In This Issue:

• Recent Events:
  What Works in Reentry Experts Roundtable
  
  Urban Institute/CJCC Risk Principle Symposium
  
  Human Trafficking Reporting System Meeting
  
• Conference Presentations:
  Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting
  
  Justice Atlas Conference
  
  Dowd Conference
  
• JPC In The News:
  John Roman on DNA evidence in property crime cases
  
  Nancy La Vigne on JPC's CCTV Evaluation
  
• Publications:
  Jail Reentry Implementation Toolkit
  
  Reforming Juvenile Justice Systems
  
  Quantifying the Specific Deterrent Effects of DNA Databases
  
• JPC Bids Farewell to Senior Research Associate Amy Solomon

Join our mailing list!

On April 12th and 13th, 2010, the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center (JPC), in partnership with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s Prisoner Reentry Institute and the Council of State Governments’ Justice Center, hosted the What Works in Reentry Experts Roundtable at the Urban Institute. The purpose of the roundtable was twofold: (1) to solicit lessons learned from national, federally funded reentry initiatives in order to inform current and future reentry efforts; and (2) to seek guidance in the development of an online searchable database of reentry programs, practices, principles, and policies for the practitioner community. The database will represent a “What Works in Reentry” online resource as a component of the National Reentry Resource Center (NRRC). Coordinated by the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, with support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, the NRRC provides education, training, and technical assistance on prisoner reentry. It was established by Congress through the Second Chance Act. The NRRC’s work is also directed by the Justice Center’s key project partners: the Urban Institute, the Association of State Correctional Administrators, the American Probation and Parole Association, and Shay Bilchik from Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute.

The District of Columbia’s Community Supervision and Offender Services Agency (CSOSA) sponsored The Risk Principle in Action symposium to communicate effective supervision practices to the District and promote collaboration across the justice system. Co-facilitated by The Urban Institute and the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council for the District of Columbia, the symposium convened researcher and practitioner experts on kiosk and GPS community supervision systems with local criminal justice leaders. Panelists discussed the uses of kiosk and GPS supervision systems, how they fit within an overall community supervision strategy, and what benefits and challenges are associated with each system. JPC researcher Jesse Jannetta facilitated a meaningful discussion on identifying appropriate supervision populations for each system, managing public expectations for the impacts of these technologies on public safety, and facilitating cross-agency collaboration for effective supervision strategies.

On April 21, 2010, JPC researchers Bill Adams and Colleen Owens, in collaboration with their research partners at Northeastern University and funders from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, hosted a one-day expert panel meeting at the Urban Institute to discuss the implementation of Phase II of the Human Trafficking Reporting System (HTRS). JPC and Northeastern University developed and currently operate the HTRS, an incident-level web-based system designed to aggregate information about victims and offenders involved in human trafficking incidents investigated by the multi-agency human trafficking task forces funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance.

JPC Researchers Meagan Cahill and Samantha Hetrick presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting on April 14th, 2010. To view the presentation abstracts click here. One presentation focused on the influences of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) systems on the spatial distribution of crime. The research, which stems from JPC’s ongoing evaluation of public surveillance cameras, investigates crime displacement associated with camera locations. The second presentation examined the spatial patterns of Latino youth social networks and delinquent behaviors in a neighborhood in Montgomery County, Maryland, and the structural properties that influence the commission of crime. The third presentation discussed an evaluation of the HOPE VI initiative, a federally-funded HUD initiative that aims to eradicate severely distressed public housing and reduce concentrated poverty. This evaluation addresses the deficiencies of earlier evaluations by examining the changing spatial patterns of crime in and around selected HOPE VI sites in Washington, D.C.

Eric Cadora, President of the Justice Mapping Center and close friend and collaborator of JPC's, convened a conference on April 8th, 2010 to preview the soon-to-be-launched, public, online, interactive Justice Atlas of Sentencing and Corrections. Representing 18 months of work with 22 participating states, The Justice Atlas enables users to map the residential distribution patterns of people entering and returning from prison, as well as people who are under parole and probation supervision.

With support from the Ford Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts, the convening brought together a unique group of corrections officials, practitioners, and researchers, who reviewed the beta version of the new mapping tool and discussed policy, planning, and research uses and implications of mapping correctional populations. JPC Director Nancy La Vigne and JPC consultant Jim Austin, President of the JFA Institute, serve as advisors to the Justice Atlas project. The Justice Atlas, which is scheduled to be launched in June, promises to provide a data-driven foundation for better understanding the socio-geographic dimensions of correctional policies and practices around the country. Each year, the online Atlas will be updated and expanded to include additional states, data, and analytical features.

