Poverty and Crime Essay

Poverty can be defined as the deprivation of basic needs or necessities. These are things that are required by human beings for them to survive for example shelter, clothing, food and water. Poverty causes pain and stress to those who suffer from it but according to the Christians, it is seen as a positive thing that makes them more faithful and lack of these properties is deemed virtuous. On the other hand, crime is seen as the violation of rules and regulations of the state. When this is done, the culprit is regarded as a criminal. Acts of crime are punishable by law if one is convicted guilty of committing a particular offense. see more:essays on crime Poverty and crime are interrelated as poverty is an independent variable while crime is the dependant variable and manipulation of one has an effect on the other, that is if poverty is reduced the rate of crime would definitely go down. This research paper is geared towards brining to the light the relationship between poverty and crime. Do they have a correlation? There have been claims that poverty leads to crime and this cannot be denied as in America today, crime prevalence is registered in zones that are inhabited by the poor Americans. It is not a usual thing for a place to have high rate of crime without the cause for it. Poverty is not only confined to the poor third world countries as even in America, United Kingdom and other developed nations there are people who live in penury. In the United States, the poor live in housings known as ghettos and the most affected are the African Americans. Many people refute the claim that poverty is the causal factor of crime. For example in Boston, in the 1830s there were very many cases of crime, which to many was attributed to poverty. This became a challenge to the inhabitants who in a bid to reduce the level of crimes formed charity organizations that were meant for helping these poor people. Many people thought that the poor people are the ones who commit mistakes so these organizations that were formed were designed to reduce the number of African Americans in the war. (Sampson RJ. 1987) In the United States of America, it is reportedly said that the number of blacks in prisons is much higher than those that are in educational institutions. In Boston, it was assumed that because women were the ones who went for charity items, which were given for free by the Boston’s charity organizations. Here, this was not the case as in Boston as the number of women who were imprisoned was 12. 25 percent and not forgetting that this figure comprised women of all nationalities. This research contradicted the much-theorized belief that poverty and crime are related. Some crimes that are associated with poverty do not have a correlation when they are closely scrutinized. These are crimes such as vandalism, arson and wanton destruction of properties. Why would a poor person destroy some properties that could he/she could use? Poor people are forced by poverty to turn to crime. In most assault cases, the victims claim that they lost their properties so it can be confidently be said that the perpetrators are people who cannot afford those commodities and so they think that the only way they could access them is only through assaulting the rich and becoming robbers. According to sociologists, there is a very strong connection between, the crime rate and the families break ups in the United States’ towns and cities. Cities that are occupied by the blacks have reported increase in violent crime rate and this is attributed to the prevalence of the female-headed families. Pager D. 2001) As per the 1980s research, the ratio of whites to blacks that were engaged in violent crimes was not in proportion. According to the 1983 statistics, more murder and assault cases in Chicago took place in areas that were inhabited by the African American and the Latino residents who were low-income earners. This attests to the fact that there is a relationship between crimes and poverty and this is undeniable, if this is not the case, then why is it that areas that are occupied by the poor register so many crimes? The past researches that were done in the 1980s expressed a connection between single parent headed families with crime prevalence and especially in black households. In 1984, all the black families were under female parents and this trend is still growing as the numbers of families with two parents are constantly on the decline. Of all the 360,000 families that lived on five thousand dollars and below, females headed fifty seven percent of them. The ratio of families that were headed by single women between the blacks and the whites were 74 percent to 26 percent. In Chicago, females own most of the poor households and especially the ghettos. So the increase in female households and most particularly those in the ghettos have a relationship between the high rate of dependency and poverty. (Pridemore W. A. and Kim S. W. 2007) A statistical analysis that was done in hundred and fifty cities in America attributes rise in female-headed