Efficient Market Hypothesis and Behavioural Finance

Efficient Market Hypothesis and Behavioural Finance 1.1 Aim of Chapter This chapter aims to give an overview of the dissertation. To start with, general backgrounds concerning the efficient market hypothesis (EMH), behavioral finance and market anomalies are mentioned briefly in order to provide better understanding about the modern area of financial study. Then, two opposed concepts of investment strategies, Contrarian Strategies and Momentum Strategies, are addressed leading to the next section which mention the main purpose and summary of findings of this research. Lastly, the structure of the dissertation has been outlined at the end of the chapter. 1.2 Background of knowledge about efficient market hypothesis (EMH) The theory of market hypothesis (EMH) is one of the most crucial theories in standard finance that have been revised and tested over the past few decades to uncover its imperfection. This theory was introduced by Professor Eugene Fama in 1970. As defined in his article, the efficient market is the market where securities are priced, at any point of time, by accessible information. It is believed that the markets are extremely efficient that individual stocks and stock markets as a whole are fully reflected by all available information. When new information enters the market, stock prices incorporates the news and responds very quickly with our any delays; therefore security prices are the accurate source of data which can be used as signals in trading investment process. By examining the level of how relevant information reflects in security prices, Fama (1970) categorizes the market efficiency into three forms: weak, semi-strong and strong forms of EMH. However, this theory relies o n certain assumptions, for example, there is no transaction cost paid in trading securities and it is costless for all participants to gather information available in the markets. The weak form of EMH is the condition that exists when share prices are fully reflected by trading data such as past price (or return) histories. For that reason, investors cannot exploit mispriced securities and earn excess returns by using historical stock quotations or charts. Semi-strong form of EMH is the condition that exists when share prices incorporates market trading data and publicly available information. The examples of this type of information are announcements of annual earnings, stock splits, annual reports, analyst forecasts, etc. As a consequence, investors cannot exhibit gains by rely only on fundamental and macro-economics data. Strong form of EMH is the condition that exists when market prices of stocks adjusted according to every kind of accessible information. This includes hidden inside information which are known among specific group in the company (e.g. the top executives and group of operational managers) or some individuals that have monopolistic access to information (e.g. managements of mutual funds). Thus, abnormal profits cannot be generated by either using internal or external information of the company. In other words, both individual and professional investors cannot beat the market and earn excess returns in every way due to the perfect efficiency of the stock markets. As claimed by efficient market hypothesis, market will be efficient in weak form if the past and future returns are not correlated, in other words, they are independently and identically distributed. Thus this refers to the idea of the random walk model. However, Fama (1970) affirms in his literature that the test of random walk model leads to the evidence of weak-form EMH, but not vice versa. Burton (2003) identifies the definition of random walk in his paper that it is the state where the flow of information on specific day is incorporated in stock prices on that day only, not for the subsequent period. The news announced in the market is unpredictable, thus stock prices changes are displayed in a random pattern. As a consequence, uninformed investors are able to earn equal rate of returns as what achieved by professional investors if they long position in well-diversified portfolios. In his paper, Burton tries to examine the criticism of the efficient market hypothesis and the idea that stock prices can be predicted based on initial valuation parameters (e.g. price-earnings multiple or dividend yield). He uses time-series analyses of accounting numbers and multiples and comes up with the results revealing that the stocks market are efficient enough, but it is difficult to predict the share prices. Moreover, the findings also reveal that anomalous behavior of stock price s may exist, but investors cannot create portfolio trading opportunity and gains excess risk adjusted returns. Fama (1997) states in his study that there are many literatures concerning behavioral finance and market anomalies challenge the hypothesis of efficient market. The opposed idea suggests that stock prices slowly absorb information available, which can be denoted as the market inefficiency. 