Specters of the Privatized Punishment: Erosions of Civil Liberties in Juvenile Prisons

By Kelly Chen

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As juvenile offenders have been increasingly incarcerated in private prisons in the United States, issues have emerged regarding the material and legal impacts of the new privatized settings. In similar vein, this Note considers the pressing issue of how infringement on the civil rights of juvenile offenders are troubling collateral consequences of private juvenile correctional and detention centers that primarily strive to meet certain business goals. By examining the historical trajectory of private juvenile facilities and detailing their longstanding precarious living conditions and institutional practices and analyzing the constitutionality of the privatized penal state, this Note argues that private juvenile prisons, as they operate today, should conclude. In favor of structural changes that instill principles of rehabilitative or restorative justice, this Note asserts that community-based, progressive models of juvenile imprisonment should become the new alternative.… Read the rest

Space for Private Investment: Entrepreneurs of the Final Frontier

On May 25, 2012 Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (commonly referred to as “SpaceX”) made history, with its Dragon capsule becoming the first private spacecraft to dock with and supply the International Space Station (ISS).[i] Though the capsule was unmanned, the event marked an important milestone in human spaceflight. Since then, SpaceX has made two more flights to the ISS as part of its Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA.[ii] On September 29, 2013, Orbital Sciences Corporation (“Orbital”) docked its Cygnus spacecraft with the ISS, becoming the second private company to do so.[iii] Like SpaceX, Orbital will make additional supply flights to the space station in connection with the CRS program.[iv] Despite accomplishing a similar task as a part of the same program, the two companies represent vastly different approaches. While Orbital represents a more traditional approach in the space industry, SpaceX provides a vision … Read the rest