Couple jailed for baby son's manslaughter

A man was sentenced to five years and two months prison, with a non-parole period of three years for not seeking treatment for his newborn son, who died from head injuries. The seven-week-old boy died at a Newcastle hospital on May 6, 2006 having suffered a fractured skull.

On May 4, the mother was alone at home with her two children (including the baby boy and her 1 year old sister) and the baby boy was crying in his cot. She picked him up and then threw him back into the bassinet. He kept crying. She then pushed the bassinet with both hands, causing it to move across the floor and fall over. She then checked the baby boy and found that he was badly hurt. When the father returned home he suggested that medical attention be sought, but the couple argued and the child was left in his cot overnight.

The next day the boy's body was limp and his eyes were rolling back in their sockets. He stopped breathing as the couple drove him to hospital and died a day later. An autopsy found the boy died from a fractured skull and he had a number of other injuries including a broken wrist and ribs and cuts and bruises, which then suspected that the child had suffered a period of child abuse. According to the judge, life of the child could be prolonged if he had received a medical treatment at earlier time.

At last, the mother was sentenced to at least two years and six months' prison while the father was sentenced to five years and two months prison, with a non-parole period of three years. The couple's daughter, now aged five, is in foster care.

Aaron Travis Pompey jailed over car crash where four passengers died

A life-threatening road accident has taken place on South Australia’s west coast in May 2009. A 20-year-old man, Aaron Travis Pompey was drunk and driving a stolen car when he crashed and killed his four passengers. The car left the road and when he overcorrected, it rolled down an embankment and hit a tree. Two of Pompey’s friends and another two teenagers from Western Australia, whom he had just met, were killed, but Pompey suffered some minor injuries. Police estimated that he was driving with a speed at between 170-183km/h. A court has heard afterwards. Today, he was pleaded guilty for aggravated causing death by dangerous driving, driving without licence as well as drink-driving. The judge set a total sentence of nine years and three months, but a non-parole period of five years. Judge Boylan gave Pompey credit of his guilty pleas and obvious remorse, but still, he had to impose a lengthy jail term. Other than this, Pompey was also banned from driving for 10 years.

Elderly couple dies in home elevator

Yesterday happened to be a day at which an elderly couple aged 90 and 89 who had shared their lives for more than 60 years pointed to a tragic end. Police estimated that they had been dead at least four days before a newspaper carrier called the authorities realising that papers had piled up by their garage as well as an untouched watermelon left at the couple’s door. Police had to break into the house as the doors are locked and bolted. They found no one until their sight came into a touch with the elevator. Once the shaft was opened, they found the elevator stuck between the first and second floor of their house. Their dead body were lying in foetal position, facing each other. Autopsies concluded that they died from heat exhaustion as the temperature inside the elevated was estimated to be approximately 35C. Other than this, there was no phone inside the elevator, leaving the couple unable to call for help. The couple’s son responded by saying that he hoped they would go together as they were so dependent on each other.

Argumentative essay - the effects of television viewing draft 3

Argumentative Essay – The effect of television viewing

In accordance with the increasingly pursuing of better material standard of living by human beings, television has now become a fascinating entertainment tool to both young and old. According to Sharif (1999), it is a truth that more than ninety percent of households in an urbanized country own at least one television set. American Time Use Survey (2003) clarifies that watching television has become the major leisure activity for United States’ citizens. Issues on television as well as its effects are getting more contradictory among the public. However, I strongly believe that television viewing can lead to various unfavourable drawbacks that outweigh its benefits.

First and foremost, television viewing can lead to various behavioural problems among children. Children are at a stage when their attitudes, beliefs and ideas about the world are taking shape, therefore, they are easily influenced by the programs they watch (Sharif 1999). In most of the television programs displayed by television, people are portrayed to have negative characteristics such as violent and sexy (Sharif 1999). When they are speculated by children without accompanied by their parents, this will further affect their behaviour as well as their action towards the others. This is best illustrated with the example that children have injured themselves by putting on Superman costumes and jumping out of trees. Overall, television viewing can lead to disastrous consequences on children and in order to avoid all these from happening, parents’ concern should be put into advising them.

Besides that, television viewing adversely influences the development of thinking processes of a child. According to Leigh (2001), by watching television, children do not develop their imaginative skills to create fictitious characters and other skills which are important in handling developing problems. Subsequently, by displaying violent programs, television has become an equipment to implement an incorrect concept of thinking that violence can be used to solve everything in the mind of a child. With television programs that encourage children to think that all problems can be solved within thirty minutes such as “Friends”, they become aggravated and distracted easily when encounter complicated situations in real life (Sharif 1999). In short, television viewing can negatively affects the thoughts of a child and excessive television viewing should be cut down.

