Admission Paper in Finance Essay Example for Free

Admission Paper in Finance Essay Every person has his/her story and so do I. I’m writing this statement of purpose to solicit an admission into the prestigious Finance Phd Program. Many people endeavor into PhD to do high-level research and teach but my primary reason for entering is to be my own boss. Not to sound conceited, I have earlier worked in 7/11 from 6 am to 12 pm for many years and under unmanageable coworkers to support my living and schooling expenses as I come from a very humble background. I understand that being one’s own boss or in more euphemistic terms an independent researcher does not come easy, one has to first go through many years of rigors and challenges of academic world. My Masters in Quantitative finance have built the foundation or framework to withstand any challenge that academia will put forth in the near future. Courses that I have taken in my masters include Mathematical finance, real option analysis, Microeconomic theory, Financial Derivatives, Statistics, Econometrics 1, Econometrics 2, Financial modeling, Financial application, and so forth. See more: Homeless satire essay I took few research and quantitative classes because I know they will inadvertently prepare me for PhD . The reason I chose Quantitative Marketing is because the statistics, economics and mathematics that’s involved in it mesmerizes me. In this country the advertisers have known from the beginning that â€Å" The heart rules over the head.† So by allowing the mass majority of people with easy personal and mortgage loans, they have jeopardized the economy. What I would like to research is if this was a zero-sum game or not, and if yes, then who benefitted from it? Because of securitization, the bank did not seem to make any money, and neither the homeowners that lost their home. If banks knew people were going to default, then why did they still offer loans? This whole thing is like a mathematical paradox that is yet to be solved. Marketing is what separates the product from its competitors. In my research I’d like to learn how adverstisers use athletes to add val ue to the product. Nike’s whole business model was based on Marketing. Top sportsman like Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Kobe Bryant and so on are paid several millions by Nike. Many people perceive that by wearing the same brand as their idol does, he/she could improve their game. But what about â€Å"the Rolex† watch that Roger Federer advertises? How can a watch improve anyones tennis game? Maybe , the ad implies that only â€Å"Winners† or so called â€Å" achievers† can wear it? People looking to lose weight may take up a sport and watch their favorite athlete drink â€Å"Gatorade† to rehydrate or replenish their energy, but fail to realize that the 46 grams of sugar in Gatorade itself is the primary reason that’s defeating their weight loss goal. Ab rockets, Ab lounges are advertised by professional trainers who have spent their life doing sports. It is impossible for a 9 to 5 working person to achieve the same results, yet countless people fall prey to thes e infomercials. It is definitely fascinating to learn more about the profound effect that Marketing has on us. Neverthless, schemes like â€Å" buy one get one 50% off, zero percent down payment for 12 months, buy now pay later† are a sure sell. What begs the question is whether the scheme is benefitting the consumer or the economy. After research the second most important thing for a phd is to teach. Even though I do not have formal teaching experience I have been teaching GRE to students from all walks of life. I definitely do not have a stellar GPA nor a GRE but I do my job well when needed. The fact that I love people makes my job of teaching extremely simple. I can wake up middle of the night and walk an extra mile to give a talk on a topic that inspires me. Having taken immeasurable courses at community colleges and universities, I’ve become very fond of academia. I now dote reading, learning, relearning, and writing. Of course, my past high school and university grades donâ€⠄¢t walk the talk but the fact is I have overcome all of that with my independent learning. A majority of my high-school teachers and family members doubted if I’d ever finish high-school. Not only did I finish high school , I now also have two advanced United States degrees. Much of these didn’t come easy for me. Every parents teacher meeting and every result day from grade 3 to grade 12 was like a doomsday for me. I used to literally pray that we never had a result day or a parents teacher meeting. My dad physically whopped me and my brother together till he injured us for passing our classes with a B or a C grade. It still gives me nightmare just thinking about it. He beat us because he compared us to his wealthier colleagues or brothers kids who were excelling in school while we weren’t. He never realized that each kid is unique and has different talent. Perhaps, his lack of education or short-temperedness made him violent or even so because he could not flaunt to others that his kids have the highest grade . Believe me this is what parents in South Asia are discussing at parties or family gatherings, â€Å"whose kids are getting the best grades.†. Nevertheless, at first it was a big challenge to just learn English, but as time passed, my innate ability taught me reading, writing, and speaking. In fact, English has now become my primary language. Also during undergrad I have written myriad papers and thus writing has become a fact of my life. The writing skills I have acquired during a long period of my stay in the academic world will unarguably be useful during my PhD. If not, at least I like to think so. I choose Lubbock because it’s a small college town and the professor who mentored me during my masters has his PhD in finance from Texas Tech . He in fact referred me to this school. Nevertheless, a small quite town would also enhance a person’s learning since he/she will be free from all distractions. While writing this essay I hold an undergraduate sociology 101 t ext book. According to the book, being a university professor is considered one of the most prestigious occupation in the United States, ranking way ahead than an athlete, Dentist, programmer, Actor, and so forth. The author took the abstract from, â€Å"General Social Survery, 1972-2002. Cumumlative codebook (Chicago national opinion research center.