Charting the Path Forward: A Research-Practitioner Approach for Collaborative Strategic Planning

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Jaron Harvey, MS, serves as Director of the Department of Rehabilitation and Community Supervision in the Turks and Caicos Islands. His work centers on strengthening probation, parole, and juvenile justice systems. He specializes in rehabilitative programming, workforce development, and implementing evidence-based practices to improve outcomes across community corrections and rehabilitation services.

Deborah Koetzle, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, Director of the Corrections Lab at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Her research interests center around effective correctional interventions in both institutional and community settings, with a focus on problem-solving courts, organizational culture, program evaluation, and cross-cultural comparisons of correctional practices and policies. She is particularly interested in examining whether and how evidence-based practices transfer across cultures. Current and recent projects include a survey of incarcerated individuals in Central America on their experience with the rule of law and life in prison, a multi-site drug court study aimed at assessing the relationship between treatment quality and drug court outcomes, and a multi-site study of the Organizational Coaching Model and its impact on revocations. Beyond her research activities, Dr. Koetzle works closely with correctional agencies and practitioners to implement evidence-based practices. She has over 20 years of experience designing and delivering training curricula related to correctional interventions for community and prison-based settings and is a certified master trainer on multiple risk/need assessments. She has provided technical assistance to local, state, and federal agencies including the United States Administrative Office of the Courts, the Bahamas Department of Rehabilitative and Welfare Services, the New York City Department of Probation, and the Singapore Prison System.

Jeff Mellow is Professor of Criminal Justice at John Jay College, Deputy Director of the Corrections Lab at John Jay College, and on the faculty of the Criminal Justice Doctoral Program at the Graduate Center, CUNY. With over 20 years of experience in the field, he has dedicated his career to researching and improving correctional systems both in the United States and internationally. His research and technical assistance focus on correctional issues including reentry planning and reintegration, program evaluation, and critical incidents within jail and prisons. He has developed resources for practitioners, including co-author of the Transition from Jail to Community Online Learning Resource, a National Institute of Corrections micro-site, that identifies the key elements necessary to implement the TJC Model to facilitate and provide successful reentry at the community level. Dr. Mellow has worked with a range of local, state, and federal agencies, including the US Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, the US Department of Justice, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the Bureau of Justice Assistance. and the City of New York Department of Probation. His international work spans across Latin America and the Caribbean, where he has conducted research and provided technical assistance on projects related to prison overcrowding, rule of law, and strategic planning.

Dr. Stephanie Spiegel is a Senior Research Associate at The Corrections Lab at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She brings over a decade of hands-on experience working with court and correctional agencies to implement evidence-based practices, enhance program quality, and translate research into actionable strategies that improve outcomes. Dr. Spiegel has extensive experience developing and delivering practitioner-focused trainings, designing tools and manualized interventions, and program evaluation.