Connecting Research to Practice Using the Standardized Program Evaluation Protocol (SPEP™): The Road to Reform

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

Juvenile justice reform work can be extremely complex as it involves a huge number of agencies and subsystems as well as social, economic and political pressures. The implementation of Mark Lipsey’s SPEP™ process in ten states has provided a broad view of challenges and the solution strategies utilized to cause positive change to occur. This session will identify barriers common to system reform across multiple states and jurisdictions as well as some strategies developed to overcome these challenges. The session will also examine where reform and the SPEP™ Process in particular fits within the complex set of systems that impact juvenile justice. Site specific solutions to reform challenges involving significant change in organizational processes as well as the use of intermediary organizations and the successes associated with these initiatives will be discussed. The more juvenile justice reformers are able to anticipate challenges (and opportunities), develop a toolkit of possible solutions based on lessons learned, the more successful and sustainable reform efforts will be.

Sub Unit

• Area IX: Juvenile Crime and the Justice System / 59: Juvenile Justice Policies and Practices

Individual Presentations

• Common Challenges and Solution Strategies for Juvenile Justice Reform: Implementing Standardized Program Evaluation Protocol (SPEP™) in Ten States - Gabrielle Chapman, Vanderbilt University

• The SPEP™ within the Ecology of Juvenile Justice - Jill Robinson, Vanderbilt University

• The Implementation Story: North Carolina as a SPEP Legacy State - Cindy Porterfield, NC Department of Public Safety; Megan Howell, NC Department of Public Safety; Nancy Hodges, NC Department of Public Safety

• Leveraging a State-level Intermediary Organization to Support System Improvement: Developing Capacity for Scale in a Decentralized System - Stephanie Bradley, Evidence-based Prevention and Intervention Support Center (EPISCenter); Brian Bumbarger, Pennsylvania State University

Chair

• Stephanie Bradley, Evidence-based Prevention and Intervention Support Center (EPISCenter)

Discussant

• James C. (Buddy) Howell, National Gang Center