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July 9, 2025

How Philadelphia’s sanitation strike differed from past labor disputes in the city

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Francis Ryan, Associate Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations, Rutgers University

Trash piled up in Philadelphia during the 8-day strike that ended July 9, 2025. AP Photo/Matt Slocum

The Philadelphia municipal workers strike ended after eight days in the early hours of July 9, 2025.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 33 union’s 9,000 blue-collar workers, including sanitation workers, 911 dispatchers, city mechanics and water department staff, were called back to work immediately. The deal involves a three-year contract with 3% annual raises and an additional step in the union pay scale for veteran workers.

The Conversation U.S. asked Francis Ryan, a professor of labor studies at Rutgers University and author of “AFSCME’s Philadelphia Story: Municipal Workers and Urban Power in Philadelphia in the Twentieth Century,” about the history of sanitation strikes in Philly and what made this one unique.

Has anything surprised you about this strike?

This strike marked the first time in the history of labor relations between the city of Philadelphia and AFSCME District Council 33 union where social media played a significant role in how the struggle unfolded.

The union got their side of the story out on Instagram and other social media platforms, and citizens took up or expressed sympathy with their cause.

Piles of garbage on the street beside a green dumpster spray-painted with 'Don't Scab Parker's Mess' — Some city residents referred to the garbage buildup sites as ‘Parker piles.’
AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa

How successful are trash strikes in Philly or other US cities?

As I describe in my book, Philadelphia has a long history of sanitation strikes that goes back to March 1937. At that time, a brief work stoppage brought about discussions between the city administration and an early version of the current union.

When over 200 city workers were laid off in September 1938, city workers called a week-long sanitation strike. Street battles raged in West Philadelphia when strikers blocked police-escorted trash wagons that were aiming to collect trash with workers hired to replace the strikers.

Philadelphia residents, many of whom were union members who worked in textile, steel, food and other industries, rallied behind the strikers. The strikers’ demands were met, and a new union, AFSCME, was formally recognized by the city.

This strike was a major event because it showed how damaging a garbage strike could be. The fact that strikers were willing to fight in the streets to stop trash services showed that such events had the potential for violence, not to mention the health concerns from having tons of trash on the streets.

There was another two-week trash strike in Philadelphia in 1944, but there wouldn’t be another for more than 20 years.

However, a growing number of sanitation strikes popped up around the country in the 1960s, the most famous being the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike.

Black-and-white photo of a line of Black men walking past a row of white soldiers in uniform with bayonets fixed — Black sanitation workers peacefully march wearing placards reading ‘I Am A Man’ during the 1968 sanitation strike in Memphis, Tenn.
Bettmann via Getty Images

In Memphis, Tennessee, a majority African American sanitation workforce demanded higher wages, basic safety procedures and recognition of their union. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. rallied to support the Memphis workers and their families as part of his Poor Peoples’ Campaign, which sought to organize working people from across the nation into a new coalition to demand full economic and political rights.

On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated. His death put pressure on Memphis officials to settle the strike, and on April 16 the strikers secured their demands.

Following the Memphis strike, AFSCME began organizing public workers around the country, and through the coming years into the 1970s, there were sanitation strikes and slowdowns across the nation including in New York, Atlanta, Cleveland and Washington. Often, these workers, who were predominantly African American, gained the support of significant sections of the communities they served and secured modest wage boosts.

By the 1980s, such labor actions were becoming fewer. In 1986, Philadelphia witnessed a three-week sanitation strike that ended with the union gaining some of its wage demands, but losing on key areas related to health care benefits.

Black-and-white photo of men standing alongside a huge pile of trash and two trash trucks — Workers begin removing mounds of trash after returning to work after an 18-day strike in Philadelphia in July 1986.
Bettmann via Getty Images

How do wages and benefits for DC33 workers compare to other US cities?

District Council 33 President Greg Boulware has said that the union’s members make an average salary of US$46,000 per year. According to MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, that is $2,000 less than what a single adult with no kids needs to reasonably support themselves living in Philadelphia.

Prior to this deal, sanitation workers who collect curbside trash earned a salary of $42,500 to $46,200, or $18-$20 an hour. NBC Philadelphia reported that those wages are the lowest of any of the major cities they looked at. Hourly wages in the other cities they looked at ranged from $21 an hour in Dallas to $25-$30 an hour in Chicago.

Unlike other eras, the fact that social media makes public these personal narratives and perspectives – like from former sanitation worker Terrill Haigler, aka “Ya Fav Trashman” – is shaping the way many citizens respond to these disruptions. I saw a level of support for the strikers that I believe is unprecedented going back as far as 1938.

What do you think was behind this support?

The COVID-19 pandemic made people more aware of the role of essential workers in society. If the men and women who do these jobs can’t afford their basic needs, something isn’t right. This may explain why so many people saw things from the perspective of striking workers.

At the same time, money is being cut from important services at the federal, state and local levels. The proposed gutting of Philadelphia’s mass transit system by state lawmakers is a case in point. Social media allows people to make these broader connections and start conversations.

This article was originally published on July 8, 2025, and has been updated to include details of the strike’s resolution.

Francis Ryan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. How Philadelphia’s sanitation strike differed from past labor disputes in the city – https://theconversation.com/how-philadelphias-sanitation-strike-differed-from-past-labor-disputes-in-the-city-260676

July 9, 2025

Obesity care: why “eat less, move more” advice is failing

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Lucie Nield, Senior Lecturer in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Sheffield

For years, people living with obesity have been given the same basic advice: eat less, move more. But while this mantra may sound simple, it’s not only ineffective for many, it can be deeply misleading and damaging.

Obesity is not just about willpower. It’s a complex, chronic, relapsing condition and affects around 26.5% of adults in England, and 22.1% of children aged ten–11 in England.

A new report estimates the rapidly growing number of people that are overweight or obese costs the UK £126 billion a year. This includes £71.4 billion in reduced quality of life and early mortality, £12.6 billion in NHS treatment costs, £12.1 billion from unemployment and £10.5 billion in informal care.

Food campaigners and health experts have called for urgent government action, including expanding the sugar tax to more products, restricting junk food advertising and mandating reformulation of ultra processed foods. As Henry Dimbleby, author of a government-commissioned independent report called the National Food Strategy, warned: “We’ve created a food system that’s poisoning our population and bankrupting the state.”

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Without significant policy change, these costs are projected to rise to £150 billion a year by 2035. Despite this, much of the UK’s approach continues to frame obesity as a lifestyle issue that can be tackled by emphasising personal responsibility. But this framing ignores the bigger picture.

We now understand that obesity is multifactorial. Genetics, childhood experiences, cultural norms, economic disadvantage, psychological health, mental illness and even the kind of job you have all play a role. These aren’t things you can simply change with a Fitbit and salad.

This broader perspective isn’t new. In 2007, the UK government’s Foresight report mapped out the complex web of factors behind rising obesity rates, describing how modern environments actively promote weight gain.

