Charlottesville is an independent city located at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, adjacent to Albemarle County, in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city proper had a population of 41,750. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, although the two jurisdictions are separate legal entities. Together, Charlottesville and Albemarle County are home to 98,970 citizens as well as students attending the University of Virginia.

This site is unique in that the work of the EBDM policy team encompasses two jurisdictions that routinely share resources and have a long history of collaboration in order to meet the needs of its citizens. The local and state probation offices have collaborated for the past seven years in the field of evidence-based practices, as both were selected original pilot sites for EBP within the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) and the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC). The EBDM policy team is the latest collaborative effort between the two localities.

EBDM Stakeholders

An EBDM Mission

The agencies in the Charlottesville-Albemarle criminal justice system seek to achieve justice and make communities safer by working closely together, applying the best-known research to policies and practices, listening to those affected by crime, and recognizing that every interaction can lead to improved outcomes.

The tagline for the effort in Charlottesville-Albemarle County is “Working together for a safer community, one person at a time.”

Due to the policy team’s large nature (i.e., having representatives from two localities for each discipline group), a steering committee was formed to guide the team’s activities. The steering committee, with representation from both the city and county but smaller in membership, is responsible for managing the many details of the work and for bringing work products to the full policy team for consensus building and final approval. The policy team includes:

• a district court judge
• a county public defender
• city and county police chiefs
• the probation and parole chief
• the director of pretrial services
• city and county Commonwealth attorneys
• city and county sheriffs
• city and county victim witness coordinators
• the regional jail superintendent
• the community services board director
• the chief magistrate
• the Thomas Jefferson area criminal justice planner

What stakeholders in Charlottesville-Albemarle County are saying about the EBDM Initiative:

The level of dedication and collaboration has been truly inspiring, and I am amazed how even those who were perhaps skeptical and somewhat reluctant to participate in this effort have embraced the idea of using evidence-based decision making when developing or changing policies. – District Court Judge Robert H. Downer

Both data and experience strongly suggest that every interaction that takes place within the criminal justice system—be it an interaction with a victim or offender—creates an opportunity to contribute to harm reduction. As criminal justice providers and members of a broader community, we cannot miss this opportunity to learn and improve upon our work based on the collection, analysis, and use of data and information. – Tim Longo, Charlottesville Police Chief

There is reason to believe that we can improve outcomes in criminal cases by utilizing evidence-based decision making at each stage of the process where discretion is exercised…This is true at the system level, when choosing among alternative polices, practices, and programs. It is also true at the individual level in the context of sentencing decisions or the consideration of appropriate alternatives to traditional prosecution. – Dave Chapman, Charlottesville Commonwealth Attorney

 

Harm Reduction Goals

Charlottesville-Albemarle County’s harm reduction goals include the following:

• Reduce future criminal justice costs by improving effectiveness and reinvesting savings in further crime reduction activities.
• Reduce rearrest rates as defined by “rearrest for a jailable offense” (offenders released from criminal justice supervision three years after discharge).
• Increase the local community’s trust and confidence in the justice system by changing policies and practices that undermine the credibility of the justice system from the perspective of victims, offenders, and the public.

Portfolio

Charlottesville-Albemarle County’s activities

• Charlottesville-Albemarle County EBDM Newsletter, Fall 2013
• Charlottesville-Albemarle County EBDM Newsletter, Summer 2013
• Charlottesville-Albemarle County EBDM Newsletter, Spring 2013
• Charlottesville-Albemarle County EBDM Newsletter, Winter 2013
• On December 16, 2011, Probation Chief Wendy Goodman and Jail Superintendent Ronald Matthews presented to a California Probation audience on Selecting Opportunities for Systemic Intervention. View presentation slides.

Download some of Charlottesville-Albemarle County’s products

• Phase III Application
• Scorecard
• One Less Statements made by System Stakeholders

Charlottesville-Albemarle County in the news.

