Biography of an Influential Person

The purpose of this Final Project Assignment is for you to recognize human development and outcomes (e.g., developmental constructs, processes, milestones, and stages) through the lifespan of an influential person. You will describe this person’s development through cognitive, physical, and social-emotional processes at various key periods, and how his or her development is influenced by nature (genetics), nurture (environment), or both.

For this Final Project Assignment, you will read a biography about an individual of your choosing. Think about leaders, artists, composers, researchers, professors, and otherwise influential people, etc. The person you choose should be someone who has had an impact (positive or negative) on others and/or on society.

This Final Project Assignment is a 2.5- to 4-page paper composed of three parts. These parts include: the Summary during Week 2, Part 1 during Week 7, and the Final Project submission during Week 10. Note: It is recommended that you begin reviewing the biography you chose starting at Week 2 and plan your time accordingly.

For this week, you will review the Final Project Assignment Overview document and consider an influential person you would like to learn more about.

To prepare for this Final Project Assignment:

• Review the Final Project Assignment Overview document found in this week’s Learning Resources.
• Select a biography, not an autobiography, of an influential person. Your selection must be one person and not a group of individuals.
• The biography should be written for adults and not children and cover the entire life of the individual.
• You must use an actual hardcover/paperback book or ebook (Note: Using biography.com or other websites as primary sources of information is not acceptable).
• You must include at least two theories from this course in your Final Project Assignment and discuss at least two of the three developmental processes (cognitive, physical, and social-emotional).

No Assignment submission due this week.

Submit your Final Project Assignment in Week 10.

Sample Answer

Introduction

During human development, several milestones occur from childhood to adulthood. The milestones are marked by the cognitive, physical, and social, emotional growth processes, which are essential stages in an individual’s life. Various theorists such as Piaget and Erik Erickson came up with theories to describe the human developmental processes. By focusing on the biography of Barack Obama, understanding his social, emotional, and cognitive growth; this will offer an insight concerning the factors that contributed to him being influential.

A Summary of Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama’s date of birth was 4^th August 1961. He was born of Barack Obama Senior and Ann Dunham who were from a mixed heritage. Obama’s popularity increased when he started contesting for the United States presidential seat, and he ended up being the first black president to rule the country. According to Maraniss (2012), Obama became the forty-fourth American president and his highly influential leadership skills enabled him to serve the nation for two terms, which was between the years 2009 to 2012. However, Obama’s political journey began in 1996 when he contested for the Illinois State Senate seat as a Democrat. He was the Senator for Illinois for three terms. During his administration, Obama influenced significant policies such as Obama Care. He also called for equal rights for women and the LGTB community in America, considering that these are two groups that have faced discriminatory challenges in society.

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Obama’s Cognitive Development

In human development, the cognitive stage describes the mental processes which are learning, thinking, problem-solving, and remembering. With that in mind, Obama cognitive development can be illustrated through his education journey. On this note, Obama began his early school education in 1966, where he attended the Noelani Elementary School. For his high school diploma, Obama joined the Punahou School in Hawaii and then transferred to Occidental College in Columbia. The education he received from these institutions enhanced his intellectual abilities such that in 1981, he made the very first public speech. The learning process in Obama’s development portrayed a high level of intelligence. Based on Piaget’s cognitive theory of development; the building blocks of intelligence or schema are influenced by aspects like assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration (Brown, & Desforges, 2013). From Obama’s academic journey, he enhanced his self-efficacy by putting into practice what he learned. He did not let issues like his cultural background to define him, considering that he was from a mixed-race of an American White mother and an African father.

Obama’s Social-Emotional Development

In this stage, social-emotional development demonstrates how humans develop skills that help them interact with people from diverse backgrounds and how they express and take charge of their emotions. During Obama’s development, he encountered several challenges, mostly during his teenage years. This was a period that he needed social and emotional support from his father. However, Obama’s father was not always present. Thomas (2008) holds that his father returned to Kenya in the year 1964, when Obama was three years old. He only returned to visit his son when he was ten years old. He later died after being involved in a car accident. The lack of a father-son relationship created a void that made Obama struggle with exploring how to be a man. Despite this challenge, during his young adulthood, Obama’s social-political involvement enhanced his socio-emotional development. During his enrollment at the Columbia University in New York, Obama began to research his African roots when he started writing a personal memoir after his father’s death, which occurred in 1982. He even traveled to Kenya to meet his relatives, and during his short stay; he learned a lot about his origin. Still, in his college life, Obama participated in several clubs such as the International Students Association. These clubs made him feel loved and appreciated since people around him encouraged him to talk about Kenya and Africa at large. Further, after completing his education at the Columbia University in New York, Obama moved to Chicago, where he enrolled for a job as a community organizer.