In addition, television viewing can trigger various health problems such as obesity and related disease as television viewing is a passive activity. According to Rutherford (2002), human beings’ lifestyle has changed thoroughly and they prefer to indulge in with snacks while watching television. However, is it proven that this sedentary activity can lead to various harmful effects regarding health issue. Prolonged periods in front of television may not be beneficial because by doing so, children are not being physically active. This evidence has strengthened the fact that television viewing can lead to obesity and other related disease.

In a nutshell, I strongly believe that television viewing can lead to various detrimental drawbacks in influencing children’s development and thinking as well as lead to various health problems. To avoid all these consequences, time management can certainly be useful to obtain an optimum point in which the negative effects can be minimised as well as having ourselves being refreshed after a hard day or work at school (Rutherford 2002).

Argumentative Essay – The effect of television viewing draft 2

Argumentative Essay – The effect of television viewing

In accordance with the increasingly pursuing of better material standard of living by human beings, television has now become a fascinating entertainment tool to both young and old. According to Sharif (1999), it is a truth that more than ninety percent of households in an urbanized country own at least one television set. American Time Use Survey (2003) clarifies that watching television has become the major leisure activity for United States’ citizens. Issues on television as well as its effects are getting more contradictory among the public. However, I strongly believe that television viewing can lead to various unfavourable drawbacks that outweigh its benefits.

First and foremost, television viewing can lead to various behavioural problems among children. Children are at a stage when their attitudes, beliefs and ideas about the world are taking shape, therefore, they are easily influenced by the programs they watch (Sharif 1999). In most of the television programs displayed by television, people are portrayed to have negative characteristics such as violent and sexy (Sharif 1999). When they are speculated by children without accompanied by their parents, this will further affect their behaviour as well as their action towards the others. This is best illustrated with the example that children have injured themselves by putting on Superman costumes and jumping out of trees. Overall, television viewing can lead to disastrous consequences on children and in order to avoid all these from happening, parents’ concern should be put into advising them.

Besides that, television viewing adversely influences the development of thinking processes of a child. According to Leigh (2001), by watching television, children do not develop their imaginative skills to create fictitious characters and other skills which are important in handling developing problems. Subsequently, by displaying violent programs, television has become an equipment to implement an incorrect concept of thinking that violence can be used to solve everything in the mind of a child. With television programs that encourage children to think that all problems can be solved within thirty minutes such as “Friends”, they become aggravated and distracted easily when encounter complicated situations in real life (Sharif 1999). In short, television viewing can negatively affects the thoughts of a child and excessive television viewing should be cut down.

In addition, television viewing can trigger various health problems such as obesity and related disease as it is part of passive activity. According to Rutherford (2002), human beings’ lifestyle has changed thoroughly and they prefer to indulge in with snacks while watching television. However, is it proven that this sedentary activity can lead to various harmful effects regarding health issue. Prolonged periods in front of television may not be beneficial because by doing so, children are not being physically active. These evidences have strengthened the fact that television viewing can lead to obesity and other related disease.

In a nutshell, I strongly believe that television viewing can lead to various detrimental drawbacks in influencing children’s development and thinking as well as lead to various health problems. To avoid all these consequences, time management can certainly be useful to obtain an optimum point in which the negative effects can be minimised as well as having ourselves being refreshed after a hard day or work at school (Rutherford 2002).

Argumentative essay(junk food) draft 2

Argue either for or against the banning of the sale of junk food in school canteens.

Owing to parents’ fear regarding children’s health, abetted by nutritionist and media, whether the schools should or should not ban the sale of junk food in school canteens has been getting more contradictory among the public. According to Family Journal (2005), junk food refers to any food that is perceived to be unhealthy and of low nutritional value. The nutritional value of food eaten by Australian children has been dropping continuously over the past 3 decades (Weekend News 2005). According to the statistics provided by Health Foundation (2005), 6 out of 13 most popular snack foods are of low nutritional value and the other 3 are of moderate nutritional value. With the increasing consumption of junk food which will lead to various drawbacks, I strongly believe that the sale of junk food in school canteens should be banned.