† ) Such findings did stir my up my mind to pursue PHD. I really saw this in my text six years ago as a young teenager . This explains I truly have the passion to be a professor from a long time. The excellent faculty at Texas Tech with their wide variety of research interests , and student placements will definitely make my ambition of becoming a university professor come true. What I like about research is it removes the bias from the illimitable information we have today. Integrating information from google, scholarly journals, publications, magazines, foreign newspapers, and so forth and coming up with my own analysis is something I loo k forward to do. Another thing that I like about research is it’s about finding patterns and relationships that are not obvious to others. My poor undergraduate GPA could be attributed to the fact that I was part of Texas Wesleyan Table Tennis Team. We have won 4 national collegiate championship, having me represented TWU as a varsity player in all four of them. Apart from playing NCTTA tournaments we were obligated to play open tournaments all over America. I did get a chance to play and win several open tournaments in different cities across the US. For winning the national collegiate championship, the United States House of Representative personally awarded me a certificate of excellence. I’ve enclosed a copy of that certificate along with this essay. Nevertheless, team practice and tournaments took up a lot of time and energy; once tired, college and books were the last thing in my mind. Somehow, I still managed to complete my undergrad degree keeping in mind the famous American say ing , â€Å" It doesn’t matter how many times you fail, but it does matter how you finish.† Nevertheless, I realized I have criticized my dad earlier in the essay but this piece of work that I have penned down today could not have been possible without his support. Moreover, I could never make him happy with my low grades, but I always saw him rejoicing each time I won a tournament. Table tennis taught me invaluable lessons in life. When I lost a tournament or an important match I used to feel devastated, but it then made me realize that it’s not the end of the world. By accepting defeat, I learned that I have to train harder and come off strong for the next tournament. Similarly, in business and research only after failing several times did great thinkers emerge. Lastly, I thank the dean, chairman, and admission committee members for taking out their valuable time to read this essay and also for considering my application.

Fern Hill: Literary Analysis

Fern Hill: Literary Analysis Time is a weary thing, but it is also a beautiful thing. It also slow, yet fast and moments and experiences sometimes are severely lacking in appreciation because of an inattentive and inpatient eye. All of the aforementioned are the hallmarks of youth, children and adolescents alike lean more to living in the present, not appreciating life as a whole. When this fact comes to light, it is often too late and all there is left to do is to reminisce and regret, miss and yearn for the days of yore. Unfortunately, this is what middle and old age frequently is. These topics are explored greatly in Fern Hill, it is filled with metaphors and biblical allusions, and the poem itself bears a striking resemblance to life itself. In the first stanza, the setting of Fern Hill is established and since it is the beginning of the poem; it mirrors the beginning of life: youth. Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs / About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green / The night above the dingle starry, Here, the tone is a rather happy and carefree tone, not unlike the majority of the poem. Alliteration is used rather well here, it gives the poem a rhythm and a sense of movement, and this echoes the progression of life. The house is personified as if it is singing, giving the speakers youth a merry feeling, he/she is happy and like the grass, he/she is still young and full of life. It is only the beginning. The word order is a bit odd for the third line, normally, it would be The starry night above the dingle, but here, the words are switched. This is used to give more rhythm to the line, it further contributes to the building motion of the poem. The next few lines continue to be joyful and happy, it personifies time as a being, God perhaps. Time let me hail and climb / Golden in the heydays of his eyes, / And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple town In the first line, its as though Time is letting the young one be young and enjoy its youth, not out of obligation or what not, but out of kindness and compassion. Time understands that time is limited and that youthfulness doesnt last forever. This is further supported by the third line in which it is personified and is referred to as a he. Another possible reference to God, as God is kind and merciful; Time is here as well. Not only that, but Time seems to be also watching the young one, letting him be free and young. The youth is so great, that the speaker even refers to himself as a prince. It doesnt come off as callousness or as pride, just a genuine belief that he was mighty and powerful in the heydays of his youth. The youth is so great, that the speaker even refers to himself as a prince. It doesnt come off as callousness or as pride, just a genuine belief that he was mighty and powerful in the heydays of his youth. And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves / Trail with daises and barley / Down the rivers of the windfall light The word and gets repeated twice in the span of two lines, repetition is a key theme of Fern Hill and it is not only in its content. Time is like a sequence, and and achieves this similar effect as it piles one line with the other. Assonance is present with the words trees, leaves, daises, and barley. It has a rather nice sound, and when said aloud; has a distinctive flow. Not unlike the flow of time itself perhaps. The second stanza is overall, structurally similar to the first. As with the first stanza, there nine lines in the second stanza, this is not exclusive to the first two stanza. The whole