The Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group Case Study

The Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group - Case Study Example Be in one of the most highly rated industries for stability and success, the Kimpton Hotel offers a high quality services to everyone who wants an excellent rest. It is advantage is that the Kimpton Hotel can meet the requirement of wide audience. The high quality services are the main success factor. The core strategy is to maintain a friendly, fair, and creative environment, which respects the customers. However, more than ever, people need cozy places to spend a vacation, including the rich and famous or simple people who simply need to look their best in their favorite outfit. Another factor is a demand for hotel rooms which increased from by 3.1% in 1997-1998. Also, workability of business is explained by tourism popularity and increasing number of people traveling around the world. The Kimpton boutique Hotels are oriented on a specific customer target: "people who do like generic activities and Starbucks" (Case study). The Kimpton Hotels do not reduce costs as it can worsen qua lity of their services. Thus the core strategy is to deliver customer satisfaction and gaining customers loyalty; to maintain a friendly, fair, and creative environment, which respects the customers. The Kimpton boutique Hotels decided to expend geographically and looked for property in Seattle, Tacoma, Chicago, the Eastern Coast, etc. The Kimpton is a market leaders which 67% of the market share. The Kimpton has a successful mix of tangible res... The Kimpton heavily invests in old fashioned hotels redesigning their services and interior. Non-price competition and "mongoose strategy" help the Kimpton to sustain market position and create long-term relations with the consumers. The effective operation of business is dependent on the maintenance of tangible and intangible resources (buildings, services, etc). Indeed, company welfare or personnel practice is designed partly as a maintenance activity, e.g. training and retraining to maintain the availability of appropriate skills, facilities to maintain human capacity (McDonald and Christopher 45). The main competences involve technological competence that accumulates not only in the heads of people, but also in the technical/physical systems that people build over time: databases, machinery, software, and so on. The accumulation of employee knowledge is guided and monitored by the company's system of education, rewards, and incentives. These systems are often called management systems, and they create the channels by which knowledge is accessed and flows-and barriers to the same. Core competences allow the company to achieve strong leadership and compete on the market. They involve unique brand image and proposition, direct marketing skills and minimization of working capital. Distinctive competences allow the Kimpton to sustain competitive advantage and compete with such giant as Hilton Group. The main distinctive competences are excellent customer support and low cost. The Kimpton target is on average as dependent on reliable information technology as any other businesses. T hey care more about reliable service and confidence than about the lowest price. They don't want to rely solely on their own expertise, so they choose instead to deal with us with our

Rhetorical Analysis of Print Advertisement Essay

Rhetorical Analysis of Print Advertisement - Essay Example The rhetorical perspective is often quite subtle and covert and as such quite hard to detect on the fly. Herein, the various ways in which the advertiser has used will be examined with reference to the provided HP advertisement. The appeals used are mostly ethos, and pathos, appeal by association, and sentiment respectively. The poster is a picture of what could be a rocket or missile seconds after it is launched, it is shooting skywards, and leaving a considerable trial of smoke in its wake. At the bottom of the picture is the words â€Å"make it matter†, and then there is the HP insignia in bigger letters than any other words in the advert. The picture itself presents an appeal to pathos; a shooting rocket can be easily associated with power potency, and masculinity. With such an interpretation, men since they readily relate to the concept, nonetheless, even the women who are competing in the corporate world recently a man’s domain will forge an association. It could be said on introspection that the picture is seen as a semiotic representation of a virile male. The fact that most men want to be seen in this light makes it easy for a male viewer to relate the use of HP products to masculinity, virility, and power. The HP legend is done in stark, bold, blue letters it is then located strategically near the cloud of smoke seeming to be near the launching pad. Before it are the words, â€Å"make it matter†. This means the observer will see first words in small print, and possibly wonder what it is that they need to happen, and then they will see the huge HP insignia. This way HP will appear to be â€Å"what makes it matter† this generalization will appeal to audiences across a wide scope, this is because people have something close to their hearts they would like to see happening. This ranges from winning a lottery to getting a satisfactory grade in school and/or get a promotion. As such, most people have something they would want to make happen. By associating the