Columbia Social Work Review

Reflections from the Editors-In-Chief: Emily Carchia, Ezzie Perez, Sarah Thoman

Emily Carchia — 2026-05-09

Reflections from the Editors-In-Chief 2026

The Plight of Bonded Laborers in India: Experiencing Exploitation and Bondage in the Brick-Kiln Industry

Neha Mallick — 2026-05-09

Atrocities in the form of forced labor, forced servile marriage, debt bondage, and human trafficking, known as modern-day slavery, continue to be used to exploit the most vulnerable. Despite efforts to curb these atrocities, their continued presence reflects deeply entrenched social and economic inequalities. Unfortunately, in India, like in many other South Asian countries, these atrocities are rooted in caste hierarchies, colonial policies, and feudal land ownership practices that continue to shape contemporary realities. Around the 1970s, India made efforts to mitigate such incidents by enacting the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, and designed targeted policies such as the central sector scheme for rehabilitation. At the same time, civil society organizations emerged as the fourth pillar, increasing the system’s accountability. In this essay, we delve deeper into understanding why one of the most exploitative forms of modern slavery, bonded labor, persists in India and how policies have failed to combat such atrocities.

Policy Analysis of Involuntary Psychiatric Hospital Admission in New York

Stephanie Cheng — 2026-05-09

Involuntary hospitalization is used when an individual with serious mental illness is at imminent risk of harming themselves or others. Homelessness and racial disparities in mental health care can contribute to higher risks of involuntary hospitalization. Since 2023, former New York City Mayor Eric Adams proposed the Supportive Interventions Act, which would lower the criteria for transporting to hospitals and involuntarily admitting those who are unable to maintain their basic needs, even with no recent act of harm to self or others. The proposal sparked debate: Some groups believe that involuntary admission is necessary to preserve safety, while others believe it can cause more harm by infringing on the individual’s well-being, autonomy, and dignity. Accordingly, recommendations follow for alternative proposals to provide sustainable care to individuals with serious mental illness. Social workers should advocate for the expansion of community-based programs, provide compassionate and holistic care, and advocate for more research and policy changes to examine biases in mental health care and advance legal rights for people with severe mental health challenges.

Misdiagnosed and Overmedicated: How U.S. Schools Pathologize Black Boys Without Providing Comprehensive Mental Health Care

Kenni Rudd — 2026-05-09

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct-related disorders, including oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD), are commonly used to classify children’s behavior in school settings. When applied appropriately, these diagnoses can support academic and social functioning. However, national disparities in behavioral referral and classification raise concerns about how diagnostic pathways operate for Black boys. This paper examines patterns of ADHD and conduct-related diagnoses among Black boys ages 6 to 14, focusing on how similar behaviors are interpreted and classified differently across racial groups. It argues that Black boys are disproportionately labeled as disruptive or defiant and are more likely to be diagnosed with conduct-related disorders rather than ADHD, even when presenting comparable symptoms as their white peers, reflecting patterns of racialized misclassification. This increases their use of psychiatric medication, while they are less likely to receive counseling, trauma-informed care, or comprehensive mental health support. Drawing on research on adultification bias and structural racism, this paper demonstrates how disparities in diagnosis and treatment are shaped by institutional processes, including referral systems, behavioral documentation, and resource inequities in under resourced schools. It further examines how surveillance practices and diagnostic decision-making influence long-term developmental outcomes. This analysis calls for structural reform grounded in trauma-informed screening, culturally responsive assessment, strengthened Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), and social work–informed practice to promote more equitable school-based mental health evaluation.

The Shackling of Incarcerated Pregnant Women: Analysis of Alternative Policy

Georgia Berry — 2026-05-09

The shackling of pregnant incarcerated individuals, through restraints such as handcuffs, waist chains, and leg irons, is a dehumanizing practice that poses serious physical and mental health risks to both parent and child. This practice is disproportionately imposed on women of color, who are vastly overrepresented in the incarcerated population. Black women are three times more likely than white women to be incarcerated, and women overall represent the fastest-growing segment of the detained population, with an 800% increase over the last 30 years (American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU], 2007; Keyes, 2014). As the number of incarcerated women has grown, so too has the number of pregnancies and births occurring within carceral systems, making the absence of strong anti-shackling protections an urgent public health and civil rights concern. Despite well-documented health risks and widespread recognition of the practice’s discriminatory nature, many states maintain weak laws, and some have no laws, prohibiting the shackling of pregnant women (Bandele, 2017). This policy analysis paper exposes the discriminatory practice of shackling, specifically of marginalized pregnant populations in prison, and proposes steps toward ethical policy alternatives. Using the IRAC framework for legal policy analysis (Issue, Rule, Analysis, Conclusion), this paper examines shackling policies from U.S. regulations to global policies, and from the most humane laws to the most restrictive. From this, we developed concrete policy solutions. The proposed Resilient Mothers Act addresses the needs of the most marginalized—pregnant Black women experiencing incarceration—as a pathway toward broader equity and justice within prison reform efforts.