title: History of circumcision

text: Lewis Sayre, New York orthopedic surgeon, became a prominent advocate for circumcision in America. In 1870, he examined a five-year-old boy who was unable to straighten his legs, and whose condition had so far defied treatment. Upon noting that the boy's genitals were inflamed, Sayre hypothesized that chronic irritation of the boy's foreskin had paralyzed his knees via reflex neurosis. Sayre circumcised the boy, and within a few weeks, he recovered from his paralysis. After several additional incidents in which circumcision also appeared effective in treating paralyzed joints, Sayre began to promote circumcision as a powerful orthopedic remedy. Sayre's prominence within the medical profession allowed him to reach a wide audience.


title: History of circumcision

text: As more practitioners tried circumcision as a treatment for otherwise intractable medical conditions, sometimes achieving positive results, the list of ailments reputed to be treatable through circumcision grew. By the 1890s, hernia, bladder infections, kidney stones, insomnia, chronic indigestion, rheumatism, epilepsy, asthma, bedwetting, Bright's disease, erectile dysfunction, syphilis, insanity, and skin cancer had all been linked to the foreskin, and many physicians advocated universal circumcision as a preventive health measure.


title: History of circumcision

text: Specific medical arguments aside, several hypotheses have been raised in explaining the public's acceptance of infant circumcision as preventive medicine. The success of the germ theory of disease had not only enabled physicians to combat many of the postoperative complications of surgery, but had made the wider public deeply suspicious of dirt and bodily secretions. Accordingly, the smegma that collects under the foreskin was viewed as unhealthy, and circumcision readily accepted as good penile hygiene. Secondly, moral sentiment of the day regarded masturbation as not only sinful, but also physically and mentally unhealthy, stimulating the foreskin to produce the host of maladies of which it was suspected. In this climate, circumcision could be employed as a means of discouraging masturbation. "All About the Baby", a popular parenting book of the 1890s, recommended infant circumcision for precisely this purpose. (However, a survey of 1410 men in the United States in 1992, Laumann found that circumcised men were "more" likely to report masturbating at least once a month.) As hospitals proliferated in urban areas, childbirth, at least among the upper and middle classes, was increasingly under the care of physicians in hospitals rather than with midwives in the home. It has been suggested that once a critical mass of infants were being circumcised in the hospital, circumcision became a class marker of those wealthy enough to afford a hospital birth.


title: History of circumcision

text: During the same time period, circumcision was becoming easier to perform. William Stewart Halsted's 1885 discovery of hypodermic cocaine as a local anaesthetic made it easier for doctors without expertise in the use of chloroform and other general anaesthetics to perform minor surgeries. Also, several mechanically aided circumcision techniques, forerunners of modern clamp-based circumcision methods, were first published in the medical literature of the 1890s, allowing surgeons to perform circumcisions more safely and successfully.


title: History of circumcision

text: Born in the United Kingdom during the late 19th century, John Maynard Keynes and his brother Geoffrey, were both circumcised in boyhood due to parents' concern about their masturbatory habits. Some mainstream pediatric manuals continued to recommend circumcision as a deterrent against masturbation until the 1950s.


title: History of circumcision

text: Infant circumcision was taken up in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and the English-speaking parts of Canada and South Africa. Although it is difficult to determine historical circumcision rates, one estimate of infant circumcision rates in the United States holds that 30% of newborn American boys were being circumcised in 1900, 55% in 1925, 72% in 1950, 85% in 1975 and 60% in 2000.


title: History of circumcision

text: In South Korea, circumcision was largely unknown before the establishment of the United States trusteeship in 1945 and the spread of American influence. More than 90% of South Korean high school boys are now circumcised at an average age of 12 years, which makes South Korea a unique case. However circumcision rates are now declining in South Korea.


title: History of circumcision

text: Decline in circumcision in the English-speaking world began in the postwar period. The British paediatrician Douglas Gairdner published a famous study in 1949, "The fate of the foreskin", described as "a model of perceptive and pungent writing." It revealed that for the years 1942–1947, about 16 children per year in England and Wales had died because of circumcision, a rate of about 1 per 6000 circumcisions. The article had an influential impact on medical practice and public opinion.


title: History of circumcision

text: In 1949, a lack of consensus in the medical community as to whether circumcision carried with it any notable health benefit motivated the United Kingdom's newly formed National Health Service to remove infant circumcision from its list of covered services. Since then, circumcision has been an out-of-pocket cost to parents, and the proportion of circumcised men is around 9%.


title: History of circumcision

text: Similar trends have operated in Canada, (where public medical insurance is universal, and where private insurance does not replicate services already paid from the public purse) individual provincial health insurance plans began delisting non-therapeutic circumcision in the 1980s. Manitoba was the final province to delist non-therapeutic circumcision, which occurred in 2005. The practice has also declined to about nine percent of newborn boys in Australia and is almost unknown in New Zealand.


title: Pardon

text: A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the jurisdiction.


title: Pardon

text: Pardons can be granted in many countries when individuals are deemed to have demonstrated that they have "paid their debt to society", or are otherwise considered to be deserving of them. In some jurisdictions of some nations, accepting a pardon may "implicitly" constitute an admission of guilt; the offer is refused in some cases. Cases of wrongful conviction are in recent times more often dealt with by appeal rather than by pardon; however, a pardon is sometimes offered when innocence is undisputed in order to avoid the costs that are associated with a retrial. Clemency plays a critical role when capital punishment exists in a jurisdiction.


title: Pardon

text: Pardons are sometimes seen as a mechanism for combating corruption, allowing a particular authority to circumvent a flawed judicial process to free someone who is seen as wrongly convicted. Pardons can also be a source of controversy. In extreme cases, some pardons may be seen as acts of corruption by officials in the form of granting effective immunity as political favors.


title: Pardon

text: In Australia, the pardon power is referred to as the royal prerogative of mercy, an executive power that is vested in the King and may be exercised by the Governor-General. The prerogative of mercy is a broad discretionary power that may be exercised by a state governor who is acting on the advice of the state executive council and the state attorney general. Courts in Australia may also exercise their traditional power to exercise mercy when the circumstances of the defendant or offense warrant relief.


title: Pardon

text: In addition to the prerogative of mercy, Australia has passed legislation that creates additional avenues to seek a pardon, exoneration, reduced sentence, or conditional release.


title: Pardon

text: The Parole Board of Canada (PBC) is the federal agency responsible for making pardon decisions under the "Criminal Records Act" (CRA). Under the CRA, the PBC can issue, grant, deny, and revoke pardons.


title: Pardon

text: In 2012, the Parliament of Canada passed the "Safe Streets and Communities Act", which changed many of elements regarding the criminal justice system. The Act replaced the term "pardon" with "record suspension", and the pardon system was similarly changed.


title: Pardon

text: A pardon keeps the police record of a conviction separate and apart from other criminal records, and gives law-abiding citizens an opportunity to reintegrate into Canadian society.


title: Pardon

text: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police removes all information about the conviction for which an individual received the pardon from the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC). Federal agencies cannot give out information about the conviction without approval from the Minister of Public Safety Canada.


title: Pardon

text: A pardon does not, however, erase the fact that an individual was convicted of a crime. The criminal record is not erased, but it is kept separate and apart from other (non-pardoned) criminal records.


title: Pardon

text: A pardon removes disqualifications caused by a criminal conviction, such as the ability to contract with the federal government, or eligibility for Canadian citizenship.


title: Pardon

text: If an individual in receipt of a pardon is convicted of a new offence, the information may lead to a reactivation of the criminal record for which the pardon was received in CPIC.


title: Pardon

text: A pardon does not guarantee entry or visa privileges to another country. Before travelling to another country, individuals must still contact the authorities of the country in question to find out what the requirements are to enter that country.


title: Pardon

text: Processing of pardons by the Parole Board of Canada generally takes six months for a summary offence and twelve months for an indictable offence. If the Parole Board proposes to deny the application, it can take 24 months to process.


title: Pardon

text: Individuals can apply for a pardon if they were convicted as an adult of a criminal offense in Canada, or of an offense under a federal act or regulation of Canada, or if they were convicted of a crime in another country and were transferred to Canada under the "Transfer of Offenders Act" or "International Transfer of Offenders Act". Non-Canadian citizens are not eligible for a Canadian pardon unless they were convicted of a crime in Canada.


title: Pardon

text: To be eligible for a pardon or record suspension, individuals must have completed all of their sentences and a waiting period.


title: Pardon

text: Prior to 2012, following completion of all of their sentences, individuals must have completed a waiting period, as follows:


title: Pardon

text: Applicants for a record suspension must be able to show that they have completed their sentences in full and provide proof of payment.


title: Pardon

text: Individuals can apply for a pardon by filling out the application forms available from the Parole Board and by paying a $631 pardon application fee.


title: Pardon

text: In Canada, clemency is granted by the Governor General of Canada or the Governor in Council (the federal cabinet) under the royal prerogative of mercy. Applications are also made to the National Parole Board, as in pardons, but clemency may involve the commutation of a sentence, or the remission of all or part of the sentence, a respite from the sentence (for a medical condition or a relief from a prohibition e.g., to allow someone to drive who has been prohibited from driving).


title: Pardon

text: In Chile, the institution of pardon ("indulto") is regulated in the Criminal Code (article 93, Nº 4º), which deals with the extinction of criminal liability. A pardon "only grants the remission or the commutation of the sentence; it does not remove the condition of having been condemned". The pardon may be either general, when it is granted to all those covered by a specific law passed by qualified quorum in National Congress, or particular, when it is granted by Supreme Decree of the President of the Republic. In Chile's presidential regime, the President is the Head of State; in this capacity, the president has the discretionary power to grant particular pardons and is not obliged to seek opinion or approval from other authorities, although, the granting of pardons is limited by the norms of Law No. 18.050 (1981), and its Regulations (Decree No. 1542 of 1981 on particular pardons), which forbid particular pardons for those convicted of a crime of terrorism.


