By Lexi WungAssociate Editor, Vol. 26 I joined the Juvenile Justice Clinic as a student attorney during my fourth semester of law school. Immediately I dove into the intricacies of the juvenile justice system in Michigan, my client’s individual cases, and the realities of converting law school doctrinal classes into usable skills. Many aspects of […]
implicit bias
The School to Prison Pipeline Comes to Pre-K
By Elliott Gluck Associate Editor, Volume 23 For years, the startling rates of suspensions and expulsions in America’s public schools have raised concerns for stakeholders across the educational landscape.[1] These disciplinary actions are frequently connected with higher drop-out rates, lower lifetime earnings, and higher rates of incarceration.[2] With African American students facing expulsion and suspension […]
Comparing the Goals of the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program and Criminal Law Reform Project to Hillary Clinton’s Criminal Justice Reform Platform
By Claire Nagel Associate Editor, Vol. 22 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has made racial justice and criminal justice reform central issues in her campaign. During the first presidential debate on September 26th, Secretary Clinton responded to a question about how she would bridge racial divisions in the U.S. and improve policing by stating that “implicit […]
Task Force on Chicago PD Reforms Highlights Race Problems
By Dan Cho Associate Editor, Vol. 21 Contributing Editor, Vol. 22 Last December, after the release of a dash cam video showing Jason Van Dyke, a white Chicago police officer, shooting Laquan MacDonald, an unarmed black teenager and in the midst of the subsequent protests, Mayor Rahm Emanuel created a task force to “review the system […]
Poll workers: gatekeepers of the democratic process
By Amy Luong Associate Editor, Vol. 21 Production Editor, Vol. 22 March marked an increased number of states that began imposing Voter ID requirements among other voting prerequisites.[1] In 2013, the Supreme Court declared the coverage formula, § 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), unconstitutional in Shelby Cty. v. Holder.[2] Originally, the formula covered jurisdictions that […]
Whitewashing wrongful conviction: reflecting on Making a Murderer
By Breanna Caldwell Associate Editor, Vol. 21 Executive Editor, Vol. 22 On the off chance that you have been able to avoid the national phenomenon surrounding the Netflix documentary series, Making a Murderer, since it first aired in December 2015, I will provide a brief overview of the series before analyzing its effects on the […]
Good cops, bad cops, and the so-called YouTube effect
By Jason Raylesberg Associate Editor, Vol. 21 In my last post, I described how some states have allocated funds toward initiatives seeking to theoretically establish what is already known in practice about profiling by police. I argued that such money would be better spent implementing more immediately impactful solutions. In this post, I will first […]
New California law aims to combat racial profiling by police: it sounds good, but will it create any change?
By Jason Raylesberg Associate Editor, Vol. 21 California and Missouri recently instituted separate measures to curb racial profiling within the legal system. In response to widespread police brutality nationally, California passed the “Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015,” requiring police officers to record identity characteristics, i.e. race, gender, or national origin of those they […]
The case of Tamir Rice: race, self-defense, and the objective reasonableness standard
By Emmanuela Jean-Etienne Associate Editor, Vol. 21 On a cold November afternoon in Cleveland, twelve-year-old Tamir Rice sat alone at a gazebo outside the Cudell Recreation Center, a place he frequented daily.[1] In his hand was an airsoft pistol and, according to the witness who would later call 9-1-1, he was pointing it at cars […]
Race, mental illness, and Kamilah Brock
By Dana Ziegler Associate Editor, Vol. 21 Last week, a shocking news story made headlines in the online news circuit. Kamilah Brock, a Black businesswoman living in New York City, was involuntarily committed to a mental institution by police after trying to reclaim her impounded BMW in September 2014. During the initial incident, Brock was […]
Michigan Journal of Race & Law 