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Elyse Clawson |
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Elyse Clawson Elyse Clawson serves as the Executive Director of CJI. She brings over 30 years of experience and a substantial background in criminal and juvenile justice, substance abuse and mental health treatment, and education. Throughout her career, Ms. Clawson has worked extensively with elected officials and other policy makers as both a national consultant and department director. Under Ms. Clawson’s leadership, CJI’s work has had positive impacts on public safety at both the local and national levels. CJI provides data collection and analysis, coordination of system stakeholders, support for policy development, intensive technical assistance, program and system evaluations, and various trainings for both state and local systems. CJI’s national efforts include a partnership with the Pew Charitable Trusts' Center on the States Public Safety Performance Project which emphasizes fiscally sound, data driven policies and practices in sentencing and corrections that protect public safety, hold offenders accountable and control corrections costs. CJI also works with the Bureau of Justice Assistance as a contractor for local and tribal governments in the Justice Reinvestment Initiative. CJI, in partnership with the National Institute of Corrections, developed an implementation model for evidence-based practices (EBP) in community corrections and provided technical assistance to several states as they tested that model. This model, known as the Integrated Model for Corrections, has been used in various states and counties across the country. CJI was also part of a national team doing research on the effect of caseload size and evidence-based practices on recidivism, and also partnered with Cornerstones for Kids on a national Human Services Workforce Initiative. At the state level, CJI works with the Connecticut Judicial Branch to implement and expand its contractor data collection system and with the California Chief’s Association and the Office of the Courts on a Capacity Building Technical Assistance Project. CJI works with several Massachusetts state agencies on juvenile justice reform through its role as a technical assistance provider for the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative and also advises on a number of Massachusetts adult reentry initiatives. CJI is engaged with many other local public safety and community corrections systems assisting in the development of evidence-based policy options with stakeholders, providing data-driven technical assistance to implement EBP, and evaluating the results of the changes. The wide scope of CJI’s mission ranges from advocacy, research, and policy development to hands-on technical assistance. As Executive Director of CJI, Ms. Clawson’s goals include the development of policy and support for implementation of more effective and efficient ways to operate the criminal and juvenile justice system, and human services system both in Massachusetts and nationally, to ultimately increase public safety and the quality of life in our communities. Prior to taking the lead at CJI, Ms. Clawson served in a variety of leadership roles in the state of Oregon. During her tenure as the Assistant Director of the Oregon State Department of Corrections, she led major reform of the community corrections system, including numerous statutory and organizational changes, the implementation of evidence-based practices, and the development of statewide sanction revocation guidelines. In 1995 she went to Multnomah County, Oregon where she became the Director of the Department of Community Justice (DCJ) and led significant reform of the adult and juvenile systems. Ms. Clawson was recently a member of Governor Kitzhaber’s transition team for Corrections and Juvenile Justice. Elyse Clawson provides consultation on policy and practice in criminal/ juvenile justice, and human services for state and local government. She also makes presentations to professional organizations, legislatures, and other policy groups. Ms. Clawson was a member of the Massachusetts Governors Commission on Corrections, the Massachusetts Juvenile Justice Advisory Council, and the Massachusetts Department of Corrections Advisory Council. She was a member of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Department’s expert panel tasked with reviewing Department of Corrections programs and systems both in the institution and upon reentry. She is currently a member of the Massachusetts Youth Violence Prevention Council. She is also participating on a related subcommittee that is developing a new system model. Ms. Clawson is a member of the American Probation and Parole Association, the American Correctional Association, the National Association of Probation Executives, and is a Fulbright Senior Specialist. |
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