Bust the Police Unions
They're a consistent force of organized resistance to calmer, safer, less aggressive policing.
October 2020
Abolish Qualified Immunity
This court-invented doctrine shields bad cops from civil liability.
Features
Regulate Use of Force
"When you're conditioned to believe that every person...poses a threat to your existence, you simply cannot be expected to build out meaningful relationships."
Rethink Crisis Response
People who call 911 shouldn't get an ill-trained police officer, especially when they're dealing with a mental health emergency.
End the War on Drugs
Drug prohibition turns police officers into enemies to be feared rather than allies to be welcomed.
Release Body Cam Footage
With the right freedom of information and use policies, wearable cameras could still be a powerful weapon to increase transparency.
Stop Overpolicing
Excessive traffic and pedestrian stops, especially in black communities, are dangerous and counterproductive.
Restrict Asset Forfeiture
It's time to do something about police seizures of property from innocent people.
Why Hong Kong's Protests Turned Violent
The escalation is part of a strategy to unmask China's abuses before the world.
Interview
Washington Post Journalist Radley Balko on Civil Rights, Militarized Policing, and the Power of Video
The Washington Post's Radley Balko was a pioneer in reporting on the disastrous consequences of police militarization and the need for criminal justice reform. Now everyone else is catching up.
Topics
If You Want to Fix Policing, Listen to the Pragmatists
Reason asked writers who have been on the criminal justice beat for years to lay out serious proposals for reforms with a fighting chance of being implemented.
Take My Likeness Out to the Ball Game
Baseball teams are finding unusual ways to make up for lost revenue.
Florida Leads the Way on 2020 Occupational Licensing Reforms
House Bill 1193 loosened or abolished rules governing more than 30 different professions.
Is COVID-19 Causing a New Wave of Opioid-Related Deaths?
As of March 2020, combined fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses were nearly 20 percent higher than through the same month in 2019.
Hope for Free Market Reform in Uruguay
President Luis Lacalle Pou's defense of free market capitalism—extremely rare in Latin America—is no coronavirus fluke.
Trump's Visa Ban Will Slow America's Recovery
The net result of turning away foreign labor is greater unemployment—and lower wages—for native-born workers.
Is John Roberts the New Anthony Kennedy?
Like it or not, this is the Roberts Court now.
Should We Quit Teaching Cursive in a Digital Age?
While script may wire the brain, connect to history, and come more naturally to many kids, digital print is winning.
Gun Control Puts Your Life at Risk
In the 20th century, far more people were murdered by genocidal governments than by armed criminals.
Will-to-Power Conservatism and the Great Liberalism Schism
By virtue of representing the correct vision of the good, these conservatives say, they have every right to use the coercive power of the state to interfere with others' choices.
More Money Does Buy More Happiness
Researchers and economists have been debating this idea for decades, and a new study in the journal Emotion sheds more light on the role money plays in increasing happiness levels.
More Countries Should Pay Plasma Donors
Most foreign countries refuse to pay for plasma because of outmoded guidance from the World Health Organization, so much of the world relies on the U.S.'s paid plasma donors.
Culture
Books
The Sins and Virtues of New Religions
Occultists, social justice warriors, and techno-utopians may not look like the Christians of yore, but they're more religious than they realize.
Will Anyone Ever Be Able To Build Again in San Francisco?
How did California's housing shortage happen and why is it so intractable?
Seeing Like an Anarchist
How former slaves built an autonomous, self-sufficient, and nearly stateless society in the mountains of Haiti, and how they lost it
Reviews
Marijuana Federalism
How do we resolve the cannabis conflict between state legalization and federal prohibition?
Throw a Billion Dollars From the Helicopter
A tale of ballpark upgrades and wasteful government spending
Immortality, Inc.
Meet the wild dreamers and wealthy financiers striving for human immortality.
A Song for a New Day
The Nebula Award winner is set in a near-future where public gatherings have been radically limited by a global pandemic and threats of violence.
Very Important People
Mears' effort to take readers behind the velvet rope and explore the world of clubbing proves both fun and sobering.
ETC.
Brickbats: October 2020
News of politicians, police, and bureaucrats behaving badly from around the world
