Can We Reimagine Juvenile Justice for Gen Z?

Emerging Into Adulthood Is Hard for Everyone. Prison Makes It Nearly Impossible

“Emerging adult” is a new phrase for many of us, and a useful term for understanding a stage of human development that is too often overlooked. People between the ages of 18 and 25 aren’t kids, exactly, but they aren’t grownups either: a child does not magically transform into a fully mature human on their 18th birthday (an absolutely arbitrary point in time, agreed upon for such legal purposes as determining voter eligibility or conducting a military draft). Today we know that brain development continues through an individual’s mid-20s, with the …

by Lael E.H. Chester | July 22, 2021

California, Where Whatever You Do, You Will Be Wrong

We’re All in This Together—But Please, Keep Your Distance

by Joe Mathews | September 22, 2020

Our politics may be paranoid, our society may be paralyzed, our police may be irredeemable, and our skies may be on fire, but don’t fear! At least we Californians can …

Why Do Americans Put Pets, Not Their Owners, on Trial?

The Bizarre History Behind Our Current Canine Legal System Is Full of Rats, Pigs, and Moles

By David Grimm | July 12, 2016

When a Japanese Akita named Taro bit the lip of a 10-year-old New Jersey girl in 1991, police seized the dog and a judge ordered him destroyed. Taro’s owners appealed …

A Mass Murderer Is Testing the Limits of Scandinavian Goodwill

Norway’s Most Dangerous Man Is Back in the Spotlight, Leading Many to Wonder How Much Compassion He Deserves

By Bruno Kaufmann | March 24, 2016

For four days in March, I watched Norway’s national devil return to public view, in another installment of the courtroom drama familiarly titled Breivik v. State. Andres Behring Breivik, now …

The Freeway Is the Perfect Place to Protest Ferguson

Blocking Traffic Is an Inconvenience to Commuters. It's Also a Reminder of How Highway Construction Has Segregated Our Cities.

by Eric Avila | December 15, 2014

After grand juries in New York and Missouri failed to indict police officers who killed unarmed black men, protestors across the nation vented their outrage by shutting down roads. In …

Time to Suspend Zero-Tolerance School Discipline

Los Angeles Has Tried Get-Tough Approaches Toward Classroom Misbehavior. What Might Work Better?

by Sarah Rothbard | January 22, 2014

The way discipline is enforced in American schools is changing quickly, explained Beth Shuster, Los Angeles Times education editor, at an event co-presented by the California Endowment. Zero-tolerance policies—which mandate …

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