Tag Archives: Social Justice

“Spare Change?” Florida Appellate Court Vacates Homeless Man’s Conviction After Finding Miami’s Panhandling Law to be an Unconstitutional Restriction on the Right to Free Speech

by: Misael Chacon Homelessness affects us as a society.  At the peak of the great recession in 2007, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported roughly 671,000 people were homeless on a given night in January.[1]  According to the report over half of all homeless people were found in just a handful of […]

Collateral Consequences: What Happened to “Children are Our Future?”

by: Dina Lexine Sarver Kids will be kids. This well-known idiom reflects society’s view that we do not judge a youth and an adult in the same manner. In the context of criminal acts, even the Supreme Court of the United States acknowledges that juveniles must be treated differently than adults.[1] However, because most states […]

Evening the Playing Field between Insurance Companies and the Insured

by: Alex Ponce Insurance companies, such as Allstate, AIG, and State Farm, have earned reputations as aggressive claims fighters and will always attempt to find ways to deny payment of claims.[1] For example, Farmers Insurance, the nation’s third largest insurance group, had an incentive program called “Quest for Gold,” which offered incentives to adjusters who […]

When the Defendant Flaps: An Overview of “Incompetent” Autistic Criminal Defendants and Courtroom Education

by: Haley Moss In an interview with TIME Magazine, Simon Baron-Cohen, a psychology professor and autism expert said that “[autistic people] often have a strong sense of justice or fairness.”[1] But if autistic people have this understanding of moral rights and wrongs, then why does the criminal justice system view these individuals as incompetent to […]