Network Key Terms Essay

The Internet- The global network formed by interconnecting most of the networks on the planet, with each home and company network connecting to an Internet service provider (ISP), which in turn connects to other ISPs. Internet edge- The part of the Internet between an ISP and the ISP customer, whether the customer is a company or organization with a large private TCP/IP network, or whether the customer is a single individual. point of presence- A term used by service providers, particularly for WAN or Internet service providers instead of traditional telcos, that refers to the building where the provider keeps its equipment. Access links that connect the customer device to the WAN service physically connect into the POP. Internet core- The part of the Internet created through network links between ISPs that creates the ability of the ISPs to send IP packets to the customers of the ISPs that connect to the core. Internet access- A broad term for the many technologies that can be used to connect to an ISP so that the device or network can send packets between itself and the ISP. analog modem- A device at the customer and ISP end of an analog circuit, created when one modem calls the phone number of the other modem, with the two modems sending data using the analog circuit. DSL- Digital subscriber line. A type of Internet access service in which the data flows over the local loop cable from the home to the telco central office, where a DSLAM uses FDM technology to split out the data and send it to a router, and split out the voice frequencies and send them to a traditional voice switch. cable Internet- A term referring to Internet access services provided by a cable company, using many components, including a cable modem, coaxial cable, and a CMTS at the cable company head end. default route- In a router, a concept in which the router has a special route, the default route, so that when a rout er tries to route a packet, but the packet’s destination does not match any other route, the router routes the packet based on the default route. host name- A name made up of alphabetic, numeric, and some special characters, used to identify a specific IP host. Host names that follow the convention for domain names in the DNS system use a hierarchical design, with periods  separating parts of the name. Domain Name System- The name of both a protocol and the system of actual DNS servers that exist in the world. In practice, DNS provides a way for the world to distribute the list of matching host name/IP address pair information, letting each company maintain its own naming information, but allowing the entire world to discover the IP address used by a particular host name, dynamically, using DNS protocols, so that any client can refer to a destination by name and send IP packets to that host. Subdomain- With DNS naming terminology, this term refers to a part of a host name (or domain name).That smaller part can be the part that a company registers through IANA or some authorized agency to identify all hosts inside that company. IPv4 address exhaustion- A term referring to the very real problem in the worldwide Internet, which first presented itself in the late 1980s, in which the world appeared to be running out of the available IPv4 address space. classless interdomain routing (CIDR)- One of the short-term solutions to the IPv4 address exhaustion problem that actually helped solve the problem for a much longer time frame.CIDR allows more flexibility in how many addresses IANA assigns to a company, and it helps reduce Internet routing table sizes through route aggregation. Network Address Translation (NAT)- One of the short-term solutions to the IPv4 address exhaustion problem that actually helped solve the problem for a much longer time frame. NAT reduces the number of public IP addresses needed by one ISP customer by using one public IP address for the traffic from many real client hosts. Acronyms: BGP- Border Gateway Protocol CATV- Cable TV CIDR- Classes Interdomain Routing CMTS- Cable Modem Terminating System DSL- Digital Subscriber Line DSLAM- DSL Access Multiplexer FTTC- Fiber to the Curb HFC- Hybrid Fiber Coaxial IANA- Internet Assigned Numbers Authority IPS- Intrusion Prevention Systems ISP- Internet Service Provider NAT- Network Address Translation POP- Point of Presence RIR- Regional Internet Registries RJ-11- Registered Jack 11 SOHO- Small Office/Home Office

Credibility and Logic in Gregory Curfman’s “Diet Pills Redux”

1. Gregory D. Curfman’s piece â€Å"Diet Pills Redux† is an editorial; therefore, a reader must keep in mind that the content will focus on the author’s opinion(s) and perspective(s) about a particular situation. Having read Curfman’s piece, it does seem credible. The author is a physician, so his analysis of the situation can be reasonably assumed within his field of expertise, especially when one considers it is an editorial published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Dr.Curfman presents evidence for and against the use of fenfluramine and phentermine and seems concerned only with further exploration of a possible connection between the use of these drugs (separately or together) and heart disease (Curfman, 1997, passim).2. Curfman begins his piece with a summary of an outbreak of pulmonary hypertension that took place in Western Europe that was linked to the use of an appetite-suppressant drug. He goes on to reveal a European outbreak thirty years later which connected the use of an anorectic drug with more cases of pulmonary hypertension.Later, he discusses weighing the risks of using anorectic drugs against the individual’s need, and concludes that only those with no other recourse should be allowed to take the chance. Each of these is an example of logic without fallacy (Curfman, 1997, passim). There were fallacies in Curfman’s piece. To begin with, the events and studies he cited were missing control groups and assurances that exigent factors such as patient history had been taken into account. Technically, these might be construed as misleading statistics.Because the numbers of persons negatively effected by these drugs was so low, the potential that much of his point is perhaps a non sequitur—specifically an argument built on a slippery slope does exist. His closing remark that â€Å"succumbing to the allure of diet pills as a quick fix for excess weight may be courting disaster† presents a significant logical problem: the implication that those who suffered a cardiac crisis in connection with the use of one or more of the involved drugs fall into the â€Å"quick fix† category—this is a hasty generalization (Curfman, 1997, passim).The overall message in the piece was not that blame must be laid, nor was it a call to halt all availability of either drug, so coupled with this piece being an editorial, even fallacy did not necessarily weaken the strength of the article in my opinion as the point seemed merely to be to convince readers that there was more to be investigated. Based on what I read, I have to agree that further investigation is warranted and that consumers must be aware of the potential dangers listed by Curfman.

Quality Costs for Consideration Essay

Our firm is the producer of tangible products. We, as a company, must ensure that we are delivering the highest quality products to our customers to maintain a quality reputation and in order to earn repeat and referral business. We have identified the three types of costs associated with the implementation of quality considerations. We believe that if we are mindful of the following costs our quality will improve, our customer satisfaction will improve and our business will prosper. The three types of costs associated with quality considerations are prevention costs, appraisal costs, internal and external failure costs. Prevention costs are the most effective way to avoid unnecessary problems with production and sales quality. These costs are defined as any steps we as a company can take to pre-emptively avoid any future defects by providing our employees with things such as, proper tools to complete their assigned work, safe and proper working conditions, proper and effective train ing of all new employees and continual training and education for all existing employees, and by implementing quality control systems to ensure all products produced are up to the company’s and customer’s quality standards. Appraisal costs are the costs associated with the testing and inspection of purchased materials used in the productions process, inspection of the items the company is producing, checking items produced for conformance, quality control audits and field testing of items produced and the cost of the labor associated with all of these items. These costs are ultimately the quality costs resulting from quality control and while they may be high in numbers but are imperative during the manufacturing and production processes. Internal failure costs are the costs that we would incur should we fail to meet the quality standards of the products we produce. These costs encompass everything from the manufacturing of a defective product to the downtime resulting from a quality assurance problem. Scrap materials, defective and rejected products are some example of internal failure costs incurred from a lack of quality assurance. External failure costs are the result of internal failure costs that somehow escape recognition and end up with our customers. These costs are warranty repairs and replacements, lawsuits from defective or dangerous products, a loss of referral and repeat business as a result of a battered reputation and any recalls the company may have to endure because of faulty quality assurance; these costs will inevitably cause the most damage as our defective products have reached the product and that is where the problem is realized. The time, money and effort needed to overcome an external failure cost is astronomical and can even become a threat to the company’s very existence. An evaluation of these costs allows us to analyze the trade-offs for each and why it is so important for us, as a company, to maintain high quality control standards. Preventative costs may be substantial to the company during the initial implementation period because the company may have to update equipment or hire appropriate training managers for our employees but we believe that if we implement these preventative measures the benefits will far outweigh the costs for the company. The tradeoffs if we decide not to take preventative measures we will be opening our processes up for internal failure which will result in lost time, wasted product and unhappy customers from late deliveries. We believe this cost will affect our employee’s morale and increase our costs overall for the reasons stated above which will deteriorate our margin. Appraisal costs may be numerous in the manufacturing industry and during the production process but the tradeoff for not implementing these appraisal costs is far too great to accept from a cost, benefit perspective. The tradeoffs for not implementing these costs are the use of bad raw materials during production resulting in poorly produced items, products that are not uniformly produced defective products which will ultimately be returned or worse cause harm to the distributor or even customer. We would lose business, lose referrals and possibly even lose suppliers if we do not implement appraisal procedures and we, as a company cannot afford liabilities that would be a direct tradeoff for not implementing appraisal costs. Internal and external costs, we believe, can be the end of the company if we do not take preventative action now. We leave ourselves open for litigation from faulty products that reached our customers and were injured, the cost of recalling faulty merchandise which requires us to pay for shipping and to replace any defective product that we sold. We also open ourselves up for public ridicule and loss of repeat and referral business from a battered reputation. For all these reasons we believe that the company needs to act now to implement a quality control system, implement preventative measures starting at the training phase of our new employees and monitor our output carefully by auditing our processes and products regularly to help us avoid internal failure and external failure costs as a company.

Review of the Literature 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Review of the Literature 3 - Essay Example amist revivals: revolutionary islamists, traditional islamists, and modernist islamists, where the common thread that binds them is their adherence to fundamental Islamic principles. For him, these different Islamists lead Islamic Revival in diverse terms, but they all argue for the renewal of fundamental Islamic principles. Revolutionary Islamists, also called as fundamentalist, are radical Muslims who advocate political activism and demand the conservative observance of Islam. They want to establish a purely Islamic state and to apply Sharia in their society. They resist Western beliefs and influences and anything that opposes the main beliefs of Islam. They want to reinstate the classical period, where the society made by Prophet Muhammad and his first four caliphs is the model Islamic state. For Revolutionary Islamists, the primary goal of the Islamic state is to implement the Sharia. The law cannot be separated from how the state should be run. Revolutionary Islamists do not acc ept the taglid and want to apply ijtihad and they blame the Traditionalist Islamists and their dogma of taglid for the fall of Islam. Revolutionary Islamists also do not approve of secularists, because this would weaken the ummah and oppose the idea of universalism in Islam. For the past few years, Revolutionary Islamists agree with the application of modern values in Islamic states, as long as they are aligned with the traditional Islamic principles. An example is accepting democratic ruling, as long as the ulama decides on lawmaking procedures and outcomes. Traditionalist Islamists are made of conservative ulama and Islamic scholars. Like the Revolutionary Islamists, they repudiate the teachings and principles of the West. They want to maintain Islamic beliefs and go back to the erstwhile eras of Islamic classical and medieval periods. They also do not oppose Sufism and other folk varieties of Islam, including the mystical ones. They argue that these different beliefs are part of

Zemax EE Software and Programming Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Zemax EE Software and Programming - Dissertation Example Aside from investigating properties such as reflection coefficient, absorption coefficient, temperature variation, and thermal conductivity, additional theoretical estimations are made. An example is the determination of focal length, exposed effective areas, and light collection and concentration for all components. A number of designs are evaluated to examine the effect of different geometrical shapes of light pipes for refraction studies and light cups for reflection studies. Zemax software is used for a large part of this study. Therefore, this chapter details the basics of Zemax software for optical design and ray tracing. Software programs for lens design and optical studies have been of immense utility in the field of optics. Their advent has substantially simplified and enhanced our understanding of optical design and analysis. As stated by Winston, Minano, and Benitez (2005), The design of imaging optical systems is a classic ?eld of research that has achieved a high level o f development. There are on the market optical design programs that permit the numerical optimization of the design parameters, allowing us to obtain results that were unattainable with the analytical tools used before the development of computers (p. 219). Software programs are based on a number of optical principles, such as geometrical optics and ray tracing that function according to the basic laws of optics. The following sections discuss these basic principles along with an introduction to Zemax software that is used in this study. 4.2. Ray Tracing Programs and Geometrical Optics The basic tool required in designing any imaging or non-imaging optical system is geometrical optics (Winston, Minano, & Benitez, 2005). Geometrical optics is based on the universal laws of reflection, refraction, and transmission of light. The incident light on a reflective surface and the reflected light from that surface always make equal angles to the normal, and they lie on the same plane. In cas e of transmitted light, the direction of the refracted and transmitted ray changes according to Snell’s law of refraction, according to which the sine of the angle between the incident ray and the normal is in constant ratio with the sine of the angle between the refracted ray and the normal, with all three being coplanar (Winston, Minano, & Benitez). Based on these universal laws of light, the behavior of a light ray in any optical system can be predicted. Simple optical systems can be predicted manually, but complex ones require sophisticated computer programs that can easily predict the behavior of light through computerized ray tracing. Even the analysis and design of solar concentrators requires such a program. Ray tracing is the process of constructing or following the paths of light rays through an optical system consisting of refracting and reflecting surfaces (Winston, Minano, & Benitez, 2005). For instance, the transmission of a specific concentrator can be determin ed through ray tracing as follows: N rays enter a concentrator’s aperture at a ? angle of incidence at the entry aperture of the concentrator, as shown in Figure 4.1. Fig. 4.1: Ray tracing of the rays transmitted through a concentrator to determine transmission (Winston, Minano, & Benitez, 2005). After the rays are traced through the optical system, N’ rays appear from the concentrator’s exit aperture. The dimensions of the exit aperture are determined based on the required concentration ratio of the system. The remaining N and N’ rays are lost through various processes such as ray scattering. The transmission power of the system for a different angle of incidence

Human Resource Management Company Changes Essay

Human Resource Management Company Changes - Essay Example The unstructured interview is the most used interview for selecting employees although this is most likely to change, as there is increasing evidence that the other two kinds of interview are a lot better at identifying applicants who are likely to do well on the job. The 'reliability and validity', which Wysocki (2000) refers to, are two standards that are used in the selection process. When an organization is trying to separate the best candidate out of a group of candidates, some sort of rating scale is needed, the people selecting the new employee need to be able rate each candidate numerically, the best way would be to give them a score for each selection method used. When all the candidates have been scored, their scores can be compared and decisions made about who is the best person for the job. "Five generic standards that should be met by any selection method are, (1) reliability, (2) validity, (3) generalisability, (4) utility and (5) legality." (De Cieri H, Kramar R, et al, 2003, p 196) The scores that are given to each candidate need to be reliable, that is free from random error. Reliability is defined by De Cieri and Kramar (2003) as 'the degree to which a measure is free from random error' . ... De Cieri and Kramar (2003), define validity 'as the extent to which performance on the measure is related to performance on the job.' This basically means that the scores of candidates need to be linked to how well they will perform on the job. The closer the link, the more valid the score. Generalisability is defined as "the degree to which the validity of a selection method established in one context extends to other contexts. Utility is the degree to which the information provided by selection methods enhances the bottom-line effectiveness of the organization." (De Cieri H, Kramar R, et al, 2003, p 205). "The final standard that any selection method should adhere to is legality. All selection methods should conform to existing laws and existing legal precedents."(De Cieri H, Kramar R, et al, 2003, p 207). Structured interviews usually have the highest reliability and validity scores when compared with unstructured or semi-structured interviews, making the structured interview the better choice of interview for the organization to use as a selection method. Schmidt and Hunter (1998) created a table rating the validity of different selection methods; the structured interview had a validity of 0.51 whilst the unstructured interview had a validity of 0.38. These numbers are correlation coefficients; a correlation coefficient is "a statistic that measures the degree to which two sets of numbers are related to each other."(De Cieri, H. & Kramar, R., 2003, p 197). This means that the structured interview is better than an unstructured interview at predicting how well a candidate will perform on the job. Other selection methods, which have also improved over the years, are used along with the selection interview, they include; "References, physical ability

