Humanities & Society

The police shooting earlier this month of Stephon Clark in his grandmother’s Sacramento backyard has renewed protests over officer-involved deaths of unarmed black men, but research led by Washington University in St. Louis suggests young Hispanic men may face an even greater risk of being killed by police, especially in mixed-income neighborhoods with large Latino populations.

Constitutional law expert Greg Magarian, of Washington University and a former clerk for retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, said Stevens makes a compelling historical and legal case for amending the Constitution. At the same time, he warns that the path Stevens advocates would present distinctive challenges and hazards.

Given the chance to play Robin Hood, most Americans show little interest in taking from the rich and giving to the poor. A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences may explain why it’s so hard for voters in modern democracies to erase the economic inequalities that separate most citizens from the nation’s super-wealthy elites.

How can we be happier? In a world where stress, anxiety and bad days can easily overtake the good, Washington University happiness expert Tim Bono strives to answer that question in his book, “When Likes Aren’t Enough: A Crash Course in the Science of Happiness.”

Stigmas, attitudes of self-reliance and misattributing symptoms led a group of young adults experiencing their first episode of psychosis to delay seeking treatment, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Two U.S. retailers made moves this week to regulate their gun sales based on principle — moves that legislators failed to make in recent years despite public outcry following each incident in a line of mass-shooting tragedies. A pair of Washington University in St. Louis experts say that these actions represent “an expansion of corporate social responsibility,” even if the retailers financially may suffer amid something of a consumer backlash.

Half-century-old advice from Billy Graham, who died Feb. 21, was in line with cultural and sexual norms of the 1950s and later decades, when many of Graham’s contemporary evangelical preachers fell from grace after widely publicized extramarital affairs, says R. Marie Griffith, director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis.

President Donald Trump’s lawyer claims that he personally sent $130,000 to porn star Stephanie Clifford, who states that she had an affair with Trump prior to his election. The lawyer, Michael Cohen, claims the payment was legal, but was it ethical? Washington University in St. Louis legal ethics expert Peter Joy weighs in.

Income may be more of a determinant for exposure to police use of force during a street stop for black women with incomes of $50,000 or more, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Washington University in St. Louis School of Law students will conduct in-depth research examining U.S. government responses to gun violence and whether they violate America’s obligations under international human rights law.