• News Story: Virginia Embraces the Challenges of Evidence Based Decision Making, Article
• News Story: Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail Must Deal with Overcrowding, Video
• News Story: Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail Must Deal with Overcrowding, Article
• News Story: Investment Aids Inmates and Society, September 6, 2012
• News Story: Regional Jail Gets Grant for Re-entry Assessment Tool, September 3, 2012 (Please note that there is an error in the title of this article. The Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail did not receive a grant but will be purchasing the COMPAS using its own funds.)
• News Story: Task Force Reports on Efforts to Reduce Central Virginia Recidivism, April 21, 2012

For more information on the effort in Charlottesville-Albemarle, contact Stephanie Garbo at sgarbo@oar-jacc.org

Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, is 655 square miles in size, has a population of approximately 100,000 citizens, and serves as home to more than 20,000 students enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and the Chippewa Valley Technical College.

In 2010, the Eau Claire County district attorney’s office opened 4,002 criminal files. Charges were filed in 3,336 of those files, with 837 felony cases and 2,499 misdemeanor cases. That same year, 5,336 individuals were booked into the Eau Claire County Jail and held for some time period, as opposed to being booked and released. Approximately 510 individuals are placed on probation each year in Eau Claire County.

EBDM Stakeholders

Vision for EBDM

Eau Claire County envisions a research-based justice system that results in less crime and fewer victims.

Eau Claire County will use coordinated leadership, community collaboration, and innovative criminal justice programs to enhance public safety.

The EBDM policy team was formed as a subcommittee of the Eau Claire County Criminal Justice Collaborating Council (CJCC), which was established by county board resolution in September 2006. The principal mission of the CJCC is to enhance public safety through system and community collaboration, to maintain and establish effective rehabilitation programs, and to foster innovative correctional programs. In addition, the CJCC is committed to providing the coordinated leadership necessary to establish and foster innovative corrections programs through process improvements.

The EBDM policy team is comprised of a variety of stakeholders, including:

• the county administrator
• three circuit court judges
• a district attorney
• a Wisconsin Department of Corrections representative
• a state public defender
• the county board
• the county sheriff’s department
• the chief of police
• the district court administrator
• the Department of Human Services
• the CJCC coordinator
• community members

What stakeholders in Eau Claire County are saying about the EBDM Initiative:

Working through the EBDM process has highlighted, for me, a heightened sense of the obstacles and challenges that not only face the court system(s) that I work with(in) but the very real potential that can be demonstrated through the systematic contemplation of the obstacles and challenges facing the Eau Claire County justice system. – Scott K. Johnson, Tenth District Court Administrator

We now openly discuss both our successes and failures and strive for continual improvement based on objective data. We have seen a broad acceptance of this change, and our employees have recognized the value of this type of policing strategy. –Chief of Police Jerry Matysik

Harm Reduction Goals

Eau Claire County’s harm reduction goals include the following:

• Reduce the number of individuals who are convicted of crimes within three years of the completion of their criminal justice system contact.
• More effectively allocate and use criminal justice system resources, as evidenced by reduced criminal caseloads and incarceration levels.

Portfolio

Eau Claire County’s activities

• Initiative Overview
• Charging: Read the outline or full program description
• Felony Custodial Arrest and Pretrial Release: Read the outline or full program description
• Sentencing: Read the outline or full program description
• Universal Utilization of Assessment Tools: Click on a link to see more information.
  • Program Description
  • Proxy Tool
  • Proxy Decision-making Matrix For Law Enforcement Officers
  • Proxy Internal Flow

Download some of Eau Claire County’s products

• Scorecard

Eau Claire County in the news

• News Story: National Justice Project May Turn Sentencing on Its Head
• Video Clip: The Value of Criminal Justice Coordinating Councils in Wisconsin
• News Story: Analyst Officer Takes a Byte Out of Crime, February 17, 2013
• Online Article: ‘Evidence Based Decision Making’ Keeping Offenders Out of Eau Claire County Jail
• Online Article: The Evidence Tells Us We are on the Right Track, The Third Branch, Wisconsin Court System Website
• News Story: Team Works to Make Justice System More Efficient, November 18, 2010

For more information on the effort in Eau Claire County:
Contact Tiana Glenna, CJCC Coordinator, at tiana.glenna@co.eau-claire.wi.us

Grant County, Indiana, is located 65 miles north of Indianapolis and is home to approximately 69,000 residents.