Senior Fellow Shelli Rossman and Research Associate Jocelyn Fontaine presented with Safer Foundation staff Stephanie Davis, Rochelle Perry, Mack McGhee, and Benneth Lee at the Dowd Conference on April 8th, 2010 in Dallas, Texas. They shared lessons learned from Safer Return, a demonstration project aimed at building, implementing, and learning from a community focused reentry model in the East Garfield Park community of Chicago. In 2007 JPC received funding from the MacArthur Foundation to evaluate the prisoner reentry project and determine its costs and benefits. The panel included an overview of Safer Return, including early outcomes, the implementation process and challenges, and program components such as job readiness, case management and partnerships.

Senior Research Associate John Roman was quoted in a recent article about the use of the DNA evidence in property crime cases. Roman argues that aggressive DNA collection at burglary crime scenes could lead to an additional 200,000 arrests per year, but also points out, “That’s 200,000 potential felons entering the criminal justice system, where we only send 700,000 people to prison a year on felony convictions now...That would put enormous pressure on the criminal justice system.”

JPC Director Nancy La Vigne was quoted in three stories about the JPC public surveillance camera evaluation. Two of the articles discussed the findings in the Chicago site. The first story, published by the Associated Press, points out that 4,000 arrests have been made since 2006 with the help of cameras; La Vigne is quoted on how crime in one study site decreased significantly after cameras were installed. The second article references La Vigne’s appearance in an ABC News piece last month, where she discussed the cost-beneficial impact of cameras in the city. A Baltimore Sun article references preliminary findings from the Urban Institute’s public surveillance evaluation in Baltimore, which indicated that there has been a 25 percent reduction in crime in downtown Baltimore since the cameras were installed.

Publications:

Jail Reentry Implementation Toolkit

The National Institute of Corrections and the Urban Institute announced the release of the Transition from Jail to Community (TJC) Implementation Toolkit. This web-based learning resource is designed to guide jurisdictions through implementation of the TJC model. The Toolkit serves as a hands-on resource for users interested in jail reentry, whether in a criminal justice or community-based organization. Users can navigate the nine modules at their own pace. Toolkit modules incorporate examples from jurisdictions across the country, tools developed to facilitate implementation in the six current TJC learning sites, resource suggestions, and detailed content. The Toolkit can be accessed at www.jailtransition.com/Toolkit.

To learn more about the TJC Implementation Toolkit, consider participating in an introductory webinar on May 11 from 1-3 PM Eastern Time by linking to the following URL: https://nic.webex.com/nic/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=710054787.

Reforming Juvenile Justice Systems

Janeen Buck-Willison, Lisa Brooks, Meghan Salas, Meredith Dank, Megan Denver, Elissa Gitlow, John K. Roman and Jeffrey A. Butts

From 2002 to 2007, the Urban Institute evaluated Reclaiming Futures, an initiative designed to improve outcomes for drug-involved youth in the juvenile justice system. The evaluation found Reclaiming Futures to be a promising strategy; however, many of the features that may be responsible for the positive system changes observed in the Reclaiming Futures initiative were inspired by practices not yet tested thoroughly by evaluators. This report examines two such components of the Reclaiming Futures initiative: positive youth development and cultural competence.

Avinash Bhati

This report summarized the results of an analysis of re-offending patterns of a large cohort of prisoners released from Florida Department of Corrections custody between 1996 and 2004. The purpose of the analysis was to quantify the effects of DNA databases on offending patterns. Statistical models were constructed to identify the specific deterrent effects of DNA databases that were distinct from their probative effects; these models yielded mixed results. Researchers found small deterrent effects for only some crime types (robbery and burglary), and strong probative effects for most crime types. Methods, data, results and implications are discussed in this report.

JPC bid a fond farewell to Senior Research Associate Amy Solomon, who departed earlier this month to serve as Senior Advisor to Laurie Robinson, Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Justice Programs. Amy joined the Urban Institute in 2000 after previously serving as a program and policy advisor for the National Institute of Justice. While at JPC, Amy played a leadership role in developing the Center’s reentry portfolio and broke new ground on the topics of parole supervision and reentry from jails. She was tremendously productive during her ten-year tenure and left a lasting mark on the field, producing over 30 reports, convening 10 roundtables, and generating 19 grant awards. She was also a valued team member, mentor, and advisor to her colleagues. JPC extends its heartfelt thanks to Amy for her many contributions and wishes her all the best in her new post.