Crime and Drugs : An Economic Approach

We present a model which ties together rational drug consumption, taxation, crime and other drug-related externalities. Drug control policy is addressed using an optimal tax framework. Consumption, possession and production of a drug may be prohibited, legalized or decriminalized. In all regimes illicit production of a drug may take place and drug-related crime occurs. We show that illicit drug production, the price elasticity of demand for a drug, the addictive nature of a drug, the effectiveness of drug enforcement strategies, and income distribution all influence optimal (second best) policy. Prohibition is contrasted with decriminalization and legalization, and where legalization yields a higher welfare than prohibition we show that this can be associated with greater drug-related crime and more drug addiction. The model is discussed in the context of US National Drug Control Strategy.Crime ; decriminalization ; drugs ; externalities ; legalization ; optimal tax ; prohibition

Indigenous Storywork to Witness Indigenous Students’ Experiences with Campus Recovery Support Services

Guided by a group-based Indigenous storywork methodology, this study will explore the narratives Indigenous students construct of their experiences accessing and participating in addiction recovery support services on post-secondary campuses. The main objective is to understand what they found helpful and unhelpful in these services and to explore their beliefs and experiences regarding culturally responsive programming. By giving voice to the stories of Indigenous students with lived experiences, this study hopes to develop a set of recommendations that will inform future university policies and practices that will best support Indigenous students in recovery which is imperative to their academic success

Energy Use in University Resident Halls and Behavior Change

It is estimated that Winona spends more than $100,000 annually on electricity and water. Given the high cost of tuition as well as concerns about climate change, this study wanted to change student behavior as it relates to energy and water usage. The goals were three-fold, understand how students receive messages most effectively for behavior change, assess what their state of knowledge on conserving energy and water is, and cause behavior change to help students be more aware of how conserving energy can affect our planet. Residents of campus housing were surveyed at various points in the study and some combination of TV monitors and posters were used to convey the message to students in their respective resident halls. Overall, there does seem to be an increasing awareness of how individual actions can make a difference in overall energy use. Building on that, during an energy contest, there was evidence of a decrease in energy use in some residence halls. The students have more knowledge now on how to conserve energy and will be able to help make our campus a greener place. Continuing work will identify strategies to convey this message to the rest of campushttps://openriver.winona.edu/urc2019/1031/thumbnail.jp

Becoming A Sailor: A (Critical) Analytic Autoethnographic Account Of Navigating Tensions As A ‘Woke’ White Woman Working For Racial Justice

This critical, analytic autoethnographic (Boylorn & Orbe, 2014; Anderson, 2006) dissertation details the journey of a young white woman practicing “woke whiteness work” in the pursuit of racial justice. The autoethnography illustrates the many complexities, layers, and tensions of racial justice work as a white woman, centering on the initial tension stemming from the spring 2014 semester where she was involved in a literary research project facilitating book clubs at a juvenile detention center with students who were incarcerated as part of an adolescent literacy course, while simultaneously enrolled in a Critical Race Theory (CRT) course. In an attempt to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline through literacy, several tensions arose from the juxtaposition of the two courses. It is a story of those tensions and the resistance she encountered that semester and over the course of the next four years (2014-2018). It is a critique of self, of whiteness, and the power of white hegemony in the academy, in research, in education, in scholarship, and in our minds. Through this critique, the role of white educators, scholars, researchers, and women is problematized in order to provide implications for educators, scholars, and researchers who are passionate about racial justice work. Similarly, this critique provides implications for embodying “wokeness” as an ontological state and epistemological understanding of the world; the author recognizes that “wokeness” cannot be claimed by white people, and that wokeness must always be about racial justice

Good caring and vocabularies of motive among foster carers

Employing C. Wright Mills’ concept of vocabulary of motives, this article examines the motives and attitudes of people who volunteer to foster children with high support needs. Data is drawn from a larger qualitative study involving indepth interviewing of 23 carers. When asked why they had become foster carers participants produced conventional accounts of child-centred altruistic motives–an acceptable vocabulary of motives which satisfied institutional and cultural expectations regarding caregiving. However, closer examination of participants’ experiences and attitudes revealed the likelihood that economic motives were also factors in decisions to foster. It is argued that participants chose to exclude economic motives from their accounts so as to avoid the risk of being seen to be ‘doing it for the money’