In Medicine, Dying Doesn’t Have to Be a Struggle

Options, Not Treatment, May Be What’s Most Needed at the End of Life

Grandma’s dying.

She lived a full life, but illness is getting the best of her. Could be days, could be weeks, the doctors say—unless, that is, she tries one particular treatment. It’d involve some suffering on her part—needles, tubes, doctors checking up on her and all that—but, if it works, it’d buy her another few months.

The family’s divided: Her daughter says fight the illness, give her everything medicine’s got. Her son doesn’t want her to endure any more pain.

So, which is the right option? When is it time to prepare …

When California Sterilized 20,000 of Its Citizens

The Golden State Was the Most Aggressive in the Country in Deeming the ‘Feebleminded’ and ‘Deviant’ Unfit to Reproduce

Not too long ago, more than 60,000 people were sterilized in the United States based on eugenic laws. Most of these operations were performed before the 1960s in institutions for …

Was the 1965 Immigration Act a Failure?

Maybe, Maybe Not, but It Certainly Didn't Do What Its Authors Intended

For as long as America has proclaimed itself a welcoming country of immigrants, policies have been in place to keep specific classes of people out. Naturalized citizenship was limited to …

Juggling Tuition, Exams, and the Fear of Deportation

At the University of California, a New Legal Center Helps Undocumented Students Focus on Their Coursework

Being a college student often means taking on debt, leaving your home and your family behind, studying harder than ever before, and trying to figure out what to do with …

Will the Boston Bomber Be Tried by a Jury of His Peers?

Selecting Fair-Minded Jurors Is Always Complicated. For a Raw, High-Profile Case Like This One, It’s Nearly Impossible.

With a jury pool the size of a small town, a questionnaire of nearly 100 questions, and an accused mass murderer’s life in the balance, the jury selection in the …

How to Make Every Offender an Ex-Offender

Keeping Parolees Out of Prison Takes Jobs, Housing, and Cold, Hard Cash

Immediately after Californians voted in favor of Proposition 47—which redefined nonviolent felonies—last November, lawyers’ phones started ringing. The goal of this legislation—called the “The Safe Neighborhood and Schools Act” by …