poem is composed of six stanzas each containing nine lines. These numbers are not just arbitrarily in the poem for the sake of being in the poem, it is yet another biblical allusion. This specifically being; the Book of Genesis from the Bible. The world was created by God in six days, the seventh used for rest. This is not the only allusion to Genesis as there is another one further in the poem, the Farm could be like the Garden of Eden to the Speaker. Not only is it similar in structure, but in its content as well. And I was green and carefree, famous among the barns / About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home, / In the sun that is young once only, Just as the grass was green before, the speaker is also green, he is young. Assonance is present once again, being carefree, as aforementione d is one the many hallmarks of youth. The speaker could not give a care in the world, for he is young. However, he knows that youth only comes once, and that it doesnt last forever, this foreshadows the later parts of the poem. But, for now, just as the poem remains happy, he too is happy on the farm. Once more, time is personified and is being portrayed as kind and merciful. This reinforces the allusion to God, God is watching the young one and letting him be. Time let me play and be / Golden in the mercy of his means, / And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves The words green and golden keep getting repeated again and again, and alliteration keeps getting used again and again, the speaker is young and prosperous, this is being reinforced so much because once youth is gone, it is gone for good. The speakersis remaining in the past for this long because thats how good his youth is. He is only this prosperous because of Time or God, he knows he is at the mercy of him, Time is benevolent, but regardless; he is still at Times very whim, just as every human is. The allusion to the Bible is no longer as subtle as before, not that it was that subtle to begin with, but now it is ever more blatant. Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold, / And the Sabbath rang slowly / In the pebbles of the holy streams. The speaker was in power because of his youth perhaps, seeing as though the foxes barked at the sound of his horn singing. An alliteration is used again to portray the foxes clear bark without much emotion. This is signaling the end of youth, it is slow, but the end is near. The Sabbath is day of rest, just as God was resting on the seventh day of creation, so too will the speaker, but instead of creation; he will be resting in old age. The streams near the farm seem to be sacred, again, with the Biblical allusion. The third stanza marks a shift in tone, in content and in structure. It is significantly different than the first two stanzas; like the parallel between youthfulness and old age. All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay / Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air / And playing, lovely and watery The day keeps on going, however, the descriptions are beginning to be not as specific as the ones from the first stanza, they are also beginning to be dreamlike, lucid almost. Fields as high as the house, music coming from the chimney, all strange descriptions. When they are referred to as air, this comes across as a metaphor for life, fluidity and tranquility; such is youth. The speaker remembers the youth well, quite fondly in fact. Now comes the transition from day into night, youth into old age. The descriptions become even stranger. And fire green as grass. / And nightly under the simple stars / As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the night away, Green fire is unheard of, unnatural, but strangely enough, it is natural; because is starting to drift into sleep, into old age. Instead of the natural process of time passing through sleep, the owls seem to carry the night away instead. All very surreal. Now comes the climax of the surreal, of the dream. Very unnatural thing, the night is coming to a close, just as the wake is coming. All the moon long I heard blessed among stables, the nightjars / Flying with the ricks, and the horses / Flashing into the dark. Instead of all day long in the beginning of the stanza, it is now the opposite, all night long. The stables are blessed, are personified and seem to be alive. The ricks, which are stacks of hay, are flying with nightjars; insects. The night is ending soon, as well as this dream. And the horses just vanish into thin air, becoming part of the night, with this, night draws to a close, and day begins anew; a cycle of some sorts. Now the Biblical allusions come into full swing and are no longer just allusion but are direct references, the religious overtones are present throughout the poem. And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white / With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all / Singing, it was Adam and maiden, Day has come once more, the farm is once again personified, however, this time; the farm may be Jesus. Jesus was known to wear white, white represents holiness, goodness, purity and all things sacred. But Jesus is mostly known to be a wanderer, spreading the word of God. The speaker loves the farm so much, that it is sacred and holy. Here is the good part, Adam and Eve come into the picture, the feeling that the farm is the Garden of Eden is ever so more blatant. Just as Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden following the act of committing the original sin, so too will the speaker be cast out of his farm, his Garden of Eden; youth. Albeit, not for any wrongdoin g, but because of the natural process. But wait, there is more! The sky gathered again / And the sun grew round that very day. /So it must have been after the birth of the simple light / The Genesis references do not end there, in the first line, it says that the sky gathered again. It just so happens that in the Book of Genesis, there is also a similar phrase: And God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear. (Book of Genesis 1) The creation of the Universe is being mirrored by the return of day, old age. The sun grew round once more, just as when God said let there be light. Creation, Adam and Eve, and the Book of Genesis are all symbols for the cycle of life in this poem and