A Tool for All Settings? Applying RNR in Prison, Jail/Reentry, and Community Supervision

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

The RNR Simulation Tool operationalizes and builds on Andrews & Bonta’s Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) framework. Drawing on meta-analyses and systematic reviews of “what works” in correctional programming as well as an independently designed underlying database of offender risk and need profiles, the RNR Simulation Tool consists of three web-based tools designed to provide decision support to criminal justice actors at the individual, program, and jurisdiction levels. In this panel, we will explore the implementation of the tools in different settings, as well as the findings. This panel will include representatives from the Delaware Department of Corrections, discussing use in prison, the Louisiana Public Health Institute, discussing use in a Bureau of Justice Assistance-sponsored reentry (with initial assessments taking place in jail) program, and Hidalgo County Community Supervision and Corrections Department, discussing use in a community supervision setting. The panelists will explore why they elected to use the RNR Simulation Tool, challenges in implementing the system, how well the tools fit with existing practices, and findings from the system.

Sub Unit

• Area VII: Criminal Justice Policy and Practice / 38: Corrections

Individual Presentations

• RNR in the Community: Hidalgo County, Texas Community Supervision and Corrections Department - Faustino Lopez, Hidalgo County Community Supervision and Corrections Department

• Using the RNR Tool to Inform Transition of Care for Louisiana Co-occurring Program Participants Discharging from State Institutions to the Community - Alexandra Priebe, Louisiana Public Health Institute; Shelley Edgerton, Louisiana Deparment of Corrections; Rhett Covington, Louisiana Deparment of Public Safety and Corrections

• Utilizing a Risk Needs Responsivity Approach to Improve Correctional Treatment in Delaware - Judi Buchanan, University of Delaware; Daniell J. O'Connell, University of Delaware; Christy A. Visher, University of Delaware

• Moving from Theory to Practice: Using Lessons Learned to Improve the RNR Simulation Tool - Amy Murphy, George Mason University; Faye S. Taxman, George Mason University

Chair

• Amy Murphy, George Mason University