In English 4, we had to read through a lot of informative material and the next day we did a discussion on the topic.

We had to take notes over the readings and we had to voice our opinions in the discussions the next day. Reaction: I used this as my evidence because I thought that it was a really good example of reading informative text. I decided to use it because I had a lot of trouble keeping up on these assignments. I also had trouble focusing on the readings. Toward the end of the discussion assignments, I did get pretty good at budgeting my time and focusing completely on my readings. I think there are a lot of ways that I can use this in the future career choice that I have because I will have to use informative texts to figure out what kind of technology would be best for the company that I will be working for. This work was very challenging for me because I have no way of being able to focus on reading if I am not interested. In a lot of the issues that we read and talked about, I was not interested at all. Toward the end, I learned that there were a lot of ways to help myself focus. This will really help me in college because I am sure there is a bunch of assignments that there were a lot of boring material I have to read through. The only different thing I would do next time is I would make better use of my time, by focusing more on the assignment than on other things.

Drug/alcohol abuse

U.S. News & World Report Aug. 4-Aug. 11, 2008, Vol. 145, No. 3, p. 8 Copyright 2008, U.S. News & World Report. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-6356550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. Too Dangerous Not to Regulate By Peter Moskos The United States has been waging a "war on drugs" for decades, with varying levels of success. But some argue that it is an ineffective strategy for dealing with narcotics, that in fact legalizing drugs is the best way to deal with the problem. Should the United States decriminalize drug use? Drugs are bad. So let's legalize them. It's not as crazy as it sounds. Legalization does not mean giving up. It means regulation and control. By contrast, criminalization means prohibition. But we can't regulate what we prohibit, and drugs are too dangerous to remain unregulated.

Let's not debate which drugs are good and which are bad. While it's heartless to keep marijuana from terminally ill cancer patients, some drugs--crack, heroin, crystal meth--are undoubtedly bad. But prohibition is the issue, and, as with alcohol, it doesn't work. Between 1920 and 1933, we banned drinking. Despite, or more likely because of, the increased risk, drinking became cool. That's what happens when you delegate drug education to moralists. And crime increased, most notoriously with gangland killings. That's what happens when you delegate drug distribution to crooks. Prohibition of alcohol ended in failure, but for other drugs it continues. Law enforcement can't reduce supply or demand. As a Baltimore police officer, I arrested drug dealers. Others took their place. I locked them up, too. Thanks to the drug war, we imprison more people than any other country. And America still leads the world in illegal drug use. We can't arrest and jail our way to a drug-free America. People want to get high. We could lock up everybody and still have a drug problem. Prisons have drug problems. Illegal production remains high. Since 1981, the price of cocaine has dropped nearly 80 percent. Despite the ongoing presence of U.S. and other troops, Afghanistan has been exporting record levels of opium, from which heroin is made. Poor farmers may not want to sell to criminals, but they need to feed their families, and there is no legal market for illegal drugs. Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, the FARC in Colombia, and drug gangs in Mexico all rely on drug prohibition. A legal drug trade would do more to undermine these terrorists than military action would. If we taxed drugs, profits would go to governments, which fight terrorists. Illegal drug dealers sell to anyone. Legal ones are licensed and help keep drugs such as beer, cigarettes, and pharmaceuticals away from minors. Illegal dealers settle disputes with guns. Legal ones solve theirs in court. Illegal dealers fear police. Legal ones fear the IRS. Less use. Regulation can reduce drug use. In two generations, we've halved the number of cigarette smokers not through prohibition but through education, regulated selling, and taxes. And we don't jail nicotine addicts. Drug addiction won't go away, but tax revenue can help pay for treatment. The Netherlands provides a helpful example. Drug addiction there is considered a health problem. Dutch policy aims to save lives and reduce use. It succeeds: Three times as many heroin addicts overdose in Baltimore as in all of the Netherlands. Sixteen percent of Americans try cocaine in their lifetime. In the Netherlands, the figure is less than 2 percent. The Dutch have lower rates of addiction, overdose deaths, homicides, and incarceration. Clearly, they're doing something right. Why not learn from success? The Netherlands decriminalized marijuana in 1976. Any adult can walk into a legally licensed, heavily regulated "coffee shop" and buy or consume top-quality weed without fear of arrest. Under this system, people in the Netherlands are half as likely as Americans to have ever smoked marijuana. It's unlikely that repealing federal drug laws would result in a massive increase in drug use. People take or don't take drugs for many reasons, but apparently legality isn't high on the list. In America, drug legalization could happen slowly and, unlike federal prohibition, not be forced on any state or city. City and state governments could decide policy based on their needs.

The war on drugs is not about saving lives or stopping crime. It's about yesteryear's ideologues and future profits from prison jobs, asset forfeiture, court overtime pay, and federal largess. We have a choice: Legalize drugs, or embark on a second century of failed prohibition. Government regulation may not sound as sexy or as macho as a "war on drugs," but it works better.

PR Newswire Aug 26, 2009, n.p. Copyright PR Newswire - NY. Aug 26, 2009. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

CASA* 2009 Teen Survey Reveals: Teens Likelier to Get Drunk, Use Marijuana, Smoke Cigarettes If They See Parent Drunk
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University Nearly nine million 12- to 17-year olds can get prescription drugs to abuse in a day, nearly five million in an hour WASHINGTON, Aug. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/--Compared to teens who have not seen their parent(s) drunk, those who have are more than twice as likely to get drunk in a typical month, and three times likelier to use marijuana and smoke cigarettes, according to the National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XIV: Teens and Parents, the 14th annual back-to-school survey conducted by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University. The CASA survey found that 51 percent of 17-year olds have seen one or both of their parents drunk and 34 percent of 12- to 17-year olds have seen one or both of their parents drunk. Teen drinking behavior is strongly associated with how teens believe their fathers feel about their drinking. Compared to teens who believe their father is against their drinking, teens who believe their father is okay with their drinking are two and a half times likelier to get drunk in a typical month. The survey found that five percent of 12- to 15-year old girls and nine percent of 12- to 15-year old boys say their fathers are okay with their drinking. Thirteen percent of 16and 17-year old girls and 20 percent of 16- and 17-year old boys say their fathers are okay with their drinking.

"Some Moms' and Dads' behavior and attitudes make them parent enablers--parents who send their 12- to 17-year olds a message that it's okay to smoke, drink, get drunk and use illegal drugs like marijuana," said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA's chairman and founder and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. "Teens' behavior is strongly associated with their parents' behavior and expectations, so parents who expect their children to drink and use drugs will have children who drink and use drugs." Prescription Drugs Readily Available For the first time this year, the survey asked 12- to 17-year olds how fast they can get prescription drugs to get high. More than one third of teens (8.7 million) can get prescription drugs to get high within a day; nearly one in five teens (4.7 million) can get them within an hour. When teens were asked where they would get prescription drugs, the most common sources were home, parents, other family members and friends. For the second year in a row more teens said prescription drugs were easier to buy than beer. Drinking, Drugging and Sex This year the CASA survey took a close look at teen drinking and discovered that 65 percent of 12- to 17-year olds who drink monthly report that they get drunk at least once in a typical month. Eighty-five percent of 17-year old drinkers get drunk at least once in a typical month. The survey found that one third of teen drinkers usually drink with the intention to get drunk. Eighty-five percent of teen drinkers who say that when they drink they usually drink to get drunk do so at least once a month. Of those teens who do NOT set out to get drunk, 33 percent find themselves drunk at least once a month. Compared to teens who have never tried alcohol, teens who get drunk monthly are: 18 times likelier to have tried marijuana; Four times likelier to be able to get marijuana in an hour; Almost four times likelier to know someone their age who abuses prescription drugs; More than three times likelier to have friends who use marijuana; and More than twice as likely to know someone their age who uses meth, ecstasy, or other drugs such as cocaine, heroin or LSD.

Compared to teens who have never tried alcohol, those who get drunk at least once a month are: Twice as likely to know a girl who was forced to do something sexual s he didn't want to do; and Nearly four times likelier to know a guy who uses drugs or alcohol to hook up. "The message for parents is loud and clear. If your teen is drinking, the odds are your teen is getting drunk. And teens who get drunk are much likelier to try marijuana and hang out with friends who are abusing prescription drugs and illegal drugs like cocaine and heroin," said Elizabeth Planet, CASA's Vice President and Director of Special Projects. "Parents who think their kids are just having an occasional drink each month need to wake up and smell the beer and pot." Marijuana, Availability Up Sharply Between 2007 and 2009 there was a 37 percent increase in the percentage of 12- to 17-year olds who say marijuana is easier to buy than cigarettes, beer or prescription drugs (19 percent to 26 percent). Forty percent of teens (10 million) can get marijuana within a day; nearly one-quarter of teens (5.7 million) can get it in an hour. Teens who say that the decision to use marijuana by someone their age is not a big deal are four times more likely to use it compared to teens who say this decision is a big deal. Teens whose parents believe the decision to use marijuana is not a big deal are almost twice as likely to use the drug, compared to teens whose parents say this decision is a big deal. Most teens who smoke cigarettes (56 percent) say the decision to use marijuana is not a big deal. Other Notable Findings Two-thirds of high school students say that drugs are used, kept or sold at their school. Sixty percent of parents say that their child's school is not drug free. Of parents who say their teen's school is not drug free, almost half think there is nothing they can do about it, and only a quarter have even tried.

"Parents are the key to raising drug-free kids and they have the power to do it if they send their children the clear message to choose not to use and demand that the schools their children attend be drug free," noted Califano whose book How to Raise a Drug Free Kid: The Straight Dope for Parents, was published this month by Simon & Schuster's Touchstone/Fireside Division. QEV Analytics conducted The National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XIV: Teens and Parents from March 2 to April 5, 2009 (teens) and March 21 to April 10, 2009 (parents). The firm interviewed at home by telephone a national random sample of 1,000 12- to 17-year olds (509 boys, 491 girls) and 452 of their parents. Sampling error is +/- 3.1 percent for teens and +/- 4.6 percent for parents. CASA is the only national organization that brings together under one roof all the professional disciplines needed to study and combat all types of substance abuse as they affect all aspects of society. CASA and its staff of more than 50 professionals has issued 68 reports and white papers, published one book, conducted demonstration programs focused on children, families and schools at 238 sites in 91 cities and counties in 35 states, Washington, DC and two Native American reservations, held 17 conferences attended by professionals and others from 49 states, and has been evaluating the effectiveness of drug and alcohol treatment in a variety of programs and drug courts. CASA is the creator of the nationwide initiative Family Day--A Day to Eat Dinner With Your Children(TM)--the fourth Monday in September--the 28th in 2009--that promotes parental engagement as a simple and effective way to reduce children's risk of smoking, drinking and using illegal drugs. In May 2007, CASA's Chairman Joseph A. Califano, Jr., called for a fundamental shift in the nation's attitude about substance abuse and addiction with publication of his book, HIGH SOCIETY: How Substance Abuse Ravages America and What to Do About It. For more information visit www.casacolumbia.org. *The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University is neither affiliated with, nor sponsored by, the National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association (also known as "CASA") or any of its member organizations, or any other organizations with the name of "CASA."
Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link. Joseph A. Califano, Jr.https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=44849 Citation: You can copy and paste this information into your own documents. Unknown. "CASA* 2009 Teen Survey Reveals: Teens Likelier to Get Drunk, Use..." PR Newswire. 26 Aug 2009: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 03 Jan 2011.

JOURNAL OF AMERICAN COLLEGE HEALTH Nov./Dec. 2007, pp. 213-215

Copyright Nov./Dec. 2007 Heldref Publications. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

"Drinking Is Fun" and "There's Nothing You Can Do About It": The Problem with the 21-Year-Old Minimum Drinking Age
By Reginald Fennell It was an early August morning, about 5:30 AM, and we were on our way to a triathlon. A college freshman experiencing his second weekend on campus had the smell of alcohol on his breath. I was concerned because he is an accomplished athlete with Olympic potential. As our conversation progressed during the 90-minute drive to a state park for the triathlon, I casually posed my question: "Did you go out drinking last night?" He had this look of surprise and guilt, as if a parent had caught him--after all, I am old enough to be his father. I assured him that I was not trying to judge him but was concerned that he not get in trouble and acquire a record for underage drinking. I asked how he obtained the alcohol. He explained that he and his friends went to off-campus parties and then to the bars and that although they were marked underage at the bars, they could get people to buy alcohol for them. When I was an undergraduate and then a graduate student in the late 1970s and early '80s, the legal drinking age in the United States was 18. Today, I choose not to drink, but I can drink if I wish, and while working and living in France each summer directing a study abroad program in international health, may, on rare occasion, have a small glass of wine. (Friends and colleagues find it strange that I live and work in the Burgundy region and do not drink wine while there.) Neither my parents nor siblings have drinking problems, so I did not grow up in a home torn by the strain of alcohol and other drugs such that I am anti-drinking. Like most people, I certainly have relatives and friends who have alcohol and other drug addictions. As an adolescent, my best friend's mother was an alcoholic, and I witnessed the impact this had on her family, particularly because they lived across the street in our small suburban neighborhood. I share this background to give context to my following comments; this is an editorial about a country that tried national prohibition early in the 20th century and found that people continued drinking. Now we have prohibition based solely on age, but those of us on college campuses know that students aged younger than 21 drink. The articles in this issue of the Journal of American College Health (JACH) highlight this fact. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 essentially decreed that states must have a minimum drinking age of 21 years or they lose federal highway funds.1 This has resulted in a

decrease in fatalities caused by drinking and driving. What most people do not realize is that this law does have exceptions, and in some states a person aged younger than 21 can drink with parental consent. (Whether the parent has to be present depends on the state.) Those of us on college campuses know that students aged younger than 21 drink; many of the problems we have on campus are the result of alcohol abuse/misuse. These problems include sexual assault, unwelcome sexual advances, regretted sexual behavior, and violence resulting in intentional and unintentional injuries. Several of the authors in this issue cite statistics from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), which estimates that more than 1,700 student deaths, nearly 600,000 injuries, and nearly 700,000 assaults result from excessive drinking each year. Neither the minimum drinking age nor the myriad programs that have been implemented across university campuses have ceased underage drinking on college campuses. The minimum drinking age in most countries is 18 years, and in some countries 16-year-olds can drink legally. I witness this each summer in France and Switzerland, where it is legal for teenagers to drink. This is not to suggest that there are not alcohol-related problems in countries with a drinking age lower than that of the United States--abuse happens in these countries as well. Yet the NIAAA indicates that "in 2003, 29.3% of youth ages 12-20 reported consuming alcohol in the past 30 days."2 Despite these numbers, we as a country continue the policy of prohibition for those aged younger than 21. The Alcohol Policy Information System, a government Web site, provides a brief history of underage drinking policies and laws in the United States and the history of underage consumption of alcohol.3 Yet how do we teach responsible drinking to a generation of young college students when, by the time most graduate, they are just reaching an age at which they can legally drink? Perhaps it is time for the United States to re-examine the minimum drinking age and progressively return to a minimum drinking age of at least 18 years. If we do so, will we reduce the number of college students who die each year on their 21st birthday? Would the need for B.R.A.D. birthday cards be eliminated? In this issue of JACH, Hembroff and his colleagues discuss the evaluation of these cards sent to Michigan State students before their 21st birthdays. Some may read this editorial and question whether I have read the literature on the decrease in deaths since the United States has enacted policies on drinking and driving. In fact, I believe laws on drinking and driving should be enforced and strengthened. There is no denying the impact on road traffic safety when we enforce laws on drinking and driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in late August 2007 urged for stricter use of "ignition interlocks as part of a penalty enforced against repeat drunk driving offenders. There are

