Violence impacts youth in complex and unpredictable ways, at both the individual and societal level. What data can we use to learn how our efforts are working to protect youth from violence and its harmful impacts?

Multnomah County had a novel approach to charging serious crimes that included a conference between the judge, defendant, district attorney, defense attorney, and the probation officer. This was designed to create more individualized probation plans and provide the judge with more information about what would happen once the defendant plead guilty. We interviewed several judges, defendants, district attorneys, and defense attorneys to understand what was working well and what adjustments might be helpful in the program.

A policy change increasing and improving ERDC (Employment-Related Day Care), an Oregon child care subsidy for working parents, allowed an opportunity to examine the impact of this newly generous program. We found that most parents experienced such inconsistency in the subsidy and other government supports, along with unreliable income, that they did not notice the change; however, day care providers did, and many reported that they were able to continue serving kids through the subsidy because of the change.