Attitudes of US Voters toward Prisoner Rehabilitation and Reentry Policies (FOCUS)

In February, 2006, NCCD commissioned Zogby International to conduct a national public opinion poll about American attitudes toward rehabilitation and reentry of prisoners into their home communities. The results of the poll showed that striking majorities favor rehabilitation as a major goal of incarceration

Attitudes of US Voters Toward Youth Crime and the Justice System

In January, 2007, NCCD commissioned Zogby International to conduct a national public opinion poll about American attitudes toward our nation's response to youth crime. The results of this poll showed that striking majorities favor rehabilitative services for young people and, despite a lack of confidence in the juvenile system, are largely opposed to prosecuting youth in the adult court and incarcerating youth in adult facilities.The public apparently recognizes that young people need and deserve assistance and forbearance on the part of society and its institutions. It is clear from the survey responses that most of the American voting public thinks that giving young people the help they need to mature, learn, and overcome the mistakes of youth is key to enhanced public safety

Attitudes of Californians Toward Effective Correctional Policies (FOCUS)

Over the past several decades, California has experimented with a variety of sentencing policies to reduce crime. Most of those reforms have emphasized punishment rather than rehabilitation. Survey data reported in this publication suggest that the state's public is looking for a reconsideration of these policies

Beta Decays and Non-Standard Interactions in the LHC Era

We consider the role of precision measurements of beta decays and light meson semi-leptonic decays in probing physics beyond the Standard Model in the LHC era. We describe all low-energy charged-current processes within and beyond the Standard Model using an effective field theory framework. We first discuss the theoretical hadronic input which in these precision tests plays a crucial role in setting the baseline for new physics searches. We then review the current and upcoming constraints on the various non-standard operators from the study of decay rates, spectra, and correlations in a broad array of light-quark systems. We finally discuss the interplay with LHC searches, both within models and in an effective theory approach. Our discussion illustrates the independent yet complementary nature of precision beta decay measurements as probes of new physics, showing them to be of continuing importance throughout the LHC era.Comment: To appear in Prog. Part. Nucl. Phy

Rebalancing the US Economy in a Postcrisis World

The objective of this paper is to explore how the external balance of the United States (US) might evolve in future years as the economy emerges from the recession. We examine the issue from the domestic perspective of the saving and investment balance and from the external side in terms of the basic determinants of exports and imports and the role of the real exchange rate. Using these two respective perspectives, we highlight (1) causes and consequences of low private and public saving in the US, and (2) sensitivity of trade to variations in the real exchange rate. We highlight the need for sustained depreciation of the dollar to improve the competitiveness of US exports and argue that the current exchange rate is consistent with a significant reduction in the size of the trade deficit. However, the favorable external outlook is very inconsistent with a projected domestic situation of low rates of private saving and a very large public sector budget deficit matched by a cyclically depressed rate of investment. Changes in US corporate tax structure, reconsideration of capital controls, and perhaps some further decline in the level of real exchange rates could help soften the impact of a potentially very hard postrecession landing for the United States.savings rate, exchange rate policy

Accounting for Growth: Comparing China and India

We compare the recent economic performances of China and India using a simple growth accounting framework that produces estimates of the contribution of labor, capital, education, and total factor productivity for the three sectors of agriculture, industry, and services as well as for the aggregate economy. Our analysis incorporates recent data revisions in both countries and includes extensive discussion of the underlying data series. The growth accounts show a roughly equal division in each country between the contributions of capital accumulation and TFP to growth in output per worker over the period 1978-2004, and an acceleration of growth when the period is divided at 1993. However, the magnitude of output growth in China is roughly double that of India at the aggregate level, and also higher in each of the three sectors in both sub-periods. In China the post-1993 acceleration was concentrated mostly in industry, which contributed nearly 60 percent of China’s aggregate productivity growth. In contrast, 45 percent of the growth in India in the second sub-period came in services. Reallocation of workers from agriculture to industry and services has contributed 1.2 percentage points to productivity growth in each country.

Youth in Gangs: Who Is at Risk?

Youth gangs pose a significant challenge for communities across the United States, in urban, suburban, and rural areas alike. Nationwide, 23% of students report the presence of gangs at their schools (Dinkes, Kemp, & Baum, 2009), and approximately 35% of law enforcement agencies indicate gang problems (such as gang-related crime) in their jurisdictions (Egley & O'Donnell, 2009).(see footnote 1) Self-reported youth surveys show varying estimates of gang membership, from single digits among a national sample of students to about 30% among high-risk youth in large cities (Howell & Egley, 2009).For this Focus, NCCD analyzed data from national, state, and local youth surveys and drew on the results of previous gang research to provide a snapshot of youth gangs. This includes a summary of risk factors for gang membership and selected characteristics of gang-involved youth. California, which has faced significant and disproportionate levels of gang membership for decades, serves as a state case study. The local data highlight the San Francisco Bay Area cities of Oakland and Richmond; both Oakland and Richmond have entrenched gang problems and very high homicide rates.(see footnote 2

Economic Growth in East Asia: Accumulation versus Assimilation

macroeconomics, Economic Growth, East Asia, Accumulation, Assimilation