Off Paper - Episode 7: The Role of Empirical Research in Federal Probation and Pretrial Practice

Summary: Evidence based practice in probation and pretrial mandates that practitioners use the best available research findings to carry out their duties as investigators and supervise their justice-involved clients. While criminologists have conducted research for years that has been crucial to formulating national probation and pretrial services policy it’s only recently that practitioners have used that kind of research locally to improve client outcomes. And with over 100 probation and pretrial offices across the country serving many different kinds of communities, national level research can be of limited help to officers at the district level. For that reason a group of Chiefs – led by Dr. Michael Elbert in the Southern District of Iowa – formed the Chiefs Research Group in 2015. Its purpose is to engage in “empirical examination of district-level data to generate the best available evidence to inform local policies impacting public safety and recidivism.” This grassroots group has grown rapidly in just three years. It’s most recent meeting attracted more than 30 people from both the probation and pretrial system and the academic research community, to discuss district-based projects on topics as diverse as sex offender supervision, problem solving courts, officer resilience and more. In this episode of Off Paper, Chief Elbert, Assistant Deputy Chief Katherine Tahja (S.D. Iowa), and Professor Matthew DeLisi of Iowa State University discuss the work of the Chiefs Research Group, research projects currently underway in several districts, and the role of empirical research generally in federal probation and pretrial practice.