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Menstrual Equity in US Prisons and Jails: A Gender-Based Analysis and Policy Responses
07.18.22
Summary Across the United States, many incarcerated people have inadequate access to menstrual products. Because policies that surround requiring access to menstrual products vary from state to state, incarcerated menstruators are denied “menstrual equity,” or sufficient access to menstrual products regardless of their circumstances.[1] One reason for the lack of inclusive policies regarding menstruation is […]
No More Stolen Sisters: America’s Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women
07.1.21
In the early 1600s, a 15-year-old Native American girl was kidnapped from her home in what is now called Virginia. She was raped and forced to marry an English adult, a process in which she had to convert to Christianity and adopt the name Rebecca. Ultimately, she died under mysterious circumstances in England, with some […]
Solitary Confinement is Torture, Not Protection
03.5.20
Ellie,[1] a young trans woman from Central America, sits across a small table from me in blue men’s scrubs, hair cut short and eyes downcast. It’s taken hours to shuffle her from the solitary confinement unit to this cold, windowless room, where I am to help her prepare her pro se asylum case. She’s […]
“Radical Acts of Community Care”: Lessons from Bail and Abortion Funds
09.17.19
Desiree,[1] 40-year-old mother of two children, wanted to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. As she had health insurance through Medicaid, it did not cover abortion, and the full cost of the procedure was more than she could afford. Kim, a pregnant mother of two, was arrested and needed $2,500 to post bail, which is prohibitively expensive. […]
Underpaid and Imprisoned: How the Gender Wage Gap Disproportionately Hurts Incarcerated Women
08.23.19
Early in my career, while working as a legislative aide in Washington, D.C., a male colleague and I received a promotion at the same time. With the promotion came more responsibilities and higher pay. But as our workloads increased by the same amount, I soon realized that his raise was $5,000 larger than mine. […]
Killing in the Name of the State: Capital Punishment in Nebraska and the Way Forward for Progressive Policy
01.8.19
BY: BEN MCGUIRE Carey Dean Moore was dying. As a lethal dose of the synthetic opioid fentanyl seeped into his bloodstream, witnesses reported that he “breathed heavily and gradually turned red and then purple” before finally departing. In passing, Moore joined hundreds of thousands of Americans who have succumbed to drugs like fentanyl in the […]
Marijuana Justice Requires Expanding Access to Record Expungements
09.13.18
BY BEN MCGUIRE After Vikash Singh was prosecuted in Los Angeles for growing medical marijuana in 2014, he found that life with a conviction on his record was a “minefield” of legal hoops. He was a college-educated former teacher from a middle-class background who had served his community service sentence, but relevant experience was no […]
Jails: America’s Biggest Mental Health Facilities
07.30.18
BY CATIA SHARP James Boyd set up camp for his last time in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains, where you can see all of Albuquerque laid out before you under the sunset. Unfortunately, he was camping without the requisite permit. James had been homeless for a long time. James was shot to death by […]
The Perils of Data-Driven Policy Decisions
12.11.17
BY ANGELICA QUICKSEY Although quantitative data and analysis can help us design better policies and programs, we have edged alarmingly close to a worldview that suggests the use of data automatically scrubs away ideology and prejudice. This worldview neglects the ways that numbers can reflect human biases and the ways data can be dangerous. Data […]
Locked Up or Locked Out: How Housing Insecurity Undermines Criminal Justice Reform
10.10.17
“My apartment is everything I prayed for when I was locked up,” Morgan[1] says, his brown eyes twinkling. “Do you want to see it?” Morgan pulls his phone from his back pocket, turns the screen toward me, and opens a photograph of a bright galley kitchen with a couple of pots resting on the electric […]
Justice, Inc.: Examining the Criminalization of Corporate Misconduct
10.19.16
BY ALEXANDER SMITH Gone are the days of American criminals like Al Capone, John Gotti, and Bonnie and Clyde. Recent prosecutorial practices of US regulatory agencies suggest that modern America now confronts an entirely new class of “criminal.” They are listed on national stock exchanges, occupy flashy corporate headquarters, and are run by individuals adorned […]
Neuroscience in the Courtroom
10.4.16
BY SUNAINA RAJANI Introduction Imagine an impulse to sneeze. Now imagine if it were illegal. While we don’t intend to sneeze and can’t suppress a sneeze, most of us can suppress other urges. One fundamental principle of jurisprudence is that humans have some ability to control their impulses and make decisions derived from an innate […]