Leveraging Technology To Enhance Community Supervision: Identifying Needs To Address Current and Emerging Concerns

• NCJ Number: 254363
• Author(s): Joe Russo; Dulani Woods; George B. Drake; Brian A. Jackson
• Date Published: November 2019
• Length: 25 pages
• Publication Series: NIJ Identifying the Highest Priority Criminal Justice Needs
• Grant Number(s): 2013-MU-CX-K003
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Technical Assistance); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description; Instructional Material

Annotation

This report presents the proceedings and recommendations of an expert workshop that examined how technology can be leveraged to address the key challenges faced by community corrections agencies.

Abstract

The outcome of the workshop was a set of prioritized needs that can assist the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) in developing its research agenda, and recommendations on technology that can improve agency operations and offender outcomes. Workshop participants included correctional administrators and researchers. Among priority needs identified are 1) automated tools to identify the most important criminogenic risks or needs of an offender; 2) technology to identify prosocial behaviors, deliver positive reinforcement, and support incentive programs for offenders; 3) technology to support more effective officer training, assess whether training is properly implemented, and facilitate timely feedback to the officer; 4) research that evaluates the impact of a more mobile workforce on outcomes; 5) evaluation of technology-based approaches to supervising lower risk offenders; 6) use and evaluation of modern methods of communicating with offenders, such as text, chat, and social media; 7) research that leads to the more effective use of location-monitoring technologies; 8) research that determines the predictive value of offender data in determining risk for recidivism; 9) analytical and visualization tools that convert voluminous data sets into actionable intelligence; and 10) research on the effectiveness of automated reminder strategies to reduce failure-to-appear violations. 7 tables, 4 figures, 13 references, and a list of workshop participants