By: Kyle Steenland, Feature Editor Imagine finding yourself trapped in the criminal justice system and later thrust into the hands of the department of corrections. Along the way, you pled your innocence but for reasons outside your control, your last contact with outside society was a judge handing down […]
Posts
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Revives Lawsuit Filed by UPMC Employees Affected by a Data Breach
By: Stephen Hodzic, Staff Writer While many businesses are aware of the concept of cybersecurity, it is unclear how many businesses take active steps to protect not only their proprietary data, but also personal employee data. Several large profile cyberattacks have taken place in recent years. The United […]
Law in the Wasteland
By: Rachel Pressdee, Staff Writer As a law student, I walked out of my last final of the semester and I did not want to think about the legal world until I had to step back through the school’s doors. However, once you become a law student something […]
Euthanasia in America
By: Emma Hurst, Staff Writer Oregon, Montana, Washington, Vermont, Hawaii, California, Colorado, and Washington D.C. were among the first states to introduce and pass legislation that would allow physician assisted suicide, or euthanasia, to terminally ill patients.[1] In Oregon alone, 1,275 patients have died from the drugs provided to […]
Pennsylvania Offers Clean Slate for Misdemeanor Records
By: Samantha Cook, Feature Editor “Get a clean slate!” offers the Community Legal Services of Philadelphia. “Do You Have a Criminal Record that Might Be Sealed Under Pennsylvania’s New Clean Slate Law?”[1] Studies of the criminal justice system in recent years have addressed the issue of collateral consequences, the concept […]
States Shifting Their Stance on the Death Penalty Reflects the Growing Trend Towards Abolishing Capital Punishment
By: Brandon Schall, Staff Writer Currently, 30 states have capital punishment laws for certain crimes.[1] In recent years, four state legislatures, have abolished their death penalty and replaced it with life imprisonment, those states include, New Mexico (2009), Illinois (2011), Connecticut (2012), and Maryland (2013).[2] Additionally, Nebraska’s legislature abolished […]
Laying the Death Tax to Rest: The Left and Right Quarrel Over the Federal Estate Tax
By: Natalia Holliday, Editor-In-Chief “It’s the government’s final insult to force grieving families to visit both the undertaker and the IRS on the same day,” remarked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in a plea to repeal the federal estate tax, commonly known as the “death tax.”[1] On […]
A Step in the Right Direction: Laws Allowing the Homeless to Live in Their Vehicles
By: Elizabeth Fitch, Staff Writer On February 5, 2019, San Diego City Council members voted unanimously to repeal a 35-year-old law stating that it is illegal for people to live in their vehicles.[1] Councilman Mark Kerseysays the law, first passed in 1983, has outlived its usefulness; “I think it’s pretty […]
Juror Anonymity and the El Chapo Trial
By: Amanda Leonard, Staff Writer During jury selection for the recent El Chapo trial, one juror broke down crying in front of the judge, claiming coworkers identified her as a potential juror and she feared that public identification would follow suit.[1] The judge had previously granted requests from prospective […]
The Resignation of a United Nations’ International Criminal Court Judge Sheds Light on the Current Relationship Between the United States and the International Criminal Court
By: Samantha Dorn, Staff Writer Recently, Christoph Flügge, a senior judge at one of the United Nations’ International Criminal Court (ICC), made international headlines when he resigned from his position citing political interference from Turkey and the United States.[1] Flügge, a German judge who had been a judge on […]
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