Analyzing How Nurture Influenced Obama’s Development

Generally, it is justified saying that nurture or the community environment influenced Obama’s cognitive and social-emotional development. In this case, his surroundings helped him understand the needs of Roseland the Altgeld Gardens communities. Through social interactions, he unveiled aspects that needed change, and this influenced to work on community development programs. He also used his intellectual abilities to develop job training programs and an organization for tenants’ rights because he understood what people wanted. Further, in his quest for knowledge, Obama joined the Harvard Law School, and it is here that he got to meet Michelle, who he married in the year 1992. This is a crucial stage in human development since according to Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, social and emotional development occurs in different phases (Huitt, 2008). Obama finding the love of his life falls under the sixth stage of intimacy and isolation. Successful young adults who engage in romantic relationships, according to Erickson’s theory, they manage to establish strong relationships with people around them.

 Conclusion

In conclusion, Barack Obama went against all the odds in society to rise to the scales by becoming the first African American to rule America. Through his cognitive and social-emotional development, this enabled him to promote change by eliminating issues like racial profiling and inequality among minority groups. Overall, Obama will continue to be an influential leader globally due to his admirable confidence, eloquence in speech and leadership. 

Reference

Brown, G., & Desforges, C. (2013). Piaget’s theory. Routledge.

Huitt, W. (2008). Socioemotional development. Educational psychology interactive.

Maraniss, D. (2012). Barack Obama: The Story. Simon and Schuster.

Thomas, G. (2008). Yes, we can: A biography of President Barack Obama. Feiwel & Friends.

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A challenge many teachers face is identifying effective ways to engage students in meaningful dialogue that advances thinking and elicits critical, higher-order responses based on current learning needs. Exploring appropriate questioning techniques, for various grade and ability levels, helps teachers to design questions that encourage critical and higher-order thinking and guide students in their learning.

Using one of the lessons you developed in this course, create both content and critical thinking questions you could ask during the implementation of the lesson. The questions should be based on the standards and objectives within the lesson you selected.

In 500-750 words, explain the following:

• The lesson title, standards, and objectives on which the questions focus.
• At least three content- or skill-based questions that are appropriate for students’ grade and ability levels for each objective, and examples of answers the question is designed to elicit.
• At least three questions for each objective that would encourage critical thinking and higher-order thinking, and examples of answers the question is designed to elicit.

In addition, write 150-250 words examining how questioning strategies facilitate students’ comprehension and critical thinking related to literary and informational texts.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric.

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The US employment law is highly focused on addressing all forms of discrimination by the employer. Discrimination of persons with disabilities is one of the most critical areas of concern in the US discrimination laws. The law is grounded on humanization of the persons with disabilities which involve designing the policies to reflect and expand their human potentials (Mackelprang, Salsgiver, & Salsgiver, 2016). The employment law is the aftermath of other national agendas that include quality education and specialized training programs (Francis, & Silvers, 2015). The Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) provide the guidelines needed to fulfill the agendas by the employers in all the sectors. The law focuses on ensuring that persons with disabilities are given equal opportunities to recruitment for a job if they have the skills needed to complete the task. The law calls for extra responsibility to the employers to include comfortable working conditions for them. The recruitment process, for instance, requires that the interview need to respond to the skills and abilities without reflecting on the disability (Barnes, 2014). The law also gives the employer an initiative to develop policies and workplace etiquette that recognizes and empower the disabled persons. This calls not for treating them as weak personnel’s in the company who require special environments but rather people with special abilities that can only be fulfilled through a highly specialized system. The Americans with Disabilities (Act) is a significant law that was championed by Senator Thomas Richard Harkins and signed into law by President Bush in 1990. The law has undergone other several amendments to enhance its effectiveness in the improvement of the well-being of persons with disabilities in the labor market (Heyer, 2017).  This amendment includes the ADAAA (2008) that helped to clarify the law definition of disabilities distinguishing disabilities from impairments. The law is a set of rules and regulations that govern the response to persons with disabilities in various facilities, both private and public.

