Off Paper

This episode of Off Paper features a discussion of the new post-conviction supervision policy and its implications for federal probation departments, their leaders, their officers, their clients, and their communities. Guests include Chief U.S. Probation Officer and Chiefs Advisory Group chair Jonathan Hurtig (New Hampshire), Chief U.S. Probation Officer and Post-Conviction Supervision Working Group chair John Bentley (South Dakota), Deputy Chief Probation Officer and Working Group member Brad Whitley (M.D.N.C.), and Supervisory Probation Administrator Scott VanBenschoten (Administrative Office).

In this episode of Off Paper, Chief Elbert, Assistant Deputy Chief Katherine Tahja (S.D. Iowa), and Professor Matthew DeLisi of Iowa State University discuss the work of the Chiefs Research Group, research projects currently underway in several districts, and the role of empirical research generally in federal probation and pretrial practice.

Evidence based practice in probation and pretrial mandates that practitioners use the best available research findings to carry out their duties as investigators and supervise their justice-involved clients. While criminologists have conducted research for years that has been crucial to formulating national probation and pretrial services policy it’s only recently that practitioners have used that kind of research locally to improve client outcomes. And with over 100 probation and pretrial offices across the country serving many different kinds of communities, national level research can be of limited help to officers at the district level. For that reason a group of Chiefs – led by Dr. Michael Elbert in the Southern District of Iowa – formed the Chiefs Research Group in 2015. Its purpose is to engage in “empirical examination of district-level data to generate the best available evidence to inform local policies impacting public safety and recidivism.” This grassroots group has grown rapidly in just three years. It’s most recent meeting attracted more than 30 people from both the probation and pretrial system and the academic research community, to discuss district-based projects on topics as diverse as sex offender supervision, problem solving courts, officer resilience and more. In this episode of Off Paper, Chief Elbert, Assistant Deputy Chief Katherine Tahja (S.D. Iowa), and Professor Matthew DeLisi of Iowa State University discuss the work of the Chiefs Research Group, research projects currently underway in several districts, and the role of empirical research generally in federal probation and pretrial practice.

This episode of Off Paper is a conversation with Doug Burris about innovation and leadership in the criminal justice system. Mr. Burris has served for 17 years as the Chief U.S. Probation Officer for the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Missouri. Burris’s work on issues of living-wage employment for returning citizens has helped the Eastern District of Missouri—which includes the city of St. Louis and the entire eastern portion of the state—to achieve remarkable outcomes for individuals on supervised release. Burris is the first federal Chief Probation Officer to have hired a returning citizen to work in the probation office as a community resources specialist. He is also the first and only federal chief to be a member of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Executive Session on Community Corrections. Burris’s extraordinary leadership has been recognized by the White House, the Department of Justice, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and many other federal, state, and local governmental and nongovernmental organizations.

This episode of Off Paper is a conversation with Doug Burris about innovation and leadership in the criminal justice system. Mr. Burris has served for 17 years as the Chief U.S. Probation Officer for the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Missouri.

This first episode of Off Paper is a conversation with Dr. Guy Bourgon, a clinical psychologist specializing in corrections and criminal justice, and the coleader for Canada's Strategic Training Initiative in Community Supervision (STICS). Dr. Bourgon is recognized for translating research into useful and practical concepts that enhance skills and techniques for promoting client engagement and facilitating prosocial change.

The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from requiring a criminal defendant to pay "excessive bail" in order to get out of jail before trial. Nevertheless, nearly half a million people across the country are in pretrial detention.

The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from requiring a criminal defendant to pay "excessive bail" in order to get out of jail before trial. Nevertheless, nearly half a million people across the country are in pretrial detention.

Holistic indigent defense tries to solve underlying social and environmental problems that may have contributed to an offender's involvement in crime. It does this by emphasizing interdisciplinary teamwork, partnership with other criminal justice stakeholders, and identification and mitigation of collateral consequences. In this episode of Off Paper host Mark Sherman talks to Maureen Scott Franco, the Federal Defender in the Western District of Texas, and Kathy Nester, the Federal Defender for the District of Utah, about holistic indigent defense and the programs they have created in their districts to pursue its goals and benefits.

Treating Substance Use and Mental Health Disorders: When Is It Being Done Right?

Off Paper host Mark Sherman talks to Dr. Peter Luongo, Executive Director of IRETA - the Institute for Education, Research and Training in Addictions - about what good treatment for substance use and mental health disorders looks like for individuals who are on pre-trial or post-conviction supervision. Dr. Luongo has worked in the behavioral health field as a social worker, researcher and administrator for nearly thirty years.