life itself. That is not all, now the animals that God created unto Eden are being referenced. In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm / Out of the whinnying green stable / On to the fields of praise. The first spinning place is a reference to Earth, a planet that so happens to spin, it also happens to be the first one. The horses are attracted to, or rather mystified by the farm, and are coming out of the whinnying green stable. The horses are not just horses, but all the animals of Gods creation; out of his own hand. The fields of praise, are obviously a substitute for Eden. However, the fields of praise is also the farm itself, in the beginning of the poem, the farm is the subject of praise, now, and the farm is now praise itself. Such is Gods holy creation. The end is nigh, literally and figuratively. The first line of this stanza is a callback to one of the lines from the very first stanza. And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house / Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long, / In the sun born over and over, Instead of being honoured by wagons and material things part of the physical realm, the speaker is now honoured among animals of the House of God. The house is personified, giving the house joy, such is the House of God. Creation is recent as the clouds are newly made, old age is here, but happiness remains in the heart. With the sun being born over and over again, eternal is too God and his kingdom. However, not all is well. With old age, comes regret and reminiscing. I ran my heedless ways, / My wishes raced through the house high hay / nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows Because of the joys of youth, and the freedom that comes with it, heedlessness is also unfortunately part of youth as well. The speaker is starting to regret living life at such a fast pace and is noting that he is careless. Time only allows so much, and the time has come for the end. Time/ God is seemingly leading children into his grace through song, again, green and golden are repeated here. In all his tuneful turning so few and such good morning songs / Before the children green and golden / Follow him out of grace. The children symbolize the speakers youth, or perhaps humanitys youth as a whole. It is now time for golden years to draw to a close. Regret is still present, and is even more powerful than before. Youth is gone and old age is here to stay. Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me / Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand, / In the moon that is always rising, The sentiment of regret from before is repeated, the swallows, the loft and the hand shadow represents the speakers life, how time is carrying the speaker, but the speakers shadow is present and is ever present, looming even. Just as the sun represented youth and how it is short and temporary, the eternal rising of the moon represents old age and how old age will last much longer than youth. Even though if the speaker is sleeping, which he is not, he will hear his farm being taken way, his very youth being taken away. Nor that riding to sleep / I should hear him fly with the high fields / And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land. The farm is still here, but it is not the same as before. It is childless, that is, without youth, it is here no longer, forever. The alliteration gives the line a swift and quick motion of this, almost as though a picture is being created. Similar to the old saying regarding youth and old age. Happy, that is what the poems tone is in the beginning. However, there is now dramatic shift in tone, it is now melancholic and regretful. The speaker is no longer swift and free-spirted, he is now chained to sadness and old age. Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means, / Time held me green and dying / Though I sang in my chains like the sea. The second line reflects life, like a newborn baby, even though it is alive, it also dying at the same time. The clock of death starts ticking the very moment the heart starts beating. Ironic and cruel, but that is life.

Graduation Speech: I Have No Regrets :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

I thought that I'd start by taking a picture, being as this is the last time that I'm going to see the majority of you. So could everybody smile? OK, now that that is done with, I would like to start out with a quote. "As people used to be wrong about the motion of the sun, so they are still wrong about the motion of the future. The future stands still, it is we who move in infinite space." (Rainer Maria Rilke, German poet). Webster's dictionary describes commencement as a beginning. Perhaps many of you believed that commencement was an ending. So instead of today being an ending, it is a day to celebrate a new beginning. But the big question is the beginning of what? It has been 13 long years since that first day of kindergarten. It may seem ages ago, but that was only one beginning. This first chapter of our lives is now ending, and we are here today to celebrate the beginning of the next, new stage in our life. It's sad, but true, that after this day, we are all going to go our separate ways. Some of us are headed to college, while others are going to work, or already own their own business. Whatever it is, it is going to be something different than any of us are used to. Even though this is a celebration of a new beginning, we couldn't possibly move on without remembering the past. I don't know about everybody else, but even now, this still feels unreal. I have been waiting for this day since sixth grade, and it is strange that it is finally here. I have had so much fun these past 13 years with all of the friends that I have made. I want to thank everybody for all of the memories throughout the years. It was you guys that made school fun and interesting. From back in elementary school getting intense on the four square court or playing some tetherball, to the Friday night football games and volleyball matches, and the whole time enjoying every minute of it just because I was hanging out with my friends. I hope that you made your time here was worth it because you have to live your life to the fullest. We don't know how long we have on this planet so cherish every moment like it is your last.