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This paper will reflect on the American with Disabilities Act and how this law regulates the relationship between employer and employees with disabilities in the contract period. Although the law has not accomplished all the objectives, it’s a primary management tool for use by the employers. The law also edifies the employees with disabilities of their rights. This law has implications to both the employer and the employee. The paper will first focus on the Americans with Disabilities Act reflecting on its guidelines, achievements, and limitations in reducing discrimination of employees with disabilities by the employers. After this, the paper will present the employment policies and etiquette that arise for managers and other employees following the objectives of the humanization of persons with disabilities (Rothman, 2018). This will be the shortest section of the paper. The third element of the discussion is the employer’s role, or the reasonable accommodation’s that the employer is required to fulfill in compliance with the law. The fourth element is the empowerment of the employees with disability through training to maximize their utility to the employer throughout the contract period.

Like the other employees without disabilities, they have a responsibility to fulfill all the tasks as would be required by the employer. The next elements are the aspects of the law that offer a guarantee to the limitations of the employees’ demands. The last portion of the paper is on the position of the American efforts for the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities in the global context. These include the assessment of the personal impact of the law on the American citizens compared to other citizens. The American with Disability Act is the primary employment law that governs the employer-employee relationship in the private and public sector and hence its objectives highlight the legal guidelines that govern terms of the contract for employees with disabilities and the eligibility of those contracts.

The Americans with Disability Act (ADA or ADAAA)

This is the most significant legal framework defined for the rights of the persons with disabilities for fair and equitable treatment by employers in the recruitment and contractual periods. The law defines clearly that persons with disability have equal employment rights provided they are competent to perform the tasks assigned. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission got the initial mandate to implement employment discrimination provisions, Title I of the Act.  In other words, the law is more focused on the empowerment of persons with disability and as such the employers are the primary target of the law. The EEOC has defined regulations for the employers as a guideline to the implementation of the requiring compliance for all employers. The law provides for equal opportunities to persons with disabilities. In other words, employers are prohibited from discrimination of persons with disabilities during the recruitment process. This means that interview questions and requirements should be fair such that the persons with disabilities will stand an equal chance like other candidates. For instance, employees need not to ask the candidate how they would overcome their situation to perform any task. This guideline is also useful to the employers as they are not subjected to compulsory recruitment of persons with disabilities when other candidate standouts better chances. The role is to demonstrate that the candidate was only ruled out on factors other than those affiliated to disability.

Also See: Rules of Law against Employment Discrimination.

The ADA provides for the employer not to recruit persons with disabilities if such recruitment would impose an undue hardship to the operations of the business. The undue hardship is considered as imposing excessive costs to an employer or would demand the employer to change the operations. In other words, the hiring of persons with disabilities need not change the roles and responsibilities of a given position (Riccucci, 2018). For example, hiring a disabled employee as a machine operator requires that the recruitment mandate the employer to make provisions to the employee to perform their tasks, but the hiring should not lead to the abandonment of the said task. ADA clarifies on the differences between impairments and disabilities defining the positions for ADA impairments. This was best achieved during the 2008 amendment. To the employer’s disability is considered as the inability to perform tasks in what would be considered normal for human beings. For example, blindness is regarded as a disability and as such the employee would only fulfill their obligations through the use of particular structures. The court dismisses a case against an employer if the persons filing the suit fail to meet the ADA disability description. Another consideration will be that an employee would not demand special treatment by being left handed or if they have certain personality traits like quick temper.     The ADA law requires that a condition would be considered in its unmitigated state. In other words for a person with an impairment if mitigation action has been taken to overcome the challenge such an employee would still qualify for ADA disability provision. For example, a person with hearing impairments and who uses hearing aids and it enhances them to hear like the general population is considered to qualify for the ADA disability. This means that the hearing aids do not overwrite the hearing impairment. This provision is a new circumstance and as such employers would be advised to seek counsel before dismissal for ADA applicants since the mitigated impairments previously unconsidered for protection would otherwise qualify for protection.

The ADA law gives guidelines on the need to uphold a high level of confidence in the employee and need to be initiated through the same process. For instance, a new employee is to be offered training in equal measures to disabled employees like employees without disabilities without a call for other employees to show special to the persons. This means an employee needs not to feel humiliated before others based on their condition. The employer needs to be updated on the most recent requirements of the law to ensure plans are based on the existing provisions of the law.

