Equality of Opportunity

In China, rampant sales tax fraud was addressed with a unique solution. In an attempt to increase transparent sales and receipt use, the government implemented a scratch lottery system on receipts. This solution, using lottery systems to increase turnout and engagement, is being used across the globe, even in the United States to help increase voter turnout.

A consent decree ensures juveniles are not held more than 21 days in a Jackson, Miss., facility that was the subject of a lawsuit over the number of children it held and the conditions they faced. But opponents, including a youth court judge, say this is not solving the underlying problems facing the young offenders and even the plaintiffs in the suit says the larger issue is the approach to juvenile justice in the state.

Twenty years ago, five, poor, rural counties sued the state of North Carolina for failing to provide students with a good education, and won. In 1997 the Chief Justice Supreme Court judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in the case known as Leandro v. State. However, the decision wasn’t really enforced by the government, and until 2017 a court appointed agency was hired to investigate the state. “Leandro sets the bar but you still need to have elected officials, school officials and court officials willing to uphold it,”

Although the cash bail system has long been used in the US criminal justice system, many argue that it is biased based on socioeconomic levels. To reduce this bias, criminal justice researchers and data scientists have created a new risk assessment tool that uses an algorithm taking age, history of missing court and former crimes into account before making a recommendation on bail.

Ameelio is a technology startup launched by Yale students to facilitate free communication between people who are incarcerated and loved ones. In their first six months, the group went from sending 300 to over 4,000 letters a week to facilities in the United States. Their initial goal was to provide a not-for-profit alternative to the oftentimes predatory prison telecommunications industry. Recently they began a voter registration initiative where they send registration instructions, a blank voter registration application, and ballot request form to people who are incarcerated and eligible to vote.

The coronavirus made cramped or high-risk polling locations untenable so at least 39 sports arenas have opened up their facilities for voting. Their expansive size allows them to welcome large numbers of voters while maintaining social distancing protocols. Many are outdoors, which lowers the risk of transmitting the virus even further. Prompted by calls from athletes, arena owners’ site the summer’s racial-justice demonstrations as inspiration for supplying the spaces since voting is a key way to create definitive changes. Voters were thrilled to cast their ballots in a sports arena.

Domestic abuse of the staff in the households of the 1% is often overlooked or ignored. But foreign missions in the US that abuse their domestic staff are finally being held accountable.

Illinois’ 2018 automatic voter registration law resulted in 111,000 additional voter registration applications. Under the automatic system, eligible voters are automatically registered to vote with their most up-to-date address and information every time they interact with state agencies, like the DMV. Each time there is a new interaction with a state agency, voter rolls are updated and individuals who don’t want to be registered can proactively opt-out.

The Defender Association of Philadelphia practices community-oriented public defense — also known as "holistic defense" — to connect clients with support services and resources that help address the root causes of crimes. The association works with social workers, investigators, and paralegals to get clients access to housing, food, jobs, and healthcare, as well as mental health and substance use treatment, with more than 150 people referred to treatment providers between September 2016 and January 2017.

Non-citizen residents of Takoma Park, Maryland have been able to vote in municipal elections since 1993, and 16- and 17-year-olds there have had access to the ballot since 2013. Residents of the city, where roughly 30% of the population was born outside of the United States, say participating in city elections makes them feel more welcome in the community and helps them get invested in local issues.