Using Artificial Intelligence to Improve Well-Being among Individuals Under Community Supervision

In a unique collaboration between social work and computer science experts, our team is researching whether a smartphone version of the 5-Key Model for Reentry can increase support and improve well-being among individuals as they release from incarceration and come home. Although the artificial intelligence field has matured, these solutions have not been applied to provide solutions to criminal justice reforms.

We will develop an app that can be used by individuals under community supervision, their supervisory officers, and social work interventionists in the community. The study will involve 250 individuals on community supervision in Indiana. Participants will be randomly assigned to a treatment group where they will be given a smartphone loaded with our new 5-Key Model app and a wearable device or to a comparison group where they will participate in conventional community supervision services. The team hopes the app will learn when participants are experiencing stress or happiness by analyzing tone of voice, speech patterns, and biometrics. The wearable device will track biomarkers to alert everyone to stress, and the app will suggest interventions to help participants regain a sense of calm when stress is detected.

These artificial intelligence features will help study participants stay engaged with a human being as immediate needs for support arise throughout their day, rather than relying on weekly office visits. They will also have access to 24 hour supports on-demand through the innovative inclusion of a virtual interventionist in the app. In addition, the app will learn triggers and protective factors for the wearer and will be able to activate interventions conducted by a virtual practitioner when a human is not available.

The app also will assist individuals under supervision by sharing job opportunities with the participants based on their skill and geographic area and incorporate intelligent tracking to provide supervisory officers with early warning information so that they can connect with the individual and help them to get back on track before they get into trouble.

This project applies the full power of technology to respond to one of the greatest challenges to implementing data-driven criminal justice reforms — the fact that we simply do not have the human capacity to work with justice-involved individuals and address the complexities of their lives after release from prison.

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