Employment Policy and Etiquette

The implementation of the guidelines by the ADA calls for employers to incur more costs in the hiring and management of employees. The law calls for the employers for change in the attitude focusing on the need to empower the employees with special abilities. An employer needs to hold the primary role to demonstrate that humanization of persons with disabilities is parts of its core agendas. The employer’s policies and regulations are called upon to challenge the limitation of ADA law. The employer has a responsibility to support the employee to exploit their abilities and to enhance the achievement of the company objectives. Even after the establishment of the law, the persons with disabilities have not experienced increased access to employment opportunities as the law intended it. This means that most of the other aspects of the law that would govern the contractual relationship between the disabled employee and the employer have less impact within the job market. The government has increased its policies focusing on bridging the gap between the employment of persons with disabilities with the rest of the population (Blanck, 2016). The employer is required to be updated of such policies since they are of legal significance. The systems require an employer to give considerations as part of its commitment to enhancing economic empowerment for persons with disabilities.

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An employer is advised to have own policies and guidelines for compliance with ADA which are guided by the EEOC rules and regulations. This would mean that in a lawsuit regarding discrimination for persons with disabilities a court judge is mandated to make a judgment based on the company own policy in addressing discrimination against persons with disabilities. The company policies must not contradict the requirements of ADA or the policies by EEOC. This means that the law calls for the organization to take reasonable accommodations to persons with disabilities. The effort needs to be continuous such that an employee is not forced to abandon their current job based on negligence by the employer to make special provisions.

Employers Role/Reasonable Accommodation

This governs the contractual relationship between the employer and the employees with disabilities. A qualified person with disabilities is to be considered as a person who with or without special accommodations can perform their roles in the organization. In this case, the task will be performed without a need to change the business itself. In other words, the employer has a role in making all provisions that would enhance persons with disabilities to perform their roles like other employees. In the review of the performance of an employee the entities that facilitate, this effectiveness need to be put in place. For example, a telephone operator who requires an amplified headset to give equal results is entitled to those provisions before judgments based on poor performance. The employer needs to accommodate a dialogue with the employees to ensure that the correct accommodations are given. For instance, an employee with low vision could request the employer to accommodate large font options in their printed documents. If such documents include Memos, the employer may seek to offer to accommodate the employee through use of soft copies specific for them. Both the employer and the employee need to come into an agreement on the best approach to ensure it’s the most convenient decisions. This consideration would be most effective especially if there are no specifications by ADA or the EEOC on what accommodations to make for the given impairment.

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The employer also needs to follow the five guidelines in the recruitment process to ensure that the employee would demand only reasonable accommodations. The first step is to consider only the essential tasks in the evaluation of whether the person can perform the job. This is important because potential candidates have several limitations for multiple tasks and would most likely be ruled out. Also if accommodations would be considered after hiring, they must also be related to fulfillment of the essential functions (Kaminer, 2016). The second factor is to find all the accommodations which are necessary to the tasks assigned. In other words, once the employer has assigned a contract with the disabled employee, there would be a need for commitment to fulfill all the accommodations that enhance fulfillment of the essential tasks.   The other requirement for the employer is to ensure that employees with disabilities are treated equally to persons without disabilities. Also, the employer can fulfill this obligation by providing that they have the highest qualified personnel in their workforce and the accommodations are not extended to disability non-related interventions. For example, training the employees need to be within the scope of standard employee training or for the use of special facilities that would help improve performance.

Also See: Constitutional Law for Criminal Justice. U 5-2

The scope of the accommodation given to persons with disability is to allow the employee to fulfill their obligations without overreliance on job coaches or other persons. The employer needs to commit to updating the accommodations without an assumption that any of the accommodations would be impossible. This would include integration with other employers to increase the scope of the interventions. The employer also needs to utilize sites like the Job Accommodation Network that provide a wide range of ideas on accommodation of persons with disabilities. The employer also needs to evaluate the effectiveness of the accommodation issued such as to ensure improved performance by the employees. Some of the accommodations are not related directly to the tasks but empower the employee to exploit their potential and to develop their career. Issuance of accommodation is to be extended to the recruits or persons with disabilities arising at the course of their career.

