cost, especially for severe injuries. Voluntary and forced apologies The forced apology, in which the perceived offender is coerced into making an apology, has a long history. As a form of ritual public humiliation, the 18th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant approved of the forced apology. Kant thought that a monetary fine was not a fit punishment for insults delivered by a wealthy person of high social status, because the social cost of making any apology to a low-status person was much greater than the financial cost of a fine. Instead, Kant argued that legally forcing the guilty party to make a humiliating public apology to the poor or low-status person was a more appropriate punishment, because it punished the man who had humiliated someone with being humiliated himself. In modern Western cultures, the forced apology is dismissed as a meaningless theatrical gesture. It is generally said that an apology must be voluntary to be acceptable. Types Non-apology apology: a statement that looks like an apology but does not express remorse. Insincere apology: a statement that expresses remorse that is not felt. This may be pro forma apology, such as a routine letter from a large business that expresses regret that a small order was not satisfactory in some respect. In such a case, the recipient might not expect any employee to have any particular emotions. Scholars generally agree that sincerity is usually a desirable feature of an apology, but they disagree over whether sincerity is a necessary condition for a true apology in such cases. Critique Each conflict is different, and therefore affects the time in which an apology should be made. People perceive wrongful actions in various ways and need time to cope with the circumstances and to process the offense. More research can be done to interpret negative and positive emotions during the time of the apology, in response to multiple apologies, when only one apology is received, and on the effects on the relationship after an apology. Communicating an apology varies between relationships, politicians, organizations, and companies because of what is expected by the individual, media, or society. Another important factor is the age of the individuals and what they require to forgive and move on. The communication of an apology's interpretation either verbally or non-verbally will vary among the population. Apologies can be seen as ambiguous and be made in order to satisfy the victim's needs and