Adapting the Past to Improve the Future

Though the trend of greenhouse gas emission is declining, the equivalent of 6,870 million metric tons of CO2 was emitted in the United States in 2014.[1] About one quarter of this pollution is emitted by the transportation sector.[2] Instead of waiting for the next technological development in transportation to provide us with clean vehicles, what if we could adopt past transportation systems to reduce our emissions and increase future sustainability? This study explores the idea of adopting intra- and inter-urban electric rail and a people’s car to reduce the annual U.S. transportation emissions using historical examples, the most recent studies published on emissions, and articles discussing the sociological impacts of transportation. Recently, the U.S. has seen the biggest railroad investments in the last 100 years, giving the country a huge opportunity to reintroduce electric rail. Since it is not feasible to reach everyone with public transit, private vehicles also need to shift towards sustainability as well by using low-emission technology currently available in a flexible manner so it is possible to upgrade the vehicle when newer technology is released. The major limitation of this study is the scope of this issue, and due to this the cultural feasibility of adopting these systems, the financial cost, detailed estimates on the actual amounts of emissions prevented, and alternative transportation systems were not heavily addressed

How Do We Reach a National Tipping Point in the Campaign to Stop Solitary?

The use and abuse of solitary confinement in American prisons, jails, and juvenile detention centers is at epidemic levels. On any given day 80,000 to 100,000 people in prisons are subjected to a practice considered inhumane and degrading treatment—even torture under international human rights standards. Despite widespread international condemnation, decades of research demonstrating the harm it inflicts on human beings, and a growing chorus from the medical community raising alarms about its impact on the brain, solitary confinement remains a routine prison-management strategy in correctional institutions nationwide. In the past decade, however, a growing movement has emerged to challenge the use of solitary confinement. This movement is variously driven by civil society campaigns, the emergence of strong international human rights standards, allies in government, civil rights litigation, corrections leadership, and increasing levels of public information and media attention. The question remains whether the current reform movement will be sufficient to create a tipping point whereby solitary confinement is rejected as an acceptable practice in the American sociocultural context and legal landscape. This Essay examines the current factors driving the movement against solitary and posits that a national tipping point is possible with more concerted effort to shift public opinion; increased documentation, research and promotion of alternatives that allow for the safe, humane, and effective management of carceral institutions; and implementation of greater oversight and accountability in corrections institutions in the United States more broadly

Can COVID-19 Teach Us How to End Mass Incarceration?

In this essay, the author argues that federal, state and local government response to the COVID-19 epidemic in prisons and jails was largely incompetent, inhumane, and contrary to sound public health policy, resulting in preventable death and suffering for both incarcerated people and corrections staff. However, the lessons learned from these failures provide a roadmap for policy priorities and legal reform in our ongoing need to decarcerate and end the era of mass incarceration, including: (1) rolling back extreme sentences, recalibrating sentences generally and providing for “second look” mechanisms to those currently serving sentences beyond 10 years; (2) ensuring that decarceration efforts center racial justice as a goal both prospectively and retrospectively; and (3) promoting voting rights for all incarcerated people and those living in the community with a felony conviction

SB50-16/17: Resolution Regarding Adding Sexual Orientation as a Protected Class in Montana

SB50-16/17: Resolution Regarding Adding Sexual Orientation as a Protected Class in Montana. This resolution passed with unanimous consent at the February 1, 2017 meeting of the Associated Students of the University of Montana (ASUM)

Purposes, Limitations, and Applications of 3D Printing in Minnesota Public Schools

Purposes, limitations and applications of 3D printing in Minnesota public schools

Preferred Institutions: Public Views on Policy

In this dissertation, I ask why people might prefer one institution of government (courts, legislatures, executives) over another to handle certain issues. Previous research has focused on legitimacy of the courts, whether institutions can legitimate policy, and how public opinion is thus informed. This research is invaluable in understanding support for and influence of specific institutions, but this only gets us so far. We still do not know why people might feel that one institution is more legitimate than another to handle policymaking on a specific issue. Here, I begin to examine this question arguing that institutions act as source cues to individuals and that those individuals evaluate the appropriateness of institutions to handle issues by considering institutional design (majoritarianism v. countermajoritarianism), politics (political v. nonpolitical institutions and issues), trust, and regret/disappointment. In short, I suggest that numerous factors play into an individual’s preferences for one branch to handle certain issues and that these factors have to do both with beliefs about the institution(s), and perceptions of the issue(s)