Monthly Archives: February 2019
New Jersey Moves Closer To Decriminalizing Medically Assisted Suicide
In New Jersey, lawmakers are considering decriminalizing euthanasia for terminally ill patients. While similar legislation has previously been proposed and previously stalled in the Senate, in February, a Senate committee voted to approve this latest “medically assisted suicide bill” and many now expect it to pass in the full chamber. While a number of… Read More »
Are CBD Edibles Illegal In New York?
Where the line between legal and illegal is when it comes to Cannabidiol (CBD) edibles has come under strict scrutiny here in New York, as officials with the city’s Department of Health have recently started cracking down and dropping in on CBD businesses, confiscating products and prohibiting them from being sold. CBD is currently… Read More »
Would This New York Bill Make It A Crime Not To Vaccinate Your Children?
A new bill proposed by New York lawmakers would undo New Yorkers’ right to cite to non-medical exemptions from vaccination requirements for children– including an exemption due to religious beliefs–essentially making it a crime for children not to receive certain required vaccinations, even if their religion does not allow them to do so. The… Read More »
New York City Inmates’ Constitutional & Human Rights Severely Violated
An expose released in February revealed that more than a thousand inmates at one New York City federal jail in Brooklyn have been suffering from what arguably constitutes human rights abuses—no heat, no light, limited hot water, and not being provided with access to visitors or communication with the outside world, including with their… Read More »
New York City Settles Infamous Kalief Browder Civil Rights & Wrongful Death Case
In late January, New York City reached a $3.3. million settlement with the family of Kalief Browder, the young juvenile who spent three years detained at Rikers Island without even been tried or convicted after being accused the theft of a backpack at the age of 16, and who also spent most of that… Read More »
New Gun Control Laws in New York
In late January, New York State Legislators expect to pass eight new gun-control bills that would allow people to seek court orders to ban “dangerous” individuals from owning guns, bar schools from allowing teachers to be armed, ban bump stocks, and extend waiting periods for relevant background checks. This is the first set of… Read More »
The “Gay and Transgender Panic Defense” Could Be On Its Way out Across the Nation
Although laws have been proposed in the states of New York and New Jersey to render the defense unavailable, the “gay and transgender panic defense” has long been available in most-all states, allowing criminal defendants who had allegedly engaged in assault or murder to have their charges downgraded to manslaughter, negligent homicide, or a… Read More »
New York’s Criminal Laws Surrounding Abortion & the History of Fixing Them
The New Yorker recently published an interesting piece on how the new abortion law in New York—the Reproductive Health Act—will change things regarding what is and is not considered to be a crime when it comes to women’s reproductive rights, and what it won’t do. While abortion was legalized in New York in 1970,… Read More »