Managing Work Activities Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Managing Work Activities - Assignment Example It also discusses the importance of planning in business, relationship between departments, and the exchange of information in an engineering company. The paper distinguishes between the single use plan designed to be used only once for a specific purpose, and the standing plans which are made to be used repetitively. The engineering departments are linked to one another by the roles they act, which enable all to contribute to the success of the business. Necessary information also flows across different departments coordinating their functions. Keyword: Engineering, Production, Departments, Planning, Quality Control, Functions, Processes, Customers, Suppliers, Engineering Business 1. Identify at least five functions of an engineering business (which could be the engineering business you established in assignment 1). Classify those functions according to their purpose. Show the relationship between these business functions using the organisational structure of the engineering busines s The role an engineering business plays ensures that an optimal path is developed so that the user of the product or service produced, through the operations that have been used in the business, can obtain the maximum benefit at a minimal cost. The functions of the engineering business are hence not confined within the business or company operations in engineering the product but include the commercial roles that affect the engineering aspect functions. According to Tooley and Dingle (2010), design, research and development, product development, manufacturing, quality and planning are the engineering functions, while sales, commissioning, marketing, distribution, finance and purchasing are the commercial functions. The engineering functions direct the technical expertise, the tools and processes used and the way they should be implemented so that the right technical judgment is made. Some of the functions can be managed when grouped together, which saves resources, but all have a u nique feature whose general aim is the production. In any organisation, production needs inputs to come up with outputs; hence the engineering business has the management, suppliers, employees and customers. The business uses the purchasing function to access the suppliers for the required materials for production, from which the management takes the lead to ensure production uses a plan and schedule set. Research and development (R&D) and product development are ever consistent functions that ensure the business remains competitive and brings to the consumers what they need, by involving the expertise in the marketing fields, designs and productions so that the invention or the customer’s needs are met. The processes in building the product involve following the designs or the manufacturing framework. From this stage, control is very critical for the management to produce within the budget, which liaises with the finance department to finance the immediate activities or thos e that would work in parallel. This helps to avoid delays in production and ensure the finances are used efficiently. When the products are out, they are delivered to the consumers through the marketing strategies. The business uses most of the commercial functions at this point to finish the stock. Sales should find and maintain customers in the future market. The business gets to distribute their products to the wholesale shops, sometimes the

Communication Among Project Stakeholders Article

Communication Among Project Stakeholders - Article Example Even though the stakeholder communication plan is not inherently a business plan, yet somehow it helps in achieving an organization’s business goals which is a significant proposition. This stakeholder communication article has discussed why such a plan would be deemed as handy when the talk goes out loud regarding getting the task done and to inform, educate and persuade for an action on the part of the stakeholders. The need is to be crystal clear at every stage and do what is essentially required, in order to satisfy the organizational goals and objectives. This article has also highlighted how a framework for the communications planning regime would be mandatory for outlining such communication mechanisms. This would be a much needed entity as it resolves disputes and takes care of any altercations which may arise at any stage. Hence the article has zeroed in on how a stakeholder communications plan is a pre-requisite for reaching out to the stakeholders and how different organizations are doing their best to make that happen amicably. One of the most beneficial points behind the stakeholder communications plan and its drafting is that it brings each one of the important players on to a single platform that eventually has a residual and long term effect in the overall scheme of

Commercial Property Development in the Central Manhattan Area Essay

Commercial Property Development in the Central Manhattan Area - Essay Example This paper addresses the main drivers for commercial property development in central Manhattan area over the last 6 years. This adopts special reference to the fundamental economy of the USA, as well as the Times Square in Manhattan, which reflects the role of IBIDS in commercial property development. Commercial property in the USA suffered adverse effects from the global economic challenges. Indeed, the stalled economic recovery from the global recession destabilized the USA’s commercial real estate (CRE) recovery (O’Brien, B., Sheth, S., & Mahajan, S 2013, p.1). This has been because of economic stagnation in Europe, huge foreign debts, problems in the world labor force, global economic recession that started in 2012, correlation between USA and Eurozone economic growth, globalization, demeaning liquidity trap, lack of business innovation, and slow growth in emerging economies like China and India. Nevertheless, there are probable measures that reinforced the commerci al properties industry in the US especially in Manhattan. Question 1: Main drivers for commercial property development demand Demand and supply are important factors in all markets. In Manhattan, the demand for commercial property has steadily increased over the past few years. Therefore, new commercial property development in Manhattan has aimed to meet the demand in the market. According to O’Brien, Sheth, & Mahajan (2013), the use of social media, enhancing innovation, cloud computing, and adopting enterprise mobility in the commercial proper

Controversial issues of traditional arts Essay Example for Free

Controversial issues of traditional arts Essay Ulek Mayang could be haunted. it is a Malay traditional dance from the state of Terengganu in Malaysia accompanied by a unique song called Ulek Mayang the lyrics were changed (no one knows the real lyrics) the song remains popular and there are several contemporary interpretations of the song the original dance is to honor the spirit of the sea. The modern dance has no elements of worship, its more to music and dance. After the arrival of Islam, such practice has been stopped and the Ulek Mayang dance is only preserved to be part of the Malay culture. Even now, Ulek Mayang is nicknamed the ‘Most Haunted Culture in Malaysia’.- However, some fishermen still practice this ritual. Agree: Some people claim that the song is haunted because it gives goosebumps and creepy feelings especially when it is performed at sunset by the beach People tend to avoid practising it nearby any beaches around the world, as according to the ancients’ beliefs; those 7 Sea-Princesses shall always guard the 7 Seas. Whoever that breaks certain rules, no matter where they are, will pay the price. There has been cases of tourists jumping into the sea for no reason after they performed Ulek Mayang along the north-eastern beaches of Peninsular Malaysia. Some cases happen on land too. Going missing and receiving visits were the greatest fear whenever one performs Ulek Mayang. Disagree: According to ustaz, Ulek Mayang is not a ghost or jin. Its a popular song in Terengganu and is a type of lagu rakyat. The Ulek Mayang song used nowadays has been shortened as Malays count the full song as worshipping spirits which is syirik in Islam. The Malaysian rock diva, Ella once sung the song in a rock version Poco poco dance choreographed with sequence of steps. it is a type of aerobic dance believed to originated in Indonesia more than 20 years ago Mesyuarat Jawatankuasa Fatwa Negeri Perak banned poco- poco because they believe it is derived from Christianity. Agree: The dance originated from Jamaica and is actually a cult dance There are many Christian rituals to it as the moves reflect the making of a cross and so is unacceptable in Islam Disagree: The Malaysian Muslims are confused. There is no any literature or practical evidence showing that poco-poco is derived from Christianity either in Indonesia, Philippine or Jamaica. Poco poco movements with cross design can not be a sufficient justification because movement of left and right sides is a natural human movement. Even when human stretch his hands, it can be considered illegal if the method resembles the cross. Mahsuris curse: Myth or Legend? Summary: One day while Mahsuri’s husband was away fighting a war, Mahsuri offered shelter to a wandering minstrel. For that, Mahsuri was accused of committing adultery by the village chieftain’s wife. The village chieftain who was still smarting over Mahsuri’s rejection of his earlier marriage proposal, ordered Mahsuri to be condemned to death. It was said that at her execution Mahsuri bled white blood signifying her innocence. At her last breath, Mahsuri was said to utter a curse on Langkawi for which the island will remain barren for seven generations. Agree: Many locals of Langkawi believe the legend to be true due to failed crops after Mahsuris death. According to recorded history, the Siamese invaded Langkawi not long after Mahsuri’s death and razed the island to the ground with a scorched earth policy. And coincidentally, Langkawi did not become a major tourist hotspot until the birth of Wan Aishah bt Wan Nawawi, the seventh generation descendant of Mahsuri. Disagree: Some people think Mahsuris story most likely is real and the killing of Mahsuri most likely took place, but the curse of Langkawi and her white blood must be a part of myth because there is no prove or evidence. in this modern and science world, people think its logically untrue for a normal human being to have white blood

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson was truly one of our great geniuses (Hodgins 212). Born in Boston in 1803, Emerson struggled through childhood to then graduate from Harvard at 18 years old. He had been through death, poverty, and struggle his whole life until marrying Lydia Jackson. As he began to preach, his life took a pivotal turn to change into transcendentalism. Transcendentalism, a belief in a reality higher than in everyday life that man could achieve, has many qualities to it. People who follow this are glorified by nature, free to express themselves, and have high morals. To reach this higher reality of transcendentalism, one must use their mind and think through their intuition. Instead of looking to science for the reasoning of what happens in life, all reasons are looked into thy self. Emerson was a major leader of Transcendentalism. Emersons works related to the philosophical being of man and he can work towards change, whether its in himself or the world around him. Emersons purposes seem vague until proven otherwise. Emerson devoted his life to the research of his own beliefs. Emerson was greatly influenced by all the things that surrounded him in his life. Emerson has no distinct style to his work; he wrote everything from sermons to poetry. Emerson presented his ideas in a very expressive manner, one of the qualities of being a Transcendentalist. He wrote on many concerns of his including nature, society, conspiracy and freedom. After visiting Britain, he realized he needed to work towards eliminate slavery. His beliefs were to work toward change which came out through his works. Ralph Waldo Emerson put all of these ideas together in his essay The American Scholar.† He presented it before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard. The essay consists of three things that the scholar can learn from. In the first section he talks about learning from resources, like nature, books, and experience. The next section explains how the scholar can use himself to learn from, using trust and intuition. The last section talks about learning from the pasts mistakes and how the American Scholar needs to develop into its own self away from Britain. Emerson explains that the scholar can be very confused by nature until he completely understands it and is surrounded by it. The scholar learns in nature how everything is connected to each other. He sees that the trees sprout from roots, leaves grow on trees, and so on. Emerson then has the man, or scholar, classify all the things around him. This helps simplify everything to the man. â€Å"There is never a beginning, there is never an end to the inexplicable continuity of this web of God, but always circular power returning into itself.† This quote explains the connection between nature and the mind. They are both things that are continuous and can be filled with great beauty. He then shows how classification starts when the man is young. â€Å"To the young mind, everything is individual, stands by itself.† Even when man is young, he breaks everything down into simpler things. Man then believes â€Å"that he and it (nature) proceed from one root; one is leaf and one is flower.† This is the opposite of the relationship between nature and man, but man will realize this on his own. â€Å"He shall see that nature is the opposite of the soul. Its laws are the laws of his own mind.† Emerson then goes on to discuss how we can use books. â€Å"Books are the best things, well used; abused, among the worst.† He believes that they should be for trying to find out past information and nothing more. He doesnt think that books are completely accurate and that man needs to form his own opinion of what happened based off all of the information formed by other men who wrote the books. â€Å"The scholar of the first age, received into him the world around; brooded thereon; gave it the new arrangement of his own mind, and uttered it again.† Emerson doesnt want man to solely base his thoughts of the books. â€Å"Instead of Man Thinking, we have the bookworm.† It is a never ending cycle that man must create his own ideas from others ideas and so on. Emerson believes that the use we can find in books. He thinks that man can learn once he uses his own mind and has his own thoughts. â€Å"They look backward and not forward. But genius always looks forward. The eyes of man are set in his forehead, not in his hind head.† Emerson states how books are always referring to the past while mane needs to be looking forward to the future. â€Å"Man hopes. Genius creates.† This all leads Emerson to thinking that all men can become a genius by thinking with his own mind. â€Å"Genius is the sufficiently enemy of the genius by over-influence.† He doesnt believe that everyone should be a genius since its not always a good thing. Emerson says that â€Å"books are for the scholars idle times† and the only subjects that man should learn from reading are history and exact science. Although not as important, the scholar must also take action. He must fill each and every moment of the day. The scholar should work different jobs and learn new professions. Then he will learn new languages in which to illustrate his thoughts. The scholar should teach his knowledge to men, teach them facts versus appearances. To do this, the scholar must trust himself, never willing to give in to popular opinion. He should never seek money or power, or let either sway his judgment. His actions are a reflection of his character, and character is higher than intellect.† â€Å"Action is with the scholar subordinate, but it is essential. Without it, he is not yet man†¦ inaction is cowardice, but there can be no scholar without the heroic mind.† Emerson wants the scholar to learn but question everything. â€Å"The true scholar grudges every opportunity of action past by, as a loss of power.† Emerson also places a value on action. â€Å"The final value of action†¦is, that it is a resource.† Through action man has transformed himself into Man Thinking. â€Å"The mind now thinks; now acts; and each fit reproduces the other†¦he has always the resource to live.† In â€Å"Self-Reliance† Emerson expresses his optimistic faith in the power of the individual achievement and originality. In â€Å"Nature† Emerson considers the over arching need to discover and develop a relationship with nature and God. Emerson also explains that the human sense of beauty depends on seeing things in relation to the â€Å"perfect whole† in his poem â€Å"Each and All.† In â€Å"Self-Reliance,† â€Å"Nature,† and â€Å"Each and All,† Emerson strived to stress his beliefs in individuality, and his strong connection with nature, beauty, and God. â€Å"Self-Reliance† is Emersons strongest statement of his philosophy of individualism. What he is preaching was the presence of divine spirit in every individual. Emerson stressed the importance of being and believing in ones self and discouraged the copying of anothers image. Emerson also reveals the insignificance of consistency which clutters and clouds the mind, â€Å"A foolish consistency is the hobglobin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.† Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles. This quotation forms the closing two lines of Ralph Waldo Emersons Self Reliance. Trust thyself was his advice and many Americans listened. They not only listened in Emersons lifetime, but his individualistic concepts have reverberated up to the present time. Emerson believes that a man should not be what he is not. There is a time in every mans education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide. If a man is envious of other people, he will ignore all merits of himself. If a man imitates other people, he will lose his identity like suicide. It is common to find a woman like me envious of other people. Emerson is ultimately fascinated with the relation of the individual to the natural world. In â€Å"Nature† he described the feeling of unity with all beings, as he became â€Å"part or parcel of God.† Emerson feels that nature could take away egoism and repair all problems: â€Å"†¦In the woods we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life no disgrace, no calamity (leaving me my eyes), which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground- my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space- all mean egoism vanishes.† In those sentences Emerson is explaining that nature is so peaceful that you forget about everything else. That nothing can come between you and the natural world. No disgrace, no calamity nothing that nature can repair. Emerson also wrote, â€Å"In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature,† meaning t hat if a man would search deeply enough within himself he would find something as powerful and beautiful as nature to God, and felt the more connected one was to their environment and surroundings, the closer one would be to God. Lastly, Emerson believes that everything is created somehow fits together to from something he called the â€Å"perfect whole.† In â€Å"Each in All† Emerson explains that an object was not beautiful by itself. It needs its surroundings to have beauty and magnificence: â€Å"†¦The delicate shells lay on the shore; The bubbles of the latest wave Fresh pearls to their enamel gave, And the bellowing of the savage sea Greeted their escape to me. I wiped away the weeds and foam; I fetch my sea-born treasure home; But the poor unsightly, noisome things Had left their beauty on the shore With the sun and the sand and the wild uproar.† â€Å"Each and All† illustrates a transformation that Emerson took, changing from a disappointed and cheated young boy to a man who learns to appreciate the beautiful world in which he lives, â€Å"Again I saw, again I heard, the rolling river, the mourning bird. Beauty through my senses stole, I yielded myself to the perfect whole.† (Pg. 194-195) Ralph Waldo Emerson s transcendentalism beliefs all were most evident in his essays poems, and speeches. I n most famous publications, he expresses his optimistic faith in the power of the individual, the power of beauty and nature, and the power of God and human intuition. His awareness and effort that he puts toward the true meanings in life cause him to become one of the most influential and respected leaders of the transcendentalist era. Hodgins, Francis. ed. Adventures in American Literature. Orlando: Harcourt, 1989. Self reliance American scholar Nature Each in all