This “obesogenic environment” refers to the world we live in. Its one where high-calorie, low-nutrient foods are cheap and everywhere, and where physical activity has been engineered out of everyday life, from car-centric cities to screen-dominated leisure time.

Outdated obesity advice isn’t working.

These environments don’t affect everyone equally. People in more deprived areas are significantly more exposed to conditions that drive obesity, such as food deserts (areas with limited access to affordable, nutritious food), poor public transport and limited green space. In this context, weight gain becomes a normal biological response to an abnormal environment.

Why “eat less, move more” falls short

Despite growing awareness of these systemic issues, most UK obesity strategies still centre on individual behaviour change, often through weight management programmes that encourage people to cut calories and exercise more. While behaviour change has a place, focusing on it exclusively creates a dangerous narrative: that people who struggle with their weight are simply lazy or lack willpower.

This narrative fuels weight stigma, which can be incredibly harmful. Yet data shows a clear link between higher rates of obesity and deprivation, especially among children.

It’s clear many people still don’t understand the role of structural and socioeconomic factors in shaping obesity risk. And this misunderstanding leads to judgement, shame and stigma, especially for children and families who are already vulnerable.

What should good obesity care look like?

Instead of outdated advice and blame, we need a holistic, stigma-free and science-informed approach to obesity care, one that reflects current Nice guidelines and the Obesity Health Alliance’s recommendations. There are several things that need to be done.

First, we should recognise obesity as a chronic disease. Obesity is not a failure of willpower. It’s a relapsing, long-term medical condition. Like diabetes or depression, it requires structured, ongoing support, not short-term fixes or crash diets.

Second, we need to tackle weight stigma head-on. Weight-based discrimination is widespread in schools, workplaces and even healthcare settings. We need training for professionals to reduce bias, promote inclusive care and adopt person-centred, non-stigmatising language. Discriminatory practices must be challenged and eliminated.

Third, deliver personalised, multidimensional support. Treatment plans should be tailored to each person’s life, including their cultural background, psychological history and social context. This includes shared decision-making, regular follow-up and integrated mental health support.

And fourth, focus on changing the environment, not just people. We must shift the focus to the systems and structures that make healthy choices so hard. That means investing in affordable, nutritious food; improving access to physical activity; and tackling inequality at its roots.

Time for a systemic shift

Obesity isn’t just about what people eat or how often they exercise. It’s shaped by biology, experience and the environment we build around people. Framing it as a personal failure not only ignores decades of evidence – it actively harms the very people who need support.

If we want to reduce stigma, improve health outcomes – and avoid a £150bn crisis – then the “eat less, move more” era must come to an end. What we need instead is a bold, compassionate, evidence-based systems approach – one that sees the whole person and the world they live in.

Lucie Nield receives funding from NIHR.

Catherine Homer receives funding from NIHR. She is affiliated with Royal Society of Public Health.

– ref. Obesity care: why “eat less, move more” advice is failing – https://theconversation.com/obesity-care-why-eat-less-move-more-advice-is-failing-254628

July 9, 2025

Action is the antidote to ecological grief and climate anxiety – an ecotherapist explains

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Louise Taylor, Early Career Researcher and Ecotherapist, Queen’s University Belfast

Brussels, Belgium. 21st February 2019. High school and university students stage a protest against the climate policies of the Belgian government. Alexandros Michailidis / Shutterstock.com

There’s a popular quote by the 13th-century poet and spiritual teacher Rumi: “The cure for the pain is in the pain.” This line often echoes through my mind when I’m working with clients, especially those experiencing ecological grief and climate anxiety.

As an ecotherapist – a therapist guided by nature and nature-based therapeutic approaches – and environmental researcher, I work with people who are navigating the emotional weight of ecological breakdown.

Ecotherapy helps people reconnect with the natural world as a way to support mental and emotional wellbeing. It might involve walking in green spaces, mindfulness practices in nature, working with natural materials, or nature-based rituals.

Whether it’s planting a garden, sitting under a tree, or engaging in conservation efforts, ecotherapy helps people feel more grounded, more connected and more resilient both emotionally and spiritually.

In my practice, I’ve noticed that younger people are more likely to experience climate anxiety, while older generations tend to experience ecological grief. The difference is subtle but important. Anxiety often relates to what lies ahead and a sense of powerlessness. Grief is about what has already been lost.

This emotional divide makes sense when we consider what has happened to the natural world over recent decades. Older adults have witnessed the loss of species, habitats and biodiversity in real time. Many have rich memories and relationships with landscapes that no longer exist as they once did. Meanwhile, younger generations face the terrifying uncertainty of a rapidly changing climate and an increasingly unstable future.

Both grief and anxiety are valid, but they are not the same.

I have explored these experiences in depth while researching nature connection, mental health and how the climate and ecological crisis is reshaping this relationship.

At the outset, I assumed that greater connection with nature would always lead to improved mental wellbeing. But that wasn’t the full picture.

What I found instead was that deepening our connection with the natural world can indeed foster healing, but it can also sharpen our awareness of the damage being done. This heightened sensitivity can trigger emotional pain, despair and even a decline in mental wellbeing.

Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist Carl Jung once said, “There is no coming to consciousness without pain.” That’s exactly what climate-anxious and ecologically grieving people are expressing: the deep psychological toll of recognising the scale of the crisis we’re facing. For some, it affects their ability to function, to enjoy their lives and to maintain relationships.

How to stay well

The question I kept returning to in my work was this: how do we stay well in a time of collapse? My research pointed to one consistent answer: action.

Engaging in pro-environmental actions emerged as the most effective way people coped with emotional strain. These weren’t merely acts of activism — they became spiritual practices, grounded in care, connection and meaning. Through these actions, people began to reclaim a sense of power and purpose in the face of overwhelming ecological loss.

For many, this was also a path back to what eco-philosophers call the ecological self: the part of us that extends beyond the individual and identifies with the living world.

This self isn’t driven by ego or personal gain, but by the impulse to build relationships, nurture communities and support the flourishing of all life. It represents an expanded way of being; one that understands health and healing as collective, not just personal.

Importantly, these actions don’t have to be large-scale. They might involve growing your own herbs or vegetables, for instance, or joining a local conservation effort, forming a community group to protect waterways or green spaces, or participating in climate strikes and land defence work. What matters is that the action is relational: rooted in reciprocity and care.

The conclusion of my research was clear: in the face of ecological distress, mental wellbeing is sustained not by thoughts, but by meaningful action.

Healing through action

In Northern Ireland, where I live and work, I’ve seen a growing grassroots environmental movement. Communities are stepping up to protect landscapes under threat, from campaigns to defend the Sperrin Mountains from gold mining, to local resistance against the pollution that’s devastating Lough Neagh, the largest freshwater lake in Ireland and the UK.

This is unpaid, often invisible labour, but it’s powerful. It gives people a way to process their emotions, to feel less helpless and to turn grief into agency.