In 2009, the local criminal justice system had 3,850 jail bookings. Grant County’s courts and corrections department is known as a leader in the implementation of evidence-based practice. Representatives were invited by the National Institute of Corrections to attend the 2009 “Inter-site Summit,” where a select group shared their experiences with EBP implementation. Grant County is a pilot site for a University of Cincinnati probation supervision curriculum and is currently training staff to conduct and pilot the “Cognitive Self Change Community Model” developed for use with prison populations. Both the drug court and reentry courts have achieved recidivism reduction as compared with control groups.

EBDM Stakeholders

An EBDM Mission

The criminal justice system of Grant County promotes risk and harm reduction by utilizing collaborative decision-making and interventions founded on evidence-based research.

The EBDM team is a subgroup of the Community Corrections Advisory Board. This board, established by statute to advise local correctional programs, has been in existence since the early 1980s and has monitored a variety of grant-funded services over the years. The EBDM team is composed of the following members:

• felony court judges
• the county prosecutor
• the jail administrator
• the police chief
• a victim advocate from the prosecutor’s office
• the director of county correctional services
• the director of community corrections
• public defenders
• representatives from the county fiscal body
• a mental health agency representative
• representative from the state judicial conference
• the director of community programs at the Indiana Department of Corrections

What stakeholders in Grant County are saying about the EBDM Initiative:

This project promises to build upon existing EBP efforts and appeals to my desire to positively impact my community and to benefit personally and professionally from the best technical assistance in the field. – Cindy McCoy, Correctional Services Director

A relatively small jurisdiction can still be innovative and sophisticated enough to protect the public by seeking to reduce recidivism through the use of research-based practices. – Judge Jeffrey Todd

Since being assigned as the chief of police, I have been fascinated with the prospect of conducting business with a focus on a realistic and thoughtful assessment of crime and recidivism in our community based more on real evidence and less on what we suspect may be problems. – Police Chief David Gilbert

 

Harm Reduction Goals

Grant County’s harm reduction goals include the following:

1. Reduce the use of jail for low risk, nonviolent, pretrial defendants by 10% over three years.
2. On average, case processing from arrest to disposition will meet ABA standards: 9 months for felonies, 90 days for misdemeanors.
3. Within 1 year, 70% of victims will report satisfaction with the court process.
4. Within 3 years, new offense rearrests for probationers will be less than 40%.
5. Within 3 years, improve housing stability, employment, and family functioning for probationers by 25%.

Portfolio

Download some of Grant County’s products

1. Policy Team Charter
2. Grant County Evidence-Based Practice^®Evolution
3. EBDM Logic Model
4. EBDM Phase III Workplan

For more information on the effort in Grant County, contact Cindy McCoy at cmccoy@grantcounty.net

Mesa County (Grand Junction), Colorado, is located on Colorado’s western slope, approximately 250 miles west of Denver. The County encompasses 3,300 square miles; 74% of that territory consists of public land. The population of Mesa County is estimated at 153,712. Mesa County historically is an agricultural area that is rapidly becoming urbanized.

The county’s court system constitutes the 21st Judicial District of Colorado, one of several single-county judicial districts in the state. The office of the Mesa County sheriff is an elected position that has responsibility for the county jail, work release, and work-ender programs. The average daily population of the jail is 360, with approximately 7,000 new bookings and releases each year. The Criminal Justice Services Department is a county department that is responsible for community corrections, day reporting, a county-managed treatment facility, and electronic home monitoring services. Probation and parole are both state-managed functions, managed by separate entities.

EBDM Stakeholders

Vision for EBDM

The EBDM executive committee’s vision is one less crime, one less victim, and one less offender to create a safer community through the use of principles and practices of reliable evidence-based decision making.

The Mesa County Criminal Justice Leadership Group (CJLG) consists of 17 agencies. It was formed in 2010 (just prior to the EBDM Initiative) for the purpose of collaboratively making system changes to address jail overcrowding. The CJLG has served as the sounding board and oversight committee for the EBDM executive committee.

