Publications

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Reports and other materials published by the IU Public Policy Institute.

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2014 HUD Point-in-Time Count: Homelessness in Indianapolis
(IU Public Policy Institute, 2014-06) Littlepage, Laura; Majors, Jessica; Schafer, Kayli
The 2014 Point-in-Time Homeless Count in Marion County took place on January 29, 2014. On that night, 1,897 individuals experiencing homelessness in shelters and on the street were counted. Though the total represents a 19 percent increase over the 2013 account, there was a drop in persons found on the street in 2014 compared to 2013. One potential explanation for the decrease was the extreme cold weather. By the night of the count, Marion County had already had 27 inches of snow and several days of subzero temperatures during the month of January. Based on national research, estimates suggest that the number who experience homelessness at some point during the year is three to five times the number counted during a point-in-time count. Using this year's data and count, an estimated 7,543 (actual HMIS and Wheeler numbers) to 9,485 (Point-in-Time results x 5) individuals in Marion County experience homelessness during the course of a year.
911 Services: Structure and Funding
(IU Public Policy Institute, 2015-02)
The IACIR's findings and recommendations on 911 services from the 2014 document, Report to the General Assembly: 911-Dispatch Consolidation and Funding, Fiscal Benchmarking, and managing Local Government Employee Health Care Costs, is summarized in this two-page brief.
Analysis of the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Juvenile Accountability Block Grants Program
(IU Public Policy Institute, 2008-01) Thelin, Rachel; Jarjoura, Roger
From federal fiscal year 1998 through 2006, Indiana received over $28 million in Juvenile Accountability Block Grants (JABG) awards, allocated by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). The Indiana Criminal Justice Institute (ICJI) is responsible for administering the state’s JABG program. JABG funding supports states and communities address the problem of juvenile crime and strengthen juvenile justice systems. The program’s overall goal is to reduce juvenile offending through accountability-based approaches focused on both offenders and state and local juvenile justice systems. This report summarizes the findings of six case studies of JABG programs administered by ICJI. The program assessments are based on a detailed examination of a number of sources of information: (a) subgrantees’ original proposals; (b) continuation applications; (c) information provided by ICJI in the form of award control spreadsheets that include legal applicant and implementing agency names, project title, award amounts, county served, and grant numbers; and (d) all quarterly financial and progress reports submitted by JABG subgrantees in 2005 and 2006 to ICJI.
Assessment of the Impact of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene and Marilyn Glick
(IU Public Policy Institute, 2015-03) Burow, Sue; Majors, Jessica
The Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene and Marilyn Glick is expected to make a wide range of contributions to the quality of life and economy of central Indiana. This evaluation establishes a baseline for future evaluations and begins to measure the impact of the Cultural Trail. To complete this evaluation, the Institute used a multi-faceted approach to capture the contributions the Cultural Trail makes to both the economy and quality of life in central Indiana. This impact can be measured in various ways at different levels of detail. The present analysis, includes counts of the number of individuals using the Trail, and Trail user and business surveys. The evaluation also seeks to detail perceptions of the Trail, and examines the impact of new business investment and growth in property value assessments. Finally, trail usage data and survey response data are used to quantify consumer spending that may be attributed to the Cultural Trail. The issue brief, Reasons to Love the Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene and Marilyn Glick, summarizes some of the findings.
An Assessment of the Indiana Department of Correction GPS Pilot Program
(IU Public Policy Institute, 2008-07) Baumer, Terry; Newby, Bill; LaMade, Megan; Seymour, Amy
In February 2007 the Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) implemented a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) pilot program for paroled sex offenders residing in Vanderburgh (Southern district) and St. Joseph (Northern district) counties. As part of this process, researchers at the Center for Criminal Justice Research were selected to document, describe, and assess the planning, design, and implementation of the pilot program. Between October 2007 and June 2008 the research team worked with IDOC personnel, parole district supervisors and agents, community corrections staff, and the GPS vendor to collect the data for this assessment. This summary report presents the basic findings and recommendations of the study.
Behavioral Health Court Impacts on Mental Health in the Marion County Criminal Justice System
(IU Public Policy Institute, 2017-03) Ray, Brad; Sapp, Dona; Thelin, Rachel