Many environmentalists talk about “saving the planet”. But the truth is, the Earth will go on. What’s under threat is us: our ways of life, our communities, our ability to thrive. The dread we feel is rooted in the enormity of this realisation.

To stay well while caring deeply about the Earth means learning to live with this pain, and still choosing to act. It requires us to show up, to be present and to tend to both the human and non-human world with care and reciprocity. As we do, we become more empowered and less overwhelmed.

If you are struggling with climate anxiety or ecological grief, know this: the goal isn’t to suppress your feelings. The goal is to acknowledge them, and then use them as fuel for meaningful action.

Don’t underestimate small acts. The way forward isn’t to wait for hope: it’s to create it through connection, courage and commitment.

In a time of ecological uncertainty, wellness doesn’t come from thinking differently. It comes from doing differently.

Louise Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Action is the antidote to ecological grief and climate anxiety – an ecotherapist explains – https://theconversation.com/action-is-the-antidote-to-ecological-grief-and-climate-anxiety-an-ecotherapist-explains-260428

July 9, 2025

How tea, chocolate and apples could help lower your blood pressure

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Christian Heiss, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, Head of Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Surrey

We’re constantly told to “eat healthy” – but what does that actually mean? Even doctors sometimes struggle to offer clear, practical advice on which specific foods support health, why they work and what real benefits people can expect.

A growing body of research is starting to offer some answers. Along with colleagues, I have researched whether a group of plant compounds called flavan-3-ols could help lower blood pressure and improve blood vessel function. The results suggest these everyday compounds may have real potential for protecting heart health.

Flavan-3-ols – sometimes called flavanols or catechins – are natural plant compounds that belong to the flavonoid family. They’re part of what gives plants their colour and helps protect them from sunlight and pests.

For us, they show up in some of our most familiar foods: cocoa, green and black tea, grapes, apples and even some berries. That slightly tart or bitter note you taste in dark chocolate or strong tea? That’s flavan-3-ols at work.

Scientists have long been interested in their health effects. In 2022, the Cosmos trial (Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study), which followed over 21,000 people, found that cocoa flavanols, but not multivitamin supplements, reduced deaths from cardiovascular disease by 27%. Our study set out to dig even deeper, focusing specifically on their effects on blood pressure and endothelial function (how well blood vessels dilate and respond to blood flow).

We analysed data from 145 randomised controlled trials involving more than 5,200 participants. These studies tested a range of flavan-3-ol-rich foods and supplements, including cocoa, tea, grapes, apples and isolated compounds like epicatechin, and measured their effects on two key cardiovascular markers: blood pressure and flow-mediated dilation (FMD): a measure of how well the inner lining of blood vessels functions.

The studies ranged from short-term (a single dose) to longer-term interventions lasting weeks or months. On average, participants consumed about 586 mg of flavan-3-ols daily; roughly the amount found in two to three cups of tea, one to two servings of dark chocolate, two tablespoons of cocoa powder, or a couple of apples.

Regular consumption of flavan-3-ols led to an average drop in office blood pressure of 2.8 mmHg systolic (the top number) and 2.0 mmHg diastolic (the bottom number).

But for people who started with elevated blood pressure or diagnosed hypertension, the benefits were even greater with reductions of up to 6–7 mmHg systolic and 4 mmHg diastolic. That’s comparable to the effects of some prescription blood pressure medications and could significantly lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

We also found that flavan-3-ols improved endothelial function, with an average 1.7% increase in FMD after sustained intake. This benefit appeared even in participants whose blood pressure was already normal, suggesting these compounds may help protect blood vessels through multiple pathways.

Side effects were uncommon and typically mild, usually limited to minor digestive issues, suggesting that adding flavan-3-ol-rich foods to your diet is generally safe.

Supporting cardiovascular health

While the benefits were most pronounced in those with high blood pressure, even people with normal readings saw improvements in vascular function. This suggests flavan-3-ols may help prevent cardiovascular problems before they begin.

High blood pressure is one of the major drivers of heart disease worldwide, even at levels that don’t qualify as full-blown hypertension (140/90 mmHg or higher). Recent guidelines from the European Society of Cardiology now recognise that even “elevated” blood pressure (120–139 systolic and 70–89 diastolic) carries increased risk.

Lifestyle changes, particularly diet and exercise, are recommended by doctors as first-line strategies. But patients and even healthcare providers often lack clear, specific guidance on which foods truly make a difference. Our findings help fill this gap by showing that boosting flavan-3-ol intake through everyday foods may offer a simple, evidence-based way to support cardiovascular health.

What about supplements?

Some studies tested supplements or isolated flavan-3-ol compounds, but these generally showed smaller effects than whole foods like tea or cocoa. This may be because other beneficial compounds in whole foods work together, enhancing absorption and effectiveness.

At present, it appears both safer and more effective to focus on getting flavan-3-ols from foods rather than high-dose supplements, especially for people taking medications, since interactions are not fully understood.

The studies we reviewed suggest that 500–600 mg of flavan-3-ols daily may be enough to see benefits. You could reach this by combining two to three cups of green or black tea, one to two servings (about 56g) of dark chocolate or two to three tablespoons of cocoa powder, two to three apples, plus other flavan-3-ol-rich fruits like grapes, pears and berries

Apples, pears, grapes, black berries on a wooden table with garden background. — Eating apples, pears, grapes and berries could help support your heart health.
Oksana Klymenko/Shutterstock

Small daily swaps, then, like trading a sugary snack for an apple and a piece of dark chocolate or adding an extra cup of tea, could gradually improve your heart health over time. Because flavan-3-ol content can vary between foods, monitoring your blood pressure at home may help you see if it’s making a difference for you.

More research is needed, particularly in people with diabetes, where the results were less consistent. We also need to better understand how flavan-3-ols interact with medications and whether even greater benefits can be achieved when combined with other healthy habits.

But the evidence is now strong enough to recommend flavan-3-ol-rich foods as part of a heart-healthy diet. As clinicians seek practical, affordable lifestyle strategies for patients, these findings bring us closer to the idea of using food as medicine.

Of course, flavan-3-ols aren’t a magic fix. They won’t replace medication for everyone. But combined with other healthy habits, they may offer a meaningful – and delicious – boost to cardiovascular health. And unlike many health fads, this isn’t about exotic superfoods or expensive powders. It’s about foods many of us already enjoy, used a little more intentionally.

Christian Heiss has received funding from Lipton Teas & Infusions, Ageless Science, iThera, the Medical Research Council, the EPSRC, European Partnership on Metrology, co-financed from European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme and UK Research and Innovation. He is member of the board of the European Society of Vascular Medicine, president of the Vascular, Lipid and Metabolic Medicine Council of the Royal Society of Medicine, and chairperson-elect of the ESC WG Aorta and Peripheral Vascular Diseases.

