Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research (APPR) is pleased to offer a virtual Office Hour on the Public Safety Assessment (PSA) Violent Offense List (VOL). The unstructured, drop-in session—available at no cost—will be held on Wednesday, October 13, from 1 to 2 p.m. ET. APPR staff will answer specific questions about whether offenses in a state match the PSA’s definition of a violent offense. Advance registration is required. The deadline to register is Tuesday, October 12.
About the Office Hour
Many jurisdictions find it challenging to determine which offenses are properly categorized as violent for purposes of scoring the PSA. Even with the assistance of the Guide to the PSA Violent Offense List and the Violent Offense Checklist, they often struggle with a handful of offenses.
The VOL Office Hour is for those seeking answers to specific questions about their VOL. The session is relevant for staff scoring the PSA, pretrial coordinators and directors, and pretrial policymakers and stakeholders of all types who help determine their jurisdiction’s violent offense list. The session is also useful for jurisdictions that have not yet developed their VOL and those that implemented the PSA and can benefit from additional clarification.
There is no space limitation for this session. But all participants must register by Tuesday, October 12.
Faculty
The faculty for this session are professionals who have many years of experience with pretrial justice, the PSA, and developing Violent Offense Lists.
Jessica Ireland
Jessica Ireland has decades of experience as a pretrial services practitioner and previously served as the program manager for Mecklenburg County Pretrial Services. In that role, she successfully worked with justice system stakeholders to implement the PSA.
Michael Jones
Michael Jones has 12 years of specialized experience in pretrial system change, training, and technical assistance. He has worked with hundreds of localities to implement legal and research-supported pretrial practices, including the PSA.