Ethical Clinical Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Ethical Clinical Research - Essay Example Meeting the diverse needs of these stakeholders generates a number of questions and sometimes conflicts about responsibilities and values, where the most important philosophical need would be to carry out research in a way sensitive to the needs of participants in the field (Chadwick and Tadd, 1992, 7-63). Some basic issues in research ethics centre on special levels of protection and aid for vulnerable and disadvantaged parties, when a research is contemplated involving their participation. These issues cut across clinical ethics, public health ethics and research ethics (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2002a). When individuals lack the ability to select the approach that would be most consistent with their values and preferences, it is inappropriate to give them control over their consent to a research (Royal College Of Nursing Research Society, 2004). Vulnerable persons usually need the protection of a trustworthy individual to make decisions on their behalf. The capacity evaluation is essential to determine whether autonomy or protection is the appropriate governing principle in particular cases (Broome, 1999, 96-103). Ethical and Legal Principles in Research To make autonomous choices, people must have certain abilities, and there is agreement on the basic features of decisional capacity. It has been mentioned that four abilities are central, the ability to communicate a choice; the ability to understand relevant information; the ability to appreciate how this information applies to one's current and future situation; and the ability to give comprehensible reasons for a decision (Noble-Adams, 1999, 888-892). Simple mental status assessments may furnish preliminary guidance; they are insufficient to determine whether someone is able to make autonomous decisions about participating in research. This is more so if the person is being treated for some mental reasons, and research involving these persons are very common (Polit, Becks, & Hungler, 2001, 143-160). Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate decisional capacity in the context of the specific research situation at hand. Decision-making capacity should be assessed through a discussion o f the facts relevant to the particular choice facing a patient. At the least, patients should demonstrate the ability to understand the goals, potential benefits and risks of a proposed research, and should be able to express a reasonably stable choice as well (Manning, 2006, 35-47). Consent and Informed Consent Often, in research, it is insufficient to obtain the cooperation of prospective study participants alone. If the sample includes children, mentally incompetent people, or senile individuals, it would be necessary to secure the permission of parents or guardians. From that point of view, a research problem may not be feasible because the investigation of the problem would pose unfair or unethical demands on participants. The ethical responsibilities of researchers should not be taken lightly (Noble-Adams, 199

Electronic use in everyday life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Electronic use in everyday life - Essay Example These opponents argue that technology is making things difficult for mankind and these problems would be felt in the latter years of life. On the other hand the proponents of technology argue that it is a blessing for the whole mankind as it is making things a lot easier for people. The question then remains â€Å"Is technology really affecting us adversely or not?† This essay would further address this question by revolving around the negative influence of technology on our daily lives. The introduction of internet and computers in our life has turned out to be joyful for many as individuals enjoy surfing and chatting on the internet. Internet not only helps one to surf and chat but also helps to find out useful information about different topics. But the opponents argue that internet has turned out to be a disaster for many. Experts on technology believe that excess usage of computers and internet makes one impulsive and forgetful in his daily life. Excessive usage of internet has been termed to be fall under the category of addiction. Different types of self assessment tests have been designed to check if one falls under the category of internet addiction or not. A study done by the researchers in the University of Melbourne showed that around 10% of the students were suffering from the problem of internet addiction and this clearly shows that people are wasting their time on the internet rather than doing something useful. Some term this addiction as internet de pendence but this also has its negative effects as it is causing people to be distracted from their real life relationships. In other words internet is causing people to be distracted from education and family both at the same time. Cell phones also fall in the category of the internet as they seem to be causing dependence amongst the people too (Parker 2010). The introduction of nuclear power and nuclear weapons has also turned different aspects of the

