Historical Guides to Controversial Issues in America – serie

While the disagreements on abortion date to the beginning of our country, most of its public debate has taken place during the 20th century. Herring examines the issue from the debate's origin to its current state and expected future. Narrative chapters include discussions of the pro and con arguments associated with abortion, featuring quotes from doctors, politicians, religious figures, and ordinary people.First in the new Historical Guides to Controversial Issues in America series, this volume studies the major events and periods in the development of the abortion debate throughout its history. Students will find a nonpartisan approach to landmark cases, acts and amendments, and Pro-Life and Pro-Choice advocates. A list of Pro-Life/Choice Web sites and other electronic resources for further research is included.

Roots of the gun control debate date back to our country's founding. Attorney Constance Crooker traces this debate from its origin to the present day. Narrative chapters examine the theories and rhetoric behind each side of this dispute and show the extent to which the rhetoric is or isn't supported by statistical records. A collection of quotes from pro and con politicians and activists illustrate the passionate nature of the gun control issue.Students will find a balanced, focused approach to landmark Supreme Court cases, gun control laws, gun rights groups, gun control advocates, and the fundamental controversies surrounding interpretations of the Second Amendment. This is an invaluable historical resource exploring an escalating debate in American society.

Genetic engineering has quickly become one of the more controversial issues of our time. Herring provides a detailed history of the debate in a fair and balanced manner, using proponents' points of view to make individual cases, both pro and con. Narrative chapters cover such topics as the Human Genome Project, gene splicing, cloning, genetically altered foods, and DNA and crime-solving.Students and the general public will find a comprehensive survey of the genetic engineering debate. Appendices include statements from Robert P. George and Peter Singer, two of the most prominent scholars on the subject, and a bibliography of print and electronic resources for further research.

The same-sex marriage debate is currently a central preoccupation of Western society, and both those for and against it have their points of view. After examining religious and social attitudes toward homosexuality and marriage throughout history, Phy-Olsen examines the strongest arguments on both sides of this highly contested issue. Readers are presented with both sides of the debate in an objective manner, and are thus able to form their own opinions.Written for students and the general public, the work provides historical and cultural context for examining the issue of same-sex marriage. Included are leading spokespeople for both positions, a discussion of the role of the media, as well as a concluding chapter discussing where the issue seems to be headed, based on present trends that both favor or bode ill for the future of same-sex marriage. An annotated bibliography lists print and electronic resources for those seeking additional information.

This balanced approach to legal precedent and moral argument regarding the death penalty presents the evidence so readers can reach their own informed conclusions.Capital Punishment examines the debate around the death penalty, raising questions and attempting to provide an even-handed examination of this controversial practice. The authors combine analysis of important issues with excerpts from landmark legal decisions, important documents, survey results, and empirical data. The first part of the book discusses the origins of the death penalty and traces its development from antiquity to contemporary times. Detailed statistical information about capital punishment is presented and discussed, and the death penalty is considered against a constitutional backdrop with various arguments—for and against—articulated. The second part of the book consists of three appendices. The first appendix presents an annotated list of important capital-punishment cases; the second supplies a more general chronological treatment of capital punishment; and the third provides a bibliographic essay directing readers to other relevant sources of interest. A thorough and insightful treatment, Capital Punishment provides both a summary of the current state of capital punishment and a discussion of areas of continuing controversy.

In the mid-1990s, policymakers in more than half the states and the federal government responded to escalating crime rates and a series of sensationalized crimes by passing laws that imposed lifetime sentences on repeat offenders. Since then, the Three Strikes and You're Out movement, which embodies the overall get tough with crime approach to criminal sentencing, has generated much controversy. Critics argue that Three Strike laws are disproportionate, costly, and inefficient. Supporters, however, argue that the laws are effective, necessary, and just. Despite the controversy, Three Strike laws are still popular more than a decade after their implementation. Attempts to reduce the scope and/or severity of Three Strike policies have failed and the laws continue to affect thousands of offenders each year. Setting the record straight, Walsh provides a clear, comprehensive overview of the movement and its consequences.Do Three Strikes laws really prevent crime? Do they cost less than releasing repeat offenders time and time again? Are they evenly and fairly applied? These questions and more are answered in these pages through a careful analysis of the costs, benefits, and results of Three Strikes legislation. Walsh analyzes the historical development of the Three Strikes movement in the context of get tough sentencing reforms and provides detail about the various Three Strikes statutes adopted across the nation, while offering an in-depth exmamination of the controversies they have produced. Amid efforts to repeal or revise such statutes, the laws still stand, and this book sheds light on the history of, rationale for, and results of one of the most controversial criminal justice movements of our time.

