Brief
This issue brief highlights the benefits of increasing the use of community-based alternatives for youth rather than incarceration in Illinois. It explains the use of incarceration has consequences that leave youth more likely to commit another crime and less likely to succeed in school, find employment, and become financially secure in the long run. It notes community-based approaches that promote rehabilitation are less expensive and that evidence-based therapies delivered in the community can reduce recidivism rates by more than 15% while helping youth remain in their community. Steps for…
Brief
This mixed-method evaluation examined five community-based initiatives in Washington State intended to prevent child maltreatment and exposure to toxic stress, mitigate their effects, and improve child and youth development outcomes. The study had two phases. During the first phase (2013–2014), the research team assessed operational contexts, strategies used to increase community capacity to prevent ACEs, and impact at the county level. In the second phase (2015–2016), the researchers examined the extent to which sites developed capacity to achieve their goals, and the relationship of select…
Brief
The federal government created the child support program in the 1970s to secure financial and medical support for children whose parents live separately. Today, the program collects $32 billion per year in child support payments and serves more than 16 million children and families. Still, about 35 percent of child support obligations go unpaid each month. Parents who do not pay often lack the ability to do so, due to unemployment, disability, incarceration, or other (sometimes multiple) barriers. These parents leave a significant amount of child support unpaid, and collecting that support…