The United Kingdom Beverage Market Essay -- Business and Management St

The United Kingdom Beverage Market INTRODUCTION Armstrong Corporation is a food products manufacturing company, with products which include ready-to-eat cereals, frozen pies, snack items and carbonated beverages. Funky-Cola is the flagship brand of the carbonated beverage division. Our company has decided to introduce Funky-Cola to the United Kingdom beverage market. In this paper, the market potential and opportunities of the country would be investigated in order to affirm our decision to enter into the UK market. Funky-Cola has been doing very well in our Malaysian market. Our company’s sales in the year 2003 amounted to over RM2 billion, with Funky-Cola contributing 25% of the overall revenues. Because of this strong performance, our company believes that Funky-Cola has the potential to be successful in a foreign country. We have pooled together our company’s resources to make a thorough research on the UK market and the R&D department is working towards extending our product line in order to adapt to the country’s market. With our successful past performances, we believe that our company has enough resources, in terms of capital and managerial expertise, to form a wholly owned subsidiary company in UK. This subsidiary company would mainly produce Funky-Cola for the UK market. COUNTRY ATTRACTIVENESS Our company chose to enter the UK market because of its potentials and opportunities. According to a research, the market for the drinks bought by Britons is worth an estimated  £51.85 billion in the year 2004, which makes UK the world’s tenth biggest cola market. The research also revealed that 7.2% of all consumers spending are spent on purchasing drinks and Britons drink 130 cans of soft drinks or 43litres per year. However, Britons are moving towards consuming different kind of drinks, such as squashes, diet colas, energy drinks, tea and so forth. There is also a new breed of health conscious male consumers in the UK. This was due to the increased focus on obesity by the government and media. Therefore, Britons have decreased the frequency of consuming cola drinks. Our company sees this as an opportunity to revive the cola market by producing fusion drinks which combines the traditional cola with the new preferred drinks of Britons. This would satisfy the UK consumers’ need to stay healthy, and at the same time, continue to enjoy the great taste ... ...cost differentiation strategy. From research, the standard cola price in retail outlets are as follow: a) 330ml can -  £0.39; Our price -  £0.30 b) 2litre bottle -  £1.32; Our price -  £1.25 c) 1.25litre bottle -  £1.09 Our price -  £1.00 REFERENCES Red Bull’s Place in the UK Soft Drinks Market http://www.bized.ac.uk/compfact/redbull/redbull11.htm BBC News – Business â€Å"Cola Sales Set to Lose Sparkle† http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3121690.stm Coca-Cola Britain – Using Market Research to Develop Product Range http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/case_study.php?cID=3&csID=108&pID=1 Diet Soft Drink Battle Heating Up in UK http://www.beverageworld.com/beverageworld/index.jsp Drinks Market – UK – Beverage Market Research from Key Note http://www.just-drinks.com/store/products_detail.asp?art=32671&lk=rotw_arch Birmingham – Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham United Kingdom – Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom West Midlands Directory of Health, Sports, Fitness & Leisure Clubs http://www.health-club.net/w-midlands.htm Sainsbury to You – Price Check http://www.sainsburystoyou.com/index.jsp?bmUID=1115818459144

On the Rainy River Essay -- Literary Analysis, OBrien

Life can bring unexpected events that individuals might not be prepared to confront. This was the case of O’Brien in the story, â€Å"On the Rainy River† from the book The Things They Carried. As an author and character O’Brien describes his experiences about the Vietnam War. In the story, he faces the conflict of whether he should or should not go to war after being drafted. He could not imagine how tough fighting must be, without knowing how to fight, and the reason for such a war. In addition, O’Brien is terrified of the idea of leaving his family, friends and everything he loves behind. He decides to run away from his responsibility with the society. However, a feeling of shame and embarrassment makes him go to war. O’Brien considers himself a coward for doing something he does not agree with; on the other hand, thinking about the outcome of his decision makes him a brave man. Therefore, an individual that considers the consequences of his acts is nobler than a war hero. The Vietnam War was a conflict that many people did not comprehend. In fact, the war was atrocious and bloody. According to The Vietnam War: a History in Documents, 58,000 US soldier died and more than 700,000 came back with physical and emotional marks (Young, Fitzgerald & Grunfeld 147). For many Americans this war was meaningless. In the same way, O’Brien admits, â€Å"American war in Vietnam seemed to me wrong; certain blood was being shed for uncertain reason† (40). O’Brien believes the war was not significance. Furthermore, the lack of logic in the matter makes him confused about going to war. That’s why, he does not understand why he was sent to fight a war for which causes and effects were uncertain. The author continues by saying, â€Å"I was too good for... ...hermore, going to war was an act of cowardice. He had to put aside his morals and principles and fight a war he did not believe in. Overall, the author showed us the courageous and coward s acts of O’Brien the character. The fact that he was a coward made him do a heroic act. O’Brien made the valiant decision to go to war. It would have been easier and cowardly to jump and swim away from all his fears. However he decided to turn back, and fight for something he did not believe in. Thinking about the consequences of running away makes him a hero. He went to war not because he wanted to fight for his country, but for his own freedom. Either choice he could have made would take some kind of courage to carry out. Going to war required some sort of fearlessness. In other words, running away from the law would have been brave; but going to war was even tougher.

Progression of the Kouroi Essay -- Kouroi Greek Sculpture Essays

Progression of the Kouroi What is a kouros? In Greek, kouros means a young man. In art, a kouros is a statue of a young nude male who stands with his hands at his sides and one leg, usually his left, advanced. Throughout the Archaic period, which dates from 610 B.C. to 480 B.C., the basic pose of kouroi (plural for kouros) remained the same, though the anatomy of the figures gradually became more naturalistic or true to life. The ideology that the Greek sculptors wanted to achieve greater naturalism is proven through the progression of the kouroi during the period. At a glance, three main features deem the Getty Kouros under the general classification of a kouros: hands, hair, and feet. The hands are clenched into fists. They remain at the sides of the body. The hair is arranged in a grid-like pattern. Thus, each strand is perfectly vertical, while remaining horizontally equivalent. And the feet show the kouros standing with his left leg forward. There will be a discussion about the placement of the feet later. Before we get too much into the physical characterization of the kouros, let's first look at history of the Getty Kouros. In the spring of 1983, the "Getty Kouros" was offered to The J. Paul Getty Museum situated in Malibu, California. Inquiries were made to the Greek and Italian governments in order to determine if the statue was legally removed from the country of origin. On September 18, 1983, the Kouros arrived at the Museum in seven pieces along with documents claiming it had been in a private Swiss collection since the 1930s. For a period of twelve years after the arrival, art historians, conservators, and archeologists study the Kouros. Most of them believe that it is authentic for scientific t... ...the work. (246) Therefore, as long as the replica has the same qualities and presents the same effect to any viewer, then authenticity does not really matter. The Getty Kouros, whether replicated or authenticated, helps to portray the kouros in the Archaic period in Greek art. And to me, the spirit of the art and the actual comprehension of the kouros is what is important. Works Cited "The Disappointed Art Lover." writ. Francis Sparshott. The Forger's Art. gen. ed. Denis Dutton. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983. Panels in the exhibition "The Getty Kouros." Located in The J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, California. Stokstad, Marilyn. Volume One Art History. New York: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1995. "What is Wrong with a Forgery?" writ. Alfred Lessing. The Forger's Art. gen. ed. Denis Dutton. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.

Living the American Dream: Of Mice and Men Essay

What is the American Dream? There are a myriad of aspects to it, but one general idea: the ideal life. It is making a lot of money, being respected, and triumphing difficult situations. In the book Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, Lennie and George’s dream is to live on a ranch of their own. But through these difficult times will their hard work pay off? In his novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck highlights Lennie, Crooks and Carlyss wife to demonstrate that many pursue the American Dream, but only a few succeed. Through out the novel Lennie had many little dreams. Their perfect world is one of independence. Workers like Lennie and George have no family, no home, and very little control over their lives; they only have what they carry. This gives them motivation to work and make money to go towards their dream. â€Å"‘Well,’ said George, ‘we’ll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we’ll just say the hell with goin’ to work, and we’ll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an’ listen to the rain comin’ down on the roof†¦'†(Steinbeck 14). Lennie has a dream before he even reaches the new ranch, he wants to tend the rabbits â€Å"an’ live of the fatta the lan’† (Steinbeck 14). He wants to be able to do what he loves to do. Will Lennie complete his dream? In the novel Of Mice and Men, Crooks similar to Lennie has many dreams. Crooks is very separated from the other men because of his race; they don’t converse or spend time with one and other. He feels very alone, he once said,† ‘Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, all of y ou stink to me.†(Steinbeck 68). Crooks dream is to be accepted and equal with the other men on the ranch. Just because he is only one of the black men in town he believes he should be treated the same way, he should be playing cards and going out with them. Crooks also wants to join Lennie and Candy in their dream at the new ranch, â€Å"†¦If you†¦guys would want a hand to work for nothing-just his keep, why I’d come and lend a hand†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Steinbeck 76). Crooks wanted to join them so he wouldn’t be alone. Will he ever be accepted and accomplish his dream? Curley’s wife has a dream that although different in detail from the other’s dreams, is still very similar in its general desires. Curley’s wife is very unsatisfied by Curly; she consistently hangs around the barn, trying to engage in other workers conversations. She wants companionship; she is so helpless she will talk to the men on the ranch that doesn’t like her. She also has a dream like the other me n on the ranch; she wanted to be an actress in Hollywood. She imagines how great it would be to stay in nice hotels, own lots of beautiful clothes, and have people want to take her photograph (Steinbeck 89). Both attention and financial security would have been hers. Like the men she desires friendship, and also material comforts, though the specifics of her dream differ from theirs. Will she ever achieve her dream? Many pursue the American Dream, but only a few succeed. In this novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck created many dreams for Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s wife but none of them succeed. Lennie died he was shot by George, crooks bfjdlsfs, and Lennie killed Curley’s wife. Thought out the story these characters saw hope and they tried to catch it but they were not successful. Everyone dreams of the American Dream. Works Cited: Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin Group, 1937

