Archives for November 2015

The Growth of Veterans Treatment Courts

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DC Public Safety Radio won the 2015 awards for best podcast and best audio from the National Association of Government Communicators.

DC Public Safety Radio and Television won the Government Customer Service Community of Practice (Cgov) 2014 Overall Excellence and Best Use of technology Awards. See conta.cc/1qiBV74  .

DC Public Safety Television won three top awards for public affairs television in 2014 from CTV and DCTV.

Welcome to “DC Public Safety” – Radio and television shows, blog and transcripts on crime, criminal offenders, and the criminal justice system.

For FY 2013 through FY 2015, we recorded 218,700 unique visitors, 633,000 visits and 1,924,300 page views (excluding robot searches).

This is radio show 263.

The portal site for “DC Public Safety” is http://media.csosa.gov

Subscribe to “DC Public Safety” through iTunes.

See transcript at http://media.csosa.gov/podcast/transcripts/2016/03/veteran-treatment-courts/

Current Radio Program:

Veterans Treatment Courts are one of the fastest growing criminal justice programs in the United States.  Since 9/11, more than 2.5 million Americans have served our country in uniform. Many of them have deployed several times. And many of these men and women in uniform are coming home and struggling not only with the physical wounds of war, but also its “invisible” wounds: post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

Since the inception of the first Veterans Treatment Court by Judge Robert Russell in Buffalo, NY in 2008, there are now more than 300 veterans treatment courts across the country.  These courts account for veterans’ military service and provide diversion and treatment alternatives specific to their needs.

The development of a screening tool specific to veterans is now underway through partnership between the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the Center for Court Innovation (CCI). The assessment tool factors in the latest research on trauma and will support an accompanying case planning protocol. This Veterans Treatment Court Enhancement Initiative is a three-year project that will include implementing the tool and protocol in two pilot sites. The pilot site solicitation opportunity will be released in November 2015.

Our guests include Director of Treatment Court Programs at CCI, Aaron Arnold; Associate Deputy Director for BJA, Ruby Qazilbash; and Correctional Program Specialist from NIC, Greg Crawford.

The websites for NIC, BJA and CCI:

National Institute of Corrections: http://nicic.gov/ or link to NIC broadcast on veterans:

Veterans Treatment Courts: A Second Chance for Vets Who Have Lost Their Way

Bureau of Justice Assistance: https://www.bja.gov/

Center for Court Innovation:  http://www.courtinnovation.org/

Special Announcements:

A top priority for the Department of Justice is to invest in scientific research to ensure that the Department is both tough and smart on crime. The Office of Justice Programs’ CrimeSolutions.gov website shapes rigorous research into a central, reliable, and credible resource to inform practitioners and policy makers about what works in criminal justice.

A new website lists and evaluates prisoner re-entry programs nationwide. Launched by the Urban Institute, the Council of State Governments, and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Prisoner Reentry Institute, the “What Works Clearinghouse” can be seen at http://nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/what_works.

The National Reentry Resource Center is a project of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice. Please see the Center’s website at http://www.nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/. Please see “Federal Interagency Reentry Council Launches Website, Releases Myth-Buster Series” on the front page of the site (see announcements). CSOSA is a member of the Council. Several requesters have asked for national research on reentry.

The Office of Justice Program’s National Institute of Justice reentry research portfolio supports the evaluation of innovative reentry programs. To access these studies and NIJ’s entire reentry research portfolio visit www.nij.gov/nij/topics/corrections/reentry/welcome.htm .

The Office of Violence Against Women offers stalking response tips for corrections, prosecutors, judges, law enforcement, victims and victim advocates. They are posted on OVW’s website at www.ovw.usdoj.gov .

The National Institute of Corrections Information Center is one of the largest repositories for corrections research and information in the country. See  www.nicic.gov/Library.

Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency:

We welcome your comments or suggestions at leonard.sipes@csosa.gov.

The website for the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency is http://www.csosa.gov/.

The program is hosted by Leonard Sipes. The producer is Timothy Barns.

Comments offered on “DC Public Safety” television and radio programs are the opinions of participants and do not necessarily represent the policies of CSOSA or other government agencies.

 

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The Amazing Life of Sidney Davis

csosa

DC Public Safety Radio won the 2015 awards for best podcast and best audio from the National Association of Government Communicators.

DC Public Safety Radio and Television won the Government Customer Service Community of Practice (Cgov) 2014 Overall Excellence and Best Use of technology Awards. See conta.cc/1qiBV74  .

DC Public Safety Television won three top awards for public affairs television in 2014 from CTV and DCTV.

Welcome to “DC Public Safety” – Radio and television shows, blog and transcripts on crime, criminal offenders, and the criminal justice system.

For FY 2013 through FY 2015, we recorded 218,700 unique visitors, 633,000 visits and 1,924,300 page views (excluding robot searches).

This is radio show 261.

The portal site for “DC Public Safety” is http://media.csosa.gov

Subscribe to “DC Public Safety” through iTunes.

See transcript at http://media.csosa.gov/podcast/transcripts/2016/03/amazing-life-sidney-davis/

Current Radio Program:

Sidney Davis is a former offender who is now a leader within the reentry and larger community in Washington, D.C. He is employed as a bus driver; he is running for election as president for his local transit union.

Sidney’s transformation has been chronicled by a variety of media sources,  including the Washington Post.  Columnist Courtland Milloy in 2013 wrote: “While riding a Metrobus recently, I watched the driver help a blind man find a seat, then help him off the bus, wave oncoming traffic to a halt and escort him — arm in arm — to the other side of the street.

