August National Reentry Resource Center Newsletter
An Integrated, Evidence-Based Approach to Recidivism Reduction in Kennebec County, Maine
The Kennebec Regional Reentry Program (KeRRP) was established in 2010 with the stated goal of reducing recidivism among individuals returning to the Augusta area who are at high risk of returning to prison. It seeks to interrupt the cycle of criminal thinking and behavior by integrating case management, medication monitoring, and behavioral health treatment both before and after release.
Recognizing that treatment and support services are only effective if they are informed by the science of recidivism reduction, program planners incorporated evidence-based practices into the program’s design. They applied the "Risk-Need-Responsivity" principle to determine whom to target with what type of intervention, and how to deliver those services to ensure maximum impact.
First articulated by researchers Don Andrews, James Bonta, and Robert Hoge in 1990, the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) Principle is a central tenet in the science of recidivism reduction. It states the following:
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Risk—Programs should prioritize treatment slots for individuals who are at high or moderate risk of recidiviating, based on the results of a valid, objective risk assessment instrument.
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Need—Programs should address those factors (known as “criminogenic needs”) that contribute to an individual’s likelihood of violating probation/parole or committing another offense.
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Responsivity—Programs should provide services in a way that reduces barriers to learning, such as low motivation or mental health needs, and match services to the participants’ learning style.
This feature describes how KeRRP applies the RNR Principle in how it 1) identifies participants, 2) provides services prior to a participant’s release, and 3) and serves individuals after release.
To continue reading this feature, click here.
Register Now for National Reentry Resource Center Webinar: Recidivism Reduction, Substance Use and Co-Occurring Disorders: What Does Evidence and Practice Tell Us?
Treating substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders and matching treatment to the target population is essential for improving individual outcomes and public safety. In this National Reentry Resource Center webinar, participants will learn about best practices in effective treatment for people whose co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders range in severity. Webinar presenters include
- Roger H. Peters, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Mental Health Law and Policy, Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida
- Fred Osher, M.D., Director of Health Systems and Services Policy, Council of State Governments Justice Center
The presenters will first focus on the importance of screening and assessment. They will then cover evidence-based treatment practices that help to reduce recidivism for people with co-occurring disorders. At that point, they will discuss how to incorporate criminogenic risk assessments into treatment decisions. Throughout the presentation, presenters will emphasize the importance of collaboration and coordination between system providers to ensure the most effective co-occurring treatment.
Date: Thursday, September 8, 2011
Time: 2:00—3:30 p.m. ET
To register for this webinar, please click here.
Funding Opportunities
This grant will fund projects serving people transitioning from prison, jail or juvenile facilities to communities as well as those projects "directed toward intervening or interrupting the structural reproduction of criminalization."
The deadline for submitting an application is September 30, 2011.
To learn more about this funding opportunity, click here.
Funding for Educational Support for At-Risk Students, Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center is currently accepting proposals to fund legal work designed to improve the quality of educational services and support for students who have behavioral and emotional problems and may be at risk for entering the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Grantees will receive $75,000, which is renewable for up to two additional years (three years total).
The deadline for submitting an application is September 16, 2011
Interested applicants should contact Jerri Katzerman, at jerri.katzerman@splcenter.org.
Events & Announcements
This webinar, sponsored by the Great Lakes Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network on Criminal Justice, will feature a presentation by Maureen McDonnell, Director for Business & Health Care Strategy Development, Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities. The webinar will be held on Wednesday, September 7, from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. CT. To register for this event, click
here.
The Cuyahoga County Fatherhood Initiative’s "Celebration of Fatherhood"
is an annual forum created specifically to promote healthy father-child
relationships, address the social problems that result from “father absence,”
and strategize as to what we must do as a community to ensure that
every child has a dad in his or her life. To learn more about this event, click here.
The 19th Annual International Community Corrections Association Research Conference will focus on skill-building to better serve special populations: people with mental illness, addictions, and co-occurring disorders; women and girls; youth; and those people especially resistant to change who are at high risk of recidivating. One workshop track is dedicated to the implementation of best practices. The conference will be held September 11-14, 2011, in Cincinnati, Ohio. For more information, go to http://www.iccaweb.org/cincinnaticonference_2011.htm.
