by Alí Bustamante, Ph.D.

Across the U.S., more than 6.1 million citizens are disenfranchised because of felony convictions.1 Nearly half of these Americans live in our communities and contribute to society having fully completed sentences, including any term of parole or probation. Yet, these citizens are deprived of the right to vote because of antiquated laws intended to suppress the votes of marginalized communities, especially African Americans. 

by Sue Weishar, Ph.D.

by Nicholas Mitchell Ph.D. 

by Ted Arroyo, S.J.

Since JSRI’s founding in 2007, our mission has focused on research, education, and advocacy in the three social justice-related areas of poverty, migration, and racism, especially in the Gulf South region of the United States.

by Nicholas Mitchell, Ph.D.

By Alí Bustamante, Ph.D. and Brendan Gottschall, S.J.

Catholic social thought (CST) gives us two fundamental principles with regards to wages: first, a just wage must provide “a dignified livelihood” for the worker and his/her family1; and, second, government is responsible for protecting the rights of workers.2 The just wage is thus a living wage and governments have an obligation to promote living wages through minimum wage laws and other labor protections.

by Fred Kammer, S.J., J.D.

The headlines staring from my morning newspapers are all too familiar: Another unstable person uses an automatic weapon to slaughter teenagers at their high school and the U.S. Senate stumbles again on immigration reforms.  We have been down both roads far too many times and bemoaned our inability to take common sense steps to remove combat weapons from our communities or to reasonably accommodate people fleeing poverty, starvation, and war.  The world’s oldest continuous democracy flails about in the face of real but not insoluble problems.

By Alí Bustamante, Ph.D.

Jeanie Donovan, M.P.A., M.P.H.

By Sue Weishar, Ph.D.