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If you could help thousands, would you?
No full textEvery year, thousands are incarcerated for non-violent drug crimes. Rehabilitation can break the cycle of recidivism. This paper examines the benefits of rehabilitation as compared to traditional jail sentences for non-violent drug offenders. Current research on the injustice faced by non-violent drug offenders in the criminal justice system is limited. A literature review comprising research articles, case studies, meta-analyses, and reports shows that rehabilitation centres help integrate non-violent drug offenders back into society, and rehabilitative programs are both cheaper and more effective than prisons. The author considers counter-arguments (e.g., a prison sentence is just), but ultimately finds that prison systems are significantly less apt to reduce drug crime recidivism than rehabilitation centres, and may even increase the likelihood that a non-violent felon would reoffend. Experimental research on recidivism rates, rehabilitation centres and prisons is called for
Ford Fest: Community barbeque or ethical nightmare?
No full textFord Fest is an annual barbeque organized by one of Ontario’s most powerful families: the Fords. The main concern is that Doug Ford, the Premier of Ontario, uses the event to make voters beholden to the Progressive Conservative Party; therefore, the ethics of Ford Fest must be examined. First, it must be determined that Ford Fest is misleading the public. The event operates under the guise of a community barbeque; however, closer examination reveals its true nature as a political rally. Second, Ford Fest provides free food and entertainment for its guests; is this bribery? It seems that these perks are intended to make voters beholden to the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and Premier Ford.; is this ethical? News media and the Party’s and the Premier’s social media about the event were analyzed using two competing theories: utilitarianism and deontology to determine the ethics of this event. The author concludes that political parties should not be able to bribe voters for support. Political parties should be expected to appeal to voters through messaging and policy, not barbeques and perks
The Effects of Globalization, Business, Corruption, and Culture on Human Trafficking
No full textThe trafficking of people across borders for the purpose of exploitation is a growing human rights concern. This project seeks to uncover the factors that encourage and reinforce the existence of human trafficking today, specifically in the areas of sexual exploitation and forced labour. This research project utilizes case studies and other academic secondary sources to determine the possible factors of human trafficking. An ethnographic content analysis is used to analyze all data. The analysis reveals that globalization, the business of human trafficking, corruption, and culture contribute to human trafficking. In order to stop human trafficking, the author suggests that the current conduct of economic globalization and the hearts and minds of people need to change
Change in Entomofauna Composition Across a Forest-Filed Transition and Kortright Conservation Area
No full textForest fragmentation is becoming increasingly common in today’s anthropocentric world, pushing the study of ecotones and their interactions to the forefront of conservation biology. For this study, arthropods—ideal organisms for studying the environment—were sampled along three field-forest transitions at the Kortright Conservation Area in Woodbridge, Ontario (Canada) in order to investigate any changes in mean ordinal diversity or abundance. Various capture techniques are also examined in order to determine overall effectiveness. Results show that there is not a significant change in mean ordinal diversity over distance. However, there is a statistically significant negative linear relationship between arthropod abundance and distance. Results also show that yellow pan traps are the most effective method for capturing arthropods in this setting. This indicates that grasslands should be of primary concern when formulating a conservation strategy plan directed at arthropod biodiversity, and that painted pan traps are very important tools for entomological sampling
Turtle Poaching in Tortuguero: A Need for Holistic Initiatives That Consider Social and Cultural Complexities of Costa Rica
No full textCosta Rica is home to one of the highest concentrations of biodiversity in the world (Steinberg, 2001), including six species of sea turtles. Sea turtles are an integral part of marine ecosystems and play a fundamental role in nutrient cycling, maintaining habitats and balanced food webs (Wilson et al., 2010). Turtle poaching in Costa Rica is a critical problem, not only for the health of marine ecosystems, but also for the well-being of the human populations that rely on these ecosystems. Using the town of Tortuguero as a case study, this project investigates the root causes of turtle poaching and the impacts of poaching on the natural environment. Focussing specifically on education and ecotourism initiatives aimed at reducing turtle poaching in Tortuguero, I argue that, although these initiatives are effective in reducing poaching practices by instilling an appreciation for nature and providing an alternative source of income for local populations, they neither give sufficient consideration to the social, economic and cultural complexities which exist in Latin America, nor adequately address the tensions between the interests of local residents, government agents, and conservations groups. Thus, adopting a holistic approach to the poaching issue that considers specific social, historical, and cultural contexts and builds economic stability without jeopardizing local livelihoods or damaging vulnerable ecosystems is fundamental to sea turtle conservation in Tortuguero and the rest of Costa Rica
No-Show Behaviour: Ethnic Minorities in a Diverse Community
Get PDFPatients who fail to attend scheduled appointments without prior notification to their healthcare centres, i.e. “no-shows,” create negative outcomes for both healthcare providers and patients. This study examined whether visible-minority status, ethnicity, country of origin, immigrants’ age at arrival, and immigrants’ length of residency in Canada were related to no-show behaviours using data from 2,238 participants from four selected months—January, April, July, and October, 2012—at a community health centre in northwest Toronto, located in a highly diverse community in which 53.9% of the clients were visible minorities. The study examined two forms of no-show behaviour: number of appointments missed and percentages of appointments missed. The results suggested a relationship between the number of appointments missed with visible-minority status, ethnicity, and country of origin. A relationship was also found between percentage of appointments missed with country of origin, immigrants’ age at arrival, length of residency in Canada, and immigrants’ visible-minority status. Immigrants who had been in Canada fewer years and who arrived at a younger age showed the highest rate of no-shows. Visible-minority immigrants had a higher percentage of no-shows, though how significant this finding was depended on age at arrival. However, when both immigrants and non-immigrants were considered, the highest no-show rate came from non-immigrants who were not visible minorities. Further study should investigate reasons for no-shows using factors identified by the current study. Some recommendations for the Centre are also presented.
