• Attitudes Toward Political Violence

    Research reveals a complex mix of attitudes, concerns, and beliefs about the state of democracy and the potential for violence. A small segment of the U.S. population considers violence, including lethal violence, to be usually or always justified to advance political objectives.

  • Sam Bankman-Fried Trial Shines Light on the Rise and Fall of Cryptocurrency and Concerns About Its Use in White-Collar Crime

    While Sam Bankman-Fried’s crime – he is accused of orchestrating a conspiracy to use $10 billion that FTX’s customers had entrusted to him for venture capital investments, political donations and luxury real estate purchases — may seem complicated because bitcoin is involved, a criminology expert says it really comes down to traditional embezzlement.

  • How Foreign Investment in U.S. Land Affects Food Security

    The United States has approximately 1.3 billion acres of privately held agricultural land, including forestland. Out of these 1.3 billion acres, around 40 million acres were under full or partial foreign ownership as of 2021. Current foreign agricultural holdings represent 3.1% of the country’s privately owned agricultural land.

  • Cities Should Act NOW to Ban Predictive Policing...and Stop Using ShotSpotter, Too

    Sound Thinking, the company behind ShotSpotter, is reportedly buying Geolitica, the company behind PredPol, a predictive policing technology. When companies like Sound Thinking and Geolitica merge and bundle their products, it becomes much easier for cities who purchase one harmful technology to end up deploying a suite of them without meaningful oversight, transparency, or control by elected officials or the public.

  • Think Twice Before Saying “Cult”

    Some critics of Donald Trump liken the dynamic between the former president and his followers to a political cult, a claim rekindled by CBS/YouGov polling released last month. Survey shows intense support for ex-president despite indictments, but common claim against MAGA movement falls short of scientific rigor.

  • Sovereignty in Space

    The EU wants to establish its own satellite network by 2027, with the aim of increasing the resilience of the European communications infrastructure and gaining technological sovereignty in space. Achieving this will require novel solutions.

  • Florida Arrests Undocumented Migrant Under State’s New Law

    A Mexican citizen taken into custody for allegedly driving without U.S. papers and transporting undocumented people was one of the first people to be arrested under Florida’s controversial SB 1718, considered the most restrictive state law regarding migrants in the United States.

  • “Tyranny of the Minority’” Warns Constitution is Dangerously Outdated

    The U.S. Constitution desperately needs updating, say Harvard government professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. In a new book, a follow-up to their How Democracies Die, Levitsky and Ziblatt urge institutional reforms, which include rejection of candidates who violate norms.

  • Proud Boys Leader Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison for Seditious Conspiracy and Other Charges Related to U.S. Capitol Breach

    The former national chairman of the Proud Boys was sentenced Tuesday to 22 years in jail for seditious conspiracy and other charges related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

  • Paper Ballots Are Good, but Accurately Hand-Counting Them All Is Next to Impossible

    It is easy to see why a hand-count system seems appealing to many people today. Having ballots scrutinized in person by representatives from the parties provides obvious transparency and accountability. But as a scholar of elections, I know that despite the intuitive appeal of people physically counting pieces of paper, there are two good reasons to avoid hand-counting ballots: speed and accuracy.

  • TPS Extended for Six Countries, Advocates Urge Status for More

    The Biden administration recently announced an extension and redesignation of the program that gives temporary protection from deportation for nationals of Sudan and Ukraine. Nationals of El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua also have had their protection extended.

  • Expedited Work Permits for Migrants a Key Part of “Ttransition to Life” in NYS

    As New York grapples with an influx of migrants, two Cornell University law professors call on the administration to expedite the work authorization process for these migrants under the Administrative Procedures Act, so that they can begin to work, thus helping address the state’s labor shortages and take care of themselves.

  • Prosecuting Extremists in the U.K.: Charging, Prosecution, and Sentencing Outcomes

    There is a lack of data regarding prosecution and sentencing for terrorism and terrorism-related offences across the three legal jurisdictions of the UK (England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland). Does the prosecution landscape (charging, prosecution, and sentencing) vary in the UK for extremist actors depending upon the legal jurisdiction?

  • Sweden During the Pandemic: Pariah or Paragon?

    During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sweden stood out from other countries, stubbornly refusing lockdowns, school closures, and mask mandates. The main difference between Sweden’s strategy and that of most other countries was that it mostly relied on voluntary adaptation rather than government force. It seems likely that Sweden did much better than other countries in terms of the economy, education, mental health, and domestic abuse, and still came away from the pandemic with fewer excess deaths than in almost any other European country, and less than half that of the United States.

  • As Ranked Choice Voting Gains Momentum, Parties in Power Push Back

    Over the past decade, ranked choice voting has become increasingly popular. From conservative Utah to liberal New York City, 13 million American voters in 51 jurisdictions — including all of Alaska and Maine — now use the system, under which voters rank candidates based on preference, leading to an instant runoff in a crowded race. This year, Democrats and Republicans in power pushed back, leading several states to ban the increasingly popular voting system.