Environmental Scan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Environmental Scan - Research Paper Example The changes in economic cycles affect the sales of the two firms in the beverage and snacks industry e.g. fluctuating interest rates, exchange rates fluctuations and income levels (PepsiCo, 2010). Reduction in the income level will reduce the two company’s level of sales. The social factor like the cultural beliefs and practices determines the level of sales in the global arena. There are some regions across the globe where the consumption of snacks are discouraged hence reduce sales level. Demographic factors like youth population, family sizes further influence sales. Since the two firms operate globally, the political changes that determine the legislations, taxation and regulations affect the firms equally. The adoption of enhanced technology that reduces operational costs and efficiency will make the external environment (Coca-Cola, n.d). The internal environment that includes financial strengths, employee enthusiasms, organization culture, and innovation remain core to t he businesses. PepsiCo core competitive advantage is the diversified portfolio of products and brands, high innovation and differentiation of products and ability to enter into new markets successfully. The healthier food makes customers purchase their goods. The company strategy is to rethink and implement new efficient ways of production and best practices that would enhance customer satisfaction (PepsiCo, 2010). On the other hand coke competitive advantage include market leadership, business partnerships, multi-segmentation, strong brand portfolio, collaborative customer relationships, sustainable development and managerial expertise among others. These make core a leader in the snack industry. Coke strategy is the maximizing growth and profitability to create shareholders value through transforming commercial models, multi-segmentation, product innovation, and expansion

The Divergence of U.S. and UK Takeover Regulation Essay - 1

The Divergence of U.S. and UK Takeover Regulation - Essay Example who decides the rules of takeover in both countries. Rules of takeover in the UK are the outcome of the self regulation where interests of institutional investors play an important role while on the other hand the US judicial setup holds the responsibility of takeover rules and thus, limiting the influence of shareholders over making of rules. In the UK, shareholders’ perspectives play an important role in deciding about takeover bids and thus, takeover regime is â€Å"privatized†. Easterbook and Fischel proposed limited capability of managers to defend takeovers which did not become part of practice in the US after its dismissal by the Delaware Court and takeover decisions are still based on decisions made by those who manage businesses and they are allow to undertake several types of defense actions such as the â€Å"poison pill† or shareholder rights plan to undermine bidder’s stake. These tactics are prohibited in the UK and without the consent of shar eholders managers cannot maneuver any tactic in defense. However, in the UK managers are allowed to make use of â€Å"embedded defenses† which may involve issuance of dual-class voting stock or several other ways to take action before any bidder takes an offensive position (Armour and Skeel). Takeovers do not always result in higher returns for shareholders therefore it seems more appropriate to leave the decision in case of takeover to shareholders as in the UK. However, it is noted that the number of takeovers in the US has been greater than the UK. There could be several reasons including the veto power of directors who may feel that they are not entitled to sufficient incentives from the shareholders. In the UK, bidder can lodge a protest against managers’ actions to the Takeover Panel comprising of representatives from LSE, BOE, major banks and institutional investors. There is a greater flexibility in dealing of this Panel and limited

Book review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 3

