Evidence-based practices

Five myths about pro bono
The National Law Journal
At the Pro Bono Institute, we are committed to a data- and evidence-based approach to expanding and improving pro bono service, and so, with a tip of the hat to The Washington Post, the following are the most common myths we've heard recently about law ...

Program to help ex-prisoners stay out of jail
Worcester Telegram
Dave McMahon, left, co-executive director of Dismas House; Carlton Watson, executive director of the Henry Lee Willis Comunity Center; and Judge James Lemire discuss the re-entry program. (T&G Staff/JIM COLLINS) By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE ...

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The research is fine, shame about the reporting
Prevention Action
Academics and policy makers are increasingly calling for better evidence of what works in criminal justice. This has led to a focus on the randomized controlled trial (RCT). RCTs are considered the “gold standard” for helping us drawing causal ...

Ekklesia
Women bishops and the church's core purpose
Ekklesia
It showed a serious decline in religious belief and practice in recent decades. 31% in 1983 did not belong to a religion, compared to 50% now (64% of those aged 18-24). There are various reasons for this. But evidence suggests that the widespread ...

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Scientific study on crime sought
Deccan Chronicle
“Given the scarcity of resources and human costs involved in the actions of the criminal justice system, evaluation of interventions becomes more and more of a standard practice in many countries. In this context, randomised controlled trials play an ...

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This DC Public Radio program interviews Nancy G. La Vigne, Director, Justice Policy Center of The Urban Institute.

The topic is “Research on Women Offenders” as documented by “Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry,” which represents the only published empirical research with a sample size  sufficient to identify statistical differences in the experiences of women versus men released from prison.

Listen to the podcast here

For additional information on women offenders visit NIC’s Women Offenders project

prisoner re-entry program unveiled
Worcester Telegram
... department being involved with such an innovative program that will utilize creative evidence-based practices that will decrease recidivism, improve success among returning prisoners and create a safer and healthier Worcester,” Judge Lemire said.

By Donald Coffey and Joel F. Botner, Re-Entry Unit, Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation Department, Miami, Florida

In this article, Coffey and Botner share some of Miami-Dade County's "lessons learned" in working with jail inmates who are veterans.

They discuss:

- The challenges jails may face in identifying veterans in the jail, and some ways to encourage disclosure so that these inmates get the help they deserve;

- The behavioral and treatment needs that tend to be commonly seen among veteran inmates;

- Assistance and resources available from the U.S. Veterans Administration - for inmates and for staff and community education; and

- Strategies for ensuring that veteran inmates are connected with community services as they approach release from the jail.

Download the full article here

OUR VIEW: Region must join forces to stop Taunton State Hospital closure
Fall River Herald News
That 2004 report stated that when considering the reconfiguration, decision-making criteria would be based upon impact on clients and their families, quality of care, adherence to evidence-based practices and cost/benefit ratio of change.

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The Massachusetts legislature is the principal roadblock to putting the ...
The Phoenix
Much like climate-change deniers, lawmakers refuse to accept the overwhelming body of research and best practices that show the benefits of a more thoughtful, evidence-based reform in criminal justice. That means less reliance on punitive mass ...

Wrong Medicine: Doctors, Patients, and Futile Treatment
Journal of American Medical Association (subscription)
In this extended essay arguing against treatment using futile interventions, the authors update their 1995 text with new examples and refreshed arguments in a practical attempt to “restore medicine's proper ends and reform medical practice.

“Medicaid Expansion and the Local Criminal Justice System” (American Jails Nov/Dec 2011) By Michael DeBose, CEO, Community Oriented Correctional Health Services

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 includes provisions with a major potential impact on local jails:

"In 2014, cities, counties, and states will have an unprecedented opportunity to reduce the costs associated with individuals involved in the justice system—from jail bed use to emergency room admissions to medical care—while improving public safety and public health. Medicaid expansion under national health reform will extend the prospect of health care coverage to an estimated 16 million newly eligible individuals, including the substantial population of nonviolent offenders with mental illness or chemical addiction who cycle in and out of local jails."

This article explains how upcoming expansion of Medicaid to low-income Americans will make many more jail inmates eligible for coverage, helping to relieve the cost burden currently carried by local jails and public health systems. As coverage increases, people are less likely to use emergency rooms for care, are more likely to receive chemical dependency treatment, and are more likely to receive effective community-based mental health treatment - with significant public safety benefits and a net lower cost to taxpayers.

