Before the Montgomery County Council Testimony of Alex Koroknay-Palicz On behalf of the National Youth Rights Association on Youth Curfew July 26, 2011 Over the last two weeks I have been asked the same question many times: “What good reason is there for teens to be out after 11?” There are a number of good…
This morning, the Supreme Court released the opinion in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Assn. By a vote of 7-2, the court found that the law was unconstitutional. The opinion of the court drawing a sharp distinction between violence and obscenity, it states that protecting minors from displays of violence is not exempt from the first amendment, and finds that the law is unconstitutional.
In a decision handed down today, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in our favor that video games are protected by the First Amendment and California can’t ban them to young people. The case, formerly Schwarzenegger v. EMA, now Brown v. EMA, is a huge victory for youth rights. NYRA, along with the National Coalition Against…
Young people are often censored and when they are NYRA is there to defend their right to free speech. The first amendment does not enforce itself and it’s of critical importance that there exist organizations willing to fight for the right to speak. NYRA is pleased this month to announce that we have joined the…
NYRA is pleased to announce the nominees for the 2011 NYRA Awards! The Awards were created last year to recognize significant contributions to the field of youth rights, both for and against. The three awards are the Youth Rights Progress Award, the NYRA Achievement Award and Ageist of the Year Award. The Youth Rights Progress…
We talk a lot about how a great deal of anti-youth sentiment comes from the idea that those under 18 aren’t so much people as they are humanoid extensions of their parents. It’s boggling to think about just how deeply this affects a young person, how damaging this really is. Guidance counselors and the like…
On May 1-3 leaders from around the world gathered in Washington, DC to mark World Press Freedom Day, a United Nations organized event promoting freedom of the press. This is the first year the event has been held in the United States. As host, this was a great opportunity for our country to promote the…
There is an interesting back and forth going on right now between two great advocates for student rights, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and StudentActivism.net. Both seem to agree that offensive speech on campus needs to be protected. At issue is whether it must also be condemned. Roger Shibley of FIRE says no,…
Two years ago NYRA joined its first amicus brief, in the case of Safford v. Redding, in which a middle school student was strip searched because school officials suspected she had Ibuprofen. We were proud to help Savana Redding win her case at the US Supreme Court. Last summer NYRA joined an amicus brief in…
Mahwah, NJ Police Chief James Batelli is telling parents they need to steal their kid’s Facebook password. As he did the last time some terribly misinformed local politician got hysterical about invading youth privacy, NYRA President Jeffrey Nadel will be going on CNN’s Headline News to bring reason, common sense and actual facts into the debate. As is typically the case, those advocating infringing upon the rights of youth are lacking in all three.
