Starting with the advent of the penal laws of late 18th century America, Congress has enacted mandatory minimum sentences for a specific range of crimes. These mandatory minimums force judges to sentence a criminal for a minimum amount of time or severity regardless of the details of the case. In 1790, mandatory minimums existed for crimes like … Read more
In mid-1950s, the Italian-American criminal organization known as Cosa Nostra was enjoying the peak of its political influence and economic success. At the time, many questioned the organization’s presence. J. Edgar Hoover completely denied its existence for years. And unfortunately for the criminals describing themselves as “businessmen,” their reign atop the criminal underworld was swiftly … Read more
The circumstances that landed Princeton professor and author Cornel West and activist-clergyman Osagyefo Sekou in the St. Louis County jail on October 13 could have been avoided. But that would have defeated the point. West journeyed to Missouri from his teaching post at Union Theological Seminary with the explicit intention of ending up in the … Read more
When I was a kid, it was the small things. My classmates always wanted to play with my hair, and I let them. On Halloween I was told that I couldn’t be Princess Ariel or Belle, so I had to decide between Princess Jasmine and Mulan. Jasmine was a closer match to my skin tone, … Read more
When I was a kid, it was the small things. My classmates always wanted to play with my hair, and I let them. On Halloween I was told that I couldn’t be Princess Ariel or Belle, so I had to decide between Princess Jasmine and Mulan. Jasmine was a closer match to my skin tone, … Read more
“Thank you Mark Zuckerberg,” said Saowaluk, a Thai protestor and part of the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) movement that took to the streets in Thailand in August 2013 and early 2014. “Facebook made this protest successful.” Her words echo those of many protestors across the world since the Arab Spring in 2011 to the … Read more
Joseph Pulitzer once exclaimed, “Our Republic and its press will rise or fall together.” Just more than a century after the death of the famed newspaper publisher, cracks are slowly beginning to materialize in the foundations of both institutions. The United States suffers from polarized, inept governance, a deep divide on meaningful social issues, and … Read more
David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest provides an alternate reality where television channels become obsolete as individual viewing choices take precedence over channel timetables. Eventually, entertainment and news were reduced to videocassettes that people watched at their leisure. Today television channels are slowly shifting to rely on viewer preferences, streaming, and personal information—but not to such … Read more
On newsstands across the United States, the faces that most often stare out from magazine covers are not those of political leaders or victims of war but those of Kim Kardashian, George Clooney, Beyoncé, and the like. Celebrities fascinate the American public and, consequently, capture significant media coverage in celebrity news outlets. The significance of … Read more
The news industry has had a rough decade. Print readership is steadily declining, newspapers are closing, and journalists with decades of experience are being laid off. In response, major newspapers have made considerable changes. They’re attempting to combat diminishing reader interest by shortening stories, adding commentary, and most notably, using social media to their advantage. … Read more