Light in August: Platonic Parody and Paradox

This thesis examines William Faulkner\u27 s aesthetic rendering of Plato\u27s ideas in The Republic within Light in August. It asks, given Faulkner\u27s persistent rejection of ideas and ideologies, where and why are they in the novel? It is suggested that the text is imbued with a Greek and Hellenic aura consistently invoking Platonic Absolute Idealism. Faulkner \u27 s insistence upon the future relevance of his works is used to challenge conventional interpretation as merely repressive patriarchal, religious, and racial codes of the tum of the century American South. The argument proposes another view that accommodates a future ideological matrix of Faulkner\u27 s sought after audience, The Jones of 4057. Faulkner\u27 s invocation of The Republic and Plato\u27s seminal allegory of the Cave offer more than a formula and deductive theory of Light in August, and suggests a conceptual unity under which divergent plurisignation of other systems of thought might be timelessly subsumed. The argument is advanced that Light in August does not use Plato \u27 s allegory and epistemological theory to depict victimizing oppressive ideological forces , but rather oppressive ideological forces are the inevitable end of absolute idealism found in Platonism. Faulkner does not reverently use Platonism in Light in August; instead, he doggedly uses Light in August to indict Platonism. There is a specific symbol matrix shared between Plato\u27s Cave and Light in August that is identified, explicated, and proposes Light in August as an anti-Platonic text. The novel\u27s irreverent and ubiquitous infusion of Platonic symbol and theory suggests a unity in its persistent rejection of Absolute Idealism. Bakhtinian hybridization within Light in August is explored revealing a Faulknerian non-authoritarian and Platonic authoritarian heteroglossia which character, plot, and structure are in service. A critical examination of the novel\u27 s symbols argues how the abstract language of the Truth can never quite b e truth; it must be inextricably bound to the visceral language of the everyday. The thesis contends that Faulkner is a strange sort of modernist. invoking something of the ideal, God, virtue, and eternity by wrestling it away from the stranglehold of abstract systems of isolated Idealism. Faulkner\u27s Light in August is not modernism as usual in its eliciting a sense of vital continuum and vital abstraction that includes ideals

An Evidence Review of Community Service Policy, Practice and Structure

ReportThe Community Service Order (‘CSO’) was introduced to Ireland in 1983 as an alternative to custody in order to address concerns relating to prison overcrowding and rising crime rates. International consensus on the null to criminogenic effects of prison on reoffending rates has renewed calls for decarceration. At the same time, the evidence reviewed shows that community service results in lower recidivism rates and more positive outcomes for those who have offended and their community, when compared with short-term prison sentences. Notwithstanding these findings, the CSO remains underutilised in this jurisdiction. The purpose of this review is to evaluate research findings and knowledge from peer-reviewed journals, national and international policy materials, reports, and publications relating to community service spanning the key areas of strategic innovation, operational practice, legal structure, impact, evaluation and related developments. The recommendations contained in this report are intended to provide broad guidance to the Probation Service in the development of community service in Ireland, and to highlight key areas that require further investigation

What Exactly is a Community Service Order?

Copyright © The [Irish] Probation Service, Probation Board for Northern Ireland and individual authors 2017. This article examines the Irish Community Service Order (CSO), from its origins to its present-day operation. It outlines how the Irish CSO differs from community service sanctions in other jurisdictions and highlights why it is important that there is clarity about what the CSO currently is in Ireland. While the legislation that introduced the CSO in Ireland was almost identical to the corresponding legislation in England and Wales, there were substantial differences between the English and Irish CSO. The author seeks to identify the limits and boundaries of the CSO in law and in practice in Ireland. He considers how far the use of the CSO could be expanded without net-widening or it being imposed on offenders for whom it is not appropriate. With the decline in CSO numbers in recent years and increasing knowledge on offenders’ problems and needs, the author asks whether the CSO can or should adopt a rehabilitative purpose and approach

Racially Determined Case Characteristics: Exploring Disparities in the Use of Sentencing Factors in England and Wales

There is little understanding of how documented ethnic disparities in sentencing outcomes in England and Wales come to be and, consequently, how to address them. We argue that disparities in sentence outcomes could stem from how cases are constructed. We hypothesize that case characteristics determined through a high degree of judicial discretion and an assessment of the offender have a high risk of being racially determined, and therefore, operate as precursors of ethnic disparities in sentencing. We test this using Crown Court Sentencing Survey and Court Proceedings data. We identify three sentencing factors (remorse, good character and ability to rehabilitate) clearly favouring White offenders. We contextualize their operation and argue that all three should be classified as racially determined and sources of ethnic disparity. We conclude by setting out targeted policy solutions

Preregistration of Study into Disparities in Remand Decisions in England and Wales

This is a preregistration of a study that will investigate the degree of (in)consistency in remand decisions between police forces and between courts in England and Wales. It will do so using new criminal court datasets made available by the Data First project from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in collaboration with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Her Majesty Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS). The study will also use these linked datasets to assess how disparities in remand rates evolve throughout the trajectory of cases from the police remand decision up to the final Crown Court decision, when cases makes it that far.Economic and Social Research Council grant ref: ES/W00738X/1, Exploring the Nature of Ethnic Disparities in Sentencing through Causal Inference

Can ethnic disparities in sentencing be taken as evidence of judicial discrimination?

