PAYDAY LOANS AND THEIR $7.4 BILLION ANNUAL BILL

This post originally appeared at the Illinois Asset Building Group blog. Chicago Appleseed is an IABG partner and Katy Welter is a researcher with the IABG's Alternative Small Dollar Loan project.  Each year, 12 million borrowers spend approximately $7.4 billion on payday loans. Who and where are t...
August 3, 2012

Research Capsule: State of the Science of Pretrial Assessment

Article: State of the Science of Pretrial Assessment (pdf) March, 2011 Author / Publication: Cynthia A. Mamalian, PhD -- Bureau of Justice Assistance Summary: "The most important decision that is made with respect to a newly arrested defendant is whether to release that defendant into the communit...
May 1, 2012

Featured Resource: OpenPensions.org

While we don't normally write about public finance, we support any efforts to increase government transparency. Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer's Open Pensions website does just this. Commissioner Gainer is chairwoman of the County's pension oversight committee. The site addresses an import...
April 18, 2012

Small Dollar Lending Guidelines from the CFPB

This post originally appeared the Illinois Asset Building Group Blog.  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)  released "Examination Procedures: Short-term, Small Dollar Lending," (pdf) which are guidelines for examining small dollar loan products. The guidelines are written for financial...
April 11, 2012

Featured Resource: Cost-Benefit Knowledge Bank for Criminal Justice

A project of the esteemed Vera Institute for Justice, the Cost-Benefit Knowledge Bank for Criminal Justice creates and consolidates resources for conducting economic analysis criminal justice initiatives. Technology advances are making data collection easier and cheaper, enabling evidence-based pol...
April 10, 2012