As states continue to introduce legislation to restrict gender-affirming care for transgender children, Texas has taken a step further. In February, Governor Greg Abbott instructed Texas’ Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to investigate gender-affirming practices and the families with children receiving these practices.…
Hollywood celebrities, specifically Britney Spears, have brought conservatorship into the spotlight. We’ve put together some information explaining conservatorship, why it is used, why a lawyer is involved and what’s the buzz around the #FreeBritney movement. What Is a Conservatorship? Similar to guardianship, conservatorship is a…
Within hours of Governor Ron DeSantis signing the “Combating Public Disorder Act” into law, volunteers for the Black Collective, a non-profit civil rights group, got to work, canvassing, through neighborhoods, alerting people of the new legislation. The bill, HB1, touted by DeSantis as “the strongest…
Abuse is all too common in U.S. jails and prisons, with both inmates and correctional officers physically, sexually, and psychologically assaulting inmates. Certain populations face a greater risk of prison abuse, including those who are young or appear weak, have a mental illness or physical…
Prison abuse is a widespread problem in the United States. With about 2.3 million people in jails and prisons, the cost of staffing and running these facilities costs billions of dollars each year. Along with America’s mass incarceration, the penal system has been a breeding…
U.S. jails and prisons have been under fire for decades for the conditions in which inmates endure. Lawsuits against staff, facilities, and even states for prison abuse and inmate rights violations emerge year after year. Physical and sexual abuse, demeaning treatment, threats, and unsanitary conditions…
Requiring men, but not women, to register for the military draft is unconstitutional sex discrimination, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the U.S. system of Selective Service. The ACLU says compulsory selective service registration is…
Facial recognition software, often used by law enforcement to identify and track criminals and terrorists, is seriously flawed — just ask Michael Oliver of Detroit, one of several people who have been wrongfully arrested and jailed. Or ask the National Institute of Standards and Technology.…
Nearly 50 years after President Nixon declared a war on drugs, citizens and lawmakers around the U.S. have opted for at least a partial retreat. In November — 24 years after California became the first state to allow medical use of marijuana and eight years…
Over the past 35 years, drugs have played a significant role in the incarceration of women, resulting in a 216% increase in arrests during that period, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, a nonprofit that advocates for women behind bars and tells the story of…