Criminal Justice

Depictions of Rittenhouse as a brave patriot standing his ground and acting in self-defense are doing legal and moral harm.

Upon what theory of punishment do the incarcerated not deserve protection from exploitation?

Media narratives regarding the "Wall of Moms" protests in Portland have a lot to say about implicit bias and the responsibilities of white allyship.

What model of punishment best accommodates our intuitions in this particular case?

Does the very possibility of wrongful conviction — inherent to the BARD standard — render capital punishment unconscionable?

Confronting real-world violence can be an important agent of change. Might we have a social responsibility to share and bear witness to real-life horrors?

Identifying and disassembling the institutions of white supremacy will require a concerted effort. What does allyship require?

Can the lengths the law goes to hide institutional actors from public accountability be morally justified?

Abolishing law enforcement as we know it could mean many different things. Can the history of the police force give us direction in where to go from here?

How did a staunchly conservative Supreme Court judge side with a sweeping win for the LGBT community? The answer lies in textualism.

As many police practices come under increasing scrutiny, we must consider the role of nonhuman animals in police forces.

We need to examine laws like Stand Your Ground that protect and make space for citizen vigilantes. How can we justify their roles in society now?

As Black Lives Matter protests spread across the world, Australia must also confront the very present racism of how Indigenous people are treated by police.

If tear gas is a substance that is "evil in itself" (malum in se), why can police use tear gas on protesters? Just war theory provides criticism.

While the vast majority of protests have been peaceful, those that aren't challenge us in ways that require further investigation.

We need greater legal resources for identifying and acknowledging the various forms racial violence takes.

Are the conditions inmate find themselves in during the pandemic consistent with the purpose incarceration is meant to serve?

By what right can government officials prohibit worshipers from the physical and public practice of their faith?

Prisons are a hotbed for spreading infectious disease, and we've changed policies to accommodate this fact. But these changes should also make us reconsider how they function in normal circumstances.

The decision by prosecutors to lay blame at the social workers door paints an unrealistic and overly simplistic picture.