1.3 Behavioral Finance and Market Anomalies Behavioral finance is the new area of financial study concentrating on the psychology of market and its participants. This field of study has started to appear in many academic journals from 1990s. Shefrin (2002) publish a book regarding the behavioral finance trying to find and explain reason behind the behavior of investors, both professional and individual. The author suggests that investors, who are sometimes prone to commend mistakes and errors, tend to rely on their emotional and psychological forces, thus this causes many market anomalies, the state where there is inefficiency in stock markets, to take place. Two well-known papers of Berberis, Shleifer, and Vishny (1998) and Daniel, Hirshleifer, and Subramanyam (1997) proposed behavioral models to explain the conflicting theory of efficient market hypothesis. They reject the previous belief with the proposition that the behavioral biases (i.e. judgment bias) of investors cause the anomalies and knock down the old theory behind. They present the concepts of over-reaction and under-reaction which accommodates the existence of long-term excess returns. Berberis, Shleifer, and Vishny (1996) create a model based on cognitive psychology of two judgment biases: the representativeness bias and conservatism. In their study, the empirical findings of investors’ behaviors are divided into two main groups: one perceives that earnings are mean-reverting. Thus, stock prices show a delayed short-term response and under-react to change in earnings. Another group believes that firms’ earnings are trending which leads to the overreaction in stock prices. The earnings follow the random walk process; hence, this leads to reversal of long-term returns. Daniel, Hirshleifer, and Subramanyam (1997) have different views in conducting the behavioral models. They split the sample group of investors into two categories: informed and uninformed investors. They find that judgment biases are not found among the uninformed investors, but detected among the informed ones. Informed investors are the group of people that determine the stock prices. They are exposed to two kinds of behavioral biases: overconfidence and self-attribution biases. Overconfidence causes the overstatement in investors perception of their private stock prices signals, while self-attribution bias causes investors to underweight the public signals about the value of companies. Therefore, the circumstance of overreaction to private information and under-reaction to public information generates continuation of stock returns in the short run. Overreaction leads to the concept of contrarian investing, whereas underreaction induces the theory of momentum investing. 1.4 Investment Strategies 1.4.1 Contrarian Investing Contrarian investing is the strategy that aims to generate profits by investing in the direction that goes against the conventional investors. In normal condition, short-sighted investors, who overweight the recent trends of past stocks prices and use this information to predict future prices, engage in buying stocks with good performance in the past hoping that it will continue to perform well in the near future. However, contrarian investing focuses on the opposite direction. People who employ this strategy tend to buy the shares that others have given up on due to either their poor past performance or their miserable and unclear future prospect. They expect the market to react to the behavior of the crowd, so that they can exploit the mispricing of securities and earn abnormal returns. 1.4.2 Momentum Investing Momentum investing is the strategy that is the opposite of contrarian investing. People who employ this strategy seek for making profits by relying on the continuance of the past stock prices and trends in the market in an attempt to predict prospective prices in the future. It is believed that the good stocks with price increases and strong performance in the past will keep on outperforming and generate gains in the future, and vice versa for the poor stocks. Thus, momentum investing suggests investors to hold stocks that had high returns and sell those that had low returns (buy winners and sell losers). The detailed of these two investment strategies will be discussed in the next chapter which both strategies will be supported by existing empirical evidences from several renowned academic papers. 1.5 Purpose and Findings of the Research The purpose of this research is to examine the profitability of momentum strategies, which is one of the most debated investment strategies in financial study, in the UK stock market. This paper employs the prices and returns data of FTSE 100 composites – the top 100 biggest companies in London Stock Exchange – as a proxy of the whole UK stocks. The observation period lies between July 21, 2000 to July 21, 2010, which gives a total of 10 years period. Thus, the main contribution of this study is to comprehensively revise existing literatures and employ the more up-to-date the data set with the well-known procedure to test the existence of momentum investing and its profitability in the UK market. However, the findings reveal no evidence of momentum profitability in the observed time for UK stock market, which are inconsistent with the prior research conducted using the different sample periods. 1.6 Structure of the Dissertation The rest of the dissertation is organized as follows: Chapter two comments on the review of the literature regarding the momentum strategies and its criticism, including the opposed theory of contrarian investing. Academic papers concerning the momentum strategies are divided into categories regarding the region of data employed. We carefully asserted and analyzed each paper to find the gaps which are necessary to be concerned for further researches in the future. Then, chapter three gives an overview of data and methodology used in this research. Chapter four shows the summary statistics of data, empirical results and interpretations. Finally, last chapter provides a summary of the results, as well as the limitations of the study.