Training Employee’s with Disabilities to Maximize Utility During Contract Period

After hiring and providing accommodation, ADA requires that the employer considers employees who lack proper skills to use some of the facilities. This is most common to persons receiving impairments later after recruitment. For instance, an employee who becomes deaf at the course of fulfillment of their duties may require some basic training for communications like the use of sign language. The employer needs to provide or facilitate such treatment without dismissal of an employee that they cannot fulfill their obligations. Others may include mobility training, and the employer must ensure that the employee is not in grave danger at the course of fulfillment of their responsibilities (Padkapayeva et al., 2017). The facilities and the accommodations would be useless if the employees cannot entirely understand them. In this case, there is a need to see that the employees have more than one tool for training to fulfill a given responsibility effectively. Also, the training mechanisms need to incorporate facilities not available in the organization but can be utilized in other public facilities. There are thus minimal limitations as to the scope of the interventions that would be useful to the employees. An employee with a disability is to stand an equal chance to perform their responsibilities efficiently like other colleagues.

Guarantee Offered to The Employer to Safeguard Effective Contracts

ADA gives a guideline as to what would be termed as a reasonable accommodation to be issued by the employer to the employee. The law protects employers over what would otherwise be termed as unreasonable accommodations. There is a clear guideline on the ADA impairment that qualifies for an accommodation.  The accommodation need to help employees perform their role in the organization. The law is limited to the benefits and privileges of employment. In other words, the employee is not guaranteed to make additional accommodations which are not directly related to the job. An employee may not demand accommodations that involve they are not entitled to perform in the organization. The employee who files a suit must be deemed to have the ADA impairment.  Lawsuits filed by employees fail to meet the minimum requirements for ADA impairments will be dismissed. Although the law is defined to protect the employee over discrimination by the employer, it has the framework within which accommodation would be issued. Also, an employee cannot claim for discrimination on promotions for roles that they are not qualified to perform. In other words, the law does not call for blanket laws that override the needs for an employer to acquire the most qualified personnel to work in the organization.

American Disability Act Effectiveness

The economic well-being of persons with disabilities remains low. Employers consider the ADA guideline as an increase in the cost of hiring. This means that the primary objectives of the law have not been achieved. The numbers of persons with a disability who are hired for any position are relatively lower compared to the persons without disabilities. In other words, the employment of persons with disabilities remains significantly lower compared to the other population. One of the reasons could be that like other employment law there is no provision for sufficient change of attitude on disabled persons as weak in the organization. The law is operational, and the employer must meet all the necessary requirements in their relationship with the employer. Like other laws for discrimination, the impact of the law is well understood when an individual company is a victim of any allegation. One of the areas that the disabled employees would need to be most informed is on the recruitment process. There are many shortcomings reflected by the continuous decline in the employment of persons with disabilities.

Conclusion

This research addresses the employment law on discrimination to persons with disabilities in the United States. The scope of the research is on the employees working in the private sector. The primary law that governs discriminations to persons with disabilities is ADA which advocates for humanization of persons with disabilities. The law gives a guideline to the employer for fair recruitment and management of employees. The objective is to treat employees with disabilities like all the other person providing the necessary accommodation to fulfill the assigned tasks. The law defines the ADA impairments to restrict focus only to fundamental impairments and for reasonable accommodation only (Sundar, 2017). This guarantees employers rights over unreasonable claims. The hiring of persons with disabilities is to be guided to ensure that the company is not exposed to undue risks. In other words, hiring a person with a disability is not to squeeze the organization to change its primary operations to accommodate the limitations of the employee. The discussion also outlines the provision of reasonable accommodation as a critical responsibility for the employer.

References

Barnes, C. (2014). What a difference a decade makes: Reflections on doing ‘emancipatory’disability research. In Ethics and Research in Inclusive Education (pp. 55-      70). Routledge.

Blanck, P. (2016). The first “A” in the ADA: and 25 more “A” s toward equality for Americans with disabilities. Inclusion, 4(1), 46-51.

Francis, L., & Silvers, A. (Eds.). (2015). Americans with disabilities. Routledge.

Heyer, K. C. (2017). The ADA on the road: Disability rights in Germany. In Law and Social Movements (pp. 199-238). Routledge.

Kaminer, D. N. (2016). Mentally ill employees in the workplace: Does the ADA amendments act provide adequate protection. Health Matrix, 26, 205.

Mackelprang, R. W., Salsgiver, R. O., & Salsgiver, R. (2016). Disability: A diversity model approach in human service practice. Oxford University Press

Padkapayeva, K., Posen, A., Yazdani, A., Buettgen, A., Mahood, Q., & Tompa, E. (2017). Workplace accommodations for persons with physical disabilities: evidence synthesis of the peer-reviewed literature. Disability and rehabilitation, 39(21), 2134-2147.

