Incarceration’s corrosive effects on families

mbrown — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:55:46 -0600

Scholars, practitioners, and justice advocates have extensively examined the corrosive impact of mass incarceration on families and communities. The inclusion of family impact statements into the justice equation, as reported by Vera, signals a welcome confluence of empirical research and criminal justice agency practice. Decision-makers in the criminal justice system have been too willing to use incarceration as a sanction of first resort, with little eye to the costs involved.

San Francisco’s family-focused probation: a response from Scotland

nloucks — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:34:01 -0600

As the chief executive of Families Outside, a national Scottish charity that works on behalf of children and families affected by imprisonment, I found the recent article on the San Francisco Adult Probation Department’s family-focused approach to probation a breath of fresh air.

New Year's resolution for family-focused youth services

klarson — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 12:08:18 -0600

As you might expect, the end-of-the-year holidays present an opportunity for youth service programs to focus on families. No matter what the rest of the year looks like, suddenly calendars fill with dinners, presents, and special family visits.

The North Star State finds value in family ties for incarcerated people

rshanahan — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:43:17 -0600

Just in time for the holidays—traditionally a season for connecting with family—Minnesota’s Department of Corrections (DOC) published a research report that supports what many people know intuitively: contact with supportive people can help reduce the chances that someone who has been involved in the justice system will wind up in prison again.

How family ties help incarcerated people return from jail to the community

Slobuglio — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:15:41 -0500

Guest blogger Stefan LoBuglio is chief of Pre-Release and Reentry Services in the Montgomery County (Maryland) Department of Correction and Rehabilitation.

Does a strengths-based approach miss the point?

klarson — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 15:29:46 -0500

At APT, we have a story we use for training new staff about the complexities of using strengths-based communication in systems focused on risk.

Reentry Is Relational: A project of Vera's Family Justice Program

Research Department — Tue, 17 May 2011 13:10:56 -0500

By Sandra Villalobos Agudelo, research associate in the Family Justice Program