Category: Civil Rights
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The Unconstitutionality of Modern Plea Bargaining: Curbing Prosecutorial Vindictiveness
By Ava Chen — Plea bargaining is a central fixture of the American justice system—an estimated 98% of criminal cases are resolved through guilty pleas, with only 5% of defendants exercising their right to a jury trial. According to a…
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More Than Money: The Costs of Caretaking for People with Disabilities
By Jeannie Kim — Many states have instituted governmental programs that provide support for people with disabilities that also assist those who are low-income. One major federal provision that often intersects with these disability rights programs is the U.S. Housing…
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Bill 96: A Violation of English-speaking Rights in Québec
By Sidney Singer — In Canada there are multiple pieces of legislation that protect the rights of citizens to live their lives in one of the two official languages, English or French. The earliest, the British North America Act in…
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Justice Until Death: The Necessity of Swift and Good-Faithed Capital Punishment
By Justin Murdock — There are two factions when it comes to the debate over capital punishment: one believes it is legitimate retribution for heinous criminal acts, while the other believes it is the epitome of archaic punishments which violate…
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Electronic Surveillance, the Fourth Amendment, and the NYPD’s “Muslim Surveillance Program”
By Annie Akbar — In a letter to James Madison after the French Revolution had begun, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “The earth belongs always to the living generation… Every constitution, then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19…
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The Economic Impact of Prison Labor for Incarcerated Individuals and Taxpayers
By Sarah Payne — The United States’ prison population is currently the second highest globally, falling closely behind China at just over 1.5 million individuals incarcerated.[1] This means the United States accounts for approximately 25% of the world’s prison population,…
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The Implications of New Title IX Regulations for Institutions of Higher Education
By Anna Shin — The establishment of Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools that receive federal funding, has protected students for nearly five decades by holding educational institutions accountable for cases of sexual discrimination. Notably, Title IX has…
