National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women

   

Current Opportunities For Technical Assistance from NRCJIW: Apply Now!

The NRCJIW offers training and technical assistance to government agencies and community and faith-based organizations to support their work with justice-involved women. The NRCJIW provides assistance and information to practitioners through a variety of means, including:

  • Making presentations at national and state criminal justice professional associations
  • Providing speakers for state and local conferences and training events
  • Conducting webinars on key topics
  • Facilitating strategic planning, leadership, policy development and other meetings
  • Producing and disseminating documents such as topical briefs, coaching packets, and "how-to's"
  • Maintaining a website (calendar of events, highlights of successful programs, profiles of leaders, emerging research, links and resources)
  • Responding to requests for information from the field.

For frequently asked questions about the assistance we offer, visit http://cjinvolvedwomen.org/targeted-training-and-technical-assistance-program or click here to download a TTA Request Form.

Resources Available on the NRCJIW Web Site

The NRCJIW web site (www.cjinvolvedwomen.org) maintains an extensive catalog of articles and other documents on a variety of topics related to women involved in the criminal justice system.  The topics include:

  • General Resources
  • Correctional Environments
  • Offender Management and Supervision
  • Classification, Assessment, and Case Management
  • Treatment, Interventions, and Services
  • Community Reentry
  • Quality Assurance and Evaluation
  • Critical Issues

To access resources in these areas, or to be connected to products produced by the NRCJIW or linked to its partners, visit http://cjinvolvedwomen.org/resources.

Have a Question About Women Involved in the Justice System?

NRCJIW has staff available to answer your questions about working with justice involved women.  A sample of previously asked questions can be found at http://cjinvolvedwomen.org/nrcjiw-question-and-answer.  If you have a question you would like us to research and answer, visit http://cjinvolvedwomen.org/ask-nrcjiw

National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women Newsletter

July 2015

The National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women (NRCJIW) provides guidance and support to justice professionals – and promotes evidence-based, gender-responsive policies and practices – to reduce the number and improve the outcomes of women involved in the criminal justice system.

NRCJIW Webinar Recording and Materials Now Available: Implementing Gender-Informed Strategies at the Pretrial Stage: Research to Practic

Click here to listen to a recorded version or click here to access the presentation slides for Implementing Gender-Informed Strategies at the Pretrial Stage: Research to Practice, a June 25, 2015 webinar co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance and the National Institute of Corrections featuring:

  • Krista Gehring, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Houston-Downtown
  • Mary Ellen Still, Director, Dutchess County (NY) Office of Probation and Community Corrections
  • Stevyn Fogg, National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women (NRCJIW)

During the session, participants learned about:

  • The latest research supporting gender-responsive pretrial risk/needs assessments;
  • How to apply evidence-based, gender-responsive tools and practices helpful to achieving better pretrial outcomes for justice-involved women; and
  • How to assess and identify areas within their agencies where they may be able to employ gender-responsive strategies at the pretrial stage.

For additional information and resources on pretrial risk/need assessments, email rramirez@cepp.com.

Register Now for the 16th
Bi-Annual: Adult and Juvenile Female Offenders (AJFO) Conference

This year’s conference theme will be “Justice Involved Women and Girls: New Paths to Resiliency.” The event will be held from October 13-15, 2015 in Hartford, Connecticut. Several prominent experts will be featured as speakers during this year’s conference, including:

  • Meda Chesney-Lind will speak to the bad news that girls and women seem to be a major feature of the post-feminist era. Are girls really meaner than ever? Are women just as violent as men or even more violent? Meda Chesney-Lind will critically review the current media constructions of criminalized girls and women.
  • Dr. Stephanie Covington will provide an opportunity to explore the advances made for justice-involved women in other countries including innovations in Canada, Switzerland, Scotland, the Czech Republic, and England. The focus of this session will be on inspiring the transformation of services for women in the United States.
  • Jeannette Pai Espinosa will also be a featured speaker. She is the President of the National Crittenton Foundation, and the Co-Director of the National Girls Initiative, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Oregon.
  • Deborah Jiang-Stein, author of PRISON BABY, is a skilled storyteller and national speaker who shares a one-of-a-kind story of hardship, triumph, transformation, and healing from trauma and addiction. As a transracial adopted person, her journey begins with her birth in prison, born heroin-exposed to an incarcerated mother. Deborah eventually re-frames her life into positive transformation.

To register for or learn more about the conference, click here.

New Resource: Meeting the Needs of Women in California's County Justice Systems: A Toolkit for Policymakers and Practitioners

Because fewer women are convicted of crimes and incarcerated compared to men, they can be overlooked for what may be ideal approaches to reduce crime and recidivism. This toolkit, authored by expert Dr. Barbara Bloom, provides suggestions for innovative and focused interventions targeting the special risks and needs of women in the justice system. It provides an overview of risk and needs assessments, case management approaches, principles, strategies and programs that take into account the needs of women (and are gender-responsive).

This document contains recommendations for creating community-based options for women and 10 key steps for working toward sustainable reductions in the number of women in county jails and the creation of gender-responsive community justice systems and includes sections on historical criminal justice and public health reforms that bring new opportunities, funding crucial components; six strategies for effective planning, policies, and practices; best practices and programs with justice-involved women; and key steps to a gender-responsive community justice system. Click here to access this report.

New Blog on Gender Issues from the Vera Institute of Justice

The sheer size and scope of the male justice population has shaped policies and procedures that often overlook the unique challenges women and girls present to these justice systems.

For these and many other reasons, the Vera Institute of Justice has launched the Gender & Justice in America blog series, in which Vera experts and guest bloggers will explore issues facing justice-involved women and girls in the fields of adult corrections, youth justice, immigration, victimization, substance use, and mental health. To read more about this new resource, click here.

In the News: Children Of Incarcerated Parents Attend Summer Camp Hosted By DOC

The Washington Department of Corrections (DOC), in partnership with the Girl Scouts of Western Washington, hosted a pilot “Kids United By Incarceration” (KUBI) camp this summer to provide a fun experience the kids might not otherwise have the opportunity to enjoy – and to do so with peers facing the same struggles. DOC employees acted as counselors for the children, staying with them in yurts at the camp, helping them with activities and broaching the sometimes difficult conversations about having a parent in prison.

Funding for the camp was generated by offenders and their families through the Offender Betterment Fund. While this year’s KUBI camp was a pilot, it was so successful that the Washington DOC has already decided to hold another camp next summer, and the Girls Scouts have signed a contract to hold the camp yearly. To read more about this innovative pilot program, click here.

Coming Soon: The NRCJIW Website is Getting a Facelift!

By early fall, our project web site will undergo some minor construction to modernize, make it more mobile and user friendly, and add more material. Please visit the site for updates!

Copyright © 2015 National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women , All rights reserved.

National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women is funded in whole or in part through a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this newsletter (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided).

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