Inequality Inquiry >> Category

Will Minnesota’s New Automatic Expungement Laws Have an Effect on Federal Sentences?

February 14, 2024

By Britane Hubbard* On January 1, 2025, Minnesota’s new automatic expungement statutes will go into effect.[1] Under this new law, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension will identify eligible people and grant them expungement relief if they qualify.[2] Offenses eligible for expungement range from petty misdemeanors to felonies.[3] The possibility of a new wave of expungements…

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A Solution to Hoffman’s Choice for Unauthorized Workers: Creating New Incentives to Report Unlawful Workplace Discrimination

October 4, 2016

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by Andrew J. Glasnovich
In 2012, the United States was home to 11.7 million people who did not have legal authorization to reside in the country. Of those, approximately 8 million people were active in the work force. Unauthorized workers will likely contribute $2.6 trillion over the next decade to the U.S. economy. Those unauthorized persons are some of the most vulnerable members of society.  Because of their status, some unauthorized workers fear that their choice to report employer misconduct will lead to their deportation or imprisonment. State and federal laws prohibit employers from class-based discrimination against their workers—whether these workers are authorized or unauthorized. Despite those laws, some employer misconduct is notably egregious and includes wage theft, unsafe labor conditions, race and sex discrimination, and sexual assault. However, some unauthorized workers are brave enough to risk deportation and challenge their employers’ unlawful practices.

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Does the Minneapolis Police Department Traffic Stop Data Reveal Racial Bias?

November 24, 2020

This study analyzed Minneapolis Police Department traffic stop data from 2016 to 2020 to determine if racial bias influences MPD behavior. Results of the analysis showed that Black drivers are 10.8% percent more likely to be stopped during the day, when officers can observe the driver’s race for profiling, than when Black drivers’ race is not observable during darkness. The effect was highly statistically significant and demonstrated that Minneapolis Police Department traffic stops are racially biased.

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Attack on the Right to Choose

April 12, 2022

By Laura Gustafson* A person’s right to choose has been under attack by state actions for some time, making headlines as the Supreme Court rules on bills restricting access to abortion. These bills can inflict great harm on people and attack the right to choose, but there is another very real threat that often goes…

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Proscribing Prescriptions: A Legal Analysis of State Off-Label Restrictions on Medication Abortion

November 21, 2016

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by Kaiya A. Lyons
Since its decision in Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court has consistently upheld the right of a woman to choose to terminate a pregnancy before viability and without undue burden. However, the ability of a woman to exercise that right today is as intimately connected to her economic privilege and geographic location as it was in the days preceding that landmark ruling. Under the guise of protecting women from the “harms inherent in abortion,” major conservative gains in the 2010 midterm elections resulted in hundreds of anti-abortion measures flooding a majority of state legislatures. In the aftermath of that year’s midterm elections, the bulk of state legislatures passed an unprecedented number of harsh new restrictions on when, how, and even whether women may access abortion services. Because these laws are also substantially more obstructive than their predecessors, for low-income women, the economic impact of these restrictive regulations is extremely harmful.

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Police Questioning of Juveniles

February 9, 2023

By Emma Kruger Police interrogation can be intimidating even for adults, but the experience of police questioning for a juvenile suspected of committing or witnessing a crime can be even more overwhelming. Police interrogation practices often do not differ for children, but children’s experience of them and their capacity to adequately make choices in the…

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Seneca Re-Ad Industries Reinforces Why Congress Should Eliminate 14(c) Certificates

March 29, 2024

Seneca Re-Ad Industries Reinforces Why Congress Should Eliminate 14(c) Certificates By: Matthew Schmitz* Early this year the District Court for the Northern District of Ohio reviewed the application of a key component of American minimum wage law: Section 14(c) certificates.[1] The case, brought by workers with disabilities and appealed by their employer, seems to represent…

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The Case for Preserving Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Health Care Protections

December 5, 2017

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by Bailey Metzger
On May 18, 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published the final rule implementing § 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the Federal Register. The final rule addressed a wide variety of discrimination in the health care context, including discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, and disability. Perhaps the most notable part of the rule finds that discrimination on the basis of gender identity constitutes discrimination on the basis of sex.

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The Constitutionality of SB 1142

April 28, 2022

By Chase Lindemann[1]   On March 1, 2022, Oklahoma State Senator Rob Standridge introduced Senate Bill 1142 to the Oklahoma Senate Floor.[2] SB 1142’s title states that this bill is an act “prohibiting certain schools and school libraries from maintaining or promoting certain books.”[3] If a parent believes that there is a violation of SB…

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“Mind Your Own Damn Business”: Why Governor Walz Is Right that The Right to Control Your Body Should Not Be Based on Geography

October 19, 2024

By: Claire Cavanagh View/Download PDF Version: _Mind Your Own Damn Business_ – Why Governor Walz Is Right that The Right to Control Your Body Should Not Be Based on Geography (Cavanagh)   Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz (Walz), has been selected as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. Throughout the campaign, especially during the vice presidential…

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