The Supreme Court effectively greenlit the criminalization of homelessness in its decision in City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson , where the Court upheld Oregon’s anti-camping ordinance. This decision comes at a time when the homeless population in the United States is at an all-time high, reaching a record 771,480 people in 2024, an 18% increase from 2023. This increase, largely driven by the United States’ affordability crisis, has spurred an alarming discourse about e

The development of the federal sentencing guidelines  played an important role in shaping America’s criminal legal system. In 1984, Congress passed the Sentencing Reform Act  which established the U.S. Sentencing Commission. The Sentencing Commission’s primary purpose was to reduce disparities in federal sentencing. To address these disparities, the Commission would ask judges to consider a variety of factors  in their rulings including the nature of the offense committed, th

“No government official in America has as much unreviewable power and discretion as the prosecutor,” many scholars agree . While prosecutors decide  whether to initiate criminal proceedings, what charges to bring, and what sentencing recommendations to make, they also bear the enormous responsibility of having essentially no checks on their decisions. As one author has said , “the presumption that prosecutors act in good faith has made the charging power virtually immune from

Trigger Warning: Mentions of Suicide The issue of mass incarceration  has persisted in the United States and is often discussed through legal and policy lenses. However, the psychological toll of prolonged isolation within prisons is equally critical. Solitary confinement in particular has devastating effects  on mental health, emotional well-being and cognitive functioning. This piece explores not only the harm caused by isolation but also the reform and intervention that ca

Twenty years ago, the “Contacts” app on the iPhone didn’t exist. iPhones themselves didn’t even exist . It was the age where you memorized your loved one’s phone numbers because there were no other alternatives. Flash forward to 2025, nearly one in three Americans  do not have their emergency contact numbers memorized. This percentage will likely just get worse, considering that the older you are, the more likely you are to have somewhere between two and five  phone numbers m

Prison sucks, but so does the aftermath. In the United States, we impose some serious penalties on convicted felons even after their...

It is no secret that solitary confinement can have a detrimental and lasting effect on its victims’ psyche and physical health. The...

The Eighth Amendment reads, “excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments...

Recently Larry Nassar, the former U.S. gymnastics doctor who abused young women and girls under the guise of medical treatment, was...