families to poverty. This is because when men are not employed they move out of these cities and go to look for jobs leaving behind their wives and this causes family disruptions. In turn, this family break-up leads to the rise in crime rates and especially in blacks residential places. Low income contributes to marriage separations as well as divorce cases. Children from families that are headed by a female parent are prone to indulge themselves in juvenile delinquency. When children are raised in poor households they do not even have the proper education that they deserve and this becomes a vicious circle whereby poverty is caused by lack of relevant skills and education. This makes it hard to secure oneself a good job that can help one to achieve their needs thereby becoming even poorer. Marital and family break ups weaken the social control mechanisms that are vital in reducing the crimes rate. When these social control means are in force people look at each other as their brother or sister, they develop a ‘we feeling’ and they protect each other properties. They also help one another to resolve their disputes but when family bonds are weakened, this problem is transferred to the society that is made up of families. The result is that socialism is substituted by individualism or in other words, people become egoistic and everything they do is meant of them and only them. People devise short cuts of acquiring wealth and this means robbery, assault and murder as per the situation demands. George F. Et Al. 2008) When family bonds are strong, both parents assist each other in taking care of the children and they are well socialized to know the social expectations but when households are headed by only one parent, the attention that should be given to the children is divided among other things and it is obvious that when a child lacks proper attention, guidance and counseling, they become juvenile criminals. Therefore family disruptions as a result of poverty leads to rise in female headed families, which in turn leads to juvenile delinquency. In the United States of America, there are some states that have very high crime rate and yet the residents are not poor and there are some states where people are very poor and yet the crime rate is very low. This makes the debate over whether poverty has a relationship with crime very controversial. These claims are contradicted by the research findings on other areas findings in other areas where 53 percent of all the inmates are people from poor areas where they earned about less than 10,000 U. S dollars in a year. According to the economic theory, people weigh options before they commit crimes. It is said that people engage themselves in crime only and only if the anticipated gains are more than the loss. (George F. Et Al. 2008) The obvious logical conclusion that can be inferred from this is that people who are poor and those who live in poverty-stricken households are more prone to community crimes than those who are not poor. Those people who are wallowing in poverty are more likely to commit crimes such as larceny, robbery, burglary and selling drugs and surveillance delinquency. If this is the case, then poor households and prisons should do something to reverse the situation. This is because if poverty level goes up so does the crime rates and this in turn impacts on the prisons that get highly populated with criminals. The government should come up with measures that would help in breaking this relationship because this trend affects the correctional departments. There is no way you can correct the behavior of poor people because they are situational criminals. It is only that they are forced by circumstances to commit crimes. The only viable option of controlling or reducing the crime prevalence is to economically empower the poor citizens. The fact that poverty and crime are interrelated is evident in the case of Detroit city, which is among the poorest cities in the United States of America. Poor citizens inhabit the surrounding area of this town. The system is marred by extreme poverty and loss of social control mechanisms. Most of the students who join campuses never graduate because before they could graduate, they get involved in criminal acts that render some of them in jails. Another thing that leads to the rise of criminal activities is the fact that in societies there are two extreme ends, and these are the rich and the poor. In the United States the gap between the haves and have-nots is very high something that intrigues poor people to steal or engage in other forms of criminal activities just to earn their living. If a rich person is living in close proximity to the poor households, there is high probability that he/she will become a victim of assault, loss of properties and even robbery. This happens because the poor thinks that the rich are the ones who are making them poor and therefore they develop some bitterness that is only resolved by attacking them. (George F. Et Al. 2008) There are various causes of poverty and some of them are high living standards. In most