View Research by Author - Rebecca Naser

Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/RebeccaNaser

The SafeFutures Program to Reduce Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Violence was a five-year six-site demonstration supported by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), U.S. Department of Justice. SafeFutures sought to prevent and control juvenile crime and victimization through a continuum of prevention, intervention, and treatment services to meet the needs of at-risk and delinquent youth. The At-Risk and Delinquent Girls component was intended to provide services to meet the unique emotional and developmental needs of young women. This report examines the programs targeted to at-risk girls in each site. The report also includes a brief overview of some promising national programs. The report then focuses on the efforts of the six SafeFutures sites in developing and maintaining programs targeted to at-risk and delinquent girls.

Before the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) of 2003, it was not clear the extent to which state departments of corrections (DOCs) were addressing sexual violence in systematic ways. Little information existed about what strategies were being put into practice in prison systems across the country. PREA has changed the way DOCs are addressing prison sexual violence (PSV). The purpose of the current project was to provide a national snapshot of DOC initiatives to address PSV, as well as to identify specific practices that seemed to be, in the absence of formal evaluations, particularly promising or innovative in nature. Practices were identified related to policy development, prevention, investigation and prosecution, victim services, staff training, documenting incidents, and funding.

In 2001, nearly one in five people released from the Ohio prison system returned to Cleveland. This report, which is part of a larger four-state longitudinal study of prisoner reentry entitled Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry, describes findings from six focus groups conducted with residents of three Cleveland neighborhoods to which large numbers of released prisoners return. Focus group participants discuss their experiences with returning prisoners; the impact of returning prisoners on the community; and the role of the community in the reintegration process. Though residents describe communities struggling to support prisoners in transition, they believe that enhanced services and supervision can promote successful reintegration.

This policy brief presents the findings from surveys of 424 male prisoners serving time in Ohio facilities, who were interviewed as part of the multi-site research study Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry. The respondents, who were within 30 days of release and returning to the Cleveland community, reported on their experiences and expectations across a range of issue areas, including education, employment, financial support, substance use, health, family, and faith. Based on these findings, this policy brief details the histories and anticipated needs of this population as they re-enter society and sketches the policy implications for practitioners, community stakeholders, and policymakers.

This research brief presents findings from an exploratory study of the health care needs and experiences of seriously ill prisoners returning to Cincinnati, Ohio. In 2004, Urban Institute researchers interviewed 81 male prisoners with serious mental or physical health problems as they prepared for release. After their release, respondents participated in focus groups about their experiences with health care and other services in the community. Focus groups were also conducted with health care and social service providers serving former prisoners. Former prisoners with serious physical or mental health problems and health care and social service providers agreed that a seamless transition from care inside the prison walls to care on the outside must take place if released prisoners are to be successful in their return to the community. [View the corresponding press release]

The number of people released from Maryland prisons in 2001 was nearly twice the number released two decades ago. Well over half of the Maryland prisoners released in 2001 returned to Baltimore City and many were even more concentrated within a few neighborhoods in Baltimore. This report describes the process of prisoner reentry in Maryland by examining the policy context surrounding reentry, the characteristics of Maryland's returning inmates, the geographic distribution of returning prisoners, and the social and economic climates of the communities that are home to the highest concentrations of returning prisoners. [View the corresponding press release.]

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