An individual convicted of a felony, no matter when in that person’s life the crime occurs, can expect to make $500,000, or 50%, less over their lifetime than a person with a clean record. Why? Because the persistent and public nature of criminal records — available to almost everyone on the internet — follows a […]
Voting officials face increasing threats
Gowri Ramachandran, Counsel at The Brennen Center for Justice, talks about a recently published study entitled “Election Officials Under Attack“, a cooperative study of current and past election officials. The study identified four areas of concern for election officials: 1. Threats to personal safety, in which 1/3 of officials felt unsafe and 1/6 of officials […]
Michael Li on redistricting, 2021-22
Michael Li, Senior Counsel, Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, has recently published a report “The Redistricting Landscape, 2021-22“. His report analyzes four factors that affects voting boundaries: who controls map drawing; changes in the legal rules governing redistricting over the last decade; pressures from population and demographic shifts over the same period; […]
Two new bills supporting voting rights, amid a flurry of state suppres...
Already this year, there have been 165 bills introduced in state legislatures throughout the U.S. placing limits on voting rights. Hannah Klain, Equal Justice Rights Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, talks about some of the provisions of two Congressional bills aimed to strengthen voting rights, the “John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act” and […]
Elizabeth Goitein reflects on Trump Presidency
Elizabeth Goitein, Co-Director of Liberty and National Security at the Brennan Center for Justice, reflects on issues surrounding the January 6th insurrection, domestic terrorism, and lessons learned by the Trump presidency with regard to increasing constitutional limits on Executive Power (Trump broke all the “norms” for his own self-interest), expected knee-jerk calls for increased surveillance […]
Ensuring Safe (and fair) elections
How has voting changed? Elizabeth Howard, Counsel for The Brennan Center for Justice has studied that question in her “Ensuring Safe Elections Report”. Five times more people in Wisconsin voted by absentee ballot than the 2016 primary — which results in much additional cost the local and state government — funding which is not supported […]