Riccucci, N. (2018). Managing Diversity In Public Sector Workforces: Essentials Of Public Policy And Administration Series. Routledge.

Rothman, J. (2018). Social work practice across disability. Routledge.

Sundar, V. (2017). Operationalizing workplace accommodations for individuals with disabilities:     A scoping review. Work, 56(1), 135-155.

Patterns of Offenses and Victimization

Violent crimes in America such as rape, robbery murder, and aggravated assaults are frequent (Rosenfeld, 2014). Law enforcers use crime data to review the pattern of offenses and victimization in the nation or cities. Without crime statistics, it becomes difficult for agencies or government to establish patterns of offenses in the nation or a city, like San Antonio.

Statistics of Murders and Aggravated Assaults

The presented research shows statistics of murders and aggravated assaults for the United States and City of San Antonio for the past four years, 2018 to 2015. The 2018 statistics of the violent crime for the nations are not yet released by the FBI. However, it is approximated that were 394 violent crimes per a population of 100,000 and a projected 1.1% murders plus high aggravated assaults. The 2017 data shows 397 violent crimes per 100,000 occupants were experienced where 65% involved aggravated assaults and 1.4% murders (FBI: UCR, 2017-2015). In 2016, per 100,000 occupants, 386 were violent crimes with 64.3% aggravated assaults and 1.4% murders. In 2015, in a population of 100,000, 372.6 were violent crimes with 63.8% aggravated assaults and 1.3% murders. The Uniform Crime Reports, (2018-2015) statistics for City of San Antonio shows in 2018, approximately 5,890 were the aggravated assaults and103 murders. In 2017, an estimated 7,067 involved aggravated assaults and 125 murders. In 2016, the murders were 149 and aggravated assaults 7,813. The year 2015 further showed 94 murders and 5465 aggravated assaults.

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Evaluation of the National and Local Rates

Based on the presented national and local rates, the national rates tend to be increasing yearly in the aggravated assaults and dropping rates of murders. In the local rates, the aggravated assaults have dropped (Uniform Crime Reports, 2018-2015). The murder rates, on the other hand, have reduced and looking at the trends; it is likely that the rates will further decrease in the coming year. A common aspect seen in the national and local crimes is that the aggravated assaults have high numbers and the murders rates are low. A major difference is that the violent crimes in the local area tend to be decreasing as years go by for both the aggravated assaults and murders while as nationally, the aggravated assaults are increasing.

Definition and Characteristics of Aggravated Assault and Murder

In violent crime, aggravated assault is described as an act where a lawbreaker purposefully causes severe injuries to another either by using a weapon or not. Further, murder is an unlawful act where an offender kills another person out of malice. The two crimes differ because murder leads to death, but aggravated assault does not (Rosenfeld, 2014). Based on the traits, the characteristic for aggravated assault entails the presence of severe body injuries. The offenders are mostly male, and strangers to the victim and most victims are young females. The weapon used may include explosives, sharp objects, mouth bites, or bartering and the crime scenes are homes or dangerous streets. In the case of murder, crimes are premeditated and well-organized with the modus operandi of killing. The offenders in most cases are males and have a close relationship with the victim. The victims are mainly female and of young age. The crime involves the use of weapons mainly guns and knives, and the location of most murders take place in homes.

Also see: Effective Interpersonal-Communication

Differences in Arrests and Clearance Rates and Cause of the Crimes

Looking at the arrests and clearance rates of both violent crimes nationwide, 2017 data shows in 302,941 aggravated assault arrests, the clearance rates were approximately 53.3%. In murders arrests of 9,468, the clearance rate was 61.6%. The difference between the arrest and clearance rate is that murder clearance rates are high. Possibly, this may be due to the lack of proper identification of the offenders who can be held accountable upon the arrest of the suspect. Hence, most offenders, therefore, end up getting away with murder. On the other hand, the aggravated assaults arrests are high, and clearance rates are low since the victims are usually available to confirm the suspects. The possible reason offenders commit murder and aggravated assault in San Antonio is due to lack of employment or revenge (Rosenfeld, 2014). The best theory to explain the mentioned reasons is the general strain theory. The theory suggests that strain is an aspect that increases negative emotions such as anger, resentment thus creating an individual’s desire to revenge.