product with that concept, it can transcend a myriad of social cultural boundaries. This is because human desire for perfection is universal and the advert can appeal to anyone at any place or job. The advert contains an appeal to ethos; this is because of its use of a rocket being launched. The average American knows that rocket launching and flying is an extremely tricky and difficult task. They also know that for safety to be achieved, precision and high levels of accuracy must be achieved. As such, a picture of a rocket that appears to have been launched successfully is used to create an association of HP being an exceptionally competent and effective company. Furthermore, while one may expect to see a rocket being launched in a metropolitan area the picture is shot on what looks like a desolate village, there are a few electric wires at the background, but they appear vague. This is to create in the customer the impression that HP has products, a re available, and suitable even when the area around is not seriously advanced. However, the rocket juxtaposes the surrounding environment, which seems to be a relatively unprosperous background, and modern technology, which is prominently showed in idea of the rocket. The power lines in the background may have been used further imply that fact that HP has "power†

Who were the Hippies and how did they influence the culture of the Essay

Who were the Hippies and how did they influence the culture of the 1960s - Essay Example They influenced the counterculture of 1960s in that they tried to push the social and political order toward non-conventional ways. They challenged the traditional ways of living by taking over a practice of cultural dissent from the bohemians and the beatniks. Hence, their lifestyle was just opposite to the lifestyle of the contemporary Americans. 2. The gay movement is the current counterculture movement (Gallaghar & Bull, 1996). The earliest known gay rights organization is the Society for Human Rights in Chicago that was established in 1924. After that, the Mattachine Society was established in 1951, and there have been a number of other organizations and movements till then which support gay rights. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) passed by Congress in 1996 protects the marriage rights of gays since there were many states which had banned gay marriages before 1996. Congress approved the law in 2010 and legalized gay marriages. Gay rights include ceremonial marriages, child adoption, domestic partnership registration on public record, domestic partnership affidavit given by employers to gay employees that defines the couple’s economic relationship, health care, insurance, lawsuits, property, and the like. Hence, gay movements form the current counterculture because they present a different lifestyle that is not

Marketing analysis for Construction Forensic Thesis

Marketing analysis for Construction Forensic - Thesis Example Hence, we see that the construction industry has taken over a number of services that were offered by A/E consultants. The contractors have taken over a large share of the service market of A/E consultants and thus, A/E firms need to expand the services offered to retain their market shares. They need to venture into service segments such as providing financial assistance to the clients, assistance with regulations, cost analysis of project life cycle, O&M functions, and renovation services. The situation has changed dramatically for marketing professionals and construction services providers and it is not as simple as it used to be. The shift in the project delivery system and the advances in communication technology requires the architects and the engineers to change themselves from their usual procedures of working. For example, in the past architects relied on their name and recognition whereas consulting engineers relied on 80/20 rule2 , and general contractors used to bid low i n competitive bidding situations3. The A/E consultants can retain their market shares by strengthening their market niche, marketing plans that increase customer retention, and restructuring of the organization to increase flexibility in the human resource and the services offered. If we take a look at the US construction industry, it is a pretty large profitable market and the barriers to entry in the market for foreign firms are low as there have been indications that a number of foreign firms have entered the heavily civil and public works markets in California, Massachusetts, and Florida. Statistically, Construction industry is a huge one. According to the US Census Bureau, the total value of business done in 2007 was $748,4994 (in millions of dollars). Similarly, in the state of Washington, there were a total of 21,701 establishments in 2007 and the dollar value of business done was $27, 916, 1235. Construction Litigation Industry The function that Construction Litigation serve s is dealing with legal disputes that result from construction projects. The disputes could result from disagreements in construction contracts and from injury claims or accidental deaths caused by ignorant behavior. In any case, construction litigation consultants are responsible for dealing with civil lawsuits involving private parties that are governed under separate rule and regulations from those of criminal prosecution6. Several new methods have evolved in the construction industry such as design/build, at-risk construction management, built-operate-transfer methods7. Difference of opinion exists on the claims and litigations under these methods. Proponents of these methods are of the view that these methods tend to bring down the hostility of the relationship between the concerned parties, hence resulting in an overall reduction in claims and litigations whereas advocates of litigation believe that despite the use of alternate methods; these methods just place the associated risks within the construction process. Consequently, there is no significant impact on the claims or litigation. On the contrary, they believe that

