Increased Collaboration Between Jails and Communities Can Improve the Return of Inmates to Society (Press Release)Author(s): The Urban Institute"Life after Lockup: Improving Reentry from Jail to the Community" is the first national resource focusing on jail inmates' transition from incarceration to society. It presents an overview of U.S. jails and their population and how reentry from jail differs markedly from reentry from state and federal prisons. The report examines concrete reentry steps, profiles 42 reentry programs around the country, and explores probation's role in the process. A companion report, "The Jail Administrators' Toolkit for Reentry," is a handbook on assessment of inmates' needs, identifying community resources, educating the public, and measuring success.
| Posted: May 15, 2008 | Availability: HTML |
Book Probes Tax issues Facing the Next President and Congress, Offers Policy Lessons (Press Release)Author(s): The Urban InstituteEugene Steuerle's Contemporary U.S. Tax Policy, second edition, details how federal tax policy since the 1950s has evolved and trains an expert's eye on its considerable successes, shortfalls, and problems. He prefaces his account with an explanation of important tax policy principles and an overview of the main actors and their changing roles. Steuerle closes his engaging narrative with a perceptive analysis of President George Bush's unsuccessful second-term efforts to use commissions to reform Social Security and to rewrite the tax code.
| Posted: May 14, 2008 | Availability: HTML |
"Disturbing Levels of CEO Dissatisfaction With Board Performance" at Midsize Nonprofits, Study Finds (Press Release)Author(s): The Urban InstituteMost heads of midsize nonprofits give their trustees low marks for fundraising and monitoring board performance, an Urban Institute study of nonprofits with annual expenses between $500,000 and $5 million has found.
| Posted: May 08, 2008 | Availability: HTML |
New Edition of Nonprofit Almanac Offers Detailed Portrait of an Expanding Sector (Press Release)Author(s): The Urban InstituteThe Nonprofit Almanac 2008, from the Urban Institute Press, offers data and facts charting the sector’s recent evolution. The statistics-packed volume can help nonprofit managers, researchers, the press, and the public better understand changes in the sector and its economic role.
| Posted: May 02, 2008 | Availability: HTML |
Bush-Era Tax Cuts Depart From History of America War Finance (Press Release)Author(s): The Urban InstituteWar and Taxes, to be released May 6 by the Urban Institute Press, chronicles the political arguments, economic conditions, and public opinions that made it possible for previous presidents and Congresses to raise taxes, sell bonds, and cut domestic spending to pay for wars. The authors contrast the tax hikes enacted to support previous military operations with the extraordinary tax cuts Americans have enjoyed during the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—all without overstating previous generations' enthusiasm for wartime sacrifice.
| Posted: April 30, 2008 | Availability: HTML |
Massachusetts Inmates Report High Use of Prison Program, But Face Postrelease Challenges With Substance Abuse and Limited Employment (Press Release)Author(s): The Urban InstituteFormer prisoners in Massachusetts are back behind bars at a significantly lower rate than the national average, new research from the Urban Institute and the Massachusetts Department of Correction finds. Thirty-nine percent of the 1,786 male inmates released in 2002 by the Department of Correction (DOC) were in prison again within three years, compared with the national average of 53 percent. Interviews with 178 men who returned to prison show that substance use and employment instability ranked among their greatest challenges while in the community.
| Posted: April 30, 2008 | Availability: HTML |
Despite Little Experience, Teach for America Educators Outpace Veterans in Drawing Achievement from Students (Press Release)Author(s): The Urban InstituteTeach for America teachers may be new to the profession, but they are generally more effective than their experienced colleagues, finds a new Urban Institute analysis. On average, high school students taught by TFA corps members performed significantly better on state-required end-of-course exams, especially in math and science, than peers taught by far more experienced instructors. The TFA teachers' effect on student achievement in core classroom subjects was nearly three times the effect of teachers with three or more years of experience. The study is the first investigation of the impact of TFA in high schools.
| Posted: March 27, 2008 | Availability: HTML |
As D.C. Housing Market Slows, Affordability Concerns Remain (Press Release)Author(s): The Urban InstituteSingle-family home prices in the District of Columbia rose nearly 7 percent between the second quarters of 2006 and 2007 despite a decline in sales volume, according to the latest issue of District of Columbia Housing Monitor. Prices of condominiums declined slightly.
| Posted: March 26, 2008 | Availability: HTML |
Each Death Sentence in Maryland Costs $3 Million, Finds Groundbreaking Study (Press Release)Author(s): The Urban InstituteA new Urban Institute study finds that each death sentence in Maryland costs the state $3 million on average for adjudication and incarceration - $1.9 million more than other murder cases in which prosecutors could have sought the death penalty but did not. More complex trials, costlier appeals, and more expensive death-row prison space contribute to the death sentence's higher cost.
| Posted: March 06, 2008 | Availability: HTML |
Health Problems, Common Among Former Prisoners, Hamper Their Successful Return to Society (Press Release)Author(s): The Urban InstituteMost former prisoners grapple with health problems while trying to make the already-difficult transition back into the community, says a new Urban Institute report. Returning prisoners with physical, mental, or substance-abuse conditions have more trouble than other ex-prisoners refraining from committing new crimes or staying out of prison, and many fare poorly in finding housing and employment.
| Posted: February 27, 2008 | Availability: HTML |
