Sustaining Justice System Reform: Lessons Learned from Indiana's EBDM Experience

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Chris Biehn is the Deputy Director of the Justice Services Division at the Indiana Office of Court Services. He has over 16 years of experience as a probation officer. In his current role, he oversees a division that is responsible for certifying various court programs, is home to the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, and oversees Interstate Compact in Indiana.

Christopher M. Goff was appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court by Governor Eric J. Holcomb and took the oath of office as Indiana’s 110th justice on July 24, 2017. He was retained by voters in 2020. Since joining the Indiana Supreme Court, Justice Goff has continued serving his fellow Hoosiers. He led a successful statewide initiative to expand Family Recovery Courts in Indiana, nearly tripling the number of programs in just two years. In May 2020, he was appointed to serve as Chair of the Indiana Justice Reinvestment Advisory Council (JRAC). He also serves or has served on the Indiana Task Force on Public Defense, as the Indiana Supreme Court Liaison to the Problem-Solving Court Committee of the Indiana Judicial Conference, as Chair of the Allen County Judicial Nominating Commission, as a member of the National Judicial Task Force to Examine State Courts’ Response to Mental Illness, and as Chair of the Appellate Judges Educational Institute’s 2022 Annual Summit. He is also an adjunct professor of law at the Indiana University McKinney School of Law where he teaches on problem-solving courts.

Denise Symdon is a Senior Manager at CEPP, where her primary area of expertise is assisting probation and parole agencies to incorporate system changes that are evidence-based or research-informed. Prior to joining CEPP, Ms. Symdon worked in the criminal justice field in Wisconsin for over 34 years, where she held a variety of positions, including Administrator at the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (WI DOC), Division of Community Corrections; Assistant Administrator at the Division of Adult Institutions; and Regional Chief at the Division of Community Corrections. She served on the Wisconsin Evidence-Based Decision Making (EBDM) State Team and co-chaired their Behavior Management Workgroup. Through her work with WI DOC, Ms. Symdon was a champion of incorporating evidence-based and research-informed practices to improve the outcomes of probation and parole supervision. Ms. Symdon received her BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a double major in social work and behavioral science and law.