Congress Should Vote to Seat the Cherokee Nation Delegate

 

 In 1835, over one-quarter of the Cherokee Nation perished on the “The Trail of Tears” when the Cherokee people were forcibly removed from their homelands. It remains one of the darkest chapters in American history. The same document the federal government used to remove the Cherokee and take the land — the Treaty of New Echota — also guaranteed the tribe a voice in Congress. It is a longstanding agreement without an expiration date. It’s as binding today as it was 200 years ago.

Nearly two hundred years later, the promise remains unfulfilled. It's time for the U.S. government to honor its obligation and seat the Cherokee Nation’s Delegate-Designee, Kim Teehee, in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

Contact your Member of Congress and tell them to vote to seat Kim Teehee as the Cherokee Nation delegate in the U.S. House during this session.

Passage of the Respect for Marriage Act is critical to defend marriage equality

 This week, Congress has the opportunity to defend marriage equality for same-sex and interracial couples by advancing the Respect for Marriage Act. If passed, it will repeal the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, which for many years excluded legally married same-sex couples from accessing federal rights and benefits of marriage. It would also enshrine marriage equality in federal law and require nationwide recognition of all valid marriages without discrimination based on sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin.

If you agree that the government should not interfere with individuals' right to marry the person they love, then tell your senators to pass the Respect for Marriage Act.

Passage of the Respect for Marriage Act is critical to defend marriage equality and protect the rights of millions of families and children across the country.

To reduce racial inequality in the criminal justice system, government should explore ways to reduce police stops, detention, and long sentences

 To reduce racial inequality in the U.S. criminal justice system, local, state, and federal government should explore ways to reduce police stops and searches, jail detention, prison admission, and long sentences, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

The report recommends governments explore coordinated policy reforms across each stage of the criminal justice system — pointing to drug sentencing reform, providing “second look” provisions for long sentences, eliminating revocations of community supervision for technical violations, and eliminating the death penalty as examples of reforms that could reduce racial inequality while maintaining public safety. Moreover, governments should also explore reforms that address economic, environmental, educational, and public health disparities.

Reducing Racial Inequality in Crime and Justice: Science, Practice, and Policy says research has documented substantial racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice process. Black Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans all experience higher rates of arrest, pre-trial detention, incarceration, and community supervision compared to White people. While racial disparities in incarceration have declined over the last two decades, these communities still face relatively high rates of imprisonment. The impacts of disproportionate contact with the criminal justice system for Black, Latino, and Native American communities also persist.  

Racial inequality in criminal justice is tied to current and historical inequalities in crime and neighborhood conditions, says the report. Because of these ties, criminal justice reforms that aim to reduce inequality could be amplified by also addressing social inequalities.

“Research tells us that the relationship between racial inequality in criminal justice and racial inequality more broadly is a pernicious and persistent feedback loop,” said Khalil Gibran Muhammad, professor of history, race, and public policy at Harvard Kennedy School and co-chair of the committee that wrote the report. “These perpetuating effects of inequality can lead to continual criminal justice involvement for individuals, severely impacting neighborhoods and communities.”

Trends in Criminal Justice Disparities

The report highlights key trends in crime and criminal justice disparities, including:

• Homicide Victimization – Racial disparities among those who are victims of homicide have grown since 2010, with Black Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos at higher risk of being homicide victims than Asian Americans or White individuals. These disparities grew as homicide rates rose sharply from 2014 to 2016, and again between 2019 and now.
• Police Interactions and Arrests – Police officers stop and search Black Americans at rates higher than those from other racial and ethnic groups.
• Pre-trial Detention – Per-capita jail populations for Black Americans averaged well over three times the rates for both White individuals and Latinos between 2005 and 2019.
• Sentencing and Correction – The Latino-White incarceration rate disparity narrowed from 1999 to 2018, along with a decline in the Black-White disparity in incarceration. For Native Americans, however, there was a widening in incarceration rates relative to White people.
• Community Supervision – The probation population dropped by almost 20 percent between 2007 and 2019, but an overrepresentation of Black Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans remained.

Community-Driven Approaches to Advance Safety and Racial Equity

“With a rise in urban homicide rates since 2020, there have been calls to scale back recent criminal justice reforms. But research shows it is possible to improve outcomes for communities that feel the worst effects of criminal justice inequality without increasing crime,” added Bruce Western, Bryce Professor of Sociology and Social Justice and director of the Justice Lab at Columbia University, and committee co-chair. “Violent crime is a racial equity issue, and there are many significant examples of reducing crime while also reducing racial disparities in the criminal justice system.”