A Study Of Electrical Power Systems Environmental Sciences Essay

Electrical power systems include a generating system, a transmittal and distribution system and tonss. Transmission and distribution system is an of import connecting nexus between the majority power bring forthing Stationss and the burden lopes. The coevals workss are usually located in topographic point where the resources are available to bring forth power economically. The recent tendency in power system pattern is to turn up the coevals workss off from the to a great extent populated countries. The power is so transmitted to the burden by transmittal lines and distribution webs. Transmission is made of a high electromotive force web, by and large 110 – 765 kilovolt Ac. The higher the electromotive force degree of a transmittal line, the lower is the transmittal power loss. However, the electromotive force bounds for the transmittal line electromotive forces are set by insularity and protective devices. The standard transmittal line electromotive forces depend upon the state and they are: 765, 550, 500, 400, 345, 275, 230, 169, 145, 132, 110, 66, 33 kilovolt. The electromotive forces in the scope of 345 – 765 kilovolts are classified as excess high electromotive force ( EHV ) . The electromotive forces above 765 kilovolts are considered as extremist high electromotive forces ( UHV ) . Presently, the UHV systems, at 1000- , 1500- , 2250- kilovolt electromotive force degrees are in research phase. Point to indicate transmittal is, some clip, preferred by HVDC. The electromotive force degrees used for HVDC power transmittal are: 250 kilovolt, 400 kilovolt, 500 kilovolt and 550 kilovolt. Higher District of Columbia electromotive forces are being planned. National Grid Malaysia is the chief electricity transmittal web associating the electricity coevals, transmittal, distribution and ingestion in Malaysia. It is operated and owned by Tenaga Nasional Berhad ( TNB ) . The transmittal line electromotive forces for Malaysia are runing at 132kV, 275kV and 500kV. Other than grid system, Malaysia besides has a High Voltage Direct Current Transmission line where the 300 MW Thailand – Malaysia HVDC interconnectedness system consists of Khlong Ngae convertor station on the Thai boundary line and Gurun convertor station on the Malaysia boundary line. Both Stationss are linked by a 300 KV DC overhead transmittal line of 110 kilometer. EGAT ‘s Khlong Ngae convertor station is situated at Sadao territory in Southern Songkhla state, approximately 24 km.from Thai-Malaysia boundary line. TNB ‘s Gurun convertor station is located in Kedah, approximately 86 kilometers. from Malaysia ‘s northern boundary line. Malaysia will purchase electricity during the twenty-four hours clip for our commercial use which is Malaysia ‘s Peak use and Thailand will purchase during the eventide boulder clay tardily dark where their use is at the extremum. History of Use In the early yearss of commercial usage of electric power, transmittal of electric power at the same electromotive force as used by illuming and mechanical tonss restricted the distance between bring forthing works and consumers. Originally coevals was with direct current, which could non easy be increased in electromotive force for long-distance transmittal. Different categories of tonss, for illustration, illuming, fixed motors and grip ( railroad ) systems, required different electromotive forces and so used different generators and circuits. The alleged â€Å" cosmopolitan system † used transformers both to twosome generators to high-potential transmittal lines, and to link transmittal to local distribution circuits. By a suited pick of public-service corporation frequence, both illuming and motor tonss could be served. Rotary convertors and subsequently mercury-arc valves and other rectifier equipment allowed DC burden to be served by local transition where needed. Even bring forthing Stationss and tonss utilizing different frequences could besides be interconnected utilizing rotary convertors. By utilizing common bring forthing workss for every type of burden, of import economic systems of graduated table were achieved, lower overall capital investing was required, load factor on each works was increased leting for higher efficiency, leting for a lower cost of energy to the consumer and increased overall usage of electric power. By leting multiple bring forthing workss to be interconnected over a broad country, electricity production cost was reduced. The most efficient available workss could be used to provide the varying loads during the twenty-four hours. Reliability was improved and capital investing cost was reduced, since stand-by bring forthing capacity could be shared over many more clients and a wider geographic country. Remote and low-priced beginnings of energy, such as hydroelectric power or mine-mouth coal, could be exploited to take down energy production cost. The first transmittal of three-phase jumping current utilizing high electromotive force took topographic point in 1891 during the international electricity exhibition in Frankfurt. A 25 kilovolt transmittal line, about 175 kilometers long, connected Lauffen on the Neckar and Frankfurt. Voltages used for electric power transmittal increased throughout the twentieth century. By 1914 55 transmittal systems runing at more than 70,000 V were in service, the highest electromotive force so used was 150,000 Vs. The first three-phase jumping current power transmittal at 110 kilovolts took topographic point in 1912 between Lauchhammer and Riesa, Germany. On April 17, 1929 the first 220 kilovolt line in Germany was completed, running from Brauweiler near Cologne, over Kelsterbach near Frankfurt, Rheinau near Mannheim, Ludwigsburg-Hoheneck near Austria. The masts of this line were designed for eventual ascent to 380 kilovolt. However the first transmittal at 380 kilovolt in Germany was on October 5, 1957 between the substations in Rommerskirchen and Ludwigsburg-Hoheneck. In 1967 the first extra-high-voltage transmittal at 735 kilovolts took topographic point on a Hydro-Quebec transmittal line. In 1982 the first transmittal at 1200 kilovolt was in the Soviet Union. The rapid industrialisation in the twentieth century made electrical transmittal lines and grids a critical portion of the economic substructure in most industrialised states. Interconnection of local coevals workss and little distribution webs was greatly spurred by the demands of World War I, where big electrical generating workss were built by authoritiess to supply power to weaponries mills ; subsequently these workss were connected to provide civil burden through long-distance transmittal. Small municipal electrical public-service corporations did non needfully want to cut down the cost of each unit of electricity sold ; to some extent, particularly during the period 1880-1890, electrical lighting was considered a luxury merchandise and electric power was non substituted for steam power. Engineers such as Samuel Insull in the United States and Sebastian Z. De Ferranti in the United Kingdom were instrumental in get the better ofing proficient, economic, regulative and political troubles in development of long-distance electric power transmittal. By debut of electric power transmittal webs, in the metropolis of London the cost of a kilowatt hr was reduced to tierce in a ten-year period. In 1926 electrical webs in the United Kingdom began to be interconnected in the National Grid, ab initio runing at 132,000 Vs. Hazard Posed by High Voltage Power Lines Electrical jeopardies The hovering electric and magnetic Fieldss in electromagnetic radiation will bring on an electric current in any music director through which it passes. Strong radiation can bring on current capable of presenting an electric daze to individuals or animate beings. It can besides overload and destruct electrical equipment. 3.1.1 Electrocution Hazards Working Near Overhead Power Lines Most overhead power lines are n ot insulated.Activities conducted near overhead powerlines such as: threading communicating wiring ; raising antenna masts ; mounting in trees and onto edifices ; and utilizing portable metal ladder presents a existent danger Fire jeopardies Highly high power electromagnetic radiation can do electric currents strong plenty to make flickers when an induced electromotive force exceeds the breakdown electromotive force of the environing medium. These flickers can so light flammable stuffs or gases, perchance taking to an detonation. This can be a peculiar jeopardy in the locality of explosives or pyrotechnics, since an electrical overload might light them. This hazard is normally referred to as RadHaz or HERO ( Hazards of Electromagnetic Radiation to Ordnance ) . Biological jeopardies The best understood biological consequence of electromagnetic Fieldss is to do dielectric warming. For illustration, touching an aerial while a sender is in operation can do terrible Burnss. This warming consequence varies with the frequence of the electromagnetic energy. The eyes are peculiarly vulnerable to RF energy in the microwave scope, and prolonged exposure to microwaves can take to cataracts. Each frequence in the electromagnetic spectrum is absorbed by populating tissue at a different rate, called the specific soaking up rate or SAR, which has units of Watts per kg ( W/kg ) . The IEEE and many national authoritiess have established safety bounds for exposure to assorted frequences of electromagnetic energy based on SAR. There are publications which support the being of complex biological effects of weaker non-thermal electromagnetic Fieldss, including weak ELF magnetic Fieldss and modulated RF and micro-cook Fieldss. Cardinal mechanisms of the interaction between biological stuff and electromagnetic Fieldss at non-thermal degrees are non to the full understood.. Environmental effects from transmittal lines can be found merely near to the line. Biological effects from electrical and magnetic Fieldss around the line have been intensively discussed during the last twosome of old ages. 3.4 Health Effectss Certain research surveies show fringy inauspicious wellness effects on human existences. Other surveies do non corroborate these effects. 3.5 Pollutant aerosols under high Voltage Power Lines A probe of theoretically and by experimentation conducted at H.H Wills Physics Laboratory University of Bristol to measure the increased exposure to airborne pollutants near power lines. Harmonizing to Fews ( 1999 ) , exposures were carried out at different power line location in assorted conditions conditions and the exposure are taken along a line at a right angles up to 200m from a figure of high electromotive force power transmittal line. The consequence of the theoretical account predicts a two of three fold addition in deposition of aerosols on spherical surfaces miming the human caput under high electromotive force lines. This status applies when pesticides or other chemical are sprayed below the power line, the aerosols conditions will formed and do more risky conditions. 3.6 Vehicles As referred to Bonneville Power Portland, vehicles parked under some high electromotive forces lines, vehicles can be roll up an induced electromotive force if the vehicle is parked on a nonconducting surface such as asphalt or dry lock. It will make flickers or worst electricity in your auto as it is non grounded. A individual will be electrocuted, when he or she is used as a music director to anchor the electromotive force induced. 3. 7 Lightning Lightning will normally strike the highest nearby object, which might be a power line tower or wire. Transmission facilitates are designed to defy lightning work stoppages by imparting them to land at the tower. Death can happen as a individual ‘s organic structure provides a way for current flow doing tissue harm and bosom failure. Other hurts can include Burnss from the discharge generated by the inadvertent contact. These can be particularly unsafe if the victims air passages are affected. Injuries may besides be suffered as a consequence of the physical forces exerted as people may fall from tallness or be thrown considerable distance. 3.8 Tall objects Tall object such as trees and turning flora at high electromotive force lines is risky at 2 facets. First is the semen in contact with the a transmittal line will take to closing down that line and upset the flow of electricity. Second trees and flora can carry on electricity, a state of affairs that can endanger people around the country, animate beings and belongings. The trees can basically go electrified and injured people touches it and might wound or even kill the individual. Electricity can even leap or curve from the transmittal line up to 15 pess off between the power lines and flora. For this intent a 25 pess safety zone is implemented by Bonneville Power ( 2008 ) utilizing the article â€Å" Keeping the manner clear for safe and dependable service † Malaysia as equator and tropical conditions is full of Vegetation and trees in the surrounding of the transmittal lines. Therefore this is really risky in the Malaysia evidences. 3.9 Trespassing Trespassing and hooliganism have been one of the chief issues in Malaysia where 1000000s of ringgit needed to replace and mend the amendss cause by unwanted activities mentioned. Steel beam and other parts of the tower and transmittal lines were taken down by larceny has been a really alarming. 3.10 Pools /Water Pools or pools should be situated near or under the transmittal line because it impedes the workers abilities to run and keep the power lines and presents a possible safety jeopardies to the populace. The jeopardy scope from possible electrical contact with the iwres to dangers that can be brushs during and after lightning work stoppage on transmittal installations. These conditions could be seen at the transmittal lines across paddy Fieldss at the province of KEDAH. Reason why High Voltage Power Line is Still Use Most of the high electromotive force power line usage overhead lines, but the power distribution within the metropolis or crowded topographic points is done utilizing belowground overseas telegrams. Less than one per centum of the entire transmittal lines are placed underground. Although belowground ac transmittal would show a solution to the environmental and aesthetic jobs involved in overhead lines, there are proficient and economical grounds that make the usage of belowground Ac transmittal prohibitive. For low electromotive force distribution applications there are no proficient jobs in utilizing overseas telegrams. The aesthetic and safety demands override the economical considerations in most of the distribution systems and therefore the belowground overseas telegrams are constantly used. High electromotive force power line building is much less expensive than belowground transmittal. Bare wires are used in overhead lines with insularity employed at the points that the wire is supported. Wood or galvanized steel towers are used to back up the music directors. The dielectrics at the music director support points are normally ball and socket porcelain or fiberglass rods covered with skirts made of a compound similar to silicon gum elastic. Lines are good protected against lightning with lightning arresters and shield wires. Bundled music directors are used for 230 kilovolts and above to cut down line reactance and corona effects. There is a trade off between the line losingss and the cost of building the line. Lowering the I2R losingss normally means larger music directors at higher electromotive force operation. This increases the cost of music directors and back uping tower cost. Therefore, the decrease in line loss must be carefully weighed against increased cost. Underground lines are most normally used to feed urban substations in high burden denseness countries. The highest belowground transmittal line electromotive force is 525 kilovolt. Since the cost of an belowground line is 9 to 15 times the cost of an overhead line they are installed merely when they offer a clear advantage or there is no option. The grounds for the high cost are: EHV insularity is expensive. The overseas telegrams must be installed in pipes made of steel or bronze which is dearly-won. Proper chilling with oil circulation is required. Difficult to turn up the mistake and expensive to mend. The overseas telegrams are constructed with oil impregnated paper insularity in many beds. The overseas telegram has a coiling metal wire lesion around the exterior of the insularity to forestall harm to the overseas telegrams while puting. The full overseas telegram is covered with a thin lead sheath that keeps the oil impregnation in the insularity. After the overseas telegram is installed, the pipe is filled with oil. The oil is pumped through the pipe to chill every bit good as insulate the overseas telegram. The oil circulation system includes pumps, filters and oil armored combat vehicles. Sulpher hexaflouride ( SF6 ) is some times used to insulate belowground transmittal overseas telegrams. The popularity of SF6 is increasing because of its simpleness. The belowground transmittal lines are more dependable if decently installed. Adverse consequence that high electromotive force on homo, animate beings, and environment Consequence on Human The preponderance of grounds shows that the low power low frequence electromagnetic radiation associated with family current is really safe, and no biophysical theories for the induction or publicity of malignant neoplastic disease have been substantiated, some research has implicated exposure in a figure of inauspicious wellness effects. These include, but are non limited to, childhood leukemia ( mentions at a lower place ) , grownup leukemia, and neurodegenerative diseases. 5.1.2. Leukaemia and malignant neoplastic disease Harmonizing to a case-control survey conducted in United Kingdom peculiarly in England and Wales, there is an association between childhood leukemia and propinquity of place reference at birth to high electromotive force power lines and the evident hazard extends to greater distance than would hold been expected. About 4 % of kids in England and Wales live within 600meter of high electromotive force lines at birth. If the association is causal, approximately 1 % of childhood leukemia in England and Wales would be properties to these lines though this estimation has considerable statistical uncertainness. A United Kingdom survey of 29,000 instances of childhood malignant neoplastic disease, including 9700 instances of leukemia, found a rise hazard of childhood leukemia in kids who lived within 200m of high electromotive force lines at birth compared with those who lived beyond 600m. There was besides a rebuff increased hazard for those populating 200-600m from the lines at birth as this further than can readily be explained by magnetic Fieldss it may be due to other aetiological factors associated with power line. Harmonizing to Dr. Paul Vailleneuve of the University of Ottawa finds in survey published in February 2002 that those who were exposed to a moderate 6mG of magnetic Fieldss increased by a factor of 12 their odds of developing an agressive encephalon tumour know as glioblastoma multiforme. The Nipponese National Institute for Environmental Studies and the National Cancer Center, in midterm analysis of a joint three-year study undertaking, have concluded kids who are frequently exposed to such electromagnetic moving ridges, emitted from high-potential power lines and some family contraptions, are on norm more than twice as likely to acquire leukemia than those who are non exposed to EMF. These researches shows an indicant there are hazard involved wellness of the public peculiarly people populating nigh High Voltage Power Lines. The authorities and the govern organic structure should take these status earnestly as it involves human life and besides agonies. 5.1.3 Effect of magnetic field toward melatonin ( Sleeping upset ) Harmonizing to Maisch, Podd and Rapley ( 2002 ) , the research has found changeless exposure of magnetic field to single will do kiping disorder.One possible manner a magnetic field could impact slumber is by impacting the production of melatonin, a endocrine produced by pineal secretory organ. The pineal secretory organ is the major control secretory organ over this rhythm, with melatonin production controlled by signals from postganglionic sympathetic fibers ( nerve cells ) connected to the hormone-producing cell of the pineal gland.The firing rate of the endocrine bring forthing varies from daytime and dark. Melatonin is known for its kiping heightening belongingss to guarantee homo would hold a dormant continuance at dark. Harmonizing to Melatonin Hypothesis: Breast Cancer and Use of Electrical Power ( 1997 ) , electromagnetic spectrum peculiarly seeable scope suppresses melatonin synthesis in the pineal secretory organ of all craniates including adult male. Dr Scott Davis of Fre d Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found the higher magnetic field degrees at dark were associated with significantly lower melatonin degrees. Therefore, the researches had come to a conclusive determination that low frequence Fieldss will make dormant perturbation. 5.1.4 Effect on Pregnant adult females and babies The high electromotive force power lines besides give consequence to the pregnant adult females and her babies. For an illustration a survey by Dr. De-Kun Li ( January 2002 ) shows that, a treble addition in overall self-generated abortions and a sextuple addition in self-generated abortions happening before the tenth hebdomad of gestation is associated with even fleeting exposure to magnetic Fieldss greater than 16 milligram. Similar consequences were found in a separate paper on self-generated abortions prepared for the undertaking by G. M. Lee which is printed in the same issue. Harmonizing to a intelligence study in New Scientist of January 10, 2002, Li ‘s consequences caused a California Health Services section scientist, Raymond Neutra, to review his 1991 survey of 727 adult females. Originally, his group ‘s survey had measured mean magnetic field exposures and with inconclusive consequences. However, when Neutra late reanalyzed the information from his earlier surv ey, he discovered the consequences were similar to Li ‘s. Womans exposed to top out magnetic field degrees greater than 14 milligrams doubled their hazard of abortion over those who had no such exposure. Consequence on the Environment High Voltage Power Lines: Power lines deliver electricity ( normally at 50 or 60 Hz ) and may cross 100s of kilometers. Degrees of electromagnetic Fieldss ( EMF ) from human-made beginnings have increased steadily over the past 50-100 old ages. Most EMF exposures come from increased usage of electricity and new engineerings. In the past decennaries, possible inauspicious effects from EMF exposure on human wellness have been an of import subject of research. However, small has been published about the impact of EMF on the natural terrestrial and aquatic environment. The World Health Organization ( WHO ) is turn toing this issue through the International EMF Project. One of the Project ‘s aims is to supply advice to national governments and others on EMF wellness and environmental effects and protective steps or actions if needed. This information sheet summarizes the current scientific apprehension on the effects of exposure to EMF Fieldss on the life environment, across the electromagnetic spectrum in the frequence scope 0-300 GHz. This scope covers all frequences that are emitted into the environment through usage of EMF engineering. Recommendations are besides given for farther research to make full spreads in cognition needed to better buttocks EMF environmental impacts. Awareness of any environmental impacts of EMF is of import to guarantee the saving of tellurian and marine ecosystems, which form the footing for sustainable development. Protection of the environment and preservation of nature have become affairs of great involvement to the populace, every bit good as to authoritiess. Such involvement is frequently expressed as concern over possible environmental impacts of big engineering undertakings, such as dikes, atomic power workss, and radiofrequency senders. Several undertakings have been capable to public force per unit areas on environmental evidences, with EMF being one but non needfully the lone issue. For illustration, a proposed high frequence ( HF ) wireless sender for the Voice of America in Israel, which would hold been the universe ‘s largest wireless station, was blocked from building on environmental evidences, in portion related to concerns about possible effects of wireless frequence Fieldss on migrating birds. Public concern about environmental exposure to EMF has ranged from claims of decreased milk production in cattles croping under power lines to damage to trees nigh high power radio detection and rangings. Such concerns might besides impact the development of new engineering: several programs have been proposed since the late sixtiess for bring forthing electric power in infinite by revolving arrays of solar panels. Large sums of electricity generated by such solar power orbiters would be transmitted to ample aerials on the land. In add-on to get the better ofing proficient troubles, this and other new engineerings would hold to derive public credence. Consequence on the Animals Most surveies of EMF effects in animate beings have been conducted to look into possible inauspicious wellness effects in worlds. These are normally performed on standard research lab animate beings used in toxicological surveies, e.g. rats and mice, but some surveies have besides included other species such as like short-living flies for the probe of genotoxic effects. The topic of this information sheet, nevertheless, is whether Voltage can hold harmful impacts on species of wild and domestic animate beings. Under consideration are: Speciess, in peculiar certain fish, reptilians, mammals and migratory birds, which rely on the natural ( geomagnetic ) inactive magnetic field as one of a figure of parametric quantities believed to be used for orientation and navigational cues Farm animate beings ( e.g. swine, sheep or cowss ) croping under power lines ( 50/60 Hz ) or in the locality of broadcast medium aerials Flying zoologies, such as birds and insects, this may go through through the chief beam of high power radio-frequency aerials and radio detection and ranging beams or through high strength ELF Fieldss near power lines. Surveies performed to day of the month hold found small grounds of EMF effects on zoologies at degrees below ICNIRP ‘s guideline degrees. In peculiar, there were no inauspicious effects found on cowss croping below power lines. However, it is known that flight public presentation of insects can be impaired in electric Fieldss above 1kV/m, but important effects have merely been shown for bees when electrically conductive urtications are placed straight under power lines. Un-insulated un-earthed music directors placed in an electric field can go charged and cause hurt or interrupt the activity of animate beings, birds and insects.5.0 LEGAL EleCtrical safety REQUIREMENTSUnderstanding the consequence of electrical jeopardies such as decease and devastation of belongings, assorted attempts have been made by the authorities to guarantee the safety of users/workers and the proper use of electricity through statute laws and enforcement. Among the statutory commissariats related to the safety usage of electricity are:Electricity Supply Act 1990Electrical Supply Regulations 1994SIRIM Standards for Electrical EquipmentOoccupational Safety and Health Act 1994 ( OSHA 1994 )Legislation and enforcement of these Acts and Regulations guarantee the safety of users. High electromotive force is defined by the DOE Electrical Safety Guidelines as:Over 600 Vs, but any electromotive force above 50 Vs should be considered life threatening, and treated consequently. Normally high electromotive force circuits and equipment are marked with Hazard Signs. Mentions on High Voltage can be found in: I ) Occupational safety and health administration Defines high electromotive force and lists preparation demands and safe work patterns ( including attack distances ) . two ) NEC NFPA 70 â€Å" National Electrical Code † provides extra information on high electromotive force equipment. three ) OTHER NFPA 70E â€Å" Standard for Electrical Safety Requirements for Employee workplaces † provides elaborate safe attack distances for working on high electromotive force equipment. four ) From Electrical Supply Act ( Syarikat Pengganti ) states the distance from the land to the transmittal varies harmonizing to the electromotive force value of the transmittal line. There are three status references from the route, other so the route and the location could non be reached by the route bole. Table 1 Voltage system between the music director On the route ( Meter ) Other than on the route ( Meter ) Location could non reached by the route ( Meter ) Not more than 600 Volts 5.49 5.18 4.57 More than 600 less than 11,000 V 5.79 5.49 4.88 More than 11,000 V less than 66,000 V 6.10 6.10 5.18 More than 66,000 V less than 132,000 V 6.70 6.70 5.79 More than 132,000 V less than 275,000 V 7 7 7 More than 275,000 V 7.3 7.3 7.3 Harmonizing to Strauss and Bernard ( 1991 ) , some of the federal Torahs in United States do non modulate electric and magnetic Fieldss due to public deductions and besides multi billion dollar electricity industries in the States. Some of the new Torahs are non based on scientific dictum about safe degree of magnetic filed exposure but instead on the premise that the position quo is publically acceptable. With this statement, In Malaysian ‘s the ordinances and act on the High Voltage Power Lines are non truly specific and all conditions could be change by the Minister in charge. Decision As refer to all the risky possibilities, yet still there are non proved status the danger of the magnetic moving ridge towards human wellness. There are a few researches shown there is a really high possibility of developing malignant neoplastic disease due high electromotive force transmittals lines but none of the research is definite and conclusive. Besides malignant neoplastic disease, a research has found low frequence magnetic moving ridge could strip homo ‘s sleeping form during dark clip because of stamp downing the melatonin endocrine. Other than that, the status or location of the transmittal line in Malaysia has lid concerns when the transmittal lines fluxing through the paddy field, the wood and besides the lodging estate. As for the ordinance concerns, due to none of the researches shown the danger of magnetic moving ridge in malignant neoplastic disease and other risky status, safeguards of these safety conditions are neglected. Equally long as there is no complain or human death from the populace, the authorities assume it has reach the safety demands. Therefore, we as the citizens or public, have to go a victim foremost before any Act or Regulation would be drafted to avoid such state of affairs. Make bear in head, it is non prevention but simply an turning away from the authorization. As more underdeveloped states are traveling frontward towards industrialization, more power lines are needed and more power workss will be build to for coevals. Therefore is our female parent Earth in the save from these magnetic moving ridges? Will it destruct our Earth and human sort or the mutational conditions has reached its extremum? No organic structure can reply it. As what a politician would state, there is non danger unless there are marks of decease or irreversible conditions. Uncertainty is the most deathly status compared to certainty.

