Camila Hanson

The solitary confinement of juvenile delinquents is a widespread practice across America’s 50 states. Under specific circumstances, law enforcement is permitted to keep these individuals isolated by themselves in separate sections of the facility. The specific conditions of youth solitary confinement and the requirements necessary for it to be used differ across each American state. Some use it in many circumstances, others never at all. The range of hours spent in solitary confinement ranges from as low as 0, in states that do not implement the practice for juveniles, to as high as over 101. This report outlines the details of when youth solitary confinement is used, the quality of that youth solitary confinement when it is used, and any notable reports or statistics coming out of each state. A graphic representation of the amount of hours each state allows will be included to visualize the national differences in use of the practice.

Arms transfers are directly linked to human rights. In conflict, transferred weapons and arms split apart families, equipping nations with exponentially larger capacity for destruction and annihilation. Given the nature of arms, access to information about arms transfers is often asymmetric between the public, government stakeholders, state-owned enterprises, and private companies; a trade-off exists between the benefits of making information public and transparent with the downsides of revealing sensitive national security items or trade secrets. In this brief, we review the legal landscape of access to information laws, highlighting applicability to arms transfers to analyze how transparent/accessible information and data regarding arms transfers are in the status quo. We stand in support of the Human Rights Council’s attention on arms transfers, believing that more is needed to involve NGOs, close international loopholes, and track responsible arms usage with technology to uphold human rights for all.