The report recommends federal and state agencies explore the significant expansion and evaluation of community-driven programs to improve safety and reduce harm from the criminal justice system. Community-driven approaches include initiatives in which residents build capacity to prevent violence through violence interruption programs, or efforts to enhance accountability and transparency among law enforcement. Research shows suggestive but incomplete results as to the effectiveness of community-driven approaches, and additional research is needed, as results are mixed across studies and locations, the report says.

Federal agencies and philanthropic organizations should also support research examining tribal models of justice, to better understand the potential for Indigenous-based approaches to be used in non-tribal communities and to reduce racial inequalities. The report recommends additional research to provide data on views of resident safety. Research funders should support a variety of research methodologies to expand the available evidence base from which to build solutions. The report also emphasizes the importance of engaging communities that have direct experience with the criminal justice system as partners in policy design, implementation, and research.

Report: Connecticut Ranks Second in Prosperity Despite Pandemic and Economic Challenges

Majority of states are enjoying pre-pandemic levels of prosperity according to new report by Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream and Legatum Institute

WASHINGTON, November 14, 2022 – Connecticut ranks second in overall prosperity according to the American Dream Prosperity Index (ADPI), released this month by the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream in partnership with Legatum Institute. The United States continues to see a rise in prosperity, even as we faced the long-term impacts of a pandemic and the economic realities of rising inflation and a shrinking economy. But while the overall trend points to a prosperous nation, prosperity continues to be unequally distributed regionally, often eluding rural communities and Black Americans.

Prosperity is a multidimensional concept which the American Dream Prosperity Index seeks to measure, explore, and understand. The framework of the Index captures prosperity through three equally-weighted domains which are the essential foundations of prosperity — Inclusive Societies, Open Economies, and Empowered People. These domains are made up of 11 pillars of prosperity, built upon 49 actionable policy areas, and are underpinned by more than 200 reliable indicators.

Using these pillars, Connecticut ranks second in overall prosperity, just behind Massachusetts. Connecticut’s strengths include ranking first in natural environment and governance, third in health, fourth in education, fourth in infrastructure, and fifth in personal freedom. According to the Index, Connecticut has improved most on safety and security and infrastructure pillar rankings but continues to fall behind in economic quality (ranked 32^nd) and social capital (ranked 27^th).

 

“While our nation faces many challenges including record inflation, increased gun violence, and a deteriorating mental health landscape, we are encouraged by the resiliency of communities across our country as they work to create prosperous lives for their residents,” said the Center’s President Kerry Healey. “The American Dream Prosperity Index was founded on the principle that better data leads to better decisions and outcomes. It is our goal to make this report one of the most important tools for local, state and federal lawmakers and civic leaders.”

“We are encouraged by the steady rebound of prosperity post-pandemic, even in the face of unique regional challenges,” said Legatum Institute CEO Philippa Stroud. “The foundations of the U.S. economy continue to stand strong, particularly due to the innovative entrepreneurial mindset that Americans are known for. This forward momentum highlights the genuine push towards prosperity in the face of continued adversity.”

Across the country, millions of Americans are facing challenges that continue to threaten prosperity. According to the 2022 ADPI, since 2012, all states apart from North Dakota have increased their prosperity, but prosperity remains unequally shared across and within states. For most people, 2022 has been a year of progress as the nation continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and as the economy strengthens. However, this increase in prosperity is tempered by rising gun violence in nearly every state. Also detrimental to the nation’s prosperity is the deteriorating mental health of America, marked by a rise in suicides and opioid-related deaths, even as Americans’ overall health continues to improve.

ADPI’s key findings also point to waning social cohesion across the country as another roadblock to U.S. prosperity. This is seen in the decreasing number of Americans who have helped a stranger, donated money to charity, volunteered or frequently talked to a neighbor.

