Policy Blog NH

"What is New Hampshire?" 2012 edition

The Center this week released the 2012 edition of "What is New Hampshire?", our annual compilation of data and analysis on the people, strengths and challenges of the state. Think of it as a New Hampshire guidebook for your mind.

One of the central themes weaving through the report (available here) is the lingering impact of the Great Recession on New Hampshire. The state has emerged in a relatively strong position from recession. Yet New Hampshire also faces significant challenges in coming years, related not only to the transformations wrought by the economic downturn, but also shifting trends in our long-term demographics. While the implications of the changes now underway are still unclear, they do raise critical policy questions.

We begin this year's edition of "What is New Hampshire?" with an analysis of this new economic reality into which New Hampshire is now emerging, a topic we'll address in greater depth in a publication later this month.

This week's policy "must-reads" - March 16, 2012

If it's Friday, it's time for another round up of policy reads. Here's a sample of the links, articles, reports and studies that caught our attention this week:

Keeping track of crime, city by city

The Nashua Telegraph today reports on a new interactive crime map they created in partnership with the Nashua Police Department. (Find the map here.)

This week's policy "must-reads"

We're starting a new feature here at Policy Blog. Every Friday (or as often as we can remember) we'll share a handful of recent reports, news articles and blog postings that we think raise interesting or provocative public policy questions. Please share your thoughts about any of these pieces.

Here is this week's offering:

An in-depth look at crime in New Hampshire

New Hampshire has not published a comprehensive report of crime statistics since 1993. The Center's latest publication (which you can find here) is the first to meet the need of criminal justice professionals, researchers, and policymakers in understanding crime in New Hampshire by examining recent trends in criminal activity.

The report includes detailed crime statistics for the state's largest communities, compares New Hampshire's crime trends to those of other New England states, and examines the link between crime rates and state corrections policy.

Growing State Prison Population Cannot Be Solely Explained by Changes in Crime Population or Economic Distress.

The number of inmates in the New Hampshire state prison system increased 560% in twenty-five years, from 394 inmates in 1982 to 2,615 in 2007.  Factors commonly associated with increases in a state’s prison population fail to explain the extraordinary rise in the number of New Hampshire state prison inmates.  As shown in the table below, New Hampshire’s resident population, number of people living in poverty, and number of violent crimes have not increased as fast as the number of inmates held in New Hampshire’s state prisons.  In fact, while the number of state prison inmates increased almost six times from 1982 to 2007, the number of property crimes and the number of arrests for all crimes in New Hampshire actually declined.