Humanities & Society

In a meta-analysis of published research, psychologist Calvin Lai of Washington University in St. Louis teases out how changes in implicit bias do — and do not — appear to lead to changes in behavior. And why that might be.

During the July 30 Democratic presidential debate, candidate Pete Buttigieg renewed his calls to “depoliticize the Supreme Court with structural reform.” Buttigieg has endorsed a Supreme Court reform proposal offered by Daniel Epps, associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis.

Julie Bugg, associate professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences, was elected a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. 

John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court passed away on July 16, 2019. Greg Magarian, the Thomas and Karole Green Professor of Law, served as a justice clerk for Stevens and offers this remembrance.

A new study reveals much about the history of African poultry development, according to Helina S. Woldekiros, assistant professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences. But a 3,000-year-old local breed type is threatened by the introduction of commercial cluckers.

Attorney General William Barr announced July 15 a new Trump Administration plan, effective the next day, barring Central American immigrants from seeking asylum in the United States unless they seek it first in other Central American countries, a move that a Washington University in St. Louis immigration expert says “violates the clear language of the law.”

Images of children locked in prison-like conditions have sparked heated debates about U.S. immigration policy, the role of the built environment, and the line between legitimate security and intentional cruelty. But underlying such debates is a simple question: “Is it possible to design a border architecture that is welcoming rather than foreboding?”

Two students in John Inazu’s first-year “Criminal Law” class embodied the lessons taught during the class about theories of punishment, questions of whether criminal justice can remedy injustice and issues of equity in sentencing.

Adia Harvey Wingfield’s new book exposes how hospitals, clinics and other institutions participate in “racial outsourcing,” relying heavily on black doctors, nurses, technicians and physician assistants to do “equity work”— extra labor that makes organizations more accessible to communities of color.

Consumers who take advantage of nonprofit credit counseling services have statistically significant reductions in consumer debt, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.