The Effects of Various Substances on the Rate of Sodium, Potassium and Lab Report

The Effects of Various Substances on the Rate of Sodium, Potassium and Urine Excretion in the Human - Lab Report Example The main reason behind this is that Furosemide is a very strong diuretic. In this experiment, volunteers from three various student groups participated in one of the sample groups. They provided the required urine sample that is needed for collection of data. The collected data was assembled, illustrated, and calculated to get the expected results. It is expected that the statistical results will indicate that there was an increase in urine out from the samples of alcohol and juice groups but not in potassium and sodium. The furosemide samples should record a definite increase in urine output in both samples of sodium and potassium groups and the other two samples groups of alcohol and juice. The reduction of potassium and sodium output in the experiment proved that most potassium and sodium was reabsorbed in the blood before the filtered fluid in the body became urine and ultimately eliminated from the body as urine. Diuretics are forms of drugs, which increase urine production in order to create the hypotensive effect. Furosemide operates in a manner that it blocks the absorption of potassium and sodium from the filtered fluid, causing an increase in urine output (dieresis). The main objective of this experiment was to determine the diuretic effects of furosemide against a control group and another group that was under the influence of alcohol. The effects were later observed through potassium and sodium excreted by the human volunteer. The action mechanism depletes sodium from the blood plasma leading to the hypotensive effect. A reduction in the amount of blood plasma leads to a reduction of peripheral workload and cardiac output. The experiment was carried out at the University of Brighton among the different pharmacy group students. The experiment required that no pregnant student or any student under contraceptive drugs would participate in this experiment.  Students that are diagnosed with any kidney disorder or taking medication that controls their blood pressure must also not participate in this experiment.

The human resources of a business Essay Example for Free

The human resources of a business Essay The human resources of a business must be run correctly for the business to be able to achieve its objectives. There are fair main areas of human resources management: planning, recruitment and selection training and development and performance management. To understand how these areas work and the role they hold within the business structure I have decided to research into the human resources within J.D Wetherspoon. I am going to look into their recruitment and selection section in detail. J.D Wetherspoon is a chain of public houses. The first one opened in 1979 by a 24 year old law student called Tim Martin. He opened his first pub in north London, which he named Wetherspoons, after he of his former school teacher. Tim wanted to run his pub differently from regular pubs, he offered a good range of beers, a music free environment, non- smoking area and all day food. According to Tim the pub was run very badly, in spite of his hard work. Although he was struggling he want to expand so in 1980 he obtained planning permission and a pub licence to convert a car showroom into a pub. From here on his success grew. He made his first in 1983 of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½188,000! In 1996 Wetherspoons launched its first pub in Scotland. The Scots didnt enjoy Wetherspoons as they hated the lack of music and poor choice of beers and ales. Tim was aware of the change in tastes around the country so quickly changed so it would satisfy the Scots requirements. In 1998 Wetherspoon decided to open their first hotel in Shrewsbury. Two more have opened since then. By 2001 there were 500 Wetherspoons pubs around the UK, and 100 more opened in 2002. They have now announced plans to open another hundred pubs including pubs in Bath, Burnham, and Solihull; this would create 3,000 more jobs. J.D Wetherspoons has 11,200 either full or part-time employees, of which 220 are at the head office in Watford. Human Resources Management In recent years we have seen a transformation in the way companies started dealing with the people who were their employees. Instead of seeking to get the best out of people just for the sake of the business, e.g. to help the company achieve its objectives. The human resources method is a radical change; they are able to achieve the companys objectives by supporting each employee to for fill their own personal needs. A second change in people management was in the 1990s when management began to release that it should not just be the personnel department of a business that