The EBDM executive committee is composed of the following stakeholders:

• the chief judge
• county judges
• the deputy director of the Office of the Alternate Defense Counsel
• the director of the Office of the Public Defender
• the county sheriff
• the chief of probation
• the probation department supervisor
• the district attorney
• a deputy district attorney
• the director of the Mesa County Criminal Justice Services Department
• a judicial administrator
• a county data analyst
• the contracted local initiative coordinator

What stakeholders in Mesa County are saying about the EBDM Initiative:

This initiative has more potential to reach the common goals of less crime, a stable jail population, less fear, and increased community satisfaction in the justice system than anything I’ve seen in this community in the last 25 years. – Sheriff Stan Hilkey

A few years ago, we would not have seen an invitation to these types of meetings. Now we are present and fully involved. – Private defense attorney

Harm Reduction Goals

Mesa County’s harm reduction goals include the following:

1. By 2015, 75% of all offenders will not recidivate within 12 months of successful completion of one of the primary sentencing options.
2. By 2014, increase public safety by limiting pretrial misconduct of medium and high risk defendants to no more than a 5% failure to appear rate and a 20% new offense rate.
3. Within 36 months, reduce the amount spent on low risk defendants and offenders in primary sentencing options by 33% so that financial and program resources can be better utilized.

Portfolio

Download some of Mesa County's products and read more about Mesa County in the news:

1. Press Release: Mesa County Leads Innovation Behind Scientific Criminal Justice Pretrial Evaluations
2. Policy Team Collaboration
3. Chief Justice: Mesa County National Model

For more information on the effort in Mesa County, contact Sue Gormley at sgormley23@gmail.com.

Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, is located in the southeastern part of the state and has a population of approximately 950,000. The county includes the city of Milwaukee, which is the largest city in the state of Wisconsin and the 26th most populous city in the United States. The judicial system is comprised of the courts and the district attorney’s office, which work with law enforcement agencies to administer and enforce state and municipal law. The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office, the City of Milwaukee Police Department (MPD), and the Milwaukee Fire Department (MFD) are the three largest entities providing public safety services in the region.

EBDM Stakeholders

An EBDM Vision

By applying what the evidence tells us about what actually works in protecting the community and holding offenders accountable, Milwaukee County's criminal justice system will make the smartest possible use of its limited resources, continuously improving its performance against quantifiable goals and reinvesting the savings in programs that reduce crime in the first place.

The EBDMI policy team was formed in 2010 as a subset of the executive committee of the Milwaukee County Community Justice Council, formed in 2008. The team includes the following elected officials and stakeholders:

• the county executive
• the sheriff
• a county board member
• the district attorney
• the city mayor
• the chief judge of Milwaukee County Circuit Court, First Judicial District
• the city’s chief of police
• the State of Wisconsin first assistant public defender
• the executive director of the Benedict Center
• representatives from the Department of Corrections and the State Office of Justice Assistance
• the United States Marshall of the Eastern District of Wisconsin (ex officio)
• the court’s pretrial services coordinator
• an inspector from the sheriff’s office
• the presiding judge of the felony division of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court

The team is staffed by the coordinator of the community justice council, a deputy district attorney, and a public defender.

What stakeholders in Milwaukee County are saying about the EBDM Initiative:

The EBDM Initiative recognizes that “…true system change requires leadership from key policymakers, commitment throughout all levels of justice system organizations, and policy and practice alignment.” I couldn’t agree more. In the past, law enforcement in particular has been a closed society, silo-like endeavor. No longer. The EBDM Framework will further shape the work that we have already begun in interagency cooperation and systemic change, and as such its potential is truly exciting.
– Sheriff David Clarke, Jr.