title: Pardon

text: The 1954 Constitution of China made provision for amnesties and pardons, both of which were to be powers of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. The amnesty or pardon would then be issued by the President. Chairman Mao Zedong & President Liu Shaoqi released the first-time pardon in 1959.


title: Pardon

text: The later three constitutions promulgated in 1975, 1978, and 1982 all removed provision amnesty and only kept pardons. In China, pardons are decided by the National Standing Committee of the People's Congress and issued by the President.


title: Pardon

text: On September 23, 2015, president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi issued a pardon freeing 100 activists, including Al Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed.


title: Pardon

text: Pardons and acts of clemency ("grâces") are granted by the President of France, who, ultimately, is the sole judge of the propriety of the measure. It is a prerogative of the President which is directly inherited from that of the Kings of France. The convicted person sends a request for pardon to the President of the Republic. The prosecutor of the court that pronounced the verdict reports on the case, and the case goes to the Ministry of Justice's directorate of criminal affairs and pardons for further consideration.


title: Pardon

text: If granted, the decree of pardon is signed by the President, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice, and possibly other ministers involved in the consideration of the case. It is not published in the "Journal Officiel".


title: Pardon

text: The decree may spare the applicant from serving the balance of his or her sentence, or commute the sentence to a lesser one. It does not suppress the right for the victim of the crime to obtain compensation for the damages it suffered, and does not erase the condemnation from the criminal record.


title: Pardon

text: When the death penalty was in force in France, all capital sentences resulted in a presidential review for a possible clemency. Executions were carried out if and only if the President rejected clemency, by signing a document on which it was written: "decides to let justice take its course".


title: Pardon

text: The Parliament of France, on occasions, grants amnesty. This is a different concept and procedure from that described above, although the phrase "presidential amnesty" ("amnistie présidentielle") is sometimes pejoratively applied to some acts of parliament traditionally voted upon after a presidential election, granting amnesty for minor crimes.


title: Pardon

text: Similar to the United States, the right to grant pardon in Germany is divided between the federal and the state level. Federal jurisdiction in matters of criminal law is mostly restricted to appeals against decisions of state courts. Only "political" crimes like treason or terrorism are tried on behalf of the federal government by the highest state courts. Accordingly, the category of persons eligible for a federal pardon is rather narrow. The right to grant a federal pardon lies in the office of the President of Germany, but he or she can transfer this power to other persons, such as the chancellor or the minister of justice.


title: Pardon

text: In early 2007, there was a widespread public discussion about the granting of pardons in Germany after convicted Red Army Faction terrorist Christian Klar, who was serving six consecutive sentences of life imprisonment, filed a petition for pardon. President Horst Köhler ultimately denied his request. Following a court decision, Klar was released on parole in December 2008.


title: Pardon

text: For all other (and therefore the vast majority of) convicts, pardons are in the jurisdiction of the states. In some states it is granted by the respective cabinet, but in most states the state constitution vests the authority in the state prime minister. As on the federal level, the authority may be transferred. Amnesty can be granted only by federal law.


title: Pardon

text: The Constitution of Greece grants the power of pardon to the President of the Republic (Art. 47, § 1). He/She can pardon, commute or remit punishment imposed by any court, on the proposal of the Minister of Justice and after receiving the opinion (not the consent necessarily) of the Pardon Committee.


title: Pardon

text: Prior to the transfer of the sovereignty in 1997, the power of pardon was the royal prerogative of mercy of the monarch of the United Kingdom. This was used and cited the most often in cases of convicts who had been given the death penalty: from 1965 to 1993 (when the death penalty was formally abolished) death sentences were automatically commuted to life imprisonment under the royal prerogative.


title: Pardon

text: Since the transfer, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong now exercises the power to grant pardons and commute penalties under section 12 of article 48 Basic Law of Hong Kong. "The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall exercise the following powers and functions ... to pardon persons convicted of criminal offences or commute their penalties".


title: Pardon

text: Under the Constitution of India (Article 72), the President of India can grant a pardon or reduce the sentence of a convicted person, particularly in cases involving capital punishment. A similar and parallel power vests in the governors of each state under Article 161.


title: Pardon

text: The Constitution of India vests sovereign power in the president and governors. The governance in the centre and states is carried out in the name of the president and governor respectively. The president is empowered with the power to pardon under Article 72 of the Indian Constitution. Article 72 says that the president shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence. The meaning of these terms is as follows:


title: Pardon

text: Similarly, as per article 161: Governor of a State has the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the state extends. Please note that President can grant pardon to a person awarded death sentence. But a governor of a state does not enjoy this power.


title: Pardon

text: The question is whether this power to grant pardon is absolute or this power of pardon shall be exercised by the President on the advice of Council of Ministers. The pardoning power of the president is not absolute. It is governed by the advice of the Council of Ministers. This has not been discussed by the constitution but is the practical truth. Further, the constitution does not provide for any mechanism to question the legality of decisions of President or governors exercising mercy jurisdiction. But the SC in Epuru Sudhakar case has given a small window for judicial review of the pardon powers of President and governors for the purpose of ruling out any arbitrariness. The court has earlier held that court has retained the power of judicial review even on a matter which has been vested by the Constitution solely in the Executive.


title: Pardon

text: However, it is important to note that India has a unitary legal system and there is no separate body of state law. All crimes are crimes against the Union of India. Therefore, a convention has developed that the governor's powers are exercised for only minor offenses, while requests for pardons and reprieves for major offenses and offenses committed in the Union Territories are deferred to the President.


title: Pardon

text: Both the President and Governor are bound by the advice of their respective Councils of Ministers and hence the exercise of this power is of an executive character. It is therefore subject to Judicial Review as held by the Supreme Court of India in the case of . It was subsequently confirmed by . In the case of , it was held that "clemency is subject to judicial review and that it cannot be dispensed as a privilege or act of grace". The court made these observation while quashing the decision of then Governor of Andhra Pradesh Sushil Kumar Shinde in commuting the sentence of a convicted Congress activist.


title: Pardon

text: In the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Supreme Leader has the power to pardon and offer clemency under Article 110, § 1, §§ 11.


title: Pardon

text: The power of clemency is nominally exercised by the president. However, the President of Ireland must act "on the advice" of the Government (cabinet), so in practice the clemency decisions are made by the government of the day and the president has no discretion in the matter. The responsibility can also be delegated to people or bodies other than the president.


title: Pardon

text: Amnesty and immunity, on the other hand, are usually dealt with by an Act of the Oireachtas rather than by a general form of pardon or a slate of individual pardons.


title: Pardon

text: In the first procedure, aimed at miscarriages of justice, the Minister for Justice may recommend to the Government that they formally advise the President to grant a pardon, and any conditions along with it.


title: Pardon

text: 1993 Criminal Procedure Act provides the method by which a person convicted of an offence may apply for a pardon. Under this procedure, the person must:


title: Pardon

text: The minister may then "make or cause to be made such inquiries as they consider necessary" and may refuse to grant the pardon on his/her own initiative, or if they think the person should be pardoned, bring such argument to cabinet.


title: Pardon

text: Section six of the act allows a Minister for Justice to seek or receive a pardon request from someone whose case is not a 'miscarriage of justice', but has some other fault, such as an archaic law, a law being misapplied by a rogue judge, a reduction in the harshness of a sentence or a substitution of a sentence, without having to go through the procedure above, gone through appeals, or presented new facts. It also allows the minister to waive the procedure in a case of miscarriage of justice if the specific case warrants it. It may also allow prospective pardons as it allows the minister to pardon someone who has not been convicted yet, which the other procedure requires.


title: Pardon

text: The government itself may assemble a committee to study the case in more detail on their behalf. This may consist of anyone, and any number, but the chair must be:


title: Pardon

text: This special committee may look to any material it sees fit to make its decision, even if it was not, or would not be, available to a jury or trial judge in a normal court.


title: Pardon

text: Under Section 7(5) of the act, the same powers of the Minister for Justice apply to the Minister for Defence in the case of military officers and enlisted convicted by courts martial.


title: Pardon

text: The Minister for Justice or Defence may also, in their absolute discretion, pay compensation, determined by them alone, to any person given a pardon, if this compensation is applied for. If they think the compensation is too low they may challenge for a higher figure in the High Court.


title: Pardon

text: In Israel the President has the power to pardon criminals or commute their sentences. The President's pardon powers are set out in the Basic Laws of Israel. The pardon is given following a recommendation by the Minister of Justice.


title: Pardon

text: After the Kav 300 affair, President Chaim Herzog issued a pardon to four members of the Shin Bet prior to them being indicted. This unusual act was the first of its kind in Israel.


title: Pardon

text: In Italy, the President of the Republic may "grant pardons, or commute punishments" according to article 87 of the Italian Constitution. Like other acts of the president, the pardon requires the countersignature of the competent government minister. The Constitutional Court of Italy has ruled that the Minister of Justice is obliged to sign acts of pardon.


title: Pardon

text: The pardon may remove the punishment altogether or change its form. Unless the decree of pardon states otherwise, the pardon does not remove any incidental effects of a criminal conviction, such as a mention in a certificate of conduct (174 c.p.) or the loss of civil rights.


title: Pardon

text: According to article 79 of the Italian Constitution the Parliament may grant amnesty (article 151 c.p.) and pardon (article 174 c.p.) by law deliberated a majority of two-thirds of the components. The last general pardon, discounting 3 years from sentences, was approved in 2006.