ADPI National Patterns toward Greater Prosperity:

• In 2022, 26 states have recovered to pre-pandemic levels of overall prosperity, with Oklahoma, New Jersey and New Mexico seeing the biggest improvement. Reasons for the improvement in these states vary, but economic factors such as the increasing number of entrepreneurs played a key role in the post-pandemic rebound and bodes well for further improvement.
• Over the past decade, Americans' physical health have improved. Since 2012, rates of smoking have fallen by nearly a third, excessive alcohol use has decreased by 17% and pain reliever misuse has decreased by 21%. 
• The long-term downward trend in property crime is an encouraging development across the United States, with all but six states improving over the past decade.

ADPI Key Findings:

• While U.S. prosperity rebounded post-pandemic in 2022, current record inflation threatens this recovery
• In 2022, Prosperity has increased in every state except North Dakota, but this progress remains unequally distributed within state and local communities and across ethnic groups
• High and rising gun violence in nearly every state is impacting American’s individual sense of security and prosperity
• Mental health has deteriorated in every state, including increased deaths of despair
• A continuing decline in social cohesion and group relationships at all levels of society creates barriers to prosperity.

Although the data does highlight a substantial number of barricades to prosperity, ADPI can be used to craft unique solutions across all levels of government. A deeper examination of prosperity, prompted by the Index, can reveal individual issues that each state can tackle in order to advance the prosperity of its citizens. This push towards the development of local data-led initiatives, rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach, is essential for transformation across the country.

The Index has been designed to benefit a wide range of users, including state and county leaders, policymakers, investors, business leaders, philanthropists, journalists, researchers and U.S. citizens.

View the 2022 ADPI here.

View Connecticut’s state profile here.

View the state-by-state prosperity rankings here.

View state-by-state rankings in specific categories by clicking on the category below.

• Safety and Security
• Personal Freedom
• Governance
• Social Capital
• Business Environment
• Infrastructure
• Economic Quality
• Living Conditions
• Health
• Education
• Natural Environment

 

Report: Prosperity in the U.S. is on the Rise Despite Pandemic and Economic Challenges, Though Progress is Unequal

Majority of states enjoying pre-pandemic levels of prosperity according to new report by the Legatum Institute and the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream

Contact: Paul Guequierre, Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, pguequierre@mcaad.org

WASHINGTON, November 2, 2022 – In 2022, the United States saw a post-pandemic rise in prosperity, even as the country faced the long-term impacts of COVID-19 and the economic realities of rising inflation and a shrinking economy. While the overall trend points to a more prosperous nation, regional prosperity continues to be unequally distributed, often eluding rural communities and Black Americans. This is according to the American Dream Prosperity Index (ADPI), released today by the Legatum Institute in partnership with the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream. This new nonpartisan Index brings together more than 200 indicators gathered from over 90 separate data sources and provides a comprehensive picture of prosperity across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and nearly 1,500 counties across 17 selected states.    

“While our nation faces many challenges including record inflation, increased gun violence, and a deteriorating mental health landscape, we are encouraged by the resiliency of communities across our country as they work to create prosperous lives for their residents,” said the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream President Kerry Healey. “The American Dream Prosperity Index was founded on the principle that better data leads to better decisions and outcomes. It is our goal to make this report one of the most important tools for local, state and federal lawmakers and civic leaders.”

“We are encouraged by the steady rebound of prosperity post-pandemic, even in the face of unique regional challenges,” said Legatum Institute CEO Philippa Stroud. “The foundations of the U.S. economy continue to stand strong, particularly due to the innovative entrepreneurial mindset that Americans are known for. This forward momentum highlights the genuine push towards prosperity in the face of continued adversity.”

Across the country, millions of Americans are facing challenges that continue to threaten prosperity. According to the 2022 ADPI, since 2012, all states apart from North Dakota have increased their prosperity, but prosperity remains unequally shared across and within states. For many people, 2022 has been a year of progress as the nation continues to economically recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this long-term rise in prosperity is tempered by rising gun violence in nearly every state. Since 2012, mental health has deteriorated in America, marked by a rise in suicides and opioid-related deaths, even as Americans’ overall health continues to improve.

ADPI’s key findings also point to waning social capital across the country as another roadblock to U.S. prosperity. In comparing the social capital pillar results from 2012 to 2022, there is a decreasing number of Americans who have helped a stranger, donated money to charity, volunteered, or frequently talked to a neighbor.

