Partnering for Change: Community Engaged Research with Women and the Criminal Legal System

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

This panel explores the role of community-engaged research in shaping gender-responsive approaches within the criminal legal system. While such initiatives aim to address the unique needs of system-involved women, they often risk reinforcing carceral control. Through diverse case studies, this panel highlights how researchers can partner with justice-impacted women, correctional agencies, and community organizations to foster meaningful change. Presentations will examine the challenges and opportunities of participatory action research (PAR), the limitations of existing gender-responsive tools—such as the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment (WRNA) for Indigenous women—the barriers to implementing trauma-informed, gender-responsive supervision, and the institutional obstacles to conducting community-engaged research. By centering the experiences of women impacted by the system, these studies demonstrate how scholars can contribute to harm reduction, advocate for evidence-based reforms, and push institutions toward more transformative and culturally responsive practices. This session will offer critical insights into the complexities of conducting participatory research within carceral settings while emphasizing the potential for partnerships that challenge existing structures and improve outcomes for system-impacted women.

Sub Unit

• Area X. Critical Criminology / 78. Activist Scholarship

Individual Presentations

• Moving Beyond Reform: Evaluating Gender-Responsive Programming Using Tools to Create Institutional Change - Anne Uhlman, Colorado State University; Tara Opsal, Colorado State University

• Improving the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment (WRNA) with Indigenous Women in North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation - Jessica Seawright, University of Utah; Emily Salisbury, University of Utah

• Using Participatory Action Research to Engage with Women Impacted by the Criminal Legal System: Lessons Learned and Future Directions - Breanna Boppre, Urban Institute, Justice and Safety Division

• Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Considerations to Enhance Implementation of Gender-Responsive Supervision - Kayla M. Hoskins, Yale University

Discussant

• Tara Opsal, Colorado State University