title: Pardon

text: In Poland, the President is granted the right of pardon by Article 139 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. As of October 2008, 7,819 people were pardoned, while 3,046 people's appeals were declined.


title: Pardon

text: In Portugal, the Heads of State – Kings or Presidents – have always enjoyed the prerogative of grace, being able to grant pardons, commuting or extinguishing sentences in the context of requests for clemency.


title: Pardon

text: According to the Portuguese Constitution, the President of the Portuguese Republic has the power to pardon and commute sentences, on the proposal of the Government of the Portuguese Republic. This is the exclusive and discretionary competence of the President and is not subject to any conditions beyond the prior hearing of the Government, generally represented by the Minister of Justice. Requests or proposals for pardons are instructed by the Criminal Execution Court by referral from the Ministry of Justice and subsequently submitted to the President for consideration. The pardon is granted by Presidential Decree; if the pardon is denied, the President decides by order. Traditionally pardons are granted during the Christmas period. The pardon can be revoked by the President of the Republic.


title: Pardon

text: The pardon, as an individual, shall not be confused with amnesty or generic forgiveness, both of a general and abstract nature. Amnesty has retroactive effects, affecting not only the penalty applied but the past criminal act itself, which is forgotten, considered as not practiced (retroactive abolition of crime). Generic forgiveness focuses only on the penalties determined by the sentencing decision and for the future. It is the reserved competence of the Portuguese Parliamnent to approve generic amnesties and pardons.


title: Pardon

text: The President of the Russian Federation is granted the right of pardon by Article 89 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The chain of pardon committees manage lists of people eligible for pardon and directs them to the President for signing. While President Boris Yeltsin frequently used his power of pardon (1998 – 7,000 to 8,000 cases), his successor Vladimir Putin is much more hesitant; he granted five pardons in 2014 and two in 2015.


title: Pardon

text: A pardon can be requested at any time, although a one year waiting period is required between requests.


title: Pardon

text: The prerogative of mercy is a form of pardon that can be exercised by the President of Rwanda. The prerogative is one of the powers of the president defined by the Constitution of Rwanda, which came into effect in 2003 following a national referendum. According to the Constitution of Rwanda, "The President of the Republic has authority to exercise the prerogative of mercy in accordance with the procedure determined by law and after consulting the Supreme Court on the matter."


title: Pardon

text: Under section 84(2)(j) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996), the President of the Republic of South Africa is responsible for pardoning or reprieving offenders. This power of the President is only exercised in highly exceptional cases.


title: Pardon

text: To pardon a person is to forgive a person for his/her deeds. The pardon process is therefore not available to persons who maintain their innocence and is not an advanced form of appeal procedure.


title: Pardon

text: Pardon is only granted for minor offences after a period of ten years has elapsed since the relevant conviction.


title: Pardon

text: For many serious offences (for example if the relevant court viewed the offence in such a serious light that direct imprisonment was imposed) pardon will not be granted even if more than ten years have elapsed since the conviction.


title: Pardon

text: The "derecho de gracia" ("right of grace") or "indulto" ("pardon") is acknowledged by the Spanish Constitution of 1978 as a privilege of the King of Spain (article 62.i: "Functions of the King"). Spanish law defines it as a renunciation on the State's part of its own punitive power on behalf of an individual, founded on reasons of equity or public interest. The Constitution subjects royal pardons to the law and forbids general pardons, so they have to be granted individually. Theoretically, a royal pardon can be granted for a general offense or accessory offenses alone; if it is granted for a general offense, the accessory ones it implies are also pardoned, with the exception of punishments involving political rights (i.e., removal of the right to run for a public office as a result of a sentence), which have to be explicitly mentioned in the pardon decree if they are going to be pardoned.


title: Pardon

text: The procedure and requirements for the grant of the pardon are given by the Law of 18 June 1870, modified by the Law 1/1988 of 14 January. The application for royal pardon has to be carried out by the convicted person himself, his relatives or any other person in his name. The convicting court will then issue a report of the case, which shall be considered along with the public comments of the Prosecutor and the victims of the crime if there were any. All of this is gathered by the Minister of Justice, who will present the pardon issue to the Cabinet of Ministers. If the Cabinet decides a pardon should be granted, then the Minister of Justice will recommend as such to the King. Pardons are issued by Royal Decree and have to be published in the ("Public Journal").


title: Pardon

text: Pardons are not commonly conceded in Spain but for offenders convicted for minor crimes who are about to complete their sentence and have shown good behaviour and repentance. Dating back to medieval times, several organisations and religious brotherhoods still hold the right of granting pardons as part of some privilege or other granted to them by the King of Spain. The scope of this privilege depends on the royal charter received by the organisation when their right to concede pardons was granted, though it usually holds only for minor offenses in very especial conditions; this right is implicitly acknowledged by the public offices nowadays, though it is not exercised but following the usual procedure for royal pardons. Traditionally, they will propose some petty criminal about to end his sentence for pardon being granted to him, and he/she will be released following the tradition to which the pardon holds, usually during the Holy Week. This type of pardons are distinguished from the usual ones in that they only release the prisoner from jail, halting the sentence, but do not pardon the offense itself.


title: Pardon

text: In Sri Lanka, under the Sri Lankan Constitution the President can grant a pardon, respite or substitute a less severe form of punishment for any punishment imposed to any offender convicted of any offence in any court within the Republic of Sri Lanka. It is generally referred to as a "Presidential pardon".


title: Pardon

text: In Switzerland, pardons may be granted by the Swiss Federal Assembly for crimes prosecuted by the federal authorities. For crimes under cantonal jurisdiction, cantonal law designates the authority competent to grant pardons (if any). In most cantons, the cantonal parliament may pardon felonies, and the cantonal government may pardon misdemeanors and minor infractions.


title: Pardon

text: The president of Turkey is granted the right of pardon under certain circumstances defined in the constitution, article 104. According to the article, the president can "remit, on grounds of chronic illness, disability, or old age, all or part of the sentences imposed on certain individuals". After the convict's or his or her proxy's application, if the Council of Forensic Medicine determines that the convict suffers from chronic illness, disability, or old age, the Ministry of Justice presents the situation to the president, and the president can choose to grant a pardon.


title: Pardon

text: The power to grant pardons and reprieves in the United Kingdom is known as the royal prerogative of mercy. It was traditionally in the absolute power of the monarch to pardon an individual for a crime, whether or not he or she had been convicted, and thereby commute any penalty; the power was then delegated both to the judiciary and the sovereign's ministers. Since the creation of legal rights of appeal, the royal prerogative of mercy is no longer exercised by the person of the sovereign, or by the judiciary, but only by the government.


title: Pardon

text: In constitutional terms, under the doctrine of the rule of law, the power of ministers to overrule the judiciary by commuting criminal sanctions imposed resolves different and sometimes conflicting public interests. In civil matters, only the legislative branch, and not ministers, have the power to override the judiciary.


title: Pardon

text: The Indemnity and Oblivion Act 1660 was a general pardon for everyone who had committed crimes during the English Civil War and Interregnum with some exceptions for regicides and serious crimes.


title: Pardon

text: Until the nineteenth century, for many crimes the sentence was mandatory and was formally pronounced in court immediately upon conviction, but judges and ministers were given powers to exercise the royal prerogative of mercy out of court, in order to mitigate the rigour of the law. Before there was any general form of criminal appeal, a judge might grant a pardon either by way of clemency, because he felt in his opinion that the law was unduly harsh (for example, in the case of convictions of minors), that the verdict was dubious, to seek public approval, or it was otherwise in the public interest. Capital sentences imposed by the assizes were generally executed when the assize was concluded and as the circuit judge left the town, so there was a limited window of time to apply to a judge or directly to the Crown for a pardon. Especially for assizes that were far away from the then capital and major cities of London, York, Durham, Edinburgh, or Dublin, a pardon might well arrive too late. Perhaps as a form of temporary punishment, to give solace, to avoid public disorder, to consult or obtain further evidence, or to maximise the public approval of the King's mercy, judges often did not grant their pardons until their departures; the convict often hoped until his last moments that the sentence of death would not actually be executed, and it was generally popular for a reprieve to arrive at the scaffold at the very moment of the execution.


title: Pardon

text: Conditional pardons were granted to many in the 18th century, in return for transportation to British colonies overseas for life in lieu, especially to the Australian colonies.


title: Pardon

text: The first known "general pardon" in post-Conquest England was issued during the celebrations at the coronation of King Edward III in 1327. In 2006, all British Armed Forces soldiers who were executed for cowardice during the First World War were given a statutory pardon by an Act of Parliament (the Armed Forces Act 2006), following a long-running controversy about the justice of their executions.


title: Pardon

text: Today the sovereign only grants pardons upon the advice of his ministers: currently they are the Lord Chancellor, for England and Wales; the First Minister of Scotland; or the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State for Defence is responsible for military cases. It is the standard policy of the government to only grant pardons to those who are considered "morally" innocent of the offence, as opposed to those who may have been wrongly convicted by a misapplication of the law. Pardons are generally no longer issued prior to a conviction, but only after the conviction. The use of the royal prerogative of mercy is now a rare occurrence, given that the Criminal Cases Review Commission and the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission are now avenues to statutory remedies against miscarriages of justice.


title: Pardon

text: Therefore, the grant of pardons is now very rare occurrence indeed, and the vast majority of were decided upon by the courts. During the Birmingham Six case, Home Secretary Douglas Hurd stressed that he could only make the decision for a pardon if he was "convinced of [their] innocence", which at the time he was not.