deals with people work. Instead managers should be those that are responsible for recruitment, appraisal, selection and training of employees. A third change in people management was that HRM was given a great deal more status in the organisation. Instead of being something carried on at lower levels of the organisation, HRM is now recognised as a key strategic area of the organisation. Many organisations have moved away from personnel management t the new human resources management. Human resource planning Human resources involve recruiting the right people who then met the goals set by the company. In order for these goals to be met successfully, this process should be run productively, insuring the right people for the job are hired and their skills are used correctly. Any problem would need to be identified and solved quickly and accurately. The way this works can be shown though supply and demand. The demand side The demand for labour will depend on plan on plans of the organisation for the future. J.D Wetherspoon is an organisation that continues to grow rapidly, planning to open another hundred public houses around the UK bringing them to a total of 700. When plans such as this are to take place, it is needed to recruit a great many more employees. A demand forecast needs to be made. One way to do this with the use of work studies. Work-study knows how long various jobs take and can calculate the number of employees needed and the hours they will need to work. This technique is used mainly within manufacturing companies who will need to produce a set amount of products in a given amount of time. J.D Wetherspoons would use a different techniques; management estimates. This involves looking at past employment records and estimating how many staff would be needed in future plans. The amount of staff would depend on many factors: * Size of the establishment * Amount of customers expected * Location * Number of hours worked The forecast would also need to include how many people would need to be employed at each stage of the hierarchy. Current employees through promotions or placements would fill the majority of managerial jobs. J.D Wetherspoons has estimated that their 100 pubs would create an extra 3,000 jobs. The supply side The supply of employees can come from two different places: with the business, internally or externally. Taking employees from internal sources has befits, employees already know and understand how the business runs and operates and where it is heading. There is usually development needed in the employee, so it is important that the right person is chosen to keep costs down. All the pubs within J.D Wetherspoons chain are run in the same way. This means that a member of staff has been trained they would have the right skills to work in any Wetherspoons. Or if for any reason they needed to be transferred from one pub to another, no extra training would be needed. Bar and kitchen staff in J.D Wetherspoons need to hold certain skills e.g. politeness and respect. Thoughs sort of skills are expected of staff through-out the Wetherspoons chain, man skills such as these are seen as part of a persons personality in a sense. Most of the people who work within J.D Wetherspoons are temporary, part-time employees. Students often work in such pubs to earn some extra cash; they dont see it as a career and they are unlikely to work there for long. The type of skills that they have gained while working at Wetherspoons would make them an internal asset but also an external asset to other, rival establishments. It is important for all organisations to understand why an individual wants to work for them. This way they can be trained to the appropriate level and the business can plan ahead. All employers need to know; how many people work for them at each level, how long they plan to stay in the job, their aspirations for the job and their age. This way there can always be employees who have worked there for a while and understand how the business works. If there were too many older people in employment they would all reach retirement at the same time, leaving big gaps in the structure. Younger people tend to only have jobs as a way to gain money whilst studying. Because younger people dont stay in a job for long they damage the amount of promotions that can occur. J.D Wetherspoon has to get their staff turnover right, if too many people are leaving it will cost the company more in recruiting and training. These costs are unnecessary and can be avoided if the right people are employed to star t of with. There are two ways to measure labour turn over: Employee wastage rate It is possible to calculate the number of staff leaving a business as a percentage of those who could have left. To find the wastage rate the number of staff leaving in a time period is divided by the average number of staff employed in time period and that is then multiplied by 100 to equal a percentage. This simple equation shows this: Wastage rate = number of staff leaving in a time period x 100 Average number of staff employed in time period For example, if Wetherspoons employed 100 people but found that 25 left during the year the wastage rate would be: 25 x 100 = 25% 100 This would then help them to predict future wastage rates. They are planning to recruit 3,000 people in the next year and would expect a waste rate of 25% according to this example, meaning that 750 people would leave. This is a large figure so HMR would