18 Months

Proactive policing has become a primary strategy for controlling violence and disorder in urban America. The key tactic is the widespread use of "Terry" stops, where police temporarily detain, frisk and perhaps search persons or their property when an officer has "reasonable suspicion" to suspect that "crime is afoot." This project will identify the effects of proactive policing on the mental and physical health of persons stopped. Law enforcement policies will be constructively informed by the identification of common practices that adversely affect the mental health of citizens. The project will assess the effects on community mental and physical health of "stop and frisk" or "Terry" stops, the dominant law enforcement strategy for violence reduction in urban areas.

Public health law research usually focuses on the substantive laws that effect health, not the accompanying funding laws. This study addresses a question that permeates public health law research: does the source and/or type of funding, not just the amount of funding, impact health outcomes? In 44 of Ohio's 88 counties, there is a dedicated local levy that provides flexible local child welfare funding. In 18 of the 88 counties, there was a IV-E waiver to provide flexible federal funding. The project analyzes 10 years of county level data provided by Public Children's Services Association of Ohio. Findings will identify key elements of successful funding strategies that may be adopted in other jurisdictions to improve outcomes for children in state care and thereby improve the mental health of children who have experienced state care.

This project aims to study whether laws that target reducing emissions from local polluting activities have distinguishable health impacts: What federal, state, and local regulations can reduce or shift electricity demand in New York City away from peak hours; how will local New York City power plants respond to that changing demand; and will those plant-specific responses have any significant health impacts for local populations?

Two million people with serious mental illness (SMI) enter U.S. jails each year. Jail diversion is a legal practice in which people with SMI are diverted from the criminal justice (CJ) system and in to treatment. The project will assess how brief jail stays before initiating diversion versus immediate diversion: 1) increase participants treatment adherence and reduce use of crisis care; 2) reduce recidivism among participants, including violent crimes and drug offenses that impact public safety; and 3) increase cost-effectiveness, a critical measure of success for widespread implementation of jail diversion. This analysis will inform potential statutory change requiring brief incarcerations prior to diversion.