Plenary – 4:45 PM - 5:45 PM

Monday, Febuary 13, 2023

National Guidelines on Post-Conviction Risk Assessment

The US does not follow a coherent set of guidelines on the development and use of risk and needs assessment and most states and counties have not tested their tools for accuracy and fairness across race, ethnicity, and gender. Many jurisdictions do a poor job at being transparent about what the instrument was designed to do and do not have a clear plan to effectively communicate about the tools and how they are being used to system stakeholders and those directly impacted by their use. With support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the CSG Justice Center developed an advisory group of 28 national experts in the field to create a set of 13 specific guidelines and a suite of practical materials that are aimed at different audiences, including criminal justice practitioners and leaders and legislators. This workshop will focus on the aspects of the Guidelines that are directly relevant to officers in the field and explain how utilizing the Guidelines can improve the use of risk and needs assessment for decision-making.

Presenters

Heather Tubman-Carbone, Ph.D.

Heather Tubman-Carbone, Ph.D., is a criminologist who specializes in translating research and policy into practice. As Senior Policy Advisor for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Dr. Tubman-Carbone oversees its justice reform efforts, including the Justice Reinvestment Initiative and Justice Counts, which take data-driven approaches to create more fair, effective, and efficient state justice systems. In addition, she manages Second Chance Act programs to build corrections and community supervision agencies’ capacity to reduce recidivism and support desistance. Prior to joining BJA, Dr. Tubman-Carbone managed a corrections portfolio at the Council of State Governments Justice Center where she oversaw technical assistance provided to state and local corrections agencies to design and implement concrete, research-based strategies to reduce recidivism. She also worked on projects to measure the impact of those initiatives and to disseminate the strategies to practitioners and policymakers in the field. Earlier in her career, Dr. Tubman-Carbone worked at Westat and the Prisoner Reentry Institute at John Jay College. Dr. Tubman-Carbone earned her BA from Northeastern University, her master’s from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Rutgers University School of Criminal Justice. 

Lahiz Tavarez

Lahiz Tavárez, MA is a Senior Policy Analyst at the CSG Justice Center. She works on projects centered on risk and needs assessment communication and implementation guidance. In previous roles at the CSG Justice Center, Ms. Tavárez developed networks of community services for people returning to the community after incarceration, provided technical assistance to recipients of Second Chance Act grants, supported projects centered on improving risk communication in corrections and reentry of people convicted of sexual offenses, and worked to expand the Reentry Services Directory. Prior to joining the CSG Justice Center, she interned at the New York State Assembly as a legislative assistant, as well as with Albany County’s Crime Victim and Sexual Violence Center (CVSVC), acting as a victim advocate at Albany Criminal Court on behalf of CVSVC, and at SUNY Albany’s University Police Department (UAPD), also participating in UAPD’s Advisory Committee

Contributing Sponsors

Allied Universal® Electronic Monitoring - Lanyards

Also, special thanks goes to our Corporate Members!