have to look into of they are employing the right people as recruiting more people is wasting time and money. Labour stability rate This looks at those who have left after working there for some time. The stability rate is measured by dividing the amount of people who have left with more than one years service by the number employed one year ago. Then multiplying this by 100 to make a percentage. Stability index = number of staff leaving with more than one years service x 100 Number employed one year ago This method helps businesses to understand and predict what will happen within their own workforce. It also enables an organisation to make the most of the skill and potential already present within the organisation. For example if Wetherspoons had 88 employees who had been with the company for over one year and during the year 22 employees left, the labour stability index would be: 22 x100 = 25% 88 The external labour market The external labour market is more of an irregular environment. It is made up of potential employees, locally, regionally or nationally; whom have the skills and experience required at a particular time. J.D Wetherspoons is located all over the UK, both national and local labour markets are important. There are a range of factors that effect the size and nature of these labour markets such as: Trends in the size/characteristics of the working population The UK has an ageing population. There are fewer school leavers and young workers available for employment. Businesses therefore may need to employee older people to meet their human resource requirements. Competition for labour When there is a demand for employees with certain skills, companies will be at competition with other firms who are looking for the same skills. For example ten years ago everyone wanted to employee those with I.T skills. The overall level economic activity The demand for goods and services in the economy and hence, for employed is determined by whether the economy is at a boom or recession. In a period of boom generally people will have more money to spend and therefore the demand for goods and services will rise. This therefore would lead to company increasing output and the demand for labour will also increase. Education and training opportunities Over recent years many people have decided to either continue into higher education or return to it. This has put a strain on many businesses as it has limited the amount of people that are available to work full time for tem. For J.D Wetherspoons it can be viewed as an advantage. There are more people willing to work part-time in an easy, uncomplicated environment that allows flexible hours. Plus there are also more people who have completed degrees and gained higher qualifications allowing them to enter the hierarchy at a managerial level, this would cut down on costs of training managers. The effect of government policies The government tries to entice employers to train people by reducing the cost of labour and increasing the proposal of HRM. They have introduced new qualifications, NVQs and AVCEs as an attempt of increasing the quantity of those who hold the right skills for the real world. They have also planned ahead in preparing school children for the world of work by changing the curriculum, stressing an importance on numeracy, literacy and ICT. On this graph the S1 represents the current labour supply situation, in a few years when al of those in education have left the supply of labour will be greater, represented by S2. As the supply is greater the demand (D) will be less and employers will be able to lower salaries, reducing costs. Salaries have to be monitored to check people are being fairly treated. The government may decide to increase the minimum wage. If the minimum amount a person can earn increases the supply will decrease, as many employees. The green line shows this and how the demand for labour would rise. Wage Level S1 S2 D Quantity of Labour Labour markets For all businesses they must also identify and understand the characteristics of their local employment market. Information can be gained from local employment offices or job agencies. I found these examples on the Internet. This first one is average gross weekly pay, by area this is useful to Wetherspoons as it gives them actual government statistics of how much the average wage is in certain areas. It splits it into different areas because the pay is obviously not the same throughout the country. For example London has the highest paid people mainly because it is so expensive to live in London. This graph doesnt look at London, as it is only pacific for the Southwest region. For Wetherspoons to look at this before setting a wage is useful as it will set out an average wage so they dont set theirs far too high or far too low. This would attract either too many people to apply for a certain job or no one would apply. Under the average gross weekly pay by area, is the average gross weekly pay by occupation. This is also very useful as Wetherspoons can look at this and cross-reference it with the pay by area to see how much they should be paying their employees. As you can see the information from this could come in very useful to a business such as Wetherspoons when having to recruit new employees. As they would need to know the wage rates and income level of the area in which their pub or hotel is located, this will then allow them to set the right salary and attract the type of people