From the perspective of community activists, change comes really, really hard in Milwaukee. So the breadth of collaborative action to initiate EBDM within every facet of the justice system is nothing short of awesome. System-encompassing evidence-based practice-already being implemented, solidly on the drawing board, or still in the alluring "what if" stage-underscores such a high degree of commitment that talk of becoming a model for the nation is serious talk.
– Kit McNally, Benedict Center Executive Director

Harm Reduction Goals

Milwaukee County’s harm reduction goals include the following:

1. Reduce by 25% the number of people with mental health needs who lose their benefits due to being jailed or losing housing, and increase by 25% the number of individuals with mental health needs who are reconnected to the services they need within 20 days of arrest.
2. Safely release and/or supervise 15% more pretrial detainees in the community rather than in jail, generating at least $1,000,000 in savings that can be reinvested in the community, and at the same time reduce by at least 40% the already low rates at which defendants waiting for trial fail to follow pretrial rules.
3. Divert or defer prosecution in 10% more cases than we do currently, holding offenders accountable, compensating victims, and reducing recidivism, while generating at least $350,000 in savings that can be reinvested in the community.
4. Demonstrate in a pilot project that by terminating probation as soon as an offender in need of treatment has received sufficient treatment, we can cut the cost of probation by at least 50% and at the same time reduce probation recidivism by 50%.

Portfolio

Read more about Milwaukee County’s activities

1. Universal Screening/Praxis
2. Milwaukee County Early Intervention Program: Presentation given at the National Symposium on Pretrial Diversion, May 30, 2012
3. As part of Milwaukee County’s efforts to expand and strengthen their deferred prosecution agreement and diversion processes, they are planning to bring in some professionals to train their pretrial staff and outside treatment providers in cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) approaches (i.e., Thinking for a Change, Moral Reconation Therapy). By providing CBT groups on-site, the county can guarantee that the appropriate participants receive the services that will address their underlying antisocial thoughts and belief systems. Milwaukee County hopes that this would lead to better recidivism outcomes and also increase buy-in from various stakeholders.

Download some of Milwaukee County’s products

1. Phase III Application
2. Scorecard

Read more about Milwaukee County in the news

1. Video Clip: The Value of Criminal Justice Coordinating Councils in Wisconsin
2. Online Article: The Return of a Very Bad Idea
3. Blog: Evidence-Based Decision Making: The Increasing Use of Research in our Criminal Justice System
4. Online Article: The Evidence Tells Us We are on the Right Track, The Third Branch, Wisconsin Court System Website
5. Article: Blessings, and Other Metrics Worth Counting, Milwaukee Bar Association Messenger, Winter, 2011
6. Article: Get Smart? Marquette Lawyer, Fall 2011
7. Video Clip: Justice in Times of Transition and Tight Budgets

For more information on the effort in Milwaukee County:
Visit https://www.milwaukee.gov/EN/MCJC
Contact James Hiller at jhiller@publicpolicyforum.org
Contact Chief Judge Jeffrey Kremers at jeffrey.kremers@wicourts.gov

Ramsey County, Minnesota, has a population of 511,035. Its county seat is Saint Paul, which is also Minnesota's state capital.

Vision for EBDM

Ramsey County’s vision for the EBDM Initiative is:
One less crime.
One less victim.
One less offender.
A strategy for safer communities.

Ramsey County has 13 law enforcement agencies including the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office (Minnesota’s First Law Enforcement Agency) and Saint Paul Police Department. In addition to providing law enforcement services similar to police departments (patrol, investigations, crime prevention, etc.) in seven cities, the Sheriff’s Office is also responsible for operating the 497-bed county jail (pre-trial), providing court services (court security, warrants, civil process), and protecting the county’s waterways. The County Attorney, the County’s top prosecutor, and the Sheriff, the County’s chief law enforcement officer, are elected every four years while Judges are elected every six years. Appointed criminal justice leaders include the Director of Community Corrections, the Chief Public Defender, City Attorneys, and City Chiefs of Police.

The Saint Paul Police Department, the county’s largest law enforcement agency, averages about 240,000 calls for service a year. The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office averages approximately 23,000 bookings per year. Ramsey County is a Community Corrections Act county, meaning the county provides supervision (probation and parole) and correctional services. Community Corrections provided services to 24,885 adult offenders under supervision in 2009. Community Corrections is also responsible for operating the Ramsey County Correctional Facility, a 556-bed post-conviction institution, housing inmates serving sentences of one year or less.