Research has shown for many years that, nationally, persons with mental illness are disproportionately represented in jail and prison. The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recognizes the high prevalence of people with mental and substance use disorders involved with the justice system as a priority and has developed a range of policy initiatives, programs, and services that support improved “collaboration between the criminal justice and behavioral health systems (SAMHSA's Efforts on Criminal and Juvenile Justice Issues, 2017).” To address the needs of this population, representatives from the Marion Superior Court have partnered with the Indiana Judicial Center, the Indiana Department of Corrections, and the United Way of Central Indiana (UWCI) to establish the Behavioral Health Court (BHC; previously referred to as the Mental Health Alternative Court). The UWCI, in cooperation with the BHC team, requested the assistance of the Center for Criminal Justice Research (CCJR) at the Indiana University Public Policy Institute in evaluating BHC implementation processes and outcomes. Our initial assessment of the BHC, published in March 2016, provided a preliminary assessment of referrals and examined the characteristics of the population being served by the program. In this issue brief, we update the results of our previous study by further examining short-term criminal justice outcomes among BHC participants. Specifically, we look at changes in jail days following BHC participation and in doing so, compare BHC outcomes to two similar efforts currently operating in Marion County: the Psychiatric Assertive Identification and Referral (PAIR) program and the specialized mental health probation (MHP) program.
CAGI Conference Evaluation: Gangbusters: Schools, gangs, and Bullies - Making the Connection
(IU Public Policy Institute, 2011-09) Thelin, Rachel
The Gangbusters: Schools, Gangs and Bullies – Making the Connection summit was held on September 23, 2011. Several sessions that were part of previous CAGI Prevention/Intervention conferences were offered, including Gangs: What you need to know, Indianapolis Gang Overview and Awareness, and Online Social Media: Juveniles and Gangs. The conference included a presentation specifically aimed at school‐related gang issues titled Fundamentals of dealing with gangs in schools. Bullying, hazing and gang behaviors was another new session offered to attendees. Conference participants represented a range of stakeholders with interest in school‐related gang issues, including school administrators, juvenile probation officers, social workers, school police, guidance counselors, and teachers. Sixty‐nine completed conference evaluation forms were provided to the Indiana University Center for Criminal Justice Research (CCJR) for data entry and analysis. This report summarizes the results of the conference evaluations.
Cell phones and driving: A review of legislation, risk perception, and mitigation tactics
(IU Public Policy Institute, 2009-10) Nagle, Matthew
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, 2009) estimates that over 800,000 drivers are using a cell phone at any given time during the day (11 percent of all drivers). Another study on the risk of a collision associated with driver cell phone use found that 3.6 percent of all crashes and near-crashes are the result of a driver distracted by cell phone use (NHTSA, 2006). Public opinion surveys have found that cell phone use is viewed as a dangerous driving action, yet the admitted rates of cell phone use by those same respondents is relatively high. Awareness of the issue has increased to the point that, in September 2009, a national forum of policy makers, law enforcement officials, and academics took place on the issue of distracted driving in Washington, DC. This issue brief examines the effects of cell phone use on driving behavior and crash risk. Since Indiana only recently implemented a law banning drivers under age 18 from using a cell phone while driving, this brief concentrates on evaluations of the success of legislation in other states, including how varying levels of police enforcement and media publicity contribute to compliance.
Combined Summaries: Public Opinion on Indiana Communities
(IU Public Policy Institute, 2015-08)
As part of Thriving Communities, Thriving State, Institute staff gathered input from Hoosiers about their communities in 2015 through five regional forums around the state and an online survey. Participants identified their communities as urban, mid-sized, or rural/small town, and shared their views about their current condition and future outlook. The discussion and survey questions can be combined into four general categories – The Good, The Challenges, The Strategies, and The Dreams. This document includes only issues that were common to all three community types.
Community Vitality Index
(IU Public Policy Institute, 2015-11) Marron, John
As part of the Thriving Communities, Thriving State project, the Institute created a Community Vitality Index by modifying an index created by The New York Times. Our version of the index is comprised of each Indiana county's ratio of estimated housing costs to median household income, education attainment, unemployment rate, disability benefits use rate, life expectancy, and obesity. Key findings include: •Mid-sized counties collectively perform exceedingly well on these measures relative to rural and urban communities. •Educational attainment in rural areas lags behind urban and mid-sized communities, considerably contributing to greater economic challenges. •Residents of urban areas spend substantially more of their incomes on housing than rural or mid-sized counties. •Communities adjacent to urban areas; university centers; and areas with robust, specialized manufacturing industries appear to be faring well. •Areas that lost considerable employment with the decline of the manufacturing sector and rural counties not proximate to major metropolitan areas experience the greatest degree of challenges. •Indiana’s larger regional centers (Indianapolis, Evansville, Fort Wayne, and South Bend) anchor thriving regions that benefit surrounding counties and the state as a whole. •Regions historically centered on manufacturing and regions with their central city located outside the state fare less well than other regions.

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