Civilian Complaint Review Board

Established in its current incarnation in 1993 under the leadership of former New York City Mayor David N. Dinkins, the Civilian Complaint Review Board asserts to be the largest civilian oversight agency of its kind within the United States, and investigates thousands of civilian complaints each year. Even though it has only existed in its current form for a little over a decade, the conception of a board delegated power to investigate complaints about potential police misconduct predates the administration of Robert Wagner, who was responsible for investing the nascent Civilian Complaint Review Board-which was then comprised solely of three deputy police commissioners-with new powers in 1955. However, it remained a province of the NYPD, with all investigations being conducted by police officers, and their findings forwarded to the deputy commissioners for recommendation. In 1965, Mayor John Lindsay would ask former federal judge Lawrence E. Walsh to conduct an investigation into the role of the review board. He would recommend that members of the general public, non-police officers, be given substantial authority in any new civilian complaint review board. Subsequently, Lindsay designed a search committee tasked with finding civilians fit to serve on this new review board, which was chaired by former Attorney General Herbert Brownell. After much debate-and opposition to the proposal from the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association-Mayor Lindsay decided to appoint four civilians to the reconstituted board. This prompted opponents of the newly redesigned board to campaign for a city ballot proposal that would have forbidden any direct civilian oversight of uniformed police officers in New York City. The measure was enacted by an overwhelming margin, and the review board once again came under the sole purview of the New York Police Department. In 1986, the New York City Council enacted a piece of legislation that called for imposing some degree of civilian oversight once again, which led to the appointment of six new members by the mayor-with the advice and consent of the City Council-and six by the police commissioner. The Civilian Complaints Investigative Bureau then began to hire civilians to investigate complaints lodged against the NYPD, but did so with the oversight of police department investigators and employees. The incident that galvanized some members of the political body politic and certain segments of the public behind the movement for an all-civilian supervisory board occurred on August 6, 1988, where individuals protesting a curfew imposed over Tompkins Square Park were forcibly removed from the premises. The Civilian Complaint Review Board commissioned an investigation into this incident, and published a report that was extremely critical of NYPD conduct during that confrontation. Critics of internal police procedures used the Tompkins Square â€Å"riots† in order to press for an all-civilian review board. In 1993 Mayor Dinkins and the New York City Council created the Civilian Complaint Review Board in its current incarnation and invested it with subpoena authority, and gave it the ability to recommend disciplinary measures in cases where police misconduct were verified and substantiated. Over the years, NYPD officers have come under public scrutiny with allegations of corruption, brutality, excessive use of force, and poor firearm discipline. [1] Individual incidents have tended to receive more publicity; a portion of which have been substantiated while others have not. The Knapp Commission in the 1970s, and the Mollen Commission in 1994 have led to reforms within the NYPD aimed to improve police accountability. However in recent years, likely due to low salaries and declining morale, many more off-duty NYPD officers are being arrested and charged in and outside the city for crimes ranging from drunk driving to homicide. [2] One of the department's most spectacular cases of corruption was that of Lt. Charles Becker, who holds the dubious distinction of being the only NYPD officer to die in the electric chair. Due to repeated public outcry over these and many other incidents, specifically, the Tompkins Square Riot of the 1988, and the Crown Heights Riot, prompted the creation of the Civilian Complaint Review Board[3] (known commonly by its acronym, the CCRB) in 1993, an independent investigative unit of entirely civilian investigators (with some being former members of the NYPD), who investigate allegations of Force, Discourtesy, Offensive Language and Abuse of Authority made by members of the public against members of the NYPD. Complaints are made directly to the CCRB, through the city's 311 information system, online at nyc. gov/ccrb, or at any Precinct within the city limits. This was the third iteration (after an attempt by Mayor Lindsay and Mayor Koch before to create â€Å"mixed† review boards), but was the first to employ an all civilian Board and investigative staff. [4] [edit] Today The CCRB exits today as a fully independent civil department, staffed with 100 investigators and about a dozen miscellaneous employees. Additionally, three officers from the NYPD's Monitoring and Analysis Section of the Department Advocate's Office work with the CCRB at their office at 40 Rector Street. Their role is to provide the Investigators with access to certain restricted NYPD documentation quickly and efficiently without having to wait the lengthy processing period document requests normally take (sometimes outlasting the course of an investigation). The agency is headed by the 13 board members, who defer day-to-day operational command to an Executive Director (currently Ms. Joan Thompson, as of September 18, 2007, formally Ms. Florence Finkle, Esq. , who is then followed by the First Deputy Executive Director, which was formerly known as the Assistant Deputy Executive Director before that position was transformed into its new form (this later position remains unfilled). The Agency then separates into several divisions, the largest being the Investigative division led by a Deputy Executive Director of Investi gations, followed by four Assistant Deputy Executive Directors of Investigations. However, due to budget cuts in 2009, the Deputy Executive Director of Investigations and three of the Assistant Deputy Executive Directors of Investigations were eliminated, leaving the Investigations division under direction of the First Deputy Executive Director and one Assistant Deputy Executive Director of Investigations. [5] The division is then broken down into 8 Investigative Teams, led by an Investigative Manager, along with a Supervising Investigator and an Assistant Supervising Investigator. Initially, there had been 7 Investigative Team Managers, with two teams sharing one manager, but in early 2010, budget cuts have forced the agency to restructure under 6 Investigative Managers. Promotions to Assistant Supervising Investigator and Supervising Investigator are not necessarily granted to Investigators based on tenure or rate or result of investigations. [5] The remaining Investigators fall into Level I and Level II, which simply denotes tenure, experience and pay grade. The agency is also broken down into an Administrative Division, which includes Human Resources, Information Management Unit and the Case Management Unit (which stores all records of past cases), amongst others, which is led by the Deputy Executive Director of Administration. 5] There are then four other directorships, the Research and Strategic Initiatives Director, Mediation Unit Director, Director of Intergovernmental and Legal Affairs, and the Press Secretary. However, 2009 budget cuts have also caused the Press Secretary and Outreach Unit to be eliminated. There is also an attorney, Mr. Grahram Daw, Esq. , who serves as the Agency's legal counsel. These units compliment and serve the Invest igations Unit, which acts as the main focal point of the Agency. [5]

