News

Bruce Western talks about the Boston Reentry Study, which looks at whether witnessing deadly violence as a child can have a lifelong impact, tracking 122 men and women released from prison in Massachusetts between 2012 and 2014 to see how they're adjusting to life outside.

Read the interview here.

Vincent Schiraldi and Lael Chester reflect on Connecticut's proposed emerging adult justice reforms that could make Connecticut the first state in United States history to include most emerging adults – those ages 18, 19, and 20 – who have committed crimes into its juvenile court. Elected officials in Illinois, Massachusetts, and Vermont have proposed legislation similar to HB5040 and HB5042.

Read the opinion piece here.

For decades, the United States has experimented with a supply-focused, criminal justice-based model for addressing substance use disorders and related problems. The experiment has been a failure, having little or no positive impact; drugs now are easier to access, more potent and more deadly and more people are dying from drug addiction and drug use. As researchers, practitioners and policy-makers seek more effective ways to address substance use disorders in Massachusetts and across the country, a more focused study of the issue among emerging adults is critically important and timely.