2017 was a tumultuous year. In many ways, the country moved backwards on some issues of social justice that many believed had begun to move forward. The Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines, which President Obama had previously put the kibosh on due to environmental concerns and the protests of
Read moreMental Health Parity Laws, Crime, and Graham-Cassidy
News coverage about the Graham-Cassidy bill has been inescapable in recent weeks. This news coverage has primarily focused on comparing the Graham-Cassidy bill with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in terms of essential benefits and caps on coverage. However, there has been some confusion over how this
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The Illegalization of Undocumented Immigrants
With the Trump administration announcing the end of DACA, which protected undocumented immigrants who arrived as children, the issue of undocumented immigrants is a topic of intense debate, with some favoring increased efforts to locate and expel all undocumented immigrants and others viewing this as part of a larger context
Read moreThe Harmful Effects of Implicit Racial Bias in the Police
In a study of police body camera footage recently undergone by researchers at Stanford University, it was found that police officers on average spoke less respectfully to black residents than their white counterparts. This meant that black community members were less likely to be addressed with a formal greeting, titles
Read moreWhy A Wall Won’t Work
This humorous video made in 2015 provides a sociological explanation for why a wall does not block unauthorized immigration and why tightened border controls beginning with President Reagan paradoxically actually increased the number of undocumented immigrants. It does not address the question of whether immigration is good or bad and
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More renters, high demand, low vacancy rates = hard times for low income renters in Dane County
Madison and Dane County have an affordable housing crisis. On the west side of Madison, one new owner of a 90-unit complex has recently non-renewed two thirds of his tenants, leaving them to scramble to try to find housing in an impossible market for lower-income renters. In addition, recent changes
Read moreNuisance, Criminal History, and Housing Discrimination
In many cities, one of the sources of homelessness for many people is nuisance ordinances that fine landlords if there are too many police calls to a property. Desmond and Valdez’s 2013 article “Unpolicing the Urban Poor: Consequences of Third-Party Policing for Inner-City Women” published in the American Sociological Review
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