– ref. How tea, chocolate and apples could help lower your blood pressure – https://theconversation.com/how-tea-chocolate-and-apples-could-help-lower-your-blood-pressure-256631

July 9, 2025

Could England and Wales introduce jury-free trials? Here’s how they work in other countries

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Natalie Hodgson, Assistant Professor in Law, University of Nottingham

The right to trial by jury is a fundamental part of the criminal justice system in England and Wales. But under new proposals to address a record backlog of almost 77,000 Crown Court cases, some cases could now be heard by judge alone.

Sir Brian Leveson has delivered part one of his independent review of the criminal courts, making 45 recommendations to address delays in the criminal justice process. One of his recommendations is that serious offences could be tried by a judge alone without a jury. Our evidence to the review explored how judge-alone trials have been used in other countries.

Currently, a person can only be tried without a jury at Crown Court if there is a risk of jury tampering. Under Leveson’s proposal, judge-alone trials will be expanded to cases where a defendant requests to be tried without a jury, serious and complex fraud offences and where the case is likely to be lengthy or particularly complex.

To understand how this might work, we can to look to other countries where judge-alone trials are used. Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the US all permit judge-alone trials in circumstances similar to what Leveson is recommending. A defendant can choose to be tried by a judge instead of a jury in certain circumstances.

Defendants tend to express a preference for trial by judge alone if they are concerned that prejudicial media coverage or the nature of the offences might bias jurors against them. Leveson recommends that judges should decide whether a defendant’s request for a judge-alone trial should be granted, but stops short of identifying the factors that a judge should consider.

Leveson leaves open the question of whether judge-alone trials should be available for all offences, or whether certain offences should be exempt. Some countries limit which offences can be heard without a jury. For example, in the Australian Capital Territory, a defendant cannot request a trial without a jury for murder or certain sexual offences.

In New South Wales, judges are advised against permitting a judge-alone trial when the offence involves consideration of “community standards”. This recognises that members of the community have an important role to play in deciding whether a defendant has acted “reasonably”, “negligently” or “dishonestly”. For example, if a person is charged with manslaughter the jury may need to consider whether the defendant’s actions were “unreasonable”, which is best determined by members of the community.

Are judge-alone trials unfair to defendants?

Lawyers often raise concerns about judge-alone trials being unfair to defendants. Based on what we know from other countries, there is no strong evidence that this is the case. However, that is not to say that concerns about unfairness are unwarranted.

If judges convict at higher rates than juries, that might suggest that judge-alone trials are unfair. However, the best available study, conducted in New South Wales, found that judges were actually slightly less likely than juries to find a defendant guilty.

Juries do not explain their verdicts. In all countries which use judge-alone trials, judges must give reasons for their decisions. Knowing why a defendant was found guilty might make trials even more fair, providing a basis for an appeal against conviction if an error was made.

One key issue with judge-alone trials is inadmissible evidence. Ordinarily, jurors are sent out of the courtroom while the judge and lawyers make decisions about what evidence the jury is allowed to hear. Evidence might be excluded because it is irrelevant, prejudicial or was collected in breach of the defendant’s rights. In these scenarios, the jury is never made aware of the evidence.

However, in a judge-alone trial, the judge sees all the evidence, even if they decide that some of it should not be used. There is a risk that judges might be subconsciously impacted by inadmissible evidence in reaching their verdict.

Judge-alone trials also raise issues about diversity of decision-makers. In England and Wales, only 11% of judges are from an ethnic minority background compared to 18% of the population. Ideally, juries contain people from a range of backgrounds. Some defendants might feel more confident that they will be tried fairly by a jury than a judge.

Ultimately, one way to safeguard against concerns about unfairness is to give defendants the ability to choose whether or not they would like to be tried by a judge alone. Leveson’s recommendations suggest that most judge-alone trials would occur at the request of the defendant. However, judge-alone trials could be ordered against the defendant’s wishes in cases involving fraud or that are long and complex.

Juries play an important role in the legal system in England and Wales. Through jury service, members of the community contribute to the administration of justice. The inclusion of a range of viewpoints and experiences in determining criminal verdicts enhances the legitimacy of the justice system.

It is important that we continue to have juries in criminal trials. However, that is not to say that judge-alone trials cannot or should not play a role. The current backlog means that victims and defendants are having to wait years for their day in court. We desperately need to address this, and allowing defendants to elect a judge-alone trial may help to reduce delays to justice.

While judge-alone trials are not inherently unfair, any rollout in England and Wales should be closely monitored and evaluated. It is important that we do not sacrifice fairness for efficiency as we work to address the issues affecting our justice system.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Could England and Wales introduce jury-free trials? Here’s how they work in other countries – https://theconversation.com/could-england-and-wales-introduce-jury-free-trials-heres-how-they-work-in-other-countries-259489

July 9, 2025

The dangers of romanticising Britain’s 1976 heatwave

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Stephanie Brown, Lecturer in Criminology, University of Hull

As I scrolled through social media on a hot afternoon in late June, a meme caught my attention. A black and white photo. A smiling young woman with water up to her knees. She appeared to be in a fountain, with many others dipping their legs in the water.

The caption read “On this day in 1976, the British heatwave started. It would last until the 27th August, during which time Britain would experience extreme temperatures and widespread droughts. And we all had a wonderful summer and survived.”

This immediately struck me: it was a boiling hot day. As I sat at my office desk keeping hydrated with a fan pointed directly at my face, I felt the rage burning inside me. How could people be so irresponsible? Heat can be dangerous. But the implication of the meme was clear: if people managed back then, surely today’s warnings about heatwaves, climate change, and public health are exaggerated. These rose-tinted memories obscure a darker truth.

I am a historical criminologist. This meme had the rare effect of deeply troubling both of my areas of expertise.

As a historian, this meme concerns me because it perpetuates the myth of the “good old days”. A selective, nostalgic vision of the past that smooths over complexity and hardship in favour of a comforting, idealised narrative. Flattening history into feelgood folklore, erasing the social inequalities and governmental failures.

It echoes a broader cultural tendency: from “Make America great again” to the “Blitz spirit”, representing Britain’s nostalgia for wartime resilience, a romanticised past is often used by politicians to legitimise political ideas in the present. But history is not a comfort blanket. It is a critical tool.

My work explores how institutions respond to crisis and how narratives of success or failure are constructed. In 1976, advice for dealing with the water shortage was to share a bath with the wife and drive a dirty car. Areas without domestic tap water had to use communal street pipes.

The government did not appoint a minister for drought until the end of August, despite mounting evidence from meteorologists and public health officials. Emergency measures were piecemeal and unevenly applied.

The suggestion that “we all had a wonderful summer and survived” is misleading. It was reported that “200 people a day were apparently dying who would not have died if the weather had been normal”. During the peak of the heatwave, deaths increased by 28% in the southeast England and 33% in Greater London.

As a criminologist, I know that it is not only natural deaths that can increase during a hot weather. The number of violent deaths also increased in 1976 as well as in other heatwaves. Thermic law is the concept that violent crime is higher in hotter seasons. These patterns might be explained by temperature-aggression theory: that hot weather can cause an increase in aggressive behaviours.