developed notion such as Japan, United States and others, it is not easy to live in cities if you depend on a low paying job. People might be employed but the living standards should be very high. This situation impoverishes the citizens for they find it hard to make the both ends meet. What the government should do is that it should provide those poor American households that belong to the poor with some house allowance so that they can lead a normal life. This would help in reducing the bridge gap the gap between the rich and the poor which unless something is done soon, the gap is still widening. The lack of proper skills and education, limits ones chances of getting a good job Poor people cannot afford to provide for their children with good education that would make them competitive and this is why we should break the vicious cycle of poverty. Many Americans are poor because they cannot secure themselves some good jobs probably because there are no jobs or they do not academically qualify for those jobs. The government should devise ways and means of breaking this cycle. Bursary system or subsidized education for the poor should be provided. This would offer the poor a chance to compete with those from the wealthy households. If this is done the high drop out rate from schools would be reversed as this is what has led to increased juvenile crimes because young children who should be in schools go to loiter in the streets as they cannot even afford to be in school. When these children receive high quality education, they would be able to look for well paying jobs that would help them in uplifting their living standards thereby breaking the vicious cycle. Poverty is partly caused by lack of employment. Another thing that the government should do is to enforce the laws that deal with crimes. The judicial systems should make some reforms that would help it to ensure that justice is upheld. In the 1980s, the judicial system was very reluctant such that criminals received lesser punishment than they deserved something that greatly contributed to the rise in crime. The criminal laws should be made stronger though that they could bite hard. From the research findings, it is evident now that there is a relationship between the rate of poverty and crime rates. Though there have been arguments that indicate otherwise, much of the evidence that has been collected point to the fact that the relationship between the two does exist. There have been claims that there are some states that are very poor and yet there are no high crime rates and that there are others that are among the highest in crime levels any yet the inhabitants not poor. This evidence cannot be downplayed for in every case there must be some exceptions and assumptions that have to be made. Both claims should be weighed well to know which one is truthful and in this case, the truth is that poverty lures people to become criminals.

Portfolio: Big five Personality Traits and Oliver P. John Essay

1. Introduction The purpose of this portfolio is to reflect on my experiences and learning’s whilst studying BSB124- Working in Business, particularly what I have learnt about my Intrapersonal and Interpersonal competencies. I will explore my personality trains through the use of the Big Five Inventory (BFI), and explain how they can be beneficial/detrimental to my future career goal. 2. Intrapersonal Intrapersonal effectiveness is defined as â€Å"Understanding yourself (and your goals, strengths, weaknesses, style, biases) and improving self-management skills, such as time management and stress management† (De Janasz, Wood, Gottschalk, Dowd and Schneider 2006, p. 3). 2.1 The Big Five Inventory The Big Five Inventory (BFI) is a personality assessment tool, which has five dimensions including Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism (Costa and McCrae, 1992). Research has been conducted to explain how people with varying levels of these traits will perform within the workplace. Research conducted, shows that conscientiousness and emotional stability are positively correlated with job performance in virtually all jobs (Anderson and Viswesvaran 1998; Barrick and Mount 1991; Salgado 1997; Tett et al. 1991), extraversion has been found to be related to job performance in occupations where interactions with others are a significant portion of the job (Barrick and Mount 1991; Mount et al. 1998), agreeableness is said to be positively associated to ratings of teamwork, and openness to experience has been positively related to training performance (Barrick and Mount 1991; Salgado 1997). As you will see in Appendix 1, I am highest in agreeableness, followed by extraversion then openness to experience, with my lowest ratings being conscientiousness and neuroticism. These results are important, as I see myself working as a Public Relations representative for a large, international corporation within the next five (5) to ten (10) years (preferably for a charity organisation such as Ronald McDonald House  Charities). My personality test scores indicate that I am