A Pilot Study on Developing a Standardized and Sensitive School Violence Risk Assessment with Manual Annotation.

School violence has increased over the past decade and innovative, sensitive, and standardized approaches to assess school violence risk are needed. In our current feasibility study, we initialized a standardized, sensitive, and rapid school violence risk approach with manual annotation. Manual annotation is the process of analyzing a student's transcribed interview to extract relevant information (e.g., key words) to school violence risk levels that are associated with students' behaviors, attitudes, feelings, use of technology (social media and video games), and other activities. In this feasibility study, we first implemented school violence risk assessments to evaluate risk levels by interviewing the student and parent separately at the school or the hospital to complete our novel school safety scales. We completed 25 risk assessments, resulting in 25 transcribed interviews of 12-18 year olds from 15 schools in Ohio and Kentucky. We then analyzed structured professional judgments, language, and patterns associated with school violence risk levels by using manual annotation and statistical methodology. To analyze the student interviews, we initiated the development of an annotation guideline to extract key information that is associated with students' behaviors, attitudes, feelings, use of technology and other activities. Statistical analysis was applied to associate the significant categories with students' risk levels to identify key factors which will help with developing action steps to reduce risk. In a future study, we plan to recruit more subjects in order to fully develop the manual annotation which will result in a more standardized and sensitive approach to school violence assessments.

The systemic model of crime and institutional efficacy: an analysis of the social context of offender reintegration.

The systemic model of crime has received considerable empirical attention from criminologists; yet, an often-neglected component of the theoretical framework is the role of social institutions as a source of both formal and informal social control. Accordingly, the current study builds on recent research that considers the importance of institutional strength for the reduction of criminal behavior; in particular, the authors assess the impact of social-structural characteristics on the treatment program integrity (i.e., institutional efficacy) of 38 halfway house programs in Ohio. The authors' results indicate that communities suffering from concentrated resource deprivation have a more difficult time creating and maintaining strong institutions of public social control. The implications for criminological theory and correctional policy are discussed.

Outcomes among drug court participants: does drug of choice matter?

The link between drug and alcohol abuse and criminal behavior is clearly illustrated in the literature. The options of how to respond to these offenders, however, has widely fluctuated over time. Currently, many states have reconsidered their "get tough" approach to one that is more rehabilitative in nature. One particular community-based intervention that has gained in popularity is the drug court model. The literature on drug courts is generally supportive; however, there is a need to examine effectiveness by target population. The purpose of this study is to explore recidivism rates of drug court clients by drug of choice. Using a 2-year follow-up period, this study finds that drug of choice does not significantly influence either successful graduation or arrest. Policy implications are discussed.