Private Prisons in Texas Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Private Prisons in Texas - Research Paper Example The aim of the creation of private prisons has been for the purpose of making a profit by private entities through the taking over the tasks of convict rehabilitation that were conducted by the government. While this has been the case, the fact remains that there has been a lot of concern about the shifting of legal punishment from the public to the private sector, the logic being that governments, being accountable to the public, are more concerned about the welfare of those imprisoned than private institutions, which have no real interests in the inmates except for the economic benefits that they receive. Therefore, the concerns raised are based on the fact that private prisons may be lax in their establishment of a corrections system that is effective as compared to government held prisons, which have such guarantees. Private prisons in the state of Texas have been criticized to be business institutions whose main aim is to ensure that they maximize their profits, since their driv ing incentive is to make as much money as possible. Plenty of skepticism in such prisons have been raised because of the fact that prisons have now become profit yielding institutions through the imprisoning of individuals caught committing crimes and sentenced. Despite the concerns that have been raised above about the establishment of private prisons, the government of Texas has continued to be adamant that private corporations can run prisons as well as the government itself and that there is no need to worry about these institutions’ doing a bad job. The state of Texas has attempted to delegate the functions of punishment to private companies with the intention of relieving itself of the burden, but also ensuring that these companies remain accountable to the public. While this has been the case, there has developed the need to ensure that these private entities are indeed performing the functions that have been delegated to them with as much diligence as would have the g overnment.1 This has created a situation where studies have to be conducted so that it can be established how the contractual relationship between private prisons and the government, relating to how the formation, maintenance and other aspects of the prisons are worked out between them. When dealing with the formation, the expectations of the private institution as well as those of the government concerning what the prison’s management will require are considered so that it is known how the prison will be developed as well as how it will be staffed. The maintenance of the prison has been outlined as the affairs which will be involved in the daily running of the prison as well as the establishment of the definitions of how the prisoners will relate to each other as well as how they will relate with the members of the prison staff.2 When one considers liability in private prisons, it basically deals with the failure of the parties involved, either the government or the private entity, to fulfill their obligations as stated in the contract between them and the consequences that are likely to follow. Through the insistence of these obligations, it becomes an obligation for both the government and the private entities running the prison to ensure that there is accountability to the public in the process. Thus, accountability can be enforced, whereby there is the protection of the various social groups within the

How does Plantinga argue for the claim that belief in God might be Essay

How does Plantinga argue for the claim that belief in God might be properly basic Do you think his argument is good Do you think that the conclusion of his argument is true - Essay Example American analytical philosopher Alvin Carl Plantinga has also added some new dimensions to thoughts about rationality of belief in God by proposing the argument that belief in God is properly basic and needs to justification and evidenced from the other beliefs (Attridge, 2009). Plantinga divulged his philosophical views regarding belief in God and proposed his claim that the belief in God used to be properly basic depending upon the circumstances being faced by the individuals. He argues that there are certain circumstance when the belief in God in properly basic because certain circumstances compel the individuals to build faith upon certain things about God even if they do not find any support and reasons for those things from their other existing beliefs (Oppy and Scott, 2010). Plantinga referred to the classical thought that asserts that belief in God is always held in connection with other beliefs. He opposed this classical thought about the dependency of belief in God upon some evidences from other beliefs and claims that it is not always necessary because people do believe upon many things about God that are not verified and asserted by their other beliefs. He argues that believing in God does not require any argument. He made his claim in his article "Reformed Objection to Natural Theology" published in 1981. After the publication of this article there was strong wave of criticism and opposition was provoked especially from the philosophers having firm belief upon the arguments made by the classical philosophy. Through his claim and argument Plantinga has contributed to the epistemology called reformed epistemology in which he argues that the justification about the belief in God is not dependent upon evidence but it is properly basic and could be held regardless of other belief’s support to it. The argument poses by Plantinga has