Book review - Essay Example ‘Still alive’ opposes all the simple assumption about history. Kluger’s experience was a popular when produced in the creative German, gaining a big status and technical acclaim. The Holocaust survivor had spent her time in three concentration camps as a young teenager; she was helped by her mother to translate her book into other language versions in order for the whole world to read about her story. Her mother got her first book accidentally and translated it in English and this was after kluger’s friend sends the book to her as a gift. Luckily her story of Vienna’s darkest hour did not fail. She tried to remember her childhood memories, where she creates a tale equal to the miseries that the entire human nature is able to do. Keen to her step-by-step experiences has opened the entire women fraternity the knowledge about their abilities and rights in the current global existence. Her face off with conflicts never ended with frustrations as a young Jew in Vienna, neither the brutality of the Theresienstadt and Auschwitz-Birkenau camps nor the university institutions in German. This is where her state of a being female was heavily undermined in the male superior society. Conflicts accompanied her to the post-war New York, where she was criticized by the earlier generation of immigrants for her opposition to adopt the American culture Kluger in her life she faced the negative side of the real life situation but her intellectual love made her appreciate anything that occurred. This acted as her survival tool during those times. This one of the best reason to compel one to read the Still Alive story of Kluger. Here is when she goes by her opinion of identity creation from which she perceives her way into the life. This should be a driving force for women to venture into life situations without fear. In her book, ‘Unterwegs Verloren a story line that can take readers to a young

Gerard Manley Hopkins Essay Example for Free

Gerard Manley Hopkins Essay The Windhover, by Gerard Manley Hopkins is a poem about the essence of natural things. This poem describes the relationship of human beings to the natural world as the poet is addressing God through the bird. It is praising him for all the marvellous things He has created and that humans can enjoy. The poem consists in three verses. In the first verse, the poet describes the power of the bird as it is portrayed as the master of heavens. This verse captures the movement of the bird in the sky. It starts with I caught this morning mornings minion that gives the feeling that the bird is a servant of the sky and it is the morning because it is a good time for hunting. Hopkins puts words together like dapple dawn-drawn to portray multi-images as here where the bird is drawn in the sky. Also, the alliteration here produces the effect of the birds movement in the air and the intensity of the poems feeling. The author writes that the bird is striding high there and this produces the image that the bird is taking huge steps in the air. The bird also rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing showing his power and control with ecstasy. The bird has control over the wind. The rhythm in this verse is very slow, yet steady. This verse consists in very long sentences that convey the effect that the bird is circling the air; with long movements it also reflects the poets feelings. This verse gives as the feeling that he poet has searched very well the words to describe his feelings but at the same time describing the bird. He searches for words that sound as they are written for example sweeps smooth. The second verse consists only of three lines explaining how the bird spots its pray and here, the beauty of the bird is more accentuated when the author uses Brute beauty to describe how beautiful the bird is, even when it is hunting. The word brute has an impact on the readers because this word means violent, wild, but here, the author uses it to emphasize that the beauty is a different kind of beauty; that it is a magnificent beauty, so marvellous and magnificent that there is no better word to describe it than brute. The poem reaches to the climax when the bird spots the pray and the author writes here buckle! as if warning us for action. To be prepared. From now on, the rhythm is more steady with lots of comas and faster than the first verse. This gives us the effect that the bird is now descending towards its pray. At the end of this verse, the author addresses to God as Oh my chevalier! and this is to thank Him for creating such marvellous things as the bird, full of Brute beauty so that humans can enjoy, even though it is only by watching them. When the author addresses to God, the rhythm changes. This matches the ecstasy of the bird in his own physical mastery of the sky. The last verse consists also in three lines, and here, the relationship of human beings to the natural world is also portrayed. This verse is more as a pronouncement. Here the author stops speaking about the bird and makes us realise how Gods beauty of creation is in everything, even in things where there is no apparent beauty. This is achieved also when Hopkins starts talking about how the shi er pli d makes even ploughing beautiful and how blue-bleak embers are also beautiful. In conclusion, I think that Hopkins decides to first start talking about the Windhover and about its Brute beauty to then compare it to the beauty found in every thing of creation. He relates human being to the beauty of nature because the beauty found in nature comes from humans sacrifice. The words on Hopkins poem impact me because they make me realise how lucky we are to be part of creation and enjoy the beauty there is from Christs sacrifice.

