In May, CSG Justice Center staff continued to socialize the guidelines and engage key partners in the field, further developed outreach strategies and project next steps, and reviewed the technical assistance (TA) opportunities applications. The project team also reviewed self-assessment tool submissions and finalized the self-assessment tool results page._Below are the three state application summaries recommended by the CSG Justice Center:
1._____The_Massachusetts Probation Service (MPS)_commits to meeting TA requirements and advancing racial equity. MPS provides details and evaluation data on the effectiveness of their instruments regarding their female population, which is the focus of this TA application. MPS would like to build organizational capacity to help further promote law-abiding behavior in the community, reduce recidivism, and meet their mission. MPS consists of 105 state probation departments in Massachusetts, all the individuals on probation in the state court system, and nearly 2,000 employees._MPS had their instruments, the Ohio Risk Assessment System-Community Supervision Screening Tool (ORAS-CSST) and the Ohio Risk Assessment System-Community Supervision Tool (ORAS-CST), validated in 2016 by the University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute (UCCI). Overall, education, employment, and financial situation and neighborhood problems domains produced the highest rates of reliability. However, for both new arraignments and new convictions, the instruments were found not to be predictive of recidivism for women on probation. These findings provided insight into areas MPS can target to build organizational capacity. High-risk women (small sample 63 of 1,382 total) are slightly less likely to have a new arraignment compared to the moderate-risk group. Average inter-rater agreement overall fell just below 80 percent. After the evaluation, MPS began using the 9-item CSST. (They previously used the 4-item version.) Data is available from that evaluation.
2._____Minnesota is currently receiving TA from the CSG Justice Center as a Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) state. In this application, all three probation delivery systemsÑMinnesota Department of Corrections (MN DOC), Minnesota Association of Community Corrections Act Counties (MACCAC), and Minnesota Association of County Probation Officers (MACPO)Ñhave come together to collaborate and support one another on the adoption of the national guidelines. The systems in MN are already working on these efforts but need guidance moving forward. They want to ensure consistency among all parties regarding use of the same risk and needs assessment (RNA) instruments. MNÕs probation system is a combination of state and county agencies spread throughout the stateÕs 87 counties. In 2022, there were approximately 90,220 individuals under probation supervision in the state. Many agencies across the state utilize the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS-CMI), but several agencies use a different instrument or a combination of different instruments. There is no validated instrument for MNÕs entire probation population, no consistent statewide policy on the application of an instrument, no consistent application of cutoffs for levels of supervision, and different agencies use different scores to determine low, medium, or high levels of supervision. Prior efforts to develop a uniform approach to assessing and determining risk levels in MN have not been successful due to inter-system trust issues and the lack of an impartial facilitator. MN DOC has a good working relationship with Tribal governments. Part of the focus of adopting the national guidelines will be for the Tribal population in MN. Additionally, MN DOC is interested in incorporating members of this population into the TA initiative. MN has received funding from the MN legislature to develop an ÒEvidence-Based Practices (EBP) UnitÓ to assist in implementing EBP statewide and developing continuous quality improvement standards and procedures, which would benefit this project. MN is furthering work to become a full ÒEBPÓ state, as evidenced by the following: (1) MN DOC is focusing on providing normative feedback that aligns with concerns regarding RNA instruments; (2) the state is implementing coaching pilots in various agencies to fully support agents through the entire supervision process, focusing on the interventions provided and allowing the client to provide substantive input into their case planning; and (3) many agencies are deploying a client survey and using results to inform future actions.
3._____The_New Jersey Department of Corrections_will be focusing on women for their proposed project. They currently have individualized gender-specific programming tailored to women's needs but do not have an instrument in use. They need to implement an assessment instrument that has been designed for and/or validated for women and have selected the WomenÕs Risk Need Assessment (WRNA). NJ DOC supervises 13,000 people across 9 institutions and residential community reintegration centers (RCRPs); approximately 400 are located within Edna Mahan Correctional Facility (EMCF), the stateÕs only correctional facility housing women. Their goal is to expand the risk and needs assessment process to the menÕs facilities after successfully validating and implementing a gender-specific tool for women. NJ DOCÕs research unit, the Strategic Planning Unit (SPU), and Dr. Emily Salisbury (one of the developers of the WRNA) will collaborate to validate the WRNA. SPU has collected outcome data for women released from NJ DOC since 2010 and will also analyze the data across race and ethnicity. Dr. Emily Salisbury will assist in the implementation and analyzing outcomes. SPU has experience completing research assessing risk and needs assessment instrument validity across gender, race, ethnicity, and offense categories. Results of the WRNA validation will be shared with relevant stakeholders and publicly, as appropriate. Results will be presented on the NJ DOC website, manuscripts will be submitted for peer-reviewed journals, and presentations will be prepared for a national conference.
The CSG Justice Center project team held three calls with the applicants this month to discuss their applications in more detail and establish next steps for TA. Additional information from these calls was used to develop a memo to share TA recommendations with BJA.
On May 26, CSG Justice Center staff shared a memo with BJA recommending the states to be selected for TA. The document provided a summary of applications and all materials submitted for the applications for each applicant, including application narrative, letter(s) of support, self-assessment tool summary, and any additional materials shared.
On May 31, BJA approved all the recommended states. CSG Justice Center staff and BJA also held a virtual meeting on this date to discuss next steps for the TA states, what we anticipate TA will look like for each state, and next steps regarding the application documents to be updated. Additionally, BJA shared their expectations for reporting updates and outcomes of this project and TA with selected states; CSG Justice Center staff will adjust current reporting practices.
TA application steps for Level 2 and Level 3 applicants that took place during May:_
á______Week 1: the project team reviewed all applications for scoring._
á______Week 2: the project team held individual virtual meetings with applicants to gauge the individual agency status, goals, and needs._
á______Week 3: the project team developed recommendations to be shared with BJA.
á______Week 4: the project team presented recommendations to BJA for their review and approval.
á______Week 5: BJA will provide final decisions and selected applicants will be notified (at the start of June).
CSG Justice Center staff reviewed self-assessment tool submissions and produced results pages for each past respondent; the team will use this for further outreach.
After consideration, the team recommended that TA applications be available on a rolling basis. This recommendation was approved by BJA. Edits will be applied in June and shared with BJA for updating.
Please check the box next to the following questions if the answer is 'yes'.
Please enter the applicable Event Date if there is an Event associated with this TTA.
When entering an Event Date, the Time is also required.
If the TTA is targeted to a particular audience or location, please complete the questions below.
Milestones are an element, activity, work product, or key task associated with completing the TTA (e.g. kick-off meeting, collect data from stake holders, deliver initial data analysis).
Please complete the fields below, if applicable, to create a milestone for this TTA.
Please respond to the Performance Metrics below. The Performance Metrics questions are based on the TTA Type indicated in the General Information section of the TTA.
Please submit a signed letter of support from your agency’s executive or other senior staff member. The letter can be emailed to or uploaded with this request. The letter should be submitted on official letterhead and include the following information:
- General information regarding the request for TTA services, i.e., the who, what, where, when, and why.
- The organizational and/or community needs specific to the request for TTA services.
- The benefits or anticipated outcomes from the receipt of TTA services.
By submitting this application to BJA NTTAC, I understand that upon approval of this application for TTA, the requestor agrees to keep BJA NTTAC informed of any circumstances that may impact the delivery of the TTA, including changes in the date of the event, event cancellation, or difficulties communicating with the assigned TTA provider.
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