Large research efforts have been directed at the exploration of ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system, documenting harsher treatment of minority ethnic defendants, across offence types, criminal justice decisions, and jurisdictions. However, most studies on the topic have relied on observational data, which can only approximate ‘like with like’ comparisons. We use causal diagrams to lay out explicitly the different ways estimates of ethnic disparities in sentencing derived from observational data could be biased. Beyond the commonly acknowledged problem of unobserved case characteristics, we also discuss other less well-known, yet likely more consequential problems: measurement error in the form of racially-determined case characteristics or as a result of disparities within the ‘Whites’ reference group, and selection bias from non-response and missing offenders’ ethnicity data. We apply such causal framework to review findings from two recent studies showing ethnic disparities in custodial sentences imposed at the Crown Court (England and Wales). We also use simulations to recreate the most comprehensive of those studies, and demonstrate how the reported ethnic disparities appear robust to a problem of unobserved case characteristics. We conclude that ethnic disparities observed in the Crown Court are likely reflecting evidence of direct discrimination in sentencing.Secondary Data Analysis Initiative of the Economic and Social Research Council (Grant Ref: ES/W00738X/1

Yang's gravitational theory

Yang's pure space equations (C.N. Yang, Phys. Rev. Lett. v.33, p.445 (1974)) generalize Einstein's gravitational equations, while coming from gauge theory. We study these equations from a number of vantage points: summarizing the work done previously, comparing them with the Einstein equations and investigating their properties. In particular, the initial value problem is discussed and a number of results are presented for these equations with common energy-momentum tensors.Comment: 28 pages, to appear in Gen. Rel. Gra

Jasmonate promotes auxin-induced adventitious rooting in dark-grown Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings and stem thin cell layers by a cross-talk with ethylene signalling and a modulation of xylogenesis

Background: Adventitious roots (ARs) are often necessary for plant survival, and essential for successful micropropagation. In Arabidopsis thaliana dark-grown seedlings AR-formation occurs from the hypocotyl and is enhanced by application of indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) combined with kinetin (Kin). The same IBA + Kin-treatment induces AR-formation in thin cell layers (TCLs). Auxin is the main inducer of AR-formation and xylogenesis in numerous species and experimental systems. Xylogenesis is competitive to AR-formation in Arabidopsis hypocotyls and TCLs. Jasmonates (JAs) negatively affect AR-formation in de-etiolated Arabidopsis seedlings, but positively affect both AR-formation and xylogenesis in tobacco dark-grown IBA + Kin TCLs. In Arabidopsis the interplay between JAs and auxin in AR-formation vs xylogenesis needs investigation. In de-etiolated Arabidopsis seedlings, the Auxin Response Factors ARF6 and ARF8 positively regulate AR-formation and ARF17 negatively affects the process, but their role in xylogenesis is unknown. The cross-talk between auxin and ethylene (ET) is also important for AR-formation and xylogenesis, occurring through EIN3/EIL1 signalling pathway. EIN3/EIL1 is the direct link for JA and ET-signalling. The research investigated JA role on AR-formation and xylogenesis in Arabidopsis dark-grown seedlings and TCLs, and the relationship with ET and auxin. The JA-donor methyl-jasmonate (MeJA), and/or the ET precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid were applied, and the response of mutants in JA-synthesis and -signalling, and ET-signalling investigated. Endogenous levels of auxin, JA and JA-related compounds, and ARF6, ARF8 and ARF17 expression were monitored. Results: MeJA, at 0.01 μM, enhances AR-formation, when combined with IBA + Kin, and the response of the early-JA-biosynthesis mutant dde2–2 and the JA-signalling mutant coi1–16 confirmed this result. JA levels early change during TCL-culture, and JA/JA-Ile is immunolocalized in AR-tips and xylogenic cells. The high AR-response of the late JA-biosynthesis mutant opr3 suggests a positive action also of 12-oxophytodienoic acid on AR-formation. The crosstalk between JA and ET-signalling by EIN3/EIL1 is critical for AR-formation, and involves a competitive modulation of xylogenesis. Xylogenesis is enhanced by a MeJA concentration repressing AR-formation, and is positively related to ARF17 expression. Conclusions: The JA concentration-dependent role on AR-formation and xylogenesis, and the interaction with ET opens the way to applications in the micropropagation of recalcitrant species