Against and for Capital Punishment

SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN. L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM IS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT MORALLY REQUIRED? ACTS, OMISSIONS, AND LIFELIFE TRADEOFFS Cass R. Sunstein* and Adrian Vermeule** Many people believe that the death penalty should be abolished even if, as recent evidence seems to suggest, it has a significant deterrent effect. But if such an effect can be established, capital punishment requires a life-life tradeoff, and a serious commitment to the sanctity of human life may well compel, rather than forbid, that form of punishment.The familiar problems with capital punishment— potential error, irreversibility, arbitrariness, and racial skew—do not require abolition because the realm of homicide suffers from those same problems in even more acute form. Moral objections to the death penalty frequently depend on a sharp distinction between acts and omissions, but that distinction is misleading in this context because government is a special kind of moral agent.The widespr ead failure to appreciate the life-life tradeoffs potentially involved in capital punishment may depend in part on cognitive processes that fail to treat â€Å"statistical lives† with the seriousness that they deserve. The objection to the act/omission distinction, as applied to government, has implications for many questions in civil and criminal law. INTRODUCTION†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 704 I. EVIDENCE †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 10 II. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: MORAL FOUNDATIONS AND FOUR OBJECTIONS †¦ 716 A. Morality and Death†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 717 B. Acts and Omissions †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 719 1. Is the act/omission distinction coherent with respect to government?†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 720 * Karl N. Llewellyn Distinguished Service Professor of Jurisprudence, the University of Chicago Law School, Department of PoliticalScience, and the College. ** Bernard D. Meltzer Professor of Law, the University of Chicago. The authors thank Larry Alexander, Ron Allen, Richard Berk, Steven Calabresi, Jeffrey Fagan, Robert Hahn, Dan Kahan, Andy Koppelman, Richard Lempert, Steven Levitt, James Liebman, Daniel Markel, Frank Michelman, Tom Miles, Eric Posner, Richard Posner, Joanna Shepherd, William Stuntz, James Sullivan, and Eugene Volokh for helpful suggestions, and Blake Roberts for excellent research assistance and valuable comments.Thanks too to participants in a work-in-progress lunch at the University of Chicago Law School and a constitutional theory workshop at Northwestern University Law School. 703 SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN. L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM 704 STANFORD LAW REVIEW [Vol. 58:703 2. Is the act/omission distinction morally relevant to capital punishment? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 724 C. The Arbitrary and Discriminatory Realm of Homicide†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 728 D. Preferable Alternatives and the Principle of Strict Scrutiny†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 32 E. Slipper y Slopes †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 734 F. Deontology and Consequentialism Again†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 737 III. COGNITION AND CAPITAL PUNISHMENT †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 740 A. Salience †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 741 B. Acts, Omissions, and Brains†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 741 C. A Famous Argument that Might Be Taken as a Counterargument †¦.. 743 IV.IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE PROBLEMS †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 744 A. Threshold Effects (? ) and Regional Variation †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 745 B. International Variation †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 745 C. Offenders and Offenses †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 746 D. Life-Life Tradeoffs and Beyond†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 747 CONCLUSION †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 48 INTRODUCTION Many people believe that capital punishment is morally impermissible. In their view, executions are inherently cruel and barbaric. 1 Often they add that capital punishment is not, and cannot be, imposed in a way that adheres to the rule of law. 2 They contend that, as administered, capital punishment ensures the execution of (some) innocent people and also that it reflects arbitrariness, in the form of random or invidious infliction of the ultimate penalty. 3 Defenders of capital punishment can be separated into two different camps.Some are retributivists. 4 Following Immanuel Kant,5 they claim that for the most heinous forms of wrongdoing, the penalty of death is morally justified or perhaps even required. Other defenders of capital punishment are consequentialists and often also welfarists. 6 They contend that the deterrent 1. See, e. g. , Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238, 309, 371 (1972) (Marshall, J. , concurring). 2. See Stephen B. Bright, Why the United States Will Join the Rest of the World in Abandoning Capital Punishment, in DEBATING THE DEATH PENALTY: SHOULD AMERICA HAVE CAPITAL PUNISHMENT? 52 (Hugo Adam Bedau & Paul G. Cassell eds. , 2004) [hereinafter DEBATING THE DEATH PENALTY]. 3. See, e. g. , James S. Liebman et al. , A Broken System: Error Rates in Capital Cases, 1973-1995 (Columbia Law Sch. , Pub. Law Research Paper No. 15, 2000) (on file with authors). 4. See, e. g. , Luis P. Pojman, Why the Death Penalty Is Morally Permissible, in DEBATING THE DEATH PENALTY, supra note 2, at 51, 55-58. 5. See IMMANUEL KANT, THE PHILOSOPHY OF LAW: AN EXPOSITION OF THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF JURISPRUDENCE AS THE SCIENCE OF RIGHT 198 (W.Hastrie trans. , 1887) (1797). 6. Arguments along these lines can be found in Pojman, supra note 4, at 58-73. SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN. L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM December 2005] IS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT MORALLY REQUIRED? 705 effect of capital punishment is significant and that it justifies the infliction of the ultimate penalty. Consequentialist defenses of capital punishment, however, tend to assume that capital punishment is (merely) morally permissible, as opposed to being morally obligatory.Our goal here is to suggest that the debate over capital punishment is rooted in an unquestioned assumption and that the failure to question that assumption is a serious moral error. The assumption is that for governments, acts are morally different from omissions. We want to raise the possibility that an indefensible form of the act/omission distinction is crucial to some of the most prominent objections to capital punishment—and that defenders of capital punishment, apparently making the same distinction, have failed to notice that according to the logic of their theory, capital punishment is morally obligatory, not just permissible.We suggest, in other words, tha t on certain empirical assumptions, capital punishment may be morally required, not for retributive reasons, but rather to prevent the taking of innocent lives. 7 The suggestion bears not only on moral and political debates, but also on constitutional questions. In invalidating the death penalty for juveniles, for example, the Supreme Court did not seriously engage the possibility that capital punishment for juveniles may help to prevent the death of innocents, including juvenile innocents. And if our suggestion is correct, it relates to many questions outside of the context of capital punishment. If omissions by the state are often indistinguishable, in principle, from actions by the state, then a wide range of apparent failures to act—in the context not only of criminal and civil law, but of regulatory law as well—should be taken to raise serious moral and legal problems. Those who accept our arguments in favor of the death penalty may or may not welcome the implicat ions for government action in general.In many situations, ranging from environmental quality to appropriations to highway safety to relief of poverty, our arguments suggest that in light of 7. In so saying, we are suggesting the possibility that states are obliged to maintain the death penalty option, not that they must inflict that penalty in every individual case of a specified sort; hence we are not attempting to enter into the debate over mandatory death sentences, as invalidated in Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U. S. 586 (1978), and Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U. S. 280 (1976). For relevant discussion, see Martha C.Nussbaum, Equity and Mercy, 22 PHIL. & PUB. AFF. 83 (1993). 8. Roper v. Simmons, 125 S. Ct. 1183 (2005). Here is the heart of the Court’s discussion: As for deterrence, it is unclear whether the death penalty has a significant or even measurable deterrent effect on juveniles, as counsel for the petitioner acknowledged at oral argument. . . . [T]he absence of evidenc e of deterrent effect is of special concern because the same characteristics that render juveniles less culpable than adults suggest as well that juveniles will be less susceptible to deterrence. . . To the extent the juvenile death penalty might have residual deterrent effect, it is worth noting that the punishment of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is itself a severe sanction, in particular for a young person. Id. at 1196. These are speculations at best, and they do not engage with the empirical literature; of course, that literature does not dispose of the question whether juveniles are deterred by the death penalty. SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN. L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM 06 STANFORD LAW REVIEW [Vol. 58:703 imaginable empirical findings, government is obliged to provide far more protection than it now does, and it should not be permitted to hide behind unhelpful distinctions between acts and omissions. The foundation for our argument is a significant bod y of recent evidence that capital punishment may well have a deterrent effect, possibly a quite powerful one. 9 A leading national study suggests that each execution prevents some eighteen murders, on average. 0 If the current evidence is even roughly correct—a question to which we shall return—then a refusal to impose capital punishment will effectively condemn numerous innocent people to death. States that choose life imprisonment, when they might choose capital punishment, are ensuring the deaths of a large number of innocent people. 11 On moral grounds, a choice that effectively condemns large numbers of people to death seems objectionable to say the least.For those who are inclined to be skeptical of capital punishment for moral reasons—a group that includes one of the current authors—the task is to consider the possibility that the failure to impose capital punishment is, prima facie and all things considered, a serious moral wrong. Judgments of thi s sort are often taken to require a controversial commitment to a consequentialist view about the foundations of moral evaluation. One of our principal points, however, is that the choice between consequentialist and deontological approaches to morality is not crucial here.We suggest that, on certain empirical assumptions, theorists of both stripes might converge on the idea that capital punishment is morally obligatory. On 9. See, e. g. , Hashem Dezhbakhsh et al. , Does Capital Punishment Have a Deterrent Effect? New Evidence from Postmoratorium Panel Data, 5 AM. L. & ECON. REV. 344 (2003); H. Naci Mocan & R. Kaj Gittings, Getting Off Death Row: Commuted Sentences and the Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment, 46 J. L. & ECON. 453, 453 (2003); Joanna M. Shepherd, Deterrence Versus Brutalization: Capital Punishment’s Differing Impacts Among States, 104 MICH. L. REV. 03 (2005) [hereinafter Shepherd, Deterrence Versus Brutalization]; Joanna M. Shepherd, Murders of Passion, Exe cution Delays, and the Deterrence of Capital Punishment, 33 J. LEGAL STUD. 283, 308 (2004) [hereinafter Shepherd, Murders of Passion]; Paul R. Zimmerman, Estimates of the Deterrent Effect of Alternative Execution Methods in the United States, 65 AM. J. ECON. & SOC. (forthcoming 2006) [hereinafter Zimmerman, Alternative Execution Methods], available at http://papers. ssrn. com/sol3/papers. cfm? abstract_id=355783; Paul R. Zimmerman, State Executions, Deterrence, and the Incidence of Murder, 7 J. APPLIED ECON. 63, 163 (2004) [hereinafter Zimmerman, State Executions]. 10. See Dezhbakhsh et al. , supra note 9, at 344. In what follows, we will speak of each execution saving eighteen lives in the United States, on average. We are, of course, suppressing many issues in that formulation, simply for expository convenience. For one thing, that statistic is a national average, as we emphasize in Part IV. For another thing, future research might find that capital punishment has diminishing retu rns: even if the first 100 executions deter 1800 murders, it does not follow that another 1000 executions will deter another 18,000 murders.We will take these and like qualifications as understood in the discussion that follows. 11. In recent years, the number of murders in the United States has fluctuated between 15,000 and 24,000. FED. BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, CRIME IN THE UNITED STATES tbl. 1 (2003), available at http://www. fbi. gov/ucr/03cius. htm. SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN. L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM December 2005] IS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT MORALLY REQUIRED? 707 consequentialist grounds, the death penalty seems morally obligatory if it is the only or most effective means of preventing significant numbers of murders; much of our discussion will explore this point.For this reason, consequentialists should have little difficulty with our arguments. For deontologists, a killing is a wrong under most circumstances, and its wrongness does not depend on its consequences or its ef fects on overall welfare. Many deontologists (of course not all) believe that capital punishment counts as a moral wrong. But in the abstract, any deontological injunction against the wrongful infliction of death turns out to be indeterminate on the moral status of capital punishment if the death is necessary to prevent significant numbers of killings.The unstated assumption animating much opposition to capital punishment among intuitive deontologists is that capital punishment counts as an â€Å"action† by the state, while the refusal to impose it counts as an â€Å"omission,† and that the two are altogether different from the moral point of view. A related way to put this point is to suggest that capital punishment counts as a â€Å"killing,† while the failure to impose capital punishment counts as no such thing and hence is far less problematic on moral grounds. We shall investigate these claims in some detail.But we doubt that the distinction between state a ctions and state omissions can bear the moral weight given to it by the critics of capital punishment. Whatever its value as a moral concept where individuals are concerned, the act/omission distinction misfires in the general setting of government regulation. If government policies fail to protect people against air pollution, occupational risks, terrorism, or racial discrimination, it is inadequate to put great moral weight on the idea that the failure to act is a mere â€Å"omission. No one believes that government can avoid responsibility to protect people against serious dangers—for example, by refusing to enforce regulatory statutes—simply by contending that such refusals are unproblematic omissions. 12 If state governments impose light penalties on offenders or treat certain offenses (say, domestic violence) as unworthy of attention, they should not be able to escape public retribution by contending that they are simply refusing to act.Where government is conce rned, failures of protection, through refusals to punish and deter private misconduct, cannot be justified by pointing to the distinction between acts and omissions. It has even become common to speak of â€Å"risk-risk tradeoffs,† understood to arise when regulation of one risk (say, a risk associated with the use of DDT) gives rise to another risk (say, the spread of malaria, against which DDT has been effective). 13 Or suppose that an air pollutant creates adverse health effects 12.Indeed, agency inaction is frequently subject to judicial review. See Ashutosh Bhagwat, Three-Branch Monte, 72 NOTRE DAME L. REV. 157 (1996). 13. See generally RISK VERSUS RISK: TRADEOFFS IN PROTECTING HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT (John D. Graham & Jonathan Baert Wiener eds. , 1995) (considering â€Å"risk-risk tradeoffs† on topics such as DDT, the use of estrogen for menopause, and clozapine theory SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN. L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM 708 STANFORD LAW REVIEW [Vol. 58:703 ut also has health benefits, as appears to be the case for ground-level ozone. 14 It is implausible to say that, for moral reasons, social planners should refuse to take account of such tradeoffs; there is general agreement that whether a particular substance ought to be regulated depends on the overall effect of regulation on human well-being. As an empirical matter, criminal law is pervaded by its own risk-risk tradeoffs. When the deterrent signal works, a failure to impose stringent penalties on certain crimes will increase the number of those crimes.A refusal to impose such penalties is, for that reason, problematic from the moral point of view. It should not be possible for an official—a governor, for example—to attempt to escape political retribution for failing to prevent domestic violence or environmental degradation by claiming that he is simply â€Å"failing to act. † The very idea of â€Å"equal protection of the laws,† in its oldest and most literal sense, attests to the importance of enforcing the criminal and civil law so as to safeguard the potential victims of private violence. 5 What we are suggesting is that to the extent that capital punishment saves more lives than it extinguishes, the death penalty produces a risk-risk tradeoff of its own—indeed, what we will call a life-life tradeoff. Of course, the presence of a life-life tradeoff does not resolve the capital punishment debate. By itself, the act of execution may be a wrong, in a way that cannot be said of an act of imposing civil or criminal penalties for, say, environmental degradation.But the existence of life-life tradeoffs raises the possibility that for those who oppose killing, a rejection of capital punishment is not necessarily mandated. On the contrary, it may well be morally compelled. At the very least, those who object to capital punishment, and who do so in the name of protecting life, must come to terms with the possibility that th e failure to inflict capital punishment will fail to protect life—and must, in our view, justify their position in ways that do not rely on question-begging claims about the distinction between state actions and state omissions, or between killing and letting die.We begin, in Part I, with the facts. Raising doubts about widely held beliefs based on older studies or partial information, recent studies suggest that capital punishment may well save lives. One leading study finds that as a national average, each execution deters some eighteen murders. Our question whether capital punishment is morally obligatory is motivated by these findings; our central concern is that foregoing any given execution may be equivalent to condemning some unidentified people to a premature and violent death.Of course, social science can always be disputed in this contentious domain, and spirited attacks have been made on the recent studies;16 hence, we mean to for schizophrenia). 14. See Am. Trucki ng Ass’ns, Inc. v. EPA, 175 F. 3d 1027, 1051-53 (D. C. Cir. 1999). 15. See RANDALL KENNEDY, RACE, CRIME, AND THE LAW (1997). 16. See Richard Berk, New Claims About Executions and General Deterrence: Deja SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN. L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM December 2005] IS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT MORALLY REQUIRED? 