Blog

The image of a hard-charging prosecutor imploring a jury to throw the book at a defendant is a familiar scene that has played out in the country’s courtrooms—not to mention on its television screens—for decades. But today, that picture is changing as prosecutors and the public are increasingly recognizing the role these lawyers can play in bringing about a fairer and more equitable criminal justice system. Here we examine legislation and policies that have been introduced, and in some cases...

Californian streets lay witness to 25 percent of the country’s total homeless population, with 42 percent of those being chronically homeless — federally defined as a homeless individual with a disabling condition who has been homeless for over a year or having at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years. From 2016 to 2017, the state also saw the largest increase in the number of residents who are homeless — more than 16,000 people. While homelessness in San Francisco is a...

On April 9, the Treasury Department debuted the first details of a new and far-reaching community-based tax incentive. In 18 states, newly designated zones could see a wave of new investment under a little-known provision of the recent tax overhaul. These opportunity zones are designed to lure investment to the nation’s poorest urban, suburban, and rural communities with a powerful tax incentive. By the accounts of some experts, the program could deliver a vital injection to areas that...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Gun deaths have fallen in California over a 16-year period ending in 2015, driven largely by a decline in gang violence and black homicides a recent and rare scientific study of firearm violence has found. Researchers at the University of California, Davis published their findings in the May issue of the journal Annals of Epidemiology after reviewing 50,921 firearm deaths recorded in California between 2000 and 2015. The University provided the study results on Monday. The...

Thanks to an explosion in scientific research now possible with imaging technologies, such as fMRI and SPECT, experts can actually see how the brain develops. This helps explain why exposure to adverse childhood experiences can so deeply influence and change a child's brain and thus their physical and emotional health and quality of life across their lifetime. The above time-lapse study was conducted over 10 years. The darker colors represent brain maturity (brain development). I have added...

The California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity (4CA) in collaboration with ACEs Connection is hosting a three-part webinar learning series for advocates and policymakers interested in addressing childhood adversity through public policy. Advocates across the country are asking how best to address childhood adversity at the local, state and national levels and support the right policies to advance these efforts. Momentum is growing across the country to do just that. In this learning...

But were you ever to suggest talking to a therapist, you'd be hard-pressed to find many service members who would take you up on it. In the military, getting mental health treatment is viewed as a weakness - which, besides the negative stigma, is just plain wrong. There were soldiers who'd give therapy a try, only to leave after a single session and say, "I don't feel better. I need to get back to the unit. I need to help out. This is an hour out of my time when I could be spending that with...

Scholars, analysts, and researchers spend entire careers attempting to reverse the racial disparities and discrimination that pervade the United States criminal justice system. A team of such researchers at the Sentencing Project recently crafted a report to the United Nations on the system's racial disparities. Senior Research Analyst Nazgol Ghandnoosh spoke with Pacific Standard about the report and some ways to combat the racial disparities it revealed. [For more on this story by ASHLEY...

Every kid has that moment when she realizes that the adults she admires aren’t perfect. Few children ever learn, however, that the same is true for the inventors and intellectual giants whose distinguished portraits permeate their history textbooks. As it turns out, recognizing that visionaries such as Albert Einstein experienced failure can actually help students perform better in school. In 2016, the cognitive-studies researcher Xiaodong Lin-Siegler of Columbia University’s Teachers...

If you have ever run a marathon, you know that the effort can cause elation, exhaustion, achy legs, blackened toenails and an overwhelming urge to eat. But it is unlikely to have made you vulnerable to colds or other illnesses afterward, according to a myth-busting new review of the latest science about immunity and endurance exercise. The review concludes that, contrary to widespread belief, a long, tiring workout or race can amplify immune responses, not suppress them. [For more on this...

In a recent op-ed in The New York Times, “ How Genetics is Changing Our Understanding of Race ,” the geneticist David Reich challenged what he called an “orthodoxy” in genetics. Due to concerns of political correctness, he argued, scientists are unwilling to do research on—or, in some cases, even discuss—genetic variation between human populations, despite the fact that genetic variations do exist. “It is simply no longer possible to ignore average genetic differences among ‘races,’” he...

Heads up, cities: Economic growth does not necessarily go hand-in-hand with economic and racial inclusion. That’s the finding of a new, in-depth analysis by the Urban Institute (UI) of the 274 largest cities in America. The report and accompanying data tool show how economic shifts in these cities since the 1980s have corresponded with “inclusion”—the ability of low-income residents and people of color to benefit from and contribute to the city’s economic gains. To demonstrate that, the...