It was a common courtesy made remarkable because the driver was Sidney Davis, whom I’d first met in 1981 when he was an inmate at the Lorton Correctional Complex. He was nine years into a 20-years-to-life sentence for murder.

“God granted me freedom so I could help others,” said Davis, 66, after returning to the bus.

Once considered “incorrigible,” Davis had held the Lorton record for the most time spent in solitary confinement. Then, to the disbelief of many, he declared himself a “born-again Christian” and started an annual prison prayer breakfast and other self-help programs for inmates, ” see https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/ex-convict-and-metro-bus-driver-sidney-davis-looks-to-give-something-back-to-dc-community/2013/03/05/6d2567ac-85ea-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394_story.html.

The radio program provides an overview as to the transformation of Sidney Davis.

Special Announcements:

A top priority for the Department of Justice is to invest in scientific research to ensure that the Department is both tough and smart on crime. The Office of Justice Programs’ CrimeSolutions.gov website shapes rigorous research into a central, reliable, and credible resource to inform practitioners and policy makers about what works in criminal justice.

A new website lists and evaluates prisoner re-entry programs nationwide. Launched by the Urban Institute, the Council of State Governments, and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Prisoner Reentry Institute, the “What Works Clearinghouse” can be seen at http://nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/what_works.

The National Reentry Resource Center is a project of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice. Please see the Center’s website at http://www.nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/. Please see “Federal Interagency Reentry Council Launches Website, Releases Myth-Buster Series” on the front page of the site (see announcements). CSOSA is a member of the Council. Several requesters have asked for national research on reentry.

The Office of Justice Program’s National Institute of Justice reentry research portfolio supports the evaluation of innovative reentry programs. To access these studies and NIJ’s entire reentry research portfolio visit www.nij.gov/nij/topics/corrections/reentry/welcome.htm .

The Office of Violence Against Women offers stalking response tips for corrections, prosecutors, judges, law enforcement, victims and victim advocates. They are posted on OVW’s website at www.ovw.usdoj.gov .

The National Institute of Corrections Information Center is one of the largest repositories for corrections research and information in the country. See  www.nicic.gov/Library.

Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency:

We welcome your comments or suggestions at leonard.sipes@csosa.gov.

The website for the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency is http://www.csosa.gov/.

The program is hosted by Leonard Sipes. The producer is Timothy Barns.

Comments offered on “DC Public Safety” television and radio programs are the opinions of participants and do not necessarily represent the policies of CSOSA or other government agencies.

 

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Families and Offender Reentry-The Urban Institute

csosa

DC Public Safety Radio won the 2015 awards for best podcast and best audio from the National Association of Government Communicators.

DC Public Safety Radio and Television won the Government Customer Service Community of Practice (Cgov) 2014 Overall Excellence and Best Use of technology Awards. See conta.cc/1qiBV74  .

DC Public Safety Television won three top awards for public affairs television in 2014 from CTV and DCTV.

Welcome to “DC Public Safety” – Radio and television shows, blog and transcripts on crime, criminal offenders, and the criminal justice system.

For FY 2013 through FY 2015, we recorded 218,700 unique visitors, 633,000 visits and 1,924,300 page views (excluding robot searches).

This is radio show 261.

The portal site for “DC Public Safety” is http://media.csosa.gov

Subscribe to “DC Public Safety” through iTunes.

See transcript at http://media.csosa.gov/podcast/transcripts/2016/03/families-and-reentry/

Current Radio Program:

Families (and supportive others) are key components for successful offender reentry. Jocelyn Fontaine is a senior research associate in the Justice Policy Center at the Urban Institute, where her research portfolio is focused primarily on evaluating innovative community-based crime reduction and reentry initiatives targeted to vulnerable populations. In particular, she has directed several multisite reentry evaluations, including four supportive housing reentry projects, see http://www.urban.org/search?search_api_views_fulltext=jocelyn%20fontain.

The website for The Urban Institute is http://www.urban.org/.

See a television show on the topic produced by the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency at http://media.csosa.gov/podcast/video/2015/09/family-reunification-reentry/.

Special Announcements:

A top priority for the Department of Justice is to invest in scientific research to ensure that the Department is both tough and smart on crime. The Office of Justice Programs’ CrimeSolutions.gov website shapes rigorous research into a central, reliable, and credible resource to inform practitioners and policy makers about what works in criminal justice.

A new website lists and evaluates prisoner re-entry programs nationwide. Launched by the Urban Institute, the Council of State Governments, and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Prisoner Reentry Institute, the “What Works Clearinghouse” can be seen at http://nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/what_works.

The National Reentry Resource Center is a project of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice. Please see the Center’s website at http://www.nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/. Please see “Federal Interagency Reentry Council Launches Website, Releases Myth-Buster Series” on the front page of the site (see announcements). CSOSA is a member of the Council. Several requesters have asked for national research on reentry.

The Office of Justice Program’s National Institute of Justice reentry research portfolio supports the evaluation of innovative reentry programs. To access these studies and NIJ’s entire reentry research portfolio visit www.nij.gov/nij/topics/corrections/reentry/welcome.htm .

The Office of Violence Against Women offers stalking response tips for corrections, prosecutors, judges, law enforcement, victims and victim advocates. They are posted on OVW’s website at www.ovw.usdoj.gov .

The National Institute of Corrections Information Center is one of the largest repositories for corrections research and information in the country. See  www.nicic.gov/Library.

Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency:

We welcome your comments or suggestions at leonard.sipes@csosa.gov.

The website for the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency is http://www.csosa.gov/.

The program is hosted by Leonard Sipes. The producer is Timothy Barns.

Comments offered on “DC Public Safety” television and radio programs are the opinions of participants and do not necessarily represent the policies of CSOSA or other government agencies.

 

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