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Researchers Discuss Budgets and Best Practices at Annual Meetings

NCJ Number
227963
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 71 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2009 Pages: 87-88
Author(s)
Christopher A. Innes; Sherry Carroll
Date Published
June 2009
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This article reports on discussions at the 2009 annual meeting of the Institutional Corrections Research Network (ICRN), which focused on how research could inform decisionmakers at all levels of corrections as they respond to declining budgets.
Abstract
During the past several decades, corrections has made significant progress in expanding the use of available research by adopting a variety of evidence-based policies and practices. The final session of the ICRN meeting was a wide-ranging and provocative discussion on how corrections researchers could assist their departments in using creative research strategies to address long-term fiscal and budgetary issues. Research departments are becoming efficient with data collection and quantitative descriptive statistics; and some departments have advanced to more sophisticated analyses in achieving desired outcomes. At its meeting, the ICRN, which brings together researchers working for State departments of corrections nationwide, discussed how researchers could help their agencies more effectively inform stakeholders, their own staff, and the general public about what corrections does. Agency-based researchers are often best positioned to clarify questions, simplify issues, assess the potential impacts or unintended consequences of proposals, and contribute to greater agency transparency and responsiveness. Current budget issues, combined with simultaneous advancement of research in the field, will bring change to existing systems that support innovative corrections programming and evidence-based practice that more adequately and appropriately address the longstanding problems of 21st century corrections.