709 outline, rather than to defend, the relevant evidence here.But we think that to make progress on the moral issues, it is productive and even necessary to take those findings as given and consider their significance. Those who would like to abolish capital punishment, and who find the social science unconvincing, might find it useful to ask whether they would maintain their commitment to abolition if they were firmly persuaded that capital punishment does have a strong deterrent effect. We ask such people to suspend their empirical doubts in order to investigate the moral issues that we mean to raise here.In Part II, the centerpiece of the Article, we offer a few remarks on moral foundations and examine some standard objections to capital punishment that might seem plausible even in light of the current findings. We focus in particular on the view that capital punishment is objectionable because it requires affirmative and intentional state â€Å"action,† not merely an â€Å"omission. † The act/omission distinction, we suggest, systematically misfires when applied to government, which is a moral agent with distinctive features.The act/omission distinction may not even be intelligible in the context of government, which always faces a choice among policy regimes, and in that sense cannot help but â€Å"act. † Even if the distinction between acts and omissions can be rendered intelligible in regulatory settings, its moral relevance is obscure. Some acts are morally obligatory, while some omissions are morally culpable. If capital punishment has significant deterrent effects, we suggest that for government to omit to impose it is morally blameworthy, even on a deontological account of morality.Deontological accounts typically recognize a consequentialist override to baseline prohibitions. If each execution saves an average of eighteen lives, then it is plausible to think that the override is triggered, in turn triggering an obligation to adopt capital punishment. Once the act/omission distinction is rejected where government is concerned, it becomes clear that the most familiar, and plausible, objections to capital punishment deal with only one side of the ledger: the objections fail to take account of the exceedingly arbitrary deaths that capital punishment may deter.The realm of homicide, as we shall call it, is replete with its own arbitrariness. We consider rule-of-law concerns about the irreversibility of capital punishment and its possibly random or invidious administration, a strict scrutiny principle that capital punishment should not be permitted if other means for producing the same le vel of deterrence are available, and concerns about slippery slopes. We suggest that while some of these complaints have Vu All over Again? , 2 J. EMPIRICAL LEGAL STUD. 03 (2005); see also Deterrence and the Death Penalty: A Critical Review of New Evidence: Hearings on the Future of Capital Punishment in the State of New York Before the New York State Assemb. Standing Comm. on Codes, Assemb. Standing Comm. on Judiciary, and Assemb. Standing Comm. on Correction, 2005 Leg. , 228th Sess. 1-12 (N. Y. 2005) (statement of Jeffrey Fagan, Professor of Law and Pub. Health, Columbia Univ. ), available at www. deathpenaltyinfo. org/FaganTestimony. pdf [hereinafter Deterrence and the Death Penalty].For a response to Fagan’s testimony, see generally Shepherd, Deterrence Versus Brutalization, supra note 9. SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN. L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM 710 STANFORD LAW REVIEW [Vol. 58:703 merit, they do not count as decisive objections to capital punishment, because they emb ody a flawed version of the act/omission distinction and generally overlook the fact that the moral objections to capital punishment apply even more strongly to the murders that capital punishment apparently deters.In Part III, we conjecture that various cognitive and social mechanisms, lacking any claim to moral relevance, may cause many individuals and groups to subscribe to untenable versions of the distinction between acts and omissions or to discount the lifesaving potential of capital punishment while exaggerating the harms that it causes. An important concern here is a sort of misplaced concreteness, stemming from heuristics such as salience and availability. The single person executed is often more visible nd more salient in public discourse than any abstract statistical persons whose murders might be deterred by a single execution. If those people, and their names and faces, were highly visible, we suspect that many of the objections to capital punishment would at least be shaken. As environmentalists have often argued, â€Å"statistical persons† should not be treated as irrelevant abstractions. 17 The point holds for criminal justice no less than for pollution controls. Part IV expands upon the implications of our view and examines some unresolved puzzles.Here we emphasize that we hold no brief for capital punishment across all contexts or in the abstract. The crucial question is what the facts show in particular domains. We mean to include here a plea not only for continuing assessment of the disputed evidence, but also for a disaggregated approach. Future research and resulting policies would do well to take separate account of various regions and of various classes of offenders and offenses. We also emphasize that our argument is limited to the setting of life-life tradeoffs— in which the taking of a life by the state will reduce the number of lives taken overall.We express no view about cases in which that condition does not holdâ⠂¬â€for example, the possibility of capital punishment for serious offenses other than killing, with rape being the principal historical example, and with rape of children being a currently contested problem. Such cases involve distinctively difficult moral problems that we mean to bracket here. A brief conclusion follows. I. EVIDENCE For many years, the deterrent effect of capital punishment was sharply disputed. 18 In the 1970s, Isaac Ehrlich conducted the first multivariate 17. Lisa Heinzerling, The Rights of Statistical People, 24 HARV.ENVTL. L. REV. 189, 189 (2000). 18. Compare, e. g. , Isaac Ehrlich, The Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment: A Question of Life and Death, 65 AM. ECON. REV. 397, 398 (1975) (estimating each execution deters eight murders), with William J. Bowers & Glenn L. Pierce, The Illusion of Deterrence in Isaac Ehrlich’s Research on Capital Punishment, 85 YALE L. J. 187, 187 (1975) (finding Ehrlich’s data and methods unreliable). A good over view is Robert Weisberg, The Death SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN. L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM December 2005] IS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT MORALLY REQUIRED? 711 egression analyses of the death penalty, based on time-series data from 1933 to 1967, and concluded that each execution deterred as many as eight murders. 19 But subsequent studies raised many questions about Ehrlich’s conclusions—by showing, for example, that the deterrent effects of the death penalty would be eliminated if data from 1965 through 1969 were eliminated. 20 It would be fair to say that the deterrence hypothesis could not be confirmed by the studies that have been completed in the twenty years after Ehrlich first wrote. 21 More recent evidence, however, has given new life to Ehrlich’s hypothesis. 2 A wave of sophisticated multiple regression studies have exploited a newly available form of data, so-called â€Å"panel data,† that uses all information from a set of units (states or counties ) and follows that data over an extended period of time. A leading study used county-level panel data from 3054 U. S. counties between 1977 and 1996. 23 The authors found that the murder rate is significantly reduced by both death sentences and executions. The most striking finding was that on average, each execution results in eighteen fewer murders. 24 Other econometric studies also find a substantial deterrent effect.In two papers, Paul Zimmerman uses state-level panel data from 1978 onwards to measure the deterrent effect of execution rates and execution methods. He estimates that each execution deters an average of fourteen murders. 25 Using state-level data from 1977 to 1997, H. Naci Mocan and R. Kaj Gittings find that each execution deters five murders on average. 26 They also find that increases in the murder rate result when people are removed from death row Penalty Meets Social Science: Deterrence and Jury Behavior Under New Scrutiny, 1 ANN. REV. L. & SOC. SCI. 151 (2005). 19.See Ehrlich, supra note 18, at 398; Isaac Ehrlich, Capital Punishment and Deterrence: Some Further Thoughts and Additional Evidence, 85 J. POL. ECON. 741 (1977). 20. For this point and an overview of many other criticisms of Ehrlich’s conclusions, see Richard O. Lempert, Desert and Deterrence: An Assessment of the Moral Bases of the Case for Capital Punishment, 79 MICH. L. REV. 1177 (1981). 21. See id. ; Weisberg, supra note 18, at 155-57. 22. Even as this evidence was being developed, one of us predicted, perhaps rashly, that the debate would remain inconclusive for the foreseeable future. See Adrian Vermeule, Interpretive Choice, 75 N.Y. U. L. REV. 74, 100-01 (2000). 23. See Dezhbakhsh et al. , supra note 9, at 359. 24. Id. at 373. 25. Zimmerman, Alternative Execution Methods, supra note 9; Zimmerman, State Executions, supra note 9, at 190. 26. Mocan & Gittings, supra note 9, at 453. Notably, no clear evidence of a deterrent effect from capital punishment emerges from L awrence Katz et al. , Prison Conditions, Capital Punishment, and Deterrence, 5 AM. L. & ECON. REV. 318, 330 (2003), which finds that the estimate of deterrence is extremely sensitive to the choice of specification, with the largest estimate paralleling that in Ehrlich, supra note 18.Note, however, that the principal finding in Katz et al. , supra, is that prison deaths do have a strong deterrent effect and a stunningly large one—with each prison death producing a reduction of â€Å"30-100 violent crimes and a similar number of property crimes. † Id. at 340. SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN. L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM 712 STANFORD LAW REVIEW [Vol. 58:703 and when death sentences are commuted. 27 A study by Joanna Shepherd, based on data from all states from 1997 to 1999, finds that each death sentence deters 4. 5 murders and that an execution deters 3 additional murders. 8 Her study also investigates the contested question whether executions deter crimes of passion and murders by intimates. Although intuition might suggest that such crimes cannot be deterred, her own finding is clear: all categories of murder are deterred by capital punishment. 29 The deterrent effect of the death penalty is also found to be a function of the length of waits on death row, with a murder deterred for every 2. 75 years of reduction in the period before execution. 30 Importantly, this study finds that the deterrent effect of capital punishment protects African-American victims even more than whites. 1 In the period between 1972 and 1976, the Supreme Court produced an effective moratorium on capital punishment, and an extensive unpublished study exploits that fact to estimate the deterrent effect. Using state-level data from 1977 to 1999, the authors make before-and-after comparisons, focusing on the murder rate in each state before and after the death penalty was suspended and reinstated. 32 The authors find a substantial deterrent effect: â€Å"[T]he data indicate that murder rates increased immediately after the moratorium was imposed and decreased directly after the moratorium was lifted, providing support for the deterrence hypothesis. 33 A recent study offers more refined findings. 34 Disaggregating the data on a state-by-state basis, Joanna Shepherd finds that the nationwide deterrent effect of capital punishment is entirely driven by only six states—and that no deterrent effect can be found in the twenty-one other states that have restored capital punishment. 35 What distinguishes the six from the twenty-one? The answer, she contends, lies in the fact that states showing a deterrent effect are executing more people than states that are not. In fact the data show a 27. Mocan & Gittings, supra note 9, at 453, 456. 8. Shepherd, Murders of Passion, supra note 9, at 308. 29. Id. at 305. Shepherd notes: Many researchers have argued that some types of murders cannot be deterred: they assert that murders committed during arguments or oth er crime-of-passion moments are not premeditated and therefore undeterrable. My results indicate that this assertion is wrong: the rates of crime-of-passion and murders by intimates—crimes previously believed to be undeterrable—all decrease in execution months. Id. 30. Id. at 283. 31. Id. at 308. 32. Hashem Dezhbakhsh & Joanna M.Shepherd, The Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment: Evidence from a â€Å"Judicial Experiment,† at tbls. 3-4 (Am. Law & Economics Ass’n Working Paper No. 18, 2004), available at http://law. bepress. com/cgi/viewcontent. cgi? article=1017&context=alea (last visited Dec. 1, 2005). 33. Id. at 3-4. 34. Shepherd, Deterrence Versus Brutalization, supra note 9. 35. Id. at 207. SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN. L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM December 2005] IS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT MORALLY REQUIRED? 713 â€Å"threshold effect†: deterrence is found in states that had at least nine total executions between 1977 and 1996.In states below th at threshold, no deterrence effect can be found. 36 This finding is intuitively plausible. Unless executions reach a certain level, murderers may act as if the death penalty is so improbable as not to be worthy of concern. 37 Shepherd’s main lesson is that once the level of executions reaches a certain level, the deterrent effect of capital punishment is substantial. All in all, the recent evidence of a deterrent effect from capital punishment seems impressive, especially in light of its â€Å"apparent power and unanimity. 38 But in studies of this kind, it is hard to control for confounding variables, and reasonable doubts inevitably remain. Most broadly, skeptics are likely to question the mechanisms by which capital punishment is said to have a deterrent effect. In the skeptical view, many murderers lack a clear sense of the likelihood and perhaps even the existence of executions in their states; further problems for the deterrence claim are introduced by the fact that ca pital punishment is imposed infrequently and after long delays.Emphasizing the weakness of the deterrent signal, Steven Levitt has suggested that â€Å"it is hard to believe that fear of execution would be a driving force in a rational criminal’s calculus in modern America. †39 And, of course, some criminals do not act rationally: many murders are committed in a passionate state that does not lend itself to an all-things-considered analysis on the part of perpetrators. More narrowly, it remains possible that the recent findings will be exposed as statistical artifacts or found to rest on flawed econometric methods.Work by Richard Berk, based on his independent review of the state-level panel data from Mocan and Gittings, offers multiple objections to those authors’ finding of deterrence. 40 For example, Texas executes more people than any other state, and when Texas is removed from the data, the evidence of deterrence is severely weakened. 41 Removal of the appa rent â€Å"outlier state[s]† that execute the largest numbers of people seems to eliminate the finding of deterrence 36. Id. at 239-41. 37.Less intuitively, Shepherd finds that in thirteen of the states that had capital punishment but executed few people, capital punishment actually increased the murder rate. She attributes this puzzling result to what she calls the â€Å"brutalization effect,† by which capital punishment devalues human life and teaches people about the legitimacy of vengeance. Id. at 40-41. 38. See Weisberg, supra note 18, at 159. 39. See Steven D. Levitt, Understanding Why Crime Fell in the 1990s: Four Factors that Explain the Decline and Six that Do Not, 18 J. ECON. PERSP. 163, 175 (2004). 0. See Berk, supra note 16; Deterrence and the Death Penalty, supra note 16, at 6-12. 41. Berk, supra note 16, at 320. It has also been objected that the studies do not take account of the availability of sentences that involve life without the possibility of paro le; such sentences might have a deterrent effect equal to or beyond that of capital punishment. See Deterrence and the Death Penalty, supra note 16. A response to Berk can found in Shepherd, Deterrence Versus Brutalization, supra note 9. SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN. L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM 714STANFORD LAW REVIEW [Vol. 58:703 altogether. 42 Berk concludes that the findings of Mocan and Gittings are driven by six states with more than five executions each year. Berk, however, proceeds by presenting data in graphic form; he offers no regression analyses in support of his criticism. These concerns about the evidence should be taken as useful cautions. At the level of theory, it is plausible that if criminals are fully rational, they should not be deterred by infrequent and much-delayed executions; the deterrent signal may well be too weak to affect their behavior.But suppose that like most people, criminals are boundedly rational, assessing probabilities with the aid of heurist ics. 43 If executions are highly salient and cognitively available, some prospective murderers will overestimate their likelihood, and will be deterred as a result. Other prospective murderers will not pay much attention to the fact that execution is unlikely, focusing instead on the badness of the outcome (execution) rather than its low probability. 44 Few murderers are likely to assess the deterrent signal by multiplying the harm of execution against its likelihood.If this is so, then the deterrent signal will be larger than might be suggested by the product of that multiplication. Levitt’s theoretical claim assumes that prospective murderers are largely rational in their reaction to the death penalty and its probability—standing by itself, a plausible conjecture but no more. As for the recent data, it is true that evidence of deterrence is reduced or eliminated through the removal of Texas and other states in which executions are most common and in which evidence of deterrence is strongest. 5 But removal of those states seems to be an odd way to resolve the contested questions. States having the largest numbers of executions are most likely to deter, and it does not seem to make sense to exclude those states as â€Å"outliers. †46 By way of comparison, imagine a study attempting to determine what characteristics of baseball teams most increase the chance of winning the World Series. Imagine also a criticism of the study, parallel to Berk’s, which complained that data about the New York Yankees should be thrown out, on the ground that the Yankees have won so many times as to be â€Å"outliers. This would be an odd idea, because empiricists must go where the evidence is; in the case of capital punishment, the outliers provide much of the relevant evidence. Recall here Shepherd’s finding, compatible with the analysis of some skeptics, that the deterrent effect occurs only in states in which there is some threshold 42. Berk, supra note 16, at 320-24; Shepherd, Deterrence Versus Brutalization, supra note 9. 43. On bounded rationality in general, see RICHARD H. THALER, QUASI-RATIONAL ECONOMICS (1991). 44.See Yuval Rottenstreich & Christopher K. Hsee, Money, Kisses, and Electric Shocks: On the Affective Psychology of Risk, 12 PSYCHOL. SCI. 185, 188 (2001); Cass R. Sunstein, Probability Neglect: Emotions, Worst Cases, and Law, 112 YALE L. J. 61 (2002). 45. See Shepherd, Deterrence Versus Brutalization, supra note 9. 46. Id. SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN. L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM December 2005] IS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT MORALLY REQUIRED? 715 number of executions. 47 But let us suppose, plausibly, that the evidence of deterrence remains inconclusive.Even so, it would not follow that the death penalty as such fails to deter. As Shepherd also finds in her most recent study,48 more frequent executions, carried out in closer proximity to convictions, are predicted to amplify the deterrent signal for both ration al and boundedly rational criminals. We can go further. A degree of doubt, with respect to the current system, need not be taken to suggest that existing evidence is irrelevant for purposes of policy and law.In regulation as a whole, it is common to embrace some version of the precautionary principle49—the idea that steps should be taken to prevent significant harm even if cause-and-effect relationships remain unclear and even if the risk is not likely to come to fruition. Even if we reject strong versions of the precautionary principle,50 it hardly seems sensible that governments should ignore evidence demonstrating a significant possibility that a certain step will save large numbers of innocent lives.For capital punishment, critics often seem to assume that evidence on deterrent effects should be ignored if reasonable questions can be raised about the evidence’s reliability. But as a general rule, this is implausible. In most contexts, the existence of legitimate qu estions is hardly an adequate reason to ignore evidence of severe harm. If it were, many environmental controls would be in serious jeopardy. 