Current Reading
Are Women Mistreated by the Criminal Justice System?
"To what extent does policing reflect culture that supports and facilitates a war on women? We review arrest trends for female offenders, discuss police responses to crimes against women, and examine policies and practices that may improve understanding of the criminal justice system's role in this war. We find evidence of changes in police perspectives, actions, and policies toward women as perpetrators and victims of crime." more »
Congressional Bills Introduced: Abortion, Encouraging STEM Education, Affordable Birth Control and Child Care Credits
Issues Covered: A bill to provide that human life shall be deemed to exist from conception; a bill to protect pain-capable unborn children; a bill to strengthen the provisions relating to child labor; a bill to provide grants to eligible local educational agencies to encourage female students to pursue studies and careers in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology; a bill to establish a permanent, nationwide summer electronic benefits transfer for children program; a bill to ensure timely access to affordable birth control for women. more »
The Scout Report: Folger, Math, Yale Writing, Portraiture & Art Techniques, British Colonialism Images and The Quabbin Reservoir
Can you use a popular book to explore interfaces between science, citizen action, public health, and the US Legal system? The Science in the Courtroom makes it possible; Interested in integers? Fascinated by fractals? Consult MIT's OpenCourseWare Math website; Folger Digital Texts visitors will find a source code that allows new noncommercial Shakespeare projects and apps; The Yale Writing Center Advice for Students contains areas that include "What Good Writers Know" and "Model Papers from the Disciplines." more »
Private Lives: Stanford Graduate Students Show Phone Record Surveillance Can Yield Significant Information
Two computer science graduate students have found that the NSA's mass collection of phone records can yield much more information about people's private lives than the US government claims. New research shows how "metadata" surveillance can be used to identify information about callers including medical conditions, financial and legal connections, and even whether they own a gun. more »