March 2012 « Eyes Wide Open

In Support of Trayvon

This week, fifty schools in Florida staged walk-outs, “Million Hoodie Marches” were mobilized in cities across the country, and 1.5 million Americans signed an online petition at change.org to demand justice for the killing of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin. On February 26th, self-appointed neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman killed Trayvon in [...]

A Second Chance for Juvenile Offenders?

Last week the Supreme Court reexamined the issue of severe punishments for juvenile offenders. In 2005 the court ruled to abolish the juvenile death penalty and in 2010 the court ruled that sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parole was unconstitutional, if the crime did not involve homicide. The court is now revisiting [...]

Equal Education for All?

The Civil Rights Data Collection sample, published by the U.S. Department of Education, has found that African American students experience disparities in all dimensions of school life; including discipline, achievement, resources and support. One finding from the study states that African American boys and girls are more than 3 ½ times more likely to [...]

Dementia in Prison

The state of California is piloting a program to train participating prisoners to care for aging inmates whose dementia renders them unable to care for themselves. The California prison system would like to move these inmates to nursing facilities for care but their violent pasts make prison officials hesitant to parole them and nursing [...]

Contraceptives Bill Blocked in the Senate

On March 1st, the Senate voted down the Blunt Amendment, which would have given employers across America the freedom to refuse insurance coverage for any services contrary to their own religious beliefs. Many Republicans backed the Blunt Amendment, citing the view that the new health care law violates the first amendment rights of religious [...]

In Support of Trayvon

A Second Chance for Juvenile Offenders?

Equal Education for All?

Dementia in Prison

Contraceptives Bill Blocked in the Senate

Subscribe

Scan

Lenses

Spectrum

Perspectives