CARDOZO JOURNAL OF
EQUAL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

At what point do we admit that a one-size-fits-all punishment is not fairness, but abdication?  Flat-dollar fines impose identical penalties on people with radically different capacities to pay. [1]  For the wealthy, a ticket is a mild annoyance.  For others, it is the difference between groceries and arrears. [2]   Court debt is the hinge.  It is how small tickets become life-altering penalties through late fees, collections, and collateral consequences. [3]  Because fines

The Supreme Court’s stance on the death penalty has evolved over time. [1] In Furman v. Georgia, the Court held that the death penalty violated the Eighth Amendment, only to reinstate it in Gregg v. Georgia four years later. [2]  As the Court continued to interpret “evolving standards of decency,” [3] it later categorically barred the execution of defendants with an intellectual disability in Atkins v. Virginia . [4]  To determine if an individual is intellectually dis

Following the surge of the #MeToo movement in 2017, which exposed widespread unsafe and discriminatory conditions for women in Hollywood, the industry underwent a fundamental shift in how its institutions addressed sexual misconduct and equal opportunity. [1] Now, with the rattles of the movement stabilizing, Hollywood is reemerging as an unsafe environment for women in entertainment. [2]  One of the most high-profile cases of the 2020s, Lively v. Wayfarer Studios LLC , il

Elective share statutes, the modern successors to the historical doctrines of dower and curtesy, serve as a vital legal safety net designed to prevent a decedent from intentionally disinheriting a surviving spouse. [1] By forcing the decedent’s estate to distribute a specific share to a spouse who has been omitted from a will, these statutes protect against the rise of non-probate transfers and inter vivos gifts that might otherwise leave a survivor destitute. [2]   Since