Ageism in the Workplace – Essay

FYS 1101-41 Intro to Social Justice and Diversity Ageism in the Workplace When it comes to age, the first thoughts that come to mind are the young, old, and in between. Through differentiating among the three, society has formed ageism. Ageism is a type of discrimination based on the stereotypes associated with age groups. Relating to judgments of lifestyles, personalities, and abilities based on age, ageism functions to strip individuals of their rights. It has been, and continues to be, a rising issue in the corporate world.Ageism can impact any individual, especially in the workplace, where individuals can be at a disadvantage for a variety of reasons. Considering the fact that this type of discrimination affects people of all ages, ageism is most easily discussed when divided into three groups: * Young age (16-24 years) * Middle age (25-49 years) * Older age (50- over State Pension Age) The ideas and beliefs of young adults are often discriminated against because societal norms h ave put forth the notion that their ideas are less important because they have less experience.Governments also manifest ageism by putting age requirements on job eligibility. For example, in Massachusetts, all teens under the age of 18 must complete a work permit application and obtain a work permit before starting a new job. The state has also put a limit on the number of hours permitted to work each week. With this restriction, society segregates old people from young people. Also, the idea that eighteen is the quintessential age to begin working is simply a fabricated standard based on the general behavior and maturity of 18 years olds.Even though it is not clearly visible, ageism is still present and is continuing to affect the working class. On the other hand, many jobs want to set a specific image, aiming to hire young and attractive employees to better appeal to customers. For example, the retail store, Abercrombie and Fitch specifically looks to hire young, attractive emplo yees who will represent the style found in the stores. Meanwhile younger age groups are sometimes paid less even though they are performing similar jobs to older age groups. Some employers take advantage of the fact that younger ge groups are inexperienced by paying them minimum wage and sometimes even less. As young adults are new to the workplace, they accept this type of treatment because of their need for money. In society today, younger aged people are becoming more and more independent and no longer want to rely on their parents for support. Sometimes the case is that parents do not want to support them. Because of this, they need all the money they can to survive. When applying for certain jobs, young adults can have all the necessary requirements that fit the job aside from the required age.Young adults may be as responsible and may value the desire for further advancement in their job as much as middle and older aged groups, yet they are automatically denied positions based on the simple number that is age. Young adults are just as, if not more, capable than their elders in that they are more energetic and physically strong, enabling them to work more hours and complete the task just as any of the other age groups. The bulk of the workforce falls under the middle-aged category.One’s professional peak is said to occur through their 30s and 40s. This being said, we can conclude that the middle age group is least affected by age discrimination. The stereotype is that they are more qualified for the job because they are more experienced, focused and ambitious towards their desired career while still being physically capable of benefiting the job. Within the age limits of this group, it can be said that gender also leads to ageism when women are perceived as becoming older workers at an earlier age than men.Society has created a norm that perceives the older age group as the weak and incompetent. In Older Employees: New Roles for Valued Resources, à ¢â‚¬Å"age stereotypes depict older people as frail and fragile, as having lost the vitality and energy necessary to make a full fledge commitment to their careers† (Rosen, B. , & Jerdee, T. , 1985). In the work field, managers assume that older employees are less motivated to improve their job skills compared to younger employees; therefore managers are less likely to hire them.On the contrary, many employers look to hire older people because they feel that older people are more experienced in the work place, which means that no additional training is necessary. Furthermore, employers rarely increase older people’s pay because they are less likely to switch careers. The younger groups have more opportunity to further their careers and hence, need motivation to stay loyal to their employer. Although there have been vast improvements in medicine and increases in life span, the elderly are considered to be frail and more apt to get injured or fall victim to illness.This id ea affects the working culture because this view towards