Alabama legislature sent a bill to the governor that would require convicted child sex offenders to undergo chemical castration treatment as a condition of parole. Under existing law, a conviction for a sex offense against a person under the age of 12 years constitutes a Class A or B felony, and is not eligible for [...]
New York lawmakers on Tuesday approved a ban on cat declawing, moving one step closer to becoming the first state to do so. The state legislature voted to amend the agriculture and markets law by adding section 381, which prohibits the declawing of cats. Under the new law, except for therapeutic purposes, no person shall [...]
A new report from Freedom House warns that the right to freedom of the press may be under attack in a number of democratic countries. The report paints a dark picture showing former bastions of democracy turning on the media. The report does clarify that it is not generally through arrests or authoritarian suppression, but [...]
The French government has amended Article 33 of the Justice Reform Act to prohibit the use of data analytics on judge behavior. The new law specifically prohibits: “The identity data of magistrates and members of the judiciary cannot be reused with the purpose or effect of evaluating, analysing, comparing or predicting their actual or alleged [...]
A new report from the Canadian National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls calls for justice the systemic murder and disappearance of women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people (Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual) The first volume provides background and personal stories on the research and the victims. The report highlights [...]
The US and Chinese governments both issued statements Tuesday reflecting on how China has changed since the 1989 student protests in Tiananmen Square. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released a statement honoring the protesters and criticizing the current Chinese government. Pompeo praised the protesters and the democratic reforms they called for while simultaneously railing [...]
The Advocate General for the Court of Justice of the EU stated Tuesday that social media sites can “be ordered to seek and identify all comments identical to a defamatory comment that has been found to be illegal, and equivalent comments in so far as the latter originate from the same user.” The case arose [...]
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed several bills into law Tuesday, including three bills on gun safety. PA 19-5 (Ethan’s Law), states that no person may keep a gun on a premises where a minor may have access to it, where a resident is ineligible under either state or federal law to possess a firearm, and [...]
The US Federal Elections Commission (FEC) Senior Campaign Finance & Reviewing Analyst, Ryan Furman, sent a letter Sunday, attached to a 233-page report detailing campaign contributions to the Trump campaign that were flagged as apparently excessive. The letter was addressed to Trump campaign treasurer Bradley Crate and referenced the campaign’s most recent quarterly report covering January [...]
Major opposition parties in Japan, including the Constitutional Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party, submitted a bill Monday that would recognize same-sex marriages. The proposed legislation is said to use gender-inclusive language instead of terms like “wife” or “husband” in its statute. However, some critics believe that the bill is not enough to move [...]