approximately 1.5 million arrests each year of impaired drivers, a third of these are repeat offenders. In almost every state, except Alabama, Hawaii, Maine, South Dakota, and Vermont, judges can order interlocks for drunk driving offenders."4 This appears to be another attempt at addressing an issue during the final stage of the problem: ignition locks should be mandatory in all vehicles. Logic tells us not to wait until a person has been arrested, possibly injuring or killing him/herself or others. Ignition locks also could reduce drinking and driving among college students. DeJong and his colleagues provide sobering statistics, stating that "more than 1,700 students aged 18 to 24 years who are enrolled in 2- and 4-year colleges and universities die annually from alcohol-related unintentional injuries....Nearly 80% of these deaths are due to motor vehicle crashes." Would ignition locks have prevented the latter? Regardless of the driver's age, part of the problem is drunk driving and its devastating toll on our society. Thus, we need to address the problem of drinking and driving so that it does not happen. Ignition locks could help to solve the problem of drinking and driving by including college students who drink and drive. The American College Health Association National College Health Assessment's (ACHA-NCHA) most recent report of 94,806 college students indicated that 17.2% of students (16,124) reported never using alcohol. However, "[excluding] students who do not drink and students who do not drive from the analysis, 34.1% (n = 21,279) of the students reported that they drove after drinking any alcohol at all during the past 30 days."5(p202) Healthy Campus 2010: Making it Happen6 highlights the area of substance abuse and the goal to "reduce substance abuse to protect the health, safety, and quality of life for all, especially children."(p83) This includes "[reducing] deaths and injuries caused by alcohol and drug-related motor vehicle crashes."(p83) But alcohol abuse/misuse is a different issue. In "College drinking--changing the culture," an NIAAA task force recommends keeping our students busy throughout the day (e.g., more morning classes, more Friday classes).7 Some of these recommendations miss an important technological fact. Regardless of when we offer classes, an increasing number of professors now have their course materials online and students can work when it best suits them. We are witnessing more classes with podcasts, and Microsoft PowerPoint notes are placed online such that students do not have to attend class except for exams and other assignments. This fact became all too real this semester when one of my former students (currently enrolled in a graduate program at another university) demonstrated with his laptop how he accesses his course materials using the online forum Blackboard. He said he no longer goes to class unless there is a specific reason he needs to attend. He did state that he attended one of his classes just because of the nature of the course. He also showed me how he could watch a podcast or listen to recorded lectures, increasing the speed of the video or audiotape to move more quickly through lectures. As technology changes how we teach and how students learn, more

early morning classes or Friday classes may not be the panacea that we hope in addressing the drinking problem. Hypothetically, the number of students in class who are still legally intoxicated after a night drinking could increase. Yet could we not achieve the same goal by instilling more responsibility in our students? Perhaps we need to institute service requirements for all students so that they must devote a certain number of hours each month to giving to others. Would creating a generation of students who give to others increase their understanding of what it means to be a responsible citizen? We see some of this happening in alternative spring break programs, yet should we wait until spring break to help those in need? In his recent book Giving, former President Bill Clinton says giving will "almost certainly be educational, enjoyable, and rewarding. And remember, if everyone did it, we would change the world."8(p55) If the goal is to have our students more engaged, perhaps requiring meaningful activities that could have a lasting impression and not simply increasing the number of early morning or Friday classes could have a more positive impact on our students. In their article, Brenner and his colleagues suggest alternative activities for athletes, particularly when a team is not in season, stating "[team] sport athletes may need to be encouraged to get involved more in other areas of the campus community during the nontraditional season when they have more time available in response to high-risk drinking among athletes." As numerous articles in this issue demonstrate, students are engaging in underage drinking. Pedersen and LaBrie address the concept of drinking before going to a party (prepartying) and note that 75% of underaged students in their study prepartied. In their qualitative study of college students, Howard and her colleagues summarize the problem quite succinctly: More than 20 years after US federal law raised the minimum age for the purchase and public possession of alcohol from 18 to 21 years, alcohol consumption remains prevalent among underage youths and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality....College students' continued widespread use and abuse of alcohol remains a major health and educational concern on US campuses and at the national level. Howard and her colleagues captured important points from several studies that must be restated, including, "[S]tudents do not want to be told whether they can drink; they believe that drinking is not only an expected part of campus life but an ingrained part of the student culture that cannot be changed." Howard and her colleagues also learned that "in terms of informational and behavioral needs, students expressed both frustration at being taught only to abstain from drinking and genuine interest in acquiring specific kinds of knowledge and skills. Salient among their concerns was knowing how to drink responsibly--pacing oneself, knowing

one's limit, and taking care of oneself and others who have drunk too much." Howard and her colleagues echo the concern that "drinking until age 21 is illegal and program planners do not want to seemingly condone or facilitate illegal behavior." However, we cannot deny the fact that "drinking is fun," a comment I heard in 2002 from a student taking a course that was required for majors in my department. I was surprised by the cavalier attitude with which the statement was made and the agreement from the other students in the room. I asked the approximately 20 students to submit a half-page paper titled "Drinking Is Fun" at the next class session. Only 1 or 2 students actually wrote about the negative consequences of drinking, and the other students wrote about how it is fun to drink. And in an upper-level course during the spring semester this year, a graduating senior interested in pursuing a master's degree in public health made a statement about alcohol abuse/misuse, stating that "there's nothing you can do about it." I asked her why she was interested in pursuing the degree if she did not think we could influence health behavior in a positive way. The articles in this issue of JACH highlight the national problem of alcohol abuse/misuse on college campuses, including underage drinking and legal--but irresponsible--drinking. We've certainly spent millions of dollars at the federal, state, and local levels trying to prohibit drinking, and much of this money is well spent (eg, in the crackdown on drunk driving). But perhaps we need new laws that would prevent drunk drivers from operating motor vehicles, not laws that prohibit legal adults (those aged 18 years and older) from drinking alcohol, although I would not be opposed to a system similar to that of some European countries where the age is even lower. Reducing alcohol-related deaths and injuries will take myriad measures. Perhaps colleges and universities need to spend their efforts on promoting responsible drinking and not policies and procedures that prohibit drinking, but first we need to address the "problem with the 21year-old drinking age." It may be time to consider radical measures that include the abolishment of the 21-year-old minimum drinking age and the installation of mandatory ignition locks in all automobiles. The student who accompanied me to the triathlon is doing well so far in his first semester in college. He placed second in the triathlon in a field of more than 500 people, and he continues to train. He recently had his first of many exams that he will take during his college career. I hope he will not have alcohol-related problems while in college. Can I stop him from drinking? Or should he legally be allowed to drink alcohol? Should we prosecute someone who has had a drink and caused no harm to self and others? After all, "drinking is fun" and "there's nothing

you can do about it."

