Malika Ali ‘26 is an International Relations & Classics double major with an intended minor in Arabic. She grew up in Carteret, NJ, but moved around during the COVID-19 pandemic before settling in Lewisburg, PA. Malika is very interested in law and justice and hopes to eventually attend law school after graduating Bucknell. She is specifically interested in public policy and criminal justice.
Her project focuses on studying the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the criminal justice system. Specifically, she aims to analyze how the pandemic led to changes in prosecution rates, arrests, and incarcerations, highlighting inequities that arose such as increased risk of exposure, reduced access to legal representation, and overcrowding. Additionally, her research considers the impact of social movements like Black Lives Matter and the heightened media coverage of police brutality, which also influenced changes in law enforcement and procedures.