To be ready to take advantage of the new policy promptly when it goes into effect in 2014, jail administrators should begin planning now for this change by collaborating with their public health colleagues and raising issues, as appropriate, for state legislative attention.

For example, what might be the future role of jails in helping detainees enroll in the Medicaid program? These and other policy questions are outlined as a starting point for discussion.

Download the full article from AJA.org

Nine ways to set up your practice to combat domestic violence
Pulse
Such services can help assess risk to women and their children, provide advocacy and broker access to housing, criminal justice and social care support. The local council may also have a domestic violence co-ordinator who can provide advice and ...

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Consensus 9/11: Seeking Truth, Dispelling Lies
Bay Area Indymedia
Using evidence-based patient care, faith, and social justice involved her with 9/11 Truth activism in 2006. She's Coordinator for Religious Leaders for 9/11 Truth. (17) Daniel Sunjata: Film, television and stage actor, he performed in the TV series ...

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Building the Model and Beginning the Journey is the first book in the APEX series for Achieving Performance Excellence, providing an overview of the APEX Journey—a roadmap for correctional agencies to use as they begin an organizational change initiative. Each of the eight domains in the APEX Public Safety Model is described.

The Leadership domain focuses on how leaders can responsibly guide their organization and staff while maintaining public safety. The Organizational Culture domain looks at how the values, norms and assumptions of the organization influences behavior. The Operations Focus domain concentrates on safe and secure supervision and settings and the process management of the organization. The Stakeholder Focus domain examines the ability of the organization to create services through the engagement of stakeholders. The Workforce Focus domain focuses on the management of the workforce, including development, engagement and environment. The Strategic Planning domain considers how the organization develops, manages, and implements strategies, plans, and initiatives.

The Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management domain concentrates on data and information management in the organization, and the Results domain views the effectiveness of the outcomes for achieving the organization’s mission and goals. An overview of the APEX Tools for Organizational Assessment—the APEX Screener, the APEX Organizational Profile, and the APEX Inventory: Powerful Tools for Assessment, Communication and Change—is presented. Developing a Communications Plan comprises the final chapter.

For additional information see NIC’s APEX project.

Now available in the NIC Library, “You’re An Adult Now: Youth in Adult Criminal Justice Systems“ focuses on issues managing youth offenders in an adult corrections system.

Key findings include:

• Youth transferred to the adult corrections system recidivate at a higher rate than those kept in the juvenile justice system;
• Pretrial, post-conviction, and community supervision corrections systems face challenges keeping youth safe, effectively providing for their services and supervision, and containing costs required to serve youth appropriately. Due to these and other challenges corrections systems face when managing these youth, the transfer of juveniles in adult institutions might run counter to correctional and rehabilitative goals; 
• To overcome these challenges, a number of states and localities have developed innovative ways of managing youth when they have been charged, convicted and committed to the adult corrections system. These changes are helping improve public safety, contain costs, successfully rehabilitate youth and help them transition to adulthood.

Read the Full Document

AppealMasters Introduces the 2012 RAC Appeal Writing Webinar Series
PR Web (press release)
Observation CHF Appeal Letter through AppealMasters CHF templates, supporting research, and evidence-based guidelines and rationale for inpatient admission from actual successful overturns at the Redetermination and ALJ levels.

ABC Online
Unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions
ABC Online
Donor and national governments – as well as aid and development agencies - must continue to be held accountable and evidence-based programs must be underpinned by a commitment to gender justice. Until these elements converge we will not see the changes ...

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DigitalJournal.com
Op-Ed: Prison Paradigm Shift Away from Big Government Needed
DigitalJournal.com
American and world history provide fully-documented successful evidence-based practices, not with studies or “social science,” but in the more critical world of practical application over centuries. Punishment used to be carried out at the local level, ...

CPS REPORT: DISPARITIES BETWEEN ANGLO YOUTH AND YOUTH OF COLOR IN TEXAS
Examiner.com
The discussion focused on students of color being referred into the Juvenile Justice System due to disciplinary infractions; not at risk, but at potential students of color who have a greater chance of going into adult incarceration, or dropping out of ...