You Just Don’t Understand: Building Comprehension and Success for Adolescents on Probation

SESSION INFO

Sunday, June 30, 2024
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Session Type: Workshop

Probation transformation initiatives across the U.S. are shining a light on the role of court conditions in the success of adolescents on probation. These reform initiatives focus on limiting the number of conditions, deemphasizing court conditions while prioritizing case planning, and focusing conditions and case plans on treatment needs. Central to these reports are considerations of youth development, racial equity, and comprehension. Yet, despite its importance, the ways in which youth and parent comprehend their conditions and case plans is rarely addressed. In this workshop, we will 1) explore the relationship between comprehension of court conditions, case plan goals and probation outcomes, 2) review how adolescent development influences comprehension, 3) discuss the importance of racial equity and comprehension, and 4) present a new comprehension enhancement interview (CEI) to increase adolescent engagement in the probation process.

SESSION PRESENTERS

Debi Koetzle
Professor and Corrections Lab Director, John Jay College of Criminal Justice


Deborah (Debi) Koetzle is Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice. She received her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati in 2006 and is a research fellow with the University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute. Her research focuses on effective correctional interventions, including the use of risk/need assessments, prison and community-based interventions, and problem-solving courts. Currently, she is the principal investigator on an INL-funded project (S-INLEC21GR3106) designed to survey inmates in Central America on their experience with the rule of law and living in prison. Other funded research activities have included the development and evaluation of a specialized supervision unit in New York City, the evaluation of reentry programs in Nevada, and an INL-funded project in El Salvador to reduce overcrowding in Salvadoran prisons. She has over 20 years of experience designing and delivering training curricula related to correctional interventions for community and prison-based settings and is a certified master trainer on multiple risk/need assessments. She has provided technical assistance to local, state, and federal agencies including the United States Administrative Office of the Courts, the Singapore Prison System, the Nevada Department of Corrections, and the Los Angeles County Department of Probation. Her research has appeared in Justice Quarterly, the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, and other scholarly outlets. She is editor of Drug Courts and the Criminal Justice System and author of What Works (and Doesn’t) in Reducing Recidivism, 2nd edition.


Craig Schwalbe, PhD
Professor, Columbia University


Craig Schwalbe, MSW, PhD is a Professor in the Columbia University School of Social Work and director of the Workplace Center. He has ten years of direct practice experience in child welfare and community mental health settings, including roles in direct practice and administration. Dr. Schwalbe’s current scholarship focusses on the twin goals of establishing evidence-based strategies for probation-involved adolescents and defining racial equity for community corrections. He was the recipient of the WT Grant Foundation Scholars award in 2009, which funded a study of success and failure on probation, and led a UNICEF-funded international development effort to design and implement juvenile diversion programs for delinquent youths in Jordan. He is the author of numerous peer reviewed journal articles and co-author of Hepworth’s Direct Social Work Practice: Theory and Skills (11th edition). He holds a BA from Concordia College in Moorhead Minnesota, and MSW from Augsburg College, and a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.