EBDM Stakeholders

Prior to the EBDM Initiative, leaders would meet one-on-one or as part of specific projects with limited scope and complexity, but not as a whole to work on system-wide issues. The Ramsey County EBDM policy team includes the following stakeholders:

• the county sheriff
• the county attorney
• a county commissioner
• the chief judge of the Second Judicial District Court
• the county community corrections director
• the chief of the Saint Paul Police Department
• the chief public defender of the Second Judicial District Court
• the city attorney for the City of Saint Paul
• the county pre-trial services executive director
• the county chief deputy sheriff
• the first assistant county attorney
• a deputy city attorney for the City of Saint Paul
• the executive director of the Office of Justice Programs
• representatives from additional criminal justice and victim services organizations

What stakeholders in Ramsey County are saying about the EBDM Initiative:

When we can combine prosecutorial discretion with evidence-based decision making principles, we get better outcomes in the criminal justice system. – John Choi, Ramsey County Attorney

We owe it to the people we serve to be doing the smartest things with shrinking resources. The time is right. – Jeri Boisvert, Office of Justice Programs Executive Director

What I like about this initiative is that it is an external audit of our current practices. We need to move toward public justice; our jobs are larger than public safety. – Patrick Kittridge, Minnesota Second District Chief Public Defender

For me, it is about better outcomes. As public employees, it is our obligation to do our jobs the best we can, using research to do it. – Mary Pat Maher, Project Remand (Pre-Trial Services) Executive Director

We have come together in the past to successfully work on projects, but there has been no real integration of our work. We don't really understand the strategies that each of us employs and what we truly achieve. This is our chance to get it all out there and figure out if what we do truly drives public safety. – Carol Roberts, Ramsey County Community Corrections Department Director

Harm Reduction Goals

Ramsey County’s harm reduction goals focus on seven areas. These include increasing:

1. community safety;
2. collaboration;
3. offender accountability;
4. criminal justice system cost savings;
5. swift, certain, and proportional responses to criminal behavior/misconduct;
6. stakeholder support; and
7. community awareness and support.

Portfolio

Read more about Ramsey County’s activities during Phase II:

1. To kick off the Initiative, an EBDMI Awareness Event was held to increase awareness of evidence-based practices and evidence-based decision-making as well as to build support across all disciplines. The event was well attended by 225 people representing over 15 national, state, and local organizations.
2. Members from every organization met to create a system map of the County’s Criminal Justice System. The map, which details how the majority of cases move through the system, is color-coded by organization and clearly identifies each decision point. Accompanying the system map is a document that briefly explains each organization’s role and involvement in the system. Key decision points are explained and additional information is provided regarding how and why decisions are made.
3. Developed a report: Warrants in Ramsey County. This report provided detailed information (warrant types, offense levels, investigating agencies, and demographics) about active warrants and warrants issued in 2009.
4. Developed a report: Court Case Overview. By providing a snapshot in time (offenses, charging methods, failures to appear, and dispositions), this report showed that many cases involve the courts.
5. An evidence-based practices (EPB) knowledge survey was administered. The scores illustrated a basic understanding of EBP.
6. Although funding limitations ruled out the development of a law enforcement diversion program at present, two successful local programs were analyzed.

Read more about Ramsey County’s current activities:

1. Ramsey County is working to form the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC). The CJCC will serve as a forum through which criminal justice, human service, community, and government organizations may promote best practice improvements in the criminal justice system that transcend various organizations and communities.
2. While Ramsey County has already implemented many best practices during Phase II, additional projects, guided by best practices, were developed to further achieve various harm reduction goals. Throughout the next two years, Ramsey County will continue to implement existing and new projects.

For more information on the effort in Ramsey County, contact at Ryan O’Neill at Ryan.Oneill@co.ramsey.mn.us.

Yamhill County, Oregon, encompasses 718 square miles and is home to more than 99,000 residents. It is approximately 40 miles southwest of the heart of Portland.

