonstration projects to general practice. He suggests that the preoccupation with group programmes arises from their more standardized application, which, in turn, allows for more systematic evaluation than the complex and varied nature of individual practice. However, this pre-occupation (with programmes), ironically perhaps, is undermined by the literature on treatment effectiven ess in psychotherapy and counselling; arguably the parent discipline of ‘what works’.Here, the evidence suggests that the most crucial variables of all in determining treatment outcomes—chance factors, external factors and ‘client’ factors— relate to the personal and social contexts of interventions rather than to their contents (Asay and Lambert, 1999). Moreover, in terms of those variables which the therapist can in? uence, it is a recurring ? nding that no method of intervention is any more effective than the rest, and, instead, that there are common aspects of each intervention that are responsible for bringing about change (see Hubble et al. , 1999; Bozarth, 2000). These 52Criminology & Criminal Justice 6(1) ‘core conditions’ for effectiveness—empathy and genuineness; the establishment of a working alliance; and using person-centred, collaborative and ‘client-driven’ approaches—are perhaps familiar to probation staff, but not from earlier reviews of ‘what works? ’. 7 With regard to the probation paradigms reviewed earlier, these ? ndings are particularly signi? cant because, despite the disciplinary location and positivist approaches of these studies, the forms of treatment that they commend seem to be some way removed from those criticized by Bottoms and McWilliams (1979).Indeed, the notion of therapeutic or working alliance implies, as Bottoms and McWilliams (1979) advocated, that the worker and client share agreement on overall goals, agreement on the tasks that will lead to achievement of these goals and a bond of mutual respect and trust (Bordin, 1979). This seems explicitly to preclude the kind of attitudes and practices that Bottoms and McWilliams (1979) associated with treatment and that arguably characterize the prevailing ‘what works’ paradigm (McNeill, 2004b). Ethical arguments for a desistance paradigmLeaving aside these emerging empirical ? ndings and theoretical issues, desistance research has some clear ethical implications for the practice of offender management. The ? rst of these implications is perhaps already obvious. Rex’s (1999) research, reviewed in the context both of Maruna’s (2001) account of narrative reconstruction and of the evidence from psychotherapy research about the critical signi? cance of certain core conditions for treatment, points to the importance of developing penal practices that express certain practical virtues.Virtue-based approaches to ethics have experienced something of a resurgence in recent years (Pence, 1991), suggesting a shift in moral thinking from the question ‘what ought I to do? ’ to the question ‘what sort of person should I be? ’ In this context, one of the merits of desistance research is that by asking offenders about their experiences both of attempting desistance and of supervision, progress is made towards answering the questi on that a would-be ‘virtuous’ offender manager might ask: What sort of practitioner should I be?The virtues featured in responses from desisters might include optimism, hopefulness, patience, persistence, fairness, respectfulness, trustworthiness, loyalty, wisdom, compassion, ? exibility and sensitivity (to difference), for example. The practical import of the expression of these virtues is suggested by recent discussions of the enforcement of community penalties, which have emerged particularly (but not exclusively) where community penalties have been recast as ‘punishment in the community’. This recasting of purpose has increased the need for effective enforcement in order that courts regard community penalties as credible disposals.Though the language of ‘enforcement’ implies an emphasis on ensuring the meaningfulness and inevitability of sanctions in the event of non-compliance, Bottoms (2001) has argued convincingly that attempts to encour age or require compliance in McNeill—A desistance paradigm for offender management the criminal justice system must creatively mix habitual mechanisms, constraint-based mechanisms, instrumental mechanisms and normative mechanisms (related to beliefs, attachments and perceptions of legitimacy).What seems clear from the desistance research is that, through the establishment of effective relationships, the worker’s role in supporting compliance is likely to be particularly crucial to the development of these normative mechanisms. It is only within relationships that model the kinds of virtues described above that the formal authority conferred on the worker by the court is likely to be rendered legitimate in the mind of the offender. Just as perceptions of legitimacy play a key role in encouraging compliance with prison regimes (Sparks et al. 1996), so in the community legitimacy is likely to be a crucial factor both in preventing breach by persuading offenders to comply with the order and, perhaps, in preventing recidivism by persuading offenders to comply with the law. This notion of moral persuasion (and modelling) as a role for offender managers resonates with some aspects of Anthony Duff’s penal communications theory (Duff, 2001, 2003). Duff (2003) has argued that probation can and should be considered a mode of punishment; indeed he argues that it could be the model punishment.However, the notion of punishment that he advances is not ‘merely punitive’; that is, it is not concerned simply with the in? iction of pain as a form of retribution. Rather it is a form of ‘constructive punishment’ that in? icts pain only in so far as