title: Pardon

text: One recent case was that of two drug smugglers, John Haase and Paul Bennett. They were pardoned in July 1996 from their sentences of imprisonment both of 18 years, having served some ten months, on the advice of Home Secretary Michael Howard. This was intended as a reward for their information given to the authorities, but there were speculations as to the motives of the Home Secretary. In 2008 they were sentenced to imprisonment for 20 and 22 years, respectively, after subsequent discovery that the information they gave was unreliable.


title: Pardon

text: In 1980, after the courts had dismissed their appeals, the Home Secretary, William Whitelaw, used the royal prerogative of mercy to free David Cooper and Michael McMahon from their imprisonment, both having been convicted of murder on poor evidence.


title: Pardon

text: Under the Act of Settlement 1701, a pardon cannot prevent a person from being impeached by Parliament, but a pardon may commute any penalties imposed for the conviction. In England and Wales no person may be pardoned for an offence under Section 11 of the Habeas Corpus Act 1679 (unlawfully transporting prisoners out of England and Wales).


title: Pardon

text: In the United States, the pardon power for offenses against the United States is granted to the President of the United States under which states that the President "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment". The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted this language to include the power to grant many different forms of clemency (generally less sweeping than a full pardon), including not only pardons, but also conditional pardons, commutations of sentence, conditional commutations of sentence, remissions of fines, forfeitures and other criminal financial penalties, respites and reprieves, and amnesties.


title: Pardon

text: The pardon power of the President applies only to convictions under federal law. Additionally, the power extends to military court-martial cases as well as convictions in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.


title: Pardon

text: Almost all pardon petitions are addressed to the President, who grants or denies the request. In some cases, the President will, of his own accord, issue a pardon. Typically, applications for pardons are referred for review and non-binding recommendation by the Office of the Pardon Attorney, an official of the United States Department of Justice.


title: Pardon

text: The governors of most U.S. states have the power to grant pardons, reprieves and other forms of clemency for offenses under state criminal law. In other states, that power is committed to an appointed agency or board, or to a board and the governor in some hybrid arrangement (in some states the agency is merged with that of the parole board, as in the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board).


title: Pardon

text: Nine states in the United States have boards of pardons and paroles that exclusively grant all state pardons. These states are: Alabama (Board of Pardons and Paroles), Connecticut (Board of Pardons and Paroles), Georgia (Board of Pardons and Paroles), Idaho (Commission of Pardons and Paroles), Minnesota (Board of Pardons), Nebraska (Board of Pardons), Nevada (Board of Pardon Commissioners), South Carolina (Board of Probation, Parole and Pardon), and Utah (Board of Pardons and Parole).


title: Pardon

text: On at least four occasions, state governorsToney Anaya of New Mexico in 1986, George Ryan of Illinois in 2003, Martin O'Malley of Maryland in 2014, and Kate Brown of Oregon in 2022have commuted all death sentences in their respective states prior to leaving office.


title: Pardon

text: Some criminals who testify for the prosecution put their life in jeopardy by doing so. To encourage witnesses to testify, the government may offer witness protection. In the United States Federal Witness Protection Program, about "95% of [witnesses in the program] are ... criminals." Those who testify for the prosecution may be offered immunity from prosecution for their own crimes.


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: Roberto "Robbie" Reyes is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the fifth Marvel character to use the name Ghost Rider, after Carter Slade (the Western comics hero later known as the Phantom Rider), Johnny Blaze, Danny Ketch and Alejandra Jones.


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: The character was portrayed by Gabriel Luna in the fourth season of the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: Robbie Reyes first appeared in "All-New Ghost Rider" #1 (March 2014), created by writer Felipe Smith and artist Tradd Moore.


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: When Marvel Comics was getting retooled as All-New, All-Different Marvel, editor Mark Paniccia approached writer Felipe Smith on creating a newer and younger Ghost Rider. Among Paniccia's suggestions were that this new Ghost Rider drive a car instead of a motorcycle, an idea that excited Smith. Another big difference between this Ghost Rider and its predecessors is that Reyes doesn't have a floating head, or a human skull, Smith says. "He's an amalgam of a flaming car and a human being. He's not wearing a helmet, and his head isn't a skull: this Ghost Rider is designed so his look simulates the lines of the classic muscle car he was racing the night he died." Tradd Moore was brought in to sketch ideas based on Smith's concept.


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: Robbie Reyes is a high-school student working as a mechanic at an auto body shop who lives with his developmentally disabled brother Gabe and seeks to get away from the dangerous, gang-riddled streets of East Los Angeles. To that end, he enters a street race, hoping to use the prize money to move themselves away. He is gunned down by mercenaries trying to retrieve pills that caused the transformation of Calvin Zabo into the supervillain Mr. Hyde, which had been left in the trunk of the 1969 Dodge Charger he "borrowed" from the auto body shop for the race. He is revived as a demonic being with a flaming, helmet-like head. He drives off in the car, now similarly ablaze.


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: Later, the spirit bound to the car introduces itself to Robbie as the ghost of a man named Eli Morrow, who says he had been killed by gang members. Eli offers to help Robbie clean up his neighborhood in exchange for Robbie helping him avenge his death. Robbie becomes a local hero whose fame catches the attention of Johnny Blaze, who travels to Los Angeles to confront the new Rider. Eli is later revealed as Robbie's estranged uncle, a Satanic serial killer who kidnapped and murdered at least thirty-seven people in rituals before being fatally shot by police in 1999. A possessed Robbie later encounters Johnny Blaze, who uses the Penance Stare on Eli's spirit.


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: Eli was also the one who pushed Robbie's mother down the stairs while she was pregnant with Gabe, causing Gabe's disabilities.


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: In addition to confronting Mr. Hyde and his criminal underworld, Robbie and Eli fight for dominance over Robbie's body. Robbie eventually permanently bonds with Eli and agrees to sate Eli's thirst for murder, but only by killing people with evil souls.


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: He appears in "The Unbelievable Gwenpool" along with Hawkeye, both working to stop a ceremony being held by dwarves using a mystical space rock. Gwenpool appeared in his trunk's portal via her friend Sarah "The Terrible Eye" and the police arrived, prompting them all to flee. He had claimed the gem with Gwen's ghost friend Cecil inside and left it in his car, where his possessing spirit was apparently attempting to turn Cecil on Gwen. When that fails he shrugs it off and decides to just go back to corrupting Robbie.


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: Following a vivid nightmare involving an ancient gathering of heroes that include a previous Ghost Rider, Robbie awakens in South Africa with no memory of how he got there. He is attacked by Star Brand, who seeks to keep him from finding a buried Celestial. Robbie defeats Star Brand by using the Penance Stare, an ability he previously had no idea he possessed, but somehow accidentally kills Star Brand as well.


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: Robbie then joins a new team of Avengers formed by Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America to fight off the Celestial Final Host. Sometime later, word of Star Brand's death somehow reaches Odin. The long-time ally of the original pre-historic Star Brand thought that Robbie killed the current Star Brand purposely. Robbie explains to the All-Father of Norse Gods about his accidental murder of the latter Star Brand when his Penance Stare first awakened, thus easily winning forgiveness and making friends.


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: In light of the threat caused by the Multiversal Masters of Evil, Ghost Rider travels the Multiverse with a Deathlok that became his companion as they look to find allies to fight them. As they travel through the Multiverse, Ghost Rider and his Deathlok companion managed to get allies like Ant-Man of Earth-818, Star Panther, an assortment of Captain America variants, a Thor from Earth-56377 who wields the Iron Fist move, the Carol Corps, and different variants of Iron Man. On an alternate Earth, Ghost Rider, Deathlok, and Ant-Man of Earth-818 arrive on an alternate Earth to assist Captain Fury in fighting the Goblin Corps. With time being up, Ghost Rider, Deathlok, and Ant-Man of Earth-818 can finally head to the Avengers Tower at Infinity's End. Ghost Rider is contacted by the souls in his Hell Charger asking why he has forsaken them and that another Spirit of Vengeance has fallen. As Ant-Man of Earth-818 and Deathlok start to voice their concern, Ghost Rider uses his chains on them and drives off. When the Multiversal Masters of Evil have taken down another Earth while planning to return to Earth-616, Ghost Rider arrives where he uses his Symbiote control to disable Black Skull enough to subdue King Killmonger. Then he proceeded to use his Hell Charger to knock down Kid Thanos and Hound while having it drag Dark Phoenix. After subduing Ghost Goblin where his Noggin Bombs identify him as the All-Rider, Ghost Rider faces off against Doom Supreme who starts to overpower him. Deathlok and Ant-Man of Earth-818 arrive where Ant-Man of Earth-818 shrinks Doom Supreme to microscopic size. When Dark Phoenix goes on the attack, Deathlok instructs Ant-Man of Earth-818 to get Robbie away while he buys them time to get away. After Deathlok is slain, Doom Supreme states that they need to regroup before they visit where Ghost Rider and Ant-Man of Earth-818 have fled to. The Multiversal Masters of Evil will commit one more slaughter vowing that "No Avenger gets out alive".


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: Robbie Reyes and Ant-Man of Earth-818 arrive at the Avengers Tower in the Quarry of Creation where the Hell Charger drives into some of the attacking members of the Council of Red. Robbie states to Ant-Man of Earth-818 that he can't transform into Ghost Rider.


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: Robbie differs from previous Ghost Riders, mainly because he is not possessed by a Spirit of Vengeance or any similar demonic entity. Rather, he is possessed by the spirit of Eli Morrow, a deceased serial killing Satanist who worked for the Russian mob as a hit-man. Despite this, he has abilities similar to his predecessors; he possesses superhuman strength, speed, agility, stamina, and durability potent enough to challenge Thor or Captain Marvel, as well as the natural Rider's capability of conjuring natural and hellish flames. He wields a supernaturally strong chain weapon, and can banish people to Hell or outright consume their souls.