sympathetic, modest, straightforward, sociable, enthusiastic, imaginative, confident and even-tempered; however, I am not very thorough, and there is definitely room for improvement with my organizational skills (Costa and McCrae 1992). According to the handbook of personality (Oliver P. John et al.), being high in extraversion means that I very sociable and am suitable for positions of leadership. This is relevant to my long-term career goal, as research conducted on seek.com shows that leadership qualities as well as social/networking skills, are valuable within the Public relations industry (see Appendix 2 for job advertisements). Further research into the requirements of obtaining a position within the Public Relations industry would indicate that task and goal directed behaviour; as well strong organizational skills are required. These qualities are consistent with the personality trait of conscientiousness. As mentioned previously, my personality test scores indicate that conscientiousness is an area in which has room for improvement. I feel that my personality profile reflects many strengths as well as weaknesses, especially in terms of my likely workplace performance. As mentioned throughout this section, I am high in agreeableness and extraversion, and low in conscientiousness. These results are consistent with my experiences within BSB124, especially throughout the group presentation, as I believe that I did a good job in motivating my team and helping others. Although our overall grade was a six (6), I feel that we would have achieved better results had I organized my time appropriately and practiced my part of the speech more thoroughly (I did the introduction, and had to start over as I had lost my place roughly thirty (30) seconds in). As mentioned previously, I intend on obtaining a position within a large international organisation. I believe that my low level of conscientiousness will hinder my success in this environment, and therefore, see it as an area that I can focus on to further my professional development. I believe that my high level of agreeableness and openness to experience will be helpful,  especially as I will be working with a wide variety of people from all kinds of backgrounds/nationalities. A high level of agreeableness means that I will work well in a team environment (Oliver P. John et al.) and a high level of openness to experience suggests that I am willing to learn and try new things (Oliver P. John et al.). This is significant when working with people from different cultures, I don’t know how to word this, I am trying to say that I may see something as conventional; however, someone with a different background will see it as strange- hence I will need to be able to adapt my methods when working overseas. 2.2 Learning goal and related activity I intend to develop a number of competencies associated with conscientiousness- mainly organisation, but also self-discipline. I will do this by setting myself S.M.A.R.T goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound). The development of these competencies will help me to achieve my long-term career goal. 3. Interpersonal Interpersonal effectiveness is defined as â€Å"the ability to manage conflict, to build and manage high-performance teams, to conduct efficient meetings, to coach and counsel employees, to provide negative feedback in constructive ways, to influence others’ opinions, and to motivate and energize employees† (Whetten & Cameron 2011, p.130). 3.1 Self-perception Inventory â€Å"A team is not a bunch of people with job titles, but a congregation of individuals, each of whom has a role which is understood by other members. Members of a team seek out certain roles and they perform most effectively in the ones that are most natural to them† (Belbin, 1981). The Self-perception Inventory (SPI) was created to give individuals a â€Å"simple means of assessing their best team roles† (Belbin, 1981). It is difficult to work effectively with people without some reasonable expectations of how  they are going to perform. Based on the results of the questionnaire, the SPI makes each individual aware of their preferred role when working in teams. This then allows them to focus on their strengths and improve on their weakness. During his research, Meredith found that each of the behaviours were essential in getting the team successfully from start to finish. The key was balance. For example, Meredith Belbin found that a team with no Plants struggled to come up with the initial spark of an idea with which to push forward. However, once too many Plants were in the team, bad ideas concealed good ones and non-starters were given too much airtime. Similarly, with no Shaper, the team ambled along without drive and direction, missing deadlines. With too many Shapers, in-fighting began and morale was lowered. A Summary of my SPI results is in Appendix 3. Results of the SPI indicate that my two preferred team roles are Shaper and Company Worker. A shaper can be defined as someone who has a drive and readiness for challenge, can strive under pressure and is seen as a leadership