July 2018

Nicolas, 12 and legally blind, was already having a rough week before he allegedly threatened to shoot up his classroom. The fifth-grader had a bathroom mishap while in class at the Memorial Elementary School in Houston. Another student announced it to the class. That’s when Nicolas allegedly made the threat. He was suspended immediately and referred to law enforcement on March 1. When he returned to school a few days later, he was arrested on a felony charge of making a “terroristic...

We’re all familiar with the argument that economic anxiety drove members of the white working class to vote for President Trump. But studies since the election have concluded that white Trump supporters are less motivated by economic pressures than by racial resentment and cultural anxiety brought about by social and demographic changes. We'll look at the role racial animus plays both at the polls and in shaping white voters' identities and attitudes toward immigration and other social...

“Terrence was 16 when he and three other teens attempted to rob a barbeque restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida. Though they left with no money and no one was injured, Terrence was sentenced to die in prison for his involvement in that crime.” —Cara H. Drinan, “The War on Kids” “ The War on Kids ” by Cara H. Drinan shines a light on the reality of juvenile sentence practices in America. Drinan, a law professor at Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law , shares her passion for...

OAKLAND, Calif. — Dr. Nick Nelson walks through busy Highland Hospital to a sixth-floor exam room, where he sees patients from around the world who say they have fled torture and violence. Nelson, who practices internal medicine, is the medical director of the Highland Human Rights Clinic , part of the Alameda Health System. A few times each week, he and his team conduct medical evaluations of people who are seeking asylum in the United States. The doctors listen to the patients’ stories.

Three weeks into his new job as commanding officer of Manhattan’s 20th precinct, Captain Timothy J. Malin stared at a map on his computer screen, puzzled. It showed his jurisdiction carved up by streets and parks, with the southern edge encased in an ominous shade of red. For decades, the New York Police Department has used real-time statistics to chart spikes in violence and calibrate police activity across the city. This map, however, displayed not crime data but something new in the...

A new study published in PLOS ONE by researchers from New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development examined the long-term impacts of an early childhood program called the Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP) and found evidence suggesting that the program positively affected children's executive function and academic achievement during adolescence. The program targeted children's self-regulation skills while also raising the quality of inner-city...

Falling in line with the definition of trauma-informed care, this organization recognized the prevalence of trauma in a guest's life, acknowledged the role it plays in my life (as well as my anxiety-inducing triggers), and used that knowledge to respond in an appropriate way to my trauma needs.

A new study finds that severe childhood trauma and stresses early in parents' lives are linked to higher rates of behavioral health problems in their own children. The types of childhood hardships included divorce or separation of parents, death of or estrangement from a parent, emotional, physical or sexual abuse, witnessing violence in the home, exposure to substance abuse in the household or parental mental illness. "Previous research has looked at childhood trauma as a risk factor for...

Look what this world has come to: approximately 150 survivors of sexual abuse by Larry Nassar will receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award during ABC's broadcast of the 26th annual ESPY sports awards this Wednesday (7/18/18) live from 8-11 p.m. ET. A video piece about their ordeal will be shown before all of them take the stage. Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman will be one of several survivors who speak when accepting the award. And, here’s another wonderful fact: the ESPY production personnel...

A toddler's self-regulation—the ability to change behavior in different social situations—may predict whether he or she will be obese come kindergarten, but the connection appears to be much different for girls than for boys. Self-regulation is something all children must develop, and poorer self-control in childhood is associated with worse adult health, economic and social outcomes. However, a new study from The Ohio State University found that more self-regulation may not necessarily...

HACKLEBURG, Ala. — On a recent sultry summer afternoon, 81-year-old widow Nellie Allen sat on the porch of her one-story brick home, one in a strip of government-subsidized houses surrounded by fields and country roads. Allen makes do on $900 a month from Social Security. She raised four kids and never worked outside the home. She doesn’t drive, so she can’t get to the nearest grocery store, which is several miles away. Even if she did, she wouldn’t be able to afford to buy what she needs.

As the federal commission on school safety headed by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos ramps up its schedule of public forums, an unusually broad array of individuals and organizations has sent a letter imploring DeVos and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to retain federal guidelines issued by the Obama administration to combat racial disparities in school discipline. The letter is significant both for its strong defense of students’ civil rights and because the more than 80 signatories...