Current Thinking

An article by Vera's Ryan Shanahan describes the development and pilot of a tool the Family Justice Program is using in juvenile justice facilities.

Research shows that being placed in isolation has dramatic negative effects on individuals, including prisoners. During the past several years, corrections officials in Mississippi and Ohio, with James Austin, president of the JFA Institute, tested alternatives to long-term segregation and safely reduced the number of prisoners held in segregation by approximately 80 percent. In 2010, Vera staff began to work with Austin and the departments of corrections in two additional states to reduce the numbers of prisoners in long-term segregation in their jurisdictions using similar methods.

Will police departments nationwide follow DC's example and eliminate barriers to communication with Deaf and hard of hearing crime victims?

You can contribute to a New York City kid's chance at a paid internship that could have a life-changing impact.

It's official and a real advance: the criminal provisions of the Violence Against Women Act apply to cases of intimate partner violence in gay and lesbian relationships.

Through the Inside Out Loud project, an exhibit of artwork done by young people detained in Washington, DC, gives us an opportunity to recognize their talents and potential.

Rates of housing foreclosure throughout the United States have more than doubled since 2006, and the effect on individuals, neighborhoods, and communities has been both clear and devastating. In response, the Open Society Institute launched the Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative to, among other things, help stabilize communities while providing transitional employment and training to individuals who are unemployed and underemployed. Vera researchers are now exploring options and approaches for evaluating the impact of some of the initiative’s pilot projects on their targeted communities.