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: Unlike previous Ghost Riders who rode on motorcycles, Robbie drives a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T which he refers to as the Hell Charger. The Hell Charger is linked to the Ghost Rider, allowing Robbie in his Ghost Rider form to instantly teleport to and/or merge with the car. It also acts as a warp hub which he can shadowmeld with to warp things (himself or others) over varying distances using shadows. The Charger can also be driven remotely, and Robbie's Ghost Rider form can pass harmlessly through it, allowing it to drive into foes. The car's trunk, when opened, acts as a portal through Hell, allowing the Ghost Rider to transport anything, including people, to any location. Robbie, through his Hellcharger, can create portals out of hellfire to take himself anywhere he can think of while Eli can change the shape and appearance of their ride. Eli is shown to able to take control of Robbie's body whenever he feels that he isn't up to the task or when Robbie gives into negative emotion, which is signified in his human form by a pallid skin tone and his eyes turning orange. The vehicle can also contact the spirits of the deceased as it was able to enlist the aid of Tony's dead father Howard Stark to ask for information.


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: During his battle with Star Brand, Robbie discovers that he possesses the Penance Stare, which allows him to force anyone who makes eye contact with him to experience all of the pain and suffering they have ever inflicted on others. His Ghost Rider form can also evolve into a stronger, more demonic form when Robbie is sufficiently angered, though this transformation is harder to control and more destructive. Recently while battling corrupted Celestial's Robbie later realized he'd entrenched a simple tractor with his rider properties. Similarly to Daniel Ketch; Robbie's rider transformation changes everything within reach alongside him as well.


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: In an alternate universe depicted in the miniseries "Heroes Reborn", Robbie Reyes never became Ghost Rider and instead lived a normal life.


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: During the 2015 "Secret Wars" storyline, a variation of Robbie and his brother Gabe live south of Doomstadt on Battleworld. The former and several of his friends are arrested by the Thor Corps when patrol bots discover that Robbie possesses an "igniter spirit", taken to the Killiseum, and forced to participate in Arcade's Ghost Races. Dubbed "The Hell-Charger" to distinguish himself from other Ghost Riders, Robbie loses his first race, but makes a deal with his spirit Eli to win every race onward, becoming popular with audiences. Robbie later kills a monster that was created using his friends. Realizing the severity of his new life, Robbie escapes as Eli could not be controlled by Zadkiel. When Robbie discovers that Gabe was kidnapped by Arcade, he is forced to race in the races. Robbie returns to the Killiseum, where he defeats Zadkiel and frees the other racers. Afterwards, Eli kills Arcade and the Ghost Riders decide to become the Spirits of Vengeance.


title: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

text: An alternate universe version of Robbie possessed by Eli and Venom calling himself Host Rider appears in the 2017 "Venomverse" storyline. Due to Eli and Venom uniting against him, Robbie became a puppet. Host Rider is recruited by a "Venomized" Doctor Strange to join an army of Venoms to defeat a species capable of taking over symbiotes and their hosts called Poisons. While Host Rider is assimilated by the Poisons, they are killed by an alternate universe version of Carnage.


title: Rhythm game

text: Rhythm game or rhythm action is a genre of music-themed action video game that challenges a player's sense of rhythm. Games in the genre typically focus on dance or the simulated performance of musical instruments, and require players to press buttons in a sequence dictated on the screen. Many rhythm games include multiplayer modes in which players compete for the highest score or cooperate as a simulated musical ensemble. Rhythm games often feature novel game controllers shaped like musical instruments such as guitars and drums to match notes while playing songs. Certain dance-based games require the player to physically dance on a mat, with pressure-sensitive pads acting as the input device.


title: Rhythm game

text: The 1996 title "PaRappa the Rapper" has been deemed the first influential rhythm game, whose basic template formed the core of subsequent games in the genre. In 1997, Konami's "Beatmania" sparked an emergent market for rhythm games in Japan. The company's music division, Bemani, released a series of music-based games over the next several years. The most successful of these was the 1998 dance mat game "Dance Dance Revolution", which was the only Bemani title to achieve large-scale success outside Japan, and would see numerous imitations of the game from other publishers.


title: Rhythm game

text: Other Japanese games, particularly "Guitar Freaks", led to development of the "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" series that used instrument-shaped controllers to mimic the playing of actual instruments. Spurred by the inclusion of popular rock music, the two series revitalized the rhythm genre in the Western Market, significantly expanded the console video game market and its demographics. The games provided a new source of revenue for the artists whose music appeared on the soundtracks. The later release of "Rock Band 3" as well as the even later "Rocksmith" would allow players to play the songs using a real electric guitar. By 2007 rhythm games were considered to be one of the most popular video game genres, behind other action games. However, by 2009, the market was saturated by spin-offs from the core titles, which led to a nearly 50% drop in revenue for music game publishers; within a few years, both series announced they would be taking a hiatus from future titles.


title: Rhythm game

text: Despite these setbacks, the rhythm game market continues to expand, introducing a number of dance-based games like Ubisoft's "Just Dance" and Harmonix's "Dance Central" that incorporate the use of motion controllers and camera-based controls like the Kinect. Existing games also continue to thrive on new business models, such as the reliance on downloadable content to provide songs to players. The introduction of the eighth generation of console hardware has also spurred return of Activision's "Guitar Hero" and Harmonix's "Rock Band" titles in late 2015.


title: Rhythm game

text: Rhythm game, or rhythm action, is a subgenre of action game that challenges a player's sense of rhythm. The genre includes dance games such as "Dance Dance Revolution" and music-based games such as "Donkey Konga" and "Guitar Hero". Games in the genre challenge the player to press buttons at precise times: the screen shows which button the player is required to press, and the game awards points both for accuracy and for synchronization with the beat. The genre also includes games that measure rhythm and pitch, in order to test a player's singing ability, and games that challenge the player to control their volume by measuring how hard they press each button. While songs can be sight read, players usually practice to master more difficult songs and settings. Certain rhythm games offer a challenge similar to that of Simon says, in that the player must watch, remember, and repeat complex sequences of button-presses. Rhythm-action can take a minigame format with some games blending rhythm with other genres or entirely comprising minigame collections.


title: Rhythm game

text: In some rhythm games, the screen displays an avatar who performs in reaction to the player's controller inputs. However, these graphical responses are usually in the background, and the avatar is more important to spectators than it is to the player. In single-player modes, the player's avatar competes against a computer-controlled opponent, while multiplayer modes allow two player-controlled avatars to compete head-to-head. The popularity of rhythm games has created a market for speciality input devices. These include controllers that emulate musical instruments, such as guitars, drums, or maracas. A dance mat, for use in dancing games, requires the player to step on pressure-sensitive pads. However, most rhythm games also support more conventional input devices, such as control pads.


title: Rhythm game

text: In the early 1970s, Kasco (Kansei Seiki Seisakusho) created a rhythm-based electro-mechanical arcade game, designed by Kenzou Furukawa and produced by Kenji Nagata. According to Nagata, it was Furukawa's "idea for a game where you’d lift girls skirts in time to some rhythm", inspired by the 1969 Japanese "Oh! Mouretsu" commercials. The arcade game was released in Japan. Arcades in Japan are called Game Center (ゲームセンター), or simply known as ゲーセン ("Gēsen"). Another early rhythm-based electronic game was the handheld game "Simon", created in 1978 by Ralph Baer (who created the Magnavox Odyssey) and Howard Morrison. The game used the "call and response" mechanic, in which players take turns repeating increasingly complicated sequences of button presses.


title: Rhythm game

text: Human Entertainment's "Dance Aerobics" was an early rhythm-based video game released in 1987, and allows players to create music by stepping on Nintendo's Power Pad peripheral for the NES video game console. The 1996 title "PaRappa the Rapper" has been credited as the first true rhythm game, and as one of the first music-based games in general. It requires players to press buttons in the order that they appear on the screen, a basic mechanic that formed the core of future rhythm games. The success of "PaRappa the Rapper" sparked the popularity of the music game genre. In 1997, Konami released the DJ-themed rhythm game "Beatmania" in Japanese arcades. Its arcade cabinet features buttons similar to those of a musical keyboard, and a rubber pad that emulates a vinyl record. "Beatmania" was a surprise hit, inspiring Konami's Games and Music Division to change its name to Bemani in honor of the game, and to begin experimenting with other rhythm game concepts. Its successes include "GuitarFreaks", which features a guitar-shaped controller, and 1998's "Pop'n Music", a game similar to "Beatmania" in which multiple colorful buttons must be pressed. While the "GuitarFreaks" franchise continues to receive new arcade releases in Japan, it was never strongly marketed outside of the country. This allowed Red Octane and Harmonix to capitalize on the formula in 2005 with the Western-targeted "Guitar Hero". In general, few Japanese arcade rhythm games were exported abroad because of the cost of producing the peripherals and the resulting increases in retail prices. The 1999 Bemani title "DrumMania" featured a drum kit controller, and could be linked with "GuitarFreaks" for simulated jam sessions. Similarly, this concept was later appropriated by Harmonix for their game "Rock Band".


title: Rhythm game

text: "Dance Dance Revolution", released in 1998, is a rhythm game in which players dance on pressure-sensitive pads in an order dictated by on-screen instructions. The game was highly successful both in and outside Japan, unlike games such as "GuitarFreaks", "DrumMania" and "Beatmania", though the latter had some success in Europe. Released the same year, Enix's "Bust a Groove" features a similar focus on dancing but employs a more conventional input method. The game contains competitive one-on-one battles, and grants the player more freedom than typical rhythm games.


