Featured Public Policy Research by the EEU
Full Policy Reports:
Pro-Equity Policy Framework for Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Utah’s Juvenile Justice System
Author Sheena Yoon prepared the Pro-Equity Policy Framework for Racial and Ethnic Disparities (RED) in Utah’s Juvenile Justice System for the RED committee of the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice. This report presents an updated literature review and policy framework for understanding RED in the juvenile justice system.
Utah Child Care Markets 2021
EEU authors Catherine Ruetschlin and Yazgi Genc prepared the Utah 2021 Child Care Market Rate Study for the Utah Department of Workforce Services Office of Child Care. This report provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date look at prices, fees, and the cost of providing child care in the state of Utah and its regional submarkets.
Utah Victims of Crime
Authors Richard Fowles and Sheena Yoon prepared the policy report Utah’s Victims Services: Developing a Well-defined and Meaningful Evaluation Framework for Utah's Office for Victims of Crime to address the challenging landscape for service providers to meet the needs of victims of sexual assault and domestic violence while facing significant reductions in federal funding.
Juvenile Justice Fines & Fees
Authors Nathan Kunz and Sheena Yoon prepared the report, Nonjudicial Adjustment Juvenile Financial Sanctions: A Guide For Policy and Reform for Pretrial
Diversion in Utah’s Juvenile Justice System for the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, including the Utah Juvenile Court (UJC) and Juvenile Justice Oversight Committee
to support ongoing and future juvenile justice policy that is equitable and effective
for youth and their communities across Utah.
State Agency Budget Forecasting Models
Forthcoming for the Utah Department of Human Services, Division of Services for People with Disabilities
Women Veterans Unemployment Study
Forthcoming for Veterans Affairs, an interdisciplinary study on the employment outcomes, barriers and supports of Post-9/11 women Veterans, compared to other Veterans, and non-Veteran counterparts.
Medicaid Waiver Analysis
Forthcoming study on the impact of medicaid waivers and their modifications over time on health care utilization and cost.
Utah Childcare Cost Estimation
The Utah Childcare Cost Estimation Model is a tool for understanding supply-side factors in the child care market. Author Catherine Ruetschlin developed the model for Utah's Office of Child Care to reflect resource costs and quality-related investments in child care markets across the state. The model is used to account for critical resources in the provision of childcare services, evaluate provider costs across distinct markets, and project the effects of changes in policies, prices, or resource availability.
Policy Research Briefs:
Research Brief #1
Professor Gabriel Lozada has put together this research policy brief, Debt Repayment Obligations Created by the Proposed Bear River Development Project, summarizing the findings of a report that was commissioned by U.S. Magnesium to ascertain what expenses the northern Utah cities slated to receive water from proposed Bear River Development (BRD) would have to pay in return.
Research Brief #2
In response to the latest COVID-19 crisis, authors Ansel Schiavone, Codrina Rada, Ivan Mendieta-Muñoz and Rudi von Arnim have put together a research brief, COVID-19 Crisis: Potential impact on employment and income in Utah, looking into the potential economic impacts of such a crisis on employment and income in Utah.
Research Brief #3
Authors Matthew Gordon and Ivan Mendieta-Muñoz have put together a research brief on Nowcasting Regional GDP in Utah
Using Dynamic Factor Models.
Research Brief #4
Introduced in December 2019, the Davis county jail diversion program aims to provide an alternative to traditional arrest or citation for adults who have engaged in certain lower level drug crimes and misdemeanor offenses. The research brief on Evaluating the Early Public Safety Impact on Davis County Jail Diversion Program discusses the preliminary results of this program.
NJA Data Dashboard
Authors Nathan Kunz and Sheena Yoon prepared the interactive Juvenile Non-Judicial Adjustment Data Dashboard to supplement the full policy report to help support relevant stakeholders identify juvenile justice disparities across Utah's geography and demographic groups. This policy tool was created to help support data-driven policy work across agencies and legislators across Utah.