Public Safety

Navigating Youth Diversion: Strategies, Pitfalls, and Impact

Diversion helps youth who have offended as it offers tailored interventions for their needs, counters adverse effects of formal processing, and promotes rehabilitation over punishment. In this blog we explore diverse diversion strategies, how these strategies balance rehabilitation and accountability, and the importance of fair decision-making for positive individual and...

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Pedro das Neves: The Power of Technology in the Prison System

Pedro das Neves is the CEO of IPS Innovative Prison Systems, a research and consulting firm specializing in justice and correctional services. He is the Executive Director of ICJS Innovative Criminal Justice Inc., a Canadian firm that focuses on advisory, design, integration, and delivery of innovative organizational and technological solutions...

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Bridging the gap: Videoconferencing in corrections

If the COVID-19 pandemic taught criminal justice professionals anything, it was that the criminal justice system was not immune to the sweeping effects of the pandemic. The pandemic brought various challenges to those who are incarcerated, on probation, or on parole within North America. Correctional and probation/parole officers saw an...

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Do the Level of Service tools provide long-term insights?

Predictive validity refers to an assessment's ability to accurately predict an outcome. In the context of risk/needs assessments, accuracy is determined through a validation process. Validation tests if an assessment’s estimated risk/needs score for an individual corresponds to actual behavior or outcomes. In order to test the prediction, meaningful outcome...

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The Benefits of Training in Public Safety

Training may need to play a role whenever there’s a gap between your actual and desired knowledge, skills, or abilities. Training designed to target a specific learning or development gap allows you and your organization to invest time, money, and effort effectively. Our customers trust the scientific rigor of MHS Public...

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Re-entry barriers for formerly incarcerated individuals in a digitally driven world

According to a study by DeFina and Hannon (2009), mass incarceration over the past few decades increased the U.S. poverty rate by approximately 20%. Justice-involved individuals are more likely to reside in low-income neighborhoods which are subject to higher surveillance, policing, and arrests (Reisdorf & DeCook, 2022). Consequently, a person...

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Five Trends That Will Shape Public Safety in 2023

Coming out of 2022, public safety organizations must examine internal and external factors that could greatly affect their operations. What are the emerging trends and needs in public safety? What can organizations do to support these critical issues? Here are the five trends we predict will be significant focus areas...

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Using Professional Judgment and Overrides in Risk/Needs Assessments

Due to its role in informing parole and probation decisions, the use of professional judgment or overrides in risk/needs assessment and management can become scrutinized after tragic and violent events. What is a risk/needs assessment? Why do assessors override risk assessment scores? Is the use of this override common? What does...

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How can an Offender Management System integrate risk/needs assessments to make communities safer?

Many public safety organizations around the world use Offender Management Systems (OMSs) to access public and private data, including arrest events, custody data, dispositions, and prosecutor data. Keeping communities safe and providing positive outcomes requires probation and parole officers to access the histories of those within the system. An OMS is...

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ADHD in the Justice System: underdiagnosed and underserved

Individuals with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may deal with symptoms such as inattention, disorganization, hyperactivity (often seen as restlessness in adults), and/or impulsivity. Symptoms of ADHD often continue into adulthood, causing challenges in social, academic, and professional functioning (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). Research suggests that ADHD occurs in most cultures in...

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