For other criminologists, it is not the temperature itself that causes increased violence, but how people’s behaviour changes due to the heat. For example, people are taking time off work or school, socialising, and drinking. Unstructured time and spaces, combined with alcohol and a holiday feel all lead to increases in violence.

Misrepresenting risk

By sentimentalising the summer of 1976, we strip away its lessons. Worse, we risk repeating its mistakes. One Conservative MP described people concerned about the 2022 heatwave as “snowflakes” and “cowards”. Quite an odd response after the British public was asked to “protect the NHS” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This protection apparently did not extend to looking after each other in a heatwave. In fact, heatwaves are largely an invisible risk. We are told not to fuss, but there is often little communication on how to keep safe.

A lack of policy and examples of political scepticism connect with a key theme in the comments under that meme: climate change denial. If we had a heatwave in 1976 then what we are experiencing now is nothing new, right? Wrong.

The heatwave in 1976 was bad: thousands died, fires raged, and water ran dry. But it was also an anomaly; a hot summer in a relatively cool decade. Heatwaves are now more frequent, more intense and longer lasting. Temperatures reached over 40°C in 2022, while the maximum in 1976 was 4°C-5°C cooler.

Still, each time a weather warning is issued, it is met with a wave of derision. There is the same online discourse as is expressed in this meme. This attitude is not just flippant, it is dangerous. It undermines vital public messaging, discourages precautionary action, and fuels complacency among those least at risk, while leaving the most vulnerable even more exposed.

History can offer crucial perspective. But only if we treat it honestly. That means moving beyond memeified memories of the past and reckoning with the complexity of what really happened. It means challenging the stories we tell ourselves. Many did live through the 1976 heatwave. But many also died: quietly, invisibly and avoidably. Their stories are not part of the nostalgia. They should be.

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Stephanie Brown does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. The dangers of romanticising Britain’s 1976 heatwave – https://theconversation.com/the-dangers-of-romanticising-britains-1976-heatwave-260046

July 9, 2025

La vannerie, un moyen d’inclusion financière au Sénégal : voici comment et pourquoi

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Yasmine SY, Ph.D candidate in Management Sciences – Academic Director, Groupe Supdeco Dakar

Longtemps reléguée à un savoir-faire domestique ou à un artisanat rural peu valorisé, la vannerie connaît aujourd’hui un regain d’intérêt en Afrique, à la croisée des enjeux culturels, économiques et environnementaux.

La vannerie est l’art de tresser des fibres végétales pour fabriquer des objets utilitaires ou décoratifs, comme des paniers, corbeilles, nattes, chapeaux, filets ou même des meubles.

Ce savoir-faire ancestral, transmis de génération en génération, est aujourd’hui réinterprété par une nouvelle génération d’entrepreneures africaines. À la tête d’initiatives audacieuses, elles repositionnent la vannerie non plus seulement comme pratique patrimoniale, mais comme levier d’innovation, de développement local et de rayonnement international.

Je suis chercheure en entrepreneuriat, spécialisée dans la transmission et la gouvernance des entreprises familiales en Afrique. J’observe que certains secteurs artisanaux comme la vannerie connaissent aujourd’hui des dynamiques de formalisation, d’innovation et d’essor économique portées en grande partie par des femmes entrepreneures.

Le cas d’Imadi, que nous avons étudié récemment, illustre de façon exemplaire la modernisation d’un secteur souvent perçu comme figé, à travers la réinvention des formes, des usages et des circuits de diffusion de la vannerie.

Imadi est une entreprise artisanale basée à Dakar. Elle valorise un savoir-faire traditionnel transmis de génération en génération. Elle produit des paniers tressés à la main, enrichis de finitions en cuir, aux designs modernisés tout en respectant les techniques ancestrales.

Mais jusqu’où ce modèle est-il réplicable ? Peut-il inspirer d’autres initiatives sur le continent? Quelles conditions doivent être réunies pour favoriser l’émergence d’un écosystème artisanal innovant?

Un secteur traditionnel en mutation

En Afrique de l’Ouest, plus particulièrement au Sénégal, l’artisanat demeure un secteur vital pour l’économie, à la fois comme réservoir d’emplois, vecteur d’identité culturelle et levier de résilience sociale. Au cœur de cet écosystème se trouve une activité méconnue mais fondamentale : la vannerie.

Selon les chiffres communiqués par le ministère sénégalais de l’Artisanat, le secteur représente entre 8 et 10 % du produit intérieur brut (PIB) national. Il mobilise environ un million d’artisans à travers 122 corps de métiers, dont plus de 70 % œuvrent dans l’économie informelle. Il s’agit d’un pan majeur de l’activité économique du pays : 98 % des unités économiques au Sénégal relèvent de l’artisanat, selon les données officielles du ministère délégué à l’Artisanat.

La participation des femmes est particulièrement significative dans les filières artisanales dites “traditionnelles”, notamment la vannerie, la poterie et la teinture. Une étude publiée en 2023 estime que les femmes représentent plus de 70 % des artisans dans le domaine de la vannerie. Elles sont souvent regroupées en coopératives ou Groupements d’intérêt économique (GIE) pour mutualiser leurs efforts de production et d’accès au marché.

Outre sa fonction économique, la vannerie joue un rôle socio-culturel essentiel. Pratiquée principalement dans les régions rurales et périurbaines (Kaolack, Thiès, Fatick, Saint-Louis), elle permet de préserver des savoir-faire ancestraux, tout en s’adaptant aux esthétiques contemporaines. Ces produits : paniers, corbeilles, tapis, couvercles, décorations murales, sont désormais exportés vers l’Europe et l’Amérique du Nord, notamment via des plateformes de commerce équitable ou de design éthique.

Ainsi, au fil des années, cette activité a évolué, devenant un secteur économique viable et en pleine expansion, soutenu par des femmes entrepreneures visionnaires.

Imadi est un exemple concret de cette transition. Fondée par une entrepreneure sénégalaise en 2017, Fatima Jobe, architecte de formation, l’entreprise produit des objets de vannerie à la fois décoratifs et utilitaires. En réinterprétant les formes traditionnelles avec une touche moderne, Imadi attire une clientèle internationale et locale de plus en plus soucieuse de la qualité et de l’origine des produits qu’elle consomme. Aujourd’hui, elle fait travailler plus d’une centaine de femmes dans une vingtaine de villages du Nord du Sénégal.

Les défis à relever

Toutefois, le secteur de la vannerie, bien qu’en pleine transformation, fait face à de nombreux défis. L’accès au financement reste une des principales difficultés. Les femmes entrepreneures dans l’artisanat sénégalais ont souvent du mal à obtenir des crédits bancaires, malgré le potentiel économique de leurs activités.