ADPI National Patterns toward Greater Prosperity:

• In 2022, 26 states have recovered to pre-pandemic levels of overall prosperity, with Oklahoma, New Jersey and New Mexico seeing the biggest improvement. Reasons for the improvement in these states vary, but economic factors such as the increasing number of entrepreneurs played a key role in the post-pandemic rebound and bodes well for further improvement.
• Over the past decade, Americans' physical health have improved. Since 2012, rates of smoking have fallen by nearly a third, excessive alcohol use has decreased by 17% and pain reliever misuse has decreased by 21%. 
• The long-term downward trend in property crime is an encouraging development across the United States, with all but seven states improving over the past decade.

ADPI Key Findings:

• While U.S. prosperity rebounded post-pandemic in 2022; looking forward inflation may threaten further progress.
• U.S. prosperity increased across America in all states in varying degrees, except in North Dakota; but it remains unequally distributed within states.
• High and rising gun crime, across all but six states, is impacting Americans’ individual sense of their security.
• Mental health levels have weakened in all states.
• A continuing decline in social cohesion and group relationships at all levels of America’s society risks impeding a common resolve to addressing the barriers to prosperity.

Although the data does highlight a substantial number of barricades to prosperity, ADPI can be used to craft unique solutions across all levels of government. A deeper examination of prosperity, prompted by the Index, can reveal individual issues that each state can tackle in order to advance the prosperity of its citizens. This push towards the development of local data-led initiatives, rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach, is essential for transformation across the country.

Prosperity is a multidimensional concept which the American Dream Prosperity Index seeks to measure, explore, and understand. The framework of the Index captures prosperity through three equally-weighted domains which are the essential foundations of prosperity — Inclusive Societies, Open Economies, and Empowered People. These domains are made up of 11 pillars of prosperity, built upon 49 actionable policy areas, and are underpinned by more than 200 reliable indicators, brought together from over 90 distinct data sources.

The Index has been designed to benefit a wide range of users, including state and county leaders, policymakers, investors, business leaders, philanthropists, journalists, researchers and U.S. citizens.

View the 2022 ADPI here.

View the state-by-state prosperity rankings here.

View state-by-state rankings in specific categories by clicking on the category below.

• Safety and Security
• Personal Freedom
• Governance 
• Social Capital
• Business Environment 
• Infrastructure 
• Economic Quality
• Living Conditions
• Health
• Education
• Natural Environnent

Reducing childhood poverty could cut criminal convictions by almost a quarter, study shows

 

Brazilian researchers interviewed 1,905 children twice in seven years and analyzed 22 risk factors that can influence human development. An article on the study is published in Scientific Reports.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO

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A significant reduction in childhood poverty could cut criminal convictions by almost a quarter, according to a study conducted in Brazil. An article on the study is published in Scientific Reports. The researchers used an innovative approach involving an analysis of 22 risk factors that affect human development and interviews with 1,905 children at two points – a first interview to form a baseline (mean age 10.3) and a follow-up interview seven years later (mean age 17.8).

The scientists concluded that poverty – measured broadly as a combination of little schooling for the head of household, low purchasing power and limited access to basic services – was the only crime-related factor that could be prevented. They used estimates of the population-attributable risk fraction (PARF) to predict the possible reduction in criminal convictions assuming successful early anti-poverty intervention in the lives of the children.

In a scenario without poverty, 22.5% of criminal convictions involving these young people could have been prevented. On the other hand, factors such as unplanned pregnancy, prematurity, breastfeeding and prenatal maternal smoking or drinking showed no correlation with future criminal convictions.

“A holistic view of young people who commit crimes is necessary in order to understand the circumstances that lead to this situation and a range of preventable factors need to be considered,” said Carolina Ziebold, a researcher in the Department of Psychiatry at the Federal University of São Paulo’s Medical School (EPM-UNIFESP) and first author of the article. 

Ziebold was supported by FAPESP during her PhD research. She also received a Talented Young Investigator scholarship from CAPES, the Ministry of Education’s Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel, via its Internationalization Program.

For Ary Gadelha, last author of the article, the use of a complex measure of poverty including many more factors than household income is a groundbreaking aspect of the study. Gadelha is a professor of psychiatry at EPM-UNIFESP and was Ziebold’s thesis advisor.

“The study took into account housing conditions and access to public services such as healthcare or sanitation, for example, in order to understand poverty more comprehensively. This led us to advocate broader solutions than merely improving income. The many adversities faced by these children become difficulties in adulthood, such as low educational attainment and unemployment, among others,” Gadelha told Agência FAPESP.