older people has not changed, â€Å"This way of thinking-and acting- has been expressed in discriminatory practices such as (a) limiting or excluding older workers from substantive job responsibilities and activities, (b) removing older employees from the workforce through negative performance evaluations or through encouraging their retirement; (c) implementing insensitive, poorly conceived policies; (d) limiting older workers’ access to job-related education, career development opportunities, or employee benefits; and (e) refusing to hire or promote older workers† (Hedge J. Borman W. & Lammlein S, 2006). Generally, the idea is that â€Å"older people [are treated] less favorably than others, perhaps because of an idea that such people have outlived the useful part of their lives and that society should somehow allocate its resources to those that have something left to contribute. Older people may be segregate d and regarded as a burden or a drain on the resources of the community†, generating ageism to come into effect (Malcolm, 2007). Older workers face ageist attitudes and age discrimination. Ageism plays a harmful role in the workplace.Discrimination of age is illegal under both the Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. However, these laws are geared towards the elderly and offer no protection for young workers. The law of â€Å"The Age of Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967† protects individuals who are forty years of age or older from employment discrimination based on age. Not only is ageism evident in the workforce, but also it is also present in the government. There is no law whatsoever protecting young age groups. Some might say that these instances of unfairness occurring in the workplace seem acceptable.However, discriminating against someone based on how old and young they are is never justifiable. It is not ones age that determines their capability and qualifications but their competence. â€Å"Competence, not age, should determine whether a person should keep a job. To do otherwise, is to squander one of our nations most precious resources and to hasten the day of the end of those who are denied the experience that would keep them vitally and for a long time alive. †(Rosen, B. , & Jerdee, T. H. (1985). pg. 49) Age should not be a factor in the work force for many reasons.The young, the middle-aged, and the elderly all need their place in the job market. It is unfair to discriminate against those who are fully capable of completing the task efficiently entirely based on age. If employers continue to follow these trends, we will run into many problems. As the baby boom generation gets older, there will be an increase in the older working group. There is no way to prevent this and because baby boomers make up a large percentage of the population, it could create economi c issues if we don’t find ways to accommodate the needs of the elderly.Otherwise, we will have fewer workers and less wisdom to guide future generations. â€Å"The use of older workers can help organizations meet their growing and changing company objectives in a global economy while providing meaningful work rolls for middle-aged and older Americans. † (Hedge J. , Borman W. & Lammlein S, 2006). On the other side of the spectrum, young people are very valuable to the corporate world. We need the fresh ideas of young adults who are excited about starting new careers and motivated to advance their knowledge.It is also important that we encourage the independence of young people by trusting them to be responsible instead of doubting their abilities. Hedge, J. W. , Borman, W. C. , & Lammlein, S. E. (2006). The Aging workforce: realities, myths, and implications for organizations. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Rosen, B. , & Jerdee, T. H. (1985). Older employees: new roles for valued resources. USA: Dow Jones-Erwin. Sargeant, M. (2007). Age discrimination in employment. Retrieved from http://site. ebrary. com/lib/emmanuel/docDetail. action? docID=10209153

The 18th Amendment of the Constitution - 1875 Words

The 18th amendment of the constitution Prohibition was introduced to all American states apart from Maryland in 1920. Prohibition was the banning of alcohol; you could be arrested for sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol. There were many factors that influenced the introduction of prohibition. One of the main factors was the temperance movement’s two examples of this Were the anti-saloon league and Women’s Christian temperance movement. The temperance movements were at the strongest in rural areas, they put pressure on state governments to introduce prohibition. They put pressure on them by claiming the Damage to drinker’s health. They also protested that the sale in alcohol produced crime and disorder, poverty and distress,†¦show more content†¦There was a man named John Barleycorn that died from drinking too much alcohol. After that more people began thinking that drinking alcohol was very dangerous and that it