Puget Sound Research Forum hosts Dr. Sarah Cusworth Walker for their April Luncheon. Dr. Walker is the principal lead on evaluating the risk assessment tool being used in SYVPI and also the principal investigator on a number of other studies examining juvenile offending, violence and effective programming.
To what extent can research inform our criminal justice system?
Single, egregious acts of violence can prompt political pressure to create policy change. In some cases, this means harsher sanctions for crime; in others it can mean increased investment in violence prevention. The mayor of Seattle responded with a significant allocation to violence prevention, currently managed out of the Office of Education: The Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative (SYVPI).
This talk will review the complexity of implementing community-wide violence prevention initiatives, what has emerged as best practice in this area and how a user-focused approach to evaluation (utilization-focused evaluation) has shifted some of the targets for evaluation in SYVPI.
Admission: $35 for PSRF members, $55 for non members