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A&Q is a special series that inverts the classic Q&A , taking some of the most frequently posed solutions to pressing matters of policy and exploring their complexity. America is a world leader in incarceration. The U.S. locks up more people than any other country, the University of London’s Institute for Criminal Policy Research reports. An estimated 1.6 million individuals were held in state and federal prisons at the end of 2014, while roughly 1 out of every 36 adults fell under...

A 38-year-old woman living in Everett, Washington recently told me that nine years ago, she had a well-paying job, immaculate credit, substantial savings, and a happy marriage. When her first daughter was born, she and her husband decided that she would quit her job in publishing to stay home with the baby. She loved being a mother and homemaker, and when another daughter came, she gave up the idea of going back to work. Seven years later, her husband told her to leave their house, and filed...

Many of us can remember at least one childhood friend who made growing up slightly easier with jokes and playtime adventures. Even as adults, friendships play an important role in our lives. By bringing laughter and camaraderie, their mere presence can buffer stress as well as the effects of negative experiences. Furthermore, they can help alleviate despair or emotional turmoil. New research published in Scientific reports suggests a better pain threshold may be another benefit of having...

It’s the week before Christmas and the Brighthaupt family is in its weekly therapy session. Kecia Brighthaupt, 37, grabs a piece of paper from the center of the dining room table in her apartment and reads the word on it. “Hopeful,” Kecia Brighthaupt says. “I feel hopeful that Jamari is going to graduate.” She, her 15-year-old son Jamari, and their counselor, Ayize Ma’at, sit at one end of the glass rectangular table. A tan carpet covers the floor. Photos of relatives, including Kecia’s...

Across the Commonwealth, thousands of tiny blue pinwheels staked in the ground flutter in the springtime breeze. Much more than garden ornaments, the decorations symbolize a dark past and a hopeful future for children in Virginia. William & Mary Psychology Professor Emeritus Joseph Galano and Adjunct Professor of Psychology Lee Huntington know the significance of the pinwheels perhaps better than anyone. As lead advocates for Prevent Child Abuse, which declared the pinwheel its national...

On Holocaust Remembrance Day (May 5), WTTW-Channel 11 in Chicago will present its 6th annual broadcast of “Prisoner of Her Past. ” The film will air at 10 p.m. Central. Written by Emmy-award winning Chicago Tribune journalist, Howard Reich, the film documents Howard’s quest to discover why his mother is reliving her Holocaust past. To date, “Prisoner of her Past,” has aired more than 500 times in 140 markets across the United States! http://prisonerofherpast.kartemquin.com/

Scientists say they have made an atlas of where words' meanings are located in the brain. The map shows that words are represented in different regions throughout the brain's outer layer. Moreover, the brains of different people map language in the same way. "These maps are remarkably consistent from person to person," says Jack Gallant , a neuroscientist at the University of California, Berkeley who led the study. The work appears in the journal Nature. To make the language maps, Gallant's...

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has signed legislation that allows mental health counselors and therapists to refuse to treat patients based on religious objections or personal beliefs. Critics of the law say it could result in discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. As Nashville Public Radio reported earlier this month: "A group representing gay and lesbian Tennesseans [asked Haslam] to veto the legislation. ... "The Tennessee Equality Project, an LGBT advocacy...

Stacy Bannerman didn't recognize her husband after he returned from his second tour in Iraq. "The man I had married was not the man that came back from war," she says. Bannerman's husband, a former National Guardsman, had been in combat and been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. He behaved in ways she had never expected, and one day, he tried to strangle her. "I had been with this man for 11 years at that point, and there had never been anything like this before," Bannerman...

Children with an incarcerated parent often suffer emotionally, academically and financially, and too few policies consider their needs, says a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation . Nationwide, more than 5.1 million children have experienced separation from a parent because of incarceration — a situation that can be as difficult as dealing with abuse or domestic violence, said the report, “A Shared Sentence.” Research shows children may experience increased mental health issues,...

In the 1960s, while other middle-school students were worrying about letter jackets or boyfriends or saddle shoes, LaVerne Bell-Tolliver was simply trying to stay sane. Bell-Tolliver’s parents had volunteered her to integrate Forest Heights Junior High in Little Rock in 1961, and as the only black student in a crush of white ones, she was always on guard. Boys pushed other students into her, crowing that her blackness would rub off onto them. Teachers ignored her raised hand and gave her low...

Although it was abolished in 1865, slavery in the U.S. is still being mapped by cartographers looking for fresh approaches to the topic . The latest effort comes from the historian and cartographer Bill Rankin. Rankin’s new maps provide snapshots of U.S. slave populations from 1790 to 1870 in 10-year intervals. But his methodology is a departure from that of previous cartographers in that it doesn’t take counties as the smallest units of analysis. [For more of this story, written by Tanvi...