References

1. National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, 23 U.S.C. S 158. http://www.alcoholpolicy.niaaa.nih.gov/index.asp?SEC={9937ACFC-DB3A-4159-B068A302CEEE0EDF}&Type=B_BASIC. Accessed October 7, 2007. 2. National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Surveillance Report #74: Trends in Underage Drinking in the United States, 1991-2003. http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/surveillance74/Underage03.htm. Accessed October 6, 2007. 3. National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS) Web site. http://www.alcoholpolicy.niaaa.nih.gov/. Accessed October 6, 2007. 4. NHTSA urges increased use of ignition interlocks for repeat drunk driving offenders [news release]. Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; August 22, 2007. http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/menuitem.f2217bee37fb302f6d7c121046108a0c/ . Accessed October 6, 2007. 5. American College Health Association. The American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA), Spring 2006 reference group data report (abridged). J Am Coll Health. 2007;55:195-206. 6. American College Health Association Task Force on National Health Objectives for 2010. Healthy Campus 2010: Making It Happen. Baltimore, MD: ACHA; 2002. 7. National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. College Drinking-Changing the Culture [NIAAA College Materials]. http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/NIAAACollegeMaterials/TaskForce/CallToAction_ 02.aspx#CallToAction_02_a. Accessed October 6, 2007. 8. Clinton WJ. Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World. New York: Alfred A. Knopf/Random House; 2007. Dr Reginald Fennell is an executive editor for the journal and a professor of health education in the Department of Kinesiology and Health at Miami University in Oxford, OH.

Citation:

You can copy and paste this information into your own documents. Fennell, Reginald. "Drinking Is Fun" and "There's Nothing You Can Do About It": The..." Journal of American College Health. Nov./Dec. 2007: 213-215. SIRS Researcher. Web. 03 Jan 2011.

Sex trafficking

Sex Trafficking In Rural SD

By Katie Janssen Published: May 18, 2010, 5:57 PM SIOUX FALLS, SD - Local experts say sex trafficking is a hidden industry, but growing, and not just in Sioux Falls. The problem also extends out into rural South Dakota, during two huge tourist seasons. Hunting season and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally bring in millions of dollars in revenue to the state every year, but some lodges and bars bring in women as part of the entertainment. A local victims advocate says it amounts to what she calls "sex tourism." While most hunters who visit South Dakota really do come only to hunt, Susan Omanson says a few establishments offer more than just a place to sleep. "We know there are hunting lodges that bring in women specifically, they actually advertise on the internet, Omanson said. Sometimes they code it; this is a service they can provide." Omanson says sex tourism also extends to bars that hire exotic dancers during hunting season, even though that's not illegal. Omanson has worked with sex trafficking in Thailand, where it's a well-known industry. But she and her team have seen the same thing happen in a small South Dakota town known for good hunting. "What I saw in the two places we went and other places we drove by because we weren't comfortable going in, was at a level of what I see in Bangkok, Thailand. It was extremely disturbing," Omanson said. Omanson says it's a similar story at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. "There's a lot of good things that go on out there, but a lot of bad things are

going on, too. I just want to say, if it's just one woman, it's one woman too much," Omanson said. Even though certainly not every hunting lodge or biker bar is involved in these activities, Omanson doesn't want people to turn a blind eye to what's happening in South Dakota. "To realize there could be exploitation happening even in your own neighborhood. To understand what the signs are," Omanson said. Omansons organization Be Free Ministries has posted resources online. 2010 KELOLAND TV. All Rights Reserved.

Christian Science Monitor Oct 31, 2011, n.p. Copyright 2011, THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

The Village Voice and the Selling of Children for Sex on the Internet A popular 'adult' advertising website run by the Village Voice should go the way of Craigslist's 'erotic services' site. One of the most hidden and hideous crimes in America is the sex trafficking of children. But this selling of minors quickly becomes less hidden when Internet sites for community advertising become giant magnets for the sex trade. In 2009, the classified-ad giant Craigslist was forced under public pressure to end its sexually related advertising, in large part because of the difficulty of blocking ads that also lead to sexually exploiting children. Now, a popular site run by Village Voice Media, which owns a chain of "alternative" news publications, is being targeted for not screening its "adult" advertising very well for criminals in the business of exploiting children for sex. In August, the nation's state attorneys general demanded that the Village Voice close its entire adult site. Then last week, an interfaith group of 36 clergy took out an ad in The New York Times making a moral case for the same action.

The Village Voice, which makes millions from its adult Web ads, claims it has lately devoted resources to blocking such ads, even working with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children - while at the same time claiming a free-speech right to keep its adult ads. But the attorneys general cite dozens of arrests in various states for child-sex crimes related to the site. This popular advertising hub for sexual services, they say, posts pictures of adults, but then "minors are substituted at the 'point of sale' in a grossly illegal transaction." The site, in other words, facilitates a criminal activity. Both the clergy and the law enforcement group say screening is either unreliable or insincere, and that the only way to prevent such crimes via this site is to shut it down. In Seattle, meanwhile, the mayor has withdrawn official city advertising from the local weekly that runs adult ads, making a similar charge. Adult ads have long kept many urban alternative newspapers financially afloat. And as their print versions have declined, the publications find Internet adult ads to be similarly lucrative. A legal test of the Village Voice's arguments may be a long way off. But like Craigslist, the publication is on weak moral ground if it claims that no minor will be sexually exploited as a result of its ad site being misused. Child sex trafficking is one of the world's fastest-growing crimes, according to the United Nations. Even if the number of cases in the United States is low compared with the number of cases in countries such as Mexico or Cambodia, every effort must be made to end it - not just curb it. "Traffickers who exploit runaways and other disadvantaged kids shouldn't be provided with a tool that makes that process easier," says Oklahoma's attorney general, Scott Pruitt. Sexual predation of minors requires a zero-tolerance policy by both media and government. Such actions are even more difficult in the digital age in which predators can use smart phones or other devices to avoid detection. Even if the Village Voice relents, other Internet bulletin boards may become as popular

in attracting ads for the sex trade. But as law enforcement pursues such sites, stronger efforts must be made to safeguard children from being forced into the sex business. Families and others must also better nurture and protect younger children to prevent such abuse. Credit: the Monitor's Editorial Board

Child Sex Trafficking Growing in the U.S.: 'I Got My Childhood Taken From Me'
The Problem Often Associated With Developing Countries is Becoming a Homegrown Threat
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By HUMA KHAN WASHINGTON, May 5, 2010 M.S. was 12 years old when she first fell in love. It was his "swagger" that attracted her, she recalled, laughing. The pre-teen, who lost her mother at a very young age and only saw her father on holidays, said she desperately craved a father figure. All she ever wanted was to be loved, she said, and she thought she found that in the man who patrolled up and down her street wooing her. "I just fell into his arms," said M.S., who didn't want her full name revealed because she is a minor. One day, the man invited M.S. to go on a drive with him. She did, and she never returned home.

For four years, M.S. was forced into child prostitution with four different pimps. She was taken from city to city, forced to have sex with random men against her will. She rarely got to keep any of the $1,500 she made every day. Instead, she was abused mentally and physically by both her pimps and other girls who he housed. "I got my childhood taken from me," M.S., now 17, told ABC News. "I used to think this is what I'm supposed to do, and I just did it. ... It was normal to us." M.S. was scared to run away, afraid that her pimps would turn their threats into hurting her family into reality. Even when, two years after being sold into sex, M.S. found out that her grandmother and sister had put out fliers looking for her and had even put her name on the missing persons list, she didn't contact them. "I was scared of them judging me," she recalled. M.S. is one of thousands of American girls who are part of sex trafficking chains in the United States. It is a problem many associate with developing countries, but is one that is increasingly plaguing the United States. "I think many Americans are more willing to accept that there are girls enslaved in Cambodia or Delhi, and really can't imagine that it's happening right here," actress Demi Moore said at a briefing on Capitol Hill Tuesday. "As a society, we owe it to them to ensure this doesn't happen to anyone else." Moore and her husband, Ashton Kutcher, recently created The Demi and Ashton Foundation to raise awareness about the issue of sex slavery worldwide. The Department of Justice estimates that more than 250,000 American youth are at risk of becoming victims of commercial sexual exploitation. The average age of entry for female prostitutes in the United States is between 12 and 14 years, and children and youth older than 12 are prime targets for sexual exploitation by organized crime units, according to a 2001 report. In addition to domestic girls who are exploited, about 14,500 to 17,500 girls from other countries are smuggled into the United States for this purpose, according to the State Department.