title: Rhythm game

text: NanaOn-Sha, the creators of "PaRappa the Rapper", released "Vib-Ribbon" in 1999. It eschews instrument-shaped controllers; instead, players maneuver the protagonist through an obstacle course by pressing buttons at correct times. The game's levels are generated by the background music, which players may change by inserting audio CDs. While it was praised for its unique style and artistry, "Vib-Ribbon"s simple vector graphics proved difficult to market, and the game was never released in North America. Sega's "Samba de Amigo", released in arcades in 1999 and on the Dreamcast in 2000, features maraca-shaped, motion-sensitive controllers. The game allows for two-player gameplay, provides a spectacle for onlookers and allows players to socialise while gaming. In 2000, "Taiko no Tatsujin" combined traditional Japanese drums with contemporary pop music, and became highly successful in Japanese arcades. The game was later released on consoles in the West as "Taiko Drum Master", and the franchise continues to receive new installments in Japan. "Gitaroo Man" featured a guitar-playing protagonist four years before the release of "Guitar Hero", though the game employed a conventional rather than guitar-shaped controller.


title: Rhythm game

text: Harmonix was formed in 1995 from a computer music group at MIT. Beginning in 1998, the company developed music games inspired by "PaRappa the Rapper". In 2001, the company released "Frequency", which puts the player in control of multiple instrument tracks. Ryan Davis of GameSpot wrote that the game provides a greater sense of creative freedom than earlier rhythm titles. "Frequency" was critically acclaimed; however, marketing was made difficult by the game's abstract style, which removed the player's ability to perform for onlookers. In 2003, Harmonix followed up "Frequency" with the similar "Amplitude". The company later released a more socially driven, karaoke-themed music game in "Karaoke Revolution" (2003). "Donkey Konga", a GameCube title developed by Namco and released in 2003, achieved widespread success by leveraging Nintendo's "Donkey Kong" brand.


title: Rhythm game

text: In 2005, "Gitaroo Man"'s creator Keiichi Yano released "Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan", a rhythm game for the Nintendo DS that utilizes the handheld's touchscreen features. It became a highly demanded import title, which led to the release of an altered version of the game in the West—"Elite Beat Agents"—and a sequel in Japan.


title: Rhythm game

text: Also in 2005, Harmonix and the small publisher RedOctane released "Guitar Hero", a game inspired by Bemani's "GuitarFreaks". However, instead of the Japanese pop that comprises the earlier title's soundtrack, "Guitar Hero" features Western rock music. The game reinvigorated the rhythm genre, which had stagnated because of a flood of "Dance Dance Revolution" sequels and imitations. "Guitar Hero" spawned several sequels, and the franchise overall earned more than $1 billion, with the third installment ranking as the best selling game in North America in 2007. Harmonix followed "Guitar Hero" with the "Rock Band" franchise, which also earned over $1 billion. "Rock Band" titles support multiple instrument controllers and cooperative multiplayer, allowing players to play as a full band. The "Guitar Hero" franchise followed suit with the band-oriented, Neversoft-developed "Guitar Hero World Tour". "Guitar Hero" installments based on specific bands, such as Metallica and Aerosmith, were also published. Additional songs for "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" were made available for purchase via the Internet, which generated further revenue. Artists whose work is featured in the games receive royalties, and the increased publicity in turn generates further sales of their music. The success of the "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" franchises widened the console video game market and its demographics, and the popularity of the genre drove increased sales of consoles. In 2008, it was reported that music games had become the second most popular video game genre (behind action) in the United States, with 53% of players being female. At its height in 2008, music games represented about 18% of the video game market.


title: Rhythm game

text: Video game industry analysts considered 2009 to be a critical year for rhythm games, and they believed that it would allow them to gauge the future success of the genre. Both the "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" franchises were expanded, and they received entries for handheld gaming devices and mobile phones. Specialized titles that targeted specific genres and demographics, such as "Band Hero" for pop music and "Lego Rock Band" for younger players, were released. Sales of music games were down in the first half of the year. This decline was attributed to fewer purchases of instrument controllers; it was assumed that players had already bought such controllers and were reusing them. While analysts had expected that United States sales of "Guitar Hero 5" and "" would be high—close to or exceeding one million units each in the first month of their release—sales only reached roughly half of those projections. The failure to meet sales projections was partly attributed to the impact of the late-2000s recession on the video game industry; Harmonix's CEO Alex Rigopolis considered that at the time, both "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" were the most expensive video games on the market. Analysts also considered it to be a sign of market saturation. Further contributing to the decline was genre stagnation; the franchises retained the same basic gameplay over several iterations, giving consumers less incentive to buy additional titles. Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos felt that the aggressive competition between the "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" brands on the belief that the market could only support one franchise also contributed to the decline of these games. As a result, analysts lowered their expectations for future music games; for example, projections of first quarter U.S. sales of "DJ Hero", a "Guitar Hero" "spin-off", were reduced from 1.6 million units to only 600,000. Sales of rhythm games, which totalled $1.47 billion in 2008, reached only $700 million in 2009. Analysts predicted that the market would settle at the same "healthy" $500–600 million level of the "Call of Duty" series. Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter concluded that the saturation of the rhythm game market accounted for one-third of the industry's 12% sales decline in 2009.


title: Rhythm game

text: The fallout of the weakening rhythm game market affected game developers, publishers and distributors. Companies in the latter two categories believed that most consumers would own at least one set of instrument controllers by 2010, which would increase the importance of software and downloadable content sales.


title: Rhythm game

text: Activision scaled back its 2010 "Guitar Hero" release schedule to just two games, reducing the number of SKUs from 25 in 2009 to 10 in 2010. The company closed several in-house developers, including RedOctane, Neversoft's "Guitar Hero" division, and Underground Development. Viacom, which had paid Harmonix $150 million following the success of "Rock Band" in 2007, began seeking a "substantial" refund on that investment after weak sales in 2009. Viacom also sought to negotiate new deals with music publishers to reduce the costs of the "Rock Band" series' licensed music. Ultimately, the company began to seek a buyer for Harmonix during the third quarter of 2010.


title: Rhythm game

text: In 2010, rhythm game developers included new features in their products. For example, "Rock Band 3" and "" support guitar controllers with strings, and both contain modes that teach players accurate fingering. Despite this new content, sales of music games faltered in 2010. "Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock" and "DJ Hero 2" sold only 86,000 and 59,000 copies, respectively, in North America during their first week on the market. This was in sharp contrast to "Guitar Hero III", which had sold nearly 1.4 million units in its first week in 2008. Through October 2010, music games achieved net sales of around $200 million, one-fifth of the genre's revenue during the same period in 2008. Analysts believed that the market likely would not break $400 million in revenue by the end of the year. End year sales were less than $300 million.


title: Rhythm game

text: By the end of 2010, the instrument controller-based rhythm market was considered "well past its prime", and developers shifted their focus to downloadable content and potential integration with motion control systems. In late 2010, Viacom sold Harmonix to an investment-backed group and allowed it to continue developing "Rock Band" and "Dance Central". Citing the downturn in rhythm games, Activision shuttered their "Guitar Hero" division in February 2011. Analysts suggested that the market for peripheral-based rhythm games may remain stagnant for three to five years, after which sales could resurge because of digital distribution models or the release of new video game consoles. However, by 2013, the era of peripheral-based music games was considered at an end, as Harmonix announced that it would cease regular updates of "Rock Band" downloadable content on April 2, 2013 as the company shifts to newer games.


title: Rhythm game

text: In Japanese amusement arcade, arcade-based collectible card games became popular. In 2004, Sega released which was a fashion coordinate game with collectible card game and rhythm game elements. The Oshare Majo was a big hit in Japan and then other game companies also entered in this game genre.


title: Rhythm game

text: Those games have only aimed at young girls, however some of those games also hit at some adults which are often mentioned as "Ōkina otomodachi" (lit. Big Friends). In 2016, as for PriPara, Tomy mentioned that "When all users [of the game] are counted as its main target of from 6 to 9 years old [Japanese] girls, we succeed to expand the market scale as many as every one of the main target." in its financial results.


title: Rhythm game

text: Virtual idol rhythm games grew in popularity in Japan out of two different media segments. One was "The Idolmaster" series of games developed by Bandai Namco Entertainment first released as an arcade game in 2005. Initial games had players taking the role of a manager of rising stars (idols) managing their schedules through mini-games, which include performing in auditions similar to a rhythm game approach. The other direction came from the introduction of the virtual idol of Hatsune Miku by Crypton Future Media for its line of Vocaloid sound synthesis software in 2007. Using Vocaloid, software users could have Miku mimic singing and dancing to the music created in Vocaloid, and many of these videos became popular on the Japanese media sharing site Niconico. The popularity of the Miku's videos led to other similar videos based on other popular characters including those out of the "Idolmaster" series.


title: Rhythm game

text: The next "Idolmaster" game, "The Idolmaster Live For You!" in 2008, focused more on the performance mini-games, which led for most remaining games of the series to be virtual idol rhythm games. Similarly, as Crypton continue to expand on Miku and other virtual idols for Vocaloid, they expanded to licensing those idols for video games, collaborating with Sega to create the "" debuting in 2009.


title: Rhythm game

text: These games were initially mostly for consoles, but mobile game versions of these series appeared in 2012 ("Miku Flick" for the Miku series) and 2013 ("The Idolmaster Shiny Festa"), and numerous mobile-based virtual idol rhythm games followed, such as "Love Live!", "BanG Dream!", and "Uta no Prince-sama". Many of these games were freemium games based on existing anime or manga properties, and typically included gacha-type mechanisms to be profitable.


