Morrison Institute for Public Policy Publications Archives
Morrison Institute for Public Policy is a leader in examining critical Arizona and regional issues, and is a catalyst for public dialogue. An Arizona State University resource, Morrison Institute is an independent center that uses nonpartisan research and communication outreach to help improve the state's quality of life.
Morrison Institute is part of the College of Public Programs in the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University. Additional publications are available at the Morrison Institute for Public Policy. Date range of repository publications is 1992 – 2015.
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- All Subjects: Phoenix Metropolitan Area
- All Subjects: Criminal justice, Administration of
- All Subjects: Poverty
The aim of the Greater Phoenix 2100 project is to make the best possible scientific and technical information available in ways that will enable wise, knowledge-based decision making that can shape the region during the next 100 years. This Atlas is one of the first products of the GP2100 project.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent report shows Arizona has the second highest poverty rate in the nation. This shameful distinction calls attention to a long-standing social problem that has been exacerbated by challenging economic times. In this edition of Policy Points, authors Richard C. Knopf and Brian Simpson examine the increasing demand for emergency food assistance, hunger's impact on children, and the growing number of Arizonans experiencing need for the first time.
Arizona’s prison population is on the rise and the current fiscal year General Fund has $880 million budgeted for corrections. Read the series debut of Indicator Insight to learn about trends in crime rates, juvenile arrests, and recidivism.
The war on poverty during the 1960s succeeded, cutting the national poverty rate in half by the early 1970s. Since then, however, the poverty rate of Americans under the age of 65 has increased. The poverty rate has climbed particularly among children; compared to an average of 15.5 percent during the 1971-to-1975 economic cycle, the poverty rate in each of the three cycles since 1982 averaged between 18 percent and 21 percent. One-in-five children lives in poverty and Arizona has consistently experienced higher poverty rates than the national average for all age groups except seniors.
Arizona’s most significant criminal-justice trend of the 2000s has been the enormous growth of the state’s prison population, which far outpaced state population growth and continued upward even as the rate of major crimes dropped. In this edition, the author explores Arizona incarceration trends into the next decade.
“What about the water?” was one of the questions Morrison Institute for Public Policy asked in its 2008 study, "Megapolitan: Arizona’s Sun Corridor". That report looked at the potential growth of the Sun Corridor as Tucson and Phoenix merge into one continuous area for economic and demographic purposes.
With its brief review of the water situation in urban Arizona, "Megapolitan" left a number of questions unanswered. This report will consider questions like these in more detail in order to examine the Sun Corridor’s water future. This topic has received less sophisticated public discussion than might be expected in a desert state. Arizona’s professional water managers feel they are relatively well prepared for the future and would like to be left alone to do their job. Elected officials and economic-development professionals have sometimes avoided discussing water for fear of reinforcing a negative view of Arizona. This report seeks to contribute to this understanding, and to a more open and informed conversation about the relationship of water and future growth.
A grassroots dialogue-to-action program designed to inspire bottom-up collaboration on issues of domestic violence proved to be a success and several important lessons were learned to help full implementation. This briefing evaluates the pilot program of the Purple Ribbon Study Circles Project, which ran in six cities in Greater Phoenix from September through December 2008.
The Phoenix metropolitan area is known worldwide for the rapid and continuous expansion of its population, economy, and development of desert land. Even during recessionary periods, it has continued to grow. Leaders in other metropolitan areas envy this achievement and the many benefits it has created for Valley residents. But some members of our region, both leaders and lay people alike, consider the Valley’s phenomenal growth to be a mixed blessing. Indeed, they would say we are plagued by success. The purpose of this brief paper is to create a framework for discussion of how our region’s future growth can embody quality. It is not intended to be a comprehensive Morrison Institute for Public Policy treatment of the myriad issues of urban growth. Because of this paper’s brevity, some important details about growth are not included. Fortunately, detailed studies of the Valley’s growth have been done before (e.g., by Gruen Associates/Maricopa Association of Governments in 1975 and the Morrison Institute in 1988). Instead, this paper identifies key concepts and suggests questions to be used as a point of departure for steering a future course.
This second criminal justice brief is, like the first, based upon further analysis of the data gathered in the preparation of Layers of Meaning: Domestic Violence and Law Enforcement Attitudes in Arizona. The findings presented here expand on the findings and issues presented in the full report. The aim of this briefing is to present additional information and analysis in support of Arizona's ongoing public conversation about reducing and preventing domestic violence.
Domestic violence (DV) ranks among the most common 911 calls to police statewide. And a new report reveals that the victims making the calls – and the professionals working in Arizona’s criminal-justice system – say the state’s response is at risk of failing. System Alert: Arizona’s Criminal Justice Response to Domestic Violence, published by the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University, finds that, despite important strides made over the past three decades, the Arizona’s criminal justice system is too often falling short of its goals of achieving victim safety and offender accountability.