Television and Media - Variety in TV Shows :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Variety in Television Shows There are many different television shows today, practically one for every person in the family. Comedies, dramas, action-adventure all these different forums of television, but they all seem to be about the same people. Threw all the different verity of shows on TV all the characters have common similarities with each other. They are mostly composed of white people and the upper class. Even if the show claims to be about the working class the characters are usually never seen working or even warring about money, they also never have a problem paying rent or buying new clothes. This gives a false image of the working class. The lack of a divers cast also misleads the audience the black population is expected to outnumber the white population in this country by the year 2009. Yet all major television stations don't have many if ant minority in their shows. This leaves most of America's people unrepresentative on television. If these stations where trying to portray the middle class they did not do so in an affective manor. Looking at the show "friends" the whole cast is composed of white actors and never has a minority ever been represented in the show. All the characters have jobs but are never seen at them, occasionally we see Monica in the kitchen where she works, or Rachel in the Coffey shop doing anything but work. Even with the unusual appearance at work the characters still seem to have great apartments and seem fashionably beautiful. "Friend" is one of the most popular shows on television today. How is that possible, the answer is that executives who write and produce the shows have no idea what its really like for young adults in society today. They assume things about the American public and pass it on as the real thing. This in turn is digested by the American public and watched because theirs nothing else that is entertaining enough to keep their attention the reason why television shows seem the same is because they are made and produced by the same people with a formula that i s followed by others. Look at the show "Will and Grace" it seems to have broken the mold of the usual sitcom.

Wedding Speech †Best Woman or Maid of Honor :: Wedding Toasts Roasts Speeches

Wedding Speech – Best Woman or Maid of Honor Ladies and Gentlemen – I’ll start by thanking Brian on behalf of the bridesmaids for his kind words. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Hannah and am trying to do as good a job as I can today to be Brian’s best man – rather as good a job as I am able to do given that there was no way I was going to put my name down to have gender reassignment surgery so that I could properly fulfil the role. I was a bit surprised, although naturally honoured, when Brian asked me to do this, but in actual fact, having a girl as a best man makes perfect sense as it shows that Brian has carefully thought ahead to his life as a married man and is happy with the woman having the last word! However if there’s anybody here who feels nervous and apprehensive at the thought of what is soon to come†¦ it is probably because you have just married Brian. Now I was a bit unsure about the duties of a best man, although I told Brian very early on that there was no way I was going to get off with a bridesmaid – I say that with no offence intended to Claire and Nicola who I’m sure you’ll all agree look lovely, and have done a great job today. So to find out what was expected of me, I turned to the internet and managed to find some really interesting stuff†¦ but then remembered what I had gone onto it for in the first place, and set about plagiarising other people’s speeches from all the wedding sites I could find. So I accept no responsibility if this end result is rubbish. I know many of you will have been to a few weddings in your time, so can I suggest that you entertain yourselves quietly by playing wedding bingo – every time you hear a witty comment in my speech that you have already heard at another wedding, give yourself a point and the first one to five wins a piece of wedding cake. So going back to what I discovered I am expected to do as the best man: Organise the stag night. Or in Brian’s case, hen night as Brian insisted on inviting more girls than guys. It was actually a very civilised affair, walk in the countryside, few drinks in a nice pub, then a lovely meal with fine wine and champagne in the evening.

For Colored Girls

For Colored Girls who have considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf. Topic: For Colored Girls who have considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf, is a book about women’s perspective on life and how they way view men, which have hurt them, mistreated them, and how they react and live on it I. All women feel at some point in their life its hard dealing with men, life and descrimation, but black women feel they have it hard than most. II. Body A.Black women’s outlook on men and how they feel mistreated 1. Family a. Father b. Boyfriends c. Husbands 2. Black women always have always had problems with men, not just black men but all men, as they feel in the book. d. Not just black men but any man, hurt them as one has a father of a different ethnic. e. They also have to deal with the lies and abandonment. III. 3. The women in my book deal with growing up black in the 1960’s and 70’s. 4. The women in my book also deal with men treating them badly. 5.They als o how they are to deal with the hard things in their life, wither its dancing or praying to God. 6. They also deal with rape. Conclusion. For Colored Girls who have considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf, is a book about women’s perspective on life and how they way view men, which have hurt them, mistreated them, and how they react and live on it. And when they find God back into their lives they understand they didn’t have to go through all of that alone, but that they had God and they had each other.