title: Rhythm game

text: With the introduction of motion controllers for the Xbox 360 (Kinect) and the PlayStation 3 (PlayStation Move) in 2010 and 2011, some analysts stated that the rhythm market would resurge thanks to dance- and band-based games that use platform-agnostic controllers. Dance games such as Ubisoft's "Just Dance", Harmonix's "Dance Central" and "" were based on new motion sensing technologies. Industry pundits believed that, because sales of peripheral-based music games are lagging and the popularity of pop music is surging, dance-based games would continue to thrive. "Just Dance" and "Dance Central" boosted the rhythm genre's late-2010 sales; the latter was the top-selling game for the Kinect in North America in November 2010. Both games helped the genre increase its sales by 38% over November 2009, according to NPD. Harmonix is expected to post more than $100 million in profit for 2011 buoyed by sales of "Dance Central" and downloadable content for the game, according to Bloomberg. The first "Just Dance" game (2009) overcame a poor critical reception to topple ""'s best-seller status, while "Just Dance 2" (2010) became the best selling non-Nintendo game for the Wii. The "Just Dance" series competed with top action franchises for sales. "Tap Tap Revenge", the first installment of the iPhone rhythm series "Tap Tap", was the platform's most downloaded game in 2008. The "Tap Tap" franchise ultimately generated 15 million downloads and received a Guinness World Record as the "most popular iPhone game series".


title: Rhythm game

text: Over the course of 2014, the phenomenon of indie games produced several variations of the genre. The game Jungle Rumble uses a mechanic where players drum on a touch screen to control the game. Different rhythms correspond with different verbs to control entities in an RTS like environment. The game "Crypt of the NecroDancer" uses a mechanic where the player controls the main character in sync with the soundtrack's beat.


title: Rhythm game

text: Harmonix returned to its core rhythm games in 2014. In 2014, it successfully funded a Kickstarter campaign to produce a remake of the PS2 title, "Amplitude" for PlayStation 3 and 4, with release expected in 2015. Further, in March 2015, the company announced "Rock Band 4" to be released later in the same year, with plans to keep the game as a platform with continued free and paid updates and downloadable content, while refocusing on the core social and music enjoyment of the game. Activision also announced "Guitar Hero Live", slated for late 2015, which rebuilds the game from the ground up, keeping the core mechanics but using a 3-button with dual position controller, and using recorded footage of a rock concert taken from the lead guitarist's perspective to increase immersion. Guitar rhythm game industry is going for the VR market with games like "Rocksmith" and" Rock Band VR".


title: Rhythm game

text: 2016 saw the release of "Thumper", a self-styled "rhythm violence" game combining rhythm mechanics with an abstract horror theme and an original industrial soundtrack. Unusually, "Thumper" features a player character encountering notes as physical obstacles, rather than having notes simply scroll offscreen. Also in 2016, Konami returned to the western arcade market with "Dance Dance Revolution A" after a successful location test.


title: Rhythm game

text: In 2017, Step Revolution released "StepManiaX", a game similar to DDR and "In the Groove", with an additional center panel. The game currently releases monthly updates.


title: Rhythm game

text: In 2018, "Beat Saber", a virtual reality rhythm game designed around cutting colored cubes in time with a song's beat, became the top selling and highest rated virtual reality game on the Steam market at the time of its release.


title: Rhythm game

text: In 2020, the rhythm genre made its first foray into the first-person shooter genre with . The game was released on PC and consoles to a mixed to positive reception. This same formula would then be used again for 2022's , released on Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC to critical acclaim.


title: Rhythm game

text: Rhythm games have been used for health purposes. For example, research has found that dancing games dramatically increase energy expenditure over that of traditional video games, and that they burn more calories than walking on a treadmill. Scientists have further suggested that, due to the large amount of time children spend playing video games and watching television, games that involve physical activity could be used to combat obesity. Studies have found that playing "Dance Dance Revolution" can provide an aerobic workout, in terms of a sufficiently intense heart rate, but not the minimum levels of VO2 max. Based on successful preliminary studies, West Virginia, which has one of the highest rates of obesity and its attendant diseases in the US, introduced "Dance Dance Revolution" into its schools' physical education classes. According to "The New York Times", more than "several hundred schools in at least 10 states" have used "Dance Dance Revolution" (along with "In the Groove") in their curricula. Plans have been made to increase the number into the thousands in an effort to mitigate the country's obesity epidemic. Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Governor of California, was a noted proponent of the game's use in schools. In Japan, celebrities reported losing weight after playing "Dance Dance Revolution", which drove sales of the game's home console version. Bemani's testers also found themselves losing weight while working on the game. There is further anecdotal evidence that these games aid weight loss, though the University of Michigan Health System has cautioned that dance games and other exergames should only be a starting point towards traditional sports, which are more effective. Dance games have also been used in rehabilitation and fall-prevention programs for elderly patients, using customised, slower versions of existing games and mats. Researchers have further experimented with prototypes of games allowing wider and more realistic stepping than the tapping actions found in commercial dance games.


title: Rhythm game

text: "Guitar Hero" games have been used alongside physical therapy to help recovering stroke patients, because of the multiple limb coordination that the titles require. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have used "Guitar Hero III" and its controller to help amputee patients, and to develop new prosthetic limbs for these patients. Researchers at University of Nevada, Reno modified a haptic feedback glove to work with the "Guitar Hero" freeware clone "Frets on Fire", resulting in "Blind Hero", a music game for visually impaired players that is played with only touch and audio. MIT students collaborated with the government of Singapore and a professor at the National University of Singapore to create "AudiOdyssey", a game which allows both blind and sighted gamers to play together. "Guitar Hero" was used as part of a Trent University youth sleep study, which showed that, in general, players who played a song were better at it twelve hours later if that period included normal sleep.


title: Rhythm game

text: "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" have introduced people to rock music and inspired them to learn how to play the guitar. A study by Youth Music found that 2.5 million out of 12 million children in the United Kingdom have begun learning how to play real instruments after playing music video games such as "Guitar Hero". The group believes that these video games can be incorporated into music educational programs. Guitar teachers in the US have reported an increase in students who cite "Guitar Hero" as their inspiration to start learning. On the other hand, industry professionals, such as the inventor of the Fretlight practice tool, have expressed scepticism over the game's educational value. There is anecdotal evidence that "Guitar Hero" aids rhythm and general hand-coordination, but also that it creates a false preconception of the difficulty of learning guitar, which can lead students to discontinue their studies. Guitar Center conducted a survey which found that a majority of instrument-based rhythm gamers intended to take up a real instrument in the future while a majority of those who were already musicians had been inspired to play their instruments more. Despite such popularity the guitar remains less popular than it was in the 1960s.


title: Rhythm game

text: Some musicians have been critical of "Guitar Hero"'s impact on music education. Jack White of The White Stripes stated that he was disappointed to learn that video games are the most likely venue where younger audiences will be exposed to new works, while Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin does not believe that people can learn how to play real instruments from their video game counterparts. Similarly, Prince has turned down opportunities to have his music in the "Guitar Hero" series, stating that he felt that it was "more important that kids learn how to actually play the guitar". Other commentators have pointed to drum controllers (including the expanded, lifelike Drum Rocker kit) used in such games as potentially useful in learning and creating music with real drums.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: The eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) is a New World cottontail rabbit, a member of the family Leporidae. It is the most common rabbit species in North America.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: The eastern cottontail can be found in meadows and shrubby areas in the eastern and south-central United States, southern Canada, eastern Mexico, Central America and northernmost South America. It is also found on the Caribbean island of Margarita. It is abundant in Midwest North America. Its range expanded north as forests were cleared by settlers. Originally, it was not found in New England, but it has been introduced and now competes for habitat there with the native New England cottontail. It has also been introduced into parts of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. In the 1950s and 1960s, the eastern cottontail was introduced to France and northern Italy, where it displayed a rapid territorial expansion and increase in population density.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: The population in the mountains of the southwestern United States and western Mexico is now thought to be a distinct species, the robust cottontail ("S. holzneri").


