Bill to Deem Children Under 12 Too Young for Court Is Backed by Abrams’ Research

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Research by Professor Laura Abrams of UCLA Luskin Social Welfare is mentioned in a story that originated with the Chronicle of Social Change and has been picked up by other media outlets, including the Appeal and the Press-Telegram. Senate Bill (SB) 439 would prevent the juvenile justice system from hearing most cases of children younger than age 12. “I think people have an assumption that juvenile court is potentially a helpful intervention for young children,” Abrams says in the story, which notes her analysis of state juvenile justice data. “But in most cases, the charges aren’t sustained or they’re dismissed, so the family doesn’t get any help at all.”

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NPR, Washington Post Cite Research by UCLA Luskin’s Jisung Park

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A study by R. Jisung Park, assistant professor of public policy, is cited in the online story that accompanies a recent NPR “Morning Edition” piece about the impact of hot weather on brain function. Compared with a 72-degree day, “taking an exam on a 90◦F day leads to a 10.9 percent lower likelihood of passing a particular subject (e.g. Algebra), which in turn affects probability of graduation,” according to Park. The same quote, plus additional information from the study, is included in a data-driven story by the Washington Post headlined, “Heat Makes You Dumb, in Four Charts.”

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Shoup’s New Book Is Reviewed by Planetizen

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“Parking and the City,” a follow-up to Don Shoup’s 2005 publication, “The High Cost of Free Parking” was reviewed recently on the planning-related Planetizen website. “More than just providing an abridged version of ‘The High Cost of Free Parking,’ however, ‘Parking and the City’ passes the torch of parking reform to a new generation of academics, professional planners, and transportation engineers,” writes reviewer James Brasuell. Of the nearly 50 book contributors, 11 are former UCLA Luskin Urban Planning master’s and doctoral students. Meanwhile, other media outlets continue to cite Shoup’s research in stories about the subsidization of parking by cities, including a recent opinion piece by Bloomberg.

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In Op-Ed, Gilens Cites 5 Reforms for Broken Policymaking in Washington

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In an opinion piece for the political news website The Hill, UCLA Luskin’s Martin Gilens, professor of public policy, joins co-author Benjamin I. Page of Northwestern University in proposing a set of reforms that would actually increase democratic responsiveness. They say their research indicates that the most important and most promising changes fall into five groups: 1. Give equal political voice to all citizens; 2. Curb the political power of money; 3. Democratize the electoral process; 4. Improve House and Senate representation of all citizens; 5. Overcome remaining sources of gridlock.

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Taylor Weighs In on the Broken Dreams of Bedroom Communities

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UCLA Luskin’s Brian Taylor lent his expertise in housing and transportation to a KPCC story on the broken dreams of America’s mid-century suburbs. The story focused on Lakewood, a bedroom community that epitomized the good life in California when it was developed in the 1950s. Since then, nearby industries have collapsed and traffic congestion has become acute. “We don’t build the housing we need, then we have huge ramp-ups in housing costs, which has big economic impacts and means people often live much farther from where they would like to, which makes the traffic worse,” said Taylor, professor of urban planning and director of the Institute of Transportation Studies. What California needs, he said, is more housing in areas closer to jobs, rather than the exurban sprawl that has compounded the problem. The story also aired on American Public Media’s “Marketplace,” beginning at the 9-minute mark.

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Diaz Comments on Latino Voting Trends in California

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Sonja Diaz, founding director of the Latino Policy & Politics Initiative, commented on Latino voting trends after the California primary election during a KNX radio broadcast. Latino voters appeared to have “bucked the trend and turned in ballots in big numbers” — becoming supermajorities in some precincts — especially in Orange County, according to the report. “In Orange County we see surges in the number of ballots cast in the most heavily Latino precincts and these surges range from 10 percent to upwards of 245 percent over the ballots cast in June 2014,” Diaz said.

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Leap Refutes Trump’s Claim that ICE Liberated Towns from MS-13

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The tweets of Donald Trump are not known for factual accuracy, and Jorja Leap of UCLA Luskin Social Welfare told PolitiFact that his recent claims about ICE “liberating” towns from MS-13 and other gangs are an “outrageous” example of his tendency to exaggerate. “This is hyperbolic and misleading language,” said Leap, who is also director of the Health and Social Justice Partnership at UCLA Luskin. “Liberation is usually the terminology of military forces — as in, the Allies liberated France from the Nazis.”

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Pierce Joins Radio Show to Discuss Discolored Drinking Water in Compton

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Luskin Center for Innovation researcher Gregory Pierce commented in a recent KPCC “Take Two” broadcast about a lawsuit filed by Compton residents complaining about discolored drinking water supplied by Sativa, a small local water district serving the area. “Part of the issue for Sativa is actually that it hasn’t yet violated the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act standards. It’s much easier for the state or the county to dissolve the system or try to consolidate a system when it has repeatedly violated those standards,” Pierce says in the segment that begins at the 17:19-minute mark. “But the larger issue is that once a system is set up and the state or county wants to dissolve it, the big obstacle is that, oftentimes, there is no one else to take on that system.”

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Lens Is Interviewed About Expo Line Upzoning

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In an on-air interview for the “Take Two” program on KPCC, UCLA Luskin’s Michael Lens talked about L.A.’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee (PLUM), which has recommended that the City Council adopt a proposal to re-zone property along the Expo Line. “Upzoning” the transportation corridor could mean taller, more dense housing units. Although upzoning isn’t always popular, it can lower the cost of housing through supply and demand economics. To listen to Lens’ interview, scrub forward to the 12:45-minute mark of the show.

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