Juvenile Justice: Incarceration vs. Intervention Essay

Abstract The national trend towards getting tough on juvenile crime by altering the juvenile justice system to more closely mirror the adult system was examined in order to determine whether secure confinement of juvenile offenders is as effective as community-based rehabilitative and treatment programs for these youth. Politicians and public perceptions have allowed the juvenile justice system to evolve from one of reform based thinking to one of punishment based thinking, placing more young offenders in secure facilities than ever before. The social repercussions of secure confinement of juveniles, without the use of proper rehabilitative tools, including education and life-building skills, are evident as youth are being ‘set aside’ rather than being encouraged to become productive members of their communities.  Not a day goes by where our national media doesn’t report on stories involving heinous and criminal acts committed by juveniles in the United States. Juvenile delinquency is a fact of life – ranging from minor status offenses to unimaginable acts of violence. When dealing with young offenders, there are always difficult decisions to make concerning appropriate punishments that take both public safety and the needs of the juvenile into account. In response to a recognizable increase in youth crime, getting tough on juvenile delinquency and holding young offenders more accountable has been the national trend in the past two decades  (Brinks, 2004). Many argue that removing juveniles from the environment in which their crimes were committed is the most successful deterrent of future negative behavior. But what does secure confinement provide these troubled juveniles aside from isolation from the negative influences they may be subjected to on the outside? Should young offenders be incarcerated for their crimes as they would be as adults, or is it possible to ‘rehabilitate’ a juvenile delinquent without the use of detent ion or incarceration? Of course, juvenile offenders must be held accountable for their offenses – it is an essential element in the natural process of learning and maturation. However, the immaturity that is seen in children and adolescents is an indicator that these behaviors will not be well deterred by harsh punitive action, but rather be better served by rehabilitative attempts. The fact that young offenders tend to outgrow their nonconformity is even more of a reason to believe that a castigatory approach to these juveniles will not be successful in reaching deterrent or rehabilitative goals (Young & Gainsborough, 2000). Because of these matters, community programs and intense intervention are more effective than secure confinement when it comes to juvenile delinquency rehabilitation. In order to explore the effectiveness of treatment and intervention versus incarceration of juveniles, it is helpful to look at the original intentions of the juvenile justice system and how the system has since evolved. The question of rehabilitation versus incarceration of juvenile delinquents came to a head in the late 1800s, resulting in the creation of the first juv enile court system in the United States. Prior to this time, institutionalized children were held along with adults, and no efforts were being made to teach them the necessary skills they required to make positive contributions to society. After centuries of treating very young children as property, and those over the age of five or six as simply little adults when it came to criminal misconduct, it was finally recognized, and widely accepted, that the developmental differences between juveniles and adults provided an increased opportunity for the successful rehabilitation of juveniles outside of secure confinement. The early years of the juvenile justice system focused on recovering the lives of the juvenile offenders before they were completely immersed in a life of criminal activity. The states took on the role of ‘parents’ or â€Å"parens patriae† (state as guardian) and undertook the  parenting responsibility until the juveniles showed improved behaviors, or became adults. Juveniles were no longer tried as adult offenders, and reform houses, rather than prisons, were used to emphasize behavior reform rather than punishment (Brinks, 2004). The juvenile justice system’s focus on reform continued throughout much of the 20th century. Changes began emerging in the juvenile court system in the mid 1900s. During this time, the main objective of juvenile justice remained focused on reformation rather than criminal punishment, however, principles which were not previously in place, were being established by the Supreme Court, requiring juvenile courts to guarantee specific constitutional protections to young offenders. These protections included the right to be represented by an attorney, the right against self-incrimination and the right to hear the testimony against them (Ramsey & Abrams, 2004, p. 42). Although these rights are in line with constitutional rights afforded adults, many within the juvenile justice system were concerned that the court’s reformative techniques would be lessened if the same constitutional rights were applied to children as to adults. Justice Potter Stewart expressed concern that the court’s decision would â€Å"convert a juvenile proceeding into a criminal prosecution† (â€Å"History of America’s,† 2008). While constitutional rights must now be afforded to everyone, this was the first of many changes which began to alter the historical intent of the juvenile justice system. Until 1980, other changes in the juvenile justice system seemed to consistently refer back to the main objective of its creation. The Juvenile Delinquency Prevention and Control Act of 1968 encouraged states to establish programs geared towards the prevention and rehabilitation of juvenile delinquency at the community level. These programs, once approved, were eligible to receive federal funding. The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 built upon the 1968 act and increased nationwide rehabilitative efforts for juvenile offenders. If states wished to receive funding under this act, they were required to remove all juveniles within their jurisdictions from secure confinement facilities and separate them from convicted adults, building on the be lief of