Ever since the Bill of Rights became the cornerstone on which individual Americans' rights and liberties rest, the practical realities of honoring the grand principles of the First Amendment have been hotly contested, and none more so than freedom of expression. From governmental limits on robust, even vicious, colonial- and Federal-era newspaper attacks to the USA PATRIOT Act to efforts to rein in the vast and anarchic Internet, the First Amendment protection of free expression has been virtually under siege by various forms of censorship, some clearly pernicious and others evidently benign. This book guides the reader through these many-faceted historical controversies, always with an eye toward contemporary and future challenges.

Affirmative Action recounts the fascinating history of a civil rights provision considered vital to protecting and promoting equality, but still bitterly contested in the courts—and in the court of public opinion."Special consideration" or "reverse discrimination"? This examination traces the genesis and development of affirmative action and the continuing controversy that constitutes the story of racial and gender preferences. It pays attention to the individuals, the events, and the ideas that spawned federal and selected state affirmative action policies—and the resistance to those policies. Perhaps most important, it probes the key legal challenges to affirmative action in the nation’s courts. The controversy over affirmative action in America has been marked by a persistent tension between its advocates, who emphasize the necessity of overcoming historical patterns of racial and gender injustice, and its critics, who insist on the integrity of color and gender blindness. In the wake of related U.S. Supreme Court decisions of 2007, Affirmative Action brings the story of one of the most embattled public policy issues of the last half century up to date, demonstrating that social justice cannot simply be legislated into existence, nor can voices on either side of the debate be ignored.

Throughout U.S. history, attitudes toward young people have vacillated between fear of and fear for. These attitudes impact social programs for youth, including the system of juvenile justice. Attitudes are shaped by the socio-political and cultural cliimate of the times, and can be traced back to colonial times. However, changing mores and values often create confusion and conflict, resulting in ineffective strategies for preventing and responding to juvenile delinquency. Tracing the history of juvenile justice back to the pre-colonial era through the present day, Finley sheds light on just how we arrived where we are in terms of juvenile justice. She connects the competing attitudes about young people to the social, economic, and political changes of a given era, and offers recommendations for establishing more effective and more humane policies toward juveniles in the justice system.Early America is known for its harsh treatment of young people, most notably, the stubborn child laws, which authorized use of the death penalty for children who defied their parents. Yet, even then, many people held more nurturing attitudes toward youth. Thus originated the mixed messages in the U.S. regarding juvenile delinquency and the hodgepodge of approaches that follow. The establishment of the juvenile justice system, founded on the concept of parens patriae, or the state as parent, would seem to have settled the debate over how juvenile offenders should be treated. In reality, however, there remains much controversy over how best to handle juvenile offenders, especially those who commit the most serious offenses. While some still maintain juveniles are developmentally different and should be treated in ways consistent with these differences, others are dismayed at what they feel to be a system that is too lenient and that leads to higher juvenile crime rates and more serious offenses.With the advent of three strikes laws, curfew laws, boot camps, and referring juveniles to adult courts, and subsequently assigning them to adult prisons, many question just how we got to this place in juvenile justice. Here, Finley offers the history behind the controversial goals and development of the juvenile justice system, providing detailed descriptions of the major trends in juvenile justice. Addressing the most current aspects of the controversy, she also sheds light on issues of race, social class, and gender. Offering recommendations for addressing the weaknesses and confusion in the system, Finley offers a unique and compelling perspective on controversial subject.

Welfare politics have now been part of American life for four centuries. Beyond a persistent general idea that Americans have a collective obligation to provide for the poorest among us, there has been little common ground on which to forge political and philosophical consensus. Are poor people poor because of their own shortcomings and moral failings, or because of systemic societal and economic obstacles? That is, does poverty have individual or structural causes? This book demonstrates why neither of these two polemical stances has been able to prevail permanently over the other and explores the public policy—and real-life—consequences of the stalemate. Author Greg M. Shaw pays special attention to the outcome of the 1996 act that was heralded as ending welfare as we know it.Historically, people on all sides of the welfare issue have hated welfare—but for different reasons. Like our forebears, we have constantly disagreed about where to strike the balance between meeting the basic needs of the very poor and creating dependency, or undermining individual initiative. The shift in 1996 from New Deal welfare entitlement to workfare mirrored the national mood and ascendant political ideology, as had welfare policy throughout American history. The special contribution of this book is to show how evolving understandings of four key issues—markets, motherhood, race, and federalism—have shaped public perceptions in this contentious debate. A rich historical narrative is here complemented by a sophisticated analytical understanding of the forces at work behind attempts to solve the welfare dilemma.How should we evaluate the current welfare-to-work model? Is a precipitous decline in state welfare caseloads sufficient evidence of success? Success, this book finds, has many measures, and ending welfare as an entitlement program has not ended arguments about how best to protect children from the ravages of poverty or how to address the plight of the most vulnerable among us.Timeline anchoring the discussion in time and place Bibliography of print and Internet resources guiding further exploration of the subject Charts and tables analyzing complex data, including survey results