This national symposium, sponsored by the Fortune Society's David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy, the College and Community Fellowship, and the Riverside Church Prison Ministry, will focus on issues affecting the incarcerated, the formerly incarcerated, and their families. Confirmed participants include
- Rev. Al Sharpton
- Mayor Cory Booker (Newark, NJ)
- Michelle Alexander, Ohio State University, Author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness
- Soledad O'Brien, Anchor and Special Correspondent for CNN U.S.
- Chef Jeff Henderson, Author of Cooked: From the Streets to the Stove, from Cocain to Foie Gras
- Byron Pitts, Chief National Correspondent for The CBS Evening News, Contributor for 60 Minutes contributor
- Randall Robinson, Lawyer, Author, and Activist
- Rossana Rosado, Publisher of El Diario La Prensa
- Jeremy Travis, President of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice
- Terrie Williams, Author of Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We're Not Hurting
- Khalil Muhammad, Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Location: The Riverside Church, W. 120th Street & Riverside Dr., New York, New York
Date/Time: Saturday, September 24, 2011, 7:30 a.m.--5:30 p.m.
To register for this event, click here.
The National H.I.R.E. Network’s 6th Annual NYS Reentry Policy Conference, entitled, "Meeting Employer and Job Seeker Needs: Criminal Record Policies that Work," will be held Monday, September 26, 2011 at the New York University School of Law Tishman Auditorium. This event is free to the public, but pre-registration is required. To register, click here.
Publications & Resource
This National Institute of Justice (NIJ) resource lists and briefly describes all of the projects funded under NIJ's Violence Against Women and Family Violence Program. To download the compendium, click here.
For the past 21 years, the Kids Count project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation has tracked the well-being of children at the national, state, and local levels. Over the years, this work has documented both great progress in child well-being and periodic setbacks. To download the 2011 Kids Count Data Book click here.
Reentry in the News
Articles from newspapers around the country covering issues related to reentry can be found on the National Reentry Resource Center website. Some recent articles, with excerpts, are posted below.
8/24/11 — A three-day training being offered this fall and organized by a coalition of workforce organizations, community colleges, state departments and law enforcement agencies aims to help enhance job training opportunities for ex-offenders.
8/24/11 — A seven-year-old girl jumps up and down and waves her hands high in the air from side to side. Her flowery blue dress sways rhythmically with her jovial leaps into the air. Through a wide bright smile she loudly belts out, "Bye, Daddy," across a hall the length of a football field and into another room where her father stands. Gerald Harrison, a 46-year-old man incarcerated at Ossining "Sing Sing" Correctional Facility, smiles, waves and shouts "I love you" to his daughter.
8/24/11 — A task force looking at ways to divert offenders from prison will build on lessons learned from courts designed to handle drug and alcohol crimes and prisoner re-entry programs that have cut return rates, Gov. Jay Nixon said today.
8/22/11 — Victor Green listened to classmates at the STRIVE job training center in East Harlem share stories of maxed-out credit cards and unbalanced checkbooks, until finally he couldn't contain himself. "To me, it just sounds like you're all complaining," Mr. Green, a 20-year-old Bronx native, said to his peers, many nearly twice his age. "If you're in the red, it's because you did something wrong." What happened next might seem odd to outsiders but not to those familiar with STRIVE and its motto, "Where Attitude Counts": The students agreed with Green.
8/22/11 — It is a fact that government cannot solve social ills like crime. It is also true that serious problems like youth violence and prisoner re-entry cannot be solved through faith-based approaches. Unfortunately, those realities are not always obvious to those who believe that solutions to some of our most pressing issues are reducible to either more religion or more government.
8/19/11 — Government officials and community service agency representatives have begun a training effort aimed at helping offenders successfully return to their communities after their release.
8/18/11 — How often do we hear about some ex-con committing an atrocious crime after release from prison? Too often is the right answer. But 'too often' can be 'not as much as we used to'.
8/15/11 — The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections has entered into a one-year contract to provide transitional housing services to ex-offenders in Ross County.
8/8/11 — The competition is crowded for those looking to land a new job. The national unemployment rate is down to 9.1%. It's even harder to beat someone for a position when you have a criminal record. One Church One Offender of Louisiana is holding it's first job fair this week to help offenders find a job.