Policy Outsider

You've probably heard the headline: guns and cars are the leading causes of death among children. But to understand what policymakers can actually do to bring down rates of firearm and motor vehicle fatalities, researchers are going deeper into the intersection of age, sex, race, and ethnicity in mortality rates. On this episode ofPolicy Outsider, hear from two co-authors of a recently published article on firearm and motor vehicle pediatric deaths in the journal JAMA Pediatrics how prevention efforts need to be targeted across different high-risk subgroups to be most effective in bringing down the number of children killed by cars and guns.

Guests

• Jaclyn Schildkraut,Executive Director, Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium
• Eric Fleegler,Pediatric Emergency Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School
• Lois K. Lee,Senior Associate in Pediatrics, Division of Emergency Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital and Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School

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• Firearm and Motor Vehicle Pediatric Deaths—Intersections of Age, Sex, Race, and Ethnicity (JAMA Pediatrics)

Extreme Risk Protection Orders, or "red flag" laws, are a state policy tool designed to temporarily remove firearms from individuals who are behaving in a manner dangerous to themselves or to others. As state laws, they vary in their design and implementation, including who is able to petition to have firearms removed. In some states with red flag laws, physicians, pediatricians, and other clinicians are enabled by law to fill this role. On this episode of Policy Outsider, we explore why clinicians are well-suited to be ERPO petitioners and their challenges and concerns with the laws as currently constructed.

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At all levels of American government, voters were asked to weigh in on cannabis policy in last week’s election. On this episode of Policy Outsider, Rockefeller Institute of Government Director of Operations and Fellow Heather Trela breaks down the results of state ballot initiatives to legalize cannabis, local government efforts to decriminalize possession, and what a Trump presidency might mean for federal cannabis policy.

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Immigrant children face unique challenges in the classroom. Many are processing recent upheaval, working through academic material while learning a new language, or adjusting to new cultural norms. This episode of Policy Outsider, coordinated by the Institute on Immigrant Integration Research and Policy, explores how emotionally responsive practice can be used in the classroom to support children navigating adversity.

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September marks National Suicide Prevention Month and on this episode of Policy Outsider, Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium Executive Director Jaclyn Schildkraut speaks with Hannah Klein, an affiliate scholar with the Consortium and an assistant professor at Lewis University, about the role of safe firearm storage in suicide prevention. The conversation covers what safe storage really means, what we know about where people receive and want to receive safe storage education, and why safe storage is so important in reducing firearm suicides.

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As researchers advance their understanding of the causes of gun violence in the US and the contexts in which it occurs, one area under recent consideration is the relationship between firearm use and alcohol misuse. A recent report by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions found that one in three individuals who committed a homicide with a firearm were heavily drinking at the time of the offense. Additionally, 30% of firearm homicide victims were under the influence of alcohol at the time of their death, as were 25% of gun suicide victims. On this episode of Policy Outsider, Senator Cory McCray of Maryland's 45th Legislative District, which covers parts of east and northeast Baltimore, joins Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium Executive Director Jaclyn Schildkraut to discuss the proactive policy action he's taken to address the dangerous intersection of alcohol misuse and gun violence in his district.

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On June 21, 2024, the United States Supreme Court issued its highly anticipated decision in the case of United States v. Rahimi. In an 8-to-1 majority, the Court upheld the federal prohibition of firearms by those subject to a domestic violence restraining order. On this episode of Policy Outsider, Jaclyn Schildkraut, executive director of the Institute’s Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium gets initial reactions to the decision from Consortium members Liz Tobin-Tyler, associate professor of health services policy and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health, and Kaitlin Sidorsky, associate professor of political science and public policy at Ramapo College of New Jersey. The conversation provides an overview of the ruling, what the concurrence and dissent opinions signal about how the court is interpreting the Second Amendment, and what comes next on the national stage for firearm and domestic violence policy.

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Diya Abdo is a second-generation Palestinian refugee born and raised in Jordan and the author of the book, American Refuge: True Stories of the Refugee Experience. The book shares the stories of seven refugees from around the world who begin their American journeys in North Carolina, where Abdo is a Lincoln Financial Professor of English in the Department of English and Creative Writing at Guilford College. On this episode of Policy Outsider, the Institute on Immigrant Integration Research and Policy invited Dr. Abdo to talk about the book, myths about refugees and the refugee experience, and the intertwined cultural and policy changes that can support a more integrated immigrant experience.

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Assemblymember Brian Cunningham joins Policy Outsider for the latest in the "Freshmen Perspectives" series, which invites freshmen legislators in the New York State Senate and Assembly to share what they're working on, what they've learned, and what they're excited about tackling next. Cunningham (who stretches our definition of freshman as a winner of a special election before winning his first full term in 2022), shares insights into how he approaches legislating, the unique perspective one gets working in the State Legislature, and the important work still to be done in housing, the green energy economy, and AI.

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In the early 1980s, the New York State Division of the Budget released a retrospective on the executive budget process. The book, The Executive Budget in New York State: A Half-Century Perspective, describes how the executive budget process came to be, how it evolved over 50 years, and how it helped the state function through the Great Depression, World War II, the postwar period, and the 60s and 70s. Now, as we sit in view of 100 years of executive budgets in New York, the Division, in collaboration with the Rockefeller Institute, is beginning the process of telling the story of the next half-century. On this episode of Policy Outsider, Dominic Colafati, DOB’s unit head for the Expenditure/Debt unit, joins Rockefeller Institute President Bob Megna to talk about the project: what they hope to emulate, what they might do differently, and what comes next for the executive budget process.

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