"We know so little about our daughters who are bought for sex," said Malika Saada Saar, president of The Rebecca Project for Human Rights, which organized the briefing Tuesday to bring attention to the issue of domestic sex trafficking. There is a "cyber slave market that is being built up by Craigslist and other Web sites," Saada Saar said, and most of the time, the pimps who buy and sell these girls are never arrested or jailed. Many of the children sold into the sex trade come from broken families or the foster care system. Often times, as in the case of M.S. and Asia, they are looking for an escape and for the one thing they say they didn't find at home, love. "This is a new and emerging phenomenon. Ten years ago, there were not the same disturbing stories of traffickers seeking out and preying on girl runaways within 48 hours after they have left home," Saada Saar wrote in the Huffington Post. "Why is this happening? There is the Internet, which has created an easy and accessible venue for the commercial sexual exploitation of children. As a result, young girls are the new commodities that traffickers and gangs are selling. And, there isn't a culture of crime and punishment for selling girls as there is for selling illegal drugs," she wrote. Asia, who was lured into the trade at the age of 18, says it was eerie how well her pimp knew what she was looking for. "It's like he knew I was vulnerable, and he was looking for people like me," she told ABC News. "He told me constantly he would take care of me, it wasn't going to be like this. ... It was like false promises but he made it sound so good. That's what he does, he was an expert at it." The now 20-year-old who is studying criminal justice said her sole mission back then was to get through the day. Even when she was sick or stricken with infection, she was forced to have sex, often for up to 10 hours a day with 10 different men. "I feel like all I was trying to do was survive, get away from home, just be happy, but it was never like that," said Asia, who was raised by her grandmother.

Asia said that once she was part of the sex trade, she didn't feel she had anyone to turn to. Like M.S., she didn't want to go back to her family out of shame and fear, and she didn't feel safe outside the vicinity of the hotels she lived in. "It was like I was in a totally different world in society," Asia recalls. "Like when we would go out to eat, I felt everyone knew who I was and what I did and there was embarrassment. ... Being outside, you feel vulnerable." Both M.S. and Asia said they were arrested and thrown into jail, and that the police treated them like criminals, even when they knew they were minors. Often times, police officers solicited their services, the girls said, or they had relationships with pimps. "They would just send me to jail and keep me here for like a couple of months, then they'd release me thinking everything's good," M.S. said. "I was scared to run to the police or cops or something because you know... I don't think they'd really listen. They try to set up a date with you knowing that you were a minor. They didn't care." Under U.S. law, human traffickers can get life in prison if convicted. But many of these traffickers are never caught. Both M.S. and Asia said their perpetrators are still roaming free. Government officials say a key problem is lack of coordination between states and agencies, but that the government is looking at the root causes and how they can be eliminated. Francey Hakes, the Justice Department's national coordinator for child exploitation prevention, said Tuesday the agency has arrested and charged hundreds of people with sexual exploitation and that it was doing more to address sex crimes against children. "This is modern day slavery at its worst, and it's a winnable war," said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who sponsored a law targeting sex trafficking in the House. The girls said all they want to do now is look to the future. M.S., who sought help at one of the Crittenton Foundation facilities, said she hopes to write a book some day to tell other girls in her position they can move on with their life. The 17-year-old said she is still having a hard time integrating into society because she can't trust anyone, even those who are trying to help her, but she will do anything to not return to her old life.

"I've seen a lot of girls get kidnapped. I've seen a lot of people get killed out there. I've seen a lot of things," M.S. said. "I would do anything to be a strong, independent woman." Asia, who is currently a volunteer mentor at non-profit Fair Fund, said she wants to help change the system she was once a part of, but said the stigma of being a prostitute is not one that she can recover from easily. The student said she was supposed to go to the White House for meetings but was not able to get access because of her record. "I'm not a criminal. I never hurt anybody. My intention was just to survive and it's just hard, it's not fair," she said. "Just look at me as a victim. Don't let my past prevent me for being the best person I can be, don't let it prevent me from getting a job or doing day-to-day things."

LEADING ISSUES TIMELINES 2010 Compiled by ProQuest staff. Copyright 2010 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved.

Human Trafficking Timeline [excerpt]

Overview Since biblical times, men, women and children have been trafficked across borders and sold into slavery. The modern slave trade--known as human trafficking--involves the use of deception and coercion to persuade victims to cross national borders in search of new jobs and better opportunities. Once the target has arrived in a foreign country, he or she is then forced into some form of labor bondage. Human rights groups estimate that the number of modern slaves exceeds that of the Atlantic slave trade in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Early 1900s Muckraking journalists fuel a moral panic about innocent girls being kidnapped off the streets, smuggled across and out of the country and forced into prostitution,

popularizing the term " white slavery ". Social reformers also call attention to the influx of foreign prostitutes due to lax immigration laws. [] 1907 The Prostitution Provision in the Immigration Act of 1907 states "that the importation into the United States of any alien woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, is hereby forbidden." 1910 June 25: U.S. Congress passes the White-Slave Traffic Act, also known as the Mann Act for its author, Illinois Congressman James Robert Mann. The Mann Act makes it a crime to transport women across state lines "for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose." [] 1988 As a result of a conference on trafficking in women by several American feminist groups--including Women Against Pornography--the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-International (CATW) is formed. It is the first international non-governmental organization to focus on human trafficking , especially sex trafficking of women and girls. CATW opposes a distinction between forced and voluntary prostitution, arguing that both are forms of sexual exploitation. [] 1994 The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW), a network of nongovernmental organizations from all regions of the world, is founded. GAATW applies a human-rights based approach to address trafficking issues, arguing that ensuring safe migration and protecting rights of migrant workers should be at the core of all antitrafficking efforts. Their non-discrimination of those involved in voluntary or legal sex work often clashes with the views of CATW. 1999 January: The U.S. and Argentina propose the first international protocol to require governments to criminalize trafficking in persons and to provide a framework for the enhanced protection of, and assistance to, victims. The Trafficking in Persons Protocol

enters into force in December 2003. [] 2000 [] October: Chicago police investigating prostitution in a Chinatown neighborhood discover the women are victims of sex trafficking. The women had been brought to Chicago from rural China. They were promised high-paying jobs in America. Once they arrived, they were forced into prostitution in order to pay off their $60,000 "travel fee." October 28: The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), the first federal law aimed specifically at trafficking, is signed into law. This law addresses issues of worker exploitation resulting from trafficking in persons. TVPA sets harsh penalties for traffickers and allocates $95 million to protect victims and penalize criminals[]T visas are created to allow trafficking victims to remain in the U.S. if they assist law enforcement by testifying against their perpetrators. [] 2002 [] June: The Trafficking in Persons Report is released. At least 700,000 people worldwide were victims of human trafficking from April 2001 until June 2002.