The Yamhill County Jail can house 257 inmates, but most often operates under capacity. Yamhill County Community Corrections supervises 1,121 adult offenders on misdemeanor and felony probation, and on post-prison supervision. The Yamhill County criminal justice team has enjoyed a long history of close collaboration and innovation as evidenced by the establishment of a special management team prior to the EBDM Initiative. The purpose of this team was to identify methods to decrease the likelihood that mentally ill offenders would be housed in the local jail.

EBDM Stakeholders

Vision for EBDM

Yamhill County envisions a safer community where professionals work together utilizing data, research, and evidence-based practices in the criminal justice system.

Yamhill County will experience enhanced public safety, a reduction in the number of victims, greater offender accountability, and a reduced threat of harm through the appropriate application of proven practices at all phases of the criminal justice process.

Yamhill County stakeholders have a history of meeting weekly to work toward shared goals and system improvements. The EBDM policy team formed as a natural evolution of this work. The team is comprised of

• the presiding judge
• a county commissioner
• the district attorney
• the sheriff
• a defense attorney
• a victim advocate
• the director of Health and Human Services
• the director of community corrections

What stakeholders in Yamhill County are saying about the EBDM Initiative:

I am enthusiastic about the opportunity to take the hard work of our collaborative effort to a higher level. I believe this will be an opportunity not only for Yamhill County to improve our practices, but also to demonstrate an approach that can be a model for other counties, especially those of similar intermediate size and population. – Judge John L. Collins

EBDM will allow us to expand our evaluation of the entire criminal justice system and to make decisions that will reduce risk and harm to all of our citizens. The key policymakers in the county are already engaged and are committed to taking the next steps necessary. – Mary Stern, County Commissioner

Harm Reduction Goals

Yamhill County’s harm reduction goals include the following:

• Increase victim and public safety by reducing pretrial misconduct, increasing court appearance rates, making informed release decisions, and providing effective conditions of release for individuals who can be managed safely in the community.
• Reduce harm to defendants and their families due to unnecessary pretrial detention of individuals who can be safely managed in the community.
• Achieve greater financial return on investment in treatment, rehabilitation, and alternatives to incarceration.
• Reduce recidivism by 5% in community corrections felony populations over the next 48 months by improving early assessment practices and properly matching offenders to evidence-based programs based on their risk and need.
• Increase the overall health and safety of our community by focusing on cost-effective, research-based principles to improve our response to, and reduce the involvement of, special needs individuals in the criminal justice system.

Portfolio

Yamhill County’s activities

• The Yamhill County Policy Team meets monthly and is prioritizing its efforts on evidence-based sentencing, and evidence-based pretrial release and supervision.
• Regarding pretrial services, Yamhill County is currently exploring the possibility of shifting this function to the Community Corrections Department. No final decision has been made.
• Yamhill County was recently notified that it was selected as a participant in the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI). Preliminary meetings have already occurred regarding the need to improve its data management systems so that progress can be analyzed as plans are implemented.
• The policy team is also in the process of arranging local training. An expert from Multnomah County will be training Yamhill County officials on the use of the Virginia Pretrial Risk Assessment Instrument. A programming expert from Marion County will be offering parole and probation staff training on motivational and cognitive programs, and motivational group facilitation. The Community Corrections Manager and two parole and probation officers have recently begun EPICS training by the University of Cincinnati.
• Community Corrections has recently hired a new facilitator for Moral Reconation Therapy. A meeting is being scheduled with all community corrections program staff to re-evaluate and modify the county’s current menu of motivational and cognitive programs.
• Members of the Yamhill County Policy Team have given presentations on the EBDMI to the Multnomah County Local Public Safety Coordinating Council, the Oregon Community Corrections Directors Association, the Oregon Community Corrections Commission, and to the National Association of Counties in Portland, Oregon.

Download some of Yamhill County's products

• Policy Team Collaboration
• Policy Team Charter
• Phase III Implementation Plan
• Scorecard
• EBDMI Logic Model

Read about Yamhill County in the news

For more information on the effort in Yamhill County:
Visit http://www.co.yamhill.or.us/content/evidence-based-decision-making-initiative-ebdmi.
Contact Ted Smietana at smietant@co.yamhill.or.us.