By The Youth Endowment Fund

The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) surveyed nearly 11,000 children aged 13–17 in England and Wales to hear directly about their experiences of violence. The findings are being shared across several reports, each exploring a different theme. This third report focuses on mental health and experiences of violence. For the first time, we asked detailed questions about mental health, including using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), a 25-item questionnaire that measures the scale of children’s struggles. Combined with data on victimisation and perpetration, this provides an unprecedented picture of how violence and mental health are linked — and the complex ways they shape young people’s lives. Here’s what we found. Teenage children affected by serious violence face a dramatically higher risk of mental health problems. The scale of poor mental health among teenagers is alarming. More than one in four 13-17-year-olds reported high or very high levels of mental health difficulties, as measured by the SDQ — the equivalent of nearly a million teenage children struggling with their well-being. Behind this figure lie serious and often complex needs. A quarter of teenage children reported a diagnosis of at least one mental health or neurodevelopmental condition, such as depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or speech and communication difficulties. A further 21% suspected they had a condition but had not been formally diagnosed — suggesting large numbers of teenage children are facing difficulties without recognition or support

By Daniel M. Klerman

Judges appointed by President Trump are more likely to vote in favor of the government in cases challenging the second Trump administration's immigration policies. While Trump's Supreme Court nominees behave like other Republican nominees on the Court, Trump's lower court nominees are twice as likely to vote in favor of the government as nominees of other Republican presidents; in contrast, other Republican nominees to the lower courts are statistically indistinguishable from Democratic nominees. The difference between Trump nominees and other judges is driven almost entirely by judges 55 years old or younger, who may be influenced by the prospect of promotion to the Supreme Court.

 USC CLASS Research Paper No. 2522, 2025, 

By Bruce Ackerman

From the days of the Federalist Papers and Marbury v. Madison, the Court’s commitment to reasoned elaboration of constitutional principle has served as the justification for its role in the system of checks-and-balances. Yet the very foundations of judicial legitimacy are at stake in two cases that the Roberts Court has scheduled for expedited consideration during the early months of its 2025-26 Term. These cases deal with the continuing legitimacy of Humphrey’s Executor’s unanimous decision upholding the constitutionality of “independent agencies” – most notably, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Trade Commission. This prospect has provoked a great deal of scholarly debate over the implications of relatively recent decisions by the Roberts Court on these issues. In contrast, my essay puts these decisions in a larger framework – emphasizing the crucial role played by the President and Congress in constructing “independent agencies” during the half-century preceding Humphrey’s unanimous decision upholding their constitutionality in 1935. It demonstrates that, after the breakthrough creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission by the Cleveland Administration, every President – from Theodore Roosevelt through Woodrow Wilson through Herbert Hoover – gained Congressional support for the creation of new independent agencies self-consciously organized to restrict presidential power in order to assure the deployment of impartial and expert regulation over crucial areas of socio-economic life. Justice Sutherland’s unanimous opinion of 1935 represents the self-conscious recognition of the legitimacy of this bipartisan affirmation of the role of expertise in modern government – and should not be cast aside without a principled confrontation with its historical foundations in American constitutional development.

Yale Law School, Public Law Research Paper, 2025

By Sarah Pierce

The White House has painted so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions as lawless safe havens that “harbor criminals” and “block” federal enforcement. The reality is far different. In fact, no state or city stands in the way of federal immigration of cers doing their jobs. Instead, local law enforcement agencies make careful choices about how and when they aid federal immigration enforcement—balancing the demands of limited resources, public trust, and local priorities. Even those that affirmatively call themselves “sanctuary” jurisdictions participate in federal immigration enforcement in meaningful ways. For example, every jurisdiction shares data with the FBI that gets run through ICE and informs the agency of unauthorized or potentially removable immigrants in custody. But the Trump administration’s aggressive focus on ensuring local participation in federal immigration enforcement begs the question of how far Washington can go to force local police to serve as a national force—and what such a power grab risks. In this paper, we explain the different ways states and localities tailor their participation in federal immigration enforcement, including highlighting the ongoing participation of several of the administration’s most vili ed, so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions. We also explain why some jurisdictions limit or tailor their enforcement more than others and what local public safety measures may be lost as a result of the administration’s hyper xation on hitting numerical deportation quotas. 

Washington, DC: Third Way, 2025. 11p, October 10, 2024

By Apratim Vidyarthi

Academic freedom is an essential principle undergirding education in the United States. Its purpose is to further the freedom of thought and inquiry in the academic profession by advancing knowledge and the search for truth. Academic freedom goes back more than a century, and is now intertwined with First Amendment doctrine. Yet today’s academic freedom doctrine suffers from serious problems, some of which perpetuate discrimination in the classroom and systemically in educational institutions. The definition of academic freedom in theory is misaligned with that in case law. Courts have done little to analyze what protections academic freedom provides, and case law generally provides too much protection in some cases, and too little in others. Worse, academic freedom for universities and professors has been hotly debated and thus well-defined and protected in case law, whereas students’ academic freedom has received less attention, making it a “second-tier” academic freedom. Often, protecting university and professors’ academic freedom comes at the expense of students’ academic freedom, though courts have never truly struggled with multistakeholder academic freedom questions or tried to create a clear process to determine whose academic freedom prevails when the two conflict. This results in academic freedom being used as a sword to promote discriminatory behavior, and as a shield to protect acts of discrimination from being punished. Existing constitutional and statutory antidiscrimination protections do not provide adequate support against discrimination, especially for students’ academic freedom. Constitutional protections for students’ academic freedom often take the back seat to free speech doctrine, and antidiscrimination protections are often parried by using academic freedom to protect problematic behavior. A few solutions abound: first, the definition of academic freedom is nearly a century old, and needs to be redefined to incorporate antidiscrimination principles to be relevant for the present. Second, students’ academic freedom rights need to be understood and defined more clearly. Third, courts must find a way to balance competing stakeholders’ academic freedom interests, ultimately looking to the purpose of academic freedom to advance knowledge. Finally, universities must play their part by creating systems and structures to ensure that discrimination is remedied as early as possible, and that university processes help clarify the extent of academic freedom definitions and support application of antidiscrimination law.

JOURNAL OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW [Vol. 26:2, 2024. . 79p.

By Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Center

Addressing arbitrary and wrongful detention through advocacy and litigation is an area of extensive expertise and experience for RFK Human Rights. In the last decade, we have worked with families of arbitrarily and wrongfully detained individuals, including US persons, to facilitate their release and return home. A central reflection from our engagements with other practitioners and family members of arbitrarily or wrongfully detained persons is that the policy and legal architecture for the United States Government (USG) response to arbitrary and wrongful detention is complex and convoluted. Despite the successes in reuniting detained individuals with family members and the positive posture of the government toward negotiations, many stakeholders believe that clarity about the role each office or agency plays in the government’s response and uniformity in the government’s engagement with the families could facilitate even more positive outcomes.

In 2023, RFK Human Rights started a project aimed at steering USG and Congress towards more decisive action to address arbitrary and wrongful detention around the world and enhancing awareness around the government’s response architecture. Through the generous support from Open Society Foundations – United States, the project included advocacy engagements with the USG, litigation before the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD), and publication of the Guide for Engaging the United States Government on Arbitrary and Wrongful Detention Cases.

About the Guide

The Guide on Engaging the United States Government on Arbitrary and Wrongful Detention Cases provides clear and concise information regarding advocacy strategies and engagement with the United States Government on arbitrary and wrongful detention cases. While every case is unique, this Guide aims to ease the burden of the engagement and advocacy process by shedding light on ways that the USG can engage on these cases and offering a set of best practices for advocating before the USG to secure the victim’s release. The Guide is based on RFK Human Rights’ institutional knowledge and experience working on arbitrary and wrongful detention cases, desk research, and a large number of interviews with experts and victims of arbitrary detention.

Washington, DC; New York: Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, 2025. 68p.

By The Center for Human Rights, The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington

The University of Washington Center for Human Rights's newest report, “Compliance Theater: The NWDC’s Unenforced Contract," looks at ICE’s use of enforcement mechanisms in its $700 million contract with GEO Group, Inc., the private company that runs the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma, Washington.

How does ICE enforce the contract to operate the NWDC, and what happens if GEO fails to meet contract standards? Report findings include:

The contract between ICE and GEO Group for operation of the Northwest ICE Processing Center/NWDC expires in September 2025; it is likely to be renewed.

The contract includes extensive enforcement mechanisms and references to ICE standards, which are cited by ICE in response to criticisms of conditions at the facility.

UWCHR has filed multiple FOIA requests for various categories of records mandated under the facility’s contract, but in many cases ICE has responded that the required records do not exist; Members of Congress have also been unable to obtain records required under the contract.

Despite documented failures to uphold contract standards, GEO Group has never been sanctioned by ICE under the terms of the contract.

Seattle: Center for Human Rights, The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, 2025

By PATRICIA HYNES, ANNA SKEELS AND LAURA DURÁN

Human trafficking of children and young people is a major concern yet there is limited research on the lived experiences of those affected and even less on their post-trafficking aspirations, strengths and capabilities. This book argues that human trafficking and/or exploitation should be seen as child abuse rather than viewed through immigration or criminal justice lenses. It draws on new research from outcomes of two participatory studies with young people affected by human trafficking. The first study focuses on the development of a Creating Stable Futures Positive Outcomes Framework (CSF-POF), centred around children’s rights and based on the views of young people themselves. The second details how this framework was implemented for the first time with young people through an outcomes evaluation of the Independent Child Trafficking Guardianship (ICTG) service in England and Wales. An invaluable text, this book guides policy makers, practitioners, local authority professionals and voluntary sector organisations working to protect children and young people from human trafficking and helping them to move forwards positively following abuse.

Bristol, UK: Policy Press, 2025. 187p.

Gender, Migration and Categorisation:

Making Distinctions between Migrants in Western Countries, 1945-2010

Edited by Marlou Schrover & Deirdre M. Moloney

All people are equal, according to Thomas Jefferson, but all migrants are not. In this volume, twelve eminent scholars describe and analyse how in countries such as France, the United States, Turkey, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark distinctions were made through history between migrants and how these were justified in policies and public debates. The chapters form a triptych, addressing in three clusters the problematisation of questions such as ‘who is a refugee’, ‘who is family’ and ‘what is difference’. The chapters in this volume show that these are not separate issues. They intersect in ways that vary according to countries of origin and settlement, economic climate, geopolitical situation, as well as by gender, and by class, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation of the migrants.

Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2013. 272p.

Forced Migrants in Nordic Histories

Edited by Johanna Leinonen, Miika Tervonen, Hans Otto Frøland, Christhard Hoffmann, Seija Jalagin, Heidi Vad Jønsson and Malin Thor Tureby

Forced Migrants in Nordic Histories sheds light on the often-overlooked histories of forced migrants in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden during the 20th and 21st centuries. It offers the first comparative, region-wide volume focused specifically on the histories of refugees and other groups of forced migrants across the Nordic countries. Nordic historiographies have long tended to marginalise or omit the presence of these migrants, producing a perception of forced migration as something ‘new’ or ‘exceptional’. This volume challenges that notion by uncovering the long and varied histories of forced migration within, between, to, and from the Nordic region. In doing so, it repositions forced migrants as integral to the shaping of Nordic societies. The volume includes contributions from and about all the five Nordic countries. It examines both national specificities and shared regional patterns, offering insights into how forced migration has been regulated, remembered, and represented in public discourses across borders. The chapters engage with a wide range of forced migrant groups, such as wartime evacuees, refugees, deportees, Holocaust survivors, and more recent asylum-seekers. Central to the volume is the recognition of forced migrants as historical actors. Drawing on oral histories, personal testimonies, and archival research, the book foregrounds the agency of forced migrants themselves, countering their frequent portrayal as passive or voiceless. By tracing historiographical trends and shifting discourses, regulatory frameworks, and memory practices, Forced Migrants in Nordic Histories contributes a vital historical dimension to contemporary debates on forced migration.

Helsinki: Helsinki University Press, 2025. 397p.

By Rachel Rosen and Eve Dickson

Bordering social reproduction explores what happens when migrants subject to policies that seek to deny them the means of life nonetheless endeavour to make and sustain meaningful lives. The book provides rich ethnographic insights into the complexities of the everyday lives of mothers and children with insecure migration status who are subject to the United Kingdom’s ‘no recourse to public funds’ policy. This immigration condition prohibits access to housing assistance and most welfare benefits even for the most destitute. Developing innovative theorisations of welfare bordering, this book shows how enforced destitution and debt work alongside detention and deportation as tripartite exclusionary technologies of the racial state. Bordering social reproduction advances the novel concept of weathering to comprehend mothers’ and children’s life-making practices under duress – arguing that these are neither acts of heroic resilience nor solely symptomatic of lives rendered disposable, but indications of the fragilities of repressive migration regimes and, on occasion, the refusal to accept their terms of existence. This engaging book invites us to think carefully about the relationship between welfare states and border regimes, and how we might contest their intertwinement. Making incisive interventions into theoretical discussions around social reproduction, bordering and childhood, the book offers critical contributions in response to contemporary debates about the nature of welfare support and migration.

Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2025.

By Susan Bibler Coutin

Immigrant residents seeking legal status in the United States face a catch-22: the documents that they must present to immigration officials—bank records, paycheck stubs, and contracts in their own names—are often challenging for undocumented people to obtain. In this book, Susan Bibler Coutin analyzes how undocumented immigrants and the attorneys and paralegals who represent them attempt to surmount this and other documentary challenges. Based on four years of fieldwork and volunteer work in the legal services department of an immigrant-serving nonprofit and in-depth interviews with those seeking status, On the Record explores these complex dynamics by taking seriously both documents themselves and the legal craft that has developed around their use.

Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2025. 187p.

By April Guevara Espinoza,

Given the past election season and craze about the “immigration crisis,” it is of paramount importance to reflect on how and why migrants, particularly Mexican migrants, are positioned as “less than” in our society. Immigration is more than a political platform issue; it concerns real people whose real lives are affected. Mexican migrants are used as political scapegoats for any and all issues in the United States whether it be increased crime rates, a lack of available jobs, or overall poor economic conditions. They are dangerously mischaracterized and stereotyped as “criminals” and “national security threats.” These labels are inextricably tied to racism and xenophobia, yet are cited as a rationale for restrictive, militarized, and criminalized immigration policies. This rhetoric perpetuated by our laws, leaders, and media serves to create a narrative about migrants and immigration that is entirely detached from humanity, divorcing the individual from society, and labeling them as “other.” Citizenship status should not be determinative of which civil and human rights are afforded to human beings. As a society, we must demand an interrogation of the relationship between racism, nationalism, and xenophobia, accompanied by a reckoning of the United States’ white supremacist roots, to alter the way we view and speak about all migrants, to demilitarize the border, and to decriminalize immigration policy. This Paper serves as a detailed account of the subjugation and subordination of Mexican migrants throughout history to argue Mexican migrants will never be humanized until white supremacy is confronted because white supremacy is everpresent in our laws, lives, and language. Most importantly, this Paper is a reminder to treat migrants as they are—human.

, 20 Nw. J. L. & Soc. Pol'y. 1 (2024), 35p.

By Gilbert E. Roe

The judiciary alone, of all our institutions of government, has enjoyed for many years almost complete freedom from hostile criticism. Until very recently, this branch of our government stood above the legislative and executive departments in popular esteem. Unresponsive, and unresponsible to the public the courts dwelt in almost sacred isolation. Within the last two or three years the public has begun to turn a critical eye upon the work of the judges. The people in their struggle to destroy special privilege and to open the way for human rights through truly representative government, found barrier after barrier placed across the way of progress by the courts. Gradually the judiciary began to loom up as the one formidable obstacle which must be overcome before anything substantial could be accomplished to free the public from the exactions of oppressive monoplies and from the domination of property interests.

B.W. Huebsch, 1912, 253 pages

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Between 1889 and 1918, 3,224 people were lynched in the U.S., with 78.2% being African Americans. The South had the highest number of lynchings, with Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas leading.While lynchings decreased over the 30-year period, the South saw a slower decline compared to the North and West. Despite appeals from leaders like President Wilson, lynchings continued, and mob members were rarely convicted.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People National Ofce 70 Fifth Avenue, New York. APRIL, 1919. 102p.

Christopher Ross,

FROM THE DOCUMENT: Immigration is one of, if not the, top voting priority for 2024 American voters [1]. Both political parties are poised to increase asylum restrictions but to disparate degrees. One policy under serious consideration is mass deportation [2]. It is not a novel American immigration policy concept [3]. But introspection from previous attempts should chill the notion of mass deportation being a viable solution worthy of serious consideration. The costs would be exorbitant. It would leave large swaths of American communities decimated. The local and national economies would take serious hits. Families and loved ones would be separated. Already backlogged immigration courts would be further overwhelmed as a matter of due process. Immigration must be addressed, and the rule of law is to be respected. But solutions must equally be practical. An August 2019 immigration raid in Jackson, Mississippi where 680 immigrants were arrested while working at nearby chicken processing plants provides a window to review how mass immigration enforcement, detention, and deportation affects an American community in the 21st century. This paper provides an analysis of the immigration raid and its effects on the local community, economy, and social services. It will also provide a scaled analysis of major metropolitan areas to show the deleterious effects of mass deportation and dissuade the consideration of mass deportation as viable policy. Finally, it will propose an alternative policy that may prove to be in the best interests of all parties involved.

Center for Migration Studies. .August 6, 2024. 63p.

Edited by Robert I. Rotberg

Regional Focus: The book examines governance and terrorism in theHorn of Africa and Yemen, including countries like Djibouti, Eritrea,Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

Terrorism Threat: It discusses thetransnational threat of terrorisminthe region, highlighting the activities of groups like Al Qaeda and theneed for coordinated efforts to combat them.

Governance Issues: The document emphasizes the importance of good governance and political stability in reducing terrorism, suggesting that improved governance can help mitigate the threat.

U.S. Engagement: There are suggestions for more effective U.S.engagement in the region, including diplomatic, intelligence, and military initiatives to support local governments in their fight against terrorism.

World Peace Foundation Brookings Institution Press, 2005, 210 pages

Edited by Ian Shapiro & Lea Brilmayer

Globalization and Justice: The document discusses the impact of globalization on justice, highlighting that globalization has not significantly promoted justice, especially in terms of wealth redistribution.

Cosmopolitanism vs. Nationalism: It explores the debate between cosmopolitanism, which emphasizes individual well-being and global redistribution, and nationalism, which focuses on the autonomy and interests of nation-states.

Special Responsibilities: The text examines the tension between general responsibilities to humanity and special responsibilities to specific groups, suggesting that balancing these is crucial for global justice.

Philosophical Perspectives: Various philosophical arguments are presented, including those by Brian Barry, Debra Satz, and Samuel Scheffler, each offering different views on global justice and the role ofnation-states.

NYU Press, 1999, 122 pages

By Jayne Caudwell

This chapter explores the possibilities of applying a human rights framework to sexual exploitation, sex work and sporting events. Human rights perspectives are emerging as useful ways to interrogate a range of global social injustices. However, defining sexual exploitation is not straightforward. First, I focus on how sexual exploitation and sex work are understood within human rights instruments. Second, I provide a vivid illustration of the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation. Through this case study, I demonstrate the conditions and mechanisms of supply of, and demand for, women for sexual exploitation. Finally, I return to the existing sport-related literature to elucidate the state of current knowledge of sexual exploitation, sex work and international sporting events. In doing so, I highlight the potential of adopting a human rights framework for future feminist research.

In: The Palgrave Handbook of Feminism and Sport, Leisure and Physical Education. 2017. Pp.537-556.

By Alfonso Daniels, Matti Kohonen, Eloy Aroni, Mariama Thiam

Forced labour in the fisheries sector is increasingly being recognised as a widespread human r1 The ILO provides a framework of 11 forced labour crisis. Forced labour is defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO) – the UN agency that sets up labour standards to ensure decent working conditions – as “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.”0rced labour risk indicators that apply to the fishing sector, including indicators such as debt-bonded labour, and abusive working and living conditions.02

Boston: Financial Transparency Coalition , 2023. 74p.