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    November 16, 2021

    The Police Executive Research Forum, with support from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, has released a new report entitled Promising Strategies for Strengthening Police Department Wellness Programs: Findings and Recommendations from the Officer Safety and Wellness Technical Assistance Project. While research data continues to evidence the benefits of comprehensive officer safety and wellness initiatives, many police departments continue to remain unsure of where to begin to establish such a program. This report, released this past October, shares the outcomes of the project, challenges faced, key recommendations for the building blocks of a comprehensive wellness program, tips on strengthening program development, guidance on support delivery, and strategies for increased participation.

    View the report to learn more.

    November 09, 2021

    This month, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) released a white paper that shares successful international interventions that have been initiated to foster desistance. Since the mid-1990s, there have been regularly sustained research efforts to expand global knowledge of why people stop offending, which have been instrumental for increased awareness of desistance causes. However, a critical gap remains of practical strategies for implementation in crime-prevention practices and sentencing procedures within the criminal justice system. This paper shares how desistance has been defined and operationalized in other nations, reviews research-informed conditions associated with desistance, critiques unsuccessful desistance-promoting initiatives, and then closes with successful recommendations for proposals, policies, and practices for increased rates in the United States.

    View the paper here to learn more.

    November 04, 2021

    In August, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention conducted a literature review of national evidence-based research on restorative justice for juveniles. The framework has long been debated on its differences to more traditional interactions with justice-involved individuals. By uniting victims, justice-involved youths, community members, and other key stakeholders, restorative justice programs seek to help youths understand the implications of their actions and offer opportunities for community reconnection and harm reduction. This literature review examines the effectiveness of restorative justice when working with justice-involved juveniles through an analysis of the theoretical framework, target populations, goals and models of restorative justice programs, and the outcome evidence of juvenile restorative justice programs.

    View the literature review to learn more.

    November 02, 2021

    This year, AEquitas released a guide for preventing and responding to violent crime by enhancing prosecutors’ ability to build safer communities through increased collaboration with community leaders. As key members of the criminal justice system, prosecutors can play an important role in uniting community leaders to create and implement policies, practices, and initiatives for sustainability and the reduction of violence. The guide identifies seven critical elements for evidence-based and effective crime reduction response, including community engagement, collaboration with criminal justice partners, technology, analytics and intelligence, recruitment, training, and case assignment, resources and sustainability, and accountability. The guide also provides an examination of qualities needed for effective leadership, and tips for identifying or analyzing the prevalence of violent crime within the community.

    View the guide to learn more.

    October 28, 2021

    The Vera Institute of Justice has recently developed a guide to analyzing jail data to better inform impactful policy creation and social change. The guide provides strategies for obtaining quantitative data on jail populations from local government and other sources, definitions of data points generally collected about jail populations, best-practices for prepping data sets for most effective analysis, and suggestions for different types of analysis that could be performed with that data. Thoughtful analysis of local jail data can guide impactful identification of gaps in systemic or community-based support and outline historical trends. This, can then serve as a powerful basis for fact-based discussions about policy changes concerning how many people enter jails, recidivism, and length of stay.

    View the technical guide to learn more.

    October 26, 2021

    The Council of State Governments recently published a brief titled Choosing the Right Data Strategy for Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice Initiatives. To effectively assess the impact of their initiatives, criminal justice entities must know how to identify, collect, and prioritize data to effectively capture key metrics. This brief offers guidance on how to select appropriate metrics for a program, understand qualitative and quantitative data sources, and determine which type of evaluation would be most appropriate. The brief also offers a selection of criminal justice and behavioral health metrics that could be considered.

    View the brief to learn more.

    October 22, 2021

    The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) has developed a comprehensive toolkit to support professionals in the field of trauma services who are consistently exposed to the traumatic experiences of others – known as vicarious trauma. The Vicarious Trauma Toolkit includes tools and resources to support organizations in addressing vicarious trauma within their organizations and occupations. Resources include strategies for creating vicarious trauma-informed organizations and the Vicarious Trauma – Organizational Readiness Guide (VT—ORG).

    View the toolkit to learn more.

    October 19, 2021

    In 2019, the Orlando (FL) Police Department (OPD) engaged in a three-year process to realign, redesign, and launch a centralized Crime Center to support intelligence-led policing strategies. Through support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) Crime Analysis on Demand Initiative, OPD worked with IDEA Analytics’ CEO, Dr. Jessica Herbert, to implement evidence-based practices and build OPD’s analytical capabilities.

    The Orlando Police Department Crime Center Case Study captures OPD’s path to establishing their Crime Center. The case study highlights the changes and successes they have achieved on this journey. It is also intended to inform other agencies interested in developing or enhancing their crime analysis functions to support public safety needs.

    View the case study to learn more.

    October 13, 2021

    The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) has developed a toolkit to help tribal justice system practitioners create or enhance reentry programs for American Indians and Alaska Natives returning from jail or prison. The Planning a Reentry program: A Toolkit for Tribal Communities offers resources and insights on forming a planning team and navigating through all the key steps of developing a reentry program, including developing partnerships, refining your reentry program, measuring program impact, and planning for sustainability.

    View the toolkit to learn more.

    Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIPI)


    Community violence intervention (CVI) is an approach that uses evidence-informed strategies to reduce violence through tailored community-centered initiatives. These multidisciplinary strategies engage individuals and groups to prevent and disrupt cycles of violence and retaliation, and establish relationships between individuals and community assets to deliver services that save lives, address trauma, provide opportunity, and improve the physical, social, and economic conditions that drive violence. Learn more about the Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative.

     

     

     

     

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