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 Hailie Goldsmith
Hailie Goldsmith is a student in the College of Arts & Sciences, University of Pennsylvania. Substantial research has already been conducted on climate change, showing that the impending consequences span from rising sea levels to high-intensity storms. These effects, already devastating for environmental and ecological reasons, will also create a heavy financial burden for many regions of the world, especially for cities located on coasts. At this point in time, the prices of climate-change-causing-pollutants like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide currently do not match the financial costs of the damage they cause [1]. This is because large fossil-fuel-burning-corporations do not factor in the impacts of carbon emissions, which are more technically called “external costs” [2]. A carbon tax would collect revenue to pay for these “external costs.”
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 By Anika Prakash Anika Prakash is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences who plans on studying English and Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. Time and time again, the lives of undocumented children have been wrestled around at the hands of the federal government, often through proxies such as zoning law. Earlier this year, VisionQuest, a private Arizona-based youth agency, received a $5.3 million contract from the Trump administration allowing them to house sixty migrant boys between the ages of 12 and 17 at their North Philadelphia shelter; however, this is not the first time they have received such a contract. VisionQuest previously housed children at the same location and was shut down towards the end of 2017 due to numerous reports of abuse (both physical and emotional) and neglect. A staff member shoved a child’s head through the wall and another child was choked and slapped, among other horrific acts. Additionally, the facility was not cleaned and several staff members were completely untrained [1]. Furthermore, when children were housed in this facility, they were confined to its walls and not allowed to attend local schools or become a part of the surrounding community [2].
 By Emma Davies
Emma Davies is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania studying Philosophy. In Georgia, a man was arrested and ordered to wear an ankle monitor for a year after stealing a can of beer worth only $2. The company administering the ankle monitor then charged him hundreds. When he was unable to pay, even after selling his own blood plasma, he was jailed for non-payment. In Ferguson, Michigan, a homelesssingle, teen mom received a ticket for driving without a license. When she missed her court date, she was arrested, and spent time in jail because she could not pay the $250 bail. Her trouble did not end there, as she ended up spending four months in jail due to accruing fees and fines. At one point, she was arrested after she called the police because her ex-boyfriend had assaulted her [2].These situations are not anomalies. In numerous counties across the nation, citizens are facing financial penalties and incarceration, due to the fact that they do not have the financial means to pay fees and fines related to the criminal justice process. In fact, according to a 2015 report, 20% of individuals in local jails were incarcerated because they were unable to pay a fee or fine [3]. |
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