2003 [] June: The annual Trafficking in Persons Report is released. The report estimates 18,000-20,000 victims are trafficked into the United States each year. The report cites 15 nations for not complying with the minimum standards required to curtail human trafficking. These countries include Bosnia, North Korea and Sudan. [] 2004 [] June: The annual Trafficking in Persons Report is released. The U.S. estimates that 600,000-800,000 people are trafficked across borders worldwide. Eighty percent of the

victims are female, and 70 percent of those victims are trafficked for sex purposes. [] 2005 February 27: Federal agents and local police raid five illegal sex spas in Rockford, Illinois, and discover undocumented Chinese and Korean women locked inside the shops. The young women live and work in the spas as "virtual slaves"; they are not allowed to leave. Some of the women are believed to be human trafficking victims. In response, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich forms a task force to find and help more victims. [] June: The annual Trafficking in Persons Report is released. The report finds there has been an increase in the prosecution of child sex tourism offenses. Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are listed as countries that have done little or nothing to stop human trafficking. [] 2008 [] August 20: The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announces a partnership campaign with MTV (Music Television) to warn about the dangers of human trafficking. 2009 [] June 16: The annual Trafficking in Persons Report is released. The report cites the global financial crisis as a factor in the increase in human trafficking rates. 2010 Feb.:A research subcommittee of the Ohio Trafficking in Persons Study Commission reports that Toledo , Ohio, ranks fourth in the U.S. for youth-sex trafficking. Only Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; and Las Vegas, Nevada had more sex trafficking arrests. June 14: The U.S. State Department's annual review of human trafficking includes for the first time the U.S. on its list of suspect nations . []Citation:

You can copy and paste this information into your own documents. ProQuest Staff. "Human Trafficking Timeline." Leading Issues Timelines. 22 Jul 2010: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 03 Jan 2011.

Genocide

GENOCIDE DEFINITION
In 1948, the United Nations defined genocide as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, including killing members of the group causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group forcibly transferring children of the group to another group http://www.echoesandreflections.org/pdfs/materials/genocide_definition.pdf Sherman Alexie

Inside Dachau
1. big lies, small lies Having lied to our German hosts about our plans for the day, Diane and I visited Dachau instead of searching for rare albums in Munich. Only a dozen visitors walked through the camp because we were months away from tourist season. The camp was austere. The museum was simple. Once there, I had expected to feel simple emotions: hate, anger, sorrow. That was my plan. I would write poetry about how the season of winter found a perfect home in cold Dachau. I would be a Jewish man who died in the camp. I would be the ideal metaphor. Munich would be a short train ride away from hell. Munich would take the blame. I thought it would all be simple but there were no easy answers inside the camp.

The poems still took their forms, but my earlier plans seemed so selfish. What could I say about Dachau when I had never suffered through any season inside its walls? Could I imagine a season of ash and snow, of flames and shallow graves? Munich is only a short train ride away from Dachau. If you can speak some German, it is a simple journey which requires coins and no other plans for the day. We lied about visiting the camp to our German hosts, who always spoke of the camp as truthfully as they spoke about the seasons. Dachau is still Dachau. Our hosts have made no plans to believe otherwise. As we drove through Munich our hosts pointed out former Nazi homes, simply and quickly. "We are truly ashamed of Dachau," Mikael said, "but what about all the Dachaus in the United States? What about the death camps in your country?" Yes, Mikael, you ask simple questions which are ignored, season after season. Mikael, I'm sorry we lied about Munich and Dachau. I'm sorry we lied about our plans. Inside Dachau, you might believe winter will never end. You may lose faith in the change of seasons because some of the men who built the camps still live in Argentina, in Washington, in Munich. They live simple lives. They share bread with sons and daughters who have come to understand the master plan. 2. history as the home movie it begins and ends with ash, though we insist on ignoring the shared fires in our past. We attempt to erase our names from the list that begins and ends with ash. We ignore the war until we are the last standing, until we are the last to persist in denial, as we are shipped off to camps where we all are stripped, and our dark bodies lit by the cruel light of those antique Jewskinned lamps. Decades after Dachau fell, we stand in mist that begins and ends with ash.

3. commonly asked questions Why are we here? What have we come to see? What do we need to find behind the doors? Are we searching for an apology from the ghosts of unrepentant Nazis? We pay the entrance fee at the front door. Why are we here? What have we come to see? The actors have moved on to the next scene and set: furnace, shovel, and sootstained door. Are we searching for an apology from all the Germans who refused to see the ash falling in front of their locked doors? Why are we here? What have we come to see that cannot be seen in other countries? Every country hides behind a white door. Are we searching for an apology from the patient men who've hidden the keys? Listen: a door is a door is a door. Why are we here? What have we come to see? Are we searching for an apology? 4. the american indian holocaust museum What do we indigenous people want from our country? We stand over mass graves. Our collective grief makes us numb. We are waiting for the construction of our museum. We too could stack the shoes of our dead and fill a city to its thirteenth floor. What did you expect us to become? What do we indigenous people want from our country? We are waiting for the construction of our museum. We are the greatgrandchildren of Sand Creek and Wounded Knee. We are the veterans of the Indian wars. We are the sons and daughters of the walking dead. We have lost everyone. What do we indigenous people want from our country?

We stand over mass graves. Our collective grief makes us numb. We are waiting for the construction of our museum. 5. songs from those who love the flames We start the fires on the church spire: ash, ash. We build tall pyres from children's choirs: ash, ash. We watch flames gyre and burn the liars: ash, ash. We watch flames gyre from children's choirs: ash, ash. We start the fires and burn the liars: ash, ash. We build tall pyres on the church spire. ash, ash. We build tall pyres and burn the liars: ash, ash. We watch flames gyre on the church spire: ash, ash. We start the fires from children's choirs: ash, ash. 6. after we are free If I were Jewish, how would I mourn the dead? I am Spokane. I wake. If I were Jewish, how would I remember the past? I am Spokane. I page through the history books. If I were Jewish, how would I find the joy to dance?

I am Spokane. I drop a quarter into the jukebox. If I were Jewish, how would I find time to sing? I am Spokane. I sit at the drum with all of my cousins. If I were Jewish, how would I fall in love? I am Spokane. I listen to an Indian woman whispering. If I were Jewish, how would I feel about ash? I am Spokane. I offer tobacco to all of my guests. If I were Jewish, how would I tell the stories? I am Spokane. I rest my hands on the podium. If I were Jewish, how would I sleep at night? I am Spokane. I keep the television playing until dawn. If I were Jewish, how would I find my home? I am Spokane. I step into the river and close my eyes. 7. below freezing Dachau was so cold I could see my breath so I was thankful for my overcoat. I have nothing new to say about death Each building sat at right angles to the rest. Around each corner, I expected ghosts. Dachau was so cold I could see my breath. Everything was clean, history compressed into shoes, photographs, private notes. I have nothing new to say about death. I wanted to weep. I wanted to rest my weary head as the ash mixed with snow. Dachau was so cold I could see my breath. I am not a Jew. I was just a guest in that theater which will never close. I have nothing new to say about death. I wonder which people will light fires next and which people will soon be turned to smoke. Dachau was so cold I could see my breath.

I have nothing new to say about death. From Beloit Poetry Journal. http://www.bpj.org/poems/alexie_dachau.html

LEADING ISSUES TIMELINES 2012 Compiled by ProQuest staff. Copyright 2012 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved.

Genocide Timeline
Background There are records of the mass slaughter of peoples from ancient civilizations to the 21st century. The Bible's Old Testament describes the genocide of the Amalekite and Midianite peoples and invokes God's name as justification for their slaughter. In the 13th century, Genghis Khan orders his Mongol horsemen to kill entire nations, leaving behind nothing but empty ruins and bones. 1492-1900 Native American population drastically decreases due to massacres, illnesses, confiscation of property and forced relocation brought on by the arrival and settlement of European explorers. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 leads to the " Trail of Tears " and the near destruction of the Cherokee Nation. An estimated 4,000 Cherokee Indians die on the Trail of Tears. Some consider this to be the "American Holocaust" or the longest genocide in history. Others maintain that genocide was not the intent of European colonization. 1857-1867 Russian soldiers systematically remove Circassians and Caucasians from villages. During the removal process and the Caucasian War, more than 400,000 Circassians are killed or starve to death. Another 400,000 are forced to flee to Turkey, leaving approximately 80,000 Circassians alive in their native land. In the mid-1990s, scholars call this event a "Circassian ethnic cleansing." It is later considered a genocide. 1904-1907 German General Lothar von Trotha leads a brutal campaign against the Herero and Namaqua people of South-West Africa (present-day Namibia). More than 80 percent of the total Herero population and 50 percent of the total Nama population are killed. It is

the first state-organized genocide of the 20th century. 1914-1920 The Assyrian population of northern Mesopotamia (modern-day Turkey and Iran) is forcibly relocated and massacred by Ottoman (Turkish and Kurdish) forces under the regime of the Young Turks.