this is an inevitable (and intended) consequence of ‘bringing offenders to face up to the effects and implications of their crimes, to rehabilitate them and to secure . . . reparation and reconciliation’ (Duff, 2003: 181). The pains involved are akin to the unavoidable pains of repentance.For Duff, this implies a role for probation staff as mediators between offenders, victims and the wider community. Though developing the connections between Duff’s theory and desistance research is beyond the scope of this article, Maruna’s (2001) study underlines the signi? cance for desisters of the ‘redemption’ that is often achieved through engagement in ‘generative activities’ which help to make sense of a damaged past by using it to protect the future interests of others. It seems signi? ant that this ‘buying back’ is productive rather than destructive; that is, the right to be rehabilitated is not the product of experiencing the pains of ‘merely punitive’ punishment, rather it is the result of evidencing repentance and change by ‘making good’. In working to support the reconstruction of identity involved in desistance, this seems to underline the relevance of the redemptive opportunitie s that both community penalties and restorative justice approaches might offer.No less obvious, by contrast, are the futility and counter-productiveness of penal measures that label, that exclude and that segregate and co-locate offenders as offenders. Such measures seem designed to con? rm and cement ‘condemnation scripts’ and thus to frustrate desistance. However, as well as highlighting the importance of encouraging and supporting offenders in the painful process of making good, the desistance 53 54 Criminology & Criminal Justice 6(1) research at least hints at the reciprocal need for society to make good to offenders.Just as both Bottoms and McWilliams (1979) and Raynor and Vanstone (1994) recognized the moral implications of accepting the role that social inequalities and injustices play in provoking offending behaviour, so Duff (2003) argues that the existence of social injustice creates moral problems for the punishing polity. The response must be ‘a genuin e and visible attempt to remedy the injustices and exclusion that they [that is, some offenders] have suffered’ (Duff, 2003: 194). Duff suggests that this implies that: the probation of? cer . . . ill now have to help the offender negotiate his relationship with the polity against which he has offended, but by whom he has been treated unjustly and disrespectfully: she must speak for the polity to the offender in terms that are censorious but also apologetic—terms that seek both to bring him to recognise the wrong he has done and to express an apologetic recognition of the injustice he has suffered: and she must speak to the polity for the offender, explaining what is due to him as well as what is due for him. (2003: 194, emphasis added)Thus the help and practical support advocated in the non-treatment paradigm can now be re-legitimated both empirically, in terms of the need to build social capital in supporting desistance, and normatively (even within a punishment disc ourse) as a prerequisite for making punishment both intelligible and just for offenders. Recognition of interactions between, on the one hand, exclusion and inequalities and, on the other, crime and justice, also lies behind some of the arguments for rehabilitative approaches to punishment. Such arguments tend to lead to rights-based rather than utilitarian versions of rehabilitation.For McWilliams and Pease (1990), rights-based rehabilitation serves a moral purpose on behalf of society in limiting punishment and preventing exclusion by working to re-establish the rights and the social standing of the offender. By contrast, Garland (1997) describes how, in late-modern penality, a more instrumental version of rehabilitation has emerged in which the offender need not (perhaps cannot) be respected as an end in himself or herself; he or she has become the means to another end. He or she is not, in a sense, the subject of the court order, but its object.In this version, rehabilitation is not an over-riding purpose, it is a subordinate means. It is offence-centred rather than offender-centred; it targets criminogenic need rather than social need. The problem with this version of rehabilitation, however, is that it runs all the same moral risks that led Bottoms and McWilliams (1979) to reject treatment; it permits, in theory at least, all of the same injustices, violations of human rights and disproportionate intrusions that concerned, for example, the American Friends Services Committee in 1971, and led ultimately to the emergence of ‘just deserts’ (von Hirsch, 1976; Home Of? e, 1990). Indeed, in England and Wales, the current situation is worse in one respect: McNeill—A desistance paradigm for offender management the removal of the need for offenders’ consent to the imposition of community penalties (under the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997), which made some sense in the context of the move towards seeing probation as a proportionate punishme nt, means that offenders can now be compelled to undertake ‘treatment’ in the form of accredited programmes.In a recent article, Lewis (2005) has drawn on the work of the ‘new rehabilitationists’ (Cullen and Gilbert, 1982; Rotman, 1990) to revive the case for a rights-based approach to rehabilitation; meaning one which is concerned with the reintegration of offenders into society as ‘useful human beings’. According to Lewis, the principles of the new rehabilitationists include commitment to, ? rst, the state’s duty to undertake rehabilitative work (for similar reasons to those outlined above); second, somehow setting limits on the intrusions of rehabilitation in terms of