Reframing Technical Violations for Women: Prevention, Response, and Gender-Responsive Practice

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This session will be presented by the Justice Involved Women and Girls Committee; Alyssa is a psychologist and public health practitioner with a subspecialty in the neurophysiology and ecology of trauma and resilience. The Executive Director of CORE Associates, she has 20+ years supporting system and agency level healing, growth, and transformation by promoting evidence-based and innovative approaches with women and girls, amplifying lived experience, and promoting inclusive and intersectional frameworks. Benedict has worked across the U.S. to promote gender responsive, culturally attuned and trauma-informed care. She encourages international learning and engagement and has explored human service systems and individual and social trauma and resilience in the US, Canada, Germany, South Africa and Thailand. Alyssa has served as an architect and core faculty for various national initiatives, and has authored and co-authored impactful publications, models, and staff training curricula, including NIC’s Supervision Agency Gender-Responsive Evaluation (SAGE), and the widely implemented trauma-informed staff communication model Creating Regulation and Resilience (CR/2™). Benedict is co-founder of the Women’s Justice Institute (WJI), a “think and do tank” building transformational justice across sectors with the goal of ending women’s mass incarceration, co-author of WJI’s groundbreaking report “Redefining the Narrative,” and co-creator of the Women’s Justice Pathways Model (WJP©) and other tools designed to support dynamic, cross-sector work. CORE and the WJI’s work continues to inform efforts to improve justice and behavioral health with women and communities, and has been featured at various state, national, and international conferences.

This session will be presented by the Justice Involved Women and Girls Committee; Deanne is Co-Founder and Director of The Women’s Justice Institute (WJI), a Chicago-based, national “think and do tank” building transformational justice across sectors with-and-for system-impacted women with the goal of ending women’s mass incarceration. She is the co-author of the WJI’s groundbreaking report on ending women’s mass incarceration, “Redefining the Narrative;” and the Executive Producer and Director of the report’s powerful public awareness campaign video that confronts the deeply gendered false narratives that uniquely confront impacted women. Deanne is a national leader on issues related to women’s mass incarceration, the Co-Chair of the American Probation & Parole Association (APPA) Justice-Involved Women & Girls Committee and has engaged in global efforts as a member of the New York Vance Center for International Justice Women’s Prison Project, as an advocate for the successful passage of the United Nation’s Bankgok Rules for Women Prisoners and as a member of the International Corrections & Prisons Association (ICPA). She has presented her work in several countries, including Colombia and Thailand. Benos is the author of several articles and publications and co-author of the U.S. Department of Justice National Institute of Corrections “Barracks Behind Bars'' reports on addressing challenges related to incarceration among veterans.

Angel Camacho double majored and obtained her Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Criminal Justice from Grand Canyon University. Additionally, she also obtained a Graduate Certificate in Forensic Psychology. Angel has been employed with the Maricopa County Adult Probation Department for seven years and supervised a Justice Involved Women’s (JIW) caseload for four years. Angel completed the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment (WRNA) training in August 2022 and became certified to train WRNA classes to Department staff. Angel was a nominee for 2024 Probation Officer of the Year and was promoted to Adult Probation Supervisor in 2026.

Liz Cruz has worked in leadership positions throughout the field of mental health and substance use for more than fifteen years. This work led her to an appointment as the Lead Strategic Advisor to the Health & Well-being Working Group of the historic Statewide Women’s Justice Task Force of Illinois, a project of the Women’s Justice Institute (WJI), which united directly impacted women and over 100 other women leaders behind building a plan to reduce the women’s prison population by at least 50%. Since the appointment to the WJI, Liz has taken on a special role as Senior Advisor for the WJI and is currently working as the Lead Care Coordinator for the Cook County Health/SAMHSA Women’s Reentry Initiative. Liz also provides dynamic training and technical assistance to several partners and operations support at WJI. Elizabeth earned her Bachelor’s Degree in psychology with a concentration in Criminal Justice from Argosy University in 2014, and her Master’s Degree in 2016 in Forensic Psychology. Liz was inspired to educate, so much so that she was hired as an Adjunct Faculty and has been an instructor for over 7 years. In 2026, Liz was appointed to the Chair of the Criminal Justice Populations Committee (Illinois Opioid Crisis Response Advisory Council) and a steering committee member on the Governor's Opioid Overdose Prevention and Recovery Steering Committee Liz continues her journey as a clinical professional, educator, and advocate to provide guidance and support to women impacted by the legal system as well as students seeking to continue their educational journey, as she knows all too well the journey of both.

Karla Rahn is a Graduate of Grand Canyon University with Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education. Karla has been employed with the Maricopa County Adult Probation Department for nine years, supervising a Justice Involved Women’s (JIW) caseload for the last six years. Her current assignment is a JIW caseload in Drug Court. In addition, she serves as an adjunct in the training department, teaching new hires about trauma-informed supervision, motivational interviewing, victim satisfaction, Women’s Risk Needs Assessment (WRNA) and the importance of JIW caseloads. Lastly, Karla presents to law enforcement classes at local high schools about the work that probation does and what it takes to become a probation officer.