writer Morrison Swift who commented on jailing young offenders with adults, â€Å"young and impressionable offenders were being carried off to Rutland with more hardened men, there to receive an education in lawlessness from their experienced associates†Ã‚  (Swift, 1911). Despite these steps towards delinquency prevention, or perhaps because of them, public perception towards an increase in juvenile crime in the 1980s caused radically different changes to begin to take place within the juvenile justice system. In the past two decades, the U.S. has gravitated towards a â€Å"get tough† approach with juvenile delinquents. In the mid 1980s and early 1990s, the U.S. saw a steep rise in violent juvenile crime, a predictable increase in the juvenile population, and many high profile occurrences of youth crime such as public school shootings in Paducah, KY and Columbine High School in Littleton, CO. In 1996, Janet Reno, U.S. Attorney General stated, â€Å"no corner of America is safe from increasing levels of criminal violence, including violence committed by and against juveniles† (Zavlek, 2005). American’s feared that they were under assault by a generation of adolescent time-bombs and that â€Å"only the abandonment of soft education al and rehabilitative approaches, in favor of strict and unrelenting discipline – a zero tolerance approach† could effectively address the issues (Browne, 2003, p. 10). In reaction to these public fears, legislatures resolved to crack-down on juvenile crime, even though by the mid 1990s, juvenile arrest rates for violent offenses were as low as they had been 20 years earlier. State and local laws imposing harsher punishments on juvenile offenders were enacted, and in turn, more youth were brought into the court system for longer amounts of time (McCord, Widom & Crowell, 2001). This led to an extremely large population of young offenders being held, to this day, in secure confinement facilities. Secure juvenile detention facilities have become the most accepted form of punishment for youthful offenders. Although there was a 66% increase in the juvenile arrest rate during the late 1980s and early 1990s, from 139 arrests per 100,000 youth in 1986 to 231 arrests per 100,000 in 1993, there was an even larger, 74% increase in the number of youth confined in secure facilities during that same period. Furthermore, in 2001, when juvenile crime rates were comparable to the rates in 1980, the number of youth confined in secure juvenile or adult detention centers was more than double the number in 1980 – 51,000 on any given day in 1980, compared to 104,000 on an average day in 2001. Additionally, despite the dramatic decline in juvenile arrest rates since 1994, more than 44%, there has not been a parallel decline in youth confinement, which has stayed relatively constant  since 1995 (Sickmund, 2002). This increased reliance on secure detention accommodations brings with it several concerns regarding the present juvenile justice model of confinement. After looking at the apparent trends in the United States in regards to juvenile crime rates and a propensity towards harsher punishments despite a seeming decrease in juvenile delinquency, there are concerns which arise out of the adult adjudication and incarceration of our youth. Melissa Sickmund claims that one of the largest c oncerns about secure detention and confinement of juveniles is overcrowding of facilities. She estimates that 39% of juvenile detention facilities are housing more residents than they are meant to accommodate, creating dangerous situations for management, and hindering opportunities for treatment and rehabilitation (Sickmund, 2002). Overcrowding of facilities presents many challenges for administrators, potential rehabilitators, and the confined youth. Opportunities for educational development, such as obtaining a GED, for youth detained for extended periods of time, are extremely limited. Furthermore, mental health needs cannot be appropriately addressed. It is estimated that between 50 – 70% of juveniles who are incarcerated have diagnosable mental health issues and up to a quarter of those may be suicidal, but access to proper treatment is difficult in crowded facilities (Wasserman, Ko & McReynolds, 2004). In addition to the physical, educational and mental health needs of confined youth not being successfully met, unproven effectiveness of detention and confinement is another major concern. Recidivism rates are extremely high for youth confined in correctional units, such as training schools, where up to 70% of released youth are rearrested within one or two years after their release (Wiebush et al., 2005). Not only are there substantial concerns for the well-being of juveniles in secure facilities, the cost of operating and continuing to construct these facilities is extraordinary. In the year 2000 alone, at least $10-$15 billion was expended in the United States for juvenile justice, most of which went towards paying confinement expenses (Mendel, 2000). Rather than focus on treatment and teaching skills which will help these juveniles become productive members of society, these facilities create a considerable separation from family and community, succeeding only in isolating these youth and making community re-entry difficult (Wiebush et al., 2005). Because of these, and other, issues,  positive alternatives to incarceration for young offenders must be made availab le and used to the fullest extent possible. As is illustrated by the many concerns surrounding the secure confinement of juvenile offenders, its ineffectiveness is apparent, and there are much more advantageous and beneficial alternatives available to these youth. According to Rolf Loeber and David Farrington, secure confinement should be reserved only for those juveniles who are a likely threat to themselves or public safety, and even then, small, community based facilities are preferable. They contend that â€Å"The most effective strategy for treating and rehabilitating juvenile offenders and preventing recidivism is a comprehensive, community-based model that integrates prevention programming; a continuum of pretrial and sentencing placement options, services and sanctions; and aftercare programs† (Loeber & Farrington, 1998, p 333). Community-based curricula are affordable alternatives available to a large number of juvenile offenders, which