The approach used in the study is based on an epidemiological method called exposure-wide association, which is similar to the method used in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). “Exposure-wide association studies explore a broad array of potential exposures relating to a single outcome (using a hypothesis-free approach)”, the authors write.

In this case, they add, the analysis encompassed “multiple modifiable perinatal, individual, family and school-related exposures associated with youth criminal conviction to identify new potential targets for the prevention of this complex phenomenon”. Moreover, they argue, “when a significant risk factor [such as poverty] is identified, the magnitude of its effect on criminal conviction should be explained to inform and guide public measures for crime prevention”.

Another study led by Ziebold involving the same cohort and published in December 2021 had already found correlations between childhood poverty and a heightened propensity to develop externalizing disorders during adolescence and early adulthood, especially among girls. The researchers concluded that multidimensional poverty and exposure to stressful life events, including frequent deaths and family conflicts, were avoidable risk factors that should be addressed in childhood in order to reduce the impact of mental health problems in adult life (more at: agencia.fapesp.br/37879/). 

Results

In the recent Scientific Reports article, the researchers stress that although baseline poverty was the only modifiable risk factor significantly associated with crime as far as the children in the study sample were concerned, most of them (89%) did not have any criminal convictions.

“We wanted to avoid criminalizing poverty and show that it’s a complex phenomenon. Exposure to this situation during a life can lead to social tragedy. Crime is a social question, and punishment alone may not be appropriate in the case of young people. It would be more useful to create real opportunities for rehabilitation – life opportunities,” Gadelha said.

Only a small proportion (4.3%) of the 1,905 participants interviewed reported any history of criminal convictions, mainly involving theft, violent robbery, drug dealing and other violent crimes, including a homicide and an attempted homicide. 

The participants were from the Brazilian High-Risk Cohort Study for Psychiatric Disorders (BHRC), a major community-based survey involving 2,511 families with children aged 6-10 when it began in 2010. They were all students at public schools in two large Brazilian state capitals, São Paulo and Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul). Three follow-up surveys have been completed so far, the last in 2018-19. A fourth has begun this year and is scheduled for completion in 2024.

Considered one of the most ambitious childhood mental health surveys ever conducted in Brazil, the BHRC, also known as Project Connection – Minds of the Future, is led by the National Institute of Developmental Psychiatry (INPD), which is supported by FAPESP and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), an arm of the Ministry for Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI).

More than 20 universities in Brazil and elsewhere are involved in INPD’s activities. Its principal investigator is Eurípedes Constantino Miguel Filho, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of São Paulo’s Medical School (FM-USP). 

Impact

According to a report published by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in March 2022, “children and adolescents have always been – and continue to be – the most affected by poverty. By the beginning of 2020, the percentage of children and adolescents living in monetary poverty and extreme monetary poverty in Brazil was, proportionally, twice that of adults”. 

Between 35% and 45%, depending on the age group, lived on less than USD 5.50 per day in 2020. The proportion living on less than USD 1.90 per day – the extreme monetary poverty line – was 12%.

Furthermore, according to Getúlio Vargas Foundation’s Center for Research on Social Policies (FGV Social), food insecurity reached a record level in Brazil at the end of 2021, surpassing the global average and affecting mainly women, poor families and people aged 30-49. The proportion of the overall population suffering from food security reached 36%, compared with 17% in 2014. The global average for 2021 was 35%.

“We know people have yet to feel the full economic impact of the pandemic, including food insecurity and lack of access to schooling. The consequences of children’s exposure will become clear in the future,” Ziebold said, adding that more research is needed to understand how the vulnerabilities of the places where children live can influence juvenile crime rates. “This type of factor has been observed in research conducted in other countries, such as the United States, where young people are more likely to commit crimes if they live in areas without infrastructure or with gangs. This is a topic for further research.” 

About 46,000 young people in conflict with the law were processed in 2019 by SINASE, Brazil’s special justice system for juvenile offenders.

About São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. You can learn more about FAPESP at www.fapesp.br/en and visit FAPESP news agency at www.agencia.fapesp.br/en to keep updated with the latest scientific breakthroughs FAPESP helps achieve through its many programs, awards and research centers. You may also subscribe to FAPESP news agency at http://agencia.fapesp.br/subscribe

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JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-022-13975-8