In This Issue:

• Center Highlight:
  Updates from JPC’s Forensic Science Portfolio
  
• Recent Events:
  National Summit on Justice Reinvestment and Public Safety
  
• Publications:
  An Evolving Field: Findings from the 2008 Parole Practices Survey
  
  Reassessing the Cost of the Death Penalty Using Quasi-Experimental Methods: Evidence from Maryland
  
  Release Planning for Successful Reentry: A Self-Assessment Tool for Corrections

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The Justice Policy Center continues to expand its social science investigations of forensics topics, launching two new projects in recent months: a survey of crime labs and an evaluation of DNA collection associated with motor vehicle thefts.

David Hayeslip, Kelly Walsh, Samantha Hetrick, and Sara Debus are conducting a census survey of all 400 publicly-funded crime laboratories in the United States. Funded by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the survey will obtain measures on crime lab workloads and operations; evidence analysis and processing; organizational structures; budget expenditures; and backlogs for forensics services. JPC researchers recently convened a meeting of crime laboratory experts and DOJ staff to solicit input on the content of the survey. The survey will be fielded in Summer 2010.

JPC researchers Kelly Walsh and John Roman will evaluate the Motor Vehicle Theft DNA Field Experiment, a National Institute of Justice-funded randomized study evaluating the cost-effectiveness of collecting and processing DNA evidence in motor vehicle theft investigations. This study aims to answer a number of policy-relevant questions: Does adding DNA analysis to traditional investigative procedures change case outcomes? Are biological sample attributes associated with such changes? Do DNA-aided investigations reduce the rate of motor vehicle theft in the targeted areas? Researchers recently launched the project with kickoff meetings in the two study sites, Dallas and New York City.

Urban Institute staff were enthusiastic participants at the National Summit on Justice Reinvestment and Public Safety held in Washington, DC on January 27, 2010. The summit, sponsored by The Council of State Governments, The Pew Center on the States, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the Public Welfare Foundation, focused on the need to address recidivism rates and corrections spending and the strategies that states and localities can employ to improve costly and ineffective corrections policies. JPC senior researcher Amy Solomon moderated a panel at the summit, titled “Implementing Effective Community Supervision Policies and Practices.” The discussion highlighted state-of-the-art community supervision policies and practices, including responses to violations of conditions of probation and parole that are swift, certain, and proportionate. JPC is currently working with three counties – Alachua County, FL, Allegheny County, PA and Travis County, TX – to apply justice reinvestment concepts to local jurisdictions. The Justice Reinvestment at the Local Level Initiative, led by JPC director Nancy La Vigne, is funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and guided by an advisory board of representatives from the JFA Institute, the National Institute of Corrections, the National Association of Counties, the Pretrial Justice Institute, the American Correctional Association, the American Jail Association and the National Sheriffs’ Association.

Jesse Jannetta, Brian Elderbroom, Amy L. Solomon, Meagan Cahill,
Barbara Parthasarathy, William D. Burrell

JPC just released “An Evolving Field: Findings from the 2008 Parole Practices Survey.” With funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Urban Institute conducted a survey of parole supervision field offices to examine the current state of parole practice. Parole supervision has been a somewhat overlooked field in recent years, even as the challenges of prisoner reentry have attracted increasing attention. Parole supervision can and should play an important role in facilitating successful reentry, yet parole agencies must systematically adopt the practices and policies that have been demonstrated to work. The findings of the survey are summarized in this report, and indicate that the principles of effective supervision are beginning to take root.

John Roman, Aaron Chalfin and Carly Knight

John Roman, Aaron Chalfin and Carly Knight published an article in the American Law and Economics Review which highlights their recent work on the death penalty. Extant research on the cost of the death penalty consistently finds that pursuit of a death sentence adds costs to case processing. However, these studies have important limitations in either the sampling frame or in their failure to include adequate statistical controls. This research draws upon a rich dataset of capital-eligible cases in Maryland to estimate the additional cost of filing a death notice. Multivariate models are used to control for selection into capital case processing and for competing explanations of cost. Researchers found that filing a death notice is associated with an additional one million dollars in costs.

Release Planning for Successful Reentry:
A Self-Assessment Tool for Corrections

Nancy La Vigne and Robin Halberstadt

The Urban Institute recently published a self-assessment tool designed to aid correctional administrators in evaluating and improving their release planning practices. Departments of corrections have increasingly embraced the important role that release planning plays in successful reentry. But their efforts to improve release planning are often hindered by the absence of accurate data and the lack of a systematic method to develop goals and measure performance over time. With funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Correction, Urban Institute staff developed and piloted a monthly assessment tool for individual correctional institutions and a yearly assessment tool for correctional agencies to monitor overall departmental performance. The policies and procedures identified as best practices in the tool are drawn from Release Planning for Successful Reentry: A Guide for Corrections, Service Providers, and Community Groups, a 2008 UI report that incorporated the results of a national survey of state correctional departments, a national scan of practice, and a literature review on the topic of release planning.