SPA faculty and staff maintain a portfolio of multi-year projects, as well as smaller, short-term engagements, where our expertise can be of significant benefit. Recognizing the value of collaboration, we often partner with other organizations to provide the most comprehensive services to the field.

Our team specializes in conducting research (quantitative and qualitative), delivering training and technical assistance (TTA), and developing resources for the field.

Contact Us (justice@american.edu)

Georgia Statewide Racial Disparities Program Implementation Evaluation
American University’s Center for Justice Initiatives is partnering with Georgia’s Council of Accountability Court Judges (CACJ) to enhance the provision of services offered by treatment courts in the state, specifically to address racial and ethnic disparities in access and outcomes at the local and state levels. The goals of this project include: (1) develop and deploy a participant screening tool for all arrestees within local jails, (2) establish a statewide language access protocol for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) and Limited English Proficiency (LEP), (3) provide access to emergency and transitional housing for participants in need to address environmental and other risk factors limiting program participation; and (4) enhance data collection efforts and provide racial and ethnic diversity training to participating courts. AU will be providing research and evaluation support to the project both at the local and state level, to determine if the programs were implemented with fidelity, and if their implementation reduced racial disparities. Through their work with local courts, AU will ensure robust and reliable data collection procedures are followed. AU will also be supporting local courts with collecting, quality checking, and reporting back metrics of their programs. AU’s partnership with CACJ will include the development of metrics and data priorities, which will then be used to provide detailed reports to the state through both implementation and impact data analyses, thus ensuring effective administration of the grant.

Documenting and Addressing Disparities in New York State Adult Drug Treatment Courts
New York State Unified Court System (UCS) Office of Justice Initiatives – Division of Policy & Planning (DPP), partnered with American University (AU) and the Center for Justice Innovation (CJI) to assess equity and inclusion in New York Unified Court System (NYS UCS) treatment courts. American University will administer the Racial and Ethnic Disparities in treatment Courts assessment (RED Tool) to all 96 adult treatment courts under the jurisdiction of the NYS USC. AU will provide access to all court teams to the RED tool, provide technical assistance and support in completing the assessment, and provide a statewide aggregate report back to the NYS USC detailing the areas of success and areas for intervention by the state to address disparities. Approximately 30 NYS courts completed the RED assessment in 2020 & 2021, and their progress towards addressing disparities will form a crucial part of the statewide report.

Utilizing Peer Recovery Support Specialists in Treatment Courts
Justice Initiatives at American University (AU) has identified the need to develop a national training curriculum for peer recovery support specialists (PRSSs) in treatment courts. AU is proposing a field-initiated innovative project to explore PRSSs’ perspectives on their successes, challenges, satisfaction, experiences; how their roles vary across different jurisdictions; and how treatment court professionals can better integrate their role into the treatment court setting. Using PRSSs’ feedback, best practices from the field, and research, AU will design a training curriculum. The project’s goals include: (1) Select several treatment courts that currently employ PRSSs to be pilot sites, (2) Conduct focus groups with PRSSs from several courts and analyze the data, (3) Develop training curriculum for PRSSs, and (4) Deliver training to PRSSs. This project will inform treatment court practice, which should improve participant compliance and retention leading to increases in public safety.