L’accès au financement constitue un obstacle majeur pour de nombreuses femmes entrepreneures au Sénégal. Bien qu’elles constituent un tiers des entrepreneurs, 87 % de femmes n’ont accès à aucun produit ou service financier.

De plus, la concurrence des produits importés bon marché menace la compétitivité des produits locaux. “Les produits importés, souvent à bas prix, créent une pression sur nos marges, mais nous ne sacrifierons pas la qualité et l’authenticité”, déclare Fatima Jobe, fondatrice d’Imadi.

Vers une transformation durable

Les initiatives de ce genre jouent un rôle clé dans la transformation de l’économie sénégalaise. En offrant des opportunités aux femmes, en particulier dans les zones rurales, elles participent activement à la création d’une économie plus inclusive. Sa fondatrice confie:

Je veux aider ces femmes, qui ont des talents incroyables, mais qui restent trop souvent en marge des circuits économiques, simplement faute de moyens de transport ou de visibilité.

Les femmes entrepreneures en Afrique, notamment dans des secteurs comme la vannerie, sont des moteurs de croissance dans les économies émergentes. Leur capacité à créer des emplois, à générer des revenus et à promouvoir des pratiques commerciales durables peut contribuer à réduire les inégalités et favoriser un développement économique plus équitable.

La clé de l’avenir du secteur réside dans l’intégration de nouvelles technologies et dans la capacité à s’adapter à un marché mondial en constante évolution.

De plus, l’Unesco estime que les industries culturelles et créatives, qui incluent l’artisanat, pourraient représenter jusqu’à 4 % du PIB africain d’ici 2030 et employer plus de 20 millions de personnes.

Un secteur en quête de consolidation

L’expérience d’Imadi illustre, parmi d’autres, les possibilités d’évolution d’un artisanat traditionnel porté majoritairement par des femmes. Sans être un modèle unique ou aisément reproductible, cette initiative montre qu’il est possible d’associer pratiques durables, ancrage local et ouverture aux marchés internationaux. Cette combinaison peut favoriser l’émergence de formes d’entrepreneuriat plus inclusives dans le secteur de la vannerie au Sénégal, voire en Afrique.

Pour que ce modèle se pérennise et se développe, il est impératif d’adresser les défis liés à l’accès au financement, à la formation technique et professionnelle et à la protection des produits locaux contre la concurrence déloyale.

En soutenant les femmes entrepreneures et en mettant en place des politiques publiques favorisant l’artisanat durable, le Sénégal pourrait renforcer sa position dans le secteur de la vannerie et dans d’autres secteurs artisanaux à forte valeur ajoutée.

Les femmes, au cœur de cette transformation, démontrent que l’artisanat ne se limite plus à un secteur traditionnel, mais qu’il peut être un véritable moteur de développement économique durable et inclusif pour l’avenir du Sénégal.

Yasmine SY does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. La vannerie, un moyen d’inclusion financière au Sénégal : voici comment et pourquoi – https://theconversation.com/la-vannerie-un-moyen-dinclusion-financiere-au-senegal-voici-comment-et-pourquoi-252665

July 9, 2025

‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will have Americans paying higher prices for dirtier energy

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Daniel Cohan, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University

Congress passed Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill on July 3, 2025. Kevin Carter/Getty Images

When congressional Republicans decided to cut some Biden-era energy subsidies to help fund their One Big Beautiful Bill Act, they could have pruned wasteful subsidies while sparing the rest. Instead, they did the reverse. Americans will pay the price with higher costs for dirtier energy.

The nearly 900-page bill that President Donald Trump signed on July 4, 2025, slashes incentives for wind and solar energy, batteries, electric cars and home efficiency while expanding subsidies for fossil fuels and biofuels. That will leave Americans burning more fossil fuels despite strong public and scientific support for shifting to renewable energy.

As an environmental engineering professor who studies ways to confront climate change, I think it is important to distinguish which energy technologies could rapidly cut emissions or need a financial boost to become viable from those that are already profitable but harm the environment. Unfortunately, the Republican bill favors the latter while stifling the former.

A large piece of mechanical equipment picks up coal from the ground. — The Spring Creek Mine in Decker, Mont., is just one mine in the Powder River Basin, the most productive coal-producing region in the U.S.
AP Photo/Matthew Brown

Cuts to renewable electricity

Wind and solar power, often paired with batteries, provide over 90% of the new electricity added nationally and around the world in recent years. Natural gas turbines are in short supply, and there are long lead times to build nuclear power plants. Wind and solar energy projects – with batteries to store excess power until it’s needed – offer the fastest way to satisfy growing demand for power. Recent technological breakthroughs put geothermal power on the verge of rapid growth.

However, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act rescinds billions of dollars that the Inflation Reduction Act, enacted in 2022, devoted to boosting domestic manufacturing and deployments of renewable energy and batteries.

It accelerates the phaseout of tax credits for factories that manufacture equipment needed for renewable energy and electric vehicles. That would disrupt the boom in domestic manufacturing projects that had been stimulated by the Inflation Reduction Act.

Efforts to build new wind and solar farms will be hit even harder. To receive any tax credits, those projects will need to commence construction by mid-2026 or come online by the end of 2027. The act preserves a slower timeline for phasing out subsidies for nuclear, geothermal and hydrogen projects, which take far longer to build than wind and solar farms.

However, even projects that could be built soon enough will struggle to comply with the bill’s restrictions on using Chinese-made components. Tax law experts have called those provisions “unworkable,” since some Chinese materials may be necessary even for projects built with as much domestic content as possible. For example, even American-made solar panels may rely on components sourced from China or Chinese-owned companies.

Princeton University professor Jesse Jenkins estimates that the bill will mean wind and solar power generate 820 fewer terawatt-hours in 2035 than under previous policies. That’s more power than all U.S. coal-fired power plants generated in 2023.

That’s why BloombergNEF, an energy research firm, called the bill a “nightmare scenario” for clean energy proponents.

However, one person’s nightmare may be another man’s dream. “We’re constraining the hell out of wind and solar, which is good,” said U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican who is backed by the oil and gas industry.

Workers install solar panels on a roof. — Federal tax credits for homeowners who install solar panels will now expire at the end of 2025.
AP Photo/Michael Conroy

Electric cars and efficiency

Cuts fall even harder on Americans who are trying to reduce their carbon footprints and energy costs. The quickest phaseout comes for tax credits for electric vehicles, which will end on Sept. 30, 2025. And since the bill eliminates fines on car companies that fail to meet fuel economy standards, other new cars are likely to guzzle more gas.

Tax credits for home efficiency improvements such as heat pumps, efficient windows and energy audits will end at the end of 2025. Homeowners will also lose tax credits for installing solar panels at the end of the year, seven years earlier than under the previous law.

The bill also rescinds funding that would have helped cut diesel emissions and finance clean energy projects in underserved communities.

A car connects to a large metal box with a thick cable. — Federal tax credits for buying electric vehicles will end on Sept. 30, 2025.
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Support for biofuels and fossil fuels

Biofuels and fossil fuels fared far better under the bill. Tens of billions of dollars will be spent to extend tax credits for biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.

