View Research by Author - Elizabeth Davies

Publications

This brief provides an overview of the Urban Institute research on CHA families since 2001. It describes how most former residents now live in better housing in safer neighborhoods. Those who got intensive case management and supportive services through the Chicago Family Case Management Demonstration have significantly lower rates of depression, better physical health, and higher rates of employment. However, even with these gains, many adults struggle with extremely high rates of debilitating chronic illnesses that prevent them from finding full-time employment and many children still grapple with the fallout from growing up with chronic violence.

Demonstration participants, who were particularly vulnerable and hard to house in 2007, received intensive supportive services focused on improving family stability, mental health, and self-sufficiency. Our analysis finds significant gains in employment for working-age Demonstration participants living in traditional public housing (and subject to the CHA work requirement). In contrast, the health of Panel Study respondents—comparable CHA residents who did not receive intensive services— deteriorated steadily over the past decade. Despite these overall positive results, chronic disease remains a major challenge and mortality rates for these CHA residents are shockingly high.

Twenty-eight states and the federal government have enacted laws authorizing DNA collection from individuals arrested for or charged with certain offenses. Despite their widespread adoption, little is known about how these laws affect collecting agencies and crime laboratories responsible for their implementation. This article explores how key provisions in arrestee DNA legislation influence DNA collection and analysis. Information was derived from a review of state and federal laws and from interviews with crime laboratory representatives in 26 states that have passed arrestee DNA legislation. This data collection is part of an NIJ-funded Urban Institute project examining arrestee DNA collection.

In many cities and counties, inmate health care comprises as much as a third of the cost of the corrections department. Options are presented on ways to substantially reduce the costs without reducing the quality of the care. We drew on practices of jails and prison across the nation. The approaches for cost reduction include ways to reduce demand or need for health care (e.g., screening need for hospitalization), and ways to reduce the cost per inmate when care is need (e.g. use of telemedicine.)

This evaluation of the Transition from Prison to the Community (TPC) initiative found improved collaboration among participating state agencies and their service provider partners and identified enhanced efforts to employ risk/needs assessments, assess program quality, and monitor performance. Developed and funded by the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), TPC provided states with support and guidance in preparing prisoners for release, facilitating their transition to the community, and overcoming barriers to reintegration.

This white paper discusses how state efforts to reduce the growth of prison populations can affect local criminal justice systems. Although these state strategies – which typically focus on policies governing sentencing, inmate release and transfer, and supervision violation response - have the potential to greatly benefit both the offender and the community, they can strain the resources and capacity of jails, supervision officers, and community-based providers. Likewise, local actors may respond to these strategies with policies and practices that conflict with state prison population management efforts. Recommendations on how state and local stakeholders can avoid these unintended outcomes are provided.

This report examines federal agencies that are using data-driven performance reviews to improve agency effectiveness and efficiency. It draws from practices of agencies, including state and local governments. In their research, the authors identify three prerequisites to successful performance reviews: interested and engaged leadership; timely performance measures; staff that can analyze the measures before the performance review meetings.

This report is designed to help the corrections community, service providers and community groups prepare prisoners for the moment of release from prison and the time immediately following release. It describes the eight most basic and immediate needs returning prisoners have when they exit prison, recommends minimum policies practitioners can institute to meet these needs, and highlights the opportunities and challenges practitioners face when trying to improve their release planning policies. The report also uses the results of a UI survey of 43 departments of corrections to illustrate what release planning procedures are currently being implemented across the country.

This report presents interim findings of the Urban Institute's evaluation of the Gang Reduction Program (GRP), a $10 million, multi-year, federal initiative to reduce gang crime in Los Angeles, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; North Miami Beach, Florida; and Richmond, Virginia. The evaluation found substantial variation in collaboration levels among partners in each site, but each site achieved significant implementation successes. The effects of GRP in each site were mixed, and only one site, Los Angeles, showed a significant reduction in crime levels. By late 2007, however, three sites had undertaken significant steps towards sustaining GRP beyond the federal funding period.

In order to better understand the experiences and needs of children with incarcerated parents, Urban Institute researchers sought the perspectives of mentors who work closely with these children. In partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters organizations in Baltimore, Maryland; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Washington, D.C., researchers convened seven focus groups with mentors of children with incarcerated parents. Discussions focused on the children’s living situations, relationships with their incarcerated parents and other family members, and emotional and behavioral outcomes. Findings reveal considerable variation within this population, including significant differences in the experiences of children with incarcerated mothers and those with incarcerated fathers.

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