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Researchers with the Boston Reentry Study were one year into their interviews, following 122 men and women as they returned from prison to their neighborhoods and families, when they asked the kind of question that’s hard to broach until you know someone well. They prompted the study’s participants to think back to childhood. “Did you ever see someone get killed during that time?” Childhood violence, including deadly violence, kept coming up in the previous conversations. The references...

It's been more than a year since an explosive investigation into digital revenge porn in the Marine Corps put sexual harassment in the United States armed forces back in the national spotlight. Now, the Pentagon seems poised for a true #MeToo moment . Military personnel at all levels are taking actions to fight sexism and misogyny in the ranks. Reported military sexual assaults increased by 10 percent between 2016 and 2017, according to Department of Defense data, a jump that officials claim...

Mainstream media attention has returned to the Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) program, through which the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) takes custody of some kids who arrive at the border without a parent. The program got a lot of scrutiny in the mid-2000s as the number of unaccompanied minors exploded, to the point where HHS was forced to house youths in jerry-rigged shelters at military bases. This time, the coverage is prompted by the Trump administration’s...

Cat Brooks hears firsthand the anxiety in her neighbors' voices when talk turns to the police. She sees the fear in their eyes when a cruiser drives down the street. Police violence can have a ripple effect on communities, says Brooks, a co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project , an Oakland, California-based group working to create a support system for communities of color. It leaves a psychological and emotional toll. "I see it in the ways rage explodes on the street in response to...

Since ProPublica launched Lost Mothers , we’ve covered many facets of the U.S. maternal mortality crisis . Despite spending more per capita on health care than any other country, the U.S. has the highest rate of deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth in the industrialized world. But what makes maternal health care in other affluent countries look so different than the U.S.? Among other things, midwives . Midwives in the U.S. participate in less than 10 percent of births. But in Sweden,...

For juvenile court judges, correctional facility administrators and community supervision agency leaders throughout the country, the progress juvenile justice systems have made in recent years is clear. Nationwide, juvenile arrest rates are at historic lows, and incarceration rates have plummeted by more than half. Despite these tremendous strides, data and experience indicates that juvenile justice systems are still not operating as effectively as possible. In the face of stubbornly high...

On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego released a report summarizing the abuse that children suffered from United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents from 2009 to 2014. "All human beings deserve to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of their immigration status—and children, in particular, deserve special protection," Mitra Ebadolahi, ACLU Border Litigation Project staff attorney, said in a press release . "The misconduct demonstrated in these...

All my life I’ve been living in the fast lane Can’t slow down, I’m a rolling freight train One more time, gotta start all over Can’t slow down I’m a lone red rover Oh how did it come to this? Lyrics from “Polaroid” by Imagine Dragons From an early age many of us learn the importance of independence, hard work, and “measuring up” to expectations. We push ourselves to excel, do more, and be better than our peers. But few people end up living a life they enjoy by striving full-tilt all the...

Exposure to early life trauma can lead to poor physical and mental health in some individuals, which can be passed on to their children. Studies in mice show that at least some of the effects of stress can be transmitted to offspring via environmentally-induced changes in sperm miRNA levels. A new epigenetics study raises the possibility that the same is true in humans. It shows for the first time that the levels of the same two sperm miRNAs change in both men and mice exposed to early life...

Plans change. That was a key lesson learned by the San Diego Trauma-Informed Guide Team (SD-TIGT) as the group worked to hone a strategic plan. The network had begun as a grass-roots collaborative, and members wanted to preserve that sense of openness and inclusion. At the same time, with Harmonium, Inc., as the backbone organization and the MARC grant as an impetus, the network also needed structure, goals and clearly defined roles. Already, the Guide Team’s focus had shifted; what began in...

The Solano Family Justice Center and First 5 Solano are among the organizations that recently received grants to support education and outreach to help reduce stigma around mental illness. The two local grants are part of a larger $2 million investment by Kaiser Permanente to support community organizations. In all, 25 Northern California organizations were awarded community health grants, including school districts, youth and family services and community coalitions that bring together a...

COLUMBIA, SC For the past 10 years, United Way of the Midlands has increasingly focused resources on helping vulnerable children succeed by supporting tutoring, kindergarten preparation, high-quality child care and social support to families and children experiencing homelessness, with a range of housing assistance from prevention and shelter to permanent housing. In 2013, we initiated the Youth in Transition movement, for 17- to 24-year-olds who are homeless or vulnerable to homelessness.