1915 The concept of crimes against humanity is introduced to international relations during World War I. The term refers to an act of persecution or a large-scale atrocity against a group of people, including genocide. It is the highest level of criminal offense in international law. 1915-1917 Two million Armenians living in Turkey are eliminated from their historic homeland by Turks through massacres, death marches and forced deportations. The Turkish government does not recognize these events as genocide and refuses to admit that there was ever an organized campaign to eliminate the Armenians from Turkey. 1932-1933 Through a forced collective farm system, Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, causes a famine which results in an estimated 7,000,000 Ukrainians starving to death. The peasants who perish are deprived of the food that they have grown through the work of their own hands, as Stalin's policy holds that no family can consume grains raised from a collective farm until the government's procurement quota is met. 1937-1938 The Japanese Imperial Army marches into China's capital city of Nanking and murders 300,000 of the 600,000 people in the city. The horrific murder, mutilation, torture and rape of Chinese civilians and soldiers continues for six weeks and becomes known as the Rape of Nanking . It is during this period that the "comfort women" system is introduced, as girls and women are forced into slavery/prostitution and exist only for the pleasure of the Japanese soldiers. 1938-1945 Nazi Germany implements its state-sponsored program of killing six million Jewish men, women and children who, according to Adolf Hitler, are of an "inferior" race. Hitler calls this program his "Final Solution to the Jewish Question." During the Holocaust, nearly

two out of every three Jews living in Europe are murdered, as well as Roma (gypsies), mentally or physically disabled people, Soviet prisoners of war, homosexuals, and political and religious dissidents. Through the Nazi system of segregation and discrimination beginning in 1933, European Jews are isolated by forced relocation to ghettos, then murdered by mobile killing units or sent to concentration camps and death camps where they suffocate in gas chambers at a rate of nearly 6,000 people per day. Estimates for the total number of people killed in the Holocaust range from 16 million to 26 million.

1941 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill states, in reference to atrocities being committed by the German military, SS [Schutzstaffel], and police, "We are in the presence of a crime without a name." During World War II, the Ustase--a fascist group in Croatia--subjects ethnic Serbs, together with much smaller minorities of Jews and Roma, to a campaign of genocidal persecution. Death toll estimates range from 500,000 to 1.2 million. 1944 Lawyer Raphael Lemkin introduces the term "genocide" created from the Greek root word geno meaning "family" or "tribe" and cide meaning "to kill." 1945-1946 The Nuremberg Trials take place at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice in Germany where 22 Nazi German leaders are tried on charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes, crimes against peace and conspiracy to commit these crimes. Two judges from each of the Allied Powers preside over the trials. These trials mark the first time that international tribunals are used to hold national leaders responsible and accountable for their actions. 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide makes genocide a crime punishable by international law, and defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group." The Convention comes into force as international law on January 12, 1951. 1950-1987 Massive crimes against civilian populations are committed throughout the Cold War in places such as Romania and Guatemala. Many scholars still debate whether these

actions constitute genocide. 1972 A Hutu-led coup attempt results in the murder of 100,000 to 200,000 Hutus and Tutsis in Burundi, Central Africa. 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot attempts to form a Communist peasant farming society in Cambodia which results in approximately 1.7 million deaths from starvation, executions and overwork. The Indonesian military uses starvation--along with napalm and chemical weapons--to exterminate the people of East Timor. The death toll is reported at 150,000. 1982 Sept.: Lebanese militias massacre Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut. The number of victims range from 700-3,500. In December, the United Nations condemns the massacre as an act of genocide. 1987-1989 Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq conducts the al-Anfal Campaign, a genocidal campaign against the Kurdish population in northern Iraq. Led by Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid , known as "Chemical Ali" for his use of chemical weapons on civilians, the operation results in 2,000 villages being completely destroyed and 50,000-100,000 people killed. In 2007, Ali and 4 others receive sentences ranging from death to life imprisonment for their role in the killings. 1988 U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. The U.S. was the first to sign the Convention in 1948, but Congress did not ratify the treaty until 1986. The Proxmire Act, adopted in 1987, is signed into law by Reagan, formally criminalizing genocide under U.S. law and reaffirming the commitment of the U.S. to bring an end to the crime.

1992-1995 Conflict between Serb, Croat and Muslim ethnic groups in the Republic of BosniaHerzegovina leads to genocide committed by the Serbs in which 200,000 Bosnian Muslims are killed. In just one small town, Srebrenica, 7,800 Bosnjiak men and boys are

murdered. The events in Bosnia are labeled "ethnic cleansing." 1993 Responding to the genocide in Bosnia, the United Nations Security Council issues Resolution 827, which establishes the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. This is the first international criminal tribunal since the Nuremberg Trials. 1994 April: Over a period of 100 days, Hutu militia kill 800,000 Tutsis in Rwanda using machetes and clubs. The genocide is prompted by the assassination of Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, whose plane was shot down on orders by Tutsi Paul Kagame. The slaughter comes to an end in July when armed Tutsi rebels from neighboring countries enter Rwanda and defeat the Hutus. The UN Security Council extends the mandate of the ICTY to include a tribunal for Rwanda, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), in Arusha, Tanzania. 1998 Sept. 2: The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda issues the world's first conviction for genocide in an international tribunal. Jean-Paul Akayesu is judged guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity for acts he committed and oversaw as mayor of the Rwandan town of Taba. 2001 The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague charges former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic with genocide and complicity to commit genocide for crimes committed during the war in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995. It establishes a precedent, once unthinkable, of having a former head of state face a criminal trial before an international court.

2003Government-sponsored Arab militias known as the Janjaweed or Jingaweit systematically murder, rape, torture and wipe out entire villages of black Africans in the Darfur region of Sudan. Ongoing violence, displacement and disease continue to kill thousands of Darfurians. 2004

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell refers to the ongoing crisis in Darfur as "genocide." The significance of the use of the word genocide is two-fold: This is the first time in U.S. government history that the word genocide is used to refer to an ongoing crisis; and since discussions regarding intervention hinge on the determination of genocide, this is an integral step to end the genocide in Darfur. 2006 March 11: Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic dies in his cell of a heart attack just months before a verdict was due in his trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Dec. 12: Former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam is found guilty of genocide and other offenses for his role in the mass killings during the Red Terror. Ethiopia defines genocide as intent to wipe out political as well as ethnic groups. During the Red Terror of 1977 and 1978, up to 500,000 people died, many of them political opponents of Mengistu. 2007 Feb. 26: The International Court of Justice (ICJ), upholds the ICTY's earlier finding that the Srebrenica massacre constituted genocide, but finds that there had been no wider genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war, as the Bosnian government had claimed. June 24: Ali Hassan al-Majid , dubbed "Chemical Ali" for his role in the gassing of tens of thousands of Kurds in Saddam Hussein's al-Anfal military campaign in 1988, is convicted of genocide and sentenced to death by hanging. Sept. 19: Nuon Chea becomes the senior-most surviving leader of the Khmer Rouge regime to be arrested and charged for his role in war crimes and crimes against humanity by the U.N.-backed tribunal, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. He joins Kaing Guek Eav, aka Duch , who was transferred to tribunal custody in July after being charged with crimes against humanity for his role in overseeing the notorious S-21 torture prison. 2008 Feb. 28: A London-based human rights organization warns that mass killings may spread if the international community fails to step in. July 11: A Dutch court rules the United Nations is not responsible if its peacekeepers fail to prevent genocide from occurring. July 14: The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) accuses Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir of genocide, but the ICC's pre-trial chamber rules that there is