Firstly, the primary effect brought by the consumption of junk food can be linked directly to childhood obesity. Junk foods such as potato chips and chocolate bars can raise the kilojoules intake, leading to weight gain (Weekend News 2005). By supplying foods high in fat and sugar, school canteens are actually contributing to youth weight gain (Reynolds 2005). According to the statistics published by Australian Nutrition Journal (2004), percentage of Australian children aged 12-14 that intake sugar more than level of recommended is far outweigh the percentage of children that consume in optimum level. This can lead to even serious health problems such as heart disease, osteoarthritis and some cancers (Weekend News 2005). In short, the sales of junk food in school canteens should be banned to prevent the worsening of obesity among youth.

Consequently, junk foods intake provides no benefits but lead to unhealthy growth and development among children. The chemical additives, ingredients in manufacturing junk foods to enhance flavour and colour has been experimented to trigger various behavioural problems in children, such as hyperactivity and poor concentration (Family Journal 2005). According to Caputo (2005), research shows that there is improvement on children’s behaviour by having reducing amount of unhealthy foods in children’s diet. Students became calmer after lunch and showed improvement in their behaviour after the removal of junk food and soft drinks from school canteen (Green 2005). Therefore, to further hinder such behavioural problems, junk foods should be banned in school canteen.

Furthermore, the selling of junk food at school canteens should be banned as it is the major contributor to litter problems. Cans, crisp packets, cartons and plastic containers are scattered all over the school compounds with the increasing availability of junk food at school. Schools that have reduced the sales of junk food have also reduced their litter problems (Family Journal 2005). According to Green (2005), the reduction in litter has benefited the school groundsman by helping them to spend less time on cleaning the grounds, enabling them to contribute more time on maintenance projects that improve the school. Overall, in order to provide a better environment for schooling, sales of junk food in school canteen should be banned.

As a conclusion, the sales of junk foods in school canteens has led to various serious problems such as childhood obesity, unhealthy growth and littering problems. Although it does generate profits for the school, but again, I would like to strengthen my stand of going against the sales of junk food in school canteens as the future of healthy children is much more important than the profits that it can generate.

Argumentative Essay – The effect of television viewing draft 1

In accordance with the increasingly pursuing of better material standard of living by human beings, television has now become a fascinating entertainment tool to both young and old. According to Sharif (1999), it is a truth that more than ninety percent of households in an urbanized country own at least one television set. American Time Use Survey (2003) clarifies that watching television has become the major leisure activity for United States’ citizens. Issues on television as well as its effects are getting more contradictory among the public. However, I strongly believe that television viewing can lead to various unfavourable drawbacks that outweigh its benefits.

First and foremost, television viewing can lead to various behavioural problems among children. Children are at a stage when their attitudes, beliefs and ideas about the world are taking shape, therefore, they are easily influenced by the programs they watch (Sharif 1999). In most of the television programs displayed by television, people are characterised according to different types of personality, such as decorative, sexy, rugged and tough (Sharif 1999). When they are speculated by children without accompanied by their parents, this will further affect their behaviour as well as their action towards the others. This is best illustrated with the example that children have injured themselves by putting on Superman costumes and jumping out of trees. Overall, television viewing can lead to disastrous consequences on children and in order to avoid all these from happening, parents’ concern should be put into advising them.

Besides that, television viewing adversely influences the development of thinking processes of a child. According to Leigh (2001), by watching television, children do not develop their imaginative skills to create fictitious characters and other skills which are important in handling developing problems. Subsequently, by displaying violent programs, television has become an equipment to implement an incorrect concept of thinking that violence can be used to solve everything in the mind of a child. With television programs that encourage children to think that all problems can be solved within thirty minutes such as “Friends”, they become aggravated and distracted easily when encounter complicated situations in real life (Sharif 1999). In short, television viewing can negatively affects the thoughts of a child and excessive television viewing should be cut down.

In addition, television viewing can trigger various health problems such as obesity and related disease as it is part of passive activity. According to Rutherford (2002), human beings’ lifestyle has changed thoroughly and they prefer to indulge in with snacks while watching television. However, is it proven that this sedentary activity can lead to various harmful effects regarding health issue. Prolonged periods in front of television may not be beneficial because by doing so, children are not being physically active. These evidences have strengthened the fact that television viewing can lead to obesity and other related disease.

In a nutshell, I strongly believe that television viewing can lead to various detrimental drawbacks in influencing children’s development and thinking as well as lead to various health problems. To avoid all these consequences, time management can certainly be useful to obtain an optimum point in which the negative effects can be minimised as well as having ourselves being refreshed after a hard day or work at school (Rutherford 2002).