Greg Weeks, Carol Webster - December 1994

There are two schools of thought about the requirements of a successful welfare-towork program: One believes women on welfare should be encouraged to work, even at low-paying jobs, because steady work experience is a rung on a “wage ladder” that leads to jobs at higher wages. The other believes women on welfare should be encouraged to enroll in education and training to improve their skills and only take jobs with higher wages, because low-paying jobs are a dead end.

Previously, the Family Income Study found that both education/training and work experience affect the possibility of a woman leaving and staying off welfare. In this paper, we address the effects of work experience. We examined the hourly wages of women in the AFDC sample, who worked at least three months in any year during the five-year study period (1988-1992), to see if it was possible to “climb a wage ladder.”

Todd Donovan, Heather Smith - December 1994

Several members of Washington's House of Representatives asked the Institute to summarize the research on the role single member districts and other electoral arrangements may play in local government in increasing both voter turnout and representation for minority groups. This report reviews the literature on alternative, proportional representation arrangements in local elections in the United States, comparing their impact with that of single member and at-large districts.

Roxanne Lieb - October 1994

This document can assist policymakers in understanding the major research findings in juvenile delinquency. It summarizes key findings and offers an overview of various topics, including: juvenile delinquency risk factors, program effectiveness, juvenile detention, and delinquency prevention.

Roxanne Lieb, Lee Fish, Todd Crosby - October 1994

The 1994 Legislature determined that Washington's juvenile justice system requires "substantial revision," and created a legislative task force to review the system. To assist in this endeavor, the Institute reviewed the major trends in the nation regarding juvenile justice.

Carol Webster, Greg Weeks - August 1994

This brief is a review of five welfare-to-work approaches that proved beneficial to welfare recipients.

Carol Webster, Greg Weeks - August 1994

New Chance was a national demonstration program that targeted young women who received welfare. Participants were 16 to 22 years old, gave birth as teenagers, and were high school dropouts. Immediate objectives were to increase educational attainment, increase contraceptive use, and improve parenting skills. Long-term objectives were to increase employment and decrease welfare use. The evaluation of New Chance was conducted by Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC). Women in the experimental and control groups were interviewed at 18 months after entering the program. The findings presented here summarize the results of the 18-month follow-up.

Carol Webster, Greg Weeks - August 1994

The Riverside GAIN program, one of the six counties in the experimental evaluation of California's Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) program, had the best results to date for a large welfare-to-work demonstration program. GAIN was evaluated by the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) over a 36-month follow-up period. The findings presented here summarize these results.

Cheryl Milloy - June 1994

Presented in this report are the findings of a study that compares the background characteristics and offense behavior of a group of juveniles who have been convicted of at least one sex offense to a group of delinquent offenders who have never been convicted of a sex offense.

Lin Song, Roxanne Lieb - June 1994

This study is a preliminary estimate of the recidivism rates of sex offenders who have completed the Sex Offender Treatment Program (SOTP) at the Washington State Department of Corrections’ Twin Rivers Corrections Center. Estimated recidivism rates of these offenders are compared with the rates of a group of released sex offenders who did not receive sex offender treatment during incarceration.

Lin Song, Roxanne Lieb - January 1994

Sex offenders may re-offend, even after they have been convicted and imprisoned. This conduct is known as recidivism. Research on sex offender recidivism can help the public and policymakers understand the risks posed by convicted sex offenders. This paper summarizes the major research findings related to sex offender recidivism.