Gangs And Relationships With Drugs And Violence Criminology Essay

Gangs And Relationships With Drugs And Violence Criminology Essay There are very few things new to this world, money, greed, religion, or even science. But like all things, over time, ideas and concepts grow and reform, taking on seemingly new impressions in the eyes of the people. One of these ideas that has seemed to sneak up on the world is gangs, and their new found territory of untold violence and crime, that has rose and spread like the plague across America and many major countries around the world. Even though it seems to be an out of control problem, the complexity is still very simply understood and broke down to help reason why many would put themselves as well as their family in a life of crime. In the definition of a gang, it is explained as a loosely formed group of at least three people through which an organization, formation, or establishment of an assembly, share a common identity. However, gangs in todays society have taken the word to embody fear due to its relationship to criminal organization and the negative connotation that go with it. The group usually has a name to bond around with a structure of leaders or with one sole person in charge. Many of these developed gangs have started to use identifying signs such as colors, symbols or tattoos to distinguish themselves. These groups continuously and regularly commit crimes in support of the gang. As well as being known for trouble, gangs have grown from small street crimes to larger level felonies involving drug and weapon dealing causing a large number of unsettling homicides within the United States and around the world. The first street gang in the United States emerged sometime around the 1820s in New York City, and just thirty years later, there were more than two hundred fights reported. After only a few generations and a still steady flow of immigration, Chicago had reported more than a thousand gangs in 1920. In those days, most of the crimes involved small criminal activities and large brawls. Drug trafficking of todays gangs doesnt play a role until the later 1970s. As the same as in the 1920s, it doesnt take long for gangs to expand, grow, and relocate. In 2006, the United States reported active street gang members numbering around 785,000. Even with its birth in our country being New York, the ideology has spread across the nation and has settled in todays capitol of Los Angeles County, California. The county itself has somewhere around 120,000 with an estimated 41,000 within Los Angeles. To bring light to how fast the populations of gangs grow, in just one year, the number of known active members grew to around 900,000 in 2007. The United States Department of Justice estimates there are approximately 30,000 gangs, with 760,000 members, impacting 2,500 communities across the United States in its most recent reports and steadily growing every year. (Hagedorn, 2008) The numbers produced around the world are not much better. For instance, the Mexican drug cartel may have as many as 100,000 members not only involved in minor gang activity, but also produce a large percentage of the worlds drugs, which has become something the newer versions have evolved into. In addition to that, the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates that the four largest Italian organized crime groups to be around 25,000 collectively with as many as 250,000 affiliates around the world. One of the largest single associated crime groups in the world, the Yakuza, has more than 102,000 members from what Japans reports say as of 2005. The United Kingdom has as many as a thousand known gangs as of 2009, and estimating that they are thought to make as much as  £352 billion through the drugs trade (Hagedorn, 2008). Regardless of origin, there are several different types of gangs, separated by race, religion, or simply by goals in life. However the most three concerned by law enforcement, and most influential types, are street gangs, prison gangs, and criminal gangs. Street gangs are the most widely known and fastest spreading organizations. The prison gang exist behind bars and add a new level to the street gang operations. The criminal gangs are normal associated and made popular by mob families, like the Italian Mob. With street gangs, the people involved generally have relatively similar backgrounds, motivations, and struggles with a self-formed union of peers. This formed group becomes united by mutual interests, with identifiable leadership and internal organization. Once the steps to becoming organized have been accomplished, the group can act collectively or as individuals to achieve specific purposes, including the conduct of illegal activity and control of a particular territory, facility, or enterprise. Street gangs often take over territory or turf, as commonly used, in a particular city and use this area as protection for themselves as well as providing protection for the community. Many gangs use the front of protection in the community to influence and gain revenue in an area safe from intrusion. Prison gangs are groups in a prison or correctional facility designed for mutual protection and advancement. These gangs tend to have more affiliates and chapters among the different prisons across the nation that interacts due to the high frequency of transfers. Studies have shown that there is a high correlation between street gangs and prison gangs (Hagendorn 2008). This is due to the fact that many gangs