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Fines and fees imposed in juvenile court can drive youth deeper into the system and their families deeper into poverty, a new report says. Every state imposes monetary penalties or costs on juveniles, a burden that hits families who are already struggling especially hard, both emotionally and financially, according to the report by the Juvenile Law Center of Philadelphia. The costs can include fees to attend programs that are alternatives to incarceration or to have a mental health...

Camden, New Jersey, has long had a reputation as one of the most dangerous cities in America. In 2012, the city made an unprecedented move by terminating its entire 270-person police force in favor of hiring non-unionized workers supervised by the county. Officials at that time said that union contracts, in a city with a major lack of revenue , made it financially impossible to keep enough officers on the street. Two years after the overhaul , the department employed 411 officers with nearly...

Just days after the nation’s deadliest mass shooting — at June’s Pulse Nightclub in Orlando—California’s state legislature voted to fund what would be the first publicly chartered center for firearm research in the country. The timing was a coincidence, but an apt one. And since then, progress has been steady. This week, the University of California announced where the center will be headquartered: on a UC medical-school campus in the state capitol. It will be led by Garen Wintemute , a...

For American families earning less than $40,000 per year, consistent access to food is far from a given. Food is a necessary expense, of course, but compared to housing and utilities, it’s a flexible one . On average, food comprises between 13.7 and 15.3 percent of a family’s annual expenditures in the U.S. But when budgets tighten for low-income families, hunger often follows. Around 17.4 million American families report inadequate resources to provide enough food to keep all members...

Practiced hands press layers of finely shredded phyllo pastry into baking sheets. Others follow with spoonfuls of ricotta cheese. Once baked, the knafeh Nabulsia will be drenched in orange blossom syrup and sprinkled with pistachio. “It’s always good to know how to cook something traditional,” says Majda Khalil, one of the bakers and a Syrian refugee. “It reminds you of home.” The dessert prepped, six women crowd around a map, showing each other where home was before war ravaged Syria. Len...

After a long summer of violence, Congress has a big job on its plate: finding new ways to mend relations between police and African-American communities across the nation. On Tuesday, the search led to Detroit, where a handful of members of the House of Representatives interrupted their seven-week summer break to meet privately with community leaders and law enforcement personnel. “We are in crisis across the country,” Washington state Republican Rep. Dave Reichert, a former sheriff, said at...

Police officers arrived at a North Austin apartment building on May 25, 2015, after Cassandra Bolin's boyfriend requested a welfare check. Armed with a handgun, the 31-year-old woman refused to come outside and threatened to shoot herself and officers if they would not leave her alone. After a long standoff, Bolin confronted police, pointing her gun at herself and then at officers, who shot and killed her. When police shoot a mentally ill person, calls inevitably follow for providing...

People today might not actually be avoiding social interaction any more than they did in past decades, but they’re certainly more vocal about it. The rise of digital communication seems to be spawning a nation of indoor cats, all humble-bragging about how introverted they are and ordering their rides and groceries without ever talking to a human . Sometimes reclusiveness can be a sign of something more serious, though. Social anxiety is one of the most common mental illnesses, but it’s still...

Thousands upon thousands of research studies are done each year in the mental health and medical fields. The research is used to better understand diseases and disorders. It’s used to test which treatments are more effective. The research is used to help educate the public about how to prevent diseases and disorders from developing, and, how to get treatment if you need it. As mental health and medical professionals, we’re expected to continue educating ourselves about the latest research in...

Part One in an NPR Ed series on mental health in schools. You might call it a silent epidemic. Up to one in five kids living in the U.S. shows signs or symptoms of a mental health disorder in a given year. So in a school classroom of 25 students, five of them may be struggling with the same issues many adults deal with: depression, anxiety, substance abuse. And yet most children — nearly 80 percent — who need mental health services won't get them. Whether treated or not, the children do go...

Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” In my case, education fundamentally saved my life. At age 16, I was sentenced to serve six years at a secure juvenile detention facility in upstate New York for the crime of attempted murder. I committed the offense when I was 15 years and 363 days old. If I been 16 at the time of the offense, I would have been charged as an adult and would have received a much longer sentence than six...

On a June evening around sundown, birds’ chirping dominates the soundscape on Pine Street in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood. A robin flits around ankle-high grass, cocking its head. A family of pheasants bobs past on a road mottled with potholes. Then you notice the hum of cars barreling down the six-lane Fisher Freeway at the end of the block. Beyond the interstate is the façade of Michigan Central Station and, less than two miles past that, the red letters of the Ambassador Bridge,...