In the News

Researchers from Purdue University, Florida State University, and University of Alabama-Huntsville have been awarded a $1.9 million grant from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to see whether an AI-based support and monitoring system can reveal the risky behaviors and stressful situations that often lead people back to incarceration. The project will also address obstacles faced overburdened caseworkers.

“This solution can get us on a path to substantially reduce the size of our criminal justice system, which is desperately needed in our country,” said Carrie Pettus-Davis, executive director and founder of FSU’s Institute for Justice Research and Development.

Omar Narvaez said his brother had trouble finding a job in Houston when he was released from prison. The Dallas City Council member said he doesn’t want that to happen to others who have paid their debt and want to become productive members of society. He and other council members voted unanimously Wednesday to allocate up to $500,000 in state grant money toward housing and job skills training and placement for those leaving prison so they don’t wind up back behind bars.

This move was bolstered by the 5-Key Model program being tested in Dallas. The program’s leader, Carrie Pettus-Davis, the founding executive director of the Institute for Justice Research and Development, has called Dallas a natural test site. She has said the city was well ahead of the curve on providing reentry services for its large ex-offender population.

IJRD is dedicated to the betterment of the lives of the individuals, families and communities impacted by the criminal justice system. Even before the renewed national consciousness about racial violence in our nation, IJRD has been at the forefront of addressing racial and economic disparities documented throughout the criminal justice system. Learn more about how IJRD promotes racial and economic equity and how IJRD team members are working to generate knowledge, expanding practice, and improve outcomes for justice-involved individuals related to the spread of COVID-19. 

Learn about IJRD, the largest academic research institution in the nation working at the intersection of social work and criminal justice, and their dedication to generating data-driven solutions to criminal justice reforms. 

FSU College of Social Work Associate Professor Carrie Pettus-Davis addressed congressional leaders as part of a panel on social work and policing. On June 30, 2020, four experts convened to discuss social work's role in the future of policing. Moderated by Charles E. Lewis, Jr., the panel included Derrick Jackson, George T. Patterson, Desmond U. Patton, and Carrie Pettus-Davis.

Researchers at the Institute for Justice Research and Development (IJRD) at the Florida State University College of Social Work find that nearly one-half of study participants experience an impactful traumatic event after their release from incarceration and lose substantial resources that would otherwise support their successful release. This trauma and loss occurs within the first eight months after release from prison.

Dr. Tanya Renn, Assistant Director of the Institute for Justice Research and Development, is part of an FSU team that received a $200,000 grant to develop a new evidence-based curriculum related to substance use disorders. The goal of the two-year grant is to develop an evidence-based new curriculum on substance use disorders for Bachelor of Social Work and Master of Social Work programs across Florida. 

A national study of accredited social work programs indicated that fewer than 15 percent of graduate programs offer a specialization in substance use disorders and fewer than 5 percent of graduate and undergraduate programs offer a required SUDs course. This trend indicates that social work programs need improved curriculum to meet workforce requirements related to substance use issues. 

Imagine, writes Lisa Reyes Mason, if more of us in academe publicly shared our research expertise to help address crucial social issues. What impact could we collectively have? How could lives change? Mason suggests 'breaking it down and getting it out' and highlights the importance of cleaning and analyzing data efficiently, so that early findings -- clearly labeled as such, like work by the Institute for Justice Research and Development -- can be shared much sooner than the painstakingly slow peer-review cycle. 

Carrie Pettus-Davis was featured as an outstanding woman researcher for Women's History Month! Her work is changing how technology can be used to improve the lives of people as they leave incarceration and return to their communities. 

“We are applying the full power of technology to respond to, arguably, the greatest challenge to implementing data-driven criminal justice reforms — the fact that we just don’t have the human capacity to support and address the complexities of individuals’ lives who are justice-involved,” Pettus-Davis said. “This solution can get us on a path to substantially reduce the size of our criminal justice system, which is desperately needed in our country.”