Beckie Schatschneider

Theresa Glinski, Law & Public Policy Scholar, JD Anticipated May 2021 Pennsylvania’s Drug Delivery Resulting in Death (also known as DDRD or drug overdose homicide) statute is supposed to target drug dealers, but instead, family members, friends, and those with substance use disorders have become a target of the law. Drug overdose homicide prosecutions in Pennsylvania have risen rapidly in the last decade; from 2013 to 2017 alone, the number of individuals charged under the law rose 1,266%. Prosecutors across …

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Heather Swadley, Law & Public Policy Scholar, JD Anticipated May 2021 On Labor Day 2019, Darrin Lee was shot multiple times on camera by Philadelphia police. Lee, a 31-year-old man with mental health and substance abuse disabilities, was holding a boxcutter. Bystanders can be heard on the video yelling “he’s just high.” Lee survived but subsequently had to undergo numerous surgeries and awaits criminal charges upon his recovery. Lee reportedly told his father: “They shot me up, now they tryin’ …

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Peter Konchak, Law & Public Policy Scholar, JD Anticipated May 2021 In recent years, the climate change debate in the United States has focused on the divide between those who advocate for action to combat global warming and those who oppose such action by denying the basic science that proves we are living in an age of rising global temperatures and increasingly severe weather events as a result of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The pervasiveness of this position among elected …

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Josh Niemtzow, Law & Public Policy Scholar, JD Anticipated May 2021 When describing the changing character of our favorite cities, gentrification is often identified as the culprit. But what does gentrification actually mean? Gentrification involves developers rebuilding homes and businesses in a deteriorating area, which then attracts more affluent residents, resulting in a displacement of poorer residents. But it is not all bad: a little development in an underdeveloped area can increase amenities for existing residents. However, cities must be …

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Andria Morales, Law& Public Policy Scholar, JD Anticipated May 2021 The changes reflected in the October 2019 Land Bank legislation represented a long-sought acknowledgement of the need for structural changes and policies that prioritize fair and transparent property distribution. Everyone can agree that the elimination of the Vacant Property Review Committee is a good thing, as is the establishment of a uniform timeline for review of expressions of interest in properties. At the very least, we can expect to receive …

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Lauren Boothe, Law & Public Policy Scholar, JD Anticipated May 2021 Philadelphia City Council recently passed a bill banning single-use plastic bags in City limits. The ban comes after more than a decade of unsuccessful efforts by Councilman Mark Squilla to bring such a ban to Philadelphia, with the current iteration of the bag ban bill introduced on June 20, 2019, but amended on the floor on December 5, 2019. The December amendment was meant to remove the proposed 15-cent …

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Timothy Cordova, Law & Policy Scholar, JD Anticipated May 2021 The closure of Hahnemann University Hospital has sparked a vigorous debate about the state of our local health care system. Since Philadelphia is the largest city without a municipal hospital, residents feared that the closure of Hahnemann would have a devastating impact on vulnerable Philadelphians, prompting some commentators to propose that a new public hospital should open in Philadelphia. While the fears may be somewhat overblown, the city should take …

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Sarah Connor, Law & Policy Scholar, JD Anticipated May 2021 On November 14th, Philadelphia became the fifth city in the nation to establish a right to counsel for low-income tenants in eviction court. As Barrett Marshall, Director of the Philadelphia Eviction Prevention Project and attorney at Community Legal Services, testified in favor of the legislation, “The eviction crisis is. . .tearing apart long-standing communities. [ . . .] We know that legal representation has the power to change this. The …

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Alexander Rojavin, Law & Policy Scholar, JD Anticipated May 2020 The difficulty of writing a bi-weekly op-ed on some matter of policy is that since I began writing, several breaking news stories have shed new light on my subject. As I prepare to publish this, several more continue to break. Finding a moment’s peace from global developments has become increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for someone trying modestly to keep a finger on the world’s pulse. And yet, let us …

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Peter Konchak, Law & Public Policy Scholar, JD Anticipated May 2021 Saturday, November 9, 2019, marked the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the physical barrier that surrounded West Berlin and separated it from the Soviet satellite of East Germany between 1961 and 1989. The crystallization of the pro-democratic revolutions that swept across the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union between 1989 and 1991, the fall of the wall symbolizes a series of events the historical consequence …

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