Concept Paper based on Criminal Justice-related research topic that Essay

Concept Paper based on Criminal Justice-related research topic that you choose - Essay Example This is based on the fact that age differs from state to state. In most states, the lawful age of sexual consent is between the ages of 15- 18 years. In statutory rape, force and consent are not necessary for conviction. The defining factor in statutory rape is the age of the victim. Statutory rape is a crime, and the perpetrators have to go through the legal system of justice. Minors lack the capacity to provide meaningful consent to sex and should be protected against sexual exploitive behaviours by adults (Brody & Acker, 2011). During a criminal trial, a defendant may argue that he was unaware or mistaken about the age of the victim and is not guilty of rape. Most states however view statutory rape as a strict liability offense and have declined to allow defendants to raise the mistake of age defence at trial. Defendants are prosecuted regardless of their mistaken belief about the age of the victim (Carlan, Nored & Downey, 2011). Statistics shows that the majority of fathers of children born to teenage girls were adults; the United States Congress participated in the 1996 Federal Welfare reform law that urged states to enforce the law to reduce teenage pregnancies. More recent studies however show that majority of sexual offenders to teenage girls are teenage boys or males who are about the same age as the girls with whom they are having sex (Leitenberg & Saltzman, 2000). A study in 1995 revealed that 50% of teenagers in the U.S have had sex by the age of sixteen years which is a serious issue for criminal justice because the age of consent is 16 years. This according to the law is statutory rape despite the numbers of such cases rising in an alarming rate (Oberman, 2000). Leitenberg & Saltzman (2000) in their articles used a survey of a representative sample of participating adolescent girls between the ages of 13-15 years and between 8th- 12th grades. Cocca (2002) used case studies on her research. The concepts used in

The effect of economic growth on health care in developed countries Essay

The effect of economic growth on health care in developed countries The case of the United States - Essay Example The discussion are mainly focused on health care services in United States of America, however a comparison is drawn with other developed states where appropriate. 2. Historical Background The absence of a universal health care insurance plan is felt since long in America. The efforts were made to formulate a comprehensive health policy that can satisfy the public and patients, physicians, employers and the insurance providers. However, these efforts seem to be mistimed because the government could not utilized the economic growth in the period of 1990 to materialize its long public demands towards the provisioning of better health care facilities. â€Å"The decade of 1990s was characterized by unprecedented economic growth and creation of wealth in United States.† (Shi & Douglas, 2008, p.63). The President Clinton in 1993 presents his national health care initiative, but it could not gain the public acceptance at large scale. The major reason was the slow economic growth and rise in the costs of services and medicine as observed by Shi & Douglas, â€Å"However, medical cost escalation and cost of health insurance premium continues to outpace both general inflation and general economic growth† and this degradation of economy has caused reduced health care services offered by the government and private employers, â€Å"The percentage of firms offering health insurance has fallen from 69% in 2000 to 61% in 2006.† (Shi & Douglas, 2008, p.562). 3. Recent Shift of Focus In recent years this trend is changed and health care has got more policy focus as compared to the 1990s decade. Health care is budgeted heavily and more research work is being...The essay presents a comprehensive review of some basic problems, that the United States are is currently facing in the system of health care. It is shown in the paper, that quality health care services can only be provided, if country is enjoying sustainable economic growth. Business should be given a freehand to concentrate on the growth of business instead of provisioning of insurance coverage and other packages because more business means better and secured economic growth. This does not mean the government controlled services, rather it should only act as a facilitator and guarantor. The absence of a universal health care insurance plan is felt since long in America. The efforts were made to formulate a comprehensive health policy that can satisfy the public and patients, physicians, employers and the insurance providers. However, these efforts seem to be mistimed because the government could not utilized the economic growth in the period of 1990 to materialize its long public demands towards the provisioning of better health care facilities. The aim should be the availability of insurance coverage to those 17% of Americans who are still all time uninsured. This petty figure has immense effect on the image of the US that is still far behind other industrial states on the globe in the field of health care services. The ever increasing costs in health care sector know no end, Medicare and Medicaid failed to control the cost at any level in health care sector and costs have never gone down.