would cause diseases. â€Å"There also was a man named Dr. Benjamin Rush. He was a well-known physician. He also wrote a book in 1784, which taught that drinking little amounts of wine and beer would not harm you very much, but drinking rum and whisky would cause death and diseases. Congress voted and approved of the amendment in January 1919, and enacted it in to law as the National Prohibition Act of 1920. After the Eighteenth Amendment was passed, Congress had to make a maximum amount of alcohol that beverages could contain. They then passed the Volstead Act. This act was far more severe than anyone expected. â€Å"The Act put the maximum alcoholic content at 0.05 percent. By comparison, todays beers have between 4 and 6 percent alcohol, 100 times more than the Volstead Act allowed. Whiskey had around 50 percent alcohol† (Noble). Most people were very shocked at how low the act actually put the alcohol limit. â€Å"A Literary Digest poll taken in 1922 found that 40 percent of respondents favored allowing light beer and wine. The poll also found that 62 percent of working men favored lenient enforcement of prohibition† (Noble). Prohibition was a main topic of discussion for politics. Presidential candidates were either â€Å"wet† or  "dry.† â€Å"Wet† meant thatShow MoreRelatedA Sociological And Humanistic Perspective1714 Words   |  7 PagesAdditionally, because an amendment to the constitution requires a lot of national consensus, it is interesting from a sociological perspective because it is usually the case that there is barely majority support for a proposed or established law, such as Roe v Wade. The following section is only a brief introduction to the topics covered in detail throughout this essay. Formally, the law I have chosen to examine is known as the 18th amendment to the United States constitution. However, it may alsoRead MoreForbidden Love in The Great Gatsby1361 Words   |  6 Pageslong period of time in U.S. history that lasted nearly fourteen years. The manufacturing, transportation, and sale of liquor was made completely illegal. The period of time known as the prohibition led to the first and only time that an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was repealed. Prohibition was also known as the â€Å"Noble Experiment†. Intoxicating liquors were outlawed and many people were very upset about this. Speakeasies, glamor, and gangsters came up in this time and characterized this periodRead MoreProhibition and the Mafia Essay740 Words   |  3 Pagesprohibition caused much controversy in the 1920’s. The 18th amendment was passed on Jan 16, 1920, it said in Title II, Section 3 the National Prohibition Act states that No person shall on or after the date whe n the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States goes into effect, manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, furnish or possess any intoxicating liquor except as authorized in this act. (United States constitution). The Prohibition opened up many big business opportunitiesRead MoreThe prohibition was a period of about 14 years in United States history in which the manufacture,700 Words   |  3 Pagescompletely. They were able to get this in action by blaming alcohol for many of society’s issues. By 1916, almost half of the United States had laws that prohibited alcohol. In 1919 the 18th Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the sale and manufacturing of liquor, was ratified. This Amendment was put into action across the nation January 16, 1920. This was followed by The Volstead Act (passed on October 28, 1919) clarifying the law. The Volstead Act stated that â€Å"beer, wineRead MorePassing And Repealment Of The Fo urteenth Amendment1231 Words   |  5 Pagescombination of crime and disobedience at such a high rate spelled for the inevitable repeal of Amendment 18, but what were some of the specific factors? This paper will try to examine what led to the passing and repealment of The 18th Amendment + The Volstead Act. In order to understand the problem, we have to first know what caused it. That would be the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act. The 18th Amendment prohibited the â€Å"...manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, theRead MoreJustice Scalia Often Uses The Texualist Approach When Arguing925 Words   |  4 PagesJustice Scalia often uses the texualist approach when arguing for the text of the Constitution, but sometimes, as Scalia would argue, the text isn’t straightforward. In R.A.V v. City of St. Paul, Scalia authored the opinion of the Court, in which he argues that free speech is protected under the Constitution, unless it falls under a very narrow set of exceptions. According to Scalia, some content can â€Å"be regulated because of their constitutionally proscribable contents (obscenity, defamation, etcRead MoreWhy The Prohibition Is The Era Of The United States852 Words   |  4 PagesOn January 17, 1920, the 18th Amendment to the consti tution of the United States of America took effect. The 18th Amendment had been