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Human Trafficking Prevalence Estimation Feasibility Study
Authors
Shelby Hickman, Ph.D., Charlotte Lopez-Jauffret, Ph,D., Stephanie Fahy, Ph.D., Vanessa Masick, Abt Global
Current estimates of human trafficking vary widely since, by its nature, human trafficking can be challenging to see and measure. Without consistent measures, data collection, and analysis, we do not have a clear understanding of the scope of the problem, the resources needed to address trafficking, and whether efforts are working.
To support the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Abt Global conducted a study to recommend methods for estimating the prevalence of human trafficking in the U.S. Through an environmental scan and an advisory panel, Abt synthesized the information collected to recommend three methods for a pilot study that can test the feasibility of national human trafficking estimates.
These proposed methods—capture-recapture, Vincent link-tracing sampling, and random sampling that is proportional to size sampling—are designed for estimating the size of populations that are critical to understand but hard to reach.
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Criminal & Juvenile Justice in North America
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How to Make Federal Justice Data More User Friendly
Abt is making federal justice data more user friendly through better visualization and filtering capabilities.
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2024 Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health (ACCJH)
Join Abt experts in Phoenix for ACCJH 2024, The Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health.
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Data on Adjudication of Misdemeanor Offenses: Results from a Feasibility Study
This feasibility study will help BJS assess whether to try to gather reliable national data on misdemeanor charges filed in state, county, and city courts.
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COVID-19’s Impact on State, Federal Prisons
A new report documents a sharp decline in prison populations in the U.S. during the pandemic and the number of COVID-19 related infections and deaths.
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The Public Health Impact of Marijuana Legalization
This brief summarizes expert interviewee observations on marijuana legalzation’s public health effects and notes how they align with other study findings.
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Shifting from Crisis Response to Crisis Prevention
This paper outlines changes needed to shift a community’s orientation from crisis response to crisis prevention.
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A Comprehensive Framework of Emergency Response Approaches to Vulnerable Populations in Crisis
A framework for understanding the range of programs that U.S. first responder agencies have implemented to improve response to behavioral health crises.
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COVID-19’s Impact on Community Supervision
Most of the research attention on COVID-19’s impact on the justice system has focused on jails and prisons. But far more people are under community supervision: parole and probation. And little research has been done about the pandemic’s direct and indirect effects on that phase of the justice continuum—and how the system could be better prepared. In this white paper, Abt justice experts Holly Swan and Walter Campbell propose a number of research questions to address.
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Unpacking a Complicated Problem: Safely Changing Jails and Prisons during the COVID-19 Pandemic
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Causes of Aging in the Federal Prison Population and a Comparison to States
Empirical research says little about the causes of the growth of older inmates in the federal prison population. This article addresses this gap by applying an established methodology to analyze the contributions of key factors causing this growth. We find that since 2004, age at admission has been an important cause of these changes, with longer time served and rate of admission of younger offenders also playing roles. These influences appear to be quite different from those shaping state prison populations.
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Oregon LS/CMI Assessment Final Report
The Oregon Criminal Justice Commission selected Abt to study the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory’s (LS/CMI) use in Oregon community supervision. This study assessed changes to scores over time, alignment between treatment and needs, the LS/CMI’s accuracy in predicting recidivism, and treatment’s impact on recidivism. The study found: scores decrease slightly over time (meaning recidivism risk was reduced and/or needs were met); high risk individuals are more likely to receive treatment; the LS/CMI has moderate predictive power; and treatment referral was linked to lower recidivism.
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Evaluating the Impact of Probation and Parole Home Visits
Visits to parolees and probationers by their case officers have been part of the fabric of the justice system for more than a century. But there has been little research into why these visits are effective and which components are effective. A recent Abt Global study for the National Institute of Justice analyzed home visits in Minnesota and Ohio qualitatively and quantitatively. The study found that overall field visits did seem to reduce recidivism, but some findings in Minnesota and Ohio were inconsistent. For example, in Ohio, unscheduled and scheduled visits were equally effective, while in Minnesota unscheduled visits led to significant reductions in recidivism. The study concluded that more research is needed to determine best practices for case officer visits.
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Technical Assistance for DOJ Grantees Addressing Substance Use
People with a substance use disorder are overrepresented in the justice system, from the arrest phase to incarceration to the risk for recidivism. For example, more than 10 times as many people in prison (58 percent) and sentenced to jail (63 percent)…
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Maternal Health and Pregnancy Outcomes Among Incarcerated Mothers
There has been little research on women who are pregnant, give birth, or experience a pregnancy termination or loss while in prison or jail. Understanding the health and well-being of pregnant women who are incarcerated at the federal, state, and local…
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