Topics: Juvenile/Adult Justice System

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Description : Dr. Hobbs is a member of the Advisory Board for Lutheran Community Care Services (LCCS), based in Singapore. She and Monica Miles-Steffens presented at a conference in Singapore on the use of restorative practices in the U.S. juvenile justice system. Recently, LCCS was a collaborative partner on a Race Equity 2030 proposal.

Topics: Juvenile/Adult Justice System

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Description : Dr. Hobbs and Monica Miles-Steffens facilitated a dialogue with 160 youth from 43 nations to develop culturally responsive approaches to address juvenile delinquency in July 2017. This intriguing event led to multiple opportunities for collaboration with professional and researchers from other countries.

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Description : This study involved an assessment of the relevance of women’s background characteristics for predicting their offending in prison. Data were collected from over 650 women confined in a large prison for women in a Midwestern state, and the relative effects of these factors were examined. Findings revealed that background characteristics reflecting social demographics (e.g. race, sexual orientation) and women’s life experiences (e.g. abuse as a child) were relevant for predicting women’s violent and nonviolent misbehavior in prison. 2015-2017

Topics: Juvenile/Adult Justice System

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Description : Diversion programs are programs aimed at diverting low-risk youth with minor law violations from the juvenile system who would otherwise have charges filed or be adjudicated. The county attorney grants diversion for youth after considering the youth’s age, the nature of the offense, the youth’s history and future risk, and the recommendation of the referring agency. When a youth is granted diversion, the diversion officer should tailor a program for the youth based on the youth’s specific needs and areas he/she needs to focus on. If diversion is completed successfully, the youth’s charges are either dismissed or not filed in court.

Topics: Youth Programming, Capacity Building, Health Awareness

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Description : The purpose of this work plan is to assess NeCLPPPs progress on reducing childhood lead exposures and lead poisoning through enhancement of lead testing, surveillance, population-based interventions, and ensuring lead-exposed children are identified and referred to services; as well as enhanced promotion and lead poisoning prevention strategies. This work plan focuses on the state-level logic model and evaluation plan, process evaluation (activities and implementation), and outcome evaluation.

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Description : "Nebraska Center for Justice Research will provide the following services, which each comprise a phase of the entire project: Phase I: Develop a needs assessment: - Gather data on the prevalence of risk factors for juvenile justice system involvement Omaha - For risk factors identified as high priority, identify Omahas gaps in performance compared to similar-sized cities and the corresponding impact on justice system involvement and detention Phase II: Develop a situational analysis, utilizing multiple research methods to answer the following questions: 1. What is the nature and extent of each risk factor? 2. Filtering by individuals, groups, and geographic locations, who experiences this risk factor? 3. What is the history of this risk factor in Omaha and what projections are there about its future? 4. What are the primary and secondary causes of this risk factor in Omaha? 5. Are there known causal pathways (a succession of causes)? 6. What is known regarding efforts at addressing this risk factor in Omaha? 7. Why is this risk factor considered a problem? 8. What is the vicarious impact of this risk factor (e.g. indirect effect on surrounding community members)? 9. Who is currently involved in addressing this risk factor in Omaha? Potential data sources include: U.S. Census data Key informant interviews Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System data Proxy measures co-identified by NCJR and Sherwood Omaha Public Schools data Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice data Other data sources and methods as needed Phase III: Develop a comprehensive investment strategy for The Sherwood Foundation that: - Outlines the outcomes of interest and their relationship to the identified areas of risk - Identifies baseline data to be collected in relation to the ultimate outcomes (even if beyond the direct influence of the strategy) - Clarifies the strategys boundaries while recognizing where the strategy sits in, interacts with, influences, and is influenced by its wider context - Ensures that the strategys outcome chain gives adequate attention to outcomes that are beyond the direct influence of the strategy"

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Description : The purpose of this project is to evaluate the Vocational and Life Skills program for the Nebraska Departnent of Corrections.

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Description : Assesment of operations

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Description : "This project aims to conduct a formative evaluation and evaluability assessment of Project Harmony, a large child advocacy center (CAC) in Omaha, Nebraska, currently serving children who are victims of alleged child abuse. Project Harmony is one of the largest CACs in the nation. The ultimate goal is to lay the foundation for future CAC outcome evaluation efforts. Over the past 30 years, child advocacy centers (CAC) have proliferated, with goals to improve coordination of child abuse investigations, reduce distress to children, and increase offender prosecutions. Yet there is little empirical research examining the efficacy of the centers, specifically which components are critical to achieving these outcomes. This project will examine five core services within Project Harmony (PH): (1) Forensic interviewing, (2) Advocacy, (3) Medical care, (4) Mental health services, and (5) Multidisciplinary teams. Despite PH being a large urban child advocacy center that serves as a national model for other CACs, these core services have never been evaluated. The School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO) will partner with PH to complete the project. The project utilizes a mixed-method, two-phased research design. In Phase I, a formative evaluation will include secondary data analysis of agency data and key informant surveys, focus groups, and interviews to assess core service operations. Existing protocols will be compared to National Children’s Alliance (NCA) Accreditation Standards to assess gaps. Qualitative content analysis will identify themes in core service operations. Phase II is an evaluability assessment designed to assess “readiness” for evaluation. The research team will convene a work group of agency stakeholders to review findings from Phase I and conduct qualitative data collection, with the dual purposes of identifying gaps between service goals and operations, and developing a feasible evaluation design that includes evaluation priorities. Data collection tools will build upon the NCA’s Standards for Accredited Members and survey instruments developed by the National Institute of Justice (2004). PH’s electronic case management system will be used for data collection and reporting. UNO will review evaluation instruments, develop instruments for implementation fidelity, and conduct qualitative analyses of data collected. Validity and reliability are strengthened by partnering with UNO to conduct and analyze findings, comparing results to extant literature, and confirming results with participants. The study will result in clear logic models, updated survey instruments, an implementation guide, fidelity tools, a CAC evaluability plan, reports detailing each phase of the study, and corresponding data sets. Results will be disseminated through conferences and publications in peer-reviewed journals to promote empirical analyses of other CACs. ""Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law,"" and complies with Part 200 Uniform Requirements - 2 CFR 200.210(a)(14). CA/NCF"

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Description : "The purpose of this project was to continue to collaborate on the Juvenile Case Management System (JCMS), a statewide data collection system for programs funded by Nebraska’s Community-based Aid Juvenile Services Fund. Additionaly, assistance was provided for programs and the Nebraska Crime Commission in developing outcome measures, establishing concurrence on definitions, and providing statewide training. "