Justice Center: Recidivism

New Report Demonstrates States’ Success in Reducing Recidivism On September 25th, the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center’s National Reentry Resource Center (NRRC) released a policy brief today highlighting a number of states reporting significant, reductions in recidivism. The states profiled in the report show significant declines in their three-year recidivism rates based on data tracking individuals released from prison in 2005 and 2007. Texas and Ohio reported reductions of 11 percent, while the Kansas rate fell by 15 percent and Michigan’s rate dropped by 18 percent. Incorporating data through 2010 (and in some cases, through 2011), the report provides the most recent multi-state information available on recidivism.  The report also notes that 70% of all states now report steady or declining recidivism rates. Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress, and the US Department of Justice and other cabinet agencies, have been instrumental in creating a climate that has propelled the work of state and local governments in reducing recidivism. Most notably, under the Second Chance Act, landmark legislation passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, state and local governments and their community-based partners have been able to seed new reentry initiatives and expand existing efforts. US Senator Rob Portman (R, OH), a co-author of the Second Chance Act, applauded the states, including Ohio, for their accomplishments. “Second Chance Act programs, in collaboration with faith-based and community organizations and local reentry coalitions, have a proven record of helping inmates turn their lives around, and I applaud their continued good efforts to reduce recidivism.  Encouraging people released from prison to become productive members of society not only strengthens communities, but also reduces the burden on taxpayers who shoulder the costs associated with incarceration.” The brief, “States Report Reductions in Recidivism,” highlights strategies that leaders in several states credit with helping drive down recidivism: ·         In Ohio, state policymakers standardized the use of a validated risk assessment instrument to focus limited treatment and supervision resources on those individuals assessed at the highest risk for reoffending. ·         In Kansas, state leaders awarded performance-based grants to community corrections agencies, partnered with local communities where recidivism rates were highest to improve post-release supervision, and enhanced housing and workforce development services to better meet the needs of people coming out of prison. ·         Michigan officials invested heavily in the state’s Prisoner Reentry Program, prioritizing funding for housing, employment, and other transition support services in order to provide the most effective community-based programming for released individuals. Adam Gelb, director of the Pew Center on the States’ Public Safety Performance Project, said: “Reducing recidivism can produce a big payoff: If states across the country could reduce their recidivism rates by just 10 percent, they could save more than half a billion dollars combined in one year alone in averted prison costs.” Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said: “Corrections administrators know that reducing recidivism is a goal that can be accomplished only in partnership with other agencies and community-based organizations. At the same time, we recognize that governors, legislators, and the public are holding departments of correction accountable for their recidivism rates. The data highlighted in this brief demonstrate that we in corrections are standing up to meet this responsibility and are getting results.” Denise E. O’Donnell, Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) in the US Department of Justice, congratulated the states highlighted in the brief. “At BJA, we’re supporting states who are committed to taking a data-driven approach to lowering re-offense rates of people released from prison and jail. Later this week, we’ll be announcing major awards to a select group of states that are setting recidivism reduction targets, and like the states highlighted today, are using evidence-based approaches to meet the goals they set.”

Funding\Grant Opportunites

Federal Grants

$500k or more . . .  

• HHS/National Institutes of Health: Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science for Research Relevant to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (P50). View Full Announcement

$500k or less . . .  

• HHS/Office of Women's Health: National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, 2013 (RFP). View Full Announcement [PDF | 163KB]
• HHS/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Program, Supplemental Evaluation Projects (PHBPP-SEP) Grant. View Full Announcement
• HHS/Health Resources & Services Administration: HIV Early Intervention Services (EIS) Program Existing Geographic Service Areas (EISEGA) Grant. View Full Announcement

Non Federal Grants

$500k or less . . . 

