Toward Evidence-Based Decision Making in Community Corrections: Research and Strategies for Successful Implementation

This publication "contains invited articles on community corrections, with special emphasis on successful implementation strategies. A common thread that runs through these articles relates to what is needed to better ensure fidelity to evidence-based practices in community supervision and treatment. The research and implementation strategies shared by the authors should provide greater guidance to agency and program administrators working to assimilate evidence-based practices into their organizations" (p. 1). Articles include: "Current Practice and Challenges in Evidence-Based Community Corrections" by Stephen M. Haas; "STICS: From Pilot Project to Wide-Scale Implementation" - review; "Motivational Interviewing Proficiency in Corrections" - review; "Ohio Youth Assessment System - Creation, Validation, and Implementation" - review; "Actuarial Risk/Need Assessment and Its Effect on Supervision Revocation" - review; and "Establishing the Proper Risk-Dosage Relationship" - review. Each review explains: why the study was done; what the program was and what the researchers did; what the researchers found; and what the implications are of the study for policy making. Also included are two review essays. "Review Essay: Implementing EBP in Community Corrections" discusses what works, EBP models, planned change, and dosage. "Review Essay: Moving Implementation of EBP Forward" looks at three challenges to implementing EBPs in community corrections programming.