Current Thinking

The official debut, today, of the Center on Victimization and Safety has me thinking about the importance of collaboration, one of the center’s key values.

Vera’s policy brief about the HOPE program emphasizes an important point: HOPE is based on a simple idea that is a challenge to actually put into practice—and that means following all of the program’s features and bringing all of the players in the system together to operate differently—and most important, faster.

Imagine sending e-mail to a loved one in prison, or taking a virtual tour of the facility online. Corrections departments in Michigan and California are among a growing number of states that are using technology to help families stay connected.

Recently, I conducted a site visit for Vera’s Unaccompanied Children Program, which helps legal service providers increase pro bono legal representation for immigrant children who have no parent or guardian to help them as they undergo removal (deportation) proceedings. The provider that I visited uses a host of child-friendly tools to inform unaccompanied children about their legal rights, the U.S. legal system, and why they are being removed. One of the most innovative tools I saw was the court tour.

In a series of six short podcasts, you can hear Steve Aos of the Washington State Institute for Public Policy discuss the agency’s approach to reducing crime and saving money.

New York City is signaling a real commitment to detaining fewer kids and making sure they get the care they need.

Tim Lewis, a middle-aged black man with a history of incarceration and drug abuse, was called to the “straight life” with a mission to bring Little League baseball back to a neighborhood that had lost its program decades earlier.