Joseph Plumb Martin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Joseph Plumb Martin - Essay Example Wit and humor are great assets for a writer. Martin describes about the confusing situations that prevailed in the uncertain battlegrounds. Without able officers to guide, issue orders to the soldiers as to the course of action to be followed everything was in a state of mess in the war-fronts. The soldiers were ill-equipped, untrained and faced life-and death situations often. Most of them were inexperienced and did not possess the skills and intricacies of attacking and defending in warfronts. Martin’s grouse that the authorities did not care for the ordinary soldier is genuine. They defended the people and the cause, and once the war was over they were finding it difficult to defend their poor pensions. This observation of Martin is bone chilling: â€Å"If I chance to die in a civilized country, none will deny me that. A dead body never begs a grave; thanks for that.† (p.179, 180). Martin and fellow-soldiers fought wars with utter dedication in sub-human conditions. Their patriotism was matchless. Martin felt genuine anguish the way the soldiers were treated by the authorities, once the job was done. His language is not that of a bitter critic. His simple words pierce the conscience of a discernable reader, like a sharp dagger. Revolutionary speeches were delivered by the big leaders, theoreticians on the subject of racism, and other think-tanks from the ivory towers. But the real difficulties of the war was borne by the ordinary soldiers, and the goal of freedom for the Nation was accomplished by them fighting from the deadly trenches, with genuine apprehensions about their survival to see the sun rise for another day.

Concept of criminal punishment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Concept of criminal punishment - Essay Example The English were notorious for their use of corporal punishment and their penchant for this form of punishment proliferated in their iniquitous colonies (Punishment ). The American colonies witnessed such abnormal cruelty at the hands of the English masters, and a semblance of civilized behavior was established after the advent of independence. Gradually, corporal punishment was rooted out of the American penal system, and the extant penal system has no room for such iniquitous measures (Punishment ). From the dawn of civilization, societies have implemented a wide array of punishments to deter crime. Initially and even today in some of the Islamic countries, the lex talionis or the law of equal retaliation used to hold sway. In this form of punishment the retribution is akin to the crime committed. For instance, in some Islamic countries, a thief’s hand is amputated. This is termed as the law of hudÃ… «d. An improvement over these barbaric customs was the exaction of money from the perpetrators of crime. This was predominant in England from the 5th to the 15th century. Such money was required to be paid as compensation for theft, personal injury and death (Champion, 2007). The American penal system is characterized by a high rate of incarceration. This is on account of the proliferation of crime and the resolve of the authorities to enhance the number of compulsory sentences. The discretionary powers of the judiciary have been curtailed, since the 1980’s with the consequence that the length of sentences increased from 39 to 54 months. This measure has been hailed as a grand success, because there was a substantial decrease in the crime rate. However, of late, the crime rate has displayed an increase. This has been attributed to the absence of a properly implemented rehabilitation program for convicts, and the proclivity of the authorities to imprison people with