Conclusion

In conclusion, upon understanding why most people end up in violent crime, law enforcers and other agencies can establish approaches to help the perpetrators. This is important since it minimizes the patterns of offenses and victimization in regions, local areas and the nation at large. Law enforcement helps to prevent damages that could occur and also enhance the security of the persons in the area.

References

Rosenfeld, R. (2014). Understanding homicide and aggravated assault. In Encyclopedia of      Criminology and Criminal Justice (pp. 5355-5370). Springer, New York, NY.

Uniform Crime Reports, (2018-2015). The City of San Antonio. Retrieved from             https://www.sanantonio.gov/SAPD/Uniform-Crime-Reports#30261650-2015

FBI:UCR, (2017-2015), Crime in the United StatesRetrieved from: https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-   the-u.s/2015/crime-in-the-u.s.-2015/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/violent-crime

The Role of Culture and Self-Awareness in Interpersonal Communication:

Culture helps in describing the people’s way of life, depending on their beliefs, values, and practices like religion and law. Culture is generally passed from a generation to the next through communication. Before attempting to understand people’s culture, the integration of interpersonal communication is essential. DeVito (2019) holds that interpersonal communication helps an individual to understand cognitive constraints and different types of barriers like physical and language obstacles that interfere with effective communication. The objective will be identifying the effect of culture on communication, assessing my other orientation, and identifying verbal and nonverbal communication approaches that could be applied in human service.

Impact of Culture on Communication

In this first step, understanding how culture impacts communication is essential. People build trust with others when they first understand other’s cultures to establish the most effective communication tool to use when interacting. Particular considerations that go in place are assessing factors like where, when, what to do, or how much to disclose influence effective communication. Such questions generally eliminate most of the assumptions that people make regarding different cultures globally. From such matters, it is possible to know the behavioral dimensions such as people’s values, norms, beliefs, and expectations (DeVito, 2019). From the identified beliefs, the level of trust and openness in communication differs, hence impacting the context in different cultures. This is another significant aspect that helps in determining the kind of message to deliver to various groups.

For professionals in the human service settings, they have to portray cultural sensitivity the most significant strategy is improving open-mindedness. This helps a human service professional to learn how to accept diverse communication practices from different cultures. For instance, cultures in East Asia like Taiwan, China, Korea, and Japan, among others, have a high-context level of communication. This means that their measure of how messages should be exchanged is high because they prefer non-verbal communication more than the verbal. The non-verbal communication, however, is less direct, and it might confuse people from other cultures if they do not understand what the gestures mean. By looking at the Chinese, for example, minimal eye contact when communicating is a sign of respect, but in western culture, this is a rude gesture. Martin and Nakayama (2013) explain that direct eye contact through communication shows confidence and sincerity. Generally, westerners are low-context cultures, and they prefer verbal communication, for it is straightforward, which helps people understand each other easily. Another strategy is training the human service professionals to communicate with clients and workers with diverse cultural backgrounds. This would also help the professionals learn how to appreciate art, customs, and behaviors of different groups, which is essential in human service settings.

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Assessment of Other Orientation

In my evaluation of my other-orientation, which is one measure of self-awareness, I try to consider other people’s perspectives and communication patterns. This helps me avoid making the “I am right statements,” which do not promote cultural sensitivity (DeVito, 2019). I also acknowledge the importance of other people, whereby I always ask for their views concerning solutions to problems. However, I recognize that I find it challenging, revealing appropriate facial cues, especially when I engage with individuals from different cultures. This challenges me to educate myself about the communication practices of diverse cultures like the Chinese. I have acquaintances from this group; therefore, I would want them to feel that I care about their feelings. I believe having the element of other orientation portrays one’s willingness to promote change by accepting the diverse values, beliefs, and practices of other people.