they want. By observing local unemployment levels companies are able to judge whether it would easy or not to employ enough people in new businesses. This is something J.D Whetherspoons would have to consider when planning the new pubs they want to open. Local employment trends can radically change in a short space of time. Large companies may be forced to close or make large numbers of employees redundant, creating huge unemployment figures, a benefit to many others. I was able to gather some secondary information from labour market review, which covered the whole of the UK but also highlighted the Southwest area. This means that if Wetherspoons was to use this information to see how employment patterns and average wages were different throughout the country. This data can greatly the recruitment process. Within all local areas there will be times when a new skill is needed in the workplace and the demand for these skills will rapidly grow, faster than the supply. This can produce many problems and companies would be forced to raise wages in an attempt to beat competitors in recruiting those that have the same scarce skill. When shortages like this appear employers often start to recruit those from further a field, nationally and sometimes internationally. Without this valuable data the J.D Wetherspoons chain could find themselves falling behind the rest of the market. This data can be used to identify if their business is operating at the same level as the rest of the country. If this is not taken into account then they could find themselves loosing employees through poor wages or even not looking for the right employees in the right areas. For HRM to be efficient a business must have the right amount of employees performing the right jobs at the right time. Therefore it is important that employers and the HRM team know if an employee is not at work and their reason why. A notified absence is when the employee knows in advance that they will not be able to attend work and inform their superior. If the employer were ill they would be entitled to any sickness benefit a doctors note would be requested. Unauthorised absence are those that need to be monitored closely. When an employee simply doesnt show for their shift it lets the team down and can leave others in the lurch, plus the business would be less able to run efficiently. An accident rate is determined by the amount of accidents that have happened in the work place. All businesses have to have the equivalent of a health and safety committee. It is their job to * Investigate and report on all accidents * Construct safety rules * Oversee health and safety training * Uphold connections with health and safety bodies * Keep up to date with the relevant national statistics and reports * Recommend any updates the company may need * Advise on any approaching legislation and relevant publicity campaigns Human resources planning help to maintain a steady flow of new people into the organisation to cover any that maybe leaving. Planning also helps to organise training programmes so each member of staff has the right skills to for fill their specific job requirements. The level of skills in any organisation should rise each year effectively making the business as a whole consistently develops.

Analysis of the 8th Amendment

Analysis of the 8th Amendment 8th Amendment Introduction The 8th Amendment (Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution can be legally defined as the section of the United Sates Bill of Rights that which forbids the federal government from imposing excessive fines, neither inflicting cruel and unusual punishments nor imposing excessive bail. The 8th amendment was approved to be part of the United States Constitution in the year 1791.This amendment was almost similar to a stipulation made in the English Bill of Rights of 1689 where the government made a declaration to the point that they had to operate as their ancestors had by not demanding for excessive bail neither imposing excessive fines nor inflicting cruel or unusual punishments. In the case of England the provision was mainly driven by the punishment involving Titus Oates. During the reign of King James II in the 1680s Titus Oates worked as a fixture in the London pillory circuit. Oates was involved many ordinary penalties that had been collectively imposed forced on him in a manner that was both excessive and unparalleled. Oates had lied under oath which led to many innocent people being placed under the death sentence. Parliament approved the declaration against â€Å"cruel and unusual punishments â€Å"for England in the year 1689. The declaration was explained by the parliament that it was supposed to prevent punishments such as the one inflicted on Titus Oates by the Kings Bench. In December 1689 the then parliament endorsed the provision to be passed into law. The first state to adopt a stand similar to that of England on the issues was the state of Virginia. In the year 1776 the Virginia declaration of rights incorporated the English bill of rights and then went on a step further to recommend in the year 1788 that the above provision be included in the united states constitution as at the Virginia convention that meant to approve the U.S constitution. It was some Virginia states men such as Patrick Henry and George Mason that first endorsed that congress be limited by use of the restriction as in the English bill of rights. This was based on the fears that if