figure; however, they can be prone to provocation and can be seen as rude and impatient (Belbin, 1981). A Company Worker is someone who is hard working, self-disciplined, organized and practical, but be seen as inflexible and unresponsive (Belbin 1981). I believe that these results are an accurate reflection of my personality, and are consistent both with my experiences within BSB124 as well as within the workplace. I will need to focus on my weaknesses, as addressed through the SPI, should I wish to be successful in both university and future career development. As with my intrapersonal learning goals, I will use S.M.A.R.T goals to address the weaknesses above. My results from Belbin’s inventory, combined with my personality profile, and work experience suggests that, in groups I am likely to engage in a confrontational conflict resolution style. Research indicates that Asian cultures tend to prefer non-confrontational conflict styles, and as a result tend to react defensively when confronted in conflict situations (Rahim & Blum; Ting-Toomey et al., 1991). As I hope to work in a large, international organisation in the future and it is likely I will be dealing with individuals from Asian cultures, I therefore need to adjust my conflict  style accordingly. Thus, again using the SMART goals specified in section 2.2, I envisage that a more agreeable, empathetic nature will help me engage in more appropriate conflict resolution styles when necessary. 3.2 SPARK analysis

Saudi Arabia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Saudi Arabia - Research Paper Example It stands as a significant industrial country, claiming over 25% of the global oil reserve. It is this wealth in oil that Saudi Arabia is known for and is what drives the country’s economy. Considered as the origin of Islam, the country has been keen to preserve its historical richness with the passage of time. Geography Saudi Arabia occupies about 80% of the Arabian Peninsula, measuring 865,000 square miles, just about 25% of the total surface are of the US. This is a big country as compared to the size of other countries globally. The country borders the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and the Persian Gulf to the east, Oman and Yemen to the south and Kuwait, Iraq and Jordan to the north. On the west, the Red Sea separates it from Sudan, Eritrea and Egypt. Its entire geography indicates a plateau that rises from the Red Sea and slopes down gradually to the Persian Gulf. Even though its mountains rise as high as 9,000 feet, Saudi Arabia has no permanent rivers, lakes and big fores ts, making Janin and Besheer (7) refer to it as the driest large country. Thus, the country is largely a desert meaning that green vegetation is rare apart from those regions near oases. Saudi Arabia hosts the world’s greatest continuous sand expanse in its southeastern corner named the Empty Quarter. It covers about 264,000 square miles, equivalent to the size of Texas State (Zuhur 21). With this, Saudi Arabia is characterized by the desert geography including sand dunes and shrubs. Farming would be a rare activity unless under irrigated land. The climate varies greatly on different parts of the country, ranging from dry and hot summers in the northern and central regions to winters with moderate temperatures during the day and cold, at times freezing, at night. This variation in day and night temperatures could be articulated to the lack of clouds that allow the sunrays to heat the earth and the heat quickly disappears at night with no clouds to offer insulation. This weath er could be harsh for persons seeking to live in the country. The summers in the gravel or sand deserts could be as hot as 49oC with these areas rarely experiencing any rains. The rainfall is uneven and unreliable averaging less than 10 cm per year (Zuhur 45). This makes it hard to farm with reliance on rainfall, meaning that the country cannot supply itself with sufficient food. Socio-economic Life Saudi Arabia has a population of about 29.6 million people with Arabic as the national language. For an American visitor, a translator would therefore be important because most of the communication will be in Arabic. Among the important religious holidays is Eid al-Fitr, the festival of breaking fast marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan (Zuhur 23). Others include Eid al-Aidha and Hajj. Mosques serve as places of worship and are thus scared places. With Islam being a common religion in the country, a majority of the women would thus be in their long loose-fitting dresses while men would be in their traditional garbs. Interestingly, men are considered the guardians of women according to the law and therefore take responsibility for their behavior. This makes women inferior as opposed to many modern states where gender equality has caused men and women to be regarded as equals. Additionally, marriage is not organized by one family but by both families. These marriages rarely involve people from different families because Zuhur (155) observes that first cousin marriages are common.

