Amherst College prepares students to use ideas to make a difference in the world. Located in a bustling university town in rural Western Massachusetts, Amherst is one of the premier U.S. liberal arts colleges, enrolling 1,800 undergraduates from more than 50 countries and almost every state. Its student body is among the most socioeconomically, racially, ethnically and internationally diverse in the nation, and its financial aid program is among the most substantial. Small classes, an open curriculum and a focus on undergraduate education ensure that Amherst professors—who are leading scholars in their fields—interact daily with talented, curious students, equipping them for leadership in an increasingly global and complex world.
Children attend a March 17 vigil at Clemente Park in Lowell, Massachusetts, for the victims of the shooting spree in Atlanta.
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Few middle-class Americans undergoing Chapter 13 bankruptcy blame the government. They portray themselves as hardworking victims and resent others for taking more than their fair share.
Four of the 10 federal prisoners executed this year: Wesley Purkey, killed July 16; Dustin Honken, killed July 17; Brandon Bernard, killed Dec. 10; and Alfred Bourgeois, killed Dec. 11. In some cases, survivors of their victims addressed the court.
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Victim impact statements give survivors a voice in the criminal justice process. But research shows their wrenching personal testimonies may not bring closure and can add racial bias into sentencing.
The Justice Department has approved alternatives to lethal injections for federal executions. But no method of capital punishment has been without gruesome stories of what went wrong.
Michigan Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, left, and Republican House Speaker Lee Chatfield are among those expected to visit the White House.
AP Photo/David Eggert
The presidential election outcome seems to be at least partially in dispute. Six scholars provide a history of contested elections in the US and explain what happens when the results are challenged.
A poll worker places vote-by-mail ballots into a ballot box set up at the Miami-Dade Election Department headquarters on Oct. 14, 2020 in Doral, Fla.
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Lawsuits are being argued in courthouses across the country over the conduct of the election. That could lead to the public losing confidence in the election's legitimacy.
Sen. Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence face off in a debate on Oct. 7, 2020.
AP Photo/Morry Gash, Pool
President Trump's law-and-order campaign rhetoric has been compared to Richard Nixon's and George Wallace's similar themes in 1968. But such appeals go much further back, to the US in the early 1800s.
A 1970 image of prisoners in cell blocks at Rikers Island Prison.
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Infection rates of COVID-19 have soared among prisoners in the US. An expert on penal policy considers what is 'unjust and disproportionate' punishment at this time.
Behind every spelling bee champ is at least one very engaged parent.
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Making sure that children hone skills and build up credentials at a young age are part of a long-term plan common among the South Asian parents who immigrate to the United States.
The lethal injection chamber at a California prison.
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The promised benefits of lethal injection – a quick, painless death – have never come true. There's not even agreement about which drugs are best for executions.
Armed white citizens and police have historically worked together in the U.S., though it’s not clear whether that’s what’s happening here.
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Psychologists have identified the characteristics of 'moral rebels' who make the tough choice to stand up for their principles in the face of negative consequences.
Gerald Dent, left, is joined by James Featherstone and Niles Ringgold at a rally for felon voting rights, in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 10, 2020.
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Recent efforts to restore voting rights to the formerly incarcerated, a crucial Democratic constituency, could have important implications for the 2020 presidential election.
Milwaukee voters wait in a social-distancing line, some wearing masks, before voting in the state’s spring elections on April 7.
AP Photo/Morry Gash
The Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has reversed its decadeslong practice of protecting voters' rights and removing barriers to casting ballots.
Hungarian police officers check cars at the closed Austria-Hungary border, March 18, 2020.
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National emergencies allow for the purest expressions of sovereign power, testing the government’s commitment to human rights. Some leaders are failing the coronavirus test, experts say.
U.S. courts use videoconferencing, but relatively rarely.
AP Photo/Matt Volz
Compared to many other advanced countries, both federal and state court systems in the United States are behind in using videoconferencing in court settings.