Personal Strengths and Improvement

Although I have a significant challenge of interpreting facial cues, I can also acknowledge the strength of having a high ambiguity tolerance. Regardless of the working or social settings that I find myself in, I am comfortable with the people surrounding me because I embrace diversity. This has enabled me to engage in unfamiliar tasks freely because I know the importance of seeking advice and working in teams to accomplish the tasks. Also, I communicate with empathy and listen attentively to understand the message from the other person. This has enabled me to show the people I interact with that I care about their emotions, perspectives, and I am curious to know more about them. However, one area I need to improve is learning the nonverbal communication patterns, as identified in my assessment reflection (DeVito, 2019). I believe this would assist me in having a more impactful conversation. In most cases, I always end up dumbfounded when I realize that I have used gestures that have different meanings in different cultures. For example, I once used a thumbs-up sign to show approval in a group activity; however, among the members was an individual from Bangladesh who told me that was an insult. I felt embarrassed since I did not mean any harm. Nevertheless, this was a lesson, and from the cultural awareness course, I am more than motivated to diversify extensively my knowledge concerning interpersonal communication.

Other Orientation and Interpersonal Communication

Generally, having an other-orientation attitude would improve interpersonal communication in human service. On this note, this would enable human service professionals to make their clients happy and comfortable when sharing their issues. Focusing on other people’s perspectives enhance interactions by encouraging an individual to portray traits like honesty and fairness. DeVito (2013) holds that these characteristics in human service influence the development of credibility strategies like competence and charisma. These are essential ethical elements among the professionals which encourage interpersonal communication. Hence, having an other-orientation attitude like acknowledging the beliefs and values of clients, allowing people to express themselves freely, and showing consideration promote interpersonal communication (Martin, 2015). Every client seeking aid from human service settings expect that customer-service delivery is customer-centered. This means that having the other orientation is an indicator that a human service worker appreciates people’s differences in terms of culture.

Also see: Effective Interpersonal-Communication

Culture and Self-Awareness in Interpersonal Communication

To deliver quality services, culture and self-awareness are two critical elements in interpersonal communication. For one, cultural literacy, competence, and cultural awareness are all components that promote cultural intelligence. Achieving this requires an individual to identify strategic ways of enhancing his or her self-awareness. Secondly, the extent to which one knows the strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, feelings, and personality tendencies allows him or her to have an in-depth understanding of how to handle others (Martin & Nakayama, 2013). Therefore, culture and self-awareness are critical in interpersonal communication. In this case, they shape how professionals should communicate, build relationships, make decisions, as well as address tasks. Additionally, both culture and self-awareness motivate individuals in human service settings to enhance metacommunication effective. DeVito (2019) emphasizes that metacommunication is essential in interpersonal communication that encourages people to practice their talk by explaining their feelings appropriately and using straightforward messages. Additionally, they learn how to seek clarification when they are not sure of the message being delivered by the other person. Therefore, having such considerations in interpersonal communication facilitates cultural sensitivity and inclusivity in human service.

Examples of Effective Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication Techniques

Granted that culture and self-awareness are critical in human service, professionals need to identify appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication strategies to apply when serving. A verbal communication technique that a human service professional could consider is extensionalize the message. Professionals are encouraged to distinguish between what exists in the real world and how people refer to objects, issues, and events, among others. Otherwise, treating words and objects as similar aspects prevents one from addressing specific matters that are in question. Another technique is recognizing change, considering that the meaning of words keeps changing. Hence, performing a regular update of the messages and evaluation of beliefs can help in demonstrating self-awareness and culture in human service settings. Additionally, non-verbal communication techniques are also essential, and one of them is conveying a smile to show interest, positivity, and even attention. However, DeVito (2019) illustrates that this should be done moderately; otherwise, overdoing would be perceived negatively. Another technique is using vocal variations to match the emotions being portrayed by the other person communicating. The difference could be in rate, pitch, rhythm, and volume, which again should not be overdone since this might disrupt the communication and also make the person talking to feel uncomfortable. Furthermore, nodding and leaning forward is an approach that is encouraged since it reveals that an individual is interested and is listening keenly to understand the message. When the professionals demonstrate these techniques in human service, they promote their reputation and that of the organization.

Conclusion

In conclusion, culture has a significant impact on communication, and it encourages human service professionals to have self-awareness. These are factors that improve interpersonal communication considering that in human service settings, there are clients from diverse cultures. These people have different needs, and the only way a worker can understand them is by taking an interest in knowing the verbal and nonverbal communication they use to help them. This encourages the concept of other orientation, which every professional should possess to avoid making assumptions of people from different cultures.

Reference

DeVito, J. A. (2019). The interpersonal communication book. Instructor, 1, 18. 

Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2013). Intercultural communication in contexts. New York,     NY: McGraw-Hill.

Martin, J. N. (2015). Revisiting intercultural communication competence: Where to go from here. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 48, 6-8.