are intended to decrease crowding, cut costs of maintaining juvenile detention centers, protect offenders from the negative attention of institutionalization, and help sustain positive relationships between the youth and their families and communities while discouraging association with youth who have similar, or more serious criminal histories. One community-based program which has proven to be very effective as an alternative to secure confinement for juveniles is home detention. Home detention requires the offender to remain at home either at all times, at all times when not in school or working, or at night. During home detention, supervisors, normally paraprofessional outreach workers, have much more frequent contact with the youth than traditional probation officers, but the juveniles are allowed to remain with family in their communities (Ball, Huff & Lilly, 1998, p. 158). High levels of success are reported with home detention programs. Studies conducted in California, Ohio and Alabama have reported an 89-97% success rate with their home detention programs, success being measured by recidivism rates, which were generally under 8%, compared to up to 70% for those youth being held in secure detention (Austin, Johnson & Weitzer, 2005). In addition to keeping children within their communities, community-based treatment and therapy has been pegged as one of the most effective treatments for juvenile delinquency. A goal of community-based treatment is to increase parental  authority and supervision as well as focus on any school, family or interpersonal needs or potential problems (Cullen & Gendreau, 2000). There are many successful intensive supervision programs (ISPs) of this type across the country. One such program is the San Francisco based Detention Diversion Advocacy Program (DDAP). Juveniles are referred to DDAP by parents, courts, probation officers or other community agencies. Upon referral to the program, DDAP identifies potential problems, and presents a rehabilitative plan to the court. Offenders live at home, and they and their families are provided with needed services by DDAP case workers. A 2007 study of DDAP found that the recidivism rate of juveniles in this program was less than half that of juve niles who were held in detention facilities for at least 3 days (24 percent versus 60 percent) (Sheldon, 2009). Many reasons were cited for DDAP’s success, including: smaller caseloads, freedom of the caseworkers from administrative limitations of the juvenile justice system, and the program’s emphasis on treatment and educational services along with precise goals to follow the youth’s progress (Sheldon, 2009). Similar programs are also in place for those youth who are unable to return to their homes or families for any reason. Treatment foster care programs are suitable alternative locations in the community for those children who may not be able to live at home. Treatment foster care programs are unlike traditional group homes or foster homes in that the foster care families are actively recruited and specially trained to care for only one youth at a time in their home. The training provided to the foster parents stresses behavior management methods in order to provide the youth in their care with structure and a corrective living environment. Even after training, daily support is provided by case managers through telephone calls and visits. Biological families are also provided family therapy services. Random evaluations of these programs have shown that recidivism rates are lower among these participants than in those in traditional group homes and secure facilities (Greenwood, 2008). Treatment foster care programs are another example of successful alternatives to juvenile detention. As has been shown in the above examples, the research that exists in regards to juvenile justice suggests that community-based alternatives to detention and s ecure confinement of juveniles are at least, and most times more, effective in reducing recidivism rates among young  offenders, while being significantly lower in cost to operate. Despite noticeable decreases in juvenile crime, many jurisdictions are still faced with the problems of overcrowding in their juvenile detention facilities. In addition to the many negative consequences surrounding overcrowding, such as the facility’s inability to maintain safety and security, most youth will simply not benefit from confinement without the use of evidence based programs (Greenwood, 2008). Effectively dealing with juvenile delinquency involves a myriad of issues ranging from the immaturity of young offenders to the changing trends of juvenile crime. When looking at the many possible outcomes of both incarceration and alternate forms of punishment, we should be able to draw a better conclusion about what types of punishments or treatments are most effective for this group of offend ers. As a community, we must focus on opportunities to mentor and grow the youth of today into productive contributors of tomorrow’s society. To achieve this, youthful offenders must be embraced, not forgotten. References Austin, J., Johnson, K. D., & Weitzer, R. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (2005). Alternatives to the secure detention and confinement of juvenile offenders. Retrieved from website: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/208804.pdf Ball, R., Huff, C., and Lilly, J. 1988. House Arrest and Correctional Policy: Doing time at home. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications. Brinks, D. O. (2004, Jan). Immaturity, normative competence, and juvenile transfer: How (not) to punish minors for major crimes. Retrieved from http://philosophyfaculty.ucsd.edu/faculty/dbrink/pdf articles/Immaturity, Normative Competence, and Juvenile Transfer.pdf Browne, J.A. 2003. DERAILED! The schoolhouse to jailhouse track. Washington, DC: Advancement Project. Cullen, F., and Gendreau, P. 2000. Assessing correctional rehabilitation: Policy, practice, and prospects in Criminal Justice, vol. 3, edited by J. Horney. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, pp. 109–160. Greenwood, P. W. (2008). 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Planning community-based facilities for violent juvenile offenders as part of a system of graduated sanctions. Retrieved from website: https://www.ncjrs.gov/html/ojjdp