that did not happen the congress could inflict some punishments that were both unusual and severe on criminals. The two Virginians also stressed the need for the Congress to do away with the line in the English bill of rights that seemed to admit of tortures and barbarous punishment inflicted on its people in the past. And also recommended congress to start the enactment of civil law in favor of the more practiced common law. In the end Mason and Henry were successful in their quest and then the 8th amendment was adopted by the United States. In the year 1789 James Madison changed the words ought in the English bill of rights to† shall then proposed it to the congress for amendment. Cruel and unusual punishments The eighth amendment according to the Supreme Court prohibited entirely the infliction of some punishments and at the same time forbid some other punishments which when compared to the crime for which they were given for were seen to be excessive or those which were seen to be excessive when the competence of the perpetrator was put into light. This was seen as necessary because in the earlier years some of the judgments handed down to the people were in excess considering the fact that the perpetrators were either incompetent to commit such crimes or the crimes committed were minor. In the year 1962 the supreme courts ruled that the cruel and unusual punishments act applied to all the states of the United States through the fourteenth amendment. This followed the case involving Robinson vs. California, 370 U.S. 660 in the year 1960. Before the Robinson case the eighth amendment had only earlier been applied in cases against the federal government. In the case involving Furman vs. Ge orgia, 408 U.S. 238 of the year 1962 the four principles that would determine whether a punishment passed onto a perpetrator was â€Å"cruel and unusual† were written by Justice Brennan. These included statements that for the punishment handed down judging by how severe it is degrade human dignity under conditions as in the case of torture, it also that any unusual and cruel punishment was one which was totally and clearly rejected by the whole society, one which was seen to be inflicted in a manner that was seen to be wholly arbitrary or one that was patently unnecessary. Brennan went on to write that it was an expectation that no American state would pass a law that would seem to undermine any of the four principals, such that all decisions made in court involving the eighth amendment would consider all the these principles. The punishments for which according to the eighth amend were forbidden regardless of the crime committed would include any form of disemboweling, public dissecting, drawing and quartering or burning alive. This in relation to the four Brennan principles where punishments that were totally rejected throughout the society. In the cases of Atkins vs. Virginia 536 U.S. 304 of 2002 the supreme court declared executing mentally handicapped people fell in the forbidden punishments and also in the case of Roper vs. Simmons 543 U.S. 551 of 2005 where the court ruled that executing people under18 years was a violation of the eighth amendment regardless of the crime committed by the perpetrator. Punishments that were forbidden for certain crimes included cases in which the court had to overturn punishments such as the cadena temporal which mandated that â€Å"hard and painful labor† shackling are done away with while in the process of incarceration or when faced with civil disabilities that were permanent. The case mentioned above took place in 1910 and was often seen as a means of establishing some proportionality when applying the eighth amendment. In some other cases it was ruled that punishing a natural-born American citizen for any crime by taking away his citizenship was perceived to be unconstitutional and primitive as it involved completely damaging the persons status in the society. In a case involving Coker vs. Virginia 433 U.S. 584 of 1977 the court at the time clearly stated that the imposition of a death penalty or rape was totally unconstitutional and that applied to any other case where death did not occur. It went ahead to clarify that rape crimes by d efinition do not include either death or even any serious body harm to the other person. Excessive fines For many years the United States Supreme Court never had much to say when the subject of excessive fines was mentioned. In one early case the Supreme Court had no power to revise any judgments passed by a lower court as regards the subject of heavy fines being imposed on someone. In later years the need to need to review the amount of fines levied on a person because it always led to the imprisonment just because the person was unable to raise the amount imposed on him/her by the court. In a step meant to ensure equal citizen protection the court found a way to put to meaning the words â€Å"excessive fines† when compared to the person for whom the judgment is meant to affect. But the court also ruled out applying the above clause could not be applied to cases involving private cases where the government had not been involved in the prosecution nor was it to receive any share of any of the awarded damages. This decision was based on the intention for which the excessive fines clause was meant for. The court clearly stated that at the time when the eighth amendment was adopted into the united states constitution the word ‘fine was taken to refer