Marsha Weissman

1
Evidence Based Practice Consumer Perspective on
Implementation

• Marsha Weissman
• Center for Community Alternatives
• Yvonne Smith Segars
• Public Defender for the State of New Jersey
• A. Jonathan Porteus
• California State University, Sacramento
• Implementing and Sustaining Evidence-Based Drug
  Treatment in Criminal Justice Settings
• CEICA Conference
• Philadelphia, PA
• December 6-7, 2006

2

Purpose of the Panel

• Discussion of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) from
  the Perspective of Consumers
• How EBP helps consumers?
• What are the obstacles to using EBP in criminal
  justice system settings?
• How can we move the practice and research agenda
  forward?

3
Baseline Question Who is the consumer?

• Client
• Pre trial releasee, probationer, prisoner,
  parolee
• Criminal Justice System agencies
• Judges, Prosecutors, Defenders, Probation,
  Corrections, Parole
• Family/Dependency Court
• Governmental Stakeholders
• Legislators, Executives
• Regulatory Agencies
• Licensing agencies
• Community and Family

4

• Human service providers
• Treatment providers
• Policy think tanks
• Policy advocates
• Academics

Other Informal Consumers of Evidence-Based
Practice
5
What are the benefits of EBP for consumers?

• Evidence provides a common ground to engage in
  discussion and debate
• Shifts the discussion from myth to fact
• EBP anchored to meaningful, measurable outcomes
• Reduction in recidivism
• Recovery from drug addiction Abstinence,
  reduction in use
• Improvements in human and social capital
  employment, family functioning, civic
  responsibility

6
Obstacles to Implementing EBP

• Multiple consumers with different agendas and
  goals
• Population Heterogeneity
• EBP fidelity
• Disconnect between client consumers and other
  criminal justice system consumers
• Ethnicity, cultural and class issues
• Practical barriers to implementation

7
Multiple Consumers and Diverse Preferences

• Criminal Justice Stakeholders Judges,
  Prosecutors, Defense, Corrections,
  Probation/Parole
• Differences in organizational missions and
  political considerations
• Regulatory Agencies Licensing agencies, funding
  agencies
• Standards of care vs. community control standards
• Payment limitations vs. client needs
• Community Neighbors, family, employers,
  community-based advocates
• Public safety, family integration, community
  capacity
• Client Person in conflict with the law and their
  criminal justice status
• Motivation for treatment and consequences of
  failure
• Treatment needs vs. criminal justice exposure

8
Client Characteristics

• Marginalized
• Poverty, limited education, high rates of mental
  and physical illnesses, limited employment
  experience
• Stigmatized
• Media and politicized images
• Collateral consequences- barriers to community
  integration
• Addiction, Mental Illness, Co-Occurring Disorders
• Subjected to multiple systems of social control
• Criminal court, family court, probation/parole,
  welfare rules, ASFA rules, treatment provider
  rules

9
Best Practice for People in the Criminal Justice
System

• Attend to Basic Needs- housing, economic
  supports, family issues, employment, maintaining
  free world relationships
• Holistic, Client-Centered Services- health,
  mental health, spiritual, 12-Step, literacy and
  life skills
• Address Mistrust- System and community advocacy
• Combat Stigma and Stereotyping- collateral
  consequences
• Demonstrate Cultural Competency- language,
  ethnicity, gender, sexual preference

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Questions for Discussion

• How can we make EBP more efficacious for people
  in the criminal justice system?
• Elemental EBP. Identification and
  prioritization of key treatment foci. EBPs to
  address these foci
• What elements need to be considered/how can we
  adapt models to be more responsive to people with
  criminal justice system involvement?
• How can we make EBP more effective in for people
  in the criminal justice system?
• How can we mitigate barriers so that EBP can be
  more effectively implemented?
• Should EBP address social pathologies, the social
  conditions that contribute to individual
  treatment needs
• What is the role of community-level prevention?