proportionality; third, maximizing voluntarism in the process; and, ? ally, using prison only as a measure of last resort because of its negative and damaging effects. In exploring the extent to which these principles are articulated and applied in current penal policy, she reaches the conclusion that ‘current rehabilitative efforts are window-dressing on an overly punitive â€Å"managerialist† system’ (Lewis, 2005: 119), though she retains some hope that practitioner-led initiatives at the local level might allow some prospect that these principles could be applied.The value of the desistance research may be that just as the evidence about ‘nothing works’ allowed Bottoms and McWilliams (1979) to make a theoretical and empirical case for more ethical practice, and the evidence that ‘something works’ enabled Raynor and Vanstone (1994) to revise that case, so the evidence from desistance studies, when combined with these constructive developments in the philosophy of punishment, might do a similar job in a different and arguably more destructive penal climate. 55 Conclusions: a desistance paradigmThis article has sought to follow the example offered by Bottoms and McWilliams (1979) and Raynor and Vanstone (1994) by trying to build both empirical and ethical cases for the development of a new paradigm for probation practice. In summary, I have suggested that desistance is the process that offender management exists to promote and support; that approaches to intervention should be embedded in understandings of desistance; and, that it is important to explore the connections between structure, agency, re? exivity and identity in desistance processes. Moreover, desistance-supporting interventions need to respect and foster agency and re? xivity; they need to be based on legitimate and respectful relationships; they need to focus on social capital (opportunities) as well as human capital (motivations and capacities); and they need to exploit strengths as well as addressing needs and risks. I have also suggested that desistance research highlights the relevance of certain ‘practice virtues’; that it requires a focus 56 Criminology & Criminal Justice 6(1) on the role of legiti macy in supporting normative mechanisms of compliance; that it is consonant in many respects with communicative approaches to punishment which cast probation of? ers (or offender managers) as mediators between offenders, victims and communities; and that it suggests a rights-based approach to rehabilitation which entails both that the offender makes good to society and that, where injustice has been suffered by the offender, society makes good to the offender. Like the authors of the earlier paradigms, I do not intend here to offer a detailed account of precisely how a desistance paradigm might operate in practice (for some initial suggestions see McNeill, 2003). That task is one that could be more fruitfully undertaken by those working in the ? ld, preferably in association with offenders themselves. However, in an attempt to suggest some direction for such development, Table 1 summarizes the contrasts between the constructions of practice implied by the nontreatment, revised, â₠¬Ëœwhat works’ and desistance paradigms. Unlike the earlier paradigms, the desistance paradigm forefronts processes of change rather than modes of intervention. Practice under the desistance paradigm would certainly accommodate intervention to meet needs, reduce risks and (especially) to develop and exploit strengths, but Table 1.Probation practice in four paradigms The non-treatment paradigm Treatment becomes help The revised paradigm Help consistent with a commitment to the reduction of harm A ‘what works’ paradigm Intervention required to reduce re-offending and protect the public A desistance paradigm Help in navigating towards desistance to reduce harm and make good to offenders and victims8 Explicit dialogue and negotiation assessing risks, needs, strengths and resources and offering opportunities to make good Collaboratively de? ed tasks which tackle risks, needs and obstacles to desistance by using and developing the offender’s human and social cap ital Diagnoses becomes shared assessment Explicit dialogue and negotiation offering opportunities for consensual change ‘Professional’ assessment of risk and need governed by structured assessment instruments Client’s dependent need as the basis for action becomes collaboratively de? ned task as the basis for action Collaboratively de? ed task relevant to criminogenic needs and potentially effective in meeting them Compulsory engagement in structured programmes and case management processes as required elements of legal orders imposed irrespective of consent McNeill—A desistance paradigm for offender management whatever these forms might be they would be subordinated to a more broadly conceived role in working out, on an individual basis, how the desistance process might best be prompted and supported.This would require the worker to act as an advocate providing a conduit to social capital as well as a ‘treatment’ provider building human capit al. Moreover, rather than being about the technical management of programmes and the disciplinary management of orders, as the current term ‘offender manager’ unhelpfully implies, the forms of engagement required by the paradigm would re-instate and place a high premium on collaboration and involvement in the process of co-designing interventions.Critically, such interventions would not be concerned solely with the prevention of further offending; they would be equally concerned with constructively addressing the harms caused by crime by encouraging offenders to make good through restorative processes and community service (in the broadest sense). But, as a morally and practically necessary corollary, they would be no less