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September 26 - 28, 2016

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In September 2016, the Federal Judicial Center hosted a workshop for federal judges and law enforcement officials on issues relating to pretrial diversionary courts, exploring the question of "What Works and Why?" with a focus on our increasing understanding of the neuroscience behind trauma, mental health, and addiction, as well as evidence-based models of care for people in the criminal justice system who qualify for pretrial diversion.

Cosponsored by the Federal Judicial Center and the Project for Law and Applied Neuroscience, a collaboration between the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, with support from the Criminal Justice Policy Program at Harvard Law School.

Agenda

Monday, September 26

8:30-9:00am, Welcome and Introductory Remarks

  • Judge Nancy Gertner (ret.), Harvard Law School and the MGH Center for Law, Brain & Behavior

  • Directors and representatives from Petrie-Flom, Center for Law, Brain and Behavior, Massachusetts General Hospital, Criminal Justice Policy Program

  • Mark Sherman, Federal Judicial Center

9:00-10:30am, Brain Development and “Toxic Stress” in Children and Adolescents: Criminal Justice Implications

This session will describe brain development in children and adolescents, focusing on the latter. How do adolescents, under normal circumstances, process information and make decisions? How does constant stress -- driven by violent environments, anti-social peer networks, and other factors -- affect adolescent decision making? What is the impact of “toxic stress” early in life on decision making later in life? Based on what science is telling us, how should criminal justice systems respond? Which treatment interventions work best and why?

  • Introduction: Dr. Judith Edersheim, Co-Founder and Co-Director, Center for Law, Brain and Behavior, Massachusetts General Hospital

  • Margaret Sheridan, PhD, Center for Law, Brain and Behavior, Massachusetts General Hospital

  • Kerry J. Ressler, MD, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School; Director, Grady Trauma Project, Emory University and Grady Hospital

10:30-10:45am, Break

10:45-12:15pm, The Sequential Intercept Model and Pretrial Justice

The Sequential Intercept Model is a framework for thinking about cases where people with mental health issues come in contact with the criminal justice system. The model describes the criminal justice system as a series of possible interception points that provide opportunities to intervene and stop an individual from entering or continuing through the system. Where is pretrial justice located in the sequential intercept model? How does the neuroscience about childhood trauma provide insights into opportunities for intervention in the pretrial phase? What opportunities for identifying behavioral health issues exist in the pretrial phase? What are the implications of not intervening early in the model for an individual with a mental health and substance use disorder?

  • Cassandra Snyder, Federal Judicial Center

12:15-1:45pm, Working Lunch: A Restorative Justice Conversation

Restorative Justice is an approach that focuses on the needs of the accused as well as the broader community. In this session, federal practitioners share the way they have implemented restorative justice principles in their districts.

1:45-2:45pm, An Overview of the Neurobiology of Addiction and the Neuropharmacology of Opioid Addiction: Implications for Effective Pretrial Diversion

How do the most common types of drugs of abuse affect the brains and behaviors of individuals with substance use disorders? What are the most common evidence-based treatments for such disorders among justice-involved individuals? This session will also discuss the results of NIH/NIDA’s Criminal Justice Treatment Studies (CJ-DATS ), which focused on, for example, assessment, measuring progress in treatment and recovery, delivery of medication-assisted treatment for offenders transitioning to the community; and implementation of screening and assessment processes to identify offenders with drug abuse and related health problems and to inform their treatment planning.

  • Introduction: Robert Kinscherff, PhD, JD, Senior Fellow in Law and Neuroscience, Center for Law, Brain & Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital and Petrie-Flom Center

  • Peter Friedmann, M.D., M.P.H., FASAM, FACP, Baystate Health, University of Massachusetts Medical School

2:45-3:00pm, Break

3:00-4:00pm, Screening, Assessment, and Treatment Principles for Co-occurring Disorders

The coexistence of both a mental health and a substance use disorder is referred to as co-occurring disorders. Co-occurring disorders can be difficult to diagnose due to the complexity of symptoms, as both may vary in severity. This session will describe screening, assessment, and treatment approaches.

4:00-4:15pm, Break

4:15-5:15pm, An Example of Good Outpatient Treatment for Substance Use Disorders: The Addiction Recovery Management Service (ARMS) at Massachusetts General Hospital

What are the elements of good treatment and how can we evaluate treatment providers to ensure they are using evidence-based modalities with justice-involved clients? As an example, this session will describe the approach of the MGH Addiction Recovery Management Service (ARMS).