to any payment that would have to be made to sovereign entity for an offence committed. THE court left open the decision as to whether the clause could be applied to qui tam actions or cases involving civil penalties but at the same time it concluded that the excessive fines clause was initially intended to affect the fines that were only imposed by one payable to the government. In cases involving any civil forfeiture the excessive fines clause could be applied. The meaning of the clause as it regards to the quantum punishment of any particular offences when it is independent of the ability of the offender to pay the fine imposed on him still awaits the result of legal proceedings. Excessive bail In England it was the duty of the sheriffs to decide whether or not a person deserved to be granted bail. Due to the continual abuse of power by the sheriffs the government back then released a statute that clearly categorized the bailable and the non-bailable offences. But these statutes could be subverted according to the decision of the Kings judges. According to the law then a person could be held without bail depending on the commands of the sovereign authority. It was often argued that the King did not have the authority to make such decisions and this led to the infringement of human rights when people were intentionally kept in prison despite having committed bailable offences. This and many more ambiguities were eventually put to an end by the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679. After the Habeas Act was passed judges were faced with the decision to set the bail amounts but they often posed some amounts that were impracticable. It was until the year 1689 that the English bill of right s forbids the demand of excessive rights but a further amendment to distinguish between bailable and non bailable offences was needed. Bail is said to be excessive and in violation of the Eighth amendment if the value to which it is set is higher when compared to the reasonably calculated value that is aimed at ensuring the governments asserted interest. The aim of setting bail is said to be as a guarantee that the person who is accused is going to present himself for trial and accept the sentence that is handed down to him and no more. In order for a person to be able to challenge the amount of bail imposed on him he must move for a reduction. If the reduction is denied then the court of appeals followed by the Supreme Court can overrule the decision. The eight amendment could not be applied to post convicted release cases that await appeal but it is normal practice to grant leases in such cases. Bail is seen to uphold the presumption of innocence before a person is tried acquired only after centuries of struggle. The excessive bail clause adopted by the United States constitution from the English bill of rights had slight changes made on it. In the England act there was no provision that stated that one had the right to bail at all times but only provided that the bail amount imposed on a person was not to be excessive in the cases that bail could be granted. The governments argued that the amount of bail imposed was not to be excess when compared to the weight of the crime committed by the person. Conclusion The eighth amendment to the United States Constitution was a good step in defining various issues that surrounded judgments passed onto persons since time in memorial. It is aimed at eliminating the infringement of the basic human rights as it regulated the amount of punishment that one could be given based on the offence. In the years before the amendment could be done peoples rights were sometimes stepped on as some of the judgments passed amounted to torture on the person. This is in a way seems to bring fairness in the judicial System of the United States. This amendment protected people from situations where the amount of bails, fines imposed on the person could not match the perception of the crime committed. The American constitution is supposed to ensure a stable and responsible government. It is generally supposed to protect the rights of the American citizens even against infringement by the government itself. this is exactly what the eighth amendment went on to do, making every citizen equal before the law and making sure every citizen gets a fair judgment based on the crime committed, whether it regards the bail set or the amount of fine one is asked to produce. References Bamonte, T. J. (1981) Journal of Law and Criminology: Eighth Amendment- A significant limit on federal court activism in ameliorating state. USA: Northwestern University School of Law. Eighth Amendment. (2009, June). Eighth Amendment. Retrieved October 6, 2009, from http://www.lectlaw.com/def/e082.htm Find Law. (2009, June). U.S Constitution Eighth Amendment. Retrieved October 6, 2009, from http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment08/ Haney, C. (1997). Psychology and the limits to prison pain: Confronting the coming crisis in Eighth Amendment. New York: American Psychological Association. Harr, J. S. (2008). Constitutional Law and the Criminal Justice System. USA: American Press Association Introduction the Eighth Amendment (2009, July). AN OVERVIEW OF CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCILES RELEVANT TO CAPITAL CASES. Retrieved October5, 2009, http://www.capdefnet.org/hat/contents/intro_to_8th/3_intro_to_8th.htm Welzmuller, M. (2000). The death penalty – legal cruelty. USA: