Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • The Kim Foxx Effect: How Prosecutions Have Changed in Cook County

    In her first two and a half years in office as Chicago’s top prosecutor, Kim Foxx lived up to her campaign pledge to prosecute fewer low-level crimes, divert drug cases to treatment, and focus more on gun violence. An analysis of an unprecedented data release shows that Foxx’s office turned away more than 5,000 cases, mostly shoplifting and drug offenses, based on her vow to stop over-criminalizing behavior in ways that ruin lives. Meanwhile, her office prosecuted more gun crimes. Police complained her policies will increase crime, but in the short term at least there was no evidence that they had.

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  • The Navajo Nation is getting addresses, thanks to an open-source mapping program used in urban India

    The Navajo Nation will have the option of having physical addresses with the help of the Rural Utah Project which partnered with Google to implement open-source mapping technology. The technology was successfully implemented in India, where some residents who have never had home addresses were finally able to access government services, create bank accounts and receive mail for the first time. Navajo Nation members approached Google after hearing about the possibility at a conference where the technology was being hailed a success in refugee camps and slums across the world.

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  • Restorative Justice: Healing Instead of Incarceration

    Prosecutors in Brooklyn and Bronx divert some violent crime cases away from traditional courts to a program called Common Justice, which gives victims a greater say in the outcome – an outcome chosen by 9 out of 10 victims served by the agency because it provides a more healing alternative to the incarceration that has caused so many social problems in their neighborhoods. Through restorative justice dialog between victims and those who harmed them, agreements are forged whereby the responsible party will atone for his crime through restitution, community service, or other means.

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  • Suicide Is Preventable. Hospitals and Doctors Are Finally Catching Up

    Medical professionals throughout the United States are starting to implement mental health screenings during routine care in order to better assess those at risk of suicide. Using a combination of health records and questionnaires to flag which patients should have continued follow-ups, clinics and primary care specialists prioritization of suicide intervention is already showing significant results.

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  • Flock Safety Says Its License Plate Readers Reduce Crime. It's Not That Simple

    Cobb County, Georgia installed new license plate surveillance technology, loaned to them by the Atlanta-based company, Flock Safety. After installation, the test area saw a dramatic decrease in crime, to which Flock took credit for but experts say the connection could be due to a number of things. Furthermore, while surveillance technology has been correlated with decreased crime, communities have called into question issues of personal privacy versus public safety.

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  • Youth suicide prevention that works

    New Hampshire K-12 schools are trying a variety of different initiatives to try to reduce the rates of suicide amongst youth. So far, two school-based prevention programs – one used in New Hampshire and one used in Sweden – have shown evidence of success. Both teach students how to recognize signs of depression and suicide risk and have reduced the rate of suicidal thoughts and attempts.

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  • A Police Department's Difficult Assignment: Atonement

    The city of Stockton police department has embarked on a number of initiatives in the hopes of building trust between them and the communities they work for. With initial funding from the Department of Justice, the department began truth-and-reconciliation processes, including workshops, departmental reforms, public apologies, and community conversations. Actual reconciliation is hard to measure, and yet their efforts to atone for their part in historic and systemic racism have shown positive results.

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  • Changing Behavior: Economic Incentives

    Cities across the world are learning that a tax on sugary drinks can help to shift purchasing habits and reduce the risks of health problems such as diabetes, heart attacks, and stroke. As a Boulder council member explained, modifying the behavior of consumers is possible when you "tax the behavior you don’t want and use the money to encourage behavior you do."

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  • There are too many wild horses out there. Here's why that's a problem for the West

    After struggling to control the rapidly growing wild horse population in the West, organizations and local governments across the region collaborate to plan adoptions, humane roundups, and other techniques to control the multiplying population. Though governments struggle to incorporate horses into urban life, they have seen an increase in wild horse and burro adoption in the past two years because of their efforts.

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  • An alternative to police: Mental health team responds to emergencies in Oregon

    In Eugene, Oregon, the Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets (CAHOOTS) initiative is providing a police-free response to mental health crises in the community. The mobile mental health unit responds to calls involving individuals with mental health issues, are trained in de-escalation, and provide in-the-moment services like transportation or access to wrap around services. These types of services have become more popular, with cities around the country piloting them.

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