Students at the University of Kassel have conducted a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the PEN America List of Banned Books 2024/25. Read on to discover what they found. The dataset can be accessed in the Excel file titled “PEN America Book Bans_Analysed.” Do you believe books are permanently and freely available to you? Do…
The extent of prison censorship in the United States of America is enormous. To date, the Kasseler Liste has recorded 25,000 banned titles, making visible how adults are being denied access to knowledge and education. This documentation is made possible by the Freedom of Information Act which enables the public to access this information from…
Most people are familiar with the problem of dual use: goods that have been manufactured for civilian use but that can also be used for military purposes. They can be used for ‘good’ or for ‘bad.’ This seems to be precisely the logic behind the ban on sex for American prisoners. In any case, there…
What is “the most pervasive form of censorship in the United States”? It is carceral censorship. In general, censorship in the USA is currently increasing from year to year. Freedom of expression – and thus also the freedom to say, write and read – is in principle a universal human right enshrined in the US…
In Texas prisons, censorship is practiced on a large scale. Strict correspondence rules and practices apply. Following a class action lawsuit in 1971, many of these restrictions were declared unconstitutional in several rulings, culminating in a settlement in 1983. However, this settlement was restricted by the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) in the 1990s and…
Military dictatorships shaped many Latin American countries in the 20th century. Dictatorial rule in Brazil lasted from 1964 to 1985. It was a time of extensive and harsh censorship. The history of Brazilian censorship, however, goes back to the 16th century, the century of colonization. The state of Brazil became independent in 1822, but censorship…
Since the Haitian Revolution in 1804, Haiti has been a country in which political power struggles determine the lives of its nearly 11.8 million inhabitants. Following the assassination of President Jovene Moïse in 2021, there is currently no stable state structure, with rival gangs controlling large parts of the country. The other part of the…
Like many other countries in the last decades, Guyana became progressively more authoritarian due to the rise of a populist party. Freedom of expression is restricted by ruling parties in order to keep unwelcome criticism to a minimum. A large illiberal party fights for political supremacy against a broad opposition alliance. Once in power, one…
According to the constitution, there is no censorship in Mexico. Article 7 states that the freedom to disseminate opinions, information and ideas is inviolable; no law or authority shall impose prior censorship. This makes Mexico’s position in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders all the more harrowing: ranked 121st, it is…
On September 11th, 1973, Augusto Pinochet orchestrated his coup against socialist president Salvador Allende, effectively implementing a military dictatorship. He soon passed the National Law for Internal Security which increased penalties for violating the Press Law and established the institution DINACOS (the National Information Directorate) which was responsible for censoring the written word and the…
