Part III: Operationalizing the Framework and Next Steps
• Risk and need instruments must be validated and reliable. The resulting scores not only help identify individuals’ service and supervision needs, but also assist administrators in correctional settings to triage resources. There are many commercial and public domain tools, each with their benefits and challenges. Some are validated only for particular settings and populations, so tailoring them can affect their effectiveness. Some agencies are considering developing and testing tools for their own specific use. Understanding which tools to use for which populations and then how to share and use the information to direct resources is a complicated set of tasks that administrators are already facing. The framework’s emphasis on the application of these tools for existing resource allocation and new resource procurement makes their proper selection of a validated risk instrument that much more important. • System administrators must establish mechanisms for sharing screening and assessment information that comply with all legal privacy mandates and promote efficiency.* Regulations must be fully understood by personnel from all systems. Too often, challenges to information sharing are created by misconceptions about what can be shared and under what circumstances. Effective protocols can clarify what information can be exchanged, used, or stored, but they may require formal agreements overseen by legal counsel. Sharing also can be greatly facilitated by
Information-Sharing Project With BJA funding, the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA) is piloting a project in three jurisdictions to highlight how programs and agencies involved in reentry initiatives can share accurate, timely, complete, and appropriately secured information with one another. ASCA’s Reentry Information Sharing Initiative is working with the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, and the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department in Massachusetts to implement processes that can be used by the corrections community to exchange information with law enforcement, other public safety personnel, human/ social services partners, and other community resource representatives that participate in the reentry process. ASCA is constructing these information-sharing models for corrections in collaboration with the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA), the IJIS Institute (formerly the Integrated Justice Information Systems Institute), and the National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics (SEARCH). More information is available at http://www.asca.net/projects/13/pages/122.
*These need to be consistent with CFR 42 and HIPAA. See, for example, John Petrila, and Hallie Fader-Towe, Information Sharing in Criminal Justice-Mental Health Collaborations: Working with HIPAA and Other Privacy Laws, New York, NY: Council of State Governments Justice Center, 2010.
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