James Moor - Computer Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

James Moor - Computer Ethics - Essay Example 269). Thus, individuals are empowered to perform a large number of operations previously unavailable to them. An example might be the ability to make microloans to individuals in developing countries: an ability that most people in developed countries did not have 20 to 30 years ago. As ethical philosophers have pointed out for centuries, even though one can perform a certain action that does not necessarily mean one ought to perform that action. Given this basis for Moor’s discussion of computer ethics, it seems that Moor successfully argues for special consideration of computer ethics as a specialized area in moral philosophy. Early in his essay, Moor introduces the concept of a â€Å"policy vacuum†, which limits the public’s ability to utilize the potential of computer technology. A policy vacuum is an absence of officially recognized public standards for how to utilize a resource. One often finds a policy vacuum where there is cutting-edge technology that the public does not seem to have a use for. A current example of a policy vacuum might be related to green technology, which is subject to endless political debates. Even though the technology exists, it is unclear how the public will deploy those resources and gain benefits from it. Another example of a policy vacuum may exist in developing nations where modern technology is new and not well-understood. In such a case, the country may not see the need for the new resource and thus not capitalize on its potential. Moor also introduces the notion of a â€Å"conceptual vacuum† early in his paper. Although a conceptual vacuum occurs in concert with a policy vacuum, the conceptual vacuum invariably occurs before and causes the policy vacuum. That is, without a â€Å"coherent conceptual framework within which to formulate a policy for action†, there can be no policy for action, which produces the inevitable result of a policy vacuum. A coherent conceptual framework is necessar y because one cannot, for instance, explain the benefits of high-speed broadband to the leader of a developing country who has never used, let alone heard of, the internet. Another example of a conceptual vacuum might be, with respect to the United States, is the debate over the use of renewable energy and â€Å"green† technology. The consequences of a change to alternative sources of energy might not be conceptually compatible with a view of the world that does not admit of the consequences of global climate change. Thus, a policy vacuum results when those who are in charge of making decisions cannot comprehend the conceptual basis of their decisions. Further into his essay, Moor begins to establish a basis for comparing the â€Å"Computer Revolution† with the â€Å"Industrial Revolution†. The reason for this comparison probably lies in the ethical dilemmas evoked by the Industrial Revolution, which Moor is trying to draw parallels with in our modern age. In on e respect, the Computer Revolution is complete: the sense in which our lives have become thoroughly interconnected with computer technology (by means of laptop computers and mobile phones). Nevertheless, in a second sense, the Computer Revolution is not over: the sense in which computer technology has yet to fully develop and fully integrate with every

Engineering project management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Engineering project management - Assignment Example ble (installing a new machine’s base) will not be produced on time and with budget if necessary corrections actions are taken on time (Panneerselvam & Senthilkumar 2009). However, according to company, the project must go on and the base must be completed on time otherwise the organization will suffer dire consequences which may include losing its customers. It is therefore it is suggested that in order that the expanded project is completed on time, adjustments must be made of the project cost. That is, the organization and/or the contractor should employ more man power and equipment to work on the project within remaining period of time. This increase the rate at which the work will be done and increasing chances of completing the project on time. (Word count: 218) Due to safety concerns associated with asbestos, the scope of the project is likely to be changed (removal of the existing duct and its contents). The changing of the scope would mean that other constrains such as time and cost will be adjusted accordingly (Kanda 2011). This means that the project deliverable (installing a new machine’s base) will not be produced on time. The consequence of not completing this project on time is dire to the company since the organization might lose an important order, and due to the cost investment made on the new equipment the organization might be forced to close down. This means that delaying the installation of the base of the new machine is not an option for the organization. Employees are amongst the most important elements for organizations; therefore, there health should be made priority (CCH 2009). In addition, safety of environments in which employees work must conform to occupational safety and health standards (Lingard & Rowlinson 2005). Compromising the health of workers by making them work alongside these asbestos ducts would affect health, and consequently their productivity will also be affected (CCH 2009). The organization may also risk being