use the protection scare tactic to recruit large amounts of members quickly, transfer them, and expand even more. Even when behind bars, many gang leaders are able to communicate operations to the foot soldiers still on the streets. Like street gangs, criminal gangs also function in and out of the prison system, such as the Mexican Mafia does, where many of its highest members are locked up and still have control. Criminal gangs are involved in all areas of street-crime activities like extortion, drug trafficking, both in and outside the prison system and theft. Criminal gangs are more involved with victimizing individuals by robbery and kidnapping. Cocaine is the primary drug of distribution by the criminal gangs in America, which like to use large cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and New York who all have large ports to export drugs internationally quickly. Often, the larger, more organized groups hire lookouts, which tend to be the smaller less organized street gangs, to warn members of upcoming law enforcement. This team work builds dangerous affiliations that help and make it more difficult to pin point specific gangs involved in crimes. The dense environment of urban cities, like public housing projects, c orruption of police, as well as the division between the relationship law enforcement has with such neighborhoods, has helped gang members escape and hide from police easily. As the gangs have grown and become more intelligent and organized, violence has become an effective weapon for advancement. Gang violence refers to mostly those illegal and non-political acts of violence committed by gangs against innocent people, property, or other gangs. Throughout history, such acts have been committed by gangs at all levels of organization and nearly every major city has been ravaged by gang violence at some point. Modern gangs introduced new acts of violence, which may also function as a rite of passage for new gang members, whether it be a beat into the gang or a killing of a rival member before a affiliate can become a full member. Because of this level of violence in the gang culture 58 percent of Los Angeles murders were reported to have been gang-related during 2006. Gang related homicides are concentrated mostly in the largest cities of the United States, where largest number of documented gang members reside. Ethnic solidarity is a common factor in gangs. Black and Hispanic gangs formed during the 1960s in the United States and often adapted independent style. Both majority and minority races in society have established gangs in the name of identity, like the Igbo gang or the Bakassi Boys for instance, who defend the majority Igbo group violently and through terror. As for the whites who feel threatened by minority, defensive counter rights have formed their own groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan to threaten minority groups back. Responding to a sudden increase in black and Hispanic migration, a white gang called Gaylords quickly formed in Chicago. If a person carries a gun while committing any crime, he or she can expect to face harsh penalties. State prosecutors or the United States Attorneys Office, depending on the nature of the crime and the severity of the violence, may prosecute firearms offenses. Illegally carrying a handgun is a Class A misdemeanor, unless it is carried on any premises where alcohol is being sold, in which case it is a third-degree felony. A person who allows a child to gain access to a loaded firearm may be charged with a Class A misdemeanor if the child discharges the firearm and causes death or serious bodily injury to himself or another person. Federal gun laws are very strict. A person can be punished by up to 10 years in prison if convicted of illegally possessing or receiving a gun or ammunition. A person may also receive a minimum sentence of 15 years without parole if the person has three or more prior convictions for a violent felony and/or a drug trafficking felony. Certain individuals, such as felons or drug users, are prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition. Using, carrying or possessing a firearm in connection with a federal drug felony or crime of violence may result in punishment ranging from at least five years up to life in federal prison without parole. It is illegal under federal law for most citizens to possess certain firearms such as machine guns, assault weapons, silencers, sawed-off shotguns or rifles, or certain other destructive devices. Possessing or receiving a firearm with an obliterated or altered serial number is also illegal and is punishable by up to five years in prison. These crimes may range from Class C misdemeanors to serious felonies. It is illegal to be a member of a gang on a public school campus. It is illegal to coerce, induce or solicit a child to actively participate in the activities of a criminal street gang through the use of threats or violence. It is a state jail felony to threaten a child into joining a gang and a third-degree felony if bodily injury is caused. If you have been threatened or coerced into joining a gang, you are a victim of a crime. It is natural to feel intimidated or be fearful of retaliation when this occurs, but what happened to you was not your fault and it was a crime. Report this criminal activity immediately to your school resource officer or the local authorities. State law provides for punishment enhancements for offenses committed with a gang. Simply put, gang membership