  • John Kelly, PhD, ABPP, Recovery Research Institute, Center for Addiction Medicine, Addiction Recovery Management Service (ARMS), Massachusetts General Hospital

5:15pm Adjourn

6:30pm Reception

Tuesday, September 27

8:00-8:30am, Continental Breakfast

8:30-10:00am, The STARR Core Correctional Practices Model in Federal Probation and Pretrial Services, Roca’s Intervention Model for High Risk Adolescents in Boston, and What the Brain Science Means for Criminal Practice with Adults Ages 18-25

Staff Training Aimed at Reducing Re-arrest (STARR) is a set of core correctional practices grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy and used by federal probation and pretrial services officers with moderate-to-high risk/need defendants and offenders who are on pretrial supervision, probation, or supervised release. Roca is an outcomes-driven organization dedicated to transforming the lives of the most high-risk young people ages 17-24. Roca’s Intervention Model is a cognitive-restructuring and skills development intervention that was developed to address this high-risk, population. This session will describe the theoretical basis for the STARR model and Roca’s Intervention Model, how both are designed to change behavior through cognitive restructuring, and the outcomes of these practices. This session will also explore the implications of brain science on criminal justice practice for adults ages 18-25.

  • Moderator: Susanna Merchant, Federal Judicial Center

  • Shannon McAuliffe, Director, Roca Boston

  • Vincent Schiraldi, Senior Research Fellow, Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, Harvard Kennedy School

10:00-10:15am, Break

10:15-11:30am, Examples of Collaborative Problem Solving Approaches to Pretrial Justice in the Federal System: DREAM Program in the Western District of Washington and BRIDGE Program in the District of South Carolina

This session explores the use of collaborative problem solving approaches to pretrial justice challenges through a discussion with front-end problem solving court teams in two federal districts.

  • Moderator: Mark Sherman, Federal Judicial Center

  • BRIDGE Team from South Carolina

  • DREAM Team from Western District of Washington

11:30-1:00pm, Working Lunch: Using Smart Technology to Support Defendant Success, Protect the Community, Generate Data, and Drive Decision Making: The Post-Conviction Experience in the District of Oregon

This session will discuss the District of Oregon’s work piloting the use of a smart phone/Fitbit-style application developed by Outreach Smartphone Monitoring, Inc. The district is piloting the application as an alternative to traditional location/electronic monitoring (through the use of an ankle bracelet, for example) in Eugene, Oregon’s reentry court. The application can also be used in the pretrial context in appropriate cases.

1:00-1:30pm, Research to Practice: Case Study Guidance

Case Study Guidance will be provided by program faculty.

  • Mark Sherman, Federal Judicial Center

1:30-3:00pm, Research to Practice: Amber Rainier Case Study Breakout 1 – Assessment and the Pretrial Release or Detention Decision

District teams will being to work together to apply research principles from the workshop to a real world pretrial challenge. Team members will assess a defendant and decide whether release or detention is appropriate.

3:00-3:15pm, Break

3:15-5:00pm, Research to Practice: Amber Rainier Case Study Breakout 2 – Intervention Strategy

District teams will continue working together to apply research principles from the workshop to a real world pretrial challenge. Team members will focus their discussions on intervention strategies.

5:00pm, Adjourn

Wednesday, September 28

8:00-8:30am, Continental Breakfast

8:30-10am, Team Presentations on Case Study

District teams will present on their work in the case study breakout sessions.

10:00-10:30am, Guidance for District Planning

  • Mark Sherman, Federal Judicial Center

Concluding Remarks

  • Judge Nancy Gertner (ret.)

  • Representatives from Petrie-Flom, Center for Law, Brain and Behavior, Massachusetts General Hospital, Criminal Justice Policy Program


Videos

VIDEO: Judge Nancy Gertner, Welcome and Introductory Remarks

VIDEO: Mark Sherman, Welcome and Introductory Remarks

VIDEO: Judith Edersheim, Introduction: Brain Development and “Toxic Stress” in Children and Adolescents

VIDEO: Margaret Sheridan, Brain Development and “Toxic Stress” in Children and Adolescents

VIDEO: Kerry J. Ressler, Brain Development and “Toxic Stress” in Children and Adolescents

VIDEO: Cassandra Snyder, The Sequential Intercept Model and Pretrial Justice

VIDEO: A Restorative Justice Conversation

VIDEO: Robert Kinscherff, Introduction: An Overview of the Neurobiology of Addiction and the Neuropharmacology of Opioid Addiction

VIDEO: Peter Friedmann, An Overview of the Neurobiology of Addiction and the Neuropharmacology of Opioid Addiction

VIDEO: A. Eden Evins, Screening Assesment and Treatment Principles for Co-occurring Disorders

VIDEO: John Kelly, An Example of Good Outpatient Treatment for Substance Use Disorders

VIDEO: Panel, The STARR Core Correctional Practices Model

VIDEO: Shannon McAuliffe, Roca’s Intervention Model for High Risk Adolescents in Boston

VIDEO: Vincent Schiraldi, Emerging Adults and the Criminal Justice System

VIDEO: Mark Sherman, Introduction: Examples of Collaborative Problem Solving Approaches to Pretrial Justice in the Federal System

VIDEO: BRIDGE Program and DREAM Program, Examples of Collaborative Problem Solving Approaches to Pretrial Justice in the Federal System

VIDEO: Judge Ann Aiken, Using Smart Technology to Support Defendant Success, Protect the Community, Generate Data, and Drive Decision Making

Tags

addiction   children's health   criminal law   judicial opinions   mental health   neuroscience   regulation