Keystone kl pipeline Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Keystone kl pipeline - Essay Example s and floods have effects on American labor and jobs, if we throw the spigot open to Canada’s tar sands, it will be considered the world’s dirtiest oil (Smith 01). Building this pipeline and opening Tar Sands will impact local and national economies negatively. When the recoverable tar sands oil burns, it will increase temperature on the earth approximately by a minimum of 2 degrees Celsius which the NYU environmental law center estimates could cut permanently the US GDP by 2.5 % (Smith 02). As it’s seen, this will affect the US counties causing an estimated expensive damage. At the same time, local and state economies are buckling already under effects of our dependence on fossil fuel as a nation (Smith 02) Despite generating much profits of approximately $546 billion between 2005 and 2010, oil companies such as shell, chevron and ExxonMobil reduced their workforce by 4,400 employees. The same year, $220 million paid the executives themselves (Smith 02). From that, we can say it’s time invest the billions going to oil companies in creating employment and protecting the planet at the same time. Approving the Keystone pipeline will lock the nation into a trajectory of job loss that are guaranteed and hence threatens the economy and political state of the US. Why should the job-killing path be taken when the energy path that’s alternative like the solar industry is already out-performing some other sectors of the economy (Smith 02). Accidental contact with transmitting pipeline will create a dangerous situation that may be extreme to result in serious consequences to the contractors, general public and the customers. Some of these consequences may include fire explosion, injury or property damage, disruption of services that are essential, responsibility for cost of repair and personal liability all damages (Smith 03). According to the chief economics of Moody’s analytics, a havoc caused by the Super storm sandy on the job market was estimated to

Staffing Ethics for HR in a Globalized World Research Paper

Staffing Ethics for HR in a Globalized World - Research Paper Example Each contributes insights. Some are specific to that culture, but several cross-cultural themes emerge from the literature. One cross-cultural pattern that emerged was challenges to ethical staffing, especially in the face of multinational companies with HRM that are not in touch with the influence of cultural dimensions on staffing. Another pattern was resistance due to tradition, which was revealed in Canada, India, Mexico, and Poland. A third cross-cultural pattern was the overwhelming agreement that HR must lead the way to a more ethical workplace. Recommendations are offered to facilitate protection, ethical leadership, cultural sensitivity, and the balance of rights and agenda that HR faces. Staffing Ethics for HR in a Globalized World Human Resources is probably the most crucial component of any company. They must, after all, negotiate a delicate balance between the needs of the company and the needs of applicants and employees. They must not only do so within the context of t he law, but must traverse the netherworld of ethics, which applies even when the law is unclear, insufficient, or when there is not yet a law specific to the issue. The latter case is seen with online privacy issues, for example, when utilized by to screen applicants. In an increasingly globalized world, Human Resource departments find increasingly complex demands on their role. Change is rapid and it is not enough to stay updated. Instead, Human Resource Managers must serve as leaders in the company. This is especially so in the arena of ethics. This paper is a thematic literature review with a global focus. Too often, globalization imposes Western standards. As developing nations increase their involvement in and concern for fair practices in HR, the world has an opportunity to gain new insights from new voices. This paper will review the literature from ten selected cross-cultural sources, including Romania, Poland, India, Mexico, Canada and the USA, in order to understand how to ethically staff in a way that balances privacy rights with company need-to-know; affirmative action with profit and tradition; local culture with globalized standards. This cross-cultural dialogue can make HR management an even stronger ethical force and inspiration to companies and their employees around the world. Methodology A Google Scholar search was conducted, utilizing a relevant search phrase, HR and ethical hiring practices. A strong effort was made to locate peer-reviewed journals, particularly in the business management area. A special effort was made to select articles that reflected the voices of other cultures beyond the US, as well as articles that mentioned globalization. Effort was made to reflect both male and female authored articles. Both theoretical and research-based articles were selected. Current articles were selected since, given the rapid changes, engendered by globalization, HR should be currently informed. The oldest article was published six years ago, but most articles were published within the past couple of years. This is particularly important in the area of ethics. No effort was made, during the article selection process, to support a particular point of view, nor to narrow the themes down any more than those already mentioned. Rather than considering an hypothesis, the selection process held a central organizing question: What is the role of HR in an ethical hiring process?