Addressing the Equity and Fairness of Assessments: How the National Guidelines can Transform Agencies’ Communication and Use of Post-Conviction Risk and Needs Assessments

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David A. D’Amora, MS, LPC, CCFC, is a senior policy advisor at the CSG Justice Center, is a licensed clinician with 45 years’ experience working in the areas of risk and needs assessment, violent offenders, and offenders with mental illness and has provided technical assistance and consultation to 49 states. At the CSG Justice Center he has co-authored Adults with Behavioral Health Needs under Correctional Supervision: A Shared Framework for Reducing Recidivism and Promoting Recovery (New York: The Council of State Governments Justice Center, 2012) and most recently A Five-Level Risk and Needs System: Maximizing Assessment Results in Corrections through the Development of a Common Language (New York: The Council of State Governments Justice Center, 2016). Prior to joining the CSG Justice Center, Mr. D’Amora served as the vice president of agency programs for a community-based agency providing multiple types of correctional and behavioral health treatment to formerly incarcerated people under community supervision. He was also a clinician at Somers State Prison and Meriden-Wallingford Hospital in Connecticut as well as a consultant with another national criminal justice technical assistance provider.

Jeff Locke serves as a senior policy advisor within the BJA Policy Office’s Corrections, Reentry and Justice Reform team. Before joining BJA, Jeff served as an attorney advisor within the Office of the Secretary of Commerce’s Office of General Counsel, where he worked on trade, technology, and law enforcement issues. Prior to Commerce, Jeff served as Program Director for Criminal Justice and Legal Counsel at the National Governors Association, where he worked on justice reform and drug issues. Jeff has also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo, West Africa. Locke holds a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School and a J.D. from Boston College Law School.

Lahiz P. Tavárez is a Project Manager at the CSG Justice Center. She works on projects centered on risk and needs assessment communication and implementation guidance. In previous roles at the CSG Justice Center, Lahiz administered the CSG Justice Center’s internal data management system and oversaw internal data collection and reporting processes, developed networks of community services for people returning to the community after incarceration, provided technical assistance to recipients of Second Chance Act grants, supported projects centered on improving risk and need communication in corrections and reentry of people convicted of sexual offenses, and worked to expand the Reentry Services Directory. Prior to joining the CSG Justice Center, she interned at the New York State Assembly as a legislative assistant, as well as with Albany County’s Crime Victim and Sexual Violence Center (CVSVC), acting as a victim advocate at Albany Criminal Court on behalf of CVSVC, and at SUNY Albany’s University Police Department (UAPD), also participating in UAPD’s Advisory Committee. Lahiz received a BA in criminal justice from SUNY University at Albany and an MA in forensic psychology at CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice.