The Roundtable
Welcome to the Roundtable, a forum for incisive commentary and analysis
on cases and developments in law and the legal system.
on cases and developments in law and the legal system.
 By Jessica “Lulu” Lipman
Jessica "Lulu" Lipman is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences studying English. “If you want to murder somebody, take them on a cruise because you are never gonna get caught,” Jamie Barnett exclaims. Her daughter, Ashley Barnett, died under suspicious circumstances on a Carnival Cruise in 2005. Ashley died from a methadone overdose, despite being vehemently against substance use. Her autopsy showed no signs of methadone use before the “overdose.” Ashley’s case is one of the thousands of crimes on cruise ships that have yet to be solved. This is due, in part, to the murky nature of maritime laws and the complexity of jurisdiction in international water [1]
0 Comments
 By: Jessica "Lulu" Lipman
Jessica “Lulu” Lipman is a junior at the University of Pennsylvania studying English. On March 30, 1981, John Hinkley JR. attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. Although he failed in his attempt, Hinkley wounded four people, including the President. Hinckley was infatuated with the movie Taxi Driver, which centers around an assassination of a presidential hopeful. During his trial, Hinkley's defense argued that he was not culpable for his actions because he had schizophrenia and was in the midst of a major depressive episode. Ultimately, the jury in Washington D.C. determined that Hinckley was not guilty by reason of insanity, a decision that sparked debate amongst the American people [1].  By: Jessica "Lulu" Lipman
Jessica “Lulu” Lipman is a junior at the University of Pennsylvania studying English. In June of 1971, President Richard Nixon asserted that drug abuse was “public enemy number one” and sought to make every drug illegal in the so-called War on Drugs. These new measures led to a sharp increase in mass incarceration, which disproportionately affected black Americans [1]. Now, 50 years later, the War on Drugs is slowly coming to an end, as more and more drugs are being decriminalized.  By Jessica "Lulu" Lipman
Lulu is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania majoring in English. Despite the widespread belief that child marriage only occurs in third-world countries, more than 248,000 children were married in America between 2000 and 2015. Although to marry, a person must be 18, 46 states currently have loopholes that allow minors to do so. Such laws vary by state; in North Carolina, for example, if a 14-year-old becomes pregnant, she can marry as long as she has the court's approval [1].  By Jessica "Lulu" Lipman
Jessica "Lulu" Lipman is a junior at the University of Pennsylvania studying English. TikTok, the video-sharing platform owned by Chinese company ByteDance, skyrocketed in popularity in the United States during the onset of COVID-19. As of writing, the most recent data show that the app boasts of over 100 million active American users--an 800% jump from 2019 [1]. With this surge of users, however, the Trump administration has been fighting to ban the app from American app stores, citing concerns over national security and data storage.  By Jessica "Lulu" Lipman
Jessica “Lulu” Lipman is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania studying English. Fraternities, a word which originates from the Latin frater, meaning brother, have always been organizations exclusively for men. However, in our evolving world, and with the prevalence of sexual assault that has occurred at fraternities, many have argued that the organizations should be more inclusive and allow women and gender nonconforming individuals to join. In 2019, three women filed a lawsuit against the nine fraternities at Yale University, asserting that they should “gender-integrate.” The women argued that it was gender discrimination to only offer men membership to fraternities. Additionally, the lawsuit also claimed that harassment and sexual abuse had occurred at various fraternity events, and the school had failed to address these concerns. [1]  By Jessica "Lulu" Lipman Jessica “Lulu” Lipman is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania studying English. Every day, eighteen people die waiting for an organ transplant. Today, there are more than 113,000 people waiting for a life-saving transplant [1]. Organ transplants are a feat of modern medicine, in which a failing organ from one person is replaced by a healthy organ from a donor. Nearly any organ can be transplanted, including kidneys, corneas, lungs, skin, and pancreases [2].
 By Jessica "Lulu" Lipman Jessica "Lulu" Lipman is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania studying English. The ride-sharing apps Uber and Lyft have made waves in the transportation industry by allowing riders to connect to drivers nearby and catch rides for a reasonable price. These apps are part of the broader “gig economy” in the United States, which includes freelance workers and independent contractors, such as delivery people at DoorDash. More than one-third of the Americans in the workforce are part of the gig economy. [1]
|
