Top reads/views: NBC news short profile of the “right to hug” case; the New Republic examines “The New Sundown Towns,” which are trying to make it illegal to be homeless; the Safer Cities newsletter is always full of uplifting, practical solutions that are being implemented around the country.
Thanks, as always, Chloe. On your final bullet, I've seen a combination of minor (non-dangerous) driving violations and failure-to-appear (in court) charges as leading contributors to arrests and jail booking in several states. Here's a quick thread: https://x.com/thejakehorowitz/status/1800583931458474465. And while I think better public transit and walkability are generally good policies with all sorts of benefits, I don't see them as an efficient path to addressing these arrests/bookings. Would recommend policies that improve appearance rates (and/or child support compliance) and, separately, policies that reduce collateral consequences (e.g., don't need mandatory license suspension or bench warrant issuance for all missed appearances). Finally, as good/important as these policies are, I don't think they'll have a big impact on jail or, certainly, prison populations (reduction in "churn" has historically had almost no impact on avg daily population. See https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2020/06/23/small-but-growing-group-incarcerated-for-a-month-or-more-has-kept-jail-populations-high#:~:text=The%20Pew%20analysis%20showed%20that,just%204%25%20of%20jail%20space.)
Thanks, as always, Chloe. On your final bullet, I've seen a combination of minor (non-dangerous) driving violations and failure-to-appear (in court) charges as leading contributors to arrests and jail booking in several states. Here's a quick thread: https://x.com/thejakehorowitz/status/1800583931458474465. And while I think better public transit and walkability are generally good policies with all sorts of benefits, I don't see them as an efficient path to addressing these arrests/bookings. Would recommend policies that improve appearance rates (and/or child support compliance) and, separately, policies that reduce collateral consequences (e.g., don't need mandatory license suspension or bench warrant issuance for all missed appearances). Finally, as good/important as these policies are, I don't think they'll have a big impact on jail or, certainly, prison populations (reduction in "churn" has historically had almost no impact on avg daily population. See https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2020/06/23/small-but-growing-group-incarcerated-for-a-month-or-more-has-kept-jail-populations-high#:~:text=The%20Pew%20analysis%20showed%20that,just%204%25%20of%20jail%20space.)