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

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This is radio show 165.

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Transcript available at http://media.csosa.gov/podcast/transcripts/2013/03/observations-on-crime-and-justice-former-assistant-attorney-general-laurie-robinson-dc-public-safety/

Current Radio Program: 

The program interviews former Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson. Ms. Robinson is now a Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at the George Mason University.

Laurie O. Robinson was sworn in as Assistant Attorney General on November 9, 2009. Ms. Robinson previously served as Assistant Attorney General at the Office of Justice Programs from 1993 to February, 2000. During that time, she oversaw the largest increase in federal spending on criminal justice research in the nation’s history, and under her leadership the annual appropriations for OJP grew substantially – from $800 million in 1993 to over $4 billion in 2000. At the same time, she also spearheaded initiatives in areas ranging from comprehensive community-based crime control to violence against women, law enforcement technology, drug abuse and corrections.

Ms. Robinson served as Acting Assistant Attorney General and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of OJP from January 2009 until nominated by President Obama in September 2009. Since returning to the Department of Justice, she has overseen the implementation of the $2.7 billion in programs for which Congress assigned responsibility to OJP under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; launched a new agency-wide Evidence Integration Initiative to help ensure science-based approaches in OJP-funded programs; and held a series of “listening sessions” with state and local constituents to learn what OJP can do to better serve the field.

She held the position of Assistant Attorney General for OJP for approximately 10 years; longer than any other OJP Assistant Attorney General.

The website for the Office of Justice Programs is http://www.ojp.gov.

The website for the George Mason University is http://cls.gmu.edu

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.