Wild Card
T/F: Increased immigration and the presence of immigrants in America leads to a financial deficit.
False: immigrants create a positive effect on the economy
T/F: Increasing public fear of crime is due to increasing crime rates over time.
False: crime rates are actually decreasing over time, despite public perception otherwise.
Also, despite crime rates decreasing, incarceration rates are increasing.
What is the difference between a “qualified” and a “nonqualified” alien?
qualified aliens are admitted for permanent residence
nonqualified aliens are lawfully present but don’t qualify for government benefits
What does I=PAT stand for?
Impact = population * affluence * technology
According to The New Jim Crow, slavery, Jim Crow laws, and mass incarceration are all what type of systems?
Racial caste systems. They create an "undercaste" of "individuals who are permanently barred by law and custom from mainstream society" (13)
What are 3 conditions for DACA?
Be of good moral character; Arrived in US before age 16; Be between 12 and 35 at the time that bill enacted; proof of residence for 5 consecutive years
Name 2 groups that profit from mass incarceration.
food vendors; telecommunications companies; healthcare industries; stock holders
What was the outcome of Plyler v. Doe?
all children, even undocumented, have the right to public education
school districts may not inquire about immigration status
What is land extensification and what is one of its challenges?
solution to food security that entails putting more land under production; challenges: threatens biological diversity, air pollution, soil erosion, urban transition
According to Sperling's "The New Debt Prisons," what are the negative consequences of the increased use of fees, fines, and surcharges to fund our criminal justice system?
takes away "second chances"; makes it harder to stay out of prison; don't stop even after one leaves the system; creates "punitive debt traps" for low-income Americans who then struggle to put their life back on track & it deepens racial bias
What are 2 consequences of the mandatory minimum?
long sentences for lower levels of crime; internal biases embedded in mandatory sentences; reduces judge discretion (leads to greater racial differences)
What is the general difference in prison sentences in Dearborn, IN compared to San Francisco, CA?
Dearborn, IN has longer, more severe sentences than San Francisco, CA for the same crime — sentences vary by city/state
What is 1 benefit of DACA as discussed in lecture?
increased employment; increased income; better health
What are 2 social forces impacting the environment? Give a specific example.
Capitalism (“planned obsolescence”; faith in progress); globalization (western lifestyles; inequitable exposure); population growth (food insecurity; demand for resources)
According to Dreamland, what is the Len Bias law?
A federal law allowing authorities to charge drug dealers with conspiracy to commit murder when a buyer suffers a lethal overdose. (aka The Conspiracy Amendment)
Name 2 reasons minorities are overrepresented in prisons.
increased surveillance in areas with larger minority populations; higher rate of conviction; longer sentencing
What does “invisible inequality” refer to?
prisoners are not counted in general measures/large national surveys.
Consequence: excluded from statistics, which underestimates inequalities; estimates of the economic status of black men have become more optimistic
There is a perception that immigrants are taking jobs from Americans. What is the reality based on the data discussed in class?
immigrants employed in high-skilled jobs and low-skilled jobs where there is a labor shortage
e.g., jobs in medicine, technology; also jobs in agriculture, meat-packing
What are 2 costs of the Green Revolution?
Expensive; decline in small farms; irrigation depletes rives/aquafers; uses fuel for pumping water; pesticides kill predators of insects; new forms of inequalities – organic foods
According to the article, "Climate Change and Society," what does macro-scale research tell us?
population size, affluence, and structure of the political economy are important drivers of GHG emissions
What are two solutions to food insecurity besides land intensification and extensification?
Freeze agriculture’s ecological footprint, grow more on farms we’ve got, use resources more efficiently (e.g. precision farming technologies), shift diets (meat, cheese, coffee, etc. have high carbon footprint), reduce wastes.
What are 2 ways mass incarceration increases racial and economic inequality?
Jobs: human capital, social ties, stigma, drivers license
Public assistance: TANF, public housing, federal student loans
Families: breaks up families, child support
Political disenfranchisement: some states, 1/4 of black men cannot vote
There is a perception that undocumented immigrants are a burden on the social safety net. What is the reality based on data discussed in class?
Most undocumented immigrants pay taxes, but they don’t get any of the benefits because they don’t qualify for any type of social welfare
Name 3 broad social implications of climate change.
Economic costs; health; living conditions; infrastructure needs
In the article “How the Refrigerator Became an Agent of Climate Catastrophe,” what is the author’s critique of the “Efficient Cooling Scenario” as a solution to reduce the negative environmental impact of cooling machines?
the money saved by making cooling machines more efficient will be spent on something else with climate consequences
correlation between growth in efficiency and growth in consumption