How Harris County, Texas' Indigent Defense Penalizes The Poor

Read article at: http://ht.ly/Tk2cK

Do Sexually Oriented Massage Parlors Cluster in Specific Neighborhoods? A Spatial Analysis of Indoor Sex Work in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, California

Social determinants of health may be substantially affected by spatial factors, which together may explain the persistence of health inequities. Clustering of possible sources of negative health and social outcomes points to a spatial focus for future interventions. We analyzed the spatial clustering of sex work businesses in Southern California to examine where and why they cluster. We explored economic and legal factors as possible explanations of clustering.

A total of 889 venues were identified. Clusters of tracts having higher-than-expected numbers of sexually oriented massage parlors ("hot spots") were located outside downtowns. These hot spots were characterized by a higher proportion of adult males, a higher proportion of households below the federal poverty level, and a smaller average household size.

Sexually oriented massage parlors in Los Angeles and Orange counties cluster in particular neighborhoods. More research is needed to ascertain the causal factors of such clusters and how interventions can be designed to leverage these spatial factors.

Via: http://ht.ly/S1gfF

By: Chin JJ1, Kim AJ2, Takahashi L3, Wiebe DJ4.

• 1Hunter College, City University of New York, Urban Affairs and Planning, New York, NY.
• 2Georgia Institute of Technology, City and Regional Planning, Atlanta, GA.
• 3University of California, Los Angeles, Urban Planning, Los Angeles, CA.
• 4University of Pennsylvania, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA.

States are Shortchanging their Neediest Students

More at:  http://goo.gl/aDgJq3 HT https://twitter.com/edbuild

The Likelihood of Experiencing Relative Poverty over the Life Course

Below: Cumulative percentage of American adults experiencing poverty and extreme poverty by age.

Research on poverty in the United States has largely consisted of examining cross-sectional levels of absolute poverty. In this analysis, we focus on understanding relative poverty within a life course context. Specifically, we analyze the likelihood of individuals falling below the 20th percentile and the 10th percentile of the income distribution between the ages of 25 and 60. A series of life tables are constructed using the nationally representative Panel Study of Income Dynamics data set. This includes panel data from 1968 through 2011. Results indicate that the prevalence of relative poverty is quite high. Consequently, between the ages of 25 to 60, 61.8 percent of the population will experience a year below the 20th percentile, and 42.1 percent will experience a year below the 10th percentile. Characteristics associated with experiencing these levels of poverty include those who are younger, nonwhite, female, not married, with 12 years or less of education, or who have a work disability.

Read more at:  goo.gl/tyuigN HT @BrownSchool