Photo Credit: Getty Images, via billmoyers.com By: Evan Stastny Article I, section I of the U.S. Constitution vests “all legislative powers” with the two houses of Congress.[1] Over the years this principle has been eroded through the development and growth of what has been referred to as the “fourth branch” of government: executive agencies.[2] Between 1998 and 2013, Congress has added more than fifty new … Continue reading Liberty Requires Accountability
Photo source: https://theintercept.com/2018/09/01/metoo-fbi-informant-environmental-activism-rod-coronado/ A self-portrait Julie Henry took after she was assaulted in 2014. By: Alta Viscomi Spike Lee’s highly anticipated movie “BlacKkKlansman” winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes, debuted on August 10th to nearly collective high praise.[1] A few days later, director Boots Riley, took to Twitter to remind viewers that the movie’s plot was a “made up story in which the false … Continue reading FBI Surveillance Takes on Community Outreach and the #MeToo Movement
By: Rachel Lugay With the explosion of the opioid crisis, came a spike in “sober homes” throughout southern Florida. These seemingly well-intended rehabilitation programs promising a cheaper outpatient recovery option, in fact, are central to a large scale insurance fraud scheme.[1] When insured substance users seek assistance from sober homes, the owners receive insurance payments for their rehabilitative care, while the insured receive little to … Continue reading The Fraudulent Florida Shuffle
By: MaryAnn Grover Article IV of the United States Constitution endows Congress with the ability to admit new states into the Union.[1] Beyond the conclusory grant of power contained in this single clause, the Constitution provides no instructions as to how or under what circumstances states should be admitted to the Union. There is no “Statehood for Dummies” book explaining the process and there is … Continue reading It’s Time to Rearrange the Stars on the Flag
By: MaryAnn Grover, Editor-in-Chief The Richmond Public Interest Law Review welcomes you to the PILR Blog. As we begin our second year of blogging, we also enter our twenty-second year of publishing scholarly articles addressing the serious issues that occupy the minds of those who work in the public interest. This year we are lucky to welcome nineteen new staff members. They come to us … Continue reading Welcome Back!
By: Snapper Tams, L’18 In June of 2017, the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) closed Powhatan County’s Beaumont Juvenile Correctional Center, one of the final vestiges of a decades long transition toward more punitive juvenile punishments.[1] All children housed at Beaumont were transferred to Chesterfield County’s Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center, the only remaining statewide facility for youths in the Commonwealth.[2] Prior to 2005, … Continue reading Virginia Shifts to Treatment-Focused Approach in Juvenile Justice
By: Brittany Barnett, L’19 The United Nations defines human trafficking as having three elements: an act, a means, and a purpose: “(i) an “action”, being recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons; (ii) a ‘means’ by which that action is achieved (threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or a position of vulnerability, … Continue reading Consent: A Loophole in Human Trafficking Law
