Sentencing rationales Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sentencing rationales - Term Paper Example An offender violates his obligation to society to obey societal norms, and this justifies the deprivation of the offenders civil rights. This deprivation is aimed at denying the offender the opportunity to obtain any further unfair advantage and disadvantage the law abiding members of the society. Punishment is also necessary because all members of a society receive benefits as long as they agree to live within the law. Offenders impose on other members of the society and cause them a disadvantage. This disadvantage is an extras benefit that is not available to the law-abiding members. Sentencing is, therefore, intended to offset this unfair advantage obtained and restore the society to its equilibrium (Hofer and Mark 19). Literature research When sentencing it is imperative that the punishment must be proportionate to the disadvantage caused in order to correctly regain equilibrium. Although punishment can be justifiable, the justifications of sentencing do not provide a clear guide line on the appropriate punishment for particular cases. The justifications do not set out the rights that an offender should forfeit for violating certain norms and what punishment will eliminate the unfair advantage caused by the offense. If punishment is to restore the equilibrium disturbed, then it is imperative that the punishment must be proportionate to the offense. Therefore, the guiding principle in determining the severity of the punishment must be in proportion to the seriousness of the crime. This then implies a hierarchy of sentences and offences and sets the principle that similar offenses must attract similar sentences. This view applies concepts of common-sense and equity which dictate that serious crimes must attract more severe sentences than less serious offenses (Henham 69). The retributivists approach to the concept of punishment argues that punishment is and must be justifiable for its purposes while the utilitarians, assert that punishment is and can be justif iable for some ulterior consequence or benefit, for example, social good. Retributivism approach can be either positive or negative. Positive retributivism believes that sentencing is a sufficient and necessary precondition while the negative retributivism regards punishment as a necessary precondition. Utilitarians, on the other hand, have several varieties. There are different theories on how crime should be prevented. Rehabilitation checks crime by treating the offender of the abnormal criminal tendency for the sake of both the offender and that of the society (Henham 770). Incapacitating the offender prevents the offender from committing the offense by making it impossible for the offender to act on his or her tendencies. This perspective requires the law to intervene immediately an individual poses a threat to the society to an extent requiring sanctions to prevent the offender from accruing unfair advantage. This approach supports intervention even before the commission of an offense, and punishes attempts that might not have succeeded. It is also noteworthy that the incapacitation will perceive no rational to punish fruitless attempts any less severely than successful ones. This position assumes that the degree at which offenders fail to consummate offenses implies that these offenders are less dangerous but these individuals have manifested criminal tendencies

Networking Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Networking - Term Paper Example Statistics show that the Internet usage has more than doubled over the last five years. However, research indicates that a majority of Internet users tend to assume that the transfer of data on the Internet is safe, reliable and is not at risk of forgery or hacking. Yang et al. (2012) argues that most Internet processes and services depend on data relayed by the Domain Name System (DNS) through excellent functioning and accurate mapping of domain names that can be understood easily using the IP addresses. Nevertheless, the DNS, which is mainly relied on for this function, does not provide any content protection. This implies that data remains unsecured against any manipulation when being relayed or while in the servers and caches. As a result, identification and avoidance of forged data becomes impossible. It is at this point that the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) becomes useful. DNSSEC, according to Yang et al. (2012) is a technology developed for the purposes of p rotecting data against attacks by digital ‘signing’ so as to provide assurance of its validity to the user. It authenticates the source data by ensuring that the path between the DNS servers and the validating DNS client are secured. The technology has proved remarkably effective in protecting Internet data from forgery, something that DNS has failed to provide. This paper will start by describing the DNSSEC technology in light of what it means and how it works. This will be followed by a SWOT analysis of the technology. The paper will then evaluate the current ethical and legal issues surrounding DNSSEC technology. The essay will also explore the improvements that have occurred over the last two years to DNSSEC technology and provide a suggestion on the improvements warranted on its current usage. Finally, the paper will predict the future role of DNSSEC for both personal and commercial use. It is an acknowledged fact that the Internet has revolutionized the world. Cur rently most parts of the world have Internet connectivity including the remotest regions, thanks to the recent technological advancements, according to Osterweil et al. (2011). Normally, for one to reach another person on the Internet, he, or she must type the recipient’s address on the computer or Internet-enabled phones. The address is usually unique to the individual, making it easy for computers to find each other. The unique identifiers are normally coordinated worldwide using the ICANN. Coordination of the identifiers is very crucial because, without it, the entire world would have a single global Internet, suggests Osterweil et al. (2011). When typing an address, it must first be translated into several systems before the final connection can be established. The translation of the address is performed by the DNS, which does the work of translating addresses such as www.google.com into Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. After the completion of the translation, ICANN then ensures that the addressing system is coordinated so as to ensure peculiarity of addresses. However, recent findings showed that DNS is extremely vulnerable and allows attackers to forge this process of searching for someone or site on the Internet using their address. The attacks are mainly committed in order to take charge of the session such as directing the user to the hijacker’s own deceptive website for a password and account collection. The vulnerability of the DNS has prompted the establishment of the DNSSEC