The Conversation

Understanding mass incarceration in the US is the first step to reducing a swollen prison population

Written by Jeffrey Bellin, Mills E. Godwin, Jr., Professor of Law, William & Mary Law School

People incarcerated at a county jail in North Dakota gather together. Andrew Burton/Getty Images

The incarceration rate in the United States fell in 2021 to its lowest levels since 1995 – but the U.S. continues to imprison a higher percentage of its population than almost every other country.

The U.S. incarcerates 530 people for every 100,000...

I've spent 5 years researching the heroic life of Black musician Graham Jackson, but teaching his story could be illegal under laws in Florida and North Dakota

Written by David Cason, Associate Professor in Honors, University of North Dakota

Chief Petty Officer Graham Jackson mourns the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt on April 13, 1945. Edward Clark/Life Magazine

The story of Graham Jackson is a timeless tale of American ingenuity, hard work and the cream rising to the top.

It’s also a tale of economic inequality, overt racism and America’s Jim Crow caste system.

As one of...

Sibling aggression and abuse go beyond rivalry – bullying within a family can have lifelong repercussions

Written by Corinna Jenkins Tucker, Senior Project Director, Sibling Aggression and Abuse Research and Advocacy Initiative (SAARA) at the Crimes Against Children Center, University of New Hampshire

Hurting a sibling is not the same thing as healthy rivalry.Glasshouse Images/The Image Bank via Getty Images

Nearly 80% of U.S. children grow up with a sibling. For many, brothers and sisters are life companions, close confidants and sharers of memories. But siblings also are natural competitors for parents’ attention. When brothers and...

Student debt cancellation program in jeopardy as Supreme Court justices hear arguments

Written by John Patrick Hunt, Professor of Law, University of California, Davis

The estimated cost of President Biden's student loan cancellation program is $430 billion.Douglas Rissing via Getty Images

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Feb. 28, 2023, regarding a multistate lawsuit to block the Biden administration’s student loan debt cancellation program. The Conversation asked John Patrick Hunt, a law...

Mocking the police got an Ohio man arrested – and the Supreme Court ignored The Onion's plea to define the limits of parody

Written by Jane E. Kirtley, Professor of Media Ethics and Law, University of Minnesota

Satire can be dangerous.DigitalVision Vectors/Getty Images

Can Americans be jailed for making fun of the government? Most would respond with a resounding “No, of course not! The First Amendment protects us from that.”

But Anthony Novak learned otherwise in March 2016, after he created and posted a fake version of the Parma, Ohio, Police...

Which state you live in matters for how well environmental laws protect your health

Written by Susan Kaplan, Research Assistant Professor of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago

Pesticide use on school playing fields varies from state to state. matimix/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Your child could go to gym class on Monday morning and play soccer on a field that was sprayed over the weekend with 2,4-D, a toxic weedkiller that has been investigated as possibly causing cancer. Alternatively, the school grounds may have been...

Why the pronouns used for God matter

Written by Annie Selak, Associate Director, Women's Center, Georgetown University

A service in the village church of St. Paul de Leon in Devon, England. Hugh R Hastings/Getty Images

The Church of England is considering what language and pronouns should be used to refer to God.

The church’s General Synod has, however, clarified that it will not abolish or substantially revise any of the currently authorized liturgies....

30 years later, Waco siege still resonates – especially among anti-government extremists

Written by Art Jipson, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Dayton

Fire engulfs the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, on April 19, 1993.AP Photo/Ron Heflin

Feb. 28, 2023, marks 30 years since the beginning of the Waco siege, the confrontation at a Texas compound that killed around 80 members of the Branch Davidian religious community and four federal agents.

Part of the siege’s legacy in popular...

Biologists discovered a new species of tiny owl on the forested island of Príncipe, and it's already under threat – Podcast

Written by Daniel Merino, Associate Science Editor & Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation

Research suggests that only about 1,000 to 1,500 Príncipe scops owls exist in the wild.Martim Melo

An international team of biologists has discovered a tiny new species of owl, called the Príncipe scops owl, living in a remote forest on an island off the west coast of Africa. In this Discovery episode of The Conversation Weekly, we...

Can eating poppy seeds affect drug test results? An addiction and pain medicine specialist explains

Written by Gary Reisfield, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Florida

Eating culinary poppy seeds won’t get you high, but they could lead to a failed drug test.Linda Caldwell/EyeEm via Getty Images

The U.S. Defense Department issued a memo on Feb. 17, 2023, warning service members to avoid eating poppy seeds because doing so may result in a positive urine test for the opiate codeine. Addiction and pain medicine...