The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS) is launching a significant three-year initiative in partnership with IJRD and Well-Being and Equity Innovations, Inc. to provide reentry support services to all incarcerated individuals, using both staff and peer-led delivery.

Unlocking Doors, the State of Texas’ comprehensive community reentry network for those with criminal backgrounds, has begun implementing a data-driven reentry model developed by researchers at the Institute for Justice Research and Development at Florida State University.

“Our partnership with the Institute for Justice Research and Development pairs the latest science on successful reentry with our expertise in providing services to thousands of individuals reentering the community from incarceration each year,” said Christina Melton Crain, Founder and President/CEO of Unlocking Doors. “By implementing IJRD’s innovative, data-backed model to our current assessment regimen, we can make an even bigger impact to improve lives, reduce reincarceration and continue making the communities we serve safer.”

IJRD and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office partnered together this week to deliver 24 sheriff’s office personnel and 25 others peer-to-peer support training. “We are grateful to FSU IJRD for developing this one-of-a-kind training that is critically important to our law enforcement personnel who are constantly exposed to violence and suffering, which, in turn, manifests as post-traumatic stress,” said St. Johns County Sheriff Robert A. Hardwick. “This program will ensure they have the skillset necessary to identify this stress and take action to handle it not only in themselves, but with their peers.”

Law enforcement officers are exposed to violence and suffering every day, which can cause emotional stress and impact the brain and body, resulting in post-traumatic stress. The training aims to give law enforcement officers a deeper understanding of how the mind and body react to on-the-job stress and learn actionable steps they can take to help support others who are suffering.

Corrections officials from four states today reflect on the early success of the 5-Key Model for Reentry, a flagship research program created by The Florida State University’s Institute for Justice Research and Development (FSU IJRD), during Second Chance month. 

Key preliminary findings show that participants who received the 5-Key Model report fewer reincarceration events than those in the comparison group who were eligible to receive standard available services in their communities and participants who received the 5-Key Model also reported higher levels of overall well-being, which was associated with a reduced likelihood of reincarceration.

Prisons across the country have made headlines during COVID-19, but until now little has been empirically documented by researchers. A first-of-its-kind study, released today by researchers at the Institute for Justice Research and Development (IJRD) of Florida State University, captured data on more than 200 individuals during and after incarceration, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data was also collected on their COVID-19 related experiences and perspectives on strategies that prison officials used to communicate and contain the spread of COVID-19.

The Prosecution Research Network convened virtually on July 13 and 14, 2020 for the purpose of identifying research and policy strategies to improve health, reduce incarceration, and increase national safety, prosperity, and wellbeing.

The newly formed Prosecutors Research Network, comprised of offices from rural and urban jurisdictions around the country, held its first summit to discuss establishing an evidence base for prosecutorial-led alternatives to detention and incarceration. The Prosecutors Research Network is the creation of a partnership with IJRD at Florida State University and Colorado Mental Health’s Equitas Project.

Florida State University College of Social Work Associate Professor Carrie Pettus-Davis addressed congressional leaders as part of a panel on social work and policing. Pettus-Davis emphasized funding and pursuing evidence-driven solutions to promote racial equity and reduce racial disparities.

“We need high quality and effective alternatives to incarceration. We need incremental, thoughtful change that is evidence-driven and evaluative. We need to continue to evaluate where we don’t have evidence. This is life or death. We cannot use anecdotal evidence or best guesses anymore,” said Pettus-Davis.

Researchers at the Institute for Justice Research and Development (IJRD) at the Florida State University College of Social Work find that nearly 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.

Florida State University’s Center for the Study and Promotion of Communities, Families, and Children welcomes FSU College of Social Work Associate Professor Carrie Pettus-Davis for the center’s latest presentation of its “Engage, Invest, Respond,” lecture series. She will present on her work harnessing technology to expand the scope of data-driven solutions to criminal justice reform.

This free lecture is scheduled for 3-4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, at the University Center Building C, Room 5301, 296 Champions Way. Advanced registration is requested.

This media advisory was also picked up by Mirage News.

Researchers at the Institute for Justice Research and Development (IJRD) at the Florida State University College of Social Work have teamed up with the John E. Polk Correctional Facility and Christian HELP Employment and Resource Center to treat trauma among individuals releasing from jail in Seminole County.

“Experiences of trauma are nearly universal among incarcerated men and women and unaddressed trauma symptoms can contribute to the reason that an individual is incarcerated in a local jail,” said Carrie Pettus-Davis, associate professor of social work and director of IJRD.