gets you into more trouble and gets you a harsher sentence. Who gets to say they are wrong for wanting to defend themselves. The concept of the gang as a form of protection reaches back centuries, from immigrants grouping to stay alive on the streets, to the foreign villages battling over land. There have been many researches done on gangs and their reason for existence to try to find the core of the problem. One of the many studies done on the youth searched to single out and concentrate on the relationship between gang members and individual levels of criminal behavior. The research done in both the United States and Canada has shown the obvious, that even after separating mass triggers from individual level characteristics, gang members are more delinquent and tend to be more involved in committing crimes than do non-gang members. The conclusion drawn from these findings is that the observed relationship between gang membership and offending levels cant be explained through a simple process singling out individual traits, but instead by understanding additional influences that gang members bring to allow higher levels of criminal behavior among the individuals who join, especially for behaviors relating to guns and violence. Case in point, involvement in gangs significan tly increases the probability that a juvenile will be involved in an exchange involving a firearm. The above information leads to implications that patterns and levels of firearm violence is evident at the community level. As membership in a gang opens the door for the possibility for a gun to be used, there becomes an increase in firearm related violence. The violence tends to be concentrated around the activity space of gangs, or on their turf. The research was conducted in what is now being referred to as an emerging gang city, or the class of cities that only recently have been introduced to gangs and have began to experience serious problems with violent urban street gangs in the last twenty years. The other classes of cities include places like Los Angeles and Chicago, which have had a much longer story of gangs and are now known as chronic gang cities. Though some of the initial emergent gang cities have experienced a significant decline in gang activity, others appear well on their way towards becoming chronic gang cities. (Tita, 2007) A small amount of information is known about how inner-city street gangs evolve over time within an emerging gang cities. Other countries that are relatively new to the gang territory, like Canada, may provide researchers with an invaluable opportunity to study juveniles and gangs to determine the scenarios that support the development of local gangs from loosely associated groups into stronger, organized, local neighborhood establishments. Furthermore, it is important to learn and understand more intervention activities that could be most efficient at inhibiting such growth before gangs and gang violence becomes a chronic problem in more cities. This is especially important as studies have shown that gangs and the gang violence correlation often begins in heavily populated areas and spreads to smaller cities. The participation in the drug market has also revealed a relation to gun violence. Even though many studies involve gangs as the primary ignition source responsible for increased levels of gun violence, the participation in dealing drugs has also made firearm involvement more probable. That is, those who buy or sell drugs do experience higher levels of gun violence than non-drug participants (Tita ET AL). With the information, a strong case can be put together that the arrival of the crack cocaine market was accountable for the explosion of guns within the urban communities of the United States. Guns became an essential tool to promote and produce, and deal in the drug market. This seems to suggest that drug markets do serve as a source of conflict that ends up closing with gun violence more times than not. This relationship has not only been evident in the United States, but in England, Wales, Scotland, and Canada as well. Tita (2007) also gave to that: Given that sellers carried large sums of cash and valuable drugs, they needed to protect themselves against acts of robbery. As youth participation in the drug markets increased, carrying firearms soon became a status symbol and the carrying of guns soon diffused to non-drug youth as well.  (p. 11) But other than gun and drug prevention efforts, more can be done to further remove the problem from a much deeper source. Studies of juveniles, done within the United States, made it clear that juveniles who decide join gangs tend to have lower levels of parental attachment. This can be due to many situations, but most commonly due to the crumbling importance of family value and structure as well as the poor economic situation in many areas. This has caused parents or guardians to work two to three jobs, missing out on valuable time to be a childs deterrence from getting involved in trouble with gangs. Along with missing guidance in their lives, the young members that were prone to join gangs also exhibited aggressive behavior early in life, did poorly in school, and have lower levels of self-control. Gang members also tend to be among the lower members of society in terms of social and economic status and are said to have little to no chance to create the drive necessary to make it in the world. Being part of a minority groups is also a main characteristic in a gang community, combined