Food-based biofuels do little good for the climate because growing, harvesting and processing crops requires fertilizers, pesticides and fuel. The bill would allow forests to be cut to make room for crops because it directs agencies to ignore the effects of biofuels on land use.

Meanwhile, the bill opens more federal lands and waters to leasing for oil and gas drilling and coal mining. It also slashes the royalties that companies pay to the federal government for fuels extracted from publicly owned land. And a new tax credit will subsidize metallurgical coal, which is mainly exported to steelmakers overseas.

The bill also increases subsidies for using captured carbon dioxide to extract more oil and gas from the ground. That makes it less likely that captured emissions will only be sequestered to combat climate change.

Summing it up

With fewer efficiency improvements, fewer electric vehicles and less clean power on the grid, Princeton’s Jenkins projects that the law will increase household energy costs by over $280 per year by 2035 above what they would have been without the bill. The extra fossil fuel-burning will negate 470 million tons of anticipated emissions reductions that year, a 7% bump.

The bill will also leave America’s clean energy transition further behind China, which is deploying more solar and wind power and electric vehicles than the rest of the world combined.

No one expected President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act to escape unscathed with Republicans in the White House and dominating both houses of Congress, even though many of its projects were in Republican-voting districts. Still, pairing cuts to clean energy with support for fossil fuels makes Trump’s bill uniquely harmful to the world’s climate and to Americans’ wallets.

This article includes some material previously published on June 10, 2025.

Daniel Cohan receives research funding from the Carbon Hub at Rice University. He previously received research funding from Project InnerSpace, the Mitchell Foundation, the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

– ref. ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will have Americans paying higher prices for dirtier energy – https://theconversation.com/big-beautiful-bill-will-have-americans-paying-higher-prices-for-dirtier-energy-260588

July 9, 2025

How the Catholic Church helped change the conversation about capital punishment in the United States

Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College

Helen Prejean has been one of the most high-profile opponents of the death penalty for decades. Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma via Getty Images

Thirty years ago, the film “Dead Man Walking” had its debut in movie theaters around the United States. It was a box office hit, and critics lavished it with praise. Lead actress Susan Sarandon won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Sister Helen Prejean, the spiritual adviser to a death row inmate played by Sean Penn.

But the film’s impact went far beyond the artistic realm. It exposed a mass audience to a perspective on the death penalty informed by the Catholic faith of a devout, if somewhat unconventional, nun.

The actual Sister Helen had published her memoir, “Dead Man Walking,” two years before, raising her profile as an activist against the death penalty. Recalling her experience outside the execution chamber of Elmo Patrick Sonnier, one of the people she counseled, Prejean later wrote, “I touched him in the only way I could. I told him: ‘Look at my face. I will be the face of Christ, the face of love for you.’”

She made it her mission to show that “everybody’s worth more than the worst thing they’ve ever done in their life.” As she once told an interviewer, “Jesus said, ‘Love your enemy.’ Jesus didn’t say, ‘Execute the hell out of the enemy.’”

That belief was featured prominently in the film and offered a counterpoint to the popular tough-on-crime rhetoric of the 1990s. Back then, 80% of the American public supported capital punishment.

Today, that is no longer true. Support for the death penalty has declined to around 50%.

As a death penalty scholar, I have studied those changes. The church’s anti-death penalty teaching has helped provide both a moral foundation and political respectability for those working to end the death penalty.

The 1995 film was inspired by Prejean’s memoir.

Church teachings

But that teaching is relatively new in the church, dating back to the past half-century. For most of its history, the Catholic Church did not oppose the death penalty.

During the Middle Ages, the church endorsed the execution of heretics and held firm that secular authorities could and should put people to death for serious crimes. And in the early 20th century, Vatican City’s penal code permitted the death penalty for anyone who attempted to kill a pope. Pope Paul VI changed that in 1969.

When John Paul II became pope a decade later, he pushed the church further away from its historic embrace of the death penalty, calling it “cruel and unnecessary.” And in 2018, under Pope Francis, the Vatican revised the section on capital punishment in the Catechism, the summary of Catholic doctrine.

The death penalty “is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” and deprives “the guilty of the possibility of redemption,” the new version says. This teaching committed the church to work for its abolition.

In his 2020 encyclical Fratelli Tutti, Francis stated that the death penalty is “inadequate from a moral standpoint and no longer necessary from that of penal justice.” In 2024, he again called for “the abolition of the death penalty, a provision at odds with Christian faith and one that eliminates all hope of forgiveness and rehabilitation.”

Impact in the US

The changed situation of capital punishment in this country is largely attributable to a change in the strategy and tactics of the abolitionist movement. Instead of talking about the death penalty in abstract terms, activists began to focus on the day-to-day realities of its administration.

Today, advocates in what I have called the “new abolitionism” focus on the prospect of executing the innocent, racial discrimination in capital sentencing, and the financial costs associated with the death penalty. Among Catholics working to end the death penalty, however, the moral questions about state killing have long been a central focus.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops focused on morality in its own campaign to end capital punishment, which was launched in 2005. And from time to time, popes have made special appeals to government officials in the U.S., asking them to spare the life of someone awaiting execution.

A close-up photo of the chest of a man wearing a priest's collar and a red sticker that says 'abolish the death penalty.' — A seminarian attends a public hearing in Connecticut in 2011 on legislation to replace capital punishment with life in prison for certain murders.
AP Photo/Jessica Hill

Legal historian Sara Mayeux argues that Catholic anti-death penalty activism in the U.S. has been less intense than anti-abortion work. Nevertheless, the impact of the church is reflected in the fact that in the past 50 years, Catholic support for capital punishment fell more than it did among evangelicals, mainline Protestants, Black Protestants and other religious groups.

In December 2024, as the term of President Joe Biden, a devout Catholic, was coming to a close, the Catholics Mobilizing Network, which advocates against capital punishment, called on the president to commute the sentences of the 40 people then on federal death row. Francis, too, publicly prayed for their sentences to be commuted.

Biden did so for 37 federal death row inmates, changing their sentences to life in prison without parole.

Anti-death penalty superstar

As the church’s official position against capital punishment has evolved, Prejean has been a consistent voice asking Americans to recognize and respond to the humanity of all those touched by murder. She is, in words I am sure she would resist, a superstar in the movement, thanks to her countless public appearances, interviews, protests and actions to lobby legislators.

A seated woman in a black blazer and a cross necklace gestures as she speaks with other people seated in a circle. — Sister Helen Prejean talks to detainees during a discussion of ‘Dead Man Walking’ at Department Of Corrections Division 11 in Chicago.
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

In 2021, she wrote, “I’m on fire to abolish government killing because I’ve seen it far too close-up, and I have a pretty good idea by now how it works – or doesn’t.”