title: Eastern cottontail

text: Optimal eastern cottontail habitat includes open grassy areas, clearings, and old fields supporting abundant green grasses and herbs, with shrubs in the area or edges for cover. The essential components of eastern cottontail habitat are an abundance of well-distributed escape cover (dense shrubs) interspersed with more open foraging areas such as grasslands and pastures. Habitat parameters important for eastern cottontails in ponderosa pine, mixed species, and pinyon ("Pinus" spp.)-juniper ("Juniperus" spp.) woodlands include woody debris, herbaceous and shrubby understories, and patchiness. Typically eastern cottontails occupy habitats in and around farms including fields, pastures, open woods, thickets associated with fencerows, wooded thickets, forest edges, and suburban areas with adequate food and cover. They are also found in swamps and marshes and usually avoid dense woods.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: The eastern cottontail home range is roughly circular in uniform habitats. Eastern cottontails typically inhabit one home range throughout their lifetime, but home range shifts in response to vegetation changes and weather are common. In New England, eastern cottontail home ranges average for adult males and for adult females but vary in size from , depending on season, habitat quality, and individual. The largest ranges are occupied by adult males during the breeding season. In southwestern Wisconsin adult male home ranges averaged in spring, increased to in early summer, and decreased to by late summer. Daily activity is usually restricted to 10% to 20% of the overall home range.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: In southeastern Wisconsin, home ranges of males overlapped by up to 50%, but female home ranges did not overlap by more than 25% and actual defense of range by females occurred only in the immediate area of the nest. Males fight each other to establish dominance hierarchy and mating priority.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: Eastern cottontails forage in open areas and use brush piles, stone walls with shrubs around them, herbaceous and shrubby plants, and burrows or dens for escape cover, shelter, and resting cover. Woody cover is extremely important for the survival and abundance of eastern cottontails. Eastern cottontails do not dig their own dens (other than nest holes) but use burrows dug by other species such as woodchucks. In winter when deciduous plants are bare eastern cottontails forage in less secure cover and travel greater distances. Eastern cottontails probably use woody cover more during the winter, particularly in areas where cover is provided by herbaceous vegetation in summer. In Florida slash pine flatwoods, eastern cottontails use low saw-palmetto ("Serenoa repens") patches for cover within grassy areas.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: Most nest holes are constructed in grasslands (including hayfields). The nest is concealed in grasses or weeds. Nests are also constructed in thickets, orchards, and scrubby woods. In southeastern Illinois tall-grass prairie, eastern cottontail nests were more common in undisturbed prairie grasses than in high-mowed or hayed plots. In Iowa most nests were within of brush cover in herbaceous vegetation at least tall. Nests in hayfields were in vegetation less than tall. Average depth of nest holes is , average width , and average length . The nest is lined with grass and fur.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: The eastern cottontail is chunky, red-brown or gray-brown in appearance, with large hind feet, long ears, and a short, fluffy white tail. Its underside fur is white. There is a rusty patch on the tail. Its appearance differs from that of a hare in that it has a brownish-gray coloring around the head and neck. The body is lighter color with a white underside on the tail. It has large brown eyes and large ears to see and listen for danger. In winter the cottontail's pelage is more gray than brown. The kits develop the same coloring after a few weeks, but they also have a white blaze that goes down their forehead; this marking eventually disappears. This rabbit is medium-sized, measuring in total length, including a small tail that averages . Weight can range from , with an average of around . The female tends to be heavier, although the sexes broadly overlap in size. There may be some slight variation in the body size of eastern cottontails, with weights seeming to increase from south to north, in accordance with Bergmann's rule. Adult specimens from the Florida Museum of Natural History, collected in Florida, have a mean weight of . Meanwhile, 346 adult cottontails from Michigan were found to have averaged in mass. Due to Eastern Cottontails being so small and since they don’t usually fight back they are easy prey for other animals such as coyotes, bobcats, and even foxes.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: The eastern cottontail is a very territorial animal. When chased, it runs in a zigzag pattern, running up to . The cottontail prefers an area where it can be out in the open but hide quickly. Forests, swamps, thickets, bushes, or open areas where shelter is close by are optimal habitation sites for this species. Cottontails do not dig burrows, but rather rest in a "form", a shallow, scratched-out depression in a clump of grass or under brush. It may use the dens of groundhogs as a temporary home or during heavy snow.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: Eastern cottontails are crepuscular to nocturnal feeders; although they usually spend most of the daylight hours resting in shallow depressions under vegetative cover or other shelter, they can be seen at any time of day. Eastern cottontails are most active when visibility is limited, such as rainy or foggy nights. Eastern cottontails usually move only short distances, and they may remain sitting very still for up to a few hours at a time. Eastern cottontails are active year-round.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: The onset of breeding varies between populations and within populations from year to year. The eastern cottontail breeding season begins later with higher latitudes and elevations. Temperature rather than diet has been suggested as a primary factor controlling onset of breeding; many studies correlate severe weather with delays in the onset of breeding. In New England breeding occurs from March to September. In New York the breeding season occurs from February to September, in Connecticut from mid-March to mid-September. In Alabama the breeding season begins in January. In Georgia the breeding season lasts nine months and in Texas breeding occurs year-round. Populations in western Oregon breed from late January to early September. Mating is promiscuous.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: The nest is a slanting hole dug in soft soil and lined with vegetation and white fur from the mother's underside. The average measurements are: length , width , and depth . The average period of gestation is 28 days, ranging from 25 to 35 days. Eastern cottontail young are born with a very fine coat of hair and are blind. Their eyes begin to open by four to seven days. Young begin to move out of the nest for short trips by 12 to 16 days and are completely weaned and independent by four to five weeks. Litters disperse at about seven weeks. Females do not stay in the nest with the young but return to the opening of the nest to nurse, usually twice a day.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: Reproductive maturity occurs at about two to three months of age. A majority of females first breed the spring following birth; but 10% to 36% of females breed as juveniles (i.e., summer of the year they were born). Males will mate with more than one female. Female rabbits can have one to seven litters of one to twelve young, called kits, in a year; however, they average three to four litters per year, and the average number of kits is five. In the southern states of the United States, female eastern cottontails have more litters per year (up to seven) but fewer young per litter. In New England female eastern cottontails have three or four litters per year. The annual productivity of females may be as high as 35 young.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: The diet of eastern cottontails is varied and largely dependent on availability. Eastern cottontails eat vegetation almost exclusively; arthropods have occasionally been found in pellets. Some studies list as many as 70 to 145 plant species in local diets. Food items include bark, twigs, leaves, fruit, buds, flowers, grass seeds, sedge fruits, and rush seeds. There is a preference for small material: branches, twigs, and stems up to . Leporids including eastern cottontails are coprophagous, producing two types of fecal pellets, one of which is consumed. The redigestion of pellets greatly increases the nutritional value of dietary items.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: In summer, eastern cottontails consume tender green herbaceous vegetation when it is available. In many areas Kentucky bluegrass ("Poa pratense") and Canada bluegrass ("P. compressa") are important dietary components. Other favored species include clovers ("Trifolium" spp.) and crabgrasses ("Digitaria" spp.). In Connecticut important summer foods include clovers, alfalfa, timothy ("Phleum pratense"), bluegrasses ("Poa" spp.), quackgrass ("Elytrigia repens"), crabgrasses, redtop ("Agrostis alba"), ragweed ("Ambrosia psilostachya"), goldenrods ("Solidago" spp.), plantains ("Plantago" spp.), chickweed ("Stellaria media"), and dandelion ("Taraxacum officinale"). Eastern cottontails also consume many domestic crops.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: During the dormant season, or when green vegetation is covered with snow, eastern cottontails consume twigs, buds, and bark of woody vegetation. In Connecticut, important winter foods include gray birch ("Betula populifolia"), red maple, and smooth sumac ("Rhus glabra").


title: Eastern cottontail

text: In Kansas, the largest cause of mortality of radiotracked eastern cottontails was predation (43%), followed by deaths due to the research process (19%), and tularemia (18%). A major cause of eastern cottontail mortality is collision with automobiles. In Missouri, it was estimated that ten eastern cottontails are killed annually per mile of road. The peak period of highway mortality is in spring (March through May); roadside vegetation greens up before adjacent fields and is highly attractive to eastern cottontails.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: Annual adult survival is estimated at 20%. Average longevity is 15 months in the wild; the longest-lived wild individual on record was five years old. Captive eastern cottontails have lived to at least nine years of age.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: Eastern cottontails are hosts to fleas, ticks, lice, cestodes, nematodes, trematodes, gray flesh fly larvae, botfly larvae, tularemia, shopes fibroma, torticollis, and cutaneous streptothricosis. Further summary of diseases and pests is available.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: The eastern cottontail has to contend with many predators, both natural and introduced. Due to their often large populations in Eastern North America, they form a major component of several predators' diets. Major predators of eastern cottontail include domestic cats and dogs, foxes ("Vulpes" and "Urocyon" spp.), coyote ("C. latrans"), bobcat ("Lynx rufus"), weasels ("Mustela" spp.), raccoon ("Procyon lotor"), mink ("M. vison"), great horned owl ("Bubo virginianus"), barred owl ("Strix varia"), hawks (principally "Buteo" spp.), corvids ("Corvus" spp.), and snakes.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: Predators that take nestlings include raccoon, badger ("Taxidea taxus"), skunks ("Mephitis" and "Spilogale" spp.), Crow, and Virginia opossum ("Didelphis virginiana"). In central Missouri, eastern cottontails comprised the majority of biomass in the diet of red-tailed hawks ("Buteo jamaicensis") during the nesting season. In Pennsylvania, the chief predator of eastern cottontails is the great horned owl. In the Southwest cottontails including eastern cottontail comprise 7 to 25% of the diets of northern goshawk ("Accipiter gentilis"). In Texas, eastern cottontails are preyed on by coyotes more heavily in early spring and in fall than in summer or winter. In southwestern North Dakota, cottontails (both eastern and desert cottontail "Sylvilagus auduboni") were major prey items in the diets of bobcats.


title: Eastern cottontail

text: Juvenile eastern cottontails are rare in the diet of short-eared owls ("Asio flammeus"). Trace amounts of eastern cottontail remains have been detected in black bear ("Ursus americanus") scat.


title: Introduction (writing)

text: In an essay, article, or book, an introduction (also known as a prolegomenon) is a beginning section which states the purpose and goals of the following writing. This is generally followed by the body and conclusion.


title: Introduction (writing)

text: The introduction typically describes the scope of the document and gives a brief explanation or a summary of the document. It may also explain certain elements that are important to the document. The readers can thus have an idea about the following text before they actually start reading it.


title: Introduction (writing)

text: A good introduction should identify your topic, provide essential context, and indicate your particular focus in the essay. It also needs to engage your readers’ interest.


title: Introduction (writing)

text: Some authors write their introduction first, while others prefer to leave it for a later stage in the writing process; another option is to start with a rough draft introduction, and then come back to finish it after the body text is done.


title: Introduction (writing)

text: In a book of technical writing, the introduction may include one or more standard subsections: abstract or summary, preface, acknowledgments, and foreword. Alternatively, the section labeled "introduction" itself may be a brief section found along with abstract, foreword, etc. (rather than containing them). In this case, the set of sections that come before the body of the book is known as the front matter. When the book is divided into numbered chapters, by convention the introduction and any other front-matter sections are unnumbered and precede chapter 1.


title: Introduction (writing)

text: While keeping the general concept of the introduction the same, different documents have different styles to introduce the written text. For example, the introduction of a Functional Specification consists of information that the whole document is yet to explain. If a Userguide is written, the introduction is about the product. In a report, the introduction gives a summary of the report's contents.