2023 Research Agenda
FOCUS AREAS
Person-Centered Supervision
( 1 ) A Biosocial Study of Client Outcomes in Probation and Parole : The Role of Officer Stress and Officer-Client Relationships :
Much community supervision research focuses on interventions to reduce recidivism . The responsibility of implementation , however , rests on officers ' shoulders , which means officer-client relationships heavily influence the success of interventions . Therefore , it is critical to understand the factors that hinder these relationships , and officer stress is a prime candidate .
To this end , we partnered with the Criminal Justice Department at Georgia State University ( GSU ) to examine the role of officer stress in forming officer-client relationships and how the resulting relationships impact criminal justice outcomes .
2 ) Integrated Dynamic Risk Assessment for Community Supervision ( IDRACS ):
Accurate and timely understanding of the risk of rearrest while on supervision promotes evidence-based practices , which can improve client services and , consequently , criminal justice outcomes .
With support from the Research Triangle Institute ( RTI ), this project will improve our current risk assessment tool by implementing time-specific models , using recent rather than lifetime criminal history , and incorporating dynamic measures of both protective and risk factors .
In short , IDRACS will assess risk factors to inform supervision strategies in real-time .