Thirty years ago, “Dead Man Walking” gave its viewers a chance to see capital punishment “close-up.” It didn’t preach or hit anyone over the head with an overtly abolitionist message. Instead, it asked viewers to see the death penalty from many sides and make up their own minds about whether anyone should be put to death, even for the most horrible crimes.

Between then and now, America has undertaken precisely the kind of conversation about capital punishment that the film exemplified and inspired.

Austin Sarat does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. How the Catholic Church helped change the conversation about capital punishment in the United States – https://theconversation.com/how-the-catholic-church-helped-change-the-conversation-about-capital-punishment-in-the-united-states-260481

July 9, 2025

Trump administration’s lie detector campaign against leakers is unlikely to succeed and could divert energy from national security priorities

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Brian O’Neill, Professor of Practice, International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology

The Department of Homeland Security and FBI are reportedly using polygraphs aggressively to identify dissenters. standret/Getty Images

The Trump administration has recently directed that a new wave of polygraphs be administered across the executive branch, aimed at uncovering leaks to the press.

As someone who has taken roughly a dozen polygraphs during my 27-year career with the CIA, I read this development with some skepticism.

Polygraphs carry an ominous, almost mythological reputation among Americans. The more familiar and unofficial term – lie detector tests – likely fuels that perception. Television crime dramas have done their part, too, often portraying the device as an oracle for uncovering the truth when conventional methods fail.

In those portrayals, the polygraph is not merely a tool – it’s a window into the soul.

Among those entering government service, especially in national security, the greater anxiety is not the background check but passing the polygraph. My advice is always the same: Don’t lie.

It’s the best – and perhaps only – guidance for a process that most assessments have concluded is a more subjective interpretation than empirical science.

Why the polygraph persists

Polygraphs are “pseudo-scientific” in that they measure physiological responses such as heart rate, blood pressure and perspiration. The assumption is that liars betray themselves through spikes in those signals. But this presumes a kind of psychological transparency that simply doesn’t hold up. A person might sweat and tremble simply from fear, anger or frustration – not deceit.

There also are no specific physiological reactions associated with lying. The National Academy of Sciences in 2003, and the American Psychological Association in a 2004 review, concluded that the polygraph rests more on theater than fact. Recent assessments, published in 2019, have reached the same conclusion.

Accordingly, polygraph results are not generally admissible in U.S. courts. Only a handful of states – such as Georgia, Arizona and California – permit their use even under limited conditions. And they typically require that both parties agree to admission and a judge to approve it. Unconditional admissibility remains the exception, not the rule.

And yet, inside many national security agencies, polygraphs remain central to the clearance process – a fact I observed firsthand during my time overseeing personnel vetting and analytic hiring within the intelligence community.

While not treated as conclusive, polygraph results often serve as a filter. A candidate’s visible discomfort – or the examiner’s subjective judgment that a response seems evasive – can stall or end the hiring process. For instance, I know that government agencies have halted clearances after an examiner flagged elevated reactions to questions about past drug use or foreign contacts, even when no disqualifying behavior was ultimately documented.

Exterior view of a federal building with an American flag flying on a mast. — The FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover headquarters building in Washington in 2016.
AP Photo/Cliff Owen

In some cases, an examiner’s suggestion that a chart shows an anomaly has led otherwise strong applicants to volunteer details they hadn’t planned to share – such as minor security infractions, undeclared relationships, or casual drug use from decades earlier – that, while not disqualifying on their own, reshape how their trustworthiness is perceived.

The polygraph’s power lies in creating the conditions under which deception is confessed.

A predictable pattern

No administration has been immune to the impulse to investigate leaks. The reflex is bipartisan and familiar: An embarrassing disclosure appears in the press – contradicting official statements or exposing internal dissent – and the White House vows to identify and punish the source. Polygraphs are often part of this ritual.

During his first term, Trump intensified efforts to expose internal dissent and media leaks. Department guidelines were revised to make it easier for agencies to obtain journalists’ phone and email records, and polygraphs were reportedly used to pressure officials suspected of talking to the press. That trend has continued – and, in some areas, escalated.

Recent policies at the Pentagon now restrict unescorted press access, revoke office space for major outlets and favor ideologically aligned networks. The line between legitimate leak prevention and the surveillance or sidelining of critical press coverage has grown increasingly blurred.

At agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, polygraphs are reportedly being used more frequently – and more punitively – to identify internal dissenters. Even “cold cases,” such as the leak of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs opinion ahead of its overturning of Roe v. Wade, have been reopened, despite prior investigations yielding no definitive source.

Government reaction varies

Not all leaks are treated the same. Disclosures that align with official narratives or offer strategic advantage may be quietly tolerated, even if unauthorized. Others, especially those that embarrass senior officials or reveal dysfunction, are more likely to prompt formal investigation.

In 2003, for example, the leak of CIA officer Valerie Plame’s identity – widely seen as retaliation for her husband’s criticism of the Iraq War – triggered a federal investigation. The disclosure embarrassed senior officials, led to White House aide Scooter Libby’s conviction for perjury, later commuted, and drew intense political scrutiny.

A man dressed in a suit and tie rides in the back seat of a car. — Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, rides in the backseat of a limousine on Oct. 27, 2005, in McLean, Va.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

Leaks involving classified material draw the sharpest response when they challenge presidential authority or expose internal disputes. That was the case in 2010 with Chelsea Manning, whose disclosure of diplomatic cables and battlefield reports embarrassed senior officials and sparked global backlash. Government reaction often depends less on what was disclosed than on who disclosed it – and to what effect.

A narrow set of disclosures, such as those involving espionage or operational compromise, elicit broad consensus as grounds for prosecution. But most leaks fall outside that category. Most investigations fade quietly. The public rarely learns what became of them. Occasionally, there is a vague resignation, but direct accountability is rare.

What the future holds

Trump’s polygraph campaign is not likely to eliminate leaks to the press. But they may have a chilling effect that discourages internal candor while diverting investigative energy away from core security priorities.

Even if such campaigns succeed in reducing unauthorized disclosures, they may come at the cost of institutional resilience. Historically, aggressive internal enforcement has been associated with declining morale and reduced information flow – factors that can hinder adaptation to complex threats.

Some researchers have suggested that artificial intelligence may eventually offer reliable tools for detecting deception. One recent assessment raised the possibility, while cautioning that the technology is nowhere near operational readiness.

For now, institutions will have to contend with the tools they have – imperfect, imprecise and more performative than predictive.

As a former US intelligence officer, I am required to submit any written draft, before sharing it with other persons, for prepublication review. I submitted this draft to CIA’s Prepublication Review Board, which responded on 11 June: “No classified information was identified. Therefore, no changes are required for publication or sharing with others.”

– ref. Trump administration’s lie detector campaign against leakers is unlikely to succeed and could divert energy from national security priorities – https://theconversation.com/trump-administrations-lie-detector-campaign-against-leakers-is-unlikely-to-succeed-and-could-divert-energy-from-national-security-priorities-259128