This training is available again due to popular demand. This training will focus on supportive services.
Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research is pleased to offer a free virtual training on the development and use of pretrial performance measures. The training will be held over three consecutive weeks in October. The two content sessions will be held on Tuesday, October 17, and Tuesday, October 31, from 1 to 3 p.m. ET. An optional office hour is scheduled for Tuesday, October 24, from 1 to 2 p.m. ET. The deadline to register is Thursday, October 12.
If you attended the Pretrial Performance Measures Training in 2022 or early 2023 and need a refresher, you can review the recording and materials before attending for a session in October. For the upcoming training, we have new guest faculty who will discuss the measures they have used to improve their pretrial systems, focusing on providing supportive services to their clients.
About the Training
Performance measures allow justice agencies and the communities they serve to more objectively understand and evaluate how well they are achieving important pretrial goals such as fairness, effectiveness, and efficiency. Common examples of pretrial performance measures are data such as a jurisdiction’s release rate, arrest-free rate, and court appearance rate. Benefits of using performance measures include the ability to evaluate the effectiveness of new practices, track changes over time, and communicate with stakeholders, including media and the broader public.
This training is designed to help pretrial practitioners (such as pretrial services directors or managers, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement officials, and detention directors) increase their capacity to use local data to better understand and improve their pretrial system.
Session Descriptions
First content session
Tuesday, October 17, 2023, 1 to 3 p.m. ET
Faculty will discuss how key pretrial performance measures are defined and expressed, and will help participants choose some preliminary measures to populate with local data. Participants will also see their peers’ real-life examples of well-developed data presentations and dashboards, with a focus on supportive services.
Optional office hour
Tuesday, October 24 , 2023, 1 to 2 p.m. ET
In between the two required sessions, participants will populate a few measures with their local data. People may participate in an optional office hour with faculty to seek guidance and troubleshoot challenges.
Second content session
Tuesday, October 31, 2023, 1 to 3 p.m. ET
People will share their data results and experiences with the other participants.
Learning Objectives
- Identify how key pretrial performance measures can be defined and expressed
- Gain experience collecting and analyzing data to populate a few performance measures
- Practice presenting measures to an audience of peers
- Be familiar with APPR resources, including advancingpretrial.org and the APPR Community
Training Faculty
The trainers for this session are subject matter experts and peer practitioners with extensive experience in using data to gauge the functioning of pretrial systems.
Michael R Jones, consultant, APPR
Dr. Jones is one of the nation’s top experts in putting pretrial research and law into everyday practice. For over a dozen years, he has helped hundreds of localities and states implement new pretrial practices that lead to more community safety, court appearances, fairness, and efficient use of public resources. He has provided training and technical assistance to a wide variety of local and state policymakers and practitioners across the country. Previously, he served as a criminal justice planner/manager in county government. His PhD. is in clinical psychology from the University of Missouri–Columbia.
Tammy Meredith, PhD, consultant, APPR
Dr. Meredith helps communities apply science to solving problems. Her social justice projects include environmental violence prevention, promoting pretrial justice, and quantifying racial and gender system disparities. Dr. Meredith cofounded the Atlanta-based public policy research firm Applied Research Services and managed it for nearly 30 years. Her career includes quantitative research to predict violent behavior; she has also led numerous U.S. Department of Justice studies, published academic and practitioner articles, and led professional research seminars.
Orleny Rojas, senior manager for racial equity and justice, Center for Effective Public Policy
Before joining CEPP, Ms. Rojas oversaw the implementation and operation of New York City’s Supervised Release Program in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten Island as director of criminal court operations. She led a team of social service practitioners who partnered with community organizations to meet the needs of pretrial participants and improve pretrial outcomes. Ms. Rojas has over 12 years of experience working with various criminal justice and community stakeholders to center and address the needs of vulnerable populations.
Joann DeJesus, executive director of supervised release, New York Criminal Justice Agency
Ms. DeJesus joined the New York Criminal Justice Agency (CJA) in September 1997. She oversees the agency’s Supervised Release program in Queens, providing leadership and technical guidance to staff who operate the program in off-site offices in Long Island City, Kew Gardens, and at the Queens Criminal courthouse. Ms. DeJesus is part of the executive team at CJA and served as the chief support person for the agency’s executive director for more than 15 years. Her professional background is a blend of administration and programmatic practice work, including the Centralized Court Screening Service initiative of 1997 and the Alternative to Incarceration Information Services project from 1999–2004. Ms. DeJesus was part of the original team of CJA employees who worked in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice to develop and launch the city’s first Supervised Release programs, comprising a pilot in Queens in 2009 and the Manhattan Demonstration project in 2013. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Rutgers University, has committed much of her professional career to reducing unnecessary pretrial detention in New York City, and is particularly interested in restorative justice-related initiatives for people who are underserved.
Brianna DiDomenico, manager of court operations, Queens Supervised Release, New York Criminal Justice Agency
Ms. DiDomenico oversees the court and administrative staff at the Queens Supervised Release Program. Since joining CJA in 2013, she has collaborated with the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice on programmatic initiatives, developed policies and procedures to ensure compliance with New York State’s 2020 bail reform legislation, coordinated operational procedures with court partners; she also oversees all correspondence to the court related to program compliance. Ms. DiDomenico has participated in various projects at CJA including testing the agency’s newest Pretrial Release Assessment and collaborating with the Office of Court Administration to launch New York City’s first dedicated court part to supervised release noncompliance in Queens. She is passionate about criminal justice reform, and her commitment to outstanding performance has awarded her the respect and admiration of her peers, colleagues, court partners, and other stakeholders.
Kathy Pierson, associate director of clinical services II, New York Criminal Justice Agency
Ms. Pierson is the associate director of clinical services at CJA’s Queens Supervised Release Program. She has worked with the program since 2017. Ms. Pierson graduated from Fordham University’s Graduate School of Social Services in 2012 and received her license in clinical social work in 2016. She began her career as a psychotherapist in a clinical setting, working with adults diagnosed with serious mental illness, and later shifting her focus to manage a program integrating physical health care offices into behavioral health clinics. Ms. Pierson oversees clinical services at the QSRP, ensuring that people participating in supervised release are offered programming that builds on their strengths and works toward success in the program.
Registration Process
Registration is open! If you are interested in participating in the trainings on October 17 and October 31 (required) and the October 24 Office Hour (optional), please complete the registration application by Thursday, October 12.
Confirmed registrants will receive additional information about the training, including how to prepare for and attend the sessions and how to access related resources.
Please direct any questions to Dr. Michael Jones, APPR consultant, at mike@pinnaclejustice.com.