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The Center for Criminal Justice Research works with public safety agencies and social services organizations to provide impartial applied research on criminal justice and public safety issues. CCJR provides analysis, evaluation, and assistance to criminal justice agencies; and community information and education on public safety questions.

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Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Combined Summaries: Public Opinion on Indiana Communities
    (IU Public Policy Institute, 2015-08)
    As part of Thriving Communities, Thriving State, Institute staff gathered input from Hoosiers about their communities in 2015 through five regional forums around the state and an online survey. Participants identified their communities as urban, mid-sized, or rural/small town, and shared their views about their current condition and future outlook. The discussion and survey questions can be combined into four general categories – The Good, The Challenges, The Strategies, and The Dreams. This document includes only issues that were common to all three community types.
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    Community Vitality Index
    (IU Public Policy Institute, 2015-11) Marron, John
    As part of the Thriving Communities, Thriving State project, the Institute created a Community Vitality Index by modifying an index created by The New York Times. Our version of the index is comprised of each Indiana county's ratio of estimated housing costs to median household income, education attainment, unemployment rate, disability benefits use rate, life expectancy, and obesity. Key findings include: •Mid-sized counties collectively perform exceedingly well on these measures relative to rural and urban communities. •Educational attainment in rural areas lags behind urban and mid-sized communities, considerably contributing to greater economic challenges. •Residents of urban areas spend substantially more of their incomes on housing than rural or mid-sized counties. •Communities adjacent to urban areas; university centers; and areas with robust, specialized manufacturing industries appear to be faring well. •Areas that lost considerable employment with the decline of the manufacturing sector and rural counties not proximate to major metropolitan areas experience the greatest degree of challenges. •Indiana’s larger regional centers (Indianapolis, Evansville, Fort Wayne, and South Bend) anchor thriving regions that benefit surrounding counties and the state as a whole. •Regions historically centered on manufacturing and regions with their central city located outside the state fare less well than other regions.
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    Domestic Migration in Indiana Counties
    (IU Public Policy Institute, 2015-10) Merritt, Breanca; Klacik, Drew
    As part of the Thriving Communities, Thriving State project, this issue brief examines trends in domestic migration for Indiana's urban, mid-sized, and rural counties. Comparing Indiana’s domestic migration across counties suggests that many counties in Indiana are only growing because individuals are relocating from other parts of the state. These domestic migration patterns are not sustainable for long-term population growth—they highlight that Indiana counties rely on one another’s residents for population growth rather than residents of other states. The data presented here underscore several key trends in county-level migration in Indiana: • Mid-sized Indiana counties provide the greatest source of growth in Indiana due to net domestic migration. This growth is mostly from: o Individuals moving from Urban Indiana to Midsized counties surrounding Indianapolis, and o Individuals moving from Rural to the other Mid-sized Indiana counties. • Indiana communities of all types have undergone a net loss in domestic migration to other U.S. states. o Most of those states are in the Sun Belt, are experiencing some of the largest population growth nationally, and are projected to continue that trend. o Individuals who move to other states from Indiana tend to move to metropolitan areas. o Urban counties in Indiana had the greatest net losses to other states. • Neighboring counties are sources of growth for some counties. o Rural populations may be attracted to more urban locations. o Domestic migration to border counties also exists for state-to-state migration, especially for Rural and Mid-sized counties. Overall, Indiana risks increasingly smaller population growth in all regions of the state due to multiple factors, but mostly related to losses in net domestic migration.
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    The Opportunities and Challenges of Benchmarking Indiana's Local Governments
    (IU Public Policy Institute, 2015-09) Spreen, Thomas Luke; Palmer, Jamie; Johnson, Craig
    As part of the Fiscal Benchmarking for Indiana's Local Governments project, the Institute and the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs explores the challenges of efforts to monitor the fiscal health of local governments. SB 106, enacted in 2014, places this responsibility with the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF). This issue brief explores the challenges to the process and insight gained from producing similar indicators of fiscal condition through the Fiscal Benchmarking project, including the following: 1.Using cash accounting for financial reporting instead of accrual accounting 2.An inconsistent and incomplete system of fund codes and transaction coding 3.A lack of complete budget reporting 4.A varied treatment of enterprise operations 5.The unique structure and treatment of Indianapolis 6.Debt reporting issues
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    Summary of Public Comments Online
    (IU Public Policy Institute, 2015-08)
    In addition to the five regional forums around the state in 2015 intended to gather public input for the Thriving Communities, Thriving State project, feedback was solicited through an online survey. This document summarizes the online comments submitted by residents of urban, mid-sized, and rural/small town communities in Indiana
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    Summary of Regional Forums - Mid-Sized
    (IU Public Policy Institute, 2015-08)
    Staff from the Public Policy Institute conducted a series of five regional forums around the state in 2015 to gather feedback from local leaders and residents about the past, present, and future of their respective communities. As part of these events, attendees participated in roundtable discussions around five questions about their community (self-selected as either urban, mid-sized, or rural/small town). This document is a summary of the recurring themes, common concerns, and general insights from those discussing their mid-sized communities. The forums were held in Gary, Evansville, Indianapolis, Columbus, and Fort Wayne.
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    Summary of Regional Forums - Rural/Small Towns
    (IU Public Policy Institute, 2015-08)
    Staff from the Public Policy Institute conducted a series of five regional forums around the state in 2015 to gather feedback from local leaders and residents about the past, present, and future of their respective communities. As part of these events, attendees participated in roundtable discussions around five questions about their community (self-selected as either urban, mid-sized, or rural/small town). This document is a summary of the recurring themes, common concerns, and general insights from those discussing their rural/small town communities. The forums were held in Gary, Evansville, Indianapolis, Columbus, and Fort Wayne.
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