preoccupied with making good to offenders by enabling them to achieve inclusion and participation in society (and with it the progressive and positive reframing of their identities required to sustain desistance).Perhaps the most obvious problem that might be confronted by anyone seeking to envision further or even enact this paradigm, is that the communities on which its ultimate success would depend may lack the resources and the will to engage in supporting desistance, preferring to remain merely ‘punishing communities’ (Worrall and Hoy, 2005). This is, of course, an issue for any form of ‘offender management’ or reintegration.However, rather than letting it become an excuse for dismissing the paradigm, it should drive us to a recognition of the need for offender management agencies to re-engage with community education and community involvement and to seek ways and means, at the local level and at the national level, to challenge populist punitiveness (Bottoms, 1995) and to offer more progressive alternatives. 57 NotesI am very grateful to Steve Farrall and Richard Sparks for their hospitality in hosting the seminars through which this article was developed and to all of the contributors to the semi nars both for their helpful and encouraging comments on earlier versions and for the stimulation that their papers provided. I am also grateful to Monica Barry, Mike Nellis and Gwen Robinson for comments on the draft version of this article. Though I have grave reservations about the term ‘offender management’ (relating to its obvious inference that the offender is a problem to be managed rather than person to be assisted and that the task is technical rather than moral), I use it here, not just because of its contemporary relevance, but also because it refers both to community disposals and postprison resettlement. 8 Criminology & Criminal Justice 6(1) 2 Owing to their pessimism about the prospects for treatment delivering their fourth aim (the reduction of crime), Bottoms and McWilliams turned their attention to other crime reduction strategies and in particular to crime prevention. Their argument in this connection was essentially that because ‘crime is predomi nantly social . . . ny serious crime reduction strategy must be of a socially (rather than an individually) based character’ (Bottoms and McWilliams, 1979: 188). 3 That said, they allowed that: ‘there is, ironically, at least a tiny shred of research evidence to suggest that, after all, help may be more crime-reducing than treatment’ (Bottoms and McWilliams, 1979: 174). To support this claim they referred to two studies that presaged later desistance research; the ? st suggested that although intensive casework treatment had no apparent impact, changes in the post-institutional social situations of offenders (for example, getting married or securing a job) were associated with reductions in recidivism (Bottoms and McClintock, 1973); the second suggested that treatment did demonstrate lower reconviction rates where the ‘treatment’ involved primarily practical help which was given only if and when offenders asked for it (Bernsten and Christiansen, 1965 ). 4 This section of the article draws heavily on McNeill et al. (2005). 5 It may be that this gap in theory s in part the product of the incremental and quasi-experimental character of ‘what works’ research; indeed it might even be said that the ‘what works’ philosophy is anti-theoretical in that it is more preoccupied with identifying and replicating successes than in explaining and understanding them (Farrall, 2002). 6 Signi? cantly, Boeck et al. ’s (2004) emerging ? ndings suggest that bridging social capital in particular (which facilitates social mobility) seems to be limited among those young people in their study involved in offending, leaving them ill-equipped to navigate risk successfully. That said, some recent studies have begun to explore the contribution of particular practice skills to effectiveness. Raynor refers in particular to a recent article by Dowden and Andrews (2004) based on a meta-analysis examining the contribution of certa in key staff skills (which they term ‘core correctional practices’ or CCPs) to the effectiveness of interventions with offenders. 8 It is with some unease that I have merely mentioned but not developed arguments about the importance of making good to (and for) victims in this article.I am therefore grateful to Mike Nellis for highlighting the contingent relationships between offenders making good and making amends to victims. There is little empirical evidence that desistance requires making amends or making good to particular victims, although there are of course independent and compelling reasons why this matters in its own right. As Nellis suggests (personal communication, 18 August 2005), the case for making amends requires separate justi? cation. He further suggests that from the point of view of interventions with offenders, it may be important not so much as an enabling factor in desistance as a signifying factor.Drawing on this distinction, my own view is that a lthough making amends is neither necessary nor suf? cient for desistance to occur, it may be useful none the less in consigning the past to the past (for victims and offenders) and thus in entrenching redemption scripts (for offenders). McNeill—A desistance paradigm for offender management References American Friends Services Committee (1971) Struggle for Justice. New York: Hill & Wang. Asay, T. P. and M. J. Lambert (1999) ‘The Empirical Case for the Common Factors in Therapy: Quantitative Findings’, in M. A. Hubble, B. L. Duncan and S. D.Miller (eds) The Heart and Soul of Change: What Works in Therapy, pp. 33–56. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. 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