WashU Experts

A bipartisan groups of United States senators announced Oct. 1 legislation that would overhaul the country’s criminal justice system, giving judges more leeway in sentencing and reducing sentences for some nonviolent offenders. A move in the right direction, said Carrie Pettus-Davis, PhD, an expert on criminal justice system reform at the Brown School, but the bill doesn’t go far enough.

While party politics have put House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in the hot seat in recent months, his hasty resignation from Congress this morning was unexpected, suggests Steven S. Smith, PhD, a nationally recognized expert on congressional politics at Washington University in St. Louis.

While Pope Francis’ whirlwind tour of the United States might seem like a politicized poke-in-the-eye to some conservative American Catholics, his itinerary and social justice talking points closely mirror core Catholic beliefs detailed in church scripture since Matthew wrote his gospel, suggests a historian of Christianity at Washington University in St. Louis.

Pope Francis is widely expected to address a range of issues when he visits the United States Sept. 22-27, including the crisis of mass incarceration in the US criminal justice system. The attention is needed and welcome, said a criminal justice reform expert Carrie Pettus-Davis, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School.

​While the economy has rebounded, the recent market upheaval in China, and the resulting ripple effects felt globally, raised concerns. The Fed’s decision to hold rates steady buys more time to gauge global markets’ strength, and possible volatility, should a rate hike be put into place in the near future.

In response to the Syrian crisis, many in St. Louis have called for the city to increase its acceptance of refugees. Architectural historian Michael Allen says existing housing stock could easily accommodate thousands of new residents.

The Supreme Court decision that the Constitution requires that gay couples be allowed to marry no matter where they live has caused many religious conservatives to feel that the tax-exempt status of religious institutions is under threat. There is a fundamental reason we should protect religious organizations — even those we disagree with, said John Inazu, JD, associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis.

Anheuser-Busch InBev approached rival SABMiller about a possible takeover that would result in a mega-brewery worth $275 billion. But William C. Finnie, adjunct professor of strategy at Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis and a former brewery executive, says there are looming antitrust issues.

The number of uninsured people in America dropped by 8.8 million in 2014, according to a report released Sept. 16 from the U.S. Census Bureau. This number is significant because it is the first Census Bureau report since the widespread implementation of the Affordable Care Act, said a health economist at Washington University in St. Louis. “This is a big deal,” said Timothy McBride, PhD, professor at the Brown School and noted health policy analyst.

​​St. Louis may seem a bit too far away from Mexico to have had a serious impact on the outcome of the Mexican Revolution, but the city actually played an important role in the events that shaped the nation, according to Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado, PhD, associate professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies in Arts & Sciences at Washington University.​