JURIST Guest Columnist Ashley Merritt of the Valparaiso University School of Law discusses the effectiveness of mandatory minimum sentencing laws on deterring gun violence… In response to a disturbing rise in homicides and violent gun crime, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard has suggested a solution: harsher mandatory minimum sentences for charges involving firearms. Earlier this year, [...]
Hawaiian residents opposed to a self governing native Hawaiian nation within the state have notified a lower court of plans to make a second trip to the US Supreme Court to address the action taken by their opposition. The Na’i Aupuni organization has asked the party to dismiss litigation pending in the US Court of [...]
The youngest participant in the violent 2012 Delhi gang rape which lead to the death of the victim was freed from jail Sunday after serving a three year sentence. The rape, on a moving bus, gathered international attention in 2012. A petition to extend the man’s sentence was rejected by a Delhi court on Friday, [...]
The United Nationals High Commissioner on Refugees’s (UNHCR) Mid-Year Trends 2015 report, published on Friday, shows that the current year is on track to have record breaking rates of forced displacement. The report details displacement rates from conflict and persecution during the first 6 months of 2015. As of the mid-point of 2015 the number [...]
US President Obama on Friday commuted 95 prison sentences of individuals who have been jailed for non-violent offenses. The act of clemency comes as result of the recent sentencing reform for drug and non-violent offenses. In his letter to the released men and women, President Obama stated, “I believe in your ability to prove the [...]
Approximately six million Rwandans on Saturday approved a referendum by a vote of 98% to amend Article 101 of the Rwanda constitution which states the president may only serve two seven-year terms. The referendum will allow President Paul Kagame to serve another seven-year term beginning in 2017 and then two more five-year terms. Kagame has [...]
The UN Security Council on Friday adopted a new resolution which outlines a process to work for peace within Syria. The 15 member council agreed upon a plan which will allow for the UN to take a large role in the Syrian conflict with the hope of ushering in peaceful and a stable government. UN [...]
The French Human Rights League and the Collective against Islamophobia on Thursday joined over 100 organizations to issue a statement asking the French government to lift the state of emergency. The petition urges the government to defend individual rights and public freedoms, restore the right to demonstrate by Muslims, stop indiscriminate search and arbitrary house [...]
The Hague Court of Appeals ruled Friday that the Royal Dutch Shell can be sued in a Dutch court for their involvement in oil leaks in Nigeria. The ruling stems from a suit brought by four Nigerian farmers that claimed Shell and its Nigerian subsidiaries were responsible for oil leaks leading to their lands being [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Kendra Julian of Valparaiso University School of Law, Class of 2017, discusses the need for states to enact hate crime legislation…We don’t like you. Get out. You don’t belong. We’re superior to you. These phrases all lead to a common message—a message of fear and intimidation. Unfortunately, Indiana, along with Arkansas, Georgia, [...]
