Research Workgroup

The Research Workgroup includes a myriad of stakeholders from the criminal justice and treatment systems working together to promote research and evaluation to understand effective programs, services, and models of diversion and deflection.  This workgroup includes representatives from national organizations, state agencies, and local jurisdictions, and is focused on understanding how the five diversion pathways identified by PTACC can enhance criminal justice practices. Through this collaboration, the Research workgroup maintains a list of evaluations and research studies on diversion and deflection and resources for the field, and will connect jurisdictions looking for training and technical assistance to subject matter experts. We will provide assistance on issues related to research design, human subjects, and data collection.

The Research Workgroup is led by Dr. Jon Ross, jross@tasc.org, Dr. Kelly Firesheets, kelly.firesheets@cordatahealth.com, and Jessica Reichert, jessica.reichert@illinois.gov.  The team facilitated the development of process and outcome measures for law enforcement, treatment, and community for PTACC that cuts across a number of dimensions.  The goal is to build a compilation of information in this emerging area and have a core set of measures that researchers, evaluators, and practitioners can use to provide consistency regarding PAD research and evaluation efforts.  The consistency will serve to expedite the accumulation of knowledge about effective PAD efforts.