ratified a year earlier, banning â€Å"the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors†(Okrent, 1) within the United States and its territories. This new decade is called the Prohibition. The prohibition is the era of bizarre and engaging images of speakeasies, intoxicated flappers dancing the Charleston, bootleggers, and mobsters protecting illegal tradesRead MoreThe Resolved Issue Of The Constitution Essay1457 Words   |  6 Pagesthe Constitution. Over the duration of conducting research the overlay of the essay will be describing the major benefit of the U.S Constitution. While several issues have been unresolved by the U.S Constitution such as the issues of the Articles of Confederation. The entire focus of the essay will describe the resolved issue that have been corrected in the constitution, while also describing some of the historical events that were caused the U.S constitution to change. The U.S constitution helpedRead MoreThe Progressive Era Of The United States994 Words   |  4 Pageswas a period in the United States that consisted of social activism and political reforms. The importance of this era was the passing of labor laws, anti-trust laws, unionization for important industries and the introduction of four new amendments in the constitution. Children have been servants throughout human history. Employers were taking advantage of children by making them work very long days and work in dangerous conditions. Children laborers also lacked an education due to the long hoursRead MoreDuring the late 19th century and early 20th century the United States saw many political reforms1100 Words   |  5 Pagesshipping alcohol into dry states illegal. The bill was vetoed by President Taft but became law anyways because Congress overrode his veto. The League’s next step was to ban alcoholic sales in the United States by having Congress adopt an amendment to the Constitution. World War I played a role in the ban of alcohol because food supplies were needed for soldiers and people were asked to have wheatless and meatless days by President Hoover. This boosted the Prohibition campaign because grain is a component

Persuasive Essay On Crime And Punishment - 929 Words

What do some people do when faced with problems they can’t confront the lie about them just like when you broke something as a little kid you would say it wasn’t you. What do we do when faced with something wrong do we forgive or do we blame. When confronted with a crime especially when the person has lied before it becomes hard to believe them the next time they do something wrong this might lead to make them victims of terrible psychological or physical trauma or death nothing can feel more natural then if you blame someone else for all your mistakes and its not your fault for doing this some people just can help lie to others because they think they might get be discovered and the other person might tell the on them. We are all†¦show more content†¦The achievement of absolution as a hazard lessening procedure does not in this way depend on checking and looking after power. The current stamped development of the jail populace and sentence lengths in numerous nations, together with the exasperating truth that rates of re-insulting remain staggeringly high in spite of confirmation that most relentless guilty parties halt over the more drawn out term, propose that the present criminal equity framework, with its sense of duty regarding a method of discipline that is retributive and expressive of full of feeling fault, isnt attempting to decrease re-affronting rates. Indeed, retaliation as a hazard decrease methodology is probably going to harbor genuine dangers when actualized inside contemporary socio political and financial atmospheres. Retaliation as a hazard diminishment procedure conveys the natural danger of making a cycle of vengeance. In fact, the treatment guilty parties get on account of the courts, inside detainment facilities, and by parole administrations, can corrupt and mortifying. Such discipline is ready to make hatred and feelings of rese ntment among guilty parties so that as opposed to lessening danger of re-affronting it might in certainty add to severity towards society and specialist, supporting a characteristic want to sustain threats. Also, this inborn hazard to retribution to be specific,Show MoreRelatedThe Death Penalty by David Bruck Essay1123 Words   |  5 Pagescapital punishment. His purpose is to persuade readers against the death penalty in order for them to realize that it is inhuman, irrational, and that â€Å"neither justice nor self-preservation demands that we kill men whom we have already imprisoned.† Bruck does not employ an array of devices but he does employ some such as juxtaposition, rhetorical questions, and appeals to strengthen his argument. He establishes an informal relationship with his audience of supporters of capital punishment such asRead More Persuasive Essay Against Capital Punishment753 Words   |  4 PagesPersuasive Essay Against Capital Punishment â€Å"Kill. (Verb) To make someone or something die.