Jonathan Paul Caulkins (born 1965) is an American drug policy researcher and the H. Guyford Stever Professor of Operations Research and Public Policy at

Heinz College The Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, also known as Heinz College, is the public policy and information college of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It consists of the School of Information Systems and ...

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

Education

Caulkins received his B.S. and M.S. from

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

in 1987, and his S.M. and Ph.D. from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

in 1989 and 1990, respectively.

Career

Caulkins joined the faculty of Heinz College in 1990, and has remained there ever since, with the exceptions of leaves he took to serve as co-director of the

RAND Corporation The RAND Corporation, doing business as RAND, is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in research and development (R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the ...

's Drug Policy Research Center in

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from 1994 to 1996, to found RAND's

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

office from 1999 to 2001, and to teach at the

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campus of Carnegie Mellon from 2005 to 2011.

Research

Caulkins has conducted research on illicit drugs and the policies surrounding them. In one study, he found that more than 85% of people in prison on drug charges were involved in drug distribution, and that most of the remaining prisoners had some suggestion of involvement in distribution. While at RAND, he also led another study that found that

mandatory sentencing Mandatory sentencing requires that people convicted of certain crimes serve a predefined term of imprisonment, removing the discretion of judges to take issues such as extenuating circumstances and a person's likelihood of rehabilitation into co ...

for low-level drug offenders was ineffective because, in Caulkins' words, "most incarcerated drug dealers can be easily replaced on the street." With respect to

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

, he has said that, contrary to popular belief, most users of the drug are not college graduates, and that advocates of the drug's legalization tend to overstate its role in crime and violence with respect to drug trafficking from Mexico.

Recognition

He won the

Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is an international society for practitioners in the fields of operations research Operations research () (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often s ...

(INFORMS) President's Award in 2010, and became an INFORMS Fellow in the same year. Caulkins was elected a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

in 2015 for contributions to the analysis, modeling, and engineering of drug policy in the United States and abroad.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Caulkins, Jonathan Paul Living people 1965 births American operations researchers Carnegie Mellon University faculty Washington University in St. Louis alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Fellows of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences