Vermont Network Against Sexual and Domestic Violence
Kitra Monnier and Dr. Wiener have worked closely with the Vermont Network Against Sexual and Domestic Violence on their Domestic Violence Accountability Programs (DVAPs) for perpetrators of violence since the Fall of 2022. The State of Vermont issued a Justice Reinvestment Initiative in 2019 to encourage state agencies to use a “data-driven approach to improve public safety, reduce corrections and related criminal justice spending, and reinvest savings in strategies that can decrease crime and reduce recidivism.” The Legal Decision-Making Lab has interviewed and created logic models for all twelve DVAPs, conducted in-depth research around domestic violence and child abuse programing, and made a myriad of recommendations around data collection and best practices. The UNL lab is engaged in analyzing data that has been collected by the DVAP programs and present their findings to the Vermont Network as a whole. We will be presenting the data shortly to the Vermont Network and related stakeholders.
Joint Budget Committee (JBC) Evaluations
The Joint Budget Committee (JBC) of Lancaster County and the City of Lincoln have contracted with the Legal Decision Making Lab to assist 20 service agencies that it funds to analyze program evaluation data for their biannual reports. The agencies offer court related and human services (i.e., legal support, food services, and emergency housing services) to the citizens of the city and county. One requirement for funding is to collect implementation and outcome data on the services that they provide. The Lab members assist the agencies in cleaning, organizing, and analyzing their data twice each year. The agencies use the results of these analyses to write midyear and year-end reports that they submit to the JBC. The Legal Decision Making lab summarizes the findings and assists the agencies in writing their reports.
Mental Health Diversion Program - Lancaster County
The Legal Decision-Making Lab conducts program evaluation work with the Lancaster County’s Problem Solving Programs focused on the Mental Health Diversion Program serving youth offenders. The Mental Health Diversion Program is designed to offer rehabilitation services to youth in the Juvenile Justice system with mental health problems. Youth in the program can resolve their charges and avoid the consequences of having a criminal record provided that they complete the Diversion programming. The UNL lab has analyzed pre- and post-test data collected from offenders and has found that those receiving diversion have better outcome scores than those who were not eligible for or did not complete diversion programming.
Crime Commission
The legal decision making lab is currently conducting program evaluation studies for the Nebraska Crime Commission with Girls Inc. (Omaha), the Latino Center of the Midlands (Omaha), the Omaha Center for Refugee and Immigration services Inc., and the African Immigrant Family services (Sarpy County). We are developing logic models and plans for process and impact evaluations for each of these agencies. After the agencies and the Crime Commission review and accept each of the logic models, the UNL research lab will analyze data that each of the agencies has collected to document the implementation and impact of their programming. We will be submitting final reports to the agencies and to the Nebraska Crime Commission.