† Does anyone really think they have the right to take another person’s life? Apparently yes. Perhaps we should give the judge a knife and tell her that if she has decided that the accused is guilty, she should stab him herself. Perhaps then she would hesitate. But if many people (hundreds or thousands who operate the judicial system) are involved, it spreads, or evenRead MoreThe Death Penalty Of Capital Punishment1480 Words   |  6 Pagesgiven the same rights, and punished fairly based on their crimes. However, despite that, there are many controversial topics regarding the criminal justice system, such as the death penalty. Capital punishment has been used many times in history all around the world, and it was quite popular. Many people argue that capital punishment is useful in deterring crime and that it is only fair that criminals receive death as punishment for a heinous crime. On the contrary, others see the death penalty as a violationRead MoreJeff Jacoby’s Bring Flogging Back1018 Words   |  5 PagesJacoby’s essay Bring Flogging Back, he discusses whether flogging is the more humane punishment compared to prison. Jacoby uses clear and compelling evidence to describe why prisons are a terrible punishment, but he lacks detail and information on why flogging is better. In the essay he explains how crime has gotte n out of hand over the past few decades, which has lead to the government building more prisons to lock up more criminals. His effort to prove that current criminal punishment is not perfectRead MoreShould Vere Be Considered a Hero in Billy Budd by Herman Melville695 Words   |  3 Pagesabout a mutiny and was wrongly accused for the rumor (talking about mutiny against the captain is a crime) by Claggart, the ship’s master-at-arms. Billy, filled with animosity, retaliates by striking Claggart and accidentally murders the man. The ship’s captain, Vere, summons a drumhead court-martial in fear of a mutiny bursting in any second. Vere follows the rule and have Billy hanged. In the essays of Charles Reich and Robert Martin, they claim that the decisions of the captain was wrongful. TheyRead MorePersuasive Essay : Capital Punishment1200 Words   |  5 PagesPersuasive Essay Ethan Martin Communications 100 October 18th 2015 Capital Punishment Capital punishment, which is also known as the death penalty, is the punishment of a crime by execution. This extreme retribution is reserved for those who have committed heinous, or capital crimes against society, therefore considered an ongoing threat. Capital punishment was abolished from the Canadian Criminal Code in 1976. It was substituted with a compulsory life sentence without possibilityRead MoreThe Death Penalty Is It Ever Justified?1111 Words   |  5 Pagestoday are filled to their capacities, yet crime here in America seems to have increased. I am speaking of one of the cruelest forms of crime that must be eradicated, which is murder. It seems as though a life sentence does not impose fear into modern day criminals, seeing that serious crimes are being committed more often. The death penalty is something that is needed here in the United States to help lower these ongoing vicious crime rates. In the essay â€Å"The Death Penalty: Is It Ever Justified?†Read MoreAn notated Bibliography On Juvenile Crime And Sentencing1510 Words   |  7 Pages Skip Hollandsworth candidly explores the subjects of juvenile crime and sentencing in the electronic long form newspaper article, â€Å"The Prisoner†. The purpose of the essay is to inform the reader about juvenile sentencing and to persuade the audience that there are clear problems with aspects of the U.S. prison system. The article is easily accessible to a large audience because it is online. Hollandsworth takes into account that his audience, mostly consisting of Texas Monthly readers, may alreadyRead MoreThe Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty1331 Words   |  6 Pagesform of deterrence, As the Shannon Rafferty E-Portfolio states, â€Å"The use of capital punishment greatly deters citizens from committing crimes such as murder. Many people’s greatest fear is death; therefore, if they know that death is a possible consequence for their actions, they are less likely to perform such ac tions† and it also states that â€Å"Ernest van den Haag brings forth the argument that capital punishment is the strongest deterrent society has against murder, which has been proven in manyRead MoreThe Life of David Gale Essay1364 Words   |  6 PagesCapital Punishment is when a person is put to death for a crime they committed. While most americans continue to support execution, there is always the few who are against it. One of the main arguments against capital punishment is that someone can wrongfully be charged for a crime they did not commit and then wrongfully have their life taken away. In the film, The Life of David Gale, the director, Alan Parker, tells of the story of a man who is sentenced to capital punishment for a crime, which