Recent Blog Posts
Legislators Go After the “Gay or Trans Panic” Defense In Criminal Law
It would likely surprise you to find out that in all but three states, it is legal for criminal defendants to claim that they should not be held accountable for murder due to the gender identity or sexual orientation of their victims. The defense is known as the “gay or trans panic defense,” and… Read More »
Widespread Corruption and Abuse in Florida’s Juvenile Justice System
In July, four juveniles and one employee from Florida’s Walton Academy for Growth and Change—a facility run by a company known as Rite of Passage for the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice—were arrested and charged for “lewd and lascivious battery” and false imprisonment of a minor at the facility. Sadly, this is not the… Read More »
Polls Show That Floridians Prefer Unanimity or No Death Penalty At All
The Sun Sentinel ran an important article recently on the public’s reaction to changes in Florida’s death penalty law. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Florida’s majority-rule death-sentence recommendation from juries was unconstitutional, and the Florida Supreme Court struck down the “ten out of 12 jurors must recommend death” rule, the legislature passed… Read More »
Florida’s Fight to Restore Ex-Felons’ Civil Rights Moves to 11th Circuit
We have previously discussed how the right to vote is one of the most important fundamental civil rights that we as Americans have had, and how many in Florida have had this right stripped away due to past felony convictions, leading to a new civil rights movement to end Florida’s felon disenfranchisement law. There… Read More »
According To New Study, Florida Ban on Food Stamps for Ex-Felons with Drug Convictions Has Increased Arrest Rates
According to a new study, prison recidivism rates increased after Florida passed a law banning felons with drug convictions from receiving food stamps. Specifically, researchers found that former felons “turned back to crime”–monetary-based crimes—just to make ends meet after being denied access to social-welfare programs after leaving jail. In addition, the ban clearly places… Read More »
How Can We Weigh Civil Rights With Religious Rights?
We’ve previously discussed the importance of one particular civil rights case that was recently decided by the U.S. Supreme Court: Unfortunately, on June 4th, the Court made a decision that is arguably antithetical to the protection of civil rights when it decided that a cake shop owner who refused to bake a cake for… Read More »
More Animal Cruelty Charges at Florida Dairy Farms
On June 6th, two arrests (in addition to three previous arrests) were made at Larson Dairy in Okeechobee, Florida in connection with animal cruelty charges and an undercover video that allegedly captured the farm employees tormenting the dairy cows. There is also a warrant out for the arrest of a fourth individual from the… Read More »
Reports of Police Misconduct & Framing Minors out of Biscayne Park, Florida Police Department
On June 11th, a former Florida police chief and two officers were charged with framing a teenager with four burglaries in order to boost the police department’s arrest statistics. Specifically, the officers—former Chief Raimundo Atesiano and former officers Charlie Dayoub and Raul Fernandez—were charged with “conspiracy to violate civil rights under color of law”… Read More »
Important Constitutional Amendments Coming Up On Florida’s Ballot
This November, there will be 13 key constitutional amendments on Florida’s ballot. This represents one of the longest lists of proposed constitutional changes in decades. It is crucial to understand what implications each of these amendments could have on your civil rights before you vote. Each and every one requires 60 percent of the… Read More »
U.S. Supreme Court Sides with Florida Man in Free Speech Case
On June 18th, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in favor of upholding civil rights in a case involved an arrest at a city council meeting in south Florida’s City of Riviera Beach. The man was originally arrested in retaliation for being an outspoken critic of decisions made by the city; however, he was also… Read More »