The great majority of Americans—more than 80%—say they approve of gambling, even if they themselves don't gamble. Still, deep divisions persist in our attitudes toward the gambling industry. Is it profoundly destructive, preying on human weakness and stripping its victims of their sustenance and dignity? Or is it a vehicle of the American dream—an engine of personal enrichment, enormous public revenue, and economic development? The industry's explosive growth has sharpened the debate, radically altering the gambling landscape and dramatically raising the stakes involved. Author Richard A. McGowan, a respected authority on the public-policy aspects of gambling and other sin industries, reveals the new dynamics of gambling and frames the age-old ethical and practical questions it poses.Whether benefit or bane, gambling today permeates American culture in unprecedented ways. Its newest venues—Native American tribal casinos and the Internet—are drawing in new gamblers in vast numbers and generating spectacular profits. Social, legal, and political controversies inevitably have followed.How should public policymakers approach expanded gambling? As regulator of the gambling industry, government has always been the gatekeeper. Its role and responsibilities remain central to the gambling debate, even while it stands to reap huge windfalls from the very industry it is regulating. Meanwhile, Internet gambling, more or less regulated at home, has found willing government sponsors abroad—removing an ever-larger segment of the industry from U.S. government jurisdiction and recasting the gambling debate.Using this book, citizens can:Learn the ethical and rhetorical framework of the gambling debate. The terms of the arguments advanced by advocates and opponents help explain why the gambling industry has been tolerated or encouraged by public policymakers.Weigh the risks and rewards of government-sanctioned gambling through three actual case studies, from Missouri, Massachusetts, and the Chinese island of Macao—which in 2006 surpassed Las Vegas as the gambling capital of the world. Each situation highlights particular problems and opportunities, and each is presented with discussion questions.Take an informed position: Should sports gambling be legalized? Should U.S. restrictions on Internet gambling be loosened? Should government get out of the gambling business altogether?Find out more about the many facets of the gambling debate by using the study resources provided.Timeline anchoring the discussion in time and placeBibliography of print and Internet resources guiding further exploration of the subjectCharts and tables analyzing complex data, including survey results

This revealing volume explores recent historical perspectives on the modern euthanasia and assisted-suicide debate and the political arenas in which it has unfolded.Emotional public responses to widely publicized right-to-die and euthanasia cases, such as those revolving around Dr. Jack Kevorkian and Terri Schiavo, highlight their volatile mix of medical, ethical, religious, legal, and public policy issues. The Euthanasia/Assisted-Suicide Debate explores how this debate has evolved over the past 100 years as judicial approaches, legislative responses, and prosecutorial practices have shifted as a result of changes in medical technology and consumer sophistication.Emphasizing the period from the 1950s forward, the book offers an unbiased examination of the origins of the modern medical euthanasia and assisted-suicide debates, the involvement of physicians, the history and significance of medical technology and practice, and the role of patients and their families in the ongoing controversy. This illuminating exploration of concepts, issues, and players will help readers understand both sides of the debate as viewed by participants.