Altered Beauty: African-Caribbean Women Decolonizing Racialized Aesthetics in Toronto, Canada
Get PDFThis study reviews narratives of black Canadian women who problematize the racism that they face in relation to beauty. Critical Race Theory is used to analyze the effects of hair and skin discrimination and the consequences of ideological racism surrounding perceptions of beauty. The participants review material aids, discuss their past experiences with racism, and reveal anti-racist strategies in order to decolonize normalized grooming practices.Her skin is dark. Her hair chemically straightened. Not only is she fundamentally convinced that straightened hair is more beautiful than curly, kinky, natural hair, she believes that lighter skin makes one more worthy, more valuable in the eyes of others. Despite her parents’ effort to raise their children in an affirming black context, she has internalized white supremacist values and aesthetics, a way of looking and seeing the world that negates her value. Of course this is not a new story. —bell hooks, Black Looks: Race and Representatio
Redefining Motherhood: How Reproductive Technologies Change the Way We Think About Motherhood
Get PDFThis paper examines some of the discourse surrounding notions of motherhood, which, though considered a universal term, is defined by a specific set of characteristics. Traditionally, motherhood is culturally and legally established through genetic kinship claims based on a nuclear family structure, at least in developed countries. Today, however, reproductive technology, such as in vitro fertilization and surrogacy, offers greater opportunities to have a child not only to infertile couples but also to same-sex couples, single parents, or women past childbearing age. These technologies have allowed for a new legitimatization of motherhood, fostering an emerging kind of parenthood, and thereby widening the scope of motherhood to include a wide range of possibilities that no longer rest on simple biological claims and the traditional nuclear family model. This paper therefore challenges what motherhood encompasses and examines how this definition has shifted away from simple genetic ties to more varied and complex structures. Indeed, while the new parents themselves continue to value genetic links, society as a whole must review its conception of the normalcy of “natural” reproduction through the nuclear family structure and embrace motherhood in the only universal definition possible, that of its commitment to raising a child
Origins of Human Behaviour: The Psychology of Good and Evil
Get PDFThis paper contrasts the beneficence and malevolence often seen in human behaviour. A review of psychology literature, as well as historical accounts of good and evil behaviour, was conducted to explore factors that influence altruistic and malicious behaviour in humans, and to examine ways in which societies can promote pro-social behaviour. The review revealed the importance of both personality and situational factors in both pro- and anti-social decision making. The review revealed that situational variables are better predictors of behaviour in familiar situations, while personality variables are better predictors in novel ones. Studies also consistently demonstrated that seemingly negative traits like low interpersonal trust, high judgement, and low conventionalism can all promote socially beneficial behaviour in some situations. Other factors such as birth order, developmental environment, stress, proximity, and authority were all revealed to be important moderating factors for socially determined actions. A review of social engineering projects aimed at the promotion of pro-social behaviour on large scales was also conducted. This revealed that while pre-existing factors could influence human behaviour, psychoeducation and shifting social norms could help facilitate pro-social behaviour
The Internet and Alternative Copyright: YouTube as a Starting Point
No full textIn the contemporary state of intellectual copyright online, there is a gravitation towards restricting consumer access to maintain corporate profit. Using video-sharing site YouTube as a case study, I argue that a more creative approach to policing copyright infringement is needed; otherwise, both consumers and producers lose a considerable amount of freedom in the ways they choose to interact with creative works online. YouTube’s policy of giving content owners the options to block, monetize, or track their protected content allows consumer access to subsist, while simultaneously appeasing corporate interests. Despite this, YouTube’s copyright policy may lead to a more commercialized setting, in which professionally generated content dominates over the amateur content that YouTube’s slogan—“Broadcast Yourself”—claims to offer. Consequently, YouTube’s copyright policy should be thought of as a step in the right direction, but not a viable solution to restrictive copyright altogether. The Internet’s current designation as a setting for copyright infringement is part of a historical trajectory. New technological media are often thought of as safe-havens for copyright infringement, and must often struggle to find legal grounding on which their survival may be secured. Alongside the VCR, the phonograph, and the portable MP3 player, the capabilities of the internet to rapidly and cheaply share creative content are likely here to stay. For copyright law to compete with the instantaneousness of peer-to-peer networks, it must be updated to find alternative methods of protecting intellectual property