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Reducing recidivism topic of discussion at Rockford workshop

Rockford Register Star - 3/9/2019

March 08-- Mar. 8--ROCKFORD -- Recidivism can be reduced significantly if a few core principles are put into practice, a criminal justice expert said Thursday in Rockford.

1. Assess and identify individuals most likely to re-offend.

2. Address the individual's risk factors that may be contributing to criminal behavior, such as substance abuse, mental illness and bad peer associations.

3. Teach the individual new ways to behave and how to avoid and how to navigate their way through risky situations.

Ed Latessa, director at the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati, shared those principles with a diverse audience of law enforcement officials, judges, social service workers and others during a day-long workshop titled, "What Works in Correctional Practices" held at Klehm Arboretum and Botanic Garden.

He spoke of the latest research that helps identify the characteristics of effective intervention. Such programs, he said, are based on the principles of risk, need and responsivity.

Latessa, a recipient of several awards from the American Society of Criminology, downplayed the effectiveness of incarceration.

"Punishment alone," he said, "works least with the people we want it to work most for.

"Assessment (of low- and high-risk individuals) is the engine that drives effective correctional programs."

According to Winnebago County's Criminal Justice System: Trends and Issues report, a 2018 study conducted by Loyola University of Chicago, 56 percent of the people released from prison between 2011 to 2014 and who returned to Winnebago County were arrested within three years.

Drawing from an unspecified "Pennsylvania study" Latessa said, "One of the things they found was people (released from prison) who made it had somebody they could go to. They're influencers."

He touted programs that emphasized "structured social learning," or learning new problem-solving skills from observing others who model good behavior and life skills.

He said Effective Practices in Community Support or "EPICS for Influencers" is a program designed to identify and train people in the offender's life who want to help that person stay out of trouble.

Such individuals, he said, are not only parole officers. They include mentors, family members, friends, faith-based organizations, re-entry programs, law enforcement, school officials and significant others.

Thursday's workshop was brought to Rockford by the Winnebago County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, the 17th Judicial Circuit Court and the Region 1 Planning Council.

"We want these ideas to be understood by people outside of the system," Winnebago County Chief Judge Eugene Doherty said. "So you see a lot of people here today from the community, people from the Crime Commission, law enforcement. We want these ideas not just to be things that we are working on every day, but to have people understand why we are working on them and what the payoff is for the community."

Latessa was joined by other Cincinnati criminal justice researchers in the afternoon portion of the workshop.

"Our overall goal is to help them translate research into practice, train them on risk assessment and reduce recidivism," he said.

Marlana Dokken of the Region 1 Planning Council said small-group hands-on training will take place Friday with parole agents and probation officers, followed by risk assessment training in June.

"We also want to work on a plan with the CJCC to work on a curriculum and train EPIC Influencers," she said.

Chris Green: 815-987-1241; cgreen@rrstar.com; @chrisfgreen

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