• The Delta Dental of Arizona Foundation: 2012-2013 Community Grants Program View Full Announcement

Scholarships/Fellowships Opportunities

• Harvard Medical School (HMS): The Mongan Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Minority Health Policy (formerly The Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy, est. 1996). View Full Announcement
• The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU): HACU National Internship Program (HNIP). View Full Announcement
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Health Policy Fellows program. View Full Announcement
• US Office of Personnel Management: Presidential Management Fellowship 2013. View Full Announcement

Behavioral Health Responders: Deployment Support

		Available Now: Deployment Supports for Disaster Behavioral Health Responders The goal of this 30-minute podcast is to prepare disaster behavioral health (DBH) responders and their family members for deployment by reviewing pre- and post-deployment guidelines and ways to prepare for the stress of deployment and reintegration into their regular work and family lives. The podcast aims to accomplish the following: Increase awareness of the unique issues DBH responders face, especially with numerous or long-term assignments. Provide pre-deployment guidelines to assist DBH responders and their family members as they prepare for deployment. Provide post-deployment guidelines and practices that enable reintegration with family members and routine employment. The featured speaker is April Naturale, Ph.D., of the SAMHSA Disaster Technical Assistance Center (DTAC). Dr. Naturale is a traumatic stress specialist with 25 years of experience in health/mental health administration. She directed New York's disaster mental health response following the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Dr. Naturale also spent several years in the Gulf Coast after large-scale hurricanes devastated the area. SAMHSA DTAC encourages participation by behavioral health, public health, and other professionals involved in emergency management and disaster response. Watch or Listen to the Podcast You may download the slides and the transcript by visiting the SAMHSA DTAC Archived Webinar Page. If you have questions or need additional information, please contact Lori McGee at 240-515-8414 or lori.mcgee@icfi.com. We would appreciate your thoughts on this podcast or suggestions for future podcasts/webinars. Please send feedback to dtac@samhsa.hhs.gov.

TRAC: The Global Standard for Baseline Due Diligence

TRAC is a new global online due diligence platform for supply and marketing chain compliance that captures, assesses and shares baseline due diligence information on organizations and individuals and issues universal ID numbers to approved applicants. It is designed to streamline compliance, procurement and contracting operations while ensuring that basic due diligence is met. TRAC is entirely free for companies to access – whether or not they are TRACE member companies.

To learn more about TRAC, view our 90 second video, or visit www.tracnumber.com.


TRACE International, Inc. is a non-profit membership association that pools resources to provide practical and cost-effective anti-bribery compliance solutions for multinational companies and their commercial intermediaries (sales agents and representatives, consultants, distributors, suppliers, etc.).
TRACE provides several core services and products, including: due diligence reports on commercial intermediaries; model compliance policies; an online Resource Center with foreign local law summaries, including guidelines on gifts and hospitality; in-person and online anti-bribery training; and research on corporate best practices.

For multinational companies, TRACE provides a practical and cost-effective alternative to increasingly expensive and time-consuming corporate compliance. For commercial intermediaries, TRACE offers a marketing advantage by creating a bridge between them and companies doing business internationally.

Companies cannot afford to ignore the realities of doing business in today's increasingly complex compliance environment. Over the past 15 years, an increasing number of countries have enacted anti-bribery laws to implement international anti-corruption conventions criminalizing the bribery of foreign public officials. The new laws typically state that a business will be liable for the corrupt acts and/or the improper payments made by an intermediary if management "knew or should have known" that a particular intermediary was likely to make an inappropriate payment. Thus, companies are required to conduct sufficient due diligence on prospective intermediaries to ensure that they are committed to transparent business practices regardless of business pressure, local law or custom. Anti-bribery laws, however, are deliberately vague on the issue of "sufficient due diligence."

TRACE was founded to achieve economies of scale and set a common standard for two shared elements of anti-bribery compliance: due diligence reviews and anti-bribery training for business intermediaries and company employees based around the world.

TRACE is a 501(c)(6) non-profit membership association, organized under the laws of the District of Columbia and, as such, does not pay tax on its net revenue. TRACE was founded in 2001.