Success of Community Courts in Washington, D.C.-DC Public Safety Radio

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This is radio show 166.

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Transcript available at http://media.csosa.gov/podcast/transcripts/2013/03/success-of-community-courts-in-washington-d-c-dc-public-safety-radio/

Current Radio Program: 

The program interviews the Honorable Russell Canan, Presiding Judge, Criminal Division, D.C. Superior Court and Michael Francis, Community Court Coordinator, Criminal Division, D.C. Superior Court. Both addressed the effectiveness and operation of community courts.

The Superior Court conducted a study a community court in one area of the city; results  indicate a 42 percent reduction in recidivism. Based on the findings of this evaluation, the court expanded the program citywide in 2012.

The website for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia is http://www.dccourts.gov .

Special Announcements:

A top priority for Attorney General Eric Holder’s 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 yesterday 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 .

Correctional Social Media:

The Pew Center on the States Public Safety Performance Project offers a video on research to reduce recidivism as well as brief but powerful overviews of reentry and sentencing research. See http://www.pewstates.org/projects/public-safety-performance-project-328068 .

The U.S. DOJ Center for Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships recently held two successful webinars on Faith and Community Based approaches to Reentry and Responsible Fatherhood Initiatives. Click the links below to watch/listen to these informative webinars.

  1. Faith and Community Based Approaches to Responsible Fatherhood and its Impact on Delinquency Prevention, see https://bjatraining.org/2012/04/10/faith-and-community-based-approaches-responsible-fatherhood-and-its-impact-delinquency
  2. A Look at Faith & Community-Based Approaches to Offender Reentry, seehttps://bjatraining.org/a-look-at-faith-community-based-approaches-to-offender-reentry

The Louisiana Department of Corrections/Division of Probation and Parole is offering radio shows on offender reentry. Please visit their website athttp://doc.la.gov/pages/reentry-initiatives/reentry-radio/ .

The New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services offers podcasts at http://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/pio/podcasts.html.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections offers a YouTube channel at http://m.youtube.com/user/minnesotadoc .

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 Barnes.

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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