not enough evidence to charge him. A ruling in February 2010 reopens the possibility of charging him with genocide. July 22: Serbian security forces capture former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic . Karadzic is the accused architect of the ethnic cleansing campaign of the 1990s. Dec. 18: The ringleader of the 1994 Rwanda genocide is sentenced to life in prison. 2009 March 4: The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues its first ever arrest warrant against a sitting head of state and government, President/Field Marshal Umar Hasan AlBashir of Sudan. On February 3, 2010, the ICC rules that al-Bashir may be charged with genocide, reversing an earlier ruling by its pre-trial chamber that there was not enough evidence to charge him of genocide. April 24: President Barack Obama marks the mass killings of Armenians, but breaks a campaign promise and angers Armenian-Americans when he doesn't call it a genocide .On March 4, 2010, a Congressional panel approves a resolution similar to one passed in 2007 recognizing the Armenian genocide. In retaliation, Turkey withdraws its ambassador to Washington, DC. 2010 Nov. 4: Serbian President Boris Tadic apologizes for the wartime atrocities during the 1990s conflict in the former Yugoslavia. 2011 May 26: In Serbia, war crimes suspect General Ratko Mladic is arrested for the mass murder of thousands of men in Srebrenica during the 1990s conflict in the former Yugoslavia. July 20: Serbia arrests the last major war crimes suspect from 1990s conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Dec. 22: French lawmakers approve a bill that would make it illegal to deny that the Armenian genocide occurred. 2012 May: A special U.N. court at The Hague in the Netherlands begins a genocide trial against General Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb army chief accused of massacring thousands at Srebrenica in 1995 during the Bosnian war.

2013 May 10: Gen. Efrain Rios Montt, the former leader of Guatemala, is found guilty of genocide against the Mayan Ixil ethnic group. ProQuest Staff. "Genocide Timeline." Leading Issues Timelines. Sept. 11 2012: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 16 Jan 2013.
New spaper Internation al New York Times (Paris, France ) Dec 11, 2 013, p. 7 Cop yright Dec 11, 2 013 I nterna tional Her ald Tribun e. All rights r eser ved. Rep rinted w ith permission.

A Spasm of Violence in Africa Conjures the Ghosts of Bosnia and Rwanda

Diplomats fight to stop a repeat of Rwanda in Central African Republic
By Somini Sengupta United Nations diplomats are trying to keep the Central African Republic from becoming another Rwanda or Bosnia. The word genocide sends shivers down the spines of United Nations diplomats, resurrecting the memory of the world body's failure to stem massacres in Rwanda nearly 20 years ago and in Bosnia before that. Lately, in describing the carnage in the Central African Republic, diplomats have been swallowing that word even as it seems to be on the tip of their tongues. They are choosing other words. "Mass violence," was Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's choice. "History has taught us the worst may happen," is how the French ambassador, Gerard Araud, referred to it. "There have been atrocities committed already," said Samantha Power, the United States ambassador. What vexes the world body now is how to prevent another catastrophe in the battered Central African Republic -- and in turn how to shield itself from future reproach. That reckoning comes as Western militaries are tied up on other battlefields and as crises elsewhere have made demands on United Nations troops and the rich countries that pay for them. The Security Council passed a resolution on Thursday to strengthen an intervention force of up to 6,000 African troops, adding 1,600 French soldiers. Since then shootouts between the mostly Muslim rebel fighters who overthrew the government this year and rival Christian militias have killed more than 400 people, the local Red Cross says.

The Central African Republic has been shattered for years by coups, rebellions and lawlessness. This year, the situation took another turn for the worse when a rebel group known as Seleka, or "alliance," deposed President Francois Bozize. Since then, the mostly Muslim Seleka fighters have fought the Christian militias. No one has come up with a reliable death toll. This week, however, the aid agency Doctors Without Borders confirmed that executions had been carried out at a hospital in the capital, Bangui. Hundreds of civilians are crossing a river into the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations says, and on Monday, French soldiers briefly traded fire with the militias they are trying to disarm, Reuters reported. Under the Security Council resolution, the United States will provide transport aircraft to move international forces from Burundi to the Central African Republic "to prevent the further spread of sectarian violence," said Carl Woog, a Pentagon spokesman. United States troops will not fight, officials said. But all this is still a gamble: What if the newly fortified African soldiers, some of whom lack even body armor, continue to be overwhelmed by the Kalashnikov-wielding fighters, as they have been in recent weeks? A researcher with Human Rights Watch found one predominantly Muslim town deserted and partly burned, its residents huddled at a makeshift camp. The group has urged the Security Council to fortify the African troops with better equipment and logistics, or to deploy a formal United Nations force better equipped to protect civilians over the long term. The aid group's United Nations director, Philippe Bolopion, said: "If the post-Rwanda and Bosnia 'never again' means anything, the U.N. Security Council needs to go all in to halt the spiraling killing in the Central African Republic. This is a moment of truth." That will not be easy, said Bruce Jones, a former United Nations official now at New York University. For one thing, only Britain, France and the United States have the equipment and soldiers to be able to deploy rapidly to such a vast, landlocked country. And they all face constraints, as Mr. Jones put it. "The U.K. defense forces have been badly stretched by Afghanistan," he said, "and the U.S. will be reluctant to deploy to a country where its troops don't speak the language and it has virtually no presence. The combination of French deployments and the rapid buildup of a regional operation is probably the least bad option now. Let's just hope it's not too little, too late." Western diplomats say they know there is no guarantee that the African troops will be able to restore order, and the resolution passed Thursday instructs the secretary general's office to make contingency plans to deploy a larger peacekeeping force if necessary. What exactly would make that necessary remained unclear. The resolution asks rich nations to contribute to the African troops; so far the European Union has contributed $50 million and the United States $40 million. A larger peacekeeping operation would cost

much more. Peacekeeping worldwide already costs more than $7.5 billion, with nearly 100,000 uniformed personnel deployed around the globe. Publicly, diplomats insist that the resolution represents the most efficient way to intervene. "It's going to make a difference in the immediate future," Mr. Araud, the French ambassador, said after the Security Council vote. Ms. Power described it as "the most immediate vehicle" to protect civilians. Her office said Sunday that she had called the country's transitional president on the phone, urging him to arrest those who had committed atrocities and "use his influence to reduce interreligious tensions." The United States has not had an embassy in the Central African Republic for years. Russia and China, the other major powers on the Security Council, have been virtually silent on the crisis unfolding there. Clearly, United Nations officials have been haunted by the sectarian tenor of the conflict. In a briefing to the Council, the deputy secretary general, Jan Eliasson, called it "a vicious cycle that could very easily turn into mass atrocities." Let no one say later that the world was not warned, he continued. "It is not as much a problem of early warning -- we have had this warning for a long time," Mr. Eliasson said. "The question now is timely response." Some top United Nations officials have uttered the G word. John Ging, director of operations for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said on CNN last month that "we see the seeds of a genocide here" unless the world quickly stops it. In the meantime, Muslims and Christians have been sent huddling into mosques and churches to save themselves from vigilantes. Sengupta, Somini. "A Spasm of Violence in Africa Conjures the Ghosts of Bosnia and Rwanda." International New York Times. 11 Dec. 2013: 7. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 17 Jan. 2014.