with the members residing are in high levels of concentrated poverty, joblessness and crime give them all something in common to bond to. For these people to move away from these characteristic, investment in the community to produce better education, access to jobs, basic public services, and possible recreation alternatives the people is needed before they learn the negative behaviors. There are many major reasons that these gangs feel the need to be violent. One of the main focuses between gangs is their belief in respect and control over their turf which motivates most gang-on-gang violence. To many peoples disbelief, the drug dealing business plays a very small role in the violence, yet still just as serious. Compared to non-gang homicides, gang homicides tend to involve multiple suspects in an outdoor environment, more likely concentrated in the neighborhood of the gang, more often involving a gun. Even though it is known that gangs have designated missions to take out other gang members or acting in order to defend themselves, much of the violence that is recorded is opportunistic with more than one-third of all gang homicides occurred in areas where neither the victim nor offender resided. Regardless of the numbers recorded, there is definitely a link between drug use and the increased likelihood of being involved in an incident in which a firearm is present. Young adults and juveniles that have been questioned about using or dealing drugs reported carrying a gun far more often than do peers not involved with illegal drugs. These finding are elevated among gang members with a far larger margin within the gang. Not only do they carry and use guns at a higher rate, but they are also much more likely to be involved in a homicide. These results hold true for females as well. There is an ongoing debate regarding the relationship between firearm accessibility and levels of gun violence. Compared to the rest of the world, citizens in the United States have greater access to the legal purchase of firearms causing many to point to this as a factor for why the United States has a much higher rate of violence than do other developed nations. However, there are some findings from studies conducted by other countries, Canada, Australia, Asia, and Europe, that contradict this believe. Many believe that lower murder rates in foreign countries prove that gun control works, however this is false. Lower murder rates have been one of the favorite arguments for gun control, and yet the numbers show that there is no direct correlation between gun control laws and murder rates across a wide spectrum of nations and cultures. In Israel and Switzerland, for example, a license to possess guns is available on demand to every law-abiding adult, and guns are easily obtainable in both nations. Both countries also allow widespread carrying of concealed firearms, and yet one of the foremost medical advocates of gun control, Switzerland and Israel have rates of homicide that are low despite rates of home firearm ownership that are at least as high as those in the United States. A comparison of crime rates within Europe reveals no correlation between access to guns and crime. The basic premise of the gun control movement, that easy access to guns causes higher crime, is contradicted by the facts, by history and by reason. In fact, within the United States, the states that allow registered citizens to carry concealed weapons have lower crime rates than those that dont. Out of the 31 states that have shall issue laws allowing private citizens to carry concealed weapons have, on average, a 24 percent lower violent crime rate, a 19 percent lower murder rate and a 39 percent lower robbery rate than states that forbid concealed weapons. In fact, the nine states with the lowest violent crime rates are all right-to-carry states. One large finding shows that guns are used for self-defense more than two million times a year, which is somewhere between three to five times the estimated numbers of violent crimes committed with guns. Conclusion: Lampo, D. (2010). Gun Control: Myths and Realities. Cato Institute: Daily Commentary. The Cato aaaaaaaInstitute. Retrieved April 20, 2011, from http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4706 Tita, George. ET AL. (2007). Strategies for Reducing Gun Violence: The Role of Gangs, Drugs and aaaaaaaaFirearm Accessibility. National Crime Prevention Center, Research Report, 3, 1-53. Braga, A., Pierce, G. McDevitt, J. (2008). The Strategic Prevention of Gun Violence Among Gang-aaaaaaaInvolved Offenders. Justice Quarterly, 25 (1), 132-157. Melde, C., and Rennison, C.M. (2010). Intimidation and Street Gangs: Understanding the Response of aaaaaaVictims and Bystanders to Perceive Gang Violence. Justice Quarterly, 27(5), 621-657. Archbold, C., Meyer, M. (1999). Anatomy of a Gang Suppression Unit: The Social Construction of an aaaaaaaOrganizational Response to Gang Problem. Policing Quarterly, 2(2), 201-224. Garcia ET AL. (2007). Impacts of Violent Crime and Neighborhood Structure on Trusting Your Neighbors. aaaaaaaJustice Quarterly, 24(4), 680-702. Freng, A. and Ebensen, F. (2007). Race and Gang Affiliation: An Examination of Multiple aaaaaaaMarginality. Justice Quarterly, 24(4), 600-628. Hagedorn, J. (2008). Tutor Gig Encyclopedia. Gangs. Retrieved April 27, 2011, from www.tutorgig.com/ed/Gangs Hochstetler ET AL. (2007). Toward an Integrated Model of Offending Frequency: A Replication aaaaaaaaStudy. Justice Quarterly, 24(4), 582-597.