Revelations about U.S. torture and prisoner abuse in blatant violation of the long-established and universally recognized Geneva Conventions have horrified most Americans. Nevertheless, it has been argued that the high stakes of the War on Terror have made the protections offered by the Conventions obsolete, or that the abuses are the work of a few rogue soldiers and officers. This book reaches past the headlines into the historical record to document POW torture and also domestic prisoner abuse dating well back in our history as well as government and military knowledge of and collusion in such ostensibly illegal and reprehensible acts. Is torture and prisoner abuse justified in the name of some greater good? As a society we shall have to decide. The historical record presented here can contribute much to an informed national discussion.Timeline anchoring the discussion in time and placeBibliography of print and Internet resources guiding further exploration of the subjectCharts and tables analyzing complex data, including survey results

An exceptionally timely volume that weighs the costs and benefits of alternative energy sources and their implications for reducing energy consumption.As this book makes clear, civilization cannot long continue to ride on an oil slick. Worldwide, many people have come to see dependence on coal, and especially on oil, not only as unsustainable, but as profoundly destabilizing, both environmentally and politically. While ever-increasing demands continue to be placed on "mainstream" energy sources, recurring attempts have been made to generate power in "alternative" ways. After retracing some of these efforts, this succinct and historically informed volume explores the ongoing debate over alternative energy that gathered strength in the 20th century, showing how that debate mirrors larger attitudes toward energy and consumption. Like other volumes in this series, Alternative Energy is designed to provide material for student reports and debate arguments. It is an outstanding sourcebook for those interested in investigating the problems and prospects of alternative fuels.

Tracing scientific ideas about the structure of Earth, Global Warming creates an intellectual portrait of the shifts in thinking that have led to the current controversy, enabling readers to make up their own minds on this important issue.Global Warming takes one of the hot-button issues of our time and surveys it in historical context, creating an intellectual portrait of the multi-century shifts in thinking that have led to gradual acceptance of the concept. The book summarizes pertinent aspects of geology, earth science, and climate science in easy-to-read terms. It then frames this background in terms of cultural and social shifts, including the Industrial Revolution, conspicuous consumption, and modern environmentalism. In addition, a study of the ebb and flow of cultural and political reception relates the issue to religious and social ideas.The information presented here will enable the reader to understand the scientific case stating that human activity has caused an unprecedented warming in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Technical and political objections to this thesis are also covered, so that readers may form their own opinions on this critical subject.Includes excerpts from writing and policy related to climate changeOffers a timeline of the development of the idea of global warming

This tour of the American church/state issue revisits past controversies and personalities in the hope of enlightening present-day debates.Examining an issue that has been a matter of controversy since the founding of the United States, Separation of Church and State offers a chronological survey that helps put the ongoing debate in broad historical context. The book briefly traces the earliest instances of tension between church and state within the Western tradition, from the era of Constantine to the Reformation, before moving on to the American experience. Attention is paid to the colonial debates about the ideal relationship between faith and politics, the 18th-century trends that culminated in a constitutional settlement, and the experiences of various religious groups during the early republic and 19th century. Finally, the book focuses on the post-1940 era, during which church-state controversies came before the Supreme Court. In the course of the discussion, readers will learn about complex legal and theological issues and debates between the great and powerful, but also about ordinary Americans whose religious scruples led to some of the most important legal cases in U.S. history.Chronological organizationA short, bibliographical essay at the end of each chapter highlighting sources of further reading

With the debate over health care consuming the nation, this timely book looks at the evolution of healthcare policy in the United States throughout its history.Concise, authoritative, and unbiased, The Healthcare Debate provides meaningful context for thinking about one of the most controversial public policy issues the United States faces. It traces the evolution of the argument over the government's role in healthcare financing and delivery since the early 1800s, with an emphasis on the major reform efforts since the mid-20th century.Following the complex dynamics of public health policy across U.S. history, The Healthcare Debate brings together a wide range of voices on the subject—presidents, policymakers, reformers, lobbyists, and everyday citizens. Each of its eight chronologically organized chapters focuses on the battle over government involvement in healthcare in a specific era, drawing on historic documents and the latest retrospective research. With President Obama making healthcare reform his top domestic priority in his first year in office, this remarkable new book could not be more timely.

A fascinating overview of prostitution and sex work in the United States, from the Colonial era to today, examines the issue as it affects men, women, and transgender individuals of all races and classes.Prostitution and Sex Work is the first book since 1921 to offer a historic overview of this controversial topic—and what our views on it say about American society. Exploring key people, places, and events, the guide includes descriptions of the myriad variations of the sale of sex and of the venues where prostitution occurs, as well as recurring themes such as panics about sexually transmitted diseases and the ever-present issue of violence in the sex trade.After reviewing the history of prostitution and sex work over the past 400 years, the book offers detailed information about the legal context of prostitution in America during the last century. It focuses particularly on the period since prostitution was criminalized during a panic over "white slavery" in the early 20th century, drawing parallels with current "sex trafficking" topics. An appendix of materials produced by sex workers is especially informative for those wishing to truly understand both sides of the issue.