51 We do not mean to suggest that government should commit what many people consider to be, prima facie, a serious moral wrong simply on the basis of speculation that this action will do some good.But a degree of reasonable doubt need not be taken as sufficient to doom a form of punishment if there is a significant possibility that it will save large numbers of lives. It is possible that capital punishment saves lives on net, even if it has zero deterrent effect. A life-life tradeoff may arise in several ways. One possibility, the one we focus on here, is that capital punishment deters homicides. Another possibility is that capital punishment has no deterrent effect, but saves lives just 7. See id. 48. Id. 49. For overviews of the precautionary principle and related issues, see INTERPRETING THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE (Tim O’Riordan & J ames Cameron eds. , 1994); ARIE TROUWBORST, EVOLUTION AND STATUS OF THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE IN INTERNATIONAL LAW (2002). 50. See, e. g. , Julian Morris, Defining the Precautionary Principle, in RETHINKING RISK AND THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE (Julian Morris ed. , 2000). 51.Indeed, those skeptical of capital punishment invoke evidence to the effect that capital punishment did not deter, and argue, plausibly, that it would be a mistake to wait for definitive evidence before ceasing with a punishment that could not be shown to reduce homicide. See Lempert, supra note 20, at 1222-24. This is a kind of precautionary principle, arguing against the most aggressive forms of punishment if the evidence suggested that they did not deter. We are suggesting the possibility of a mirror-image precautionary principle when the evidence goes the other way. SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN.L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM 716 STANFORD LAW REVIEW [Vol. 58:703 by incapacitating those who would otherwise k ill again in the future. 52 Consider those jurisdictions that eschew capital punishment altogether. What sanction can such jurisdictions really apply to those who have already been sentenced to life in prison without parole? Sentences of this sort may take more lives overall by increasing the number of essentially unpunishable withinprison homicides of guards and fellow inmates. 53 Many murderers are killed in prison even in states that lack the death penalty. 4 And if murderers are eventually paroled into the general population, some of them will kill again. Overall, it is quite possible that the permanent incapacitation of murderers through execution might save lives on net. A finding that capital punishment deters—and deterrence is our focus here—is sufficient but not necessary to find a life-life tradeoff. In any event, our goal here is not to reach a final judgment about the evidence. It is to assess capital punishment given the assumption of a substantial deterre nt effect.In what follows, therefore, we will stipulate to the validity of the evidence and consider its implications for morality and law. Those who doubt the evidence might ask themselves how they would assess the moral questions if they were ultimately convinced that life-life tradeoffs were actually involved—as, for example, in hostage situations in which officials are authorized to use deadly force to protect the lives of innocent people. II. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: MORAL FOUNDATIONS AND FOUR OBJECTIONS Assume, then, that capital punishment does save a significant number of innocent lives.On what assumptions should that form of punishment be deemed morally unacceptable, rather than morally obligatory? Why should the deaths of those convicted of capital murder, an overwhelmingly large fraction of whom are guilty in fact, be considered a more serious moral wrong than the deaths of a more numerous group who are certainly innocents? We consider, and ultimately reject, several re sponses. Our first general contention is that opposition to capital punishment trades on a form of the distinction between acts and omissions.Whatever the general force of that distinction, its application to government systematically fails, because government is a distinctive kind of moral agent. Our second general contention is that, apart from direct state involvement, the features that make capital punishment morally objectionable to its critics are also features of the very murders that capital punishment deters. The principal difference, on the empirical assumptions we are making, is that in a legal regime without capital punishment far more people die, and those people are innocent of any 2. See Ronald J. Allen & Amy Shavell, Further Reflections on the Guillotine, 95 J. CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 625, 630-31 (2005). 53. See id. at 630 n. 9. 54. See Katz et al. , supra note 26, at 340. SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN. L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM December 2005] IS CAPITAL PUNISHME NT MORALLY REQUIRED? 717 wrongdoing. No one denies that arbitrariness in the system of capital punishment is a serious problem. But even if the existing system is viewed in its worst light, it involves far less arbitrariness than does the realm of homicide.Let us begin, however, with foundational issues. A. Morality and Death On a standard view, it is impossible to come to terms with the moral questions about capital punishment without saying something about the foundations of moral judgments. We will suggest, however, that sectarian commitments at the foundational level are for the most part irrelevant to the issues here. If it is stipulated that substantial deterrence exists, both consequentialist and deontological accounts of morality will or should converge upon the view that capital punishment is morally obligatory.Consequentialists will come to that conclusion because capital punishment minimizes killings overall. Deontologists will do so because an opposition to killing is, b y itself, indeterminate in the face of life-life tradeoffs; because a legal regime with capital punishment has a strong claim to be more respectful of life’s value than does a legal regime lacking capital punishment; and because modern deontologists typically subscribe to a consequentialist override or escape hatch, one that makes otherwise mpermissible actions obligatory if necessary to prevent many deaths—precisely what we are assuming is true of capital punishment. Only those deontologists who both insist upon a strong distinction between state actions and state omissions and who reject a consequentialist override will believe the deterrent effect of capital punishment to be irrelevant in principle. Suppose that we accept consequentialism and believe that government actions should be evaluated in terms of their effects on aggregate welfare.If we do so, the evidence of deterrence strongly supports a moral argument in favor of the death penalty—a form of punish ment that, by hypothesis, seems to produce a net gain in overall welfare. Of course, there are many complications here; for example, the welfare of many people might increase as a result of knowing that capital punishment exists, and the welfare of many other people might decrease for the same reason. A full consequentialist calculus would require a more elaborate assessment than we aim to provide here.The only point is that if capital punishment produces significantly fewer deaths on balance, there should be a strong consequentialist presumption on its behalf; any argument against capital punishment, on consequentialist grounds, will face a steep uphill struggle. To be sure, it is also possible to imagine forms of consequentialism that reject welfarism as implausibly reductionist and see violations of rights as part of the set of consequences that must be taken into account in deciding what to SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN. L. REV. 03 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM 718 STANFORD LAW REVIEW [Vol . 58:703 do. 55 For some such consequentialists, killings are, under ordinary circumstances, a violation of rights, and this point is highly relevant to any judgment about killings. But even if the point is accepted, capital punishment may be required, not prohibited, on consequentialist grounds, simply because and to the extent that it minimizes rights violations. Private murders also violate rights, and the rights-respecting consequentialist must take those actions into account.But imagine that we are deontologists, believing that actions by government and others should not be evaluated in consequentialist terms; how can capital punishment be morally permissible, let alone obligatory? For some deontologists, capital punishment is obligatory for moral reasons alone. 56 But suppose, as other deontologists believe, that under ordinary circumstances, the state’s killing of a human being is a wrong and that its wrongness does not depend on an inquiry into whether the action prod uces a net increase in welfare.For many critics of capital punishment, a deontological intuition is central; evidence of deterrence is irrelevant because moral wrongdoing by the state is not justified even if it can be defended on utilitarian grounds. Compare a situation in which a state seeks to kill an innocent person, knowing that the execution will prevent a number of private killings; deontologists believe that the unjustified execution cannot be supported even if the state is secure in its knowledge of the execution’s beneficial effects. Of course, it is contentious to claim that capital punishment is a moral wrong.But if it is, then significant deterrence might be entirely beside the point. It is simply true that many intuitive objections to capital punishment rely on a belief of this kind: just as execution of an innocent person is a moral wrong, one that cannot be justified on consequentialist grounds, so too the execution of a guilty person is a moral wrong, whateve r the evidence shows. Despite all this, our claims here do not depend on accepting consequentialism or rejecting the deontological objection to evaluating unjustified killings in consequentialist terms.The argument is instead that by itself and in the abstract, this objection is indeterminate on the moral status of capital punishment. To the extent possible, we intend to bracket the most fundamental questions and to suggest that whatever one’s view of the foundations of morality, the objection to the death penalty is difficult to sustain under the empirical assumptions that we have traced. Taken in its most sympathetic light, a deontological objection to capital punishment is unconvincing if states that refuse to impose the death penalty produce, by that 55.Amartya Sen, Rights and Agency, 11 PHIL. & PUB. AFF. 3, 15-19 (1982). 56. See Pojman, supra note 4, at 58-59. As noted below, the case of Israel is a good test for such deontologists; Israel does not impose the death penal ty, in part on the ground that executions of terrorists would likely increase terrorism. Do deontologists committed to capital punishment believe that Israel is acting immorally? In our view, they ought not to do so, at least if the empirical assumption is right and if the protection of lives is what morality requires. SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN.L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM December 2005] IS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT MORALLY REQUIRED? 719 very refusal, significant numbers of additional deaths. Recall the realm of homicide: for deontologists who emphasize life’s value and object to the death penalty, the problem is acute if the refusal to impose that penalty predictably leads to a significant number of additional murders. In a hostage situation, police officers are permitted to kill (execute) those who have taken hostages if this step is reasonably deemed necessary to save those who have been taken hostage.If the evidence of deterrence is convincing, why is capital punishment so different in principle? Of course, these points might be unresponsive to those who believe that execution of a guilty person is morally equivalent to execution of an innocent person and not properly subject to a recognition of life-life tradeoffs. We will explore this position in more detail below. And we could envision a form of deontology that refuses any exercise in aggregation—one that would refuse to authorize, or compel, a violation of rights even if the violation is necessary to prevent a significantly larger number of rights violations.But most modern deontologists reject this position, instead admitting a consequentialist override to baseline deontological prohibitions. 57 Although the threshold at which the consequentialist override is triggered varies with different accounts, we suggest below that if each execution deters some eighteen murders, the override is plausibly triggered. To distill these points, the only deontological accounts that are inconsistent with our argument are those that both (1) embrace a distinction between state actions and state omissions and (2) reject a consequentialist override.To those who subscribe to this complex of views, and who consider capital punishment a violation of rights, our argument will not be convincing. In the end, however, we believe that it is difficult to sustain the set of moral assumptions that would bar capital punishment if it is the best means of preventing significant numbers of innocent deaths. Indeed, we believe that many of those who think that they hold those assumptions are motivated by other considerations—especially a failure to give full weight to statistical lives—on which we focus in Part III. B.Acts and Omissions A natural response to our basic concern would invoke the widespread intuition that capital punishment involves intentional state â€Å"action,† while the failure to deter private murders is merely an â€Å"omission† by the state. In our view, this appealing and intuitive line of argument goes rather badly wrong. The critics of capital punishment have been led astray by uncritically applying the act/omission distinction to a regulatory setting. Their position condemns the â€Å"active† infliction of death by governments but does not condemn the â€Å"inactive† production of death that comes from the refusal to maintain a system 57.For an overview, see Larry Alexander, Deontology at the Threshold, 37 SAN DIEGO L. REV. 893, 898-901 (2000). SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN. L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM 720 STANFORD LAW REVIEW [Vol. 58:703 of capital punishment. The basic problem is that even if this selective condemnation can be justified at the level of individual behavior, it is difficult to defend for governments. 58 A great deal of work has to be done to explain why â€Å"inactive,† but causal, government decisions should not be part of the moral calculus.Suppose that we endorse the deontological pos ition that it is wrong to take human lives, even if overall welfare is promoted by taking them. Why does the system of capital punishment violate that position, if the failure to impose capital punishment also takes lives? Perhaps our argument about unjustified selectivity is blind to morally relevant factors that condemn capital punishment and that buttress the act/omission distinction in this context. There are two possible points here, one involving intention and the other involving causation.First, a government (acting through agents) that engages in capital punishment intends to take lives; it seeks to kill. A government that does not engage in capital punishment, and therefore provides less deterrence, does not intend to kill. The deaths that result are the unintended and unsought byproduct of an effort to respect life. Surely— it might be said—this is a morally relevant difference. Second, a government that inflicts capital punishment ensures a simple and direct causal chain between its own behavior and the taking of human lives.When a government rejects capital punishment, the causal chain is much more complex; the taking of human lives is an indirect consequence of the government’s decision, one that is mediated by the actions of a murderer. The government authorizes its agents to inflict capital punishment, but it does not authorize private parties to murder; indeed, it forbids murder. Surely that is a morally relevant difference, too. We will begin, in Part II. B. 1, with questions about whether the act/omission distinction is conceptually intelligible in regulatory settings.Here the suggestion is that there just is no way to speak or think coherently about government â€Å"actions† as opposed to government â€Å"omissions,† because government cannot help but act, in some way or another, when choosing how individuals are to be regulated. In Part II. B. 2, we suggest that the distinction between government acts and omissions, even if conceptually coherent, is not morally relevant to the question of capital punishment. Some governmental actions are morally obligatory, and some governmental omissions are blameworthy.In this setting, we suggest, government is morally obligated to adopt capital punishment and morally at fault if it declines to do so. 1. Is the act/omission distinction coherent with respect to government? In our view, any effort to distinguish between acts and omissions goes 58. Compare debates over going to war: Some pacifists insist, correctly, that acts of war will result in the loss of life, including civilian life. But a refusal to go to war will often result in the loss of life, including civilian life.SUNSTEIN & VERMEULE 58 STAN. L. REV. 703 1/9/2006 10:51:05 AM December 2005] IS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT MORALLY REQUIRED? 721 wrong by overlooking the distinctive features of government as a moral agent. If correct, this point has broad implications for criminal and civil law. Whate ver the general status of the act/omission distinction as a matter of moral philosophy,59 the distinction is least impressive when applied to government, because the most plausible underlying considerations do not apply to official actors. 0 The most fundamental point is that, unlike individuals, governments always and necessarily face a choice between or among possible policies for regulating third parties. The distinction between acts and omissions may not be intelligible in this context, and even if it is, the distinction does not make a morally relevant difference. Most generally, government is in the business of creating permissions and prohibitions. When it explicitly or implicitly authorizes private action, it is not omitting to do anything or refusing to act. 1 Moreover, the distinction between authorized and unauthorized private action—for example, private killing— becomes obscure when the government formally forbids private action but chooses a set of policy instruments that do not adequately or fully discourage it. To be sure, a system of punishments that only weakly deters homicide, relative to other feasible punishments, does not quite authorize homicide, but that system is not properly characterized as an omission, and little turns on whether it can be so characterized.Suppose, for example, that government fails to characterize certain actions—say, sexual harassment—as tortious or violative of civil rights law and that it therefore permits employers to harass employees as they choose or to discharge employees for failing to submit to sexual harassment. It would be unhelpful to characterize the result as a product of governmental â€Å"inaction. † If employers are permitted to discharge employees for refusing to submit to sexual harassment, it is because the law is allocating certain entitlements to employers rather than employees. Or consider the context of ordinary torts.When Homeowner B sues Factory A over air pollution, a decision not to rule for Homeowner B is not a form of inaction: it is the allocation to Factory A of a property right to pollute. In such cases, an apparent government omission is an action simply because it is an allocation of legal rights. Any decision that allocates such rights, by creating entitlements 59. For discussion of the philosophical controversy over acts and omissions, see generally RONALD DWORKIN, LIFE’S DOMINION: AN ARGUMENT ABOUT ABORTION, EUTHANASIA, AND INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM (1993); Frances M.Kamm, Abortion and the Value of Life: A Discussion of Life’s Dominion, 95 COLUM. L. REV. 160 (1995) (reviewing DWORKIN, supra); Tom Stacy, Acts, Omissions, and the Necessity of Killing Innocents, 29